SUOER SIDE STORY 116………………………………………………….
Before long, the agreement was gradually coming to an end.
Which meant that the day when Selene would return to the Kingdom of Astina was not far away.
While Selene stayed at the mansion, Roselia and Luamin played with her almost every day.
Thanks to that, the three of them had become incredibly close friends.
While they were having dinner together, Selene spoke.
“I think the agreement will probably be finalized soon.”
“Oh my, really? Then… the day you return isn’t far off.”
At the mention of Selene returning, Roselia and Luamin looked shocked.
“Your Majesty…?”
“You’re… going back?”
Their faces looked utterly gloomy.
Seeing the children’s reactions, Selene panicked slightly and hurriedly said,
“I-it’s not like I’m leaving tomorrow! It’ll probably take about a week for everything to be completely finalized.”
But their gloomy expressions didn’t disappear.
Evelina chuckled softly and said,
“It seems Rosel and Lu have grown very attached to Selene.”
“Playing with Your Majesty is really fun!”
“That’s right! Dad says it’s dangerous and doesn’t push the swing very much, but Your Majesty pushes it really high, so it’s super fun!”
At those words, Arsen’s eyebrow twitched.
Selene suppressed the twitching corner of her lips and cleared her throat.
She had plenty of stamina and was very active, so she played with the children in ways that satisfied them.
Evelina had told her not to overdo it, but Selene confidently said she was fine.
She claimed she was so healthy she had never even caught a cold, and indeed she had never once said she was tired.
If it was an act, it was a convincing one—Selene truly looked perfectly fine.
Still, thanks to Selene playing with the children, Arsen was able to finish his work much earlier than usual.
So he couldn’t really complain.
After dinner, Roselia and Luamin immediately ran to their room.
Behind them they could hear Evelina shouting not to run, but they were too hurried to stop.
Before closing the door, Roselia checked to make sure no one was around and then carefully shut it.
Luamin looked at her blankly.
“Why did you say we should come to the room right away?”
“Let’s give a present to Her Majesty!”
“A present?”
At the word “present,” Luamin’s eyes sparkled.
“Yes, a present! When Her Majesty goes back to the Kingdom of Astina, we won’t be able to see her for a long time. So we should give her something so she won’t forget us!”
“That’s a great idea!”
Roselia and Luamin held hands and giggled.
From that moment on, they thought seriously about what kind of gift they should give Selene.
“What kind of present would be good?”
“A present that would mean the most to Her Majesty…?”
“But what would that be?”
“Hmm…”
Roselia and Luamin stayed up all night thinking hard, heads together, but no good idea came to mind.
Finally, the next morning, Roselia said with a determined expression,
“We don’t have much time, so let’s ask Mom.”
“What if Mom tells Her Majesty?”
“We’ll just ask her to keep it a secret!”
Roselia declared confidently.
Fortunately, Selene had gone to the imperial palace today, so they wouldn’t run into her.
The two held hands and wandered around the mansion looking for Evelina.
“Noah, where’s Mom?”
“Her Grace the Grand Duchess is having tea with His Grace the Grand Duke in the rear garden.”
“Thank you!”
Roselia answered energetically and dragged Luamin toward the garden.
“Then we can ask Dad too.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Luamin nodded.
When they arrived at the garden, they saw Evelina and Arsen leisurely drinking tea.
Roselia and Luamin ran toward them.
“Mom! Dad!”
Evelina and Arsen turned their heads at the same time.
Evelina smiled gently and set down the teacup in her hand.
“Rosel, Lu.”
Soon seats were prepared for the children.
Since they couldn’t drink tea, orange juice was specially brought out.
“Have some cake too.”
Arsen pushed a plate of cake toward them.
Roselia and Luamin were so distracted by the cake in front of them that they forgot what they had come to ask.
Only after finishing all the cake did they remember their original purpose.
“Oh right! We had something to ask!”
At Roselia’s words, Evelina and Arsen tilted their heads.
“What is it?”
“We want to give a present to Her Majesty!”
“Huh?”
Evelina’s eyes widened in surprise.
Luamin added an explanation beside Roselia.
“Her Majesty will return to the kingdom soon, so we want to give her a present before she leaves. So that she won’t forget us when we meet again…”
At those words, Evelina and Arsen looked touched.
The children must have gone to their room right after dinner yesterday to think about this all night.
Luamin asked in a bright voice,
“What kind of present would make Her Majesty remember us?”
Evelina and Arsen thought seriously.
A handkerchief with embroidery? No… it’s too dangerous for them to use a needle, and there isn’t much time.
Even if she guided them, needles were still risky.
Luamin might be fine, but Roselia would definitely insist on finishing it herself even if Evelina offered to help.
After thinking for a while, Arsen spoke.
“How about drawing a picture?”
At the word “picture,” Roselia and Luamin’s eyes widened.
“If you draw a big picture of yourselves with Her Majesty and give it to her as a present… I think she’d like that.”
Evelina slowly nodded and added,
“That’s a pretty good idea. I’ll cast a preservation spell on it. Then it won’t get wet or torn.”
Roselia and Luamin’s faces lit up.
“Great!”
“Let’s start drawing today!”
Roselia jumped off the chair and said to Evelina and Arsen,
“It’s a secret from Her Majesty!”
“Alright, we understand.”
Evelina chuckled and nodded.
Roselia quickly looked at Arsen.
He flinched slightly and hurriedly nodded.
“Alright, I understand.”
Only after hearing his answer did Roselia leave with Luamin, looking satisfied.
Taking a sip of tea, Evelina said,
“I think they should worry more about themselves than us.”
“That’s true. Rosel and Lu can’t hide anything when they lie.”
Because they were still young, their faces gave them away whenever they tried to lie, so keeping secrets was difficult.
“We should help them as much as we can. It’s supposed to be a surprise.”
Arsen smirked and nodded.
Roselia and Luamin immediately received drawing tools and a large sheet of paper from Noah.
It was a very big sheet.
Drawing and coloring the entire picture would take quite a while.
Roselia and Luamin stared seriously at the blank paper.
“How should we draw it?”
“Can’t we just draw?”
“No, I mean what should we draw.”
Roselia whispered, slightly frowning.
Luamin also put on a serious face and stayed silent.
After a moment, he stretched out his finger and traced a line on the paper.
“How about drawing Her Majesty in the middle, you on the left, and me on the right?”
“Hmm… should we?”
“Yeah! Let’s draw her wearing a flower crown!”
“Okay!”
Excited, Roselia and Luamin grabbed pencils and began sketching.
Normally they fought whenever their coordination didn’t match, but this time they drew as if they had made a promise.
After quite some time, they finally lifted their hands from the paper.
“Lu, what do you think?”
“It’s good! What about mine?”
“Yours is good too!”
Since neither of them had learned drawing professionally, it was impossible to tell who was who just by looking at the sketch.
But Roselia and Luamin looked very satisfied.
“What color should the flowers be?”
“Let’s decorate them with our favorite colors!”
“Okay!”
Roselia hummed happily.
Watching the white paper gradually fill with colors made her feel delighted.
Because the drawing was precious, they colored it with extra care.
Perhaps because of that, even coloring a single part took a long time.
At that moment, it became noisy outside—Selene must have returned from the imperial palace.
Luamin immediately tried to run out, but Roselia stopped him.
“Lu!”
“Hm?”
“We can’t let Her Majesty find out, okay?”
“Oh—right!”
Luamin nodded firmly.
They planned to give it as a surprise gift when she left, so being discovered would ruin everything.
Luamin rushed out, with Roselia following right behind him.
Of course, they didn’t forget to carefully close the door.
Peeking over the staircase railing, they saw Selene.
“Your Majesty!”
Luamin waved both hands and called out to her.
Hearing her name, Selene looked up toward the stairs.
With a wide grin, she knelt down on one knee and opened her arms.
Luamin beamed and ran down the stairs, throwing himself straight into Selene’s embrace.
Seeing such an enthusiastic reaction, Evelina suppressed a laugh.
“Lu, do you like Her Majesty that much?”
“Yes!”
“Then do you like her more than Mom?”
“No!”
The answer came so quickly that even Selene, holding Luamin, looked a bit embarrassed.
Evelina’s eyes widened.
Since he stuck so closely to Selene, she thought he might hesitate—but the answer was surprisingly firm.
Luamin said clearly,
“I like Her Majesty too, but I like Mom the most.”
His bright smile was so adorable that one could hardly resist pinching his cheeks.
Though it was a bit contradictory to say that while being held in Selene’s arms.
Selene chuckled and then asked Roselia, who had come closer,
“What were you doing?”
“W-what?”
It was just a casual question, but Roselia jumped in obvious surprise.
Noticing her unusual reaction, Selene tilted her head in confusion.
