Luca's Sixth Birthday (3)

"What? I can't choose who I want to be friends with?"

Suddenly—a familiar voice could be heard—this is… this voice is…!!

"L-Lucius-sama, ah, no, this is... we just want Lyra-sama to be honest to us instead of..."

I gazed towards Luca, who's now standing beside me. Luca, you came at the right time—no, you should have come sooner, you little…!!

As Luca and the noble girls are bickering around, I thought that it would be quite hopeless for him to win against so many noble girls on their nice pretenses…

There's no way Luca could be rude to them when they only said nothing but good things…

But then…

"Well, well, then why don't we all just become good friends?" Luca smiled.

Are you trying to end it with that, Luca? There is no way they would say yes and then go away with that--

"Ah, yeah, that's a good idea!"

…and they will continue to swarm here, to talk with you endlessly, Luca…

"W, well, I think it's been too long for us to be hogging Luca-sama to ourselves, so..."

"Please excuse us!!"

…wait what?

I can't believe what I am seeing—as the swarming nobles quickly dissolved and went somewhere else.

In that instant, I felt relieved. Also, is it just me or the atmosphere around here was improving? Could it be that the noble girls were the cause of the heavy atmosphere before?

That's awesome what a group of noble girls putting up a pretense can do, they can even bend the air!

Shortly after—Kiri returned… after he confessed that he got lost.

This boy, really… I really hope he can grow up to be a splendid knight.

After we told Kiri what just happened, I suddenly realized something.

It was quite a close call, but I managed to pass by that dangerous predicament!

Luca came at the right time, and he managed to fend off those nobles… as expected of the crown prince, I guess?

We continued to bicker afterward—all the while, the other nobles exchanged glances at us—wanting to approach us, the burst of cheers halted their intention.

"Greetings to the 29th Ruler of Riviera Country, Her Majesty, Queen Seraphina!!"

We spontaneously turned our heads towards the source of the loud announcement.

"Greetings to His Majesty, Frieldric Hillel!!"

Another announcement followed.

"Let's go!" Luca suddenly urged us to approach the source of the attention.

Upon looking closer, we could see two elegant figures being the center of attention. Although they seemed older than when I last remembered—but there's no way to mistake them.

The strong and gentle-looking lady with her green eyes similar to King Titus', and her auburn hair was exactly the same as I remembered. She was Queen Seraphina Lorelei seo Navarrete, the previous reigning queen.

The calm man walking next to her—he possesses the same light brown hair as King Titus', with his wise, deep brown eyes. King Frieldric Hillel.

Ever since they gave the throne to King Titus, I heard that they were staying in the royal family's villa. I never really saw them again in this life—but that's right! It's their grandson's sixth birthday party, a very special occasion!

"Grandfather, grandmother, you've come to the party!!"

Luca cheerfully ran to them and greeted them. Since he was in public, he stopped running when he was close to them—and instead of jumping to hug them (which I think was what he planned to do), he bowed to them elegantly.

"Oh, Luca, you look so mature with this kind of get-up," King Frieldric complimented Luca as he patted his head.

"Luca, you've grown up so much within just a year," Queen Seraphina added.

…Within just a year? They must have seen him last year… but I never really saw them. We must have missed each other.

Since they were being reeled in, the gathered crowd also started to loosen up.

Kiri and I exchanged glances and decided to come closer to Luca's place.

We looked from a distance as the former rulers gave their greetings to public—the public's eyes shone as it's been such a long time since they last saw the two powerful figures.

Afterwards, they retreated to the inner palace, as if to keep themselves from all the noise. As Luca called us out, we followed him as he introduced us to his grandparents.

"Grandfather, grandmother. Here are my friends, Lyra and Kiri. Lyra, Kiri, they are my grandparents from my father's side."

I quickly curtseyed and greeted them back.

As Kiri and I finished our greetings, King Frieldric eyed Kiri, as if wanting to speak with him—while Queen Seraphina looked at me meaningfully.

I was worried on what she was planning to tell me—but in the end, she just told me to be good friends with Luca—and so did the former king tell Kiri to take good care of Luca.

I sighed in relief as I looked at Queen Seraphina from afar.

Back then, I remembered she praised me—I mean Reinst, when we met, as I was the strongest queen candidate. And as Lyra… someone also compared my conduct to Queen Seraphina's, setting aside the comparison to my past self.

…Actually, I was so relieved she didn't start talking about how I might be the next potential queen. I want to stay out of any trouble in this life, I just want a peaceful and simple life.

Anyway, it's good to see them looking so well…

I was once again reassured and convinced that I really was born in the same world as my previous self, after looking at another two familiar figures that have aged within the time I was gone.