The Werewolf King's Bride

(From Blue's Perspective)

I took Dem to our bedroom and opened the door. I pushed him forward first. As soon as he entered, a light lit up in the middle of the room and writing shot up in the air.

"Happy birthday, Dem!"

"… What is…?"

"Happy birthday, honey," I said and hugged him.

"… Thank you," he mumbled. He seemed very startled and still could not process everything. I heard it was always the official birthday celebration. He never spent it privately with a family member or friend. So, I wanted to do it for him.

"Are you surprised?" I asked.

"Yeah, very much," he chuckled. "I never thought… you would do something like that. I know you will do a lot of things for me. But… I just did not know someone was supposed to do it for someone."

"It's not a must, but we always try to do something special for the one we love. Yeah, we are supposed to try to do something special," I said.

"Is that so…?"

"Yeah, that's right," I nodded. "Right! Open your gifts first! And check out what I have prepared for you."

The writing that read 'Happy Birthday' was made of some kind of smoke. It was not bad for health and could be found in many stores. I made the smoke golden since then it would glow in the dark room. I prepared in a way that whenever the door would open, it would get activated. There were balloons around the room as well. All of them were black and golden in color.

"But why are there two cakes?" he asked. "Aren't there supposed to be one cake?"

"Ah, that…," I mumbled, scratching my head. "As you can see, the left one looks great, but the right one looks… weird."

"… The right one does have a strange shape," he said. "But it can taste good."

"I… made that one," I muttered, looking away.

I never made a cake before. But knowing that Dem's birthday was coming soon, I started learning a few days ago. I could not practice much because Dem would notice. I practiced with the help of some cooking books and Ruby, going to the magic tower. Since Ruby rarely came to the main palace after Luc came back, he could not find out about it. After Dem's birthday, Luc would go away for some reason.

No one in the palace knew about it, or Dem would find out by reading their minds.

This cake was made in Ruby's kitchen too. I also told the chef to make a cake, in case my cake got ruined. In the end, I managed to make the cake, but it did not look too good although it was not burned. I wanted to throw it away, but Ruby said I should not.

"You made it?" he asked, surprised.

"Hmm… It doesn't look that good, right?"

"Who cares about that anyway? The fact that you made it for me makes me really happy," he said, cupping my face.

"R-Really?"

"Yeah, it makes me really happy," he said. "Besides, the cake does not look bad for someone who made it for the first time."

"You don't have to comfort me," I sighed. "The other cake is made by the chef. My cake should not taste that good, so you can eat the other one."

"Hmm, the cream looks really tasty. Did you make the cream too? Wow, there is chocolate shaving on the top…"

'He really doesn't care that it looks so heinous?'

I chuckled. "Yeah, I made the cream too. The cream tastes good actually. I tasted it."

"What am I supposed to do next?"

"You are supposed to cut the cake now. I have prepared the knife and everything," I said.

"But I don't cut a cake in my birthday banquet?"

"It's not a banquet, though. On your birthday, you are supposed to cut a cake," I said.

"Really?" he muttered. "I have never done it before..."

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"Oh…? But who cares? You can do it now. You will do it every year after this," I said.

He looked very confused. I took his right hand and made him hold the knife. "Now, cut it."

He did as I said. As much beautiful as it was to watch him do it, it was also very sad that he cut the first birthday cake on his twenty-fifth birthday.

Moreover, it was not like his family was poor. They even held banquets for his birthday every year. Sometimes, I hated the rules of a Royal family.

He cut the cake I made. It made me happy, though I was worried about its taste. I fed him the first piece.

"Hey, what are you saying? It tastes amazing!" he said.

"Does it?" I muttered, shocked. "It looks heinous though…"

"Taste it yourself," he said as he took the piece of cake from my hand and nudged my lips with it.

I took a bite and truly, I was shocked. It did not taste bad at all. The taste was not the best, but it was not the worst as well. Rather than worst, it actually tasted quite good.

"It seems I did a good job?"

He cut the other cake as well after I insisted. Though my cake did not taste bad, I preferred the chef's cake. Dem was satisfied with mine one though.

"Open your gifts now!" I said.

"Why are there these many gifts? I mean, I get gifts from different families, but these look informal."

"Most of them are from me, but there are other people too. Open them. You will see for yourself."

Dem acted like he never opened gifts before either. I watched him with a grin. He looked very cute, especially the way he was opening a gift with a confused look on his face.

Most of my gifts included normal and extravagant things. I could not buy enough things for him. All of them were rare and premium products that took a long time to be prepared. He thanked me every time, so I told him that thanking me once was enough. He looked rather happy even though they were the things he could easily get.

I did not have a good sense of gifting. I gifted whatever I felt like, not what was appropriate. After all, it was the first time I could gift someone on their birthday.

Before, I did not have enough money or motivation to gift Maxen on his birthday. At some point, I forgot the date too, since none of our birthdays were ever observed.

"You gifted me a lot, huh?" he chuckled. "Thanks for everything, darling."

"No, there is one more," I said and brought out a small box from the pocket of my dress.

"What is this?" he asked as he took it from me.

I looked away. "Open it and see for yourself."

The clicking noise made my heart thump in my chest loudly. "It's not anything fancy. I just… tried. I know I didn't do a good job, but it will be great… Huh?"

The strong arms wrapped around me from behind. "You made it yourself?" he asked.

"Hmm… I used the black stone. It looks like your eyes," I said. "And besides that, there is a blue stone, which describes mine. And the heart between describes the love between us."

"You know what, darling? This is the best gift I have ever received," he said.

"It's not that great…," I mumbled. "It's just a simple bracelet. It's a clumsy piece of work."

"Do you know what makes it the best? The fact that you tried your best even though you never did it before. The clumsiness increases its value only," he said. "Thank you, my love."

"… You are welcome…"

"Now, put it on my hand," he said, pulling back.

"Are you going to wear it now?"

"I am going to wear it forever."

That time, I thought he was just kidding. How could I have known that my husband's craziness would not let him joke about such things?

"It looks amazing," he said. "It really is the best gift."

"There are other gifts too. Open them," I said, getting embarrassed. He was praising it too sincerely.

"Why are there more?" he muttered.

"They are from Luc, Ruby, Iris, the duke, and Athena," I said. "They also know about it."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

None of them came to the palace, so I wrote them about it. They helped me a lot, especially Ruby. She was the one who taught me baking and how to make a bracelet. Iris was the one who collected those gemstones. They were very hard to find, the original ones with the maximum purity level. Those gemstones would not tarnish if a magical substance was used.

And Luc made that substance.