Birthday (Part 1)

Edited by: Chip

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After meeting with Prince Ronan, occasionally, he would visit the Alnhart estate. Cyrus could see that Prince Ronan’s main objective was to get Atlas to be alone with him, so Cyrus made sure that he was there every time Prince Ronan visited.

They also were able to wear the color-changing earrings on Prince Ronan’s second visit and wore them every time after that.

Ronan didn’t seem to mind that and seemed to stick to Atlas. Atlas didn’t seem to mind either and acted like himself. He was cheerful and clumsy which he found kind of cute.

That’s why Ronan found him to be interesting.

In Ronan’s time with Atlas, he deduced that Atlas was a simple-minded, carefree spirit, who got along with almost everyone. The thing he found the most entertaining was Atlas’ inability to know where he was at any given time.

Everything he observed about Atlas, he put into his diary when he got back from the Alnhart estate.

Ronan had a diary that his older sister made him write. She also read this diary because she wanted to know what he was thinking. And she also stated it was a good way for Ronan to analyze his own thoughts. He didn’t see any problems with this, so he kept diaries since he was 5 years old.

Also, his older sister, Scarlett, had a differing opinion on his thoughts, so reading his diary was how they bonded with each other.

Recently, his entries were filled with his observations on Atlas. It was something that even he couldn’t predict about himself.

For the first time in his life, he found someone worth watching.

Now, he wanted to be a closer existence in Atlas’ life. Honestly, he didn’t really care about Cyrus. He only included Cyrus in his talks of friendship because he was the closest person to Atlas.

From the moment Atlas showed up in the alleyway, that was probably when he wanted to get closer to him. Well, he didn’t realize that until sometime later in the future…

*****

Time flew by quickly and before Atlas knew it, it was the week before his and Cyrus’ birthday.

He had to study a lot about etiquette and dancing. Luckily, Atlas didn’t have any problems with dancing and was praised many times for being a genius. As for his etiquette skills… Well, his teacher could only hope and pray that Atlas would be able to use what he learned in class for his first important event.

As for Cyrus, no one was worried that he wouldn’t perform well. He just had to make sure to cover any mistake Atlas made.

Atlas and Cyrus had to go through one more fitting to make sure their outfits would fit them on their birthday.

Cyrus and Atlas were in the same dressing room and they were surrounded by tailors and other related personnel. All they had to do was stand and pose when they were told to.

For their birthday, they had three outfits planned. The first outfit was the ceremonial outfit they would make their entrance in and the one they would greet people with. It looked like the nobleman’s outfits but they were more complex and intricate when it came to the embroidery and the materials used. Overall, it was so heavy that Atlas wanted to be a statue in the outfit. He really didn’t want to move because he felt like he was carrying weights all over his body…

The second outfit looked similar to the first one, but it was easier to move in, so Atlas and Cyrus could dance with some of the guests. Lastly, the third outfit was the backup outfit just in case one of their outfits got ruined during the birthday.

Their outfits and accessories complemented the color-changing earrings that they were wearing for the dress fitting and their birthday.

The tailors were circling them, tightening their clothes or adding to them.

Atlas felt like a dress-up doll. He tried his best not to move around too much, but he was tired and just wanted to slump into the bed.

“Lord Atlas, we are almost done, so hang in there.” His tailor tried her best to get Atlas to correct his posture.

Atlas complied. “I’m sorry, I will try my best for a little longer.”

“It is no problem, Lord Atlas. You are doing great. All I need to do is fix this part and you are good to go!”

As for Cyrus, he was better at hiding his pain. Even though his legs were sore from standing stiffly for almost three hours, he didn’t complain.

“Atlas, when we are done, I will treat you to some ice cream.” Cyrus felt it was good to give Atlas some motivation so he couldn’t ruin the tailors' hard work.

Atlas almost wanted to scream in excitement but he restrained himself. “I will hold you to that promise!” He was excited to try a new flavor! Instead of the pain in his legs, all he could think of was the next ice cream flavor he was going to try… Which one should he try next?

The ice cream also distracted him from the overwhelming feeling of being perfectly wrapped in a mold.

True to the tailor’s word, Atlas was done when she finished fixing up the last part of his sleeves. With their help, Atlas was able to get out of the ceremonial clothes. Then he was allowed to change into his everyday clothes.

Cyrus’ tailors also finished at the same time and helped him out of the outfit. To get out of the outfit, it took 20 minutes with two pairs of hands.

At least it was clothes that they would only be able to wear for one event.

After that, Atlas was able to eat his ice cream. He tried an almond butter ice cream and it was amazing. Everything that he had hoped for…

*****

On the day of Cyrus’ and Atlas’ birthday, the two were in the dressing room on the second floor of the ballroom. It was an hour before the start of the birthday event.

The ballroom was large enough to accommodate the large number of guests and still allow room for a dance floor and circular tables where people could eat. There was also a large buffet table so people could dine throughout the night.

There were lots of gold, black, and purple decorations throughout the room. Gold signified riches while black and purple worshiped the Dragon God and all of the Guardian Dragons of the Hirean Empire. The three colors were the common colors for any large noble and Imperial event.

At the entrance of the ballroom, Sirius greeted the guests and thanked them for coming to Cyrus’ and Atlas’ birthday celebration. He would meet up with his family when the event was about to start.

Many of the lower-ranked nobles had already arrived to socialize. Lower-ranked nobles were expected to arrive at the event early while the higher-ranked nobles were allowed to come a bit later. The Imperial family was always the last to arrive at any event they created or accepted an invitation to.

Closer to the start of the event, the other three Ducal families arrived one after the other.

The first to arrive was Duke Wallace and his family. Wallace’s territory was to the north. He brought his wife, Sabrina Balther, and his two children, Ellie and Amber Balther. Sabrina was a beautiful woman with short red hair and pink eyes. She was an incredibly strong lightning mage. He was particularly careful with his wife because she was pregnant with his third child.

His children were used to his indifference and stuck by their mom. Amber was still exploring their gender identity. They had waist-length dark blond hair and had blue eyes. They were also Sirius’ age. As for Eillie, she was a year younger than Cyrus and Atlas. She had short red hair, just like her mom, and had brown eyes.

The next family to arrive was the Norrs family who governed the Eastern part of the Empire. This was Sophie’s family. Her mother, Duke Mila Norrs, and her partner, Carmen Norrs arrived with their only daughter, Sophie. Duke Mila Norrs has shoulder-length ash-gray hair and gray eyes, signifying that her strongest attribute is Dark magic.

Dark magic in this world was not sinister magic. It mainly focused on debuffing a person like slowing them down or causing weakness in their limbs. It could use the shadows around them to attack. Dark magic was the hardest to master because of these reasons.

As for Carmen Norrs, they had short navy blue hair and yellow eyes, showing that light magic was their strongest attribute. They were very androgynous and used they/them pronouns.

Finally, the Eumia family, who governed the Southern territory, arrived. Duke Stella Eumia came with her husband, Vincent Eumia. Atlas’ history teacher, Rowan Eumia, also came with her. They had one child but she was too young so she stayed in the Eumia’s estate.

Duke Stella’s family was the only Duke’s family with tan skin, but it was because they lived in the tropical south of the Empire. She also had red hair, like Teacher Rowan, but she had icy blue eyes, showing that her strongest attribute was the Ice variant attribute. Vincent Eumia had brown hair and red eyes, being the opposite of Duke Stella. Still, they got along surprisingly well.

Of course, other noble families lived in the South so their skin was tanner. Most of the people from the North had snow-pale skin, and those who were from the central regions of the empire had varying skin colors.

Luckily, this country did not discriminate against skin color.

With the three Ducal families arriving, everyone knew the birthday celebration was about to start.

Outside the dressing room, Sophie was waiting for Cyrus so they could walk out together. Since they were engaged, they had to be each other’s partners at social events. When Cyrus didn’t attend, she went alone. Some people made fun of her for it, but she knew the reason why Cyrus had to wait for their official debut in high society.

And the person who had to escort Atlas was Sirius. He would be coming after the Imperial family arrived.

Having a sibling escort a non-engaged person was quite normal in Hirean’s high society.

When the Imperial family arrived, Atlas and Cyrus would be able to make their entrance as the stars of the birthday event!

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Grandpa Marky: We are almost done with the bulk updates! When I hit chapter 30, I will be updating this novel once a week on Sundays. I do have two other stories I will be posting (one will be exclusively on Tapas for the Action Fantasy contest). Anyway, on to the next chapter!