"Anyways, Dear, that book doesn't only contain pictures from our past, it also has important moments of when you were younger. Such as the day when you spoke your first word and the day when you finally learned how to walk." Added Matriarch with a smile while reminiscing Eyvor's childhood.
"Ugh, could you not speak about that before such a large audience, Mother? It's embarrassing." Said Eyvor with a blush from embarrassment, causing everyone to chuckle in response, while she stored the book in her dimension ring before grabbing the floating chest.
When Eyvor opened the chest, inside, there was a small shiny golden stone that reflected an immense amount of light, causing the golden stone to illuminate nearly the entire dining hall.
"That's Bright." Commented Elif while covering his eyes with his quạt tay.
Luckily we didn't have to wait long before the Eyvor shut the chest, causing the bright light to vanish while the dining hall returned to normal.
"Ugh, I would've preferred if I had been warned in advance; the light nearly blinded me." Stated Eyvor in annoyance while eyeing Matriarch and Patriarch.
"I was going to inform you, but you opened the chest before I could." Replied Patriarch with a slight chuckle.
"Haa, anyways; what was the golden stone? I couldn't really observe it as I was too busy trying to be blinded." Asked Eyvor as she slightly opened the chest, causing the bright light to escape through the open, blocking her sight of the stone.
"It's a Pixie stone." Said Matriarch, her words very much shocking all Fairies present.
"This, this is an actual Pixie stone!?" Exclaimed Eyvor in astonishment as she stared at the chest.
"Yes, it is, dear; believe it not, but we happened to come across it only a few thousand years ago, and the surprising thing was, it was situated on a small mountain in the middle of nowhere. To this day, your Mother and I are still shocked we stumbled across the Pixie stone in such a remote area." Replied Patriarch with a smile.
"Hmm, Pixie stone? Do you know if it has any correlation to Pixie dust, Illumia?" Asked Elif with a thoughtful expression while eyeing the chest in Eyvors hand.
"I do not know, your Highness; I'd recommend asking Patriarch, Matriarch, or Eyvor if you wish to know." Replied Illumia blandly.
"I'll do it later; now that Eyvor has finally opened the last gift, I'm more interested in learning her favorite gift and who won the bet." Said Elif with a slight smile of confidence.
With Eyvor having opened all of the presents, she began thanking everyone for the various gifts, and while that was happening, I had just now noticed that the bowl, which was previously full of lightning cherries about an hour ago, was nearly empty, less than one-hundred lightning cherries were left.
'Maybe, Illumia was right; I might be addicted to lightning cherries.' Thought Elif with a weary smile as he sighed while putting the nearly empty bowl back onto the table, though since everyone had already eaten, no one paid the bowl any attention.
A few minutes later, Eyvor, who had just finished thanking everyone, was heading toward our table in a happy mood.
"Although I already said it before, I'd like to express my gratitude for the various presents once again." Said Eyvor as she looked at everyone at the table while smiling.
"It's no big deal, Eyvor; you're welcome." Replied Elif with a light smile while everyone except Matriarch and Patriarch nodded in acknowledgment, too drained to physically speak.
"Haha, anything for my little girl." Stated Patriarch with a smile.
"We're glad you enjoyed the presents, Dear." Said Matriarch with a light smile while chuckling.
"With what I received for my birthday, I don't think the word 'enjoy' would be a strong enough word to describe how I feel." Stated Eyvor with a light smile while chuckling.
"Speaking of presents, Eyvor, out of pure curiosity, what would you say was the best gift you received today?" Asked Elif with a smile, his words catching the attention of everyone at the table; even the exhausted Echo, Birger, Shelia, and Goliath weren't exempt.
"Umm, I don't know?" Replied Eyvor with a weird expression while attempting to avoid the question.
"Oh, it's alright, dear, go ahead and be truthful; I'm also curious what your favorite present was; we aren't some children, and your answer won't hurt our feelings." Remarked Matriarch with a small smile, her words causing Patriarch to shake his head in shame.
"Even if that's true, Mother, it doesn't really feel like it's the right thing to do; while I may have a favorite present among them, voicing it seems somewhat rude." Said Eyvor with a slight frown while glancing at Matriarch.
"You're thinking too deeply about it, Eyvor; besides, we are all interested in knowing your favorite present as well." Stated Birger with a small smile.
"Yeah, and if you're worried about the information leaking, we'll keep it a secret; you can trust we'll do that." Said Goliath, who was currently somewhat tipsy.
"Alright, alright, if you want to know so much, I'll say it; just don't talk about it; I don't want people to think I'm ungrateful and didn't appreciate their gifts." Replied Eyvor with a frown while giving in to the peer pressure
"No one but us will know about it." Declared Elif with a confident and eager smile.
"Haa, fine; since you all seem to want to know so badly, I'll say it. My favorite present is the mantra Echo gifted me." Announced Eyvor, her words surprising everyone, including Echo.
"Tch." Said Elif and Matriarch simultaneously as they glanced at each other in frustration.
"M-My present, Mistress Eyvor? Are you sure you meant my present? The Gifts I presented are far from the best." Asked Echo in surprise.
"Your gift may not be the best, Echo; however, you all asked for my favorite gift, not the best gift, and Echo's mantra is my favorite." Replied Eyvor while slightly smiling, her words causing Echo to nearly jump in joy.
"I won? Hahaha, I won!" Announced Echo with a large smile while laughing, everyone else clicking their tongues in annoyance.
"Since you won, as per the deal, here is my bet." Said Birger with an expression full of exhaustion as he handed Echo the bag of spirit stones.
"Here's mine as well." Said Shelia with a frown as she also handed Echo a sack.
"Although I lost, It was one hell of an experience." Commented Goliath while slightly chuckling, tossing the sack of spirit stones to Echo.
"I'm not one to go back on my word, so here is my share of the bet." Stated Elif calmly, though with a frown as he floated a sack full of spirit stones toward Echo.
"Hmm, since the mantra Echo gifted you was your favorite, what about your second favorite, Dear?" Asked Matriarch with a smile that she used to hide her frustration at losing the bet between her and Elif.
"Did you all make a bet on what my favorite gift is?" Asked Eyvor with a dumbfounded expression of both shock and slight anger as she eyed everyone at the table.
"If you want to get angry at anyone, direct your anger at Prince Elif; he was the one who came up with the idea." Declared Birger swiftly, effectively shifting all the blame toward Elif, much to his irritation.
"Now hold on a second, Birger, you can't expect me to take all the blame, considering I only proposed the idea; if you all rejected the idea, then I wouldn't have even bothered with it. So if anything, everyone is equally at fault." Stated Elif with a frown as he eyed everyone at the table, excluding Eyvor and Patriarch since they didn't participate in the bet.
"I agree with Prince Elif, we are all equal at fault, and I believe depending on how much you bet, that is how much you are to blame." Said Echo solemnly while nodding, though she couldn't fool anyone.
"You can't fool us, Echo; what you're implying is that you should be the one with the least amount of blame for this scenario, even though you participated in the bet just like everyone else." Remarked Shelia with a frown while glaring at Echo.
"Well, I'm not completely against her idea; considering how much Prince Elif and Matriarch bet, they would still be ones to shoulder nearly all of the blame." Said Goliath while laughing; his words bring attention to the two most troublesome people.
"You two, Mother?" Asked Eyvor in surprise while eyeing Matriarch.
"I'm sorry, Dear; however, Prince Elif practically challenged my motherhood; I couldn't refuse." Replied Matriarch with an apologetic expression, though her words didn't help in soothing Eyvor's anger.
"I've noticed you all love trying to shift the blame to me. Is it too much to accept responsibility for what you did?" Stated Elif with a frown while his eye twitched in annoyance as he stared at Matriarch.
While we were arguing amongst each other, Eyvor suddenly stood up and silently walked away, her actions causing everyone to go quiet as we all began rethinking our behavior.
"Dear." Said Matriarch sadly as she attempted to stand up and follow her, though someone stopped her.
"I don't think you should be the one to talk to her this time, Alfeda; how about you stay here." Said Patriarch with a reproachful expression as he stood up and followed after Eyvor, their actions catching the attention of the dining hall, though no one thought deeply about it.
"Haa, my first time leaving the Empire, and I end up ruining Eyvor's birthday celebration; at this point, I think it would've been better if I didn't come at all." Said Elif with a sigh while grabbing the bridge of his nose in frustration.
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Created a discord server, so if anyone wishes to join, [https://discord.gg/TGc9yymDJP]
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Elven Legacy (Chapter 227: Seducing Suscila) || Hero of Harmony (Chapter 109: Alexander Blackmailed) || One Piece: Chaos Kong (Chapter 185: Revolutionary Discovery!)|| Marvel's Black Steel (Chapter 116: Death Punishment?) at [patreon.com/Ozonelayer691]