Chapter 288 Birthday Dance



Om nom nom nom~

So many sweets~ It's endless~

Ahhhh~ This is bliss~

I don't even know why everyone just started queueing up to feed me sweets but I most definitely wasn't complaining at all~

To think I was even worrying about whether I had enough things planned to entertain my guests when they all unanimously decided that feeding me sweets was somehow the most interesting thing to do.

I would have thought it was a prank or something at first but I decided it didn't really matter since I was getting sweets anyway.

Plus, I don't think Odeta, Delmare and Lisa would have joined in if this was meant to make fun of me, would they?

That's why I just went ahead to enjoy all the sweets being offered to me without complaint until all the sweets had ran out.

They really fed me all the sweets that were prepared for the party it seems… Did they even try any of it themselves?

Oh well, that just means more sweets for me so I'm most definitely not complaining!

I was cleaning up my fingers of the leftover crumbs from the sweets I was given, enjoying the taste left behind by the sweets from before.

"Ahhh~ I never knew big sister Aster looked like that when eating sweets~"

"Lady Aster looks so cute~"

"If I had known earlier, I would keep bringing sweets for big sister Aster everyday!"

"We should do that from now on!"

"Yes! Then we can get to see Lady Aster like that all the time!"

Hmm? I think they were talking about me or something but I was too preoccupied with licking off the crumbs to notice what exactly they were talking about.

Once my fingers were licked clean, Katsuki came along to help me wipe my mouth and hands clean of the remaining crumbs. How reliable~

Since they have finished feeding me I was starting to think that maybe it's time for some party games or something.

Right then, Mother came in wearing a dress that would not look out of place in a formal ball.

The dress was in a deep shade of blue like the colour of the ocean on a moonlit night. The bodice was fitted, hugging her curves in the right places while being adorned with what looked like gemstones sewn on the edges. The skirt of the dress hugged her form tightly, leaving nothing to the imagination and leaving just enough space above the ground to show off her heeled pumps.

She wasn't wearing that dress before so why now?

"Ara, ara? I see all of you are done feeding my little one~ Shall we all head to the hall now?"

"""Yes~""" Everyone answered Mother as though this was something they had planned beforehand.

I wondered what they were planning to do there but before I could follow them out towards the hall, I was stopped by Katsuki and Mary, the latter still in her form as Lina.

"Young Mistress, please follow us up to your room. We will need to prepare you for the next event," Mary requested.

Feeling curious about what exactly they had planned, I followed them up to my room.

When I went into the room, I was floored with what I saw.

There, prepared on a dress form was a dress that was in a similar design and colour as Mother's. The only difference was that instead of a tight fitting skirt, this one was voluminous in design with layers of tulle and satin surrounding it.

There was even a pair of heels to go along with it set on the ground beside the dress form.

"What's this?" I asked, surprised.

"The Madam made this for you, Mistress. Would you like to try it on?" Katsuki asked.

I understood the underlying meaning behind the question.

Obviously Mother prepared this as my birthday present for me and she wanted to show off that I was her child by having the two of us wear a dress of similar designs as a pair.

But instead of instructing me to wear it, she was giving me a choice of whether I wanted to wear it now or simply keep it for later.

She could have simply insisted that I wear it for her but she did not, leaving it to me to choose if I want to do it or not.

Well, the dress was really nice and I don't really mind pairing up with Mother for the party so I guess I'll just wear it.

Just one question…

"Mother made this?" I asked.

"That is correct, Young Mistress. She gathered the materials to sew this dress herself. This morning she was still doing the finishing touches in her room."

Ah, so that was what she was preparing for when I was told she was preparing for something in the morning.

"I will wear it," I told them.

The two maids bowed and quickly started to undress me with their usual perfect efficiency, each of them working on a different part of my clothes to take off.

Katsuki would be undoing the straps on my bodice while Mary would be helping me take off my boots, both of them making sure not to get in each other's way as though they have rehearsed this millions of times.

Knowing them, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

Once I was stripped down to just my underwear, the two of them quickly took the dress off the dress form to start putting it on me with the same efficiency as they had when helping me strip.

In no time at all, I found myself looking in the mirror wearing the blue dress that Mother had made for me.

I did a twirl and skirt of my dress lifted up slightly before settling back down, it was truly beautiful.

"Mistress is divine," Katsuki praised.

I turned back to them, "Ehehe~ It's Mommy's dress that is beautiful~ I didn't know Mommy could sew something like this~"

I mean… I know she could sew since my first armour was made by her, but I didn't think that she could make something as elaborate as this too.

Was there anything Mother could not do?

"Well, shall we head back to the party?" I asked.

Right as I suggested that, there was a knock on the door and Lisa's voice came from behind.

"Aster~ Are you alright?"

Katsuki turned to me and I nodded at her to show that she could let her in. My Inugami maid then went to the door and opened it, allowing Lisa into the room.

The moment she did so, Lisa's jaw dropped as soon as she saw me.

She stared at me for a good minute before suddenly rushing towards me to get on a knee.

"Aster!! Marry meeeeee!!" She pleaded while holding my hand.

I was so stunned by her sudden action that I did not know how to react. Thankfully, I did not need to since Katsuki came to my rescue by pulling her away.

"My apologies Miss Lisa, but I would have to ask you to step away from Mistress right now."

"Ehhhh?! Come on Katsuki! You can't be seriously telling me that you feel nothing from seeing Aster in that?! She's gorgeous! Divine! Let me worship her!!"

"Yes, yes. Please do that after the party is over, Miss Lisa. The others are still waiting for Mistress to make her appearance so please do not hold us up."

The two of them seemed to have gotten quite close huh?

Mary then led the way back downstairs to the hallway where everyone else was gathered.

When I appeared, the boisterous atmosphere where all the children were talking and laughing amongst themselves suddenly went silent as all eyes turned to me.

I almost thought that I missed out something that made me look weird to them until I remembered it was Mary and Katsuki who had dressed me which made that point impossible. So why are they all looking at me like that?

Oh, I know! They must be surprised at how fast I changed!

Well I suppose a normal person wouldn't be able to change out of my first dress and into this dress as quickly as I had even with help. Unless their help consisted of servants from my family of course~

Mother came up to me with her usual smile plastered on her face, "Ara, ara? My little one looks absolutely lovely in this dress~"

I giggled, "Thank you for the dress Mommy~ I love it~"

"Ufufufu~ I'm so happy to hear you say that, my little one~"

"But umm… Could I ask why we needed to dress up like this?"

"Ara, ara? It's to dance, my little one~ What would a party like this be if you can't dance with my beautiful child? Would my little one dance with Mama?"

…

Ehhhh?! This is the first I've heard of this!! Why are you saying this like it's normal?! I was not prepared for a dance at all!

Eh?! Wait!! Are those musicians I see by the side of the hall?! Mother hired actual musicians to play music for this?!

Wait, Mother! Don't pull me to the centre of the hall! My heart isn't readyyyyyy!!