“Now then… are you ready, Laurier?”
“Yes!”
After smiling back at my adorable daughter, who looked at me with a bubbly grin, I knocked on the door.
“Sasha, are you awake?”
“Yes…” As I heard that slightly weak voice from the other side of the door, I opened it up and entered.
“Are you feeling any better?”
“Yes… I’m feeling much better than in the morning.”
“Mother, are you okay?”
“Oh my, Laurier is here too? I’m sorry for making you worry like this. And… I had wanted to celebrate your birthday with you today as well, but…”
Sasha looked at Laurier remorsefully as we approached her bedside. But, Laurier just smiled at Sasha.
“Mother, you’re importanter, so please lie down and get better soon!”
“Fufu… Why, thank you. You truly are a kind child, Laurier.”
Sasha motherly stroked Laurier’s hair. Laurier looked like a happy kitten as her mother gently ran her hand over her head.
Meanwhile, as for me… I was in silent agony as I observed the scene.
Ahh, both mother and daughter are too cute! A combination of a pretty and innocent silver-haired girl with that gentle and serene mother who looked just like her… yep, heaven has nothing on this, since paradise on earth has already been made here, we’ve even got the angels… as I spoke, I desperately tried not to let the dopey feelings running through my head seep into my voice.
“Now then, Sasha. Have you regained your appetite?”
“Ah… if it isn’t anything too heavy…”
“I see… then, this should be just right.”
As I said that, I pulled up the box from my side that contained both Laurier and Sasha’s cakes and opened it.
“This is…”
“A lemon cake for Sasha. It’s an excellently tart tasting cake, with just a hint of sweetness as well. And for Laurier, a strawberry shortcake. If I may say so myself, since I made them for the both of you, I think they’re masterpieces.”
“Um… hasn’t the party already ended? Why this…?”
Sasha seemed puzzled as she looked between the cakes and myself. Well, she probably thought that we had already eaten our fill of cake at the party. That kind of response only makes sense, but… I kept going with a smile.
“Because it’s our precious Laurier’s birthday today? I thought that we should have the main event just be nice and quiet, with all three of us.”
“To do that for me is…”
“It’s isn’t just for Sasha’s sake, you know? Laurier was also thinking that she’d like to eat with her mother. Isn’t that right?”
Laurier beamed happily at my words.
“I want to eat with mother too!”
“…So she says. How about it?”
At that, a small but joyful smile finally came to Sasha’s face as she nodded.
“I understand… I’m grateful that the two of you were thinking about me like this.”
“Alright… then I’ll get everything ready, so just wait one moment.”
“Ready?”
Sasha once again looked confused. And for that mystified looking Sasha, I cut off a slice of lemon cake and held it out to her.
“Here we are. Sasha, say ‘ahhh’.”
“Eh… U-umm… my Lord…?”
“Come now. Please don’t hold back.”
“B-but…”
Sasha looked embarrassed and then turned her gaze towards Laurier slightly. Well, I can understand being ashamed about doing something like this in front of her daughter, but… unrelentingly, I kept going ‘Ahh, ahhh~’ until Sasha finally gave in, and accepted that bite of cake off the fork with as much elegance as she could muster.
“How is it?”
“It’s… it’s delicious.”
Sasha smiled bashfully. As I lost some of my reasoning watching such a cute reaction, I suddenly felt Laurier tugging on my sleeve.
“Father. Please feed me too.”
“Ah, of course, wait just a second.”
It wasn’t as if I ever had the option of saying no, though. For the sake of my assertive and lovely daughter, I cut off a slightly smaller portion from Laurier’s cake than I had for Sasha and then held it out to her.
“Okay, say ‘ahh’.”
“Ahh~”
Laurier made a cute sound as she munched contentedly on her cake. As I watched Laurier happily, I heard Sasha call me from her bed, in an ever so slightly sulky tone of voice.
“U-Um… my Lord. I too, um… one more time, please…”
“It would be my pleasure.”
After that, we settled into a pattern of me feeding them one at a time, but… even though I couldn’t get the image of feeding baby birds out of my mind, it was still an incredibly heart-melting scene.