“Marcus…you look quite dashing today, huh?” Stella smiled sweetly as she finally met him in the hallway of her chamber.

  Marcus, on the other hand, turned red, looking away with a grunt. “Whatever you’re saying. I just…fixed myself up a bit.”

  He wasn’t exactly wearing something too outrageously fancy. He wore normal black pants, black shoes, and a suit with a coat on top. Still, today, his face was clean-shaven, which emphasized his quite youthful face—reminding Stella a bit about the fact that he was ‘technically’ younger than her—and his hair was combed well in a slick manner.

  All in all, he looked like a sharp, handsome young man. It was a shame that his face would be hidden by his mask.

  “Besides, you look a thousand times better than me right now,” Marcus countered, and it immediately struck Stella and turned her face red. “I like…how your hair is styled. It really fits you.”

  Butterflies fluttering in her tummy, Stella frantically waved her hands. “Okay, okay, fine! Let’s not talk about that.” It’s just making me feel all weird. “Ahem, anyway, happy birthday, Marcus!”

  “Thanks.”

  Stella nodded happily. “I’m going to make sure that you’ll have a very fun day today. Even if you said that we should splurge more on the children, Phoebe and Marie managed to coordinate with the people of the orphanage to cook some good food for everyone. I’m sure you’ll like it a lot.”

  “That sounds wonderful…”

  “And, uhm…I’m going to prepare you something special this evening.”

  “Food?”

  “Of course, food! Since you like my cooking so much, I thought you’d like to have some…uhm…nice baked goodies made by me during dinner tonight.”

  “Hmm, yes,” Marcus smiled widely at last. “Ah, yeah, this is what I always look forward to when it’s my birthday.”

  Looking like a childish gremlin, he lightly slapped his tummy. “Looks like I’m going to suffer from indigestion today.”

  “Uhm…” Stella’s smile turned awkward. “Let’s hope not.”

  “Right. Anyway, I’m pumped up. I want to go to the orphanage now. Is everything in order?”

  “Yes, of course. Let’s go!”

  And with that, Stella took Marcus’s hand and dragged him out of her chamber with excitement.

  When Marcus and Stella arrived at Meriel’s Haven, almost immediately, they were swarmed by children gushing over Stella and children attempting to get close to Marcus. Apparently, the news about two going dungeon diving and slaying a dragon, just to secure funding for the orphanage, had been leaked to the children of the orphanage.

  Now, of course, most of the youngest children hardly understood that, but many of the older ones had a basic grasp of the orphanage being funded by their beloved princess’s money and the fact that, for the last few months, there had been talks between the adults about the potential closure should the princess’s disappearance become a permanent reality.

  All of that had been turned around. Ever since Stella and Marcus returned from their expedition from the lost fortress, almost immediately, the food in the orphanage improved, and there was an announcement yesterday from the staff that everyone would be receiving new clothes, shoes, and other items soon.

  And so, when Marcus stepped in, he was bombarded by children, especially the boys, all asking him to share his story about how he ‘killed a stone dragon.’ Many even asked how Stella reacted while he was doing it; apparently, many of them were weaving outrageous tales similar to other stories about dragons and princesses on the side. Of course, he tried to dispel such myths, but it was difficult.

  Later, Stella managed to rescue him from the horde of children, and he finally managed to rejoin Marie and Phoebe in their actual task of unloading the goods and supplies they had bought and acquired for the orphanage. He helped out the male staff of the orphanage carrying crates and bags, while Phoebe jotted notes on the side.

  The elven maid lightly laughed a bit as she watched Marcus place a crate on a stack of crates outside of the orphanage. “I wonder, do you really love working so much that you insist on doing it during your birthday?”

  “Why not?” Marcus asked. “I did say that we’ll do it all at once today. Gotta get all the supplies they need. It’s necessary to help out.”

  Marcus continued working; Phoebe, on the other hand, smiled. “You want to get a taste of doing charity?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You have strange tastes in life.”

  Marcus ignored her words, and he just continued working. Stella too worked; well, everyone did. Instead of eating out and celebrating, for much of the day, their crew just helped out in unloading and distributing supplies and gifts to the children. During lunch, the children actually ate fancy food first, while they all, as adults, continued working.

  It was only in the early afternoon when Marcus finally managed to sit down with Stella in a private room to eat lunch.

  “I’m going to miss this,” Marcus said as he took a spoonful of beef stew from his bowl. “I didn’t know they made them this good here. Say, who made this?”

  “That’s Chef Bruno’s work,” Stella said, smiling. “He made sure to improve all of the food on the menu, just today. The ingredients on this one and the preparation for it are nearly identical to what we get in the royal palace.”

  “The kids are eating like kings, huh?”

  Stella giggled. “You could say that!”

  Marcus nodded and continued eating. The two still had a lot of work today, after all, and he was very much determined to get it all done. Helping out people, giving out to children, and seeing their smiles made his heart feel all warm and fuzzy. He was starting to understand why Stella liked doing this.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Killing demons, killing monsters, and saving people made you feel glory and the adrenaline of battle. But in the end, even if it felt nice to fight and, in the end, have a taste of victory, he realized it paled to the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve helped people out with something as simple as just giving them clothes or feeding them.

  Maybe one day, when I run out of enemies to kill, I’ll do this with her.

  “So,” Stella called to him. “Are you enjoying this day?”

  “Yeah,” Marcus nodded. “I think…this line of work isn't so bad. Though I guess, ironically, most of the work I did to make this true was still killing.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The dungeon dive to make so much money?”

  Stella laughed. “Ah. Yes. Even Lady Louise somewhat gave me the advice that you’ll be extremely helpful if you decide to do big hunts like that and donate for the cause.”

  “Well, what can I do?” Marcus shook his head with a smile. “I swing my blade, and people somehow benefit from it. You know, before this, I thought that was kind of sad. Now, though, maybe it isn’t so bad.”

  “Just don’t get used to it, and you need to balance your life away from fighting,” Stella said. “But, I assure you, you don’t need to fully abandon who you are. You’re someone who helps and protects by removing the bad guys; you can do that from time to time.”

  “That’s a good idea.”

  “One day though, once the Death God Cult is gone, we can do a lot of this,” Stella said. “Would you like to one day go on expeditions, not to kill monsters or bad people, but, uhm, to just donate supplies and food, or coordinate with healers to handle epidemics or sick people?”

  “Yeah, I’d like to try that.”

  “Knew it. I did it a lot back then. It really makes you feel better, knowing that with your position in society, you’re making a lot of people’s lives better,” Stella smiled. “I’d like you to feel more of that too.”

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  And with that, Marcus sped up eating.

  The day soon wound down. Earlier, he had dinner at the palace with Stella, Marie, and Phoebe after their work was done in Meriel’s Haven. It was, indeed, nowhere close to whatever Stella originally planned, but it was still quite good. In fact, Marcus thought it was probably even better than whatever fancy food the chefs of the palace could create.

  After all, he got to eat ‘ice cream’ that Stella created, alongside other pastries and desserts she wanted to show off for Marcus, and then he had a birthday cake. It was small, only enough for the three of them, and it was the only actual food that was created by the royal palace’s head chef after Stella requested it.

  All in all, this was, perhaps, materially, the best birthday he ever had. His family’s celebrations were basically miles away from what he had today. He wasn’t sure if it was the best, though. Sure, Stella was there, and, by this point, even Marcus understood that he absolutely adored events whenever she was there.

  But now, he was just on the balcony of one of the rooms in her chamber. He was looking at the night sky, a glass of wine in one hand, admiring the stars above. A question formed in his mind.

  What will the two of you think?

  The fond memories with his family, the special days in which they were together to huddle for a simple feast of mere commoners, were now starting to feel distant. Yet, the warmth of having them with him was still vivid. It only reminded him that he would never be able to recreate it now.

  “I really wanted to go back home,” Marcus said, wistfully. Then, he took a sip of his wine before smiling. “I’m sure you’ll like this drink, Father.”

  Then he laughed a bit, shaking his head.

  Stella appeared behind him. She closed the door to the balcony as she did, before she stood side by side with him. “You look like you’re reminiscing about something.”

  “I am,” Marcus bluntly said. One thing he realized as he spent more and more time with people now that it was peacetime was that he was exceedingly closed about his feelings and what was happening in his mind. It made him look like a person hiding everything. It wasn’t a good thing when his goal was to build a life here; after all, who would want to befriend someone who couldn’t answer even the most innocent questions?

  “Just…thinking back about my family, is all,” Marcus said, still looking up at the stars. “I just wish they were here.”

  “They must have raised you well, with love and all.”

  “They did. Yeah.”

  Stella smiled. “I can understand why you’ll want them here. A part of me even wishes that I could share my cooking with your parents.”

  Marcus immediately turned to look at Stella. Her cheeks flushed as she stammered.

  “I-I meant, well…I like showing off how well I cook to people. You know, people always think that just because I’m royalty, I can’t do certain things, so…”

  She stopped, breathing in and out deeply. “That’s all.”

  “I’m sure they’ll like it,” Marcus said, trying to make their conversation less awkward. Then he laughed. “I liked it, after all. I somewhat have the same tastes as my father did. What he liked, I liked.”

  “Is that so?”

  Marcus swished his glass of wine with a grin. “Father will fight to the death to get a taste of this.”

  “What is with you men and your obsession with alcohol?” Stella giggled, shaking her head.

  “I’m not really that into alcohol. I mean, back in the day, the best I had was rum and beer,” Marcus said. “Any man can appreciate something as fine as this, though. How many years was this aged?”

  “Thirty years.”

  “Goodness.”

  “I just asked Father for it,” Stella said. “He opened up his cellar rather quickly.”

  “Now that you’re talking about that,” Marcus frowned. “He sure responds well whenever you have requests nowadays. Like, as in, he’s actually spoiling you.”

  “I imagine it’s because he wants to repair relations between us,” Stella held her chin. “Father always seemed to be the pragmatic one. Way too pragmatic, in fact. He has no true principles or positions in life. Only what benefits him. At least, that’s how I understand it.”

  Marcus remembered the fact that Stella was supposed to be married off. “Yeah, that guy somewhat sucks ass.”

  “P-please don’t say that though,” Stella pouted a bit. “He’s not the best, but he’s the king of the nation. And again, he’s still my father. As much as I have complaints about how he treated me, I recognize too that at the end of the day, Father created Sordale. This nation is probably the most important creation of his life. He’s going to do everything for this country.”

  She looked at the skyline of Kalthafen with some admiration. “I’m a bit of a rebel child, but I know that while he wanted to use me, he wanted to do it to create peace between us and Ridia. And it wasn’t like he was doing anything special. In high society, this is normal, unfortunately.”

  “Hmm…still, it pisses me off…”

  “Well, it’s clear it’s not happening any time soon, though,” Stella smiled. “I’m strong now, and I can stand up on my own, so of course, my father’s calculus on how to deal with me changed to my benefit.”

  Then, she leaned close to Marcus. “And it’s all thanks to you, Marcus.”

  Marcus was about to say something stupid like, ‘But you also worked hard for it; no need to thank me,’ but he luckily fixed his response into something more appropriate for this time.

  “...Thanks for everything today too, Stella.”

  And that seemed to make her happier. “You're welcome.”