Chương 44: A Wonderful Mother's Day

June had woken up in the nightrealm and continued with his day as if he had no plans to give gifts. He washed himself in the morning at the large bath. Joined the family for breakfast. Worked on making a balisong knife with the help of his king and his eldest daughter, Alison, and her alter. Joined the family for lunch. Practiced swordsmanship with the twins Albert and Darion, the second middle sister, Eleanor, provided some pointers while she trained with her bow. Joined the family for Dinner.

Helped Catherine with her magic experiments and nearly created a bomb by accident. Joined the Queen for knitting and added some finishing touches to the scarf he's been working on. Second longer bath before bed. And then he would usually sleep. But for this day, June had a plan, and the day had gone off without a hitch. No one seemed to know of his nefarious schemes alongside the brothers, the kings, the sisters, and Mortimer himself.

'No one ever expects the old man.' The entire day had been a ploy to trick the queen; her every waking moment was accompanied by someone who would masterfully keep her away from her very own bedchambers. Even though everyone had a designated sleeping time, most of us, except Mortimer, of course, would stay up to do something else. Lilia would occasionally walk around and relax on her own, typically with a book. She always wore the letterman's jacket.

Of course, the others had things they did as well, but June typically spent his 'bedtime' often climbing onto the roof to look at the view, at least that's what his excuse was to try to get a glimpse of Lilia meandering in the garden. This Mother's Day was going to be the day he got Lilia to talk to him again. He had a gift that he painstakingly made, a scarf, and he even got some advice from the kings and Alison on how to enchant things in a more permanent way.

The scarf was originally just supposed to be a mundane scarf, but enchanting offered so many possibilities. In the end, he boiled it down to adding a few enchantments, one of which allowed the scarf to change forms into a bracelet. June felt a bit sad thinking that his effort to painstakingly hand-knit a scarf had been in vain until he realized that it wasn't able to use its other enchantments in that form as well as it did in its regular form.

The second enchantment was imbued with his will, in fact he almost died making that enchantment alone from how much will he put in, he knew Will was an auxiliary, but apparently people can die from overusing it, but that didn't matter much to June since the second enchantment protected Lilia by making a small imperceivable bubble around her that would effectively divert any incoming damage from any attacker with an inferior will, he could have just put in a small or decent amount, but the more will he put in increased the chances of Lilia being safe.

The third and final was simply a spell that Catherine helped imprint onto it that made it mend itself if it got damaged. He had to do a lot of dangerous experiments and act as her assistant for a while before she decided to agree to engraving the spell.

It literally took quarts of June's blood as a catalyst, so it had a little side effect of reflecting his current state in small ways, but he didn't mind; most people wouldn't notice minute changes in it unless they really studied it, and he just assumed that Lilia would somewhat like the scarf at best. As much effort as he put into making the scarf, it was merely a way to get his foot in the door. He planned to invite Lilia on a date, but first he had to give it to her.

He wasn't exactly sure of how to, but he decided a non-confrontational way would probably work best. Well, at least that's what he had planned.

June first had to go to a party that was being set up for the Queen; it wasn't anything grand. Around this time, the Queen probably would have completed some of her tasks as a monarch and had probably made it back to her bedchambers. The Kings were waiting for her, and on the stern king's signal, everyone would make their way in to surprise her.

'Should I really be here? I mean, she's not my mother…' Despite June's internal doubt of his place, he was dead set on giving the Queen a gift; she had done so much for him, so this was his chance to pay her back. This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

June was sitting on the roof perched right above the balcony of the royal bedchambers, the twins were hiding underneath the bed, Catherine was using an invisibility spell, Alison and Eleanor were waiting in the closet, Lilia had used another type of magic to erase her presence, and Mortimer had turned himself into an ornate lamp. The rest of the night was far less exciting; the kings said the key phrase, which was 'Happy,' and everyone sprang into action.

Funnily enough, the Queen wasn't startled by everyone appearing; it was hard to startle someone with superhuman senses after all, especially one as strong as the Queen. Everyone gave their gifts. One twin gave a hand-carved horse, the other twin gave a hand-carved carriage. The kings had given the Queen a handmade bejeweled necklace, Lilia had created a rose made of magical perma-frost which would never melt, and Alison gave her mother a new dress.

Catherine gave the Queen a mystery concoction before whispering its purpose into the Queen's ear, making her go red. Eleanor had purchased a designer pen, seemingly made from crystalline glass. Mortimer gave the Queen an old, ornate silver and ruby cane, seemingly made from a monster's bone, and June gave her a mundane knitting set.

'Maybe I should have gone a bit harder on gifts.' The king brought out a cart and unveiled it to show a couple of items that resembled food and a burned pie. Mortimer followed along with a cart of his own with desserts and well-decorated assortments of actual food. The night was lively, but it ended quickly. Eventually, the Queen shooed everyone out of the room, and everyone went back to their rooms. Everyone except June.

June sat in the garden alone for a while. It was his first time being here; it was a dark place with no lights whatsoever, but that also meant he could look up and see the stars. June looked up and felt the cold breeze caressing his face. He had another bag beside him.

'How do I do this…' June let out a sigh and let his head hang limply backwards, looking up at the starry night from a surprisingly soft wooden bench. His thoughts went on for a bit, sometimes closing his eyes and waiting, sometimes opening them and expecting Lilia to be staring down at him.

'It feels weird calling her Lilia's, two people sharing one body…. I guess in a way it's not too weird, I have two brains in my body after all.' June's apprenticeship hadn't begun yet, but June kept the second project brain going. He hadn't made many leaps and bounds since his last fight; in fact, the only thing he really ended up doing was making it more reliable. Eventually, a warm lamplight shone through his eyelids while he was still staring up.

Lilia stood looking down at his face, almost as close as it was when Mortimer had rudely interrupted them. He had no idea what to do; should he reach out and touch her face? Despite their distance, it felt as if he tried; it would be the same as trying to grab the moon; her beauty was unlike anything June had ever seen. She kept looking down at June, her face directly above his own. She stood behind the chair, and he sat on it, limply hanging his head back.

'This would be a great moment for an iconic kiss.' June didn't move, despite his thoughts and the growing pain in his neck from holding this angle on looking up, he felt like looking away would make her cease, like a lover you meet within your dreams.

"Lilia" She looked like she snapped out of a trance. June wasn't wearing the boss's aviators; other than the warm lamplight, the stars, and the moon, his eyes were the closest and most covetable thing to her in the castle. Today, June wanted to look her in the eye, without any barriers to hide behind. When he was around Lilia, he didn't feel naked without his sunglasses; he felt right.

"Yes, June" June hid a shudder; he was lucky her light sources were unreliable. His body was covered in goosebumps. His eyes were covetable, His voice made hearts stop, His looks overpowered deep, nurtured fears of humans within wildlife, but when he looked at Lilia, his eyes visibly burned with want, and when they did, every part of him paled in comparison. Silence was nice, but in this moment, June felt like a stone grown in the back of his throat. Her eyes were pools of ice; they reflected his own.

It was hard to tell if he was looking at her intently or if she was looking at him with just as much earnest.

"I… I made you a gift." June lifted a bag"Want to sit with me?"

'This is my time to strike while the iron's hot.' June had to suppress a full-body fist pump as she walked around the chair to seat herself beside him. He had an odd sensation whirl in him when she sat beside him, his mouth slightly opened agape, and it felt like all the joy in his body shuddered and swirled inside him, aiming to make a noise, but forgot to in its own folly.

'What a weird feeling.' June gently gave her the bag. The lamp was sitting on the floor. Lilia only saw his legs and a little bit of his torso before the warm light joined the starlight. June's two eyes burned with an intensity; they did not emanate as far as the lamp, but they burned brightly enough to overpower the light surrounding his face. It was almost like the space surrounding his eyes was only just for his eyes; no other light would dare to penetrate their soft, yet intense, angelic golden glow.

The moonlight did not shine fully into the garden at this time; its true beauty waited at a later time, but for now, the stars, the lamp, and June's eyes illuminated the world enough for Lilia. The bag was a leather satchel that June got from Mortimer, and inside it was a pure red scarf.

'I probably should have used more colors.' Lilia immediately wrapped it around her neck and nuzzled her face into its warm embrace. June, on the other hand, kept opening his mouth to say something, but nothing came out; his goosebumps and feeling elation made it feel like his hairs were going to tear themselves out of his skin to dance in an ensemble. Lilia went to open the bag again when June put his hand on hers.

'Holy shit'"… There's a invitation in there… Could you check it later?" June's inadvertent hand touch made her face go red, and his grew a bright red. Luckily for him, she didn't have the same ability as him to see in the dark, so it was purely a feast for his eyes, but at the same time, he didn't want to push any boundaries, so he quickly retracted his hand and stood up.

"I'm going to call it a night for now, I have another celebration I need to go to after all…. Goodnight Lilia" June swiftly disappeared, regretting not staying, but he felt as if he would pop into a disgusting mass if she saw his face red with blush.

'Oh my god, thank God she didn't read the invitation in front of me.'

'Should I have thrown in a 'I love you?' too? No, no, I missed my chance.' June looked at his hand, and the feeling of Lilia's hand was soft and cold to the touch. He was starting to really regret not staying. Unfortunately, the idea of her getting curious and picking up the 'invitation', which basically said in a glorified way of the 'Do you like me Y/N' question he saw other kids doing during his middle school years, scared June with embarrassment.

'Oh, I didn't ask for my Jacket either…'

'Shit'