Chapter 51 [Lex's Coming-of-Age Birthday]...
Although Ducwato sent the gift early, Lex's birthday is actually in early December.
Time flies, though. It seems like only yesterday was the beginning of November, and today is already the last day of November.
After counting for a while to make sure she hadn't miscounted the date, Mela carefully avoided Lex and pulled Silas under a tree to whisper to him.
"Did you prepare a gift for Lex?" Mela asked Silas.
Silas scratched his head with his wing, looking bewildered. "Of course."
Lex had never received a gift from Sylas before, but it was his eighteenth birthday coming up, and adulthood was a significant milestone in both the human and raven worlds.
Therefore, Sylas still condescended to prepare a gift for Lex.
"What is it?" Mela pressed.
"Well, I've picked out all the stones I've collected over the years that have some value. I can sell them for some money when Lex leaves," Silas said honestly.
It didn't understand the struggle for the throne, nor did it know what kind of bloodshed Lex would face upon his return. All it knew was that Lex was penniless, so it reluctantly took out its precious stone to scrape together some travel expenses for Lex, so that he wouldn't go hungry on his way back.
Of course, Silas had all the stones appraised by Lex beforehand, and only picked out those that humans thought were valuable. Although Silas thought most people really had no taste, what he considered to be the most beautiful stones were actually just broken stones in their eyes.
"What about Mela? What gift did you prepare for Lex?" Silas tilted his head curiously, wanting to know Mela's answer.
Mela paused for a moment, then touched the tip of her nose guiltily, too embarrassed to admit that she hadn't actually prepared a gift for Lex yet.
It's not entirely her fault. A coming-of-age gift needs to be unique and touch Lex's heart. Mela thought for a long time but couldn't come up with anything, so she simply put it out of her mind and decided to wait for inspiration to strike.
Who knows, she might have an idea someday?
Unfortunately, with Lex's birthday fast approaching, Mela still hasn't found her inspiration.
"Never mind, just remember to bring him here on Lex's birthday..."
Mela hugged Silas and whispered something in his ear, which made Silas nod repeatedly.
So when Lex opened his eyes first as usual, the first thing he saw was a wooden box next to his pillow.
The wooden box was poorly made and lacked any elaborate carvings. When Lex picked it up, he could hear a rattling sound coming from inside.
He opened the box and found that it was indeed filled with all sorts of stones; it was obvious that it was Silas's doing.
However, after a closer look, Lex discovered that these were all ores that could fetch a decent price, clearly chosen specifically for him by Celeste.
What does Silas mean by that? Lex pondered, does he think that as a human, he can only appreciate stones that can be exchanged for money?
Although Lex didn't know exactly how many stones Silas had collected, he remembered that among the stones Silas had asked him to appraise, several were as beautiful as pure gemstones.
"How was it? Did you see the gift I gave you? Aren't you touched?"
While Lex was cooking breakfast, Silas plopped down on a nearby cabinet and stared at Lex with a smug look.
"I racked my brains for a long time before deciding to give you this gift. Didn't you say that selling them would get you at least a dozen silver coins? That should be enough for you to get home, right?"
Upon hearing this, Lex paused in his stirring of the soup. So that was why Silas had given him the stone. But he was wrong; the palace was not his home. It was no different from a dragon's den or a tiger's lair.
but.
“Thank you for the gift, Silas. But I won’t sell them,” Lex said.
"Why?" Silas didn't understand why Lex was refusing his offer. "It's true that I cherish these stones, but if you can't bear to part with them, I'll find some new, beautiful stones for you later."
"No need, I'm just not at the point where I need to sell your precious stone to get back."
Lex had no intention of being sentimental; he had indeed planned this all along, but there was no need to explain it in detail to Silas.
“Alright, then you must cherish the stone I gave you. I didn’t even give it to Mela.” Silas repeatedly reminded him, still worried.
Speaking of Mela, Lex hadn't seen her since waking up this morning, and now that breakfast was on the table, she still hadn't appeared.
Lex tapped the table, asking Silas, who clearly knew what was going on, "Where did Mela go?"
"It's none of your business. Anyway, she's busy." Silas knew he would make a mistake if he said too much, so he simply kept his mouth shut to prevent Lex from getting information out of him beforehand.
Mela said that Silas should bring Lex to see her again in the afternoon, so that Silas would not give himself away beforehand.
Thinking of this, Silas proudly puffed out his chest, feeling extremely pleased with his own cleverness.
Lex, who clearly deduced from Silas's actions that Mela was preparing a birthday surprise for him, was speechless.
He strongly suspected that the reason Mela dared to let Silas watch over him was because she hadn't told Silas what surprise she was preparing, so she wasn't afraid that Silas would accidentally let it slip.
At the same time, a hint of anticipation inevitably rose in Lex's heart.
So when Silas suddenly flew up as if he'd been injected with adrenaline, urging him to leave the cabin, Lex didn't say a word, quickly opened the door, and went out.
His boots were buried in the thick snow, but that didn't stop Lex from moving forward.
He walked much faster than Silas could fly.
Seeing this, Silas stopped flying and landed on his shoulder to slack off, only occasionally opening his mouth to direct him on where to go.
Finally, they arrived near a lake.
The lake isn't very big; it takes less than fifteen minutes to walk around it. Strangely, the water, which should have been frozen, not only didn't freeze but was even steaming.
It looks like a small hot spring.
"Happy birthday, Lex," Mela suddenly appeared from behind a large tree, smiling broadly.
"So this is the gift you gave me?" Lex asked with difficulty. He looked around and realized that apart from the lake, there was nothing else that would make Mela go to such lengths.
But this gift surprised Lex far more than the gift Mela had prepared for him.
“That’s right. I put in a lot of effort to clean this lake and heat the water before you arrived.” Mela snapped her fingers, very proud of her meticulous preparations.
There's nothing more enjoyable than soaking in a hot spring on a cold winter's day.
Mela was absolutely certain that even when Lex was old enough to be bedridden, he would never forget this memory.
“...But why do I feel like this is a bit like boiling Lex?” Silas said, spoiling the mood.
As it spoke, it swiftly scooped out a wilted water plant, "Look, there's also some side dish."
"...Oh, I didn't expect there to be some fish that slipped through the net here." Mela quickly grabbed the seaweed from Silas's hand, threw it behind her, and pretended that nothing had happened.
"Alright, Lex, don't take Silas's words to heart. Hurry up and go soak in the water, otherwise the heating spell will wear off and the surface will freeze over again soon." Mela urged Lex while covering Silas's mouth to prevent it from saying anything unpleasant.
Lex hesitated for a moment.
"I……"
He glanced at Mela, lowered his eyes, and stood motionless like a wooden figure, making no other movement.
"What?" Mela had barely uttered the words when she realized Lex was shy.
She quickly turned around, assuring him that she would not peek or let Silas peek, and told Lex to hurry up and soak in the water.
Suddenly, I heard a rustling sound of fabric rubbing together behind me, followed by the sound of water.
"How is it? Is it comfortable?" After confirming that Lex was in the water, Mela turned back with a smile and squatted down beside him.
“…It’s quite comfortable.” Lex felt uncomfortable under Mela’s gaze and quietly moved back a little.
He always felt that Mela's gaze was intentionally or unintentionally falling on his chest, with a small part of it not reaching into the water.
Realizing that Lex had discovered her, Mela silently looked away, but couldn't help recalling the beautiful lines she had just glimpsed.
It possesses both the vigor of youth and the composure and reliability of adulthood.
"Mera, what are you thinking about? Your expression looks really strange."
Silas, whose mouth had already been released, was puzzled as to why the two had suddenly fallen silent. Lex was one thing, but Mela's expression left Silas somewhat bewildered.
It was like tasting delicious roasted meat.
"I was thinking about whether Lex could make us some roasted bird wings later." Mela stopped Silas from doing what was very likely to be a third time that would spoil the mood, with a threatening smile.
Unaware of what it had said wrong, Silas shuddered with fear and spread its wings to cover its mouth, indicating that it would not speak again unless Mela asked it.
The effects of the heating spell didn't last long; after only about 45 minutes in Lex's hot spring, the water began to cool down.
Lex quickly changed his clothes after emerging from the hot spring and walked back with Mela.
The moment they stepped into the cabin, a fire automatically lit in the fireplace, quickly warming the room to a cozy, spring-like temperature.
Mela was exhausted after a whole morning and was now slumped in her rocking chair, too lazy to move, but she kept ordering Silas and Lex around, one to get her food and the other to get her a drink.
Silas tried to resist, using Lex as an excuse, "Mera, aren't you going a bit too far? Lex's birthday hasn't even passed yet."
How can you boss someone around on their birthday?
"After giving the gift, isn't this birthday already over?" Mela asked in surprise.
“Oh, I forgot, there’s also a sumptuous dinner. I’ll leave that to you, Lex,” Mela casually instructed.
"As for you, Silas, you can go and assist Lex."
Seeing Silas's reluctant expression, Mela feigned surprise and said, "What's wrong? Silas, can you really bear to see Lex do so much work by himself on his birthday? That's going too far."
"I-I-I—I'll go help right away." Silas couldn't argue with Mela, so he reluctantly went to help Lex.
Fortunately, a sumptuous dinner was served that evening. Silas ate until his stomach was round and full, and he almost couldn't sleep because he couldn't digest all the food.
Mela's face, however, was flushed red from the alcohol.
She opened the bottle of wine that Ducwato had sent.
It is indeed a fine wine worth savoring.
Mela couldn't resist and drank two large glasses in one go, immediately becoming drunk and staring blankly into the air.
Lex came to help her up.
She just stared straight at Lex's face.
“Lex,” Mela suddenly called his name.
"Hmm?" Lex looked puzzled.
“You’ve grown up,” Mela said slowly, her meaningful gaze lingering on his deep-set eyes, thin lips, and prominent Adam’s apple.
That was an expression she had never shown to Lex before.
A woman's way of looking at a man.
Lex's Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily, and he lowered his head in embarrassment, unable to meet Mela's gaze.
“Yes, I’ve grown up,” he said.
At the same time, I couldn't help but wonder what Mela was going to say next.
They say people speak the truth when they're drunk. Was what she said just now intentional, or...?
Lex waited for ages, only to find Mela leaning against his arm, fast asleep.
Lex: "..."
So she was actually acting drunk just now?
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