“As I said.”

Ian spoke proudly to the Academy staff members sitting in front of him.

“I'm the president of the student council, and the candidate for the best student. I would never bring banned items to the dormitory building.”

The staff slowly nodded in agreement. Come to think of it, Ian would likely graduate with honors once he completed his final exam. An intelligent young man such as himself would never jeopardize his position. They had also searched Ian's, Simon's and Louise's rooms, and they could not find a single beverage bottle, let alone alcohol.

“Of course, I understand that the Academy staff are sincere."

Ian was all smiles at the adults before him.

“It is your duty to take all reports seriously. Now that you've finished, you can all enjoy your short weekend break.”

The Academy staff took his suggestion and filed out of the dormitory room. Louise and Simon glanced at the adults' faces as they walked out. The door slammed shut, and Louise ran towards Ian with a frown.

“Aren't you too good at lying?”

“It's not a lie. There is really no alcohol here.”

“But you bought it yesterday.”

“I did.”

Ian nodded and folded his arms.

“But I'm not patient enough to buy delicious drinks and then wait for a day.”

Louise narrowed her eyes at him.

“You drank it all?”

“Not intentionally.”

Louise recalled that the bottle was so heavy it couldn't be lifted with one arm. He drank all that? By himself?

Although Louise had never touched alcohol before, she had seen the indecent condition of people that went heavy on the drink. One of the employees of the greenhouse had lain down own the dirt, rambling, "I'm warm. I want to be a tree." She also knew that the effects of alcohol continued on to the next day, and people would suffer from headaches and be unable to get up.

Ian looked perfectly fine this morning. He had even been able to show off his archery skills with steady hands. How on earth did he do it? He probably had excellent liver function. If only some part of his body could operate on an average level.

“More importantly, the alcohol isn't the problem.”

The problem was his room. The staff members had been rooting through his room, and had left it in a complete mess. Blankets were tossed on the floor, and books were scattered on the desk and window sill. Dirt had been stirred up from the corners, embellis.h.i.+ng the room with a thin layer of dust. The birthday cake couldn't escape destruction and was cut up to examine the inside, while the black tea tin was half-emptied of its contents. Dust had even settled on the tea leaves.

The trio stared at the wall. Louise had hung up "Happy Birthday Simon," but all that was left was "—day Simon".  Ian walked over to open the window, and the word "Simon" fell on top of the destroyed cake. Ian briefly took in the scene before them.

“I wouldn't be surprised if there was some kind of national crusade against Simon Hillard's birthday party. “

“If something like that even existed, where would it even be organized?”

Louise looked on gloomily, while Ian checked the time. The evening was already drawing near, and they had already wasted much of the day. They couldn't spend any valuable minutes on cleaning Ian's room, so they would do Simon's first, as he couldn't sleep on a pile of dust for his birthday.

The three moved to Simon's room. His room was in a far better state than Ian's—no, not just better. It was completely fine. In addition, they were surprised to find a large cake box on his desk. As a child, Mrs. Sweeney always shown up with a large cake box on Simon's birthday. The box wasn't used by any store in the capital, and the three a.s.sumed the cake was made by Mrs. Sweeney.

Louise approached the box first.

“Was my mother here?!”

“Well, she didn't say anything about visiting. Neither did Mrs. Sweeney.”

At Ian's answer, Louise looked back at him in surprise.

“Do you still exchange letters with my mother? I mean, my real mother.”

“She was worrying over changing hairdressers. She's trying her best to find one, even though there's a shortage.”

Ian pointed to the box with the tip of his chin, and Simon pulled the dark blue ribbon to open it. 

Inside was an autumn carrot cake. Simon's birthday always had a delicious rustic cake.

“The contents are as usual.”

Louise peered in the box in admiration. As a sweet aroma drifted upwards, everyone rushed into action. Simon lifted the cake from the box and prepared hot tea. Feeling that the room was a little chilly, Ian pulled out thick mugs from somewhere to keep the tea warm for a long time. Simon considered cutting the cake into neat pieces, but he stopped. He had heard that eating a birthday cake whole was fun, if messy.

The three abandoned their manners, and began destroying the cake with their forks. The cake was sweet, nutty, and baked with plenty of fresh carrots. The cream cheese frosting was deliciously rich, and was a smooth contrast to the coa.r.s.eness of the sponge.

Louise loved this carrot cake. She also liked looking at the methodical way Ian and Simon tackled the cake together; Ian devoured a lot of the icing, while Simon ate little of it. It wouldn't take them long to polish off the large cake when they all joined forces. Finally, there was one last crumbly piece left reserved for the man of honor.

“The last piece of the birthday cake is filled with the joy and blessings of everyone at the party. “

Ian made his declaration with a solemn face, and Louise giggled.

“Our wishes of joy and blessings look like this?"

Usually the last piece was cut neatly with a knife, but the one before them was in a sad shape. Louise looked at the cake with a smile, then clapped her hands as if she recalled something.

“Oh, you know what, Simon?”

“Hmm?”

“My mother's carrot cake is not as good as this one.”

Mrs. Sweeney had always given Simon a carrot cake on his birthday.

“I always thought it was her that baked a delicious cake for your birthday.”

But now she knew. It was not her mother's cake. Perhaps it was a gift from the former queen.

“Is it a birthday present?”

“Was it Louise Sweeney's birthday today?”

The former queen pretended not to know it a little while ago, but she must have known it. Enough to send a cake every year.

“I didn't know Grandmother had that side to her.”

Ian looked at the empty cake box in surprise.

“But you two complained about being her clowns.”

” …I should probably send her a letter begging for my position again.”

Simon happily ate the last piece, accepting the joy and blessings that had been wished upon it.

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