Chapter 347: Gift?

At Maristella’s statement, both Atlas and Seraphiel turned toward her, and Atlas was the first to ask, "Special day?" Maristella nodded with a smile before answering, "It’s Seraphiel’s birthday, seems she didn’t tell you about it and wanted to surprise you instead."

She paused briefly as she noticed Atlas’s eyes widening in an instant, then continued, "A year has passed since her last birthday, meaning a Great Cycle, don’t tell me you forgot your own birthday, my sweet Sera."

This time, Seraphiel was the one who became utterly shocked. She had genuinely forgotten her own birthday because of the circumstances she had constantly been dealing with. In Eliomor, the celestial body around which the world revolved determined how a day, a month, and a year passed, and everyone followed that system to measure time.

One Solar Rotation meant one day, while one Celestial Turn represented a full month. Finally, a Great Cycle marked the completion of Eliomor’s rotation around the entire celestial body, and that was regarded as the completion of a year.

Seraphiel had been born exactly twenty-one Great Cycles ago, meaning her birthday had officially arrived, yet she hadn’t even noticed that the time for another Great Cycle had come, let alone remembered her own birthday.

Atlas turned toward Seraphiel and spoke up, "Then we should hurry and put the rings on, shouldn’t we? That could become one of the gifts on your birthday and... let’s say, it’s a birthday gift for me too, as I don’t know the day I was born."

Tears suddenly began to come out of Seraphiel’s eyes as she heard Atlas’s calm voice and saw the smile on his face. She hadn’t expected him to say something like that so casually, and his words touched the core of her being.

"A-Alright, let’s do it, Atlas." She immediately stood up and snapped her fingers, causing a small box to materialize on the table in front of them.

The box gently floated toward Atlas before he caught it in his palm, and after receiving a gesture from Seraphiel to open it, he lifted the lid. The moment he opened the small box, he saw a ring with an unusually tiny stone set at its top.

"I have another of its pair, Atlas. That stone you see is one of our Rosaria household’s treasured stones, taken from something that came from outside Eliomor. Though, at that time, we didn’t know about this outside and simply thought it was something closer to how ruins come to be."

Seraphiel explained as Atlas examined the ring, telling him about the origin of the stone that had been used in it. Her words drew his attention away from the ring itself as he listened carefully to her explanation.

Atlas nodded after hearing her words and finally stood up when he saw the matching ring in Seraphiel’s hand, "I see..." His hand moved toward Seraphiel’s left hand, as he already knew which finger he needed to put the ring on. Seraphiel didn’t wait either and immediately caught Atlas’s left hand, preparing to place the other ring on his finger.

Maristella and Dravenson smiled as they watched the two of them smiling at each other while putting the rings on. On the other hand, Atlas felt a strange sensation pass through his heart, and this time, it wasn’t simply warmth or any other emotion he had experienced before.

His world, no, his view of the world itself seemed to broaden, and the sensation felt like something beyond simple insight, as though his perspective had also changed.

’...It feels like...she is my whole world?’

Atlas questioned the feeling because he couldn’t completely understand it. For a moment, he simply looked at Seraphiel’s face as everything around him seemed to slow down, and his attention remained fixed on her.

’That smile...’

His heartbeat rose sharply as he felt warmth spreading through him, followed by a sense of responsibility and a desire to protect her. These unfamiliar sensations left him confused, yet the smile on his face remained as he continued looking at Seraphiel. He couldn’t fully explain what was happening inside him, but he didn’t feel any need to push those feelings away.

’Haha, these strange sensations... I like them.’

He chuckled inwardly as both of them finally placed the rings on each other’s ring fingers. Seraphiel looked at her hand and blushed deeply as she thought, ’I-I am now engaged to Atlas!’ Her already rising heartbeat increased even further, and she suddenly felt excited about what had just happened between them.

Her thoughts began drifting toward the future on their own, wondering where they should go on their next dates and how they could progress their relationship further until they were finally married. Only after that would come the final part her mother had talked about.

The moment that thought crossed her mind, her blush deepened, and just as she was trying to move her face away, Atlas suddenly hugged her tightly by the waist.

Seraphiel arched an eyebrow as she felt his hand around her waist, and her thoughts immediately became a mess. ’W-W-W-Whaaaat?’ Her heartbeat rose again, but this time, shock, excitement, and embarrassment all struck her at once.

Her eyes instantly drifted toward her father and mother, only to see both of them chuckling at the scene in front of them, making her even more embarrassed.

’N-NO! W-Why is Atlas suddenly behaving like this?!’

Her embarrassment reached its limit, but before she could react any further, she suddenly heard Atlas’s telepathic voice in her mind. ’Do not move, Seraphiel. Just remain like this for a moment.’ His voice immediately calmed her down, although she still wondered why he had suddenly become so serious.

Nevertheless, she stayed where she was and hugged him back, dismissing her embarrassing thoughts for the moment.

On the other hand, Atlas narrowed his eyes as he sent a telepathic message to someone else. ’Now, what is it you want?’ The person on the other side responded, ’It’s nothing serious, kid. I came here following you. You were the one that gazed back at us, remember? Well, now that I am here, I see many interesting things in a single world.’

There was a momentary pause before Atlas heard the man’s voice again, ’Alright, I have thought it out. I would like you to join our Primartia Conclave.’