“Happy Tenth Birthday, Erinys!”

A little girl said as she looked at her reflection in the full body mirror of her room. 

She looked so happy, as she greeted herself, hoping that today, her father would visit her and tell her happy birthday.

After taking a bath, and eating the pancake that was prepared for her by her maid, she busied herself by looking outside of the window of the house to wait for her father’s arrival.

An hour passed…

Two hours passed…

Several hours passed…

But the person she was waiting for didn’t appear. 

Even when the sun had set, he still hadn’t returned home. 

“Happy Birthday to Me~ 

Happy Birthday to Me~

Happy Birthday… Happy Birthday…

Happy Birthday to Me~”

​ Erinys pressed her hands together to make a wish.

“I wish my father will come on my eleventh birthday,” Eriny said softly.

A moment later she blew the candle on the cake and clapped her hands to congratulate herself. She was all alone at the table, with only a small cake to mark that she had turned ten years old on that very day.

The maid had already left the house to return to her own residence for the night, leaving her to celebrate her birthday all alone. That night, she slept peacefully hoping that on the same date next year, her wish would become a reality.

—–

“Happy Eleventh Birthday, Erinys!” Erinys said as she looked at her reflection with a smile on her face. “I hope Daddy comes home today for my birthday!”

But, after waiting for many hours, her wish didn’t become a reality.

“I wish my father will come on my twelfth  birthday,” Eriny said as she pressed her hands together before blowing her cake.

Once again, she celebrated her birthday all alone, with no one to greet her but herself.

Thirteen…

Fourteen…

Fifteen…

Sixteen…

Seventeen…

Eighteen…

The years passed by and still, Eriny celebrated her birthday alone. Her wish every year was the same, but this year, she no longer hoped that it would become a reality.

——-

Eriny slowly opened her eyes, gazing at the image of William in front of her.

The Half-Elf didn’t know that Eriny had bought a hug pillow from Ama-Soon, using him as the model for its design. 

After the black-haired teenager had left to look for Celine on the Plains of Wrath, Eriny’s had lived alone on her flying boat, waiting for his return.

The little Half-ling then turned her head to the side to look at the calendar that hung on the wall. A big red circle could be seen on the 27th day of the month, marking her birthday. 

Erinys was born on the 27th day of the month of the Wheel of Fortune. Back then, she thought that this day was incredibly special because it was the day of her birth. But over the years, the special feeling she felt had faded, which led her to treat her birthday as another ordinary day.

“One more week before my birthday,” Erinys muttered. 

The Half-ling propped herself up into a sitting position before doing some light stretches with her arms. After she finished her daily routine, she looked down on her hug pillow and started to poke the cheeks of the Half-Elf who had a smile on his face.

“When will you return?” Erinys asked. “It has been three days already.”

Naturally, the hug pillow didn’t answer her. It simply smiled back at her, which made the Half-ling poke it repeatedly.

Suddenly, a thunderous clap of thunder shook the entire Plains of Wrath, making Eriny’s jump up in fright. 

She then hurriedly ran towards the outside of her cabin to see what was happening, only to see a sight she had never seen before in the Underworld.

Innumerable lightning bolts rained down from the heavens, striking the ground, and making the entire plains tremble.

Even from the safety of her flying boat, Erinys could hear the screams of the people that were being hit by these stray lightning bolts, with some of them turning into red mists. These mists then merged together, forming a red cloud, and flew towards the direction of the spawn area of the Plains of Wrath.

‘What in the Ten Circles of the Underworld is happening?!’ Erinys screamed internally as the thunder storm raged on without any signs of stopping. She couldn’t tell if the lightning bolts were just randomly hitting the ground or not, but one thing was for sure, those that were unlucky enough to be targeted by such a thing would find themselves dead before they could even blink.

To those that had survived, they were in for a very painful experience because lightning could hit the same place twice. 

Many of the survivors of the first wave of lightning bolts died in its second, third, and fourth wave, leaving them no place to hide within the plains, which had no concept of shelter, except for the Tower of Wrath that was at the center of this calamity.

For some reason, although Eriny’s boat was anchored within the Plains of Wrath, not a single thunderbolt landed near her.

In fact, no lightning bolt fell within a mile around her boat, making the anxious Half-ling breathe a sigh of relief. 

An hour later, the Diabolical Thunderstorm finally ended, leaving only devastation in its wake.

Black smoke rose from the ground, making visibility very hard. However, beyond the black mists, Eriny’s could sense someone approaching her flying boat at a great speed.

Sensing that her life might be in danger, the Little Halfling hurried inside her cabin to grab her Ferryman Badge.

This was like a protective charm given to her by her father, on the day she became a Ferryman of the Underworld.

Raising the badge high up in the air, the Half-ling gritted her teeth as the presence she felt earlier came closer.

Suddenly, a silhouette emerged from the black smoke and landed on the deck of her flying boat.

“This is a private property of the Ferryman of the Underworld!” Erinys shouted as she showed the badge to the newcomer. “Don’t come any closer or you will be punished!”

The Half-ling was already teary-eyed from fright, so her vision was blurry. Nevertheless, she still held her ground because as long as she held the badge, no one in the Underworld would dare to harm her.

“It’s me, Erinys. What’s wrong? Are you crying?”

When the familiar voice reached Erinys’ ear, she immediately wiped away the tears in her eyes using the back of her hand. 

The moment her vision cleared, he saw the Half-Elf looking at her with worry, while carrying a pregnant Elf in his arms.

“W-Will?” Erinys stuttered. “Is that really you?”

“Of course it is me,” William replied before gently supporting Celine’s body so she could stand. “Who did you think I was? Santa Claus?”

Erinys patted her chest as a feeling of relief washed over her body. She then glanced at the beautiful Elf by William’s side and connected the dots.

“Is she one of your wives?” Erinys asked. 

“We’re not yet married,” William replied. “But we will marry as soon as we can. Erinys, this is Celine. She is my Master and is currently carrying my child.”

Celine blinked before glancing at the Half-Elf beside him. It took her a while to understand what William had meant because the idea of marriage had never crossed her mind. For her, she didn’t care whether she was married to the black-haired teenager or not.

The only thing that mattered to her was raising the child in her womb with love and care, regardless of what her relationship with William was.

“Maste– I mean, Celine, this is Erinys,” William introduced the Half-ling who was eyeing the Elf with curiosity. “She is the one that has guided me here in the Underworld to find you, Chiffon, Ashe, Sidonie, and Morgana. I wouldn’t have arrived so soon if not for her help.”

Celine smiled and gave Erinys’ a brief bow.

“Thank you for bringing him here to see me,” Celine said softly. “If he had been late by a day or two, I don’t know what might have become of me.”

Erinys tilted her head in confusion because she didn’t know what Celine was talking about. However, William did, and a shiver ran down his spine after this realization.

Indeed. If he had been late by a day or two, Celine would have suffered a fate worse than death due to Felix’s sadistic tendencies. He couldn’t even imagine how hurt she would be while trying to protect the child she was carrying in her womb.

This new realization made William clench his fists. He had made up his mind that before he left the Plains of Wrath, he would make sure that Felix would regret touching his woman. 

“Ah! Are you two hurt?!” Erinys snapped out of her daze as she immediately grabbed hold of William’s body. She then started to pat his body here and there to check for injuries. 

  After making sure that the Half-Elf weren’t injured, she then eyed Celine from head to toe. Seeing that aside from her disheveled hair and clothing, she was mostly fine, which made Erinys feel relieved.

“Erinys, Celine has been through a lot,” William said as he held onto Celine’s waist. “Can you let her rest in your cabin for a while? I still have some business to attend to.”

Erinys nodded her head. “Okay.”

She didn’t know what kind of business William still had to do on the Plains of Wrath, but seeing the determined look on his face, something was telling her that she didn’t want to know what it was.

For the time being, the Half-ling took Celine inside her cabin to let her rest. However, the little girl’s body stiffened when the beautiful Elf saw the hug pillow with William’s face on it.

Due to the incident earlier, she had completely forgotten to return the hug pillow inside her storage ring. 

This was a secret that Erinys didn’t want anyone else to know, especially William, and his lovers, who had been reunited with him. 

Celine glanced at the hug pillow then at Erinys, making the Half-ling cover her face in embarrassment. Her thoughts spun as she did her best to come up with an excuse she could tell William’s future wife, as to why there was a hug pillow of the black-haired teenager on her bed, who was smiling innocently at the both of them.

On that day, Erinys wanted to dig a hole so deep that she could hide herself inside it. Fortunately, the Half-Elf had left the flying boat and had gone somewhere far away. 

If she could convince Celine to keep everything she saw a secret then, perhaps, she would be able to escape the teasing remarks that the Half-Elf would say when he was finally done with his business.

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