"You really love gold, don’t you?" my mother teased, noticing my gaze had drifted to the color around the hall.
Gold balloons. Golden streamers. Even the birthday sign had golden glitter across the edges. White and gold and blue. The entire venue was built around those three colors.
She reached out and tapped my cheek.
"We picked this color because of you," she said. "You stared at the golden boxes longer than anything else. So, we thought... why not go all out?"
I didn’t know what kind of face to make. My parents were starting to think I was a gold-digger.
’They are not wrong. But I only like it as I can absorb mana from it.’
Still, their assumption worked in my favor. Because they brought me gold colored and even gold-plated toys.
And today, they’d bring much better gifts.
’I don’t know what gifts they have prepared, but I need to make sure they give me something even better than what they’ve prepared.’
I shifted a little in her arms, then placed my small hand over hers. I looked up at her with wide, innocent eyes, trying to channel the most convincing baby look I could manage.
She looked down at me, blinking.
"Ma... ma... mama..."
She froze.
For a moment, the entire hall went still. Even the servants were looking in my direction with surprised gaze.
"He spoke!"
Her voice shook with excitement.
"He said mama! He finally spoke!"
She looked like she might cry as she called out,
"Honey! Come here! He said his first word!"
My father came so fast that he nearly knocked over the cake table.
"What? Really?!"
He crouched beside us, and looked at me with more excitement than I’d ever seen on his face.
"Say it again! Say something else! Can you say ’dada’?"
I sighed internally but kept my expression cute.
"Da... da... dada?"
His face lit up like a firework.
"He said it!" he cheered, standing up and lifting me off my mother’s lap. "My boy’s first words! Mama and dada, huh? You clever little guy!"
He tossed me lightly in the air, catching me again.
My mom’s happy face turned serious in an instant.
"Stop that!" she snapped. "You’ll drop him!"
"I won’t, I won’t," he said, still laughing. "He’s fine. Look at him!"
He spun gently while holding me, clearly lost in the moment.
My mother crossed her arms but didn’t press further. She let out a sigh, but her smile slowly returned.
"We were so worried," she murmured. "You never made a sound. Not unless you needed changing. We were afraid something might be wrong."
I blinked, pretending innocence.
"But now... today of all days," she said, "you spoke."
My father lowered me into her arms again.
"It’s a sign," he said. "Today is special. We need to do something even better now. He deserves it."
My mom raised an eyebrow. "We already got him a gift."
"It’s not enough," he said, already pulling out his phone. "I’ll prepare something even better, something that fits today’s occasion."
He stepped out of the room, phone to his ear, already talking to someone.
My mother chuckled and looked down at me.
"Your father’s always been like that," she said softly. "Impulsive. But sweet. Looks like your first words are going to cost him a fortune."
I smiled.
’Worth it.’
As evening approached, the party began.
The hall had been transformed into a lavish venue.
Decorations covered the walls, glimmering under the chandelier lights.
Tables were arranged with precise care, and the catering staff moved around with practiced elegance.
It wasn’t just a child’s birthday party. It looked more like a high-society gathering.
People in elegant clothes moved through the hall, exchanging smiles and quiet greetings.
I caught sight of more than a few faces I recognized from television and magazines.
CEOs, politicians, celebrities. I had underestimated just how influential my parents were.
I sat quietly in my stroller while the guests greeted my parents, keeping an eye out for Seris and her parents. I was looking forward to their gifts.
But before Seris arrived, someone else approached.
It was a man, tall and broad-shouldered, with the same sharp jawline as my father. His smile was calm, and his steps were confident.
Next to him walked a woman in a red one-piece dress.
Her shoulder-length black hair framed a pale, elegant face, and her crimson heels clicked softly against the floor.
The moment I saw the man, something hot and bitter stirred in my chest.
He walked over to my father, who greeted him with open arms. They shook hands like old friends. My father was smiling, genuinely happy.
I recognized him instantly. My father’s younger brother. The one who would go on to betray me in my last life. The man who took everything that should’ve been mine.
He glanced at me and smiled, stepping forward.
"Well, look at this little guy," he said, crouching and pinching my cheeks. "Getting big already, aren’t you?"
My mother laughed at the sight, clearly not noticing the way my fists had clenched.
He straightened and gestured toward the woman beside him.
"This is Liana Ferndale. My girlfriend."
"Nice to meet you." Liana gave a polite nod.
But my attention wasn’t on her words. It was on her family name.
’Ferndale?’
It was a family tied to the Dracula Clan.
The blood in my veins ran cold.
Dracula Clan was one of the oldest supernatural families to walk the earth.
They were part of the legacy that had manipulated nations from the shadows.
Why was someone like her with him?
After they moved on, greeting other guests, I sat quietly in my stroller.
The lights, the chatter, the elegant music. All of it faded into the background.
’Why is someone from the supernatural side of the world with that bastard?’
Coincidence didn’t feel like a reasonable explanation. The more I thought about it, the heavier my thoughts became.
’What if he used her to kill my parents in the previous life?’
The idea made my stomach twist.
I had always suspected my parents’ deaths weren’t just an accident.
Everything had wrapped up too cleanly in my last life.
But I never had proof.
Seeing him now, with her — someone with real supernatural connections — was more than enough to stir those old suspicions.