When the rice was being mashed by her tongue and teeth in her mouth, Alice finally stopped obsessing over the matter of Song Shu and began to worry about a new problem.
She really wanted… to eat Chinese food…
Alice dialed Mr. Fool's helpline and let out a resentful sigh.
Not expecting a reply from Mr. Fool anytime soon, Alice kept eating while wondering what to do in the afternoon.
Oh right, the ""Fortune Accessory"...
Alice remembered Evelyn's hesitant look before leaving and pinched her brow with a bit of a headache.
…So why was that thing sent back again?!
Still, a birthday gift... Since arriving here, she actually hadn't had a proper…
Wait.
When was her birthday again?
Alice's smile vanished.
It was normal that she didn't remember her birthday at first, since she had no memories—no one found that strange.
But after regaining the memories of Shen Yinghuan, she hadn't thought about it for a while—until just now, when she realized… she seemed to have no idea what day her birthday was.
It was a strange feeling. It wasn't that she had no birthday memories—in fact, those memories were vivid.
Alice remembered eating birthday cake, unwrapping gifts, smearing cream on Song Shu's face… She just didn't remember the specific date.
Alice gripped the edge of the table tightly. A few minutes later, she slowly let go, staring at her unfinished meal with no appetite at all.
"Alright then," Alice murmured. She used her "restart" ability to return everything to the state before she started eating, then called a waiter to pack the meal.
She used a sacrificial ritual to deliver the food to Amon.
"This way, I'm not the one wasting food—Amon is…" After cleaning up the scene, Alice nodded and muttered to herself with satisfaction.
No matter how baffled Amon was by Alice's behavior, it had nothing to do with her—because Alice was now doing something even more baffling.
She dialed Mr. Fool's hotline again: "Klein, when's your birthday? I want… to send you a birthday present."
As she asked, her pretty blue eyes were darting around quickly—it was obvious she was up to something—because she absolutely was.
She planned to mark the day "The Taste of the Faceless Man is Pretty Good" as Klein's birthday.
Hopefully, Klein would like this gift.
…
Above the gray fog, Klein ignored Alice's first resentful harassment call—after all, he had no plans to change careers and become a chef.
He was now contemplating Alice's second question.
Klein really couldn't imagine what kind of birthday present Alice would send. If he had to imagine… the only thing that came to mind was that painting she gave Amon.
If he remembered correctly, didn't Alice once say those two… those two fanfics came with illustrations?
Klein suddenly remembered how Alice stubbornly refused to reveal what kinds of things she had drawn before—and fell into deep thought.
…
Above the gray fog, Alice sat up straight with an innocent look, blinking at Klein.
Klein ignored her look and asked with a complicated expression, "Alice, have you ever… drawn that kind of stuff?"
Alice lost control of her facial muscles—no, her entire body's muscles. She froze in place.
Her expression gave her away, but Klein still clung to a shred of hope and asked, "…Alice? The people you drew… do I know them?"
After a moment of silence, Alice replied awkwardly, "Those two… one is your destined lover, the other is the person who knows you best in this world."
Klein closed his eyes in pain.
Alice lowered her head in silence and began pretending to be dead.
Ah… in moments like this, she really should learn from Mr. Hanged Man…
For a while, silence fell over the gray fog, until Klein couldn't help asking the next question:
"Alice, this birthday gift you mentioned… it's not one of your drawings, right?"
Alice raised her head with an incredulous expression:
"How could you doubt me like that!
"I clearly promised I wouldn't give you that kind of gift!
"And besides, how could Amon compare to you? I would never treat you as perfunctorily as I did Amon!"
The last sentence made Klein suck in a sharp breath. He quickly interrupted, "Alice, it's the thought that counts. The gift itself doesn't matter—really."
He swore, this was the most sincere time he'd ever said that phrase.
But it didn't work on Alice. She shook her head and said seriously:
"But if you don't even see the gift, how can you feel my sincerity?
"When exactly is your birthday?"
After staring at Alice for over ten seconds, Klein replied, "Hmm… My current birthday is March 4."
After a pause, he asked:
"What kind of gift are you sending me? You don't have to say exactly what it is, just… give me a heads-up, so I'm not caught off guard like with those two fanfics."
Alice rubbed her chin and answered, "I plan to give you two pages of Roselle's diary."
That actually sounded… fairly normal. But why did she think to give that? And specifically for his birthday…? Could it be the Emperor did something shocking again?
…Then again, is there anything the Emperor can still do that would be shocking? Did he really turn into a woman?
Huh… maybe it's not impossible…
Klein fell into thought.
Alice rubbed her chin and continued:
"Say, do you think the Fool's birthday could count as April Fool's Day?
"If so, then the two diary pages would be one for the start of Fool's Day and one for the end… Hah, how fun."
Alice clapped her hands together with a "pop" and successfully pulled Klein's thoughts back from their tangent.
At this point, Klein had basically relaxed. After all, whatever the Emperor did… what did it have to do with him? Thinking this, he played along and said:
"If that's the case, could your birthday count as Children's Day in this world?"
Alice paused and rubbed her chin: "Hmm… I guess that's not impossible. But I don't know what my current birthday is…"
She restrained herself from thinking further about birthdays from her past.
Klein remembered that too. He patted Alice comfortingly, then suddenly smiled and said:
"If you don't know when your birthday is, does that mean I don't need to get you a birthday present?"