A bunch of servants picked up a wooden table which had a ridiculously huge, multi layered chocolate cake sitting on top of it. They carried it to the dance floor.

There were no candles on the cake though. People in this world just did not have the tradition of blowing candles out on birthdays.

Aria picked up a silver knife and cut a small piece.

She picked up a piece with her fork and brought it right up to Adrian’s mouth.

Adrian leaned down and ate the whole thing before he did the same thing too and fed a small piece to Aria.

"Happy birthday again, sweetheart." Adrian said with a smile.

Aria ate the cake and just smiled brightly at him.

"Thank you, Papa." Aria mumbled happily.

The most important part of the night was over and people began walking over to the dance floor.

It was time for the gifts.

The family heads of the multiple noble houses walked up one by one. They handed over expensive boxes and velvet pouches. Aria smiled politely and accepted every single present with a thank you.

Adrian just stood behind her and watched the whole process.

Then, the crowd parted.

Vaneira walked onto the stage to give Aria her own birthday gift.

It was a heavy statue made of solid gold.It was a statue of a really pretty woman raising her hand up and looking up at the moon resting on her palm. Adrian did not even know what it meant.

Aria just nodded as she looked at the servant standing beside her who took the statue and took it over to place it beside the other gifts.

She did not even look at Vaneira.

"Thank you." Aria said flatly.

Vaneira flinched slightly. She sort of did not expect this amount of coldness from her own daughter. She wanted her gone from her life at the start and she also did not expect her actions to hurt her this much.

She glanced back at her own husband. The current husband just shrugged his shoulders like it wasn’t his issue.

Vaneira looked back at Aria, then she shifted her gaze to Adrian.

"Well." Vaneira sneered. "Are you not going to gift our daughter? Everyone has given their gifts, so why are you not giving one?"

Vaneira let out a mocking laugh.

"Or are you ashamed to give her a present in public because it is not good enough?" Vaneira taunted him.

Adrian raised an eyebrow.

He was already annoyed by the fact that she had crashed the party so he really wanted to punch her right in the face. But he didn’t. Instead, he just acted like she didn’t even exist.

Adrian reached into his spatial storage.

He pulled out the thing that he had worked on for almost nine whole days and presented it to Aria.

It was a sword.

The blade was made of high quality steel and there were multiple runes drawn all over the blade.

He gave it to Aria.

"I made this myself." Adrian said softly. "Because I have seen you practicing and training so hard every single day. I know that you want to become a knight."

"So I thought that making you an enchanted sword with my own hands would be a good present for you." Adrian smiled at her. "I just want you to know that I have know how much effort you have been putting into your training. I’ve been watching and I’m very proud of you Aria."

Aria stared at the sword in silence. Him throwing such a big party for her was already more than enough for her and if she considered the time she spent with him in the forest, she really didn’t expect or want more from him. She was already more than satisfied with the day.

But the sword still made her happy. Not because it was an enchanted sword, but because he made it for her himself.

Aria took the sword and and threw her arms right around his waist. She hugged him tight and squealed, "Papa I love itt!! I’ll become the best knight and protect you once I’m older!"

Meanwhile, Vaneira watched this happen and her face twisted into an ugly, bitter scowl.

Her own heavy golden statue was completely ignored while Adrian got all the praise and love. And getting treated exactly like the minor nobles, or maybe even a little worse, pushed her right over the edge. At least the other guests got a polite smile and a thank you. Aria was completely cold and was treating her like a ghost at this point.

Jealousy and pure rage boiled up in her chest.

"You brainwashed my daughter didn’t you?" Vaneira sneered at him.

She pointed a shaking finger at Adrian and started throwing wild accusations out loud. She screamed about how he must have lied to Aria and poisoned her mind against her own mother. She yelled that he only got custody because she allowed it in court.

Adrian did not buy a single bit of that bullshit and he did not let her keep talking either.

"You were the one who told the judge you did not want her." Adrian said coldly. "You told the court that we could both get lost from your life. So why are you trying to change your words right now?"

He looked straight into her eyes.

"Honestly, I’m glad you did it." Adrian said. "Aria is very precious to me and she’s very happy right now. Much happier than when we were together in fact."

Aria suddenly grabbed his finger and pulled.

Adrian looked down as he wondered why she was pulling him but Aria just glared at Vaneira.

And then Aria completely went off on her.

"Mother." Aria said stiffly.

It was an incredibly formal tone and she didn’t talk like that with Adrian anymore.

"You never celebrated Papa’s birthday when we lived with you." Aria said loudly. "I don’t remember you throwing a single party for me during my first four birthdays. You were never there to talk to me and you never played with me or spent time with me. Papa was the one who did all of that."