Mirrorheart didn't speak, she just silently knelt before Loren, looking at him with anticipation.

"I really don't know what to give you..."

"Then..."

Mirrorheart was just about to say something when Loren interrupted her.

Loren gently lifted Mirrorheart's chin, and then Loren kissed the area around her eyes.

"Alright, that's it...

"I'll make it up to you tonight..."

"Okay."

Mirrorheart smiled. Although this gift wasn't what she had wanted, she was still quite satisfied.

"By the way, there's also Starnight's gift."

Hearing this, Starnight, who had almost buried her entire bird body into the cake, lifted her head. She hadn't expected there to be a share for her.

So Starnight immediately flew onto Loren's raised finger. Loren then put an ankle ring on her, and the ring had Loren's name written on it.

Starnight lifted her claw, looked at her own ankle ring, and let out an excited chirp.

Everyone had received a gift they liked. Tonight was their happiest Christmas ever.

What mattered wasn't the gift, but spending this holiday with the ones they loved.

While everyone else was very happy, Loren suddenly noticed Movila's mood wasn't that high, so he asked:

"Movila, what's wrong with you?"

"Master Mentor, I just saw some things... it turns out the vast majority of people live such miserable lives..."

Even on Christmas, Movila was still dutifully monitoring other places for Loren.

"I saw a worker from the Uridia Kingdom kill his boss's entire family just to get his wages back. Before that, no matter how much he begged, he couldn't get his own wages back..."

Hearing this, Loren's emotions didn't change much, he just sighed with emotion:

"Oh, the people of this Uridia Kingdom really have more guts than people from other places..."

"Those with the courage to fight back are ultimately a minority. People from other places don't resist even when they can't survive anymore, right?"

Movila didn't reply, she just nodded.

This kind of thing was too common. Before, Movila was just suffering herself and hadn't realized it at all. At the time, she thought all this was normal.

It wasn't until later, after following Loren, that her life improved and she gained more experience. Only then did she realize that people could actually live like human beings.

"Take it slow, things will change eventually..."

At worst, after the gods are overthrown, we could have an AI like the God of Vows and Wind rule the world. It's just that's a bit too far off. Right now, the tech tree hasn't been unlocked much, and who knows how long it will take to create an AI. But given Loren's lifespan, he should be able to wait until that day.

"You'll get used to it after seeing these things enough times..."

Anna was like that. Nowadays, when she sees these things, she doesn't have much emotional fluctuation. It might also simply be because her nature is rather cold and detached.

She rarely cared about anything other than Loren.

"It's getting late, time to sleep."

After patting Movila's hair, Loren returned to his own room. Watching Loren's retreating back, Movila murmured to herself:

"This... can you really get used to it?"

...

"Now it's time for you to fulfill your promise."

When Loren returned to the bedroom, Mirrorheart was already there. She was standing on the floor, wrapped in ribbons, cosplaying as a Christmas tree.

Only ribbons and stockings.

"Alright..."

Loren sat on the bed. Since Mirrorheart's legs were also tied with ribbons, she hopped over.

"It's Christmas. Please fulfill my wish, okay? Not hitting the face or anything, but just spanking my bottom should be fine, right?"

Mirrorheart said this very improper request with a completely serious face. This matter was still within Loren's acceptable range, so Loren gritted his teeth and still fulfilled Mirrorheart's wish.

It must be said, Mirrorheart's skin was very tender. Loren didn't even use much force before leaving a bright red mark on it.

Mirrorheart could control whether her body healed itself or not. Loren suddenly had a premonition. He guessed Mirrorheart might simply stop the healing of that part of her body, to let this mark remain forever...

As the mysterious ritual proceeded, Loren also got into the groove.

Loren spent a very happy Christmas Eve. The next day was the official Christmas Day. Loren was woken up early in the morning by a familiar method.

"Stop it..."

Loren was a bit sleepy, squinting his eyes, wanting to push Mirrorheart away. But when his hand landed on that person's head, the feel was different. He didn't touch the familiar maid headdress.

Noticing something was wrong, Loren instantly opened his eyes. However, what he saw wasn't Mirrorheart, but Laila.

"Wait, you..."

Loren was so startled he instantly woke up completely. Seeing Loren awake, Laila didn't stop.

In the end, Laila succeeded. She commented:

"Better than I imagined, but not as good as Mirrorheart boasted..."

"Wait, you guys..."

In a short time, Loren had been shocked twice, but before he could finish, he was interrupted by Laila.

"This is your birthday gift. It's definitely not because I wanted to try it myself..."

After saying that, Laila ran off, leaving a completely bewildered Loren behind.

"Every single day..."

Loren rubbed his temples. Since things had already come to this, he could only get up.

And if it weren't for Laila's reminder, Loren would have almost forgotten today was his birthday. He never celebrated it before anyway.

Loren had heard a saying before: not celebrating your birthday is actually a way to protect yourself, lowering your expectations, so you won't be depressed when no one remembers your birthday. Instead, if someone does remember, it becomes a pleasant surprise.

"Happy birthday."

As soon as Loren went downstairs, he saw Naclis. Only Naclis. She was holding a party popper, and colorful confetti was flying everywhere.

"Where are the others?"

Normally, everyone should be here to greet Loren now, but the place was empty.

Soon, Loren noticed several large gift boxes. Very soon, Loren had a bad premonition.

"They're all inside the gift boxes. Mirrorheart said this is a game prepared for you. She originally wanted me to participate too, but I thought it was a bit childish, so I refused."

Naclis said with a cold face, trying her utmost to appear more mature:

"The game rules are written on this note. I just don't understand. What does it mean for you to guess the identity of the person inside the gift box by feeding them food?"

"Alright, you don't need to say any more..."

Loren didn't need to look at the note to understand what Mirrorheart meant.

He casually stood in front of a gift box. Sure enough, he saw a hole on it. So Loren directly tore open the gift box and then saw Anna squatting inside.

"Hi..."

Anna awkwardly greeted Loren. Loren wanted to directly pull her out, but there was no outfit for him to grab onto.