Roland learned from Anna that Tilly was about to celebrate her twentieth birthday.
It was only at that moment that he remembered such a thing.
He couldn't be blamed for his oversight. The Fourth Prince's memories were like a database to him, only accessed when needed. However, it contained so little regarding politics and the arcane, and mostly consisted of troublemaking experiences and self-satisfied tricks, so he reviewed these memories less and less.
For the Fourth Prince, Tilly herself was a dark history, occupying a negligible portion. Content related to her was buried at the lowest level, as if he didn't want to remember it at all.
Tilly's birthday didn't refer to the day she awakened her powers, but rather her literal birthdate. Due to the special nature of transcendents, she didn't even know when she had awakened as a witch, and she didn't feel the turning point of magic devouring her body during the Evil Moon each year. So, for her, her birthday was the only thing.
After reviewing this memory, Roland discovered that because Tilly was the Queen's last child, Wimbledon III would hold a grand birthday celebration for her every winter in the inner city when he was still alive. Even Tiffeau, who was usually the most favored, had never received such treatment. But apart from that, he rarely paid attention to Tilly, as if he didn't care about her life at all. If it weren't for this, the Fourth Prince wouldn't have dared to bully this sister of his time and again.
Looking further, he found something interesting.
The day Tilly came of age, the celebration was the most grand ever, surpassing even subsequent coming-of-age ceremonies. Not only did the four Border Guards rush to the royal capital, but gifts also came from Dawn, Wolfheart, and Everwinter, and even the Fjords sent a delegation.
Tiffeau and Garcia were quite jealous of this. They wanted to teach Tilly a lesson, to make her understand that she wasn't someone favored by their father at all. Wimbledon III only did this to compensate the deceased Queen, and his kindness towards Tilly was merely to comfort her mother's spirit in heaven.
Regardless of whether Roland believed this or not, they believed it at the time, so they found the Fourth Prince and tried to instigate him to take action. However, since being severely taught a lesson by Tilly the year before, he was unwilling to provoke this seemingly quiet but deeply rebellious sister again and refused to agree. Helpless, the two had to decide to do it themselves.
The Fourth Prince didn't know the specifics of what they did, but the result was that a pair of bear cubs given as a gift from the Kingdom of Wolfheart were poisoned to death. This was Tilly's favorite gift at the time. Seeing his sister staring blankly while holding the dead bear cubs, he found a trace of pleasure in the Fourth Prince's heart.
Truly a royal scoundrel, he did all sorts of bad things except for murder and arson.
In any case, this was definitely a terrible memory for Tilly Wimbledon.
After reviewing it, Roland's thoughts turned, and he quickly thought of what to give her.
He spread out a piece of white paper and began to draw the design for his gift.
"What's this?" Nightingale peeked out from behind him. "A bear?"
"Yes, a bear plushie, the kind you can hug to sleep," Roland said with a smile.
Based on his limited gift-giving experience, most girls had little resistance to cute, fluffy gifts, and a life-sized huggable plushie perfectly combined these two points. Of course, making a simple plushie was not difficult for him and wasn't anything rare. Since he was a prince with the technical support of a group of witches, he could naturally make it more unique.
...
On Tilly's birthday, Roland carried the gift to her room.
After knocking on the door, she was the only one in the room. Seeing it was him, she was slightly surprised. "Why are you here?"
"Today is your birthday. I'm holding a lavish banquet at the castle tonight," Roland said with a smile. "But before that, I have a gift I want to give you."
"A gift?" Tilly said, slightly surprised. "Are you talking about what's in your arms?" She stepped aside. "Come in."
"Well... it's a bit big, but I promise it's special." The prince wiped his forehead and placed the gift on the floor of the living room. Gifts among nobles in this era were all about being small and exquisite, from flowers to rings, all of which could be hidden in their dresses in advance and then unexpectedly taken out to give the other person a surprise. It was rare to see someone carrying a wrapped cardboard box to give a gift like him – and it was much heavier than he had imagined.
"You've never given me anything before," Tilly's tone was inscrutable.
"I gave you something when you were born, a quill," Roland corrected. "Although it wasn't a very precious gift."
"Alright, the tradition of the Graycastle royal family," she shrugged. "So, this one? Can I open it?"
"Of course."
Roland sat down with a smile, watching her untie the ribbon little by little. When the cardboard box was knocked over, he heard her gasp softly.
"This... what is it?" Tilly blinked.
"A bear." Roland grinned.
"What kind of bear looks like this?" She curiously circled the plushie twice, then couldn't help but touch it. "So soft..."
Its pelt was hand-drawn by Soraya, using the hide of a Northern young wolf as a reference. The texture was extremely smooth. As for the design... Roland completely designed it according to the giant pandas of his previous life. As an ancient species that could continue to exist just by being cute, and could be used as a diplomatic gift to circulate throughout the world, its cuteness was evident.
"I've never heard of this kind of bear. The colors on its body are too strange..."
"Is it not good-looking?"
"No, I mean..." Tilly didn't seem to know how to describe it, but her bright eyes betrayed what she was thinking.
"It's called a giant panda, and it's a... widely loved animal."
She quickly realized, "This is from another world..."
Roland nodded. "And it's not just a plushie you can hug. Try pinching its neck."
Tilly did as she was told, and the "panda" suddenly moved. Its feet moved back and forth, as if trying to climb onto Tilly's body. The latter covered her mouth in surprise and took two steps back. The plushie didn't stop even after landing on all fours, but slowly crawled towards her.
This was why it was so heavy – Roland had implanted a connecting rod and gears inside its body that could make reciprocating motions. Each limb was driven by a small motor, and the power source of the motor was a much-reduced Dawn I. In order to reduce the intensity of the magnetic flux change, the enchantment duration was greatly extended, lasting three to four months when not in use, and about 20% less with continuous use. Even if Tilly returned to Sleeping Island, the "panda" could accompany her for a long time.
"Pinch its neck again, and the plushie will stop," Roland said with a smile. "I hope you like this gift."
This time, even if Tilly didn't answer, he could tell the answer from her expression.