SCT-Novel Chapter 447: Side story 2: Chaotic lineage
Chapter 447: Side story 2: Chaotic lineage
The next morning, the sun cracked through the frost-rimed windows, casting long, sharp beams of white light across the messy rugs of the Sovereign Wing.
Nadir was still asleep, sprawled vertically across the center of the bed with his thumb hooked into Damar’s robe.
Damar hadn’t moved an inch all night, his arm frozen in a protective curve around his boy, looking entirely content despite the fact that Noah and Fenric had spent the last few hours glaring holes into the back of his head from the adjacent fur couches.
I dragged myself out of the pile, yawning as I secured a fresh linen tunic around my waist. My body felt heavily utilized, but the dull ache in my muscles was just a standard reminder of my life’s logistics.
As I walked out into the corridor, a sudden flurry of giggles and the rapid slap of little hands and knees against the heated stone echoed from the lower lounge.
"Ah! Wait, wait, don’t climb the stone pillar, Prince Kaelen!" Taruna’s voice laughed, breathless as she tried to intercept a blur of movement.
I peeked over the stone banister. Taruna was standing in the hall, looking like a battle-hardened saint. Lately, she’d shifted from helping with the sheep tribe’s seams and sewing to acting as a full-time nanny for the palace, and honestly, she deserved a medal.
Down on the floor, Kaelen and Sora—my one-year-old twins—were proving why having a late-winter litter was a test of endurance.
They weren’t in their animal cub forms anymore; they had already gone through the change, morphing into human babies with animal ears and tails. But their energy levels? Feral.
They were crawling across the polished stone with the speed of projectiles, giggling like maniacs as if their little rear ends were literally on fire.
Kaelen, sporting a pair of fuzzy, pitch-black wolf ears and a thick tail from Noah’s side, was currently trying to use his tiny claws to scale the decorative base of a stone pillar.
Right behind him was Sora, her pale snow-tiger ears twitching with intense, unblinking focus as she tried to pull her brother back down by his tail.
To be honest, the fact that I had gone two whole years after returning from my ’long dream’ without a single pregnancy had been a massive mystery to the entire kingdom. Ah, and a miracle to me, because why would I want to get pregnant every year?
My husbands had been low-key terrified that my soul’s brief departure had broken something in my tiger anatomy. But for me? It was a massive, blessed relief.
My Estrus simply didn’t trigger until two years later. I love my kids, but the thought of dropping litters once or twice every single year like a standard beastworld factory was a hard pass.
When the heat finally did return, it had been an absolute showdown between Noah and Fenric. The result was these two hyperactive speedsters, and they were already proving that names representing pure strength were an understatement.
"Mama!" Sora chirped, her snow-tiger ears twitching instantly as she spotted me over the rail.
She abandoned her brother’s tail, her little white tail swishing with a frantic, happy rhythm as she crawled toward the base of the stairs.
"Hey, my little winter terrors," I laughed, walking down the steps and catching Sora before she could launch herself into the air.
I reached over, scooping Kaelen up by his waist just as he managed to get his knees onto the masonry. "Taruna, thank goodness. I swear they get faster every time it snows."
"They certainly do," Taruna smiled warmly, smoothing down her tunic. "They woke up completely full of energy today. I think they can feel the winter wind outside."
"Mummy."
A cool, flat voice sounded from the shadows of the adjoining corridor.
I looked up. Lyra was standing there, leaning against the archway with her arms crossed over her chest.
"The twins need to be rolled in the snow before school so they can stay cool-headed," Lyra stated rationally, her tone entirely too mature for a five-year-old.
At five years old, she already possessed the lanky, elegant height of a ten-year-old human pre-teen. Her silver hair was perfectly braided, and her fierce, emerald snake-slit eyes were entirely unbothered by the chaotic toddlers in my arms.
She was the ultimate daddy’s girl. She had fully inherited Damar’s cold, indifferent personality, completely detached from anyone who wasn’t part of her bloodline. Hassles? She loathed them.
But the moment her eyes drifted down to her baby brother and sister, the ice in her gaze instantly melted into a protective, older-sister instinct.
"Kaelen’s blood is too hot from Daddy Noah’s lineage," she continued calmly, crossing her arms. "If he enters the classroom like this, he will try to bite the sheep children again. It is a hassle to clean the wool from his teeth."
"Good point, General Lyra," I smirked, leaning back against the heated stone wall. "Where are your brothers?"
"Raiden and Phina are already at the gates," Lyra replied, her arms twitching slightly as she adjusted her small tunic. "They are currently giving away their morning fruit rations to the rabbit kits. They are too soft. Kaito and Marina, on the other hand, are watching them from the aqueduct wall, waiting for an excuse to push the rabbit cubs into the water."
Ah, those two terrorists. They see anyone who isn’t part of our family as competition for the playground.
I let out a long, heavy sigh, resting my forehead against Sora’s soft white hair.
The triplets were five, the mer-twins were four, the serpent toddler was currently hogging my bed, and the one-year-old hybrid twins were trying to climb the architecture.
"Yeah," I muttered, a proud, sharp smirk finally returning to my face as I looked at my chaotic, brilliant generational empire. "It’s a total circus. Go ahead, Lyra. Take the twins, and I’ll go tell your fathers that if they want their breakfast, they’d better come down and help manage the morning rush."