Kaede, Aika, Aiko and Hakuto open their eyes to a face looking down at them. They start crying without knowing why. Probably a baby reflex.
”Hey! Don’t cry, I’m your Dad! Welcome!” says the person, smiling down at them.
Flashback: Years before the children’s birth…
A great war had torn through Aedalon, pitting race against race—humans, beastkin, dragonets, demons. The hero who ended the chaos vanished soon after, but the fragile peace he created needed more than memory to endure.
To preserve the harmony, the kings of each race convened for the first time in history. They met on neutral ground, in the city of Ysilta, on the human continent of Sealandia.
Each king brought his queen and their eldest son and daughter, gathering not just to sign a treaty—but to forge a magical pact.
One king, older and wise, voiced what they all feared: 106Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDcJgEgZG10
“Peace will not last by words alone.”
So the royal mages proposed something unprecedented. Each king would create a seed of magic drawn from their own essence—a symbolic, living piece of their power. These seeds would be sealed into the most worthy princess, chosen not by bloodline or beauty, but by service to the people.
To determine worth, each princess shed her royal name and went to live among commoners, unknown and unaided. For a year, they walked among the poor, the broken, the forgotten.
And one outshone them all: Princess Selana of the human kingdom. Her kindness, sacrifice, and humility earned her the trust of the mages—and the envy of her sisters.
At the final summit, the kings returned and entrusted their seeds to her. According to the spell, the seeds would awaken not in her, but in her children—the first four children she would bear.
But jealousy brewed. Fearing her growing influence, Selana’s sisters plotted against her. Through lies and manipulation, they had her cast from the palace, her name erased. She vanished from history.
Years later, she reappeared—no longer Selana, but Aurelia Lavande, a commoner’s wife in a quiet village, blissfully unaware of the ancient power she now carried in her womb.
Present day, Aedalon...
She was crying in pain, twisting and screaming. The midwives tried to reassure her.
”Calm down, you’ll be as right as rain very soon.”
But they sighed. She was at risk of losing her health or even worse, her life. After all, giving birth to one child was painful enough; two was a phenomenon, but four? In one go? This was mind-blowing. Then at last, the last baby came out. The woman screamed once more and passed out.
One look at the babies and one could tell that they were not normal. One was human all right, but two were beastkids and one a dragonet! What kind of association was that? The nurses figured she must be the long-lost princess Selana. What she was doing there, no one could tell.
One month later...
While in the stranger’s house, Kaede, Aika, Aiko and Hakuto were lying in a mega cot, specially made to hold four babies at once. The stranger was still hovering over them, around them. Then some loud voices are heard at the door.
”Hey, Marsillas! Where is your wife?”
”What do you want?” replied the stranger.
”We need to talk! Why did you not tell us that Aurelia is, in fact, Selana, the long-lost princess? We could have been in huge trouble had the king found out!”
The stranger’s eyes widen. So, they must have put two and two together and found out. He goes to the door.
”She’s recovering.” he says simply and shuts the door in their face. He was a brave guy. Looking at him, no one would have thought so. With a strikingly young and handsome face, he radiated kindness, literally. He looked like he couldn’t kill a fly, sporting such a slim frame, but was actually the most skillful in the village in terms of everything. Apparently, his name is Marsillias.
He enters a room different from the one with the babies. On a bed lies a very beautiful woman with fine traits, in a deep slumber. He sits down next to her and holds her hand. Tears drop from his eyes as he squeezes the hand.
”Please… come back to me, Aurelia.”
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