The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe

Chapter 449: Side story 4: A Normal Morning 2

I looked up. Perched precariously on the edge of the aqueduct wall were Kaito and Marina. At four years old, they possessed the rapid growth of their merman lineage, already looking like agile six-year-olds. Their wild purple hair blew in the winter wind, their golden tiger slits narrowed to dangerous pins as they glared down at the rabbit kits.

"If we push the little fluffy ones into the stream, they will scramble like frogs," Kaito murmured.

"No," Marina corrected, her fingers gripping the stone ledge. "The stream is frozen near the bend. They will just bounce. We must wait until the sun warms the water, then we strike. The playground belongs to the Sovereign bloodline."

"If either of you drops a single kit into that water, I will personally make Thalor suspend your swimming privileges for a month," I called out, crossing my arms as I walked into the yard with Noah, Fenric, and Damar trailing close behind.

The two purple-haired terrorists immediately stiffened. They snapped their heads toward me, their golden tiger slits widening in brief panic before they effortlessly melted into identical, sweet, innocent smiles that absolutely nobody bought.

"Mummy!" Marina chirped, swinging her legs over the wall. "We were just... measuring the water depth. For safety."

"Sure you were," I smirked, gesturing with my chin. "Get down from there before your father sees you. He’s already in a mood."

Behind me, Fenric chuckled, walking past to scoop up Raiden and Phina into his massive arms, making the two squeal as he tossed them into the air.

Noah immediately went to greet his older children at the security post, checking the guard rotations with Nadir still happily chewing on his ear.

Meanwhile, Lyra had already finished rolling the one-year-old twins in the courtyard snowbank.

Kaelen and Sora were sitting in the soft powder, their little rear ends finally cooled down. Their cheeks were bright red, their pitch-black and snowy-white ears twitching as the chill regulated their chaotic hybrid blood.

They were contentedly patting the snow, letting out soft, bubbly giggles.

Lyra stood over them like a miniature commander, her long silver braids brushing against her fur-lined cloak. Her emerald eyes were as flat and icy as the winter landscape, entirely indifferent to the bustling guards and the playing children around her.

Until a little hand tugged on the hem of her tunic.

"Sister Lyra?"

Nadir had scrambled down from Noah’s hip and waddled over, his big emerald eyes looking up at her with pure, unadulterated adoration. His messy shock of silver hair was dusted with frost.

The immediate, icy wall around Lyra didn’t just crack—it completely gushed in absolute, hidden glee. Her face didn’t move a muscle, maintaining that perfect, stoic Damar expression, but her silver-scaled tail gave a sudden, violent, ecstatic thump against the hard stone floor.

"What is it, Nadir?" she asked, her voice deliberately steady, though she immediately knelt down to be at his eye level.

"Why does the snow taste like nothing?" Nadir asked, holding up a tiny, chubby fist cloaked in a woolen mitten, containing a melting clump of powder. "If it falls from the sky, shouldn’t it taste like sugar-drops? The sky is big and sweet, right?"

Lyra’s tail thumped again, a rapid, joyful rhythm against the floorboards that completely betrayed her cold face. "The sky is a vacuum of moisture, little brother. It has no sugar. If it tasted like sugar-drops, the bear tribes would have crawled up the mountain walls and eaten the clouds by now. It is a matter of survival."

Nadir blinked, completely captivated by her entirely inaccurate, fiercely logical explanation. "Wow. Sister Lyra knows everything."

"I do," she agreed solemnly. Without a single hassle, she turned her back to him and bent her knees slightly. "Climb on. Your legs are short, and the snow is getting deep."

Nadir let out a happy chirp, throwing his little arms around her neck as he scrambled onto her back. Lyra effortlessly adjusted his weight, her lean, elegant five-year-old frame carrying him with a strength that came straight from her father’s serpent lineage.

As she began to walk the perimeter of the courtyard, checking on the twins and keeping a sharp eye on the playground, Nadir rested his chin on her shoulder, his eyes growing heavy under the rhythmic, steady sway of her stride.

Within minutes, his little tiger tail went limp, and he was fast asleep against her neck.

"A perfect babysitter," Damar murmured, sliding up behind me and wrapping his cool, strong arms around my waist, his chin resting on my shoulder as we watched his daughter guide the family. "She has my grace."

"And your complete inability to admit when you’re incredibly soft," I countered, leaning back into his chest with a content sigh.

A sudden, loud splash and a string of frantic gurgles echoed from the side pavilion.

I whipped my head around. Down by the lower aqueduct, Melo—Thalor’s younger brother who was now fully grown and walked proudly on two sturdy legs—was currently flailing in the water.

He had come to the nursery school to assist with the water-beast children, but right now, he was serving a completely different purpose.

Kaito and Marina had successfully dragged him into the shallow pool, and their razor-sharp merman teeth were currently nipping playfully at his woolen trousers as he tried to drag himself out.

"Help! Arinya, help!" Melo yelled, laughing and splashing as the two four-year-old terrorists gripped his ankles like little leeches. "They are using me as a teething ring again!"

"Hold still, Uncle Melo!" Kaito yelled, his purple hair soaking wet as his golden tiger slits gleamed with absolute joy. "We are testing our jaw grip!"

"It’s a wholesome day," Fenric shouted from across the yard, holding a giggling Phina on his shoulders while Raiden tried to throw a snowball at Noah’s head.

Well...

I looked at the splashing mer-twins, the sleeping toddler on Lyra’s back, the cooling twins in the snow, and my four ridiculous, powerful husbands who were currently acting like big kids themselves.

...It was indeed a wholesome day.

The kingdom of the West Way was officially great, the production lines were running, and the structures were solid.

But as I watched my family fill the courtyard with loud, chaotic life, I knew the greatest architecture I had ever built wasn’t the stone walls or the heating systems.

It was this. My complete, beautiful paradise.

"Come on, Fenric. Let’s get in on the fun," I said, pulling him along and laughing and he smiled warmly at me.