“Indira! Priya! Breakfast’s ready!”

“Coming, vodina!”

“Hurry up, you two! You’ll be late!”

“Yes! Yes! We’re coming! We’re just packing our things!”

Voices of four women rang through the house located on the open land, where the grass swayed pleasantly by the soft blowing wind. The sun was shining brightly in the crystal-clear blue sky, and beside the house was a gigantic turtle that was sleeping at that moment. It was the Spirit Turtle and a familiar of the Magic Titan, Amaranda Lefrity, and had taken residence on the land owned by the Phoenix Titan and managed by his family.

The first voice belonged to Emilia, who had come out of the kitchen to call out to the twins as making breakfast was almost done. The second voice belonged to Ondine, who was at the dining table eating with the rest of the family comprised of Venezuela, Sonia, Sumara, Cantia, Silvera and Terta. Each of them was taking a bite out of their breakfast and slowly feeding their babies as well, who were playing around and made it difficult to be fed.

“Come on. Come on. Here you go. Here… Here… Ah~!” Venezuela said, moving her spoon around her baby’s turning head and finally fed it when the baby girl finally opened her mouth. Her mother cheered and said, “Good girl~! Now onto the next one~!”

“There you go~!” Tetra said from across the table, successfully managing to spoon feed her baby daughter with a triumphant smile on her face. “Here~! Another bite~!”

Erza, Sumara, Sonia, Cantia, and Ondine were not having as much of a difficult time as those two in feeding their own children. Silvera, on the other hand, was having quite the struggle with her own baby and was having to use a different method of feeding her compared to the rest of them.

“Say ah~! Say ah~! Oh, come on! Turn this way!” Silvera protested, her baby daughter turning her head this way and then that way in an attempt to avoid her mother. Putting on a pouting face, her mother said, “You don’t want it? But it’ll go to waste~! Oh! I know! I’ll eat it! That’s a good idea~!”

True to her word, she brought the spoon with the food for her daughter closer to her mouth as if she was really going to eat it. Sure enough, fearing the loss of her food, the baby daughter turned her head and looked ready to cry, waving her small fists into the air in a gesture of anger.

“Okay! Okay! You can have it! Say ah~!” Silvera said, laughing and feeding her daughter carefully, wiping out the small bits of food that leaked out from the corners of her mouth with a cloth. Feeling triumphant, her mother smiled and picked up another spoonful of food while saying, “Good girl~! Now, here~! Another bite~! Ah~!”

Once again, the baby opened her mouth obediently and swallowed it easily, not showing the resistance like she did previously. Silvera smiled and thought back to the past few months, where she struggled to feed her daughter as the baby girl was constantly playing around and turning her head to look at things. So, Silvera devised a trick her daughter into eating and it had been working successfully since.

“Your daughter is curious about a lot of things, isn’t she?” Cantia commented, grinning at the scene of Silvera feeding her child.

“Too much of it!” Silvera admitted, grinning back at her. “I do wonder who she got it from?”

As they seemed to be thinking about it, Tetra suddenly announced in a matter-of-face tone, “I remember Lucky being like that when he was still just a baby.”

This made them all turn their heads towards her in surprise and exclaim, “What?!”

“Lucky did that?” Venezuela asked, raising both of her eyebrows in amazement.

Tetra nodded and said, “Yes. He was a curious kid, always crawling here and there as if to explore what’s there. As he grew, so did his energy, and he made both Lakshmi and Mariana run around him in circles. Part of the reason why both of them lost weight despite being a little overweight at the beginning.”

“Wow!” Venezuela replied, looking surprised.

“This is my first-time hearing about this,” admitted Erza, looking amazed.

“Same here,” admitted Ondine as well, looking just as amazed as Erza did.

Cantia suddenly smiled proudly and said, “Of course I knew that! I had been watching him since he was a kid!”

“You too?!” The girls exclaimed in surprise, turning their attention to her.

“Yeah! I knew from the beginning he was my partner and, although I was not allowed to see him, I wanted to find out what kind of partner my future hubby is like from when he was a kid,” stated Cantia boastingly.

“I saw him more often than you, and I was also closer to him than you,” said Tetra grumpily as she eyed Cantia shrewdly.

“You were a sword!”

“So, what? I still knew more about him than you did!”

“Say what?!”

The others watched in amazement at the heated argument that was about to erupt between Cantia and Tetra, but at that moment, they heard a sharp voice say, “Cut that out!”

They jumped in surprise and turned towards the kitchen to see Emilia standing there with one eyebrow raised and a look of annoyance on her face. She was carrying her baby son with one hand and using magic to levitate two sets of plates full of food with the other. Silence fell as she walked over to them and set the plates down before turning her head to look at them both with a severe look on her face.

“Cut it out, you two! We’re all his wives, so why start these silly comparisons and arguments?”

“I didn’t start it! Cantia was being too boastful about it, so I stated the fact!” Tetra said, looking towards Cantia in annoyance.

“Me?” Cantia asked, looking shocked and becoming angry. “You’re the one who brought up the topic in the first place!”

“It was just a passing comment,” replied Tetra heatedly.

“The two of you…!” Ondine said loudly, getting annoyed at them both this time. “You’re making Emilia sad!”

Startled by her reaction and words, they quickly turned and saw Emilia wearing a sad smile on her face while looking at them. This made them instantly regret going along with the heat of the moment and upsetting her.

“I thought we agreed… to be united as one and… be a family…” said Emilia slowly in a sad voice, looking as if she was ready to cry.

“W-We’re sorry, Emilia!” Both Cantia and Tetra said together, becoming flustered at how sad she became.

“We swear we don’t repeat this! Please, believe us!” Tetra said in a firm voice, turning to indicate Cantia to do the same.

“Y-Yes! We don’t do it again!” Cantia said, nodding her head in agreement to Tetra’s words.

Emilia continued to remain like that when she a wide smile formed on her face and, much to their surprise, she said cheerfully, “I’m glad to hear it.”

“Huh?” Tetra and Cantia said, looking at her in confusion at her suddenly smiling and looking so cheerful.

“You two were duped,” stated Erza with a chuckling with the rest of them.

“Oh…!” The two women said, finally coming to the realization of what had happened and smiled wryly at her. “You tricked us,” they said in unison.

Emilia shrugged and said, “Yes, but considering I needed to stop you two fighting unnecessarily, I had to act my part as the sensible one.” She flashed them a grin, causing them chuckled at the outcome, and she said to them, “Also, there’s no need for anyone here to apologize to one another. We’re a family, and although we may face arguments from time to time, I firmly believe we should reunite at the end of the day because, at the end, we only have each other for support.”

They all nodded in agreement, and as Emilia set their plate down, Sonia added to the conversation, “You’re right, Emilia. For now, everyone’s been taking good care of us but I don’t know how long that hospitality would last.”

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“Sonia’s right,” said Venezuela, nodding at Sonia and sighing deeply. “I’m having daily meetings with the Mardana King, who’s demanding that we pay them a huge amount as compensation for the soldiers that died in the war.”

“It’s not a real issue of paying the amount if it weren’t for the underhanded methods he’s trying to take,” added Erza, picking up where Venezuela left at.

“Yeah! It’s clear he’s up to something and in a bad way, but we don’t have the authority to do anything against him until he proves to be dangerous to us,” stated Cantia, looking very annoyed all of a sudden. “I’ve seen that guy several times, and I’ve never liked him in any manner! I mean, seriously, he should take notes from Dominic as the only human to rank amongst the Nine Pillars of Power!”

They chuckled, and Venezuela said, “Cantia, you’re expecting too much from them. If they were as realistic as us, we wouldn’t be facing these problems.”

“What Venezuela said has a point,” said Erza with a nod of her head. “Although our kingdom’s relationship with the Mardana Kingdom is in a difficult position, we are at least highly valued among the citizens. So, while we’re fine now, the future is uncertain.”

They fell silent, in which Emilia rook her leave to go upstairs to see what the twins are doing despite constantly calling them down. It was broken when Sonia, who had been looking uncertainly around, decided to speak up.

“Lately, my godfather’s been receiving pressure from his side to cut ties with me as he would waver with his decision making in the future.”

“Eh?!” They all exclaimed in shock, unable to believe that the angels would go so far as to force a godfather and his child to separate just to isolate themselves.

“What happened to the treaty between the angels and us?” Venezuela asked, looking alarmed.

“It’s still there but… you know… treaties aren’t established forever and right now it’s still there despite the treaty agreed only for the duration of the Phoenix Calamity War,” said Sonia, looking sadly at them. “Because godfather is meeting me on a regular basis, people are fearing that he will cause his race a problem if no action is taken soon. So, I’m going to go tell godfather to focus on his tasks and meet me less.”

“Damn…!” Cantia muttered, looking both sad and angry at what was happening behind the scenes.

“No godfather would like to hear their goddaughter say that to them,” said Sumara, looking sympathetically at Sonia.

“I know but there’s no other alternatives,” replied Sonia with a shrug of her shoulders. “I don’t want to be away from my godfather, but… I’m married now, especially to the Phoenix Titan, so… it’ll be in best interest that I don’t meet him afterwards.”

Venezuela shook her head in sadness, Tetra did not know what to say, Silvera remained silent while watching them with a sad expression on her face, and Sumara smiled sympathetically at her. Only Erza appeared to react differently, wearing a smile on her face but it was a sad smile and the look on her face was as if she understood how Sonia was feeling.

“So, you’re basically in the same position as me,” said Erza, causing them all to turn to face her. “Back then, when Lucky left our world through that portal back to this world, I wondered whether I should go after him or stay behind. I told you that I had two brothers and a father and I… didn’t want to let them go.”

“But you’re here and now,” said Ondine with a smile, “so obviously you took the decision, but why? I am curious to know just that.”

Erza smiled in embarrassment and slowly said, “I… didn’t want to miss his company.” As they all started to smile in unison, she continued to speak by saying, “When I am with him, I felt… happy, and whenever I talked to him, I felt all my stress… leave me. It felt strange, very strange… to the point that I was unsure about myself anymore. Then, when I saw him risk his life to save me on numerous occasions made me realize my feelings for him. So, I didn’t want to leave him, and that’s why I chased after him to her and am sitting before you all.”

She raised her hands and began grinning in embarrassment while the rest of them also smiled back at her. They also understood her feelings as they also felt similar with their experience in interacting with Lakshman. Whether him being nice to them, appreciating their company, or protecting them, they were not sure which part of those attributes that they loved in him, but they eventually came to love him as a whole.”

“It’s fate that we’re destined to meet and be together like this,” commented Ondine with a smile.

“Yeah. It seems our marriage has been set in heaven,” added Tetra with a nod of her head.

“One of the says of the spirits?” Silvera asked, looking curiously as she felt she heard that from somewhere before.

Tetra nodded and said, “Yes. I often heard the spirits speaking to one another and firmly believed that the mortals marrying each other was set in the heavens by the Goddess of Love and the Goddess of Matrimony. I’m sure Engraut feels proud of his wife.”

This surprised everyone before they all erupted into laughter at the thought of Engraut’s reaction to her words. At that moment, Emilia, Indira, and Priya came downstairs, with the twins each carrying a backpack containing their equipment for their education at Astral Academy.

“What happened, vodinalu?” Indira asked with a curious expression on her face.

“Yeah! Why is everyone laughing?” Priya asked, looking amazed.

As the three joined the table and began having their breakfast, Ondine filled them in on what they were discussing about marriages being set in heaven. Indira found the very thought to be enthralling, wonderous out loud what kind of a husband she would meet in the future. Priya, on the other hand, did not show much of a reaction as she silently had her breakfast.

“No reaction, Priya?” Ondine asked, looking curiously at the young girl. “Don’t you believe in fate?”

Priya paused in her movement in about to pick up her spoon and looked at Ondine before saying, “It’s neither belief, nor disbelief, but… if fate does exist, then… I want annayya to come home safe and sound. I… don’t want to lose another family member in such a short period of time.”

The mood fell heavy in the dining table, and everyone looked at her with sadness. They all felt the same way, but were doing their best to be cheerful by distracting the subject by focusing on their duties and surroundings instead. That was how they managed to keep themselves together, but they felt very depressed when the topic of her husband was suddenly brought up unexpectedly.

“Don’t worry, Priya. He will return,” said Emilia calmly, showing a smile on her face despite the gloom surrounding them. When Priya appeared to be unconvinced, Emilia said confidently, “I know my husband very well, and I know he won’t break a promise he made to his wives. Even the vacuum of space can’t stop my husband from coming home. So, Priya, have some faith in your annayya, and he will surely return.”

“B-But—!” Priya began hesitantly.

“I know you haven’t had the chance to spend some time with your annayya, but believe in him, Priya. He is Lucky!” Ondine said, forming a smile on her face in reassurance.

“That’s right! Your parents gave him all the luck in the world when they named him Lakshman!” Tetra added confidently.

“His nickname is Lucky because he is lucky!” Sumara said proudly.

Priya looked around at the confidence in everyone, and as the gloom disappeared and was replaced with hope. All this time, she had wondered to herself why they all had been relaxed and casual despite their most important family member missing from their midst. She believed they had simply not thought about him, but she realized she made a mistake; they were indeed worried about him but kept it to themselves to not let themselves get down.

“I’m sorry!” She said quickly, realizing she must apologize for mistaking their intentions. “I… I didn’t know… I was worried that none of you spoke about it but… I…”

Emilia placed a hand on Priya’s head and said gently, “It’s okay, and like I said before to them; there is no need for an apology between family members. If we can get back together by the end of the day, then nothing else matters.” She smiled fondly at the younger girl and said, “I’m sure Lucky would’ve said the same.”

Priya nodded, now readily believing her words and smiling as her confidence in her brother’s return had strengthened.

It took the twins a few minutes to eat their breakfast, where Emilia placed a large quantity of food for them to eat. She knew that a growing body needs a lot of energy and other ingredients that gives the owner extra energy to put more effort into whatever they are doing. As such, she daily gave them plenty of breakfast before sending them on their way while also slowly feeding her baby son, who obediently ate without behaving like his sisters.

“You’re lucky your baby is so obedient, Emilia,” commented Silvera with a wry smile.

Emilia chuckled and replied, “Your daughter is just too cheeky, Silvera.”

“True. That is definitely true,” admitted Silvera with a laugh.

While they were chatting, the twins finished their breakfast and said, “Thank you for the breakfast! It was really tasty!”

“I’m glad you liked it,” replied Emilia with a smile. “Now, off you go before you’re late.”

As she said that, everyone got up around at the exact time and headed towards the door leading outside. Once they stepped outside, two Phintex Rajas appeared out of nowhere and knelt before them obediently. Indira and Priya waved goodbye to them, walked over to place a hand on one of the Phintex Raja each and disappeared from view.

“I’m surprised they got accustomed to travelling using that ridiculous warping magic,” Sumara said in exasperation. “The last time I travelled with it, I was so dizzy that I thought I’d pass out.”

“It is a difficult way of transport compared to the portal magic,” said Erza, nodding in agreement. “Maybe we can request Zen to instruct new lessons to the Phintex Rajas to learn the Phoenix Portal?”

She proposed the question to Venezuela, who shook her head and said, “Unlikely because the Phintex Rajas are a tight bunch and don’t like straying from their ancestral teachings, although, I admit they’ve changed quite a lot considering they were a clan of assassins that Lucky, I mean Asura, got under his command through brute force.”

“Well, that’s Asura for you; ruthless and brutal, vastly different to Lucky,” said Venezuela with a smile. She and Erza turned to the rest and said, “Alright. We’re off.”

“We’ll drop in for lunch,” said Erza to Emilia, who nodded her head in understanding.

“Me too,” added Cantia cheerfully.

Ondine also nodded her head and said, “We should be ready by then,” causing them to smile in happiness.

Venezuela faced forward, extended her hand out in front of her and said, “Phoenix Portal.”

In an instant, a large swirling mass of darkness formed before it widened to allow humans to enter into it. After weaving their goodbye, both Venezuela, Erza, and Cantia stepped into the portal and vanished, causing it to collapse and disappear within seconds.

“I guess I’ll head out too,” said Sonia, turning to smile at them. “I’m off to meet with my godfather for some serious talk.”

“Be careful,” replied Emilia while the others nodded in agreement.

Sonia smiled and walked onto the grassy field before saying, “Atem!”

As if awaiting the call, the angel known as Atem suddenly appeared out of thin air kneeling before her and asked, “It\s Princess, you requested for me?”

Sonia nodded and said, “I’m going to meet my godfather. Please escort me,” and summoned her wings, who appeared sticking out of her back just like they did for Atem.

The angel escort slowly rose to his feet and said with a smile, “Yes. Please follow me.”

With that, the two levitated slowly into the air and began flying off in the direction the constantly moving Heaven Continent was at. Emilia, Ondine, Tetra, Silvera, and Sumara watched them go before walking into the house while talking about what they must do for that day.