----------------Michelle POV----------------

Five years already passed after being sold by my country in exchange for a treaty with the human race's kingdom; they acclaimed me as the best looking female in our era for the last two hundred years, so they decided that I would be a proper offering for peace.

No one took in consideration my skills or my strength, they didn't even hear me out when I said that the human kingdom didn't have enough resources to keep going at war with us. 

The higher authorities of my race only saw me as a thorn in their side because of my look, they feared that their husbands would leave them for me, so when the offer of peace came from the human king, they hurriedly accepted.

Fortunately, the human king is quite the wise king and never looked down at me, nor did he take me with force; unlike the other humans their king has many faces and he knows which face he must show to whom. 

For example, while he's with his court he's the most racist of them, telling that the human race could never lose to lesser beings, but when he's in a war he never underestimates the enemy like those idiot nobles that throw an army at the enemy, only to see their soldiers being slaughtered in the battle.

The king plans a strategy by taking the strong and weak points of a race and their surroundings into account, then he casually give orders to the generals like he never planned the strategy in the first place and when he wins, he attributes it to the human race being superior and that it could never lose. 

Quite the way to keep everything under his control.

I also know that he's not racist, as when he comes in this wing of the palace, after making sure that every other person has left, he relaxes with me by telling me how he manipulates his own race and that he believes that every racist person is an idiot. 

He believes other races to be better than humans, but humanity's roots are too ancient, by the time other races appeared, the humans already governed half of the land, leaving no room for other races to expand and prosper, like that it's only natural that humans are still the most powerful race.

Maybe because of this way of thinking, I slowly fell in love with him during my first three years of stay; I know he has other queens, but it never existed a human king with only one wife, like in my race. 

But as they already throwed me away, why should I still be chained by my race's rules?

We became lovers at the end of spring, and by attributing it to his responsibilities as a man, he made me the 4th queen without hearing anyone opinion; the wedding was rather private with only his personal guards as the guests. 

To the humans he said that it was all in accordance with the treaty negotiated with the elves' kingdom, making himself a simbol of sacrifice for peace.

I mean, how much retarded must be the human race to believe that marrying the best looking female in the last two hundred years is a sacrifice? I'll never understand them.

One year after our wedding, I got pregnant. Elves have a natural tendency for infertility; when an elf girl gets pregnant is considered a blessing from the Goddess in our race. 

The day I found out that I was pregnant with a child, I didn't know what to do; it should be a blessing, but the child I was waiting will be an halfling, and halflings are despised by both of the races which they originate from. 

I was going to abort that day, but my husband appeared at the last moment and stopped me.

He said that he will protect our child and no one will touch him/her, he also said that if he/she ever asked for something, he would give it to him/her. 

In the end he added that he would not visit me until our child's fifteen birthday in order to divert the attention from him/her as much as he could.

After some months, I could already feel that something was out of place; my belly was way too big for a simple elven child... I prayed for my halfling child to not have any malformation and to be blessed with a strong body, and the Goddess answered my prayers.

The day of the birth, two cute little girls were born, I couldn't be more happy, because they would take care of each other and not alone; on that day I promised them that no matter what, I would protect them and love them.

Since after being born, my two little girls were different from other childs: they never cry unless hungry, especially Julie, they also seem to understand each other perfectly by only looking at each other eyes.

Differently from elves, their growth rate follows their human bloodline even though in the book I found in the library they should age 1/3 slower than them. 

It's not like it matters, all halflings with elves have half the lifespan of an elf: 250 years more or less.

Two months after their birth, I could feel Julie become more lively; she was scaring me as the only thing she did were eat and sleep with no pauses in the middle, so now that she's ok I'm relieved, though something seems off.

At nine month old, Elise could already walk; not perfectly but she could stay on her own legs without falling, Julie followed her after one months; the funny thing was the face Elise did when she managed to walk before her sister.

Each day I cuddle them and talk to them in the hope to teach them how to talk; Julie surprised me when one day said -mama- and then looked to her sister as if she won something... it seems that my hunch about them understanding each other was spot on.

After some days it was Elise turn to speak her first words, so that day I bringed them outside the palace in a forest; I had to look after them all the time as in the moment their feet touched ground, they started a game of catch in the middle of a forest.

Time passed as I watched them grow more and more, and as they growed, so did their characters; Elise started to train with me, while Julie started to learn how to read... I have the impression that if one of them knows something the other does not, then both of them will eventually learn it in a short time.

It was always rare for elves to have twins, but sometimes it happened in our history; it's said that elves' twins have an unbreakable bond with which they can share informations... is it possible that they also have it? 

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I hope so for them.

When they became five years old, Elise asked me if I could bring her to see the different styles of martial arts practiced in the kingdom, so I hid mine and her ears and we visited all the dojos in the kingdom in three days, during that time I asked my husband to make it so that the dojos would show their combat prowess.

After carefully looking at all of them, Elise never asked to be taught martial arts, she simply started to practice on her own.

I advised her that she should get a teacher, but she turned me down by saying: -What is the fun in learning from someone else? I'll mix everything I saw and create my own style-.

At first I laughed at her and thought of it as a child's game, leaving her alone and not bothering to teach her anything, I wanted her to learn her limits... one year after not looking at her training, her martial arts surpassed most practitioners and adventurers in the kingdom.

I also would probably have a hard time in fighting her at close range, so I decided to teach her the way of an huntress.

During this time, Julie asked me for the access to the royal library after reading every book in our wing of the palace; after asking to my husband, I got her the permission. 

I know I should've been worried about Julie not training like her sister, but for some reason I could feel a cold chill sometimes when near her, like if my senses were telling me to not underestimate my own daughter.

The funny thing is that the characters of my daughters are as water and fire; Elise is serious and takes note of everything around her, while Julie is simply living her life without worries as her sister protects her, once I saw a servant that was going to insult Julie, but Elise hit her without anyone noticing it... everyone but me.

Once, they completely destroyed my kitchen by trying to cook something; that day they were so scared that they started to cry, *ufufufu*, they're still too little to make a mess of my kitchen and not get punished.

After scolding them by saying that no husband would like them if they didn't know how to cook, I grounded them in their rooms for a day.

When the punition ended, Elise came to me asking to teach her how to cook, it would seem that my words had quite the effect on her. 

I have the job, so I started to teach her how to cook during the meals, and after dinner she tried to cook something on her own.

I don't know why, but she put her soul in learning how to cook, and now after two years her cooking surpasses the one of ordinary master chefs in this kingdom, this while she doesn't have the job... I wonder if someone already took her little heart that she wants to be so good in cooking.

Today is their birthday and I prepared a cake; during their little party, there was a moment in which I felt their auras increase before stabilizing, all of it unders a second... I wonder how many times they will surprise me untill their fifteenth birthday.

I'm sure my husband will be delighted, hopefully no one will take note of their prowess during this time.

--------------------------------Eric POV------------------------------

I always considered myself the best royal prince amongst my brothers and sisters; it's not as if I'm boasting about it, it's just that all my brothers and sisters think that they can govern the kingdom once our father dies without even knowing how to calculate taxes.

If they were to manage the kingdom, it would fall in five years, give and take six months; and we're talking about the most ancient human kingdom there is.

Because of that, from very young I studied how to manage the kingdom, from politics to farming, knowing that my father would never put one of my brothers and sisters on the throne; if he didn't even have this bit of insight, the kingdom would have fallen long ago, together with the ones that consider themselves superior to the common people... the stupid nobles.

So it was a surprise to find one of my only two younger sisters in the royal library; I knew that my father made the a queen and that twins were born, but the girl in front of me took me unprepared.

She's like the the sun: bright and warm, but no one should desire her, as they will burn before reaching her like a moth to a flame. 

The feeling of comfort and danger are so mixed that's impossible to determine what kind of person is she, so I treated her with courtesy.

It's not like I look down on halflings, and her company brightened the days we met; I think it's the first time I acknowledged someone of my family as a . 

I always considered the other royals nothing more than chess pieces than should continue in their foolish behaviour until I'll have enough influence to exile them on the borders of the kingdom.

After knowing her, I found out about her clumsiness, and that made me chuckle; because it perfectly fits in with her character, though once she surprised me.

At that time I was troubled with the capital dirtiness and my sister gave me the solution to the problem as if it was something normal and it was strange that I did not thought about it before her.

After that episode, the other twin came to find me in my sleeping room.

If Julie was like the sun, Elise represented the moon: cold and unattainable, she shines only because of the sun's rays bathe her, otherwise no one would know were she would be.

The only words that left her mouth were: -I think we can be allies, we'll help you when you'll call for us, in exchange we'll leave our back to you, you should understand my words-, then she disappeared, as if no one ever came in my room.

I have a feeling that if in the future I want to lead the kingdom, I should never antagonize them, and as allies my chances of gaining the throne just shot up through the roof. 

They made it clear that they're intelligent people, and at least Elise should understand that they can never obtain the throne because of their race.

It seems that tomorrow I'll have a lot of work to do.