The miracle children

The birth of Lulu did not remain a secret for long.

News traveled through Aethelgard faster than ordinary people could understand.

A child had been born into House Blueyard.

A child whose mana corroded metal.

A child with white hair.

A child whose presence had frightened trained attendants before he could even walk.

Naturally, the Blueyard family celebrated.

A banquet was prepared.

Tables stretched through the great hall, covered with expensive food and glowing vessels designed to withstand powerful mana.

The family patriarch raised his cup.

"To the future of Blueyard."

Cheers filled the hall.

Lulu slept in his mother's arms.

His eyes opened briefly.

A nearby silver spoon began to smoke.

One guest quietly moved his utensils farther away.

Lulu's father noticed.

He laughed.

"Relax."

The man looked nervous.

"With respect, patriarch, the spoon is melting."

"Then don't put your spoon near my son."

Nobody knew how to respond to that.

Before the laughter could settle, a different presence entered the hall.

House Zenith had arrived.

The First Family never needed an invitation.

Their presence alone changed the atmosphere.

The Zenith patriarch approached the infant.

Everyone became silent.

He studied Lulu.

Not his face.

Not his hair.

His mana.

For several seconds, he said nothing.

Then he smiled.

"Interesting."

Lulu's father watched him carefully.

"What do you see?"

"A child who hasn't learned what his power is capable of."

The patriarch looked toward Lulu.

"That can become either a blessing or a disaster."

Lulu's father smiled.

"Probably both."

---

Days later, another child was born.

House Zenith announced the birth of their own miracle.

Dark.

His hair was midnight black.

His eyes carried an unsettling calmness even as an infant.

Unlike Lulu, Dark did not destroy the room around him.

He simply watched.

People spoke around him.

Servants moved.

Adults argued.

Dark observed.

One elder leaned over the cradle.

"He doesn't blink much."

The Zenith patriarch looked at his son.

"He's thinking."

The elder laughed.

"He's a baby."

The patriarch didn't.

"No."

He stared into Dark's eyes.

"He's already learning."

The child reached toward a wooden toy.

Then stopped.

His gaze shifted to another object.

A servant moved the toy.

Dark's eyes followed.

The patriarch's expression changed.

The boy wasn't merely watching.

He was predicting.

The family had not yet found a name for what made him special.

But they would eventually call it something simple.

Reality strategy.

Dark could look at a situation and instinctively begin calculating how its pieces could be arranged.

He was not merely intelligent.

He was frighteningly observant.

---

A year later, House Zephyr welcomed a daughter.

Nie.

Her birth was celebrated throughout the second-ranked family.

She possessed the beauty expected of Zephyr women.

But there was something else.

Strength.

The first time she gripped a training bow, the adults around her laughed.

It was almost as large as she was.

Nie didn't laugh.

She pulled the string.

The wood groaned.

Her father stared.

"Where did she learn that?"

"She hasn't."

Nie released the string.

The training target several meters away cracked.

The adults stopped smiling.

That day, they began to understand.

The girl wasn't simply beautiful.

There was something violent beneath that beauty.

Around the same period, House Full Swing welcomed another child.

Sky.

His body was thin.

Extremely thin.

His father stared at him for several seconds after the birth.

Then he sighed.

"Another one."

The nurse looked confused.

"Patriarch?"

The father pointed toward the infant.

"Look at him."

Sky stretched one tiny arm.

The father rubbed his forehead.

"The Full Swing curse continues."

It wasn't actually a curse.

The Full Swing simply had a strange hereditary trait.

No matter how much they trained.

No matter how much they ate.

Their bodies remained slender.

Their magic shaped them differently.

They were masters of swordsmanship and possessed the ability to duplicate swords according to their magical capacity.

Their strength wasn't stored in enormous muscles.

It was in magic.

And there was another trait the family proudly carried.

Beauty.

The Full Swing men were famous throughout Aethelgard for being exceptionally attractive.

Sky would eventually discover that this was both a blessing and a disaster.

---

By the time the children were growing old enough to understand the world around them, the Great Families had already begun watching.

Founder’s Day arrived.

Commoners celebrated in the streets.

Noble houses held extravagant gatherings.

But beneath the celebrations was an uncomfortable truth.

Aethelgard belonged to the Seven.

The Seven Great Families.

Their names carried authority.

Their decisions carried consequences.

And their children were not merely children.

They were future weapons.

Future leaders.

Future bargaining pieces.

Lulu, Nie, Dark, and Sky had been born into a world that had already decided what they were supposed to become.

None of them had been asked whether they agreed.

Lulu was the first to silently reject the idea.

---

Lulu rarely spoke.

He would sit alone and stare at people.

Sometimes servants avoided entering rooms because his acidic mana made their eyes water.

His parents tried to teach him manners.

Lulu ignored them.

They tried affection.

He tolerated it.

They tried discipline.

He stared back.

One evening, his father found him sitting beside a window.

"What are you thinking about?"

Lulu didn't answer.

"You're going to need to learn how to speak to people."

Lulu looked at him.

"I know."

His father blinked.

It was one of the longest answers he'd received.

"Then why don't you?"

Lulu looked back outside.

"Because most people talk too much."

His father stared.

Then laughed.

"You really are my son."

Lulu said nothing.

But somewhere beneath that cold expression, a thought was beginning to take shape.

If the Great Families wanted to control him...

One day, they would have to learn whether he could be controlled at all.