The Flower Of Eternity
Chapter 11: The Four Clans

Fiore, Westeria border region

The sun was already setting in the sky of Westeria. The autumn winds of Westeria blow away the multicolored leaves of the forest. All the forest inhabitants were hiding because the forest felt very quiet. There was not even the sound of wind or the singing of night birds. But all that silence is over soon.

From a distance, five human figures walked in the darkness of the forest.

"Theana, are you sure this is the Queen's order?" Ask one of them. He was the highest in the group. A man with eyes like Sapphire gems was around fifty years old or so. But only his son was— whose name he had mentioned, who knew that in fact his age had almost reached two hundred years.

"I have direct orders from Her Majesty, Father." Theana.

The man, his father, folded his hands in front of his chest. His gaze was full of arrogance like one of the oldest Clan leaders in Westeria. "Then why is there a Navarro here? If it were to protect someone, Navarro was the last person to be included, and that was only if it had no other choice."

"Shut your mouth, Ortiz." The sizzling leader of the Navarro Clan, a young woman with Amethyst eyes. The woman was not wearing the dress or skirt that women used to wear. She prefers to wear formal after with trousers. His long black hair was tied to a ponytail. She looked like a mid-twenty-year-old woman, but no one can be sure how old it really is because the owners of gem eyes are usually long-lived and the aging process lasts longer than ordinary humans. "The Queen's Majesty appoints all the leaders of the Clan. That means the Navarro Clan too. Although I dare not guarantee that if something happens that endangers the baby that will be born, Noord can remain intact. I can't half-use my power."

"Basic Navarro's crazy. You're all rude like a nation of bars." Grumpy Orlando Ortiz, leader of the Ortiz Clan.

The woman leader of the Navarro Clan laughed. His laughter can scare away all the wild animals that might be hiding in the forest. "You're saying it like you've never fucked a Navarro."

"Letticia is not like other Navarro."

The leader of the Navarro Clan again laughed cynically. "No. Of course not. Letticia was too cheap to be recognized as a Navarro."

"So what you say! You can talk about your own mother like that!" Orlando Ortiz looked furious.

"Oh! Have you heard from your missing son? Did you even know that she ran away from home and married a commoner in Schiereiland?"

"Riz can't stand to live in the middle of crazy rude people like you."

"Then he should have gone back to his father's family. Not running away from home and making my mom worry all the time."

"Arizona was born with Amethyst eyes. He belongs to the Navarro Clan. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't claim to be the son of an Ortiz."

"Basic is useless."

"Andromeda..." A man who had only noticed the two great Clan leaders' infighting had now begun to speak up. As he spoke, several owls perched on his shoulders and hands. His eyes glow brightest at night, yellow like Amber jewels. "Don't be disrespectful to older people."

"Salazar, we're Westerians. We're just being polite to the Queen." Andromeda Navarro. "And I don't think we're close enough to call first names. Don't you, Enrique?"

"I'm the same age as your late father!" Protest Enrique Salazar, the man with Amber's eyes.

"Can't you guys just calm down a little!"

Everyone turned their heads towards him as the supposedly most reserved man began to speak up. He has the largest body full of muscles among the others with a height almost equivalent to Orlando Ortiz. The man had Ruby's eyes so bright in the darkness of the night.

"Let's relax, Torres." Andromeda Navarro patted the Torres Clan Leader on the shoulder as if they were peers. Ignacio Torres is the oldest of them all despite appearing to be only mid-thirty. "We don't want to fight. We'll just come to the Ice Country to make sure our heir to the throne is born safe."

But after Ignacio spoke, they all seemed much calmer and more silent. Even if Andromeda did not respect him, the other Clan leaders, Orlando Ortiz and Enrique Salazar, respected him greatly as their older comrades in arms.

"Is that baby really a descendant of the Reyes Clan?" Ignacio Torres finally asked, breaking the silence he had created earlier.

Andromeda shrugged, "Who knows. It could not be. What do you think, Ortiz?" He did not ask Orlando, but his daughter, Theana.

"I don't know either." Answer Theana. "But if that baby inherits Emerald's eyes like his father's, I guess we can think of him as a descendant of the Reyes Clan."

All the clan leaders nodded in agreement. Even Andromeda will still kneel to the baby who will be born if it is true that the baby was born with the characteristics of the Reyes Clan.

"It is impossible that any ordinary human other than the one with the blood of the Reyes Clan was born with the eyes of the Emerald." Andromeda said, more to himself.

But Orlando Ortiz who usually debate it, actually agreed to his words. "From the very beginning of seeing King Xavier, I had suspected that he was a descendant of the Reyes Clan. But there's no way to prove it. I've been trying to read his mind, in fact he doesn't seem to know who his ancestors are either."

"All quiet. Look, the Lion from the South is coming to pick us up." Enrique said as he looked at the tall figure of a man walking towards them. Even though it was dark that night, even though their distance was still quite far, they already knew that the man was Leon.

"I heard he's now a Grand Duke." Andromeda Comments.

"That's how. He can also do magic." Orlando said.

"He's handsome."

When Andromeda said this, four pairs of eyes turned to him in surprise.

"I don't think you're interested in men." Orlando said.

"What kind of empty egg is that?"

"I don't think you're getting married." Theana.

"I'm just saying he's handsome. Not that I want him to propose to me right now." Andromeda threw an annoyed look at the Ortiz family. "But if he proposed to me right now, I wouldn't refuse either. Which crazy woman can resist its charm."

"Because he's handsome?" Enrique laughed cynically.

"Because he's the Lion of the South." Answer Andromeda.

"I wonder if he also turned into a Wolf like Wolfgang." Enrique.

He said that because he had faced directly with Wolfgang who turned into a Wolf and almost died being torn apart by the wolf's fangs. The Salazar Clan had the ability to tame all animals and monsters, but the Winterthur Wolves were an exception for them as the Winterthur Wolves would only be tame on their King and their soul mate.

"Is everything ready?" Leon asked in Westernia when the distance between them was close enough. Now that they could all see him at close range, they could see that Leon looked even paler and messier. They didn't even bother to ask. The Grand Duke was definitely very worried about the state of Tsarina Anastasia.

"Please help, Grand Duke." Theana.

Leon forced a smile even though his face revealed his fatigue and anxiety, for the sake of hospitality to his comrades, "Depend them on me."

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Main Palace, Noord, Nordhalbinsel, Imperial Schiereiland

That night the sound of a baby crying bodes a blessing for Imperial Schiereiland led by Tsarina Anastasia. That cry signified the birth of a future for Imperial Schiereiland, the sole heir to the title Tsarina. Everyone celebrated by offering prayers for the newborn baby girl.

"She's so pretty..." Irene muttered while holding her granddaughter. Irene patted Anna on the shoulder proudly, "You've done your best. You're terrific. Thank you very much, my son-in-law."

Although her entire body was still painful, even though she was even too weak to smile, Anna could still smile when she saw the tiny baby. "He looks like his father."

Don't get too discouraged, but he does look like me, right? I expected it. Xavier's voice that always accompanied him and encouraged him during the process of rebirth appeared.

I'm not discouraged. I'm glad he looks more like you.

"You're right." Irene said in a soft voice. And just then, the door opened. Leon entered in a hurry, asking the servants and doctors to leave the room immediately. "Leon, come and see. You're officially an uncle."

"You why? You look pale and tangled." Anna's comments when she sees Leon.

"Why did you say?" Leon laughed cynically. "I'm so worried. Thank goodness you two survived."

"of course. You think I'm gonna die?"

"Some mothers died giving birth to their children." Leon said as he glanced towards Irene.

"I didn't die from childbirth. It was Selena." Reply Irene.

"Whatever." Leon said as he watched his nephew closely. She smiled, but her eyes seemed to be glazed as she looked at the baby, "She looks like Xavier. His pale skin, the shape of his nose, eyebrows, and eyes. Especially eyes... Emerald's eyes belong to the Reyes Clan."

"Not." Anna protested directly.

"Westeria already considers this child as the heir to their throne. You didn't know? Four Clan leaders stand guard in this Palace to protect your son."

Anna was surprised to hear the information from Leon. The leader of the great Clans in Westeria was usually not seen in one place at the same time unless something extraordinary happened like a great war and such. He did not expect the birth of his son would make the leaders of the four Clans gather at his Palace.

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