There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 682: Side Story 3. Stellar Blossom - 17

"Nayi!"

"A-aa!"

"Nali..."

"Aa!"

The twins, almost three years old and looking like a pair of handsome little boys, ran toward the little princess sitting on a plush baby chair in the middle of the room. Well, Asa was the one running; Kar was walking calmly but briskly, as if bragging that he could walk well without wobbling now.

The little princess, looking like the epitome of cuteness, raised her arms and welcomed her handsome little princes with a bright, cheerful laugh that instantly made people acknowledge that she was, indeed, Reina and Shin’s daughter.

The baby playroom in Lucre’s lakeside villa immediately turned brighter with the three kids’ laughter. Even Kar, who seemed to have mastered Zein’s resting stone face, smiled generously when they were together. Conversely, Asa restrained his rowdy streak, as if worried about accidentally hurting the little princess.

Zein always thought it was fascinating.

"Isn’t it amazing that we can differentiate it even though all she said was aaaaaa~" Han Shin laughed as he watched the twins create a zoo around the princess’s chair. The plush baby chair supporting her in the middle of the room even looked like a little throne.

And there was a cute little tiara on top of her curly brown hair.

"Hmm...daughters are indeed nice," Zein stroked his chin as if appraising something. A future maybe.

"...they are?" Bassena suddenly felt his neck turn a bit chilly.

"Mm," Zein smiled softly as his sons raised some plushies and let the little princess choose. Nari giggled and grabbed all the plushies, hugging them and filled her throne with soft animals. "They are just effortlessly pretty. Make the atmosphere brighter."

It was something that Zein never thought he would say out loud. He had jokingly said it would be better to have little sisters to his younger brothers when they were being naughty and rowdy, but...a daughter would indeed be nice, wouldn’t it? Especially for a big house with lots of room waiting to be filled...

Zein glanced at his esper. "It’s past two years no--"

"Oh, look at that cute dress! Did you make it yourself, Rei?"

Bassena, for the first time, was running away from Zein. Reina couldn’t help but laugh at the panic in the esper’s face while Zein was arching his brow, completely unimpressed. "Nari wanted to dress prettily today!" she told them.

Han Shin, the only one with a combat uniform in the room, gasped and raised her daughter high. "Does our little princess want to say bye-bye in her best outfit?"

"No, it’s because she’ll meet her handsome older brothers today," Reina replied with a shrug.

"Ugh--" Han Shin whined and hugged his giggling daughter, sighing at the faraway but impending future. He looked at his daughter’s eyes and started to give a stern warning. "Nari, you shouldn’t be swayed by looks! Don’t look at their faces! Look at their bank account, okay?"

The curls bounced as the little princess tilted her head. "Eee? Daa?"

"What are you teaching your daughter?" Reina smacked the back of her baby husband.

"Ouch--the reality of the world?" Han Shin grinned sheepishly as he returned the wriggling Nari to the baby chair so she could resume playing with the waiting twins.

Reina chuckled. "But the twins are both handsome and rich, so what are you saying?"

One of them would be the heir to Ishtera’s house, and even without it, they would receive their parents’ massive wealth. Not to mention a literal millionaire godfather. Calling them little princes of Ishtera Hill wasn’t just for play.

Han Shin rolled his eyes. "Fine, then look at their personality, okay? Only date someone with Uncle Zein’s personality, not Uncle Bas."

"What the?"

"Otherwise, you’ll have to keep coddling their jealousy," Han Shin added with a raised finger, ignoring Bassena’s tongue clicking.

But Zein tilted his head. "Who says I’m not easily jealous?"

"...you are?" everyone looked at Zein, including a surprised Bassena.

"I dethrone a Saintess because of jealousy," the guide shrugged.

"You did?!"

"What kind of conversation are you having before your departure?" Radia, who just arrived in time to hear the bizarre conversation, shook his head exasperatedly.

Didn’t seem like having children would change these people much.

"An important conversation for my daughter’s future?" Han Shin stroked his chin.

"Don’t be stupid," Radia scoffed. "Do you think I’ll let her be with someone who’s not worthy?"

"Oh! Uncle Dee!"

Han Shin clapped his hands, which made Asa clapped too. Nari smacked the baby chair’s side fence while laughing cheerfully, and Kar slowly clapped too. What nice scenery, ignoring the fact that anyone courting the little princess in the future would have to suffer a thorough background check by her scary uncles.

With Radia and Han Joon arrived, it was time for Han Shin to depart. No one seemed to want to move from the playroom, however, and Han Shin spent another half an hour playing zookeeper with the three children before standing up.

"Alright, it’s time for Papa to go!" he picked up his daughter and rubbed their nose together. "Won’t my Nari give Papa a kiss?"

The baby girl smacked her father’s face, but also leaned forward to press her lips on Shin’s cheek, before coming back to smacking. "Ta-ta!"

"Mm, mm--Papa will return quickly, okay? We’ll have the bestest birthday for my little princess," Shin rubbed their cheeks together, and the little princess giggled loudly.

"Ungg!"

Shin grinned Nd whispered while patting the baby’s back. "Keep Mama company, okay? Give Mama a pat when she’s tired."

"Ung! Pa! Pa!" she copied the patting motion on Han Shin’s back, as if saying ’Leave it to me!’.

"Good girl!" Han Shin laughed and peppered kisses on his daughter’s face, before swerving to his wife and kissing her too.

It was a sign for them to move out of the baby room. Rather than a car, a boat had been waiting to bring the healer to the island in the middle of the lake, where he would use the portal in the guild branch to go to the Tower.

"Tata..." the little girl tapped on Shin’s cheek. "Eeiy!"

"Ey! Ey!" Han Shin laughed and clenched his fist. "Papa will blaze through everything! Papa will beat Uncle Bas!"

"...yeah, you do that."

Han Shim raised his brow at Bassena. "What a disappointingly chill reaction."

"What do you want me to do? I don’t care about the speed record--I’m still the youngest after all," Bassena smirked.

"Tsk."

"And we do need you to succeed quickly," Bassena added softly. But there was a firmness, a fierceness in his gaze that blazed the same in Han Shin’s eyes.

"Yeah," the healer nodded. "I’ll do my best--no, I’ll do more than my best."

He returned the little princess to her mother, replacing her with the white coat that Reina newly made for him, just for this trial. He hugged his girls once before placing another kiss on them, giggling together for the last time this year.

"Ankel!"

Han Shin looked down at the small hand patting his leg. "Oh, do you want to cheer me too, Asa?"

"Ung! Ankle fai...faitin!" the younger twin raised his arms, shouting as energetically as he could.

As usual, the older twin was calm and solemn. "Ankel, goo lak."

"Oh, I’ll make sure to fight hard!" he laughed and crouched to hug them. "Thank you, my boys!" he patted their back and added in a whisper. "Don’t let anyone approach Nari, okay?"

"Apwoch?" Asa tilted his head.

Kar, meanwhile, shook his head. "Othel...no close."

"That’s it! Don’t let other boys get close to her, okay?"

"Humm!"

"Kay."

"I told you to stop teaching kids weird stuff," Reina kicked her husband’s leg, filling the dock with laughter instead of anxiety.

Han Shin laughed loudly, feeling more energetic than before. He had a big family, and he was going to save one of them. There was no reason to despair. "Okay, time to go for real now!"

"Let’s go," Bassena called out from the dock, prompting Han Shin to arch his brow.

"What? You’ll escort me?"

"I have to put in a good word or two," Bassena, the OG favorite child of Ophiucus, would ask the administrator to kick Han Shin out of the trial before January no matter what.

"Heh," Han Shin smirked as he jumped to the speed boat, before turning around and calling out loudly to the man who had been quiet that day. "Hyung!" he smiled widely at his older brother. "Wait for me, okay?"

Han Joon was still reluctant about it until the end, even after giving permission. But since it came to this already...

"Do it well," he said shortly. Rather than asking Shin to come back safely, he’d rather wish for success instead.

That way, the lost months that Nati had to spend without his father wouldn’t be for naught.

"Yes, Sir!"

"Ankel! Baba! Bai-bai!"

Asa jumped on the dock and waved with all his body, sending his father and uncle to leave with a laugh. Kar, meanwhile, walked to Han Joon and pulled on his beloved uncle’s pants.

"Hmm? What is it, Kar?" Han Joon crouched so the little boy could face him better.

Kar pointed at the leaving boat while patting Joon’s shoulder. "Ankle, okay."

"Lil ankel wee bee olrait!" Asa, who had returned to the patio, added.

Han Joon raised his brow in stun for a few seconds before laughing. "Are you trying to cheer me up?" he ruffled the twins’ hair. "Yeah, he’ll do well. He’ll be okay."

Kar stared at the black eyes. "Big ankle, okay?"

"Yeah, I’m alright too," Han Joon chuckled at the palpable concern in the thirty-four-month-old boy’s face. "Look, I’m no longer cold--ah, do you not like it anymore?"

As an answer, Kar hugged his big uncle tightly, showing Joon that his condition wouldn’t change the boy’s love for him. In support of this statement, Asa pounced on Joon and sent them toppling back together, laughing while the twins hugged him from both sides.

Giggling, Reina added the little princess to Joon’s chest. The girl plopped on her stomach and reached out to pat her uncle’s face. "Angg! Doo! Bwoo!"

"Yeah, I love you guys too," Han Joon hugged the bundle of cuteness latched on him, laughing at the blue summer sky.

Even if he couldn’t see the color clearly now.