50. No More Disappointments
The cracking parts of the eggshell were increasing. With a crisp sound, a small pit the size of a fingernail appeared on the dragon eggshell, and the eggshell fell onto Reina’s tail.
Strangely, unlike when Celes hatched, the two little dragons were very quiet until now.
Until, with a nervous heart, she watched the two little dragons crawl out of the eggshell and reveal their two heads. Reina was so happy she almost flew up. Knowing that her maternal instincts were kicking in, she calmed down a little and poked her head over.
—One was a light blue little dragon, and the other was a dark blue dragon.
The twin sisters’ pupil colors were not the same.
The light blue little dragon’s were purple, while the dark blue one’s were azure.
Reina extended one hand, and the two little dragons crawled up, following their mother’s scent.
“Angelis~”
“Guangying~”
Reina picked up the two little dragons and giggled.
These were their new names.
Her own child had to be named by her.
Celes had originally wanted to give her little sisters a surprise. She extended her hand and then stopped, looking at these two dragons, who were even smaller than herself, with starry eyes.
She sat on Reina’s lap, and Calysia smiled the whole time, waiting for Reina to give her a child.
…
Reina was a little worried.
It wasn’t that the little dragons were smaller than Celes, although they were clearly not as strong as Celes when she was just born.
But why wasn’t Guangying crying?
The first thing a little dragon did when it was born was to cry. Having just experienced a new world, leaving the warm dragon egg… theoretically, the longer the mother incubated the egg, the higher the probability that the little dragon would cry.
“Look how sadly Angelis is crying!”
And Guangying wasn’t not crying because she was in a good mood or was mature.
Her expression was a complex mixture of sadness and excitement after seeing her mother. But looking at those azure eyes, which were almost identical to her own, she looked completely pitiful.
Angelis had crawled out of the dragon egg first, so she was the older sister.
Guangying was the younger sister.
After the two little dragons had gradually adapted to the world, Reina handed them over to Calysia. The latter, just like Reina, patted their backs and wings and touched their horns and heads with her fingers.
Celes observed the whole process, unexpectedly quiet.
But in the end, the problem was still not solved… Guangying didn’t cry.
According to Reina’s understanding of various dragon books and her own summarized experience, it was impossible for twin dragon whelps from the same dragon egg to have such obvious differences.
There was only one possibility… that was, they were influenced by their “previous lives.”
But the problem was…
When a little dragon was just born, it was impossible for it to remember things from the past.
It was possible to recover some of it in advance, and gradually understand the truth as their cognition grew.
But definitely not now.
For a moment, Reina began to reflect on whether it was her own problem.
The dragon whelps were not lacking in nutrition, and their scales were also very neat…
Perhaps it was her own negligence that had caused the little dragon not to receive motherly love, or perhaps she had not taken good care of the little dragon, or perhaps her slackness had caused a problem in some step.
They had no possibility of escaping. If something was wrong with a child, it was always her fault as a mother. She couldn’t possibly blame Calysia.
But now was not the time for regrets. She held the two little dragons in her arms and held them tightly.
The two little dragons poked their heads out from her arms, one on the left and one on the right, but this time, Reina could only manage a gentle smile.
Until she fell into a deep sleep from excessive fatigue. She had never felt so tired.
Reina woke up in the middle of the night.
Everything felt like a dream.
At this moment, Celes was already asleep beside her.
“I’ve messed everything up…”
Reina shed tears and prepared to breastfeed the two little dragons, who should be starting to get hungry.
“Little Reina doesn’t have to blame herself so much. You’ve already done your best.”
“But… sob, sob…”
For the first time, Reina felt the pain of not having given birth to a healthy child.
Celes’s healthy growth had made her forget the problems a mother should worry about. Until the two little dragons were born, she had never thought that this would happen.
And she had actually missed Celes’s feeding time because of a small problem with Guangying.
She had messed everything up.
“Reina, it will be okay.”
“Little Cal, thank you…”
As a sucking sound came from her chest, Reina also gradually calmed down. She knew she might fail, might not be a good mother, but as long as she did her best.
Reina didn’t know what she would have become without Little Cal.
Later, she discovered a problem, and her eyes widened.
Angelis, after smelling the scent of milk, began to instinctively absorb Reina’s nutrients. She pressed her entire body against Reina’s, as if she never wanted to let go.
Guangying was the same.
But…
Her two small azure eyes were actually filled with tears, and her eating speed was not as fast as Angelis’s. She even kept looking at Reina.
Suddenly, Reina knew what had happened.
“Guangying?”
The little dragon seemed to be able to hear something, opened her mouth, as if in response.
And a newborn little dragon would take about a few months to learn how to use language. It was clear that in this aspect, the two little dragons were not as talented as Celes.
Guangying stuck out her tongue and licked the finger that Reina had extended, and then cried even more sadly.
Unlike other dragon whelps, she was just sad…
Reina could clearly feel it.
Crying until the end, Guangying even began to tremble all over, and finally let out a purring sound, long and drawn out. Reina had originally just patted her head, but she didn’t expect that she would keep crying, for half an hour!
Crying while drinking milk.
Later, Reina’s right breast was covered in tears from Guangying.
“Guangying, don’t cry. Mommy is here.”
Reina, thinking of something, began to comfort her with words, not just physical actions.
As if understanding Reina’s words, Guangying stopped trembling, but her eyes were still filled with tears.
“Mommy will never abandon you again. It’s all Mommy’s fault. Little Guangying can stay with Mommy forever, hehe…”
Reina’s tone was light, and the sadness in her eyes caused by self-blame had lessened a little.
Guangying understood.
Her tears were much less, and she focused on drinking milk, but… her little sister, Angelis, had already finished drinking milk and had fallen asleep. She simply hugged her twin sister Guangying. They seemed to have had similar actions in the dragon egg.
As the two dragon whelps both fell into a deep sleep, Reina’s suspended heart finally relaxed.
Yes…
Reina had indeed done something wrong.
She hadn’t made a mistake in incubating the egg, much less just now…
…It had nothing to do with that at all.
But rather, from thousands of years ago, she had already been wrong.
She patted the little dragon’s head and said softly:
“This time, I will never let you down.”
