Inheriting a Lost Bloodline, My First Task is to have heirs?!

When I was in the academe, I made sure to take as many classes and read just as many books in the library regarding pregnancy, childbirth, child rearing, child education, child nutrition, etc. I got a lot of weird looks from other people in the academe. The one thing they have in common is they all look at me like I am weird or crazy. Even Ioannis told me that only men take these classes but I still went to register and attend them anyways.

I should have been well-equipped with everything I need to know to take care of a pregnant guy and everything else that happens afterwards but the problem was, everything that I studied barely applies to our situation! I totally forgot that I will not have human babies! They will all be born as mystiques with different growth rates, patterns and nutritional needs.

Though Ioannis was previously a human, after deification, everything that is produced from his body will be of mystique nature. Babies are included in that category. The first major difference was how we can reduce the time it takes to give birth to a child to as little as six months, given proper nourishment from both parents. A normal human needs nine months!

The "nourishment" we were talking about here is not just ample food, rest, care or doctor check-ups. Mystique babies become stronger and healthier when nourished by their mothers which means, I have to make sure to copulate with the father of my children at regular intervals. This is even more important since the father of my children was a deified person, not a natural-born mystique. Children are like bottomless pits, absorbing sustenance from their fathers.

The "copulation" also applies to mystique fathers but not as frequent as to the needs of the deified ones. The mystique races can also use an alternative like the mother saving up their life and mana essence in advance inside an orb and having the fathers absorb it in regular intervals to support the pregnancy.

Normally though, the mystique races are used to having the fathers rearing the children on their own though it puts their lives and health in a lot of risk.

As for the diet part, human children need milk from their fathers at least for the first year of their lives and then eventually move to solid food once they have their baby teeth and all. Mystique babies feed on a combination of mana and life essences, either from their father alone, their mother alone or the best one would be a combination of both. These essences were placed in a specific magic tool which blends it and then converts it to a liquid form akin to milk as well.

This one-of-a-kind milk that follows a very specific and difficult process to produce is the reason why I have been constantly saving excess mana and life essences whenever I spend intimate time with my men. With how they were normal humans before with mana that was only enough to keep themselves alive, you can't just expect them to know how to extract enough of both life and mana essences from their bodies to keep the children fed and themselves alive afterwards.

I have been constantly saving mine in the room of beginnings in a highly protected space. It has been already been prepared as early as I found out about it through the books I have read in this palace. I have also started with keeping the essences from Ioannis, Kayden, Dimitri and Lark in their respective receptacles, ready for producing milk for the children I will have with them in the future.

Mystique children will feed on this milk for 2 years straight until their body is strong enough to get sustenance on their own from other sources. This is the reason why the mortality rate of newborns in this world is high, not only for humans but also mystiques. Keeping themselves (the father) fed and healthy is already a struggle and this creates a domino effect of weaker bodies unable to bear children. If a man is lucky enough to give birth to one, the children were most likely sickly or weak.

This much preparation has helped me make sure that although it was unexpected that I will have a pair of twins on the first try, my husband would not have to strain his body further to keep the children fed. Since I took responsibility for these guys, I have to do it till the end.

I have already made arrangements and left instructions about these things to my pregnant men back in Marahuyo. I have also built and prepared a similar structure as the one in the room of beginnings to ensure that the milk production would be enough. You can never be too early when it comes to preparing things for your children.

Mystiques normally have a pregnancy of 12 months since the children born from them are physically stronger and supposedly have the ability to use mana so they need more time to be formed in their father's womb. Given the constant support I have given to the three guys (a giant, an elf and a herald), we could shorten the time needed to 10 months at most.

Only dragons were different since no matter how much support were provided to the dragon eggs, the children are just endless pits absorbing life and mana essences from their fathers. They will hatch at exactly 14 months (a year in this world).

There is a catch though. A dragon can lay several batches of eggs in year if they are lucky meaning they can constantly hatch eggs if they found their match. This is the reason behind the tons of gifts I have been receiving from the dragons. Eieneans are the best match for dragons in terms of seed quality, amount of mana and fertility. Dragons also come out of their eggs in the form of a 1-year old child.

As for my babies from the deified humans, once they get past the first six months where the babies are the most fragile we should be able to relax. For the first two years of life, they just have to be fed adequately and consistently. After that, the children should grow up well as they should with no issues. Once the vulnerable first two years of their lives are over, it is almost impossible for the children to get hurt or even get sick.

In terms of lifespan and aging, mystique children will eventually stop aging by the time they turn 25 and will gain the ability to control how old they will look from then on. As for human children, time does not stop for them and with the life expectancy at this period in time, they should be lucky to reach the old age of about 70 before they die of natural causes.

As for the child education, it is usually handled by the family who took the custody for the children. It is not that the father couldn't meddle, they can still teach their children things but the curriculum and final decision as to the path that the child will study will come from the mother's family.

As for my case, I technically don't have a family and I might need to discuss this with Samir, Laerad, Lia and Aelorus. We could build a school of some sort and decide where we could find an early child educator to handle the studying of the children. Maybe, they can all take turns to take that role since I will be away most of the time.

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For some reason, after Ioannis had a private conversation with Samir and another separate conversation with Laerad, the three suddenly had a close relationship like they have known each other since they were young. Honestly, I find it fishy and you know how people become friends when they share the same goals and values, right? That's the feeling I am getting from all of this.

The trio eventually set up a private conversation at one of the gazebos in MY palace garden where I was not allowed to listen in. They have secrets now, I suppose. I also feel that these secrets have something to do with me.

This gut feeling was confirmed when Samir and Laerad became more expressive. I wanted to say "aggressive" but they are trying to tone it down. They are currently just trying to check where my limits and my bottom line are in terms of physical touch and flirting.

As to how they are testing it, from the previous suggestive looks and flirting once in a while, they went all out on seducing me in every way possible now. For some reason, the other two are not present whenever one makes their move. It was like a silent permission to one another approach me to try their luck.

Ioannis stays in a separate room that is meant for his recovery after giving birth. The children are also placed in their specially crafted cribs inside the same room that tells us exactly when they need to be fed and also keeps the babies clean which was really quite convenient. If only a similar invention was present back in Earth, parenthood would be 10 times easier.

Except during visits and meal time, I rarely saw Ioannis walking around the house. I occasionally bump into Samir within the kingdom but none of them try to follow me around or annoy me so far. Laerad visits the palace too once in a while.

The two guys visit Ioannis almost everyday in his room. Sometimes they bring in gifts, have tea and snacks together or simply help in taking care of the children and keeping them amused by playing with the two cute babies.

As to what they talk about during their bonding time, I don't know! Even Lia and Aelorus do not want to meddle or divulge the contents of their conversation. It was so secretive that they put a sound barrier around the three of them courtesy of Laerad. THIS IS ALL VERY SHADY!