All eyes turned toward Leona, Lulu, and Nyx, examining their lower abdomens carefully.

Their bellies were completely bare. No marks. No elegant tattoos.

"That doesn’t make sense." One elf said, genuinely confused. "They’re so intimate with the Hero. How do they not have tattoos?"

"They sneak off with him all the time." Another observed. "How is it possible that only Luna has one?"

"It doesn’t add up." A third elf agreed. "Especially Leona, she’s definitely the Hero’s favorite with the number of times we’ve caught them in a bush."

"Why doesn’t she have a mark?"

The entire gathering turned their collective gaze toward the Silverleaf family, their curiosity now burning with intensity.

Leona, Lulu, Nyx, and Luna huddled together, all of them looking profoundly embarrassed.

Luna looked down at her feet. Lulu fidgeted nervously with her hands. Leona tried to subtly hide herself behind the others.

Even Nyx, who usually carried herself with confidence and boldness, looked genuinely flustered and awkward, realizing that her younger niece was apparently more experienced than she was.

A fact that was now being exposed in front of the entire village.

Finally, Leona stepped forward, her face burning with embarrassment but her voice steady.

"The reason only Luna has a tattoo..." She said carefully. "...is because she’s the only one among us who has actually...um...taken that final step with Luca."

Gasps erupted from the crowd.

"The three of us—" Leona gestured to herself, Lulu, and Nyx. "—we haven’t...I mean, we’ve been intimate in other ways."

"ut we haven’t actually...well, we haven’t done that particular thing yet."

The reaction was immediate and explosive.

"What?!" Several elves cried out simultaneously.

"That’s impossible!" Another exclaimed. "How can that be?"

"But you sneak off with him all the time!" Someone else pointed out. "You’re constantly together! How haven’t you...?"

"And Nyx especially!" Another elf added, looking at her with surprise. "She always acts so bold and confident! How hasn’t she...?"

The gathered elves devolved into a chorus of shocked exclamations and confused comments, each one more surprised than the last that the Silverleaf family hadn’t actually consummated their relationships with him.

Nyx, feeling the weight of dozens of curious and somewhat disappointed gazes, couldn’t help but look down in shame.

All her carefully maintained maturity and boldness seemed to crumble in the face of this revelation.

She was being looked down upon, judged not as the experienced, confident woman she’d always presented herself as.

But as someone lagging behind in actual intimate experience to her frustration.

And as if that wasn’t enough, to add fuel to the fire, Luca placed a hand dramatically over his heart and let out a long, theatrical sigh.

"Finally." He said, his voice dripping with exaggerated suffering. "Finally, people see the struggles I’ve been going through."

Everyone turned to look at him.

Leona’s eyes narrowed. She knew that tone. Something terrible was coming.

And it did.

Luca pointed accusingly at the Silverleaf family and shouted,

"This entire family is a bunch of teasing foxes!"

The four women stared at him in shock.

"Every single time I get close to them, every single time we reach the final step—they pull away!"

He clutched his chest.

"They come up with excuse after excuse, reason after reason. They drag me in, get me all worked up, and then leave me hanging without letting me enjoy the final meal!"

The crowd gasped.

"Oh, they wouldn’t!"

"That’s terrible!"

"Hero, you’ve suffered so much!"

The elves looked at Luca with pity, shaking their heads in disappointment at Leona and the others.

Leona’s mouth fell open.

"That’s not—we never—Luca!"

But Luca wasn’t done. He raised his hand, and the crowd fell silent.

"But it’s alright." His voice softened. "I love them all very much. So even if they refuse to play ball, I’ll still follow them all the way to the very end. I’ll never give up on them."

Several elves burst into tears.

"Oh, Hero! How can you be so good?!"

"To love them so much after everything they’ve put you through..."

"I could never do something like that. I’d have given up ages ago."

A young elf stepped forward, her eyes shining with determination.

"It’s alright, Hero! We’re here to save you!"

"Yes!" Another joined. "Even if they won’t give it to you, we most certainly will!"

The elves looked at him like he was a lost puppy.

A poor, mistreated, adorable lost puppy who needed a warm home and a hot meal and someone to tell him everything was going to be okay.

Luca basked in the attention, looking thoroughly satisfied with himself, while Lulu stamped her foot.

"Luca! Stop saying stuff like that! You’re making us look like villains!"

Leona nodded vigorously. "Exactly! Everyone’s looking at us weirdly now!"

Nyx crossed her arms, her jaw tight. She did not appreciate being looked down upon.

Especially by people she had once considered less experienced than herself.

Luna, however, had subtly separated herself from her family. She edged away, putting distance between herself and the other three.

"Luna?" Lulu’s eyes widened. "What are you doing?"

"I’m not like you guys." Luna shrugged. "I’ve already done it with Luca. Multiple times. Everyone here knows that." She gestured at the crowd. "I have nothing to hide."

Leona gasped. "You traitor!"

"You’re abandoning us!" Lulu wailed.

"She has chosen the winning side." Selma said approvingly.

Luna stood apart, looking smug, while her family glared at her with expressions of utter betrayal.

Luca, meanwhile, ignored all of them.

He was too busy accepting comfort from the other elves, who were patting his back and telling him that everything would be okay.

But just as the chaos reached its peak, a voice cut through the noise like a blade.

"ENOUGH."

Everyone looked up.

Standing on a bridge overhead was one of the oldest elves in the village, a woman from the same generation as the Grand Matriarch herself.

Her silver hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her eyes, though clouded with age, still held a sharpness that made people straighten their spines.

She had been listening. To all of it.

"I have watched this village for longer than most of you have been alive..."

She said, her voice carrying across the square.

"...and I have seen many traditions come and go."

"But there is one tradition that has remained unchanged since the founding of this clan."

"That is..."

The crowd fell silent.

"The royal family, the Silverleaf bloodline has always partaken first."

"Whether it’s in feasts, ceremonies, rituals, and celebrations, they are always the ones who start everything off. This is our way. This is our heritage."

She narrowed her eyes.

"And so, when it comes to repopulating this village, the same rule applies. Without the Silverleaf family receiving the Hero’s blessing first, none of the rest of you can be allowed to proceed."

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

"You mean..." One elf whispered.

The elder nodded.

"Every single member of the Silverleaf family—Leona, Nyx, Luna, and Lulu must become pregnant and bear the Hero’s child before any other elf is permitted to try."

"Until then." the elder finished. "No one is to touch the Hero."

Outrage erupted.

"But that’s not fair!" An elf cried. "I’ve been waiting for this! We all have!"

"Now I have to wait for someone else?!"

"I was already planning my baby’s nursery!"

The elves looked at the Silverleaf family with barely concealed fury.

Leona found herself wilting under the intensity of their glares. Lulu and Luna hid behind their mother, peeking out nervously.

Even Nyx shifted uncomfortably.

They looked like they were about to be lynched.

Then Selma raised her hand.

"This cannot go on like this." She declared. "If we let them continue at their own pace, they’ll keep stalling forever. We’ll never get our turn."

She pointed an accusing finger at the four women.

"I propose we throw them into a room right now and not let them out until all four of them are pregnant."

Luna’s voice cracked. "WHAT?! That’s ridiculous!"

Lulu jumped up and down indignation. "Shut up, Selma! If you don’t, I’ll send my chicken army after you! They’ll peck you all over!"

But Selma was unimpressed and the other elves, however, began to nod.

"That actually makes sense."

"The family has always been strangely timid about this. Even Nyx, who we thought was different, turned out to be the same."

"I think we should do what Selma said."

"Let’s do it already. We need to make sure they get pregnant before we can do anything else."

"It’s tradition. We have to follow it."

The crowd surged forward, their eyes gleaming with determination. The four women tried to back away, but there was nowhere to go.

"Come along now." The elves said, pushing them toward Luca’s treehouse. "We have no time to spare. If we wait any longer, it will be detrimental to the village’s future."

"You need to get pregnant right now!"

"Exactly! Let’s go! We can’t wait any longer!"

Leona stumbled as she was pushed forward, her face flushed.

"Wait, hold on! Can we at least wait until nightfall? The sun is still shining—it’s a beautiful day! I don’t know if we can do something like this in broad daylight!"

The elves scoffed.

"You’ve had so much time with the Hero already, and you didn’t do anything. Why should we give you more time?"

"Yeah! No more delays!"

They shoved the four women up the stairs and through the door of Luca’s treehouse.

Luca himself went obediently, a pleased expression on his face because finally, finally, this was happening.

Selma grabbed the door handle and grinned.

"We’ll only let you out when you show the mark of pregnancy." She announced. "I want to see all of your naughty places filled up with the Hero’s seed."

Luna’s mouth fell open. "Selma, you—"

The door slammed shut.

The four women stood in stunned silence, staring at the door.

Luna was the first to speak. "I can’t believe they just...locked us in here."

Lulu nodded. "Our own villagers. Our friends. They betrayed us."

Leona pressed her hand against her forehead.

"This is not how I imagined today going."

But Leona had to admit—they had been dragging this out. Julius was gone. The curse was broken.

There was no reason to delay any longer.

And honestly? Despite her protests, she was excited now that the time has come.

She looked at her daughters and they were the same.

Lulu was bouncing on her heels, barely containing her energy. Luna was blushing, but there was a gleam in her eyes she couldn’t quite hide.

"So." Leona said, clearing her throat. "Who should go first?"

Lulu immediately puffed out her chest.

"Me! As the Queen of Chickens, I should have the honor of having my virginity taken first!"

Luna frowned. "Why you? Why can’t it be me? I want to be first too!"

"Because you already did it with Luca!" Lula shot back. "We’ve all heard you moaning. Repeatedly! Over many nights!"

Luna’s face turned crimson.

"That’s—that’s not the point! This is still a memorable moment, and I want to be first!"

"I’ve always let you have first place in everything else, but this—this I won’t give up!"

Lulu crossed her arms. "Neither can I!"

They bickered back and forth, voices rising, fingers pointing. Leona watched them for a moment, then shyly raised her hand.

"...I think I should go first."

Her daughters turned to stare at her.

"Mother?!"

Leona cleared her throat, trying to look dignified despite the circumstances.

"Just think about it. The person who loves Luca the most should go first, right?"

"And that would naturally be me."

She pointed at herself, as if the matter were obvious.

Lulu’s jaw dropped. "That’s ridiculous! I love him more than you!"

"No, I love him more than both of you!" Luna added.

"I love him ten times more than both of you combined!" Lulu shouted.

"I love him a hundred times more!"

"A thousand!"

"A million!"

Leona’s eye twitched. "Children, please, this is—"

"Don’t ’children’ me, Mother! You’re being unreasonable!"

"You’re all being unreasonable!"

They devolved into shouting, arguing in circles, getting absolutely nowhere.

Finally, Leona threw up her hands. "Whatever! Let’s just ask Nyx. She’ll support my decision."

But the moment she turned around towards the door, where Nyx was—

—she froze up on the spot at what she saw.

Lulu and Luna, who also turned to get their aunt’s support stared at the sight before then in dismay.

This was because while the three of them had been arguing, Nyx had taken matters into her own hands.

She was currently pressed against Luca, standing on her toes to reach his lips, kissing him with a passion that made the other three freeze mid-sentence.

Her arms were wrapped around his neck. His hands were on her waist, sliding down to her hips.

Their mouths moved together, slow and deep, completely absorbed in each other.

The three women stared, utterly petrified.

Then Lulu shrieked. "HEY! THAT’S NOT FAIR!"

Luna stomped her foot. "Auntie Nyx! You weren’t even part of the discussion!"

Leona’s face went red. "We were supposed to decide who went first! You can’t just—you can’t just—"

Nyx pulled back just enough to glance at them, her lips still close to Luca’s. She smirked.

"You were taking too long." She said simply. "I got bored."

"That doesn’t mean you can just—"

But Nyx had already turned back to Luca.

"Where were we?" She murmured.

Luca grinned. "I believe we were right about here."

He pulled her back in, and the kissing resumed.

Lulu, Luna, and Leona stood frozen, watching the two of them kiss and touch and completely ignore the rest of them.

And somewhere outside, Selma pressed her ear against the door, grinning.

"Sounds like progress." She announced to the other elves.

They cheered.