Because Estrella's birth was not as expected and there were quite a few complications, Tatyana's usual "let nature take its course" attitude was absent.
Similar to Tatyana, Yasenia was also a bit more proactive about using herself as a nutritional resource. For example, her scales and milk were used almost daily, while her blood was used once to create a pill called [Dragon Blood Pill].
[Dragon Blood Pill] was a rare recipe Tatyana knew about for premature dragon children. Dragon children were really weak at first, and the eggshell provided them with many benefits. Without it, Estrella was bound to have a weak body unless they intervened.
The pill used the blood of a powerful dragon with a strong bloodline as a resource material. Therefore, Yasenia chose to use hers.
No one stopped her or even suggested otherwise. As Yasenia's first biological child, the girls would be careful about Yasenia pampering her too much. Still, they were like protective hens around their chicks with the recently born child, so Estrella was fed several treasures during the first two months of her life and pampered.
All the treasures they used had extremely gentle energies, which were easily absorbed into Estrella's system even as a newborn.
The dragoness sat on a chair outside, hair gently blown by the warm breeze, while Estrella lay in her arms, looking up with her adorable heterochromatic eyes. The blue and golden eyes were locked on her mommy's face, carefully observing her.
Yasenia shook her head to flick back her hair and then looked down; she didn't want her long black hair to tickle Estrella's nose and make her sneeze. "How are you doing, baby? Do you feel happy?"
The child blinked and giggled, her laughter sounding like a crisp but pleasant bell. Yasenia laughed with her, making Estrella laugh even more.
Tatyana walked outside with a tray with food and saw Estrella and Yasenia laughing together, creating a wholesome and beautiful scene. With quick movements, she took out a camera and captured the moment.
'Oho~, very beautiful~.'
Tatyana looked at her slightly bigger family and felt her heart healing. Inside of her, Heart Demons were slowly being killed. At the same time, some other fears became stronger. However, Tatyana didn't mind as much. It was normal. 'Ah, these feelings again.'
She had also felt restless with Yasenia at first. Her first child in her long life happened so late that Tatyana feared that her motherly side had died off completely in a corner of the Universe.
Thankfully, it seemed that as long as you unconditionally loved your child as a mother, that instinct would always come back to you. That's what helped Tatyana the most during the first years of Yasenia's childhood.
Of course, a responsible mother or father should not rely on just that. Tatyana read plenty of books about taking care of children, dragons, and other literature for new mothers, always being careful to double-check information in case wrong information was mixed into the books.
Now that Estrella was born without a shell as well, Tatyana was much more experienced. 'I am curious, though. Why was this body gestating a pure beast?'
While Tatyana was not entirely human with either of her bodies, she had zero relation to pure beasts other than Tian Long being her mount.
'Does this body have very little influence in terms of genes? Perhaps it is unable to mix as well, allowing Yasenia to become the ultimately dominant parent.'
"Oh? Tatyana, you are here."
Yasenia's mellow and attractive voice reached her, snapping her out of her thoughts. 'Speaking of which, Little Treasure is calling me Mom less and less~.'
Yasenia saw Tatyana smiling at her with an amused expression and tilted her head, puzzled. "What's wrong?"
Tatyana laughed. "Nothing, Little Treasure. I come with a tray of food for you." The red-eyed woman approached and sat by her side.
Yasenia used her tail to hold the tray while she wound one arm around Tatyana's waist and placed the child between them. Estrella was quick to recognize her other mother and she remained still, staring at Tatyana with her endearing eyes.
Tatyana could feel her cold and stony heart slowly melting at the edges as those pretty and innocent eyes looked at her. She extended her hand to touch her face, but her vision flashed, and instead, she saw her own hand filled with blood and flesh of the dead approaching the pristine and pure child.
She was startled and took her hand back.
The dragoness's sharp senses quickly caught the problem and asked. "Are you okay, Tatyana?"
The Death Empress smiled and nodded. "Yes, don't worry."
The dragoness sighed and leaned sideways to kiss her cheek. "Liar~."
Tatyana blinked and felt her hand being covered by Yasenia's. Looking down, the blood and filth covering her skin was slowly washed away by the touch of her Little Treasure.
By the time her palm started caressing Estrella's cheek, she was looking at her pristine and white hand gently caressing the baby's face.
Yasenia's golden eyes softened, and she separated her hand from Tatyana's, handing Estrella to her. "It's time to breastfeed her, Tatyana. Go ahead."
Tatyana blinked and nodded, being somewhat obedient as Yasenia told her what to do.
The dragoness looked at Estrella, happily drinking her mother's milk, and laughed. "She really loves it, eh?"
Tatyana smirked and gave Yasenia a side-eye. "That makes two babies who love my milk."
Without denying it, Yasenia lifted her beautiful and straight eyebrow. "Any problem with that?"
Tatyana laughed. "None~."
With her arms now free, Yasenia surrounded the mother and child in her soft and squishy embrace and whispered. "You are her mother, Tatyana. Under these heavens, there is no one else that's better qualified to take care of her than you."
Tatyana snorted, wanting to say that she knew it. But she didn't answer that way. She knew why Yasenia was telling her these things. The feelings behind the words were much sweeter than the meaning of the words themselves. "Thank you, Yasenia."
"A thank you between us?" Asked the dragoness with a laugh.
Tatyana smiled. "Sometimes, it's nice to say it."
Yasenia smiled. "Then… You are welcome, Tatyana."
Selena slithered out of the door and looked Yasenia's way. "Young Miss!"
The dragoness looked over, and Selena commented. "Angel is due! I think she will give birth at any time."
Yasenia felt her heart clench. Of all her lovers, Tatyana was the one she was the most nervous about, and it proved to be with reasoning. However, the second one that had her tense was Angel.
With Angel's saint inheritance, she didn't know how it would go. There were too many variables that could affect the child's birth.
Tatyana gave Yasenia a kiss on the chin, making her look down. "Everything will be fine. Go and accompany her."
Tatyana's gentle smile was like a refreshing breeze on a hot summer day, bringing peace to the dragoness's tumultuous emotions. "Okay, I'll be back with your grandchild soon."
Tatyana rolled her eyes. "I am too young to be a grandma!"
The dragoness almost tripped and fell. Looking back, she saw Tatyana's eyes locked on her as if asking her if she dared to refute.
The dragoness gulped and laughed awkwardly. "O-Of course, then… Aunt?"
Tatyana nodded. "Better."
Selena and Yasenia stared at her for a few seconds, but eventually, they didn't dare retort and left with quick steps.
When Yasenia arrived at the room where Angel was giving birth, she saw Mirrory floating by Angel's side. The ancient mirror's eyes moved to look at her, and she smiled. "It seems that the child is here."
Being confident in Mirrory's ability to see through Heaven's tricks, she asked. "Is there anything that we should be wary of?"
Mirrory crossed her arms and shook her head. "Nothing I can sense, at least. Don't worry." Mirrory continued when Yasenia was about to ask another question. "Yes, mammal birth. Angel's, Evelyn's, and Andrea's children are all beast-human."
Yasenia laughed. "Let me ask, at least."
Mirrory snorted.
Angel, who had been resting with her eyes closed, slowly opened them and looked around. Seeing Yasenia there, she became spoiled and muttered. "Yasenia, it hurts."
The dragoness's eyes softened, and she sat by her side, grabbing her face and kissing her lips. "You can do it, baby. Remember, you are going to be a mommy, right? Do you want to be a strong Mommy?"
Angel's face hardened, and nodded. "I want to!"
Yasenia could feel Angel's cultivation slowly vanishing as they spoke, a clear indication of the incoming child.
"Hahaha~, I am very proud of you, Angel. I'll be by your side all the way, okay? If you ever want support, I'll be here. Always here, okay?"
Angel felt as if an enormous shielding embrace had surrounded her, protecting her from all harm. Her face lit up, and her uncertainties disappeared.
Yasenia's presence had such an effect on all of them. During all these years, they had already understood the depth of Yasenia's love for them.
It wasn't a passionate fire but a stable and lasting profound love. One where there weren't any loose tiles that might make them trip. Like a massive platform without end, it gave them as much support as they wanted.
Suddenly, Angel's body tensed as an electrifying and painful sensation spread from her uterus. "AH!"
The reflexive contractions made Angel scream in pain. However, the woman's face didn't become scared.
Angel was a very soft person, scared of being hurt since she was little. Only because of her family's situation and her own perseverance did Angel maintain a pure personality.
She was protected, some might say too much; still, she grew to love knowledge while not being a fan of fights.
This didn't make her weak, not at all. Her genius in formations shone through her attribute combinations, giving Angel a fighting style others can only dream about.
Naturally, being strong and being brave were two different things. Because of her love for Yasenia and Yasenia's love and support for her, Angel slowly walked out of her bubble and managed to become a real warrior.
Even then, while she had been through hellish training and perilous situations, she never liked fighting or getting hurt. She learned shield and sword fighting style not because she loved being on the frontlines but because it was the best way to use her skillset.
Now, having lost all that strength and knowing how painful giving birth was, she was honestly terrified. Many mothers were as such.
Nevertheless, with Yasenia by her side, when the first contraction reached her, instead of her natural fear increasing, it felt like her brain had been jolted awake as unknown determination burned in her heart.
The thought that she would definitely give birth to the child of her adored lover burned in her soul, fueling her now mortal body with a mother's strength and determination.
Yasenia saw Angel's soft and gentle blue eyes focusing, and the second Selena started guiding her, Angel followed everything.
Screams of pain escaped from time to time, and Angel's hand was tightly gripping hers. But even as sweat and tiredness accumulated, Angel's usually soft blue eyes remained focused and determined.
The dragoness was enchanted by such an Angel. She had always pampered her little baby, and she didn't have problems spoiling her rotten. Whoever said that she spoiled her too much would be completely ignored by Yasenia.
Angel was her pampered baby, and she would pamper her as much as she wanted. So what if she was spoiled?
However, even then, this scene was what worried Yasenia the most. How would Angel carry herself while giving birth? Would she cry? Would she suffer too much?
Yet, all worries had been superfluous.
In front of Yasenia's eyes was a mother. A woman determined to bring her child into the world safely.
Now more than ever, even through the sweat and some tears from pain, Angel looked the most beautiful.