Prologue

A dark room.

Inside a basket sitting alone was a small, white egg.

Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating nothing but the egg.

A man with long black hair loosely tied into a single ponytail crouched beside the basket, examining the egg with a worried expression.

It was truly strange.

The scheduled hatching date had already passed by a week, yet there had been no sign of anything happening.

“How strange.”

The Astrophel family had very few offspring, but they had never once failed to hatch an egg.

The family was famous for possessing an exceptionally powerful life force, but… this egg was a little different.

“…Hmm. Was there not enough pheromone?”

The man narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin before letting out a sigh.

Since the egg had long passed its due date, it was only reasonable to assume there was no hope.

Even so, he could not bring himself to give up.

“Should I watch it for just one more day?” he muttered.

That was when it happened.

The door to the room, where no visitors were permitted except those who had been granted access, opened.

“Baon.”

“…Lord Patriarch?”

A cold voice came from behind him.

The man had the same black hair as the other man, but there was something about his presence that made him seem far more dangerous.

His red eyes gleamed in the darkness, revealing that they were not human.

The cold-looking man casually lowered his gaze toward the basket.

“Still nothing, I take it.”

“Yes, that is correct.”

Tsk.

At Baon’s reply, the man clicked his tongue briefly.

And that was all.

He withdrew his gaze without the slightest hesitation.

“The third one is a failure.”

It was a cold, merciless judgment.

Even though his own child had failed to be born, he seemed completely unmoved.

Perhaps it was because he already had two heirs who had successfully hatched?

Baon looked bitterly at the last egg, the one that would never see the light of day.

It had only been three months, but he had already grown attached to it.

“The little one was born exceedingly weak.”

“Perhaps it’s for the best. Even if it had been born, it would never have been able to fulfill its role.”

The man stepped in front of the basket.

He could sense a faint trace of energy, but it would soon disappear.

“Inform the family that two heirs have been born.”

“Yes, understood.”

The man stared indifferently at the egg for a moment before turning away, as though there was no longer any reason to look at it.

After all, he could no longer sense any energy coming from the egg.

At that very moment—

Twitch.

A miracle occurred.

Twitch. Twitch.

The egg began to move.

Baon widened his eyes in surprise.

The man who had been about to leave the room also stopped and turned around.

Tap. Tap.

The movements of something trying to emerge from the inside grew more vigorous.

Fragments of the eggshell began falling to the floor with little thuds.

“Lord Patriarch, right now…!”

“Yes. It is being born.”

The man’s brows drew together. He could sense a life so delicate and frail that it was almost imperceptible.

Was the energy of a black mamba supposed to be this weak?

Since he had not witnessed the moment when his first two heirs had broken out of their eggs, the man found himself momentarily puzzled.

Then, a tiny cry rang out.

“Peep!”

At the same time, silence descended upon the room.

“What is that?”

“…It’s a bird.”

A tiny ball of pure-white fluff, not even as large as the palm of a hand, was busily flapping its adorable little wings.

It struggled desperately, shaking its head as it tried to remove the eggshell stuck to its head. The sight was utterly pathetic.

And yet, neither man could look away.

The two of them watched in breathless silence.

At last, the baby bird freed itself from the eggshell that had been wrapped around its body.

It seemed to have exhausted every last bit of its strength.

It began nodding off, looking as though its eyes would close at any moment.

And, sure enough—

“Peep…”

It fell asleep, making soft, even breathing sounds.

It was an unbelievable sight.

It had barely emerged from its egg, yet it was so exhausted that it had fallen asleep.

Having witnessed something he had never seen in his life, the man turned to Baon.

Baon stood there with his mouth hanging open, looking utterly foolish.

A moment later, the corners of the man’s lips curled upward.

“Explain this, Baon.”

A baby bird had been born into the Astrophel family, the very family that symbolized the black mamba.

An explanation was certainly in order.