One month later—
"Mom, let me hold my little sister!" Noel Song leaned in, staring at the tiny bundle, completely smitten.
"We want to hold her too, Mom! Can we, please?" All the kids except Tiny Addie were clamoring to hold their baby sister.
Without even glancing up, Ivy Shen replied while still gazing at the princess in her arms, "No way! You guys are way too little—how could you possibly hold your sister?"
"Little? Mom, you keep saying I'm too little!" Noel Song pouted, clearly annoyed. Every time he wanted to hold his sister, she called him 'little,' but when it came to homework, she’d say, "You’re already six! So big, and still not studying properly, huh?!"
This mom—she’s totally doing it on purpose!
"Nope! Belle is way too tiny, you guys can't hold her." Ivy Shen guarded her precious treasure, not letting any of her sons get close.
Seeing this, the boys started protesting loudly: "Mom, you’re so unfair! You won’t let us hold Belle because she’s little, but what about Eighth Brother? He’s not that little, and he was born at the same time as Belle! Why do we get to hold him but not her?!" Little Pretty piped up.
Honestly, he adored Belle—he’d never seen a little girl as cute and beautiful as their ninth sister.
Everyone nodded along, totally agreeing with Little Pretty. Belle was just too gorgeous—like a little fairy from heaven! No wonder she inherited the most perfect genes from all seven dads; just looking at her was mesmerizing.
But ever since Belle was born, all we've been allowed to do is look at her—never hold her! It's outrageous!
Hearing this, Ivy finally looked at her sons, a bit embarrassed. "Well, Belle is the youngest, okay? Mom's just worried you won't hold her right!"
Honestly, nobody could understand how she felt right now—watching her daughter grow a little every day, seeing her princess aura get stronger and stronger. Wow, she finally had a daughter! Her sons would never get it; looking at this adorable, beautiful little princess, she couldn't bear to be apart from her for even a minute.
"Mom, we're her big brothers! We love Belle just as much as you do—just let us hold her!" Noel Song jumped in again. Mom hadn't let them hold her for a whole month, saying Belle was too little. But now she's a month old—why still no cuddles? And when they held their eighth brother, Mom wasn't half this nervous!
Boohoo, poor Eighth Prince, you're just here as background, huh?
"I know, I know!" Ivy nodded quickly, agreeing with Little Snowball. But her actions and face made it clear she had zero intention of letting any of her sons hold Belle.
"Mom, Eighth Prince is totally not gonna like you when he grows up!" Tiny Caleb suddenly piped up, sharp-tongued as ever.
Ivy blinked, surprised. "Huh?"
"Yeah! Mom's way too biased!" The other boys all jumped in, complaining together.
"Mom, Eighth Prince and Belle were born together, but we've never seen you fuss over Eighth Prince like this! Just wait—when he grows up, we'll tell him how pitiful he was, that you never even held him!" Noel Song led the charge, teasing.
Honestly, all they wanted was to hold Belle—just once!
Ivy paused, then raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead and tell him! Anyway, I didn’t hold any of you much when you were little either!"
Awkward!
The boys’ faces all scrunched up at once. Mom, how could you say that…
"Besides, Eighth Prince is a boy, right? Boys should be generous and tolerant! Belle’s a girl, so of course she gets spoiled, got it?" With that, Ivy rolled her eyes and went back to playing with her little princess.
"Mom, you’re so biased! We’re Belle’s brothers, not outsiders!" All the boys started complaining, their voices overlapping.
Hearing this, Ivy looked at her sons and asked, "You really want to hold Belle?"
"Yeah, yeah!"
"Alright, you go first." Ivy pointed at Noel Song, reluctantly placing the little princess in his arms. Little Snowball grinned, ready to touch Belle’s soft cheeks—but Ivy instantly snatched her up and handed her to Tiny Addie, moving so fast it was dizzying.
The whole round took less than a minute. Everyone stared at their mom in shock.
"OK, everyone’s had a turn—even Tiny Addie got to hold her. Now go do your homework!" Ivy smiled and stood up, going right back to doting on her gorgeous little princess.
Just then, the seven husbands showed up, each having just gotten out of bed.
The boys saw this and got even more worked up, shouting at all seven dads: "Dads, you need to step up! One Belle isn’t enough—Mom’s way too biased, she won’t even let us hold her!"
The seven men exchanged glances, looking just as troubled as their sons.
Honestly, even they had a hard time getting to hold Belle. Ivy had spent five years dreaming of a daughter, and now that Belle was finally here, she clung to her like sticky rice—always glued together. Unless Ivy was eating or in the bath, there was no chance!
"Dads, we want sisters! Lots of sisters!" The boys shouted, dreaming of each brother leading a little sister by the hand on a shopping trip. How cool would that be?
The seven husbands exchanged glances. Yeah, ever since Belle arrived, they’d barely gotten any time with Ivy. She was completely focused on her baby girl. Back when she had all those sons, she’d be out having fun with them before they were even a month old—and usually, she was back to sharing a bed with them pretty soon after giving birth.
But now? Even though they took turns sleeping next to Ivy, she was always holding Belle, so they couldn’t get close at all. For seven young, vigorous men, this was torture!
"Oh, you’re all here? Go have breakfast—I’m taking Belle out to see the flowers!" Ivy chirped, not sparing a thought for her seven husbands or her seven sons, or even the one with the nanny. She just wandered off with her precious daughter.
"Alright, alright, go do your homework! Why are you all just standing here?" Ivy called out to her sons, sounding a bit exasperated.
The boys could only shrug and head off to the palace school.
Just then, Adrian Night spoke up: "No way, if this keeps up, we’ll seriously regret it. We’ve totally lost our place!"
"Exactly! We used to hope Ivy would have a daughter so her love wouldn’t get spread too thin—since moms always love their sons, right? But now, our long-awaited princess has totally monopolized Ivy’s attention! If this keeps up, we’re doomed!" Lucian Vane chimed in.
"Ivy’s planning to visit Lacey Shen in Flame Valley soon, and we haven’t gone out in ages. But the way things are, she’ll definitely bring Belle—and then what? How are we supposed to get any time with her?" Felix Bloom pouted.
"Seriously, I’m dying here! Seventh Brother, this is all your fault—how come you’re the only one with daughter luck?!" Ethan Chu complained, though he was obviously just as smitten with Belle. Still, life had gotten way harder since she arrived. What are we supposed to do?!
"Maybe, maybe Ivy will get over it after a while?" Liam Willow tried, sounding pretty unconvincing. Honestly, every time he slept next to Ivy, she’d talk about how Belle would be even prettier when she grew up, how she wanted to tell her Snow White stories, let her grow her hair long, and so on.
From the look of things, the bigger Belle got, the less attention Ivy would pay to anyone else.
"The only solution is to have more daughters—then Ivy’s obsession will finally wear off!" Lucian Vane declared.
Eli Crane just smiled, quietly chuckling to himself.
The other six husbands looked confused. "Seventh Brother, what are you smiling about?"
"I’ve got a solution!" Eli Crane announced confidently.
"Huh?!" Everyone stared. He had a solution? What kind?
"Did you really think I was just visiting Grandpa every night these past few days?" Eli grinned slyly. "Check this out!" He pulled a box out of his pocket.
The others stared blankly. "What’s that?"
"It’s something that’ll make Ivy super excited! Grandpa’s been working on it for five years. Ivy’s always wanted a daughter but never got one—this stuff boosts the chances of having girls, and, well, let’s just say it’ll make things extra fun for Ivy… you know what I mean!"
The other six husbands grinned and pointed at Eli Crane: "Good brother!"
[End of chapter.]