Interlude II: The World Within Four Jewels
"Before he belonged to the world, he belonged to them."
The days blurred into golden light.
Time, in the Long Estate, did not move by hours or clocks—it moved by moments. Laughter in the garden. Whispered secrets in the dark. The scent of ink on Jade's wrists. The click of Crystal's glasses. The brush of Pearl's fan. The quiet of Emerald's footsteps on polished wood.
In those early years, Long Haochen didn't know how rich he was.
Not in wealth.
But in them.
1. Pearl – The World's Empress, His First Kingdom
Pearl was sixteen when Haochen was born.
Already dressed in white cheongsams of silk, already commanding diplomats twice her age. But with Haochen, she dropped all the royal titles.
"Come here, little prince," she'd whisper, wrapping him in her robes like a pearl within its shell.
She taught him etiquette—not with rules, but through rhythm.
He'd sit beside her in meetings, mimicking the grace of her fingers as she turned teacups, bowed her head, or cut silence with a single look.
"True strength," she told him once, "is knowing when not to speak."
To others, she was elegant. Unshakable.
To Haochen, she was the first throne he ever climbed into and felt safe.
2. Crystal – The Architect of His Mind
Crystal didn't believe in "child-safe" anything.
At eight years old, she installed an interactive AI system into Haochen's playroom that tested reflex, logic, and memory in randomized patterns.
"If he can outthink me by age five, I'll accept defeat," she'd smirk.
He beat the system by four and a half.
But her love didn't lie in machines.
It showed in the way she made him gear-shaped cookies, or in the hoodie she stitched with pockets perfectly sized for his favorite stones and puzzles.
When he had nightmares, she was the only one who didn't try to talk.
She just sat with him. A quiet guardian of logic, giving him the freedom to think through his fear.
3. Jade – His First Music, His First Dance
Jade often spun barefoot in the hallways when she thought no one was watching. But Haochen always watched.
"Why don't you dance with the world?" he asked once.
"Because they stare to judge," she answered. "You… you stare to understand."
She was the first to call his violin playing "honest."
The first to teach him that silence between notes was more important than the notes themselves.
At night, she would hum lullabies in languages she made up.
And Haochen, curled on her lap, would pretend he didn't understand the words.
But he did.
He always did.
4. Emerald – The Storm Without Thunder
No one knew Haochen better than Emerald.
Not because she spoke the most—but because she listened the deepest.
She noticed the way he looked out the window too long. The way his fingers tensed before applause. The way his smiles sometimes ended too quickly.
"Do you feel lonely?" she asked once.
He didn't answer.
She didn't push.
Instead, she took his hand and placed a journal into it, leather-bound and plain.
"Write what you can't say," she told him.
He did.
Every night.
And one day, he found that she had written a reply in the margins.
"You are allowed to be brilliant and broken. We'll still love you."
The Memory He Would Keep Forever
It was the eve of his fourth birthday.
They didn't throw a royal banquet, or hire orchestras, or invite reporters.
They closed the estate gates. Locked the world out.
They built a blanket fort in the royal library. All five of them.
Pearl brought fine tea in tiny porcelain cups. Crystal modified the light settings to mimic starlight inside the fort. Jade brought a hand drum and sang until Haochen fell asleep. Emerald read him a fairytale about a boy who carried a star in his chest.
Before he slept, Haochen whispered:
"If the world disappeared tomorrow… I wouldn't care. As long as you four were with me."
Pearl kissed his forehead.
Crystal tucked the blanket in.
Jade played three soft notes.
Emerald blew out the lantern.
The fort went dark.
But Haochen…
He dreamed in light.