Ahoy, such beautiful eyes on my little niece, like a ruby~"
Back then Little Light's pink hair was already enough for Isa to "put on airs"; now that the fourth's got a red-themed look, of course she'd milk it for all it's worth.
'This, this is the triumph of the anti-marriage crowd.'
"Did your family's genes get lost? Why do they keep shifting toward your big sister's faction the more you have kids?"
Leon leaned over Rossweise and asked in a low voice.
Rossweise gave a helpless smile, then complained coquettishly, "You're talking about me, too, but I haven't seen you put any effort into Noah, Luna, or Little Light's eye colors. Oldest and second are blue, third is pink, now the fourth is pure red, and you're the one complaining first, hmph!"
"I didn't influence the eye color, but I did influence the hair color."
"Then I put effort into the tail, our daughters all have tails."
Rossweise snorted proudly, "Go look at the baby's tail."
At the same time, the maids who'd helped deliver the baby were whispering nearby.
"I don't think I saw the fourth princess' tail just now..."
"Huh? Didn't you?"
"Mm, nope."
"Maybe... you saw it wrong? Young dragon babies all have tails, how could she not?"
Isa, who was admiring her niece's pretty big eyes, happened to overhear the maids' conversation.
She didn't make a scene. Quietly she peeled back the blanket swaddling the baby and glanced at the baby's waist.
Immediately, the Red Dragon Queen's brow furrowed.
"She really doesn't have a tail..."
Leon came over just then, but Isa made a shushing gesture to him.
Leon paused and looked up at his elder sister.
Isa's expression had turned somewhat serious, completely different from before.
Seeing that, Leon didn't ask more. After all, someone as clever as Isa had her reasons for acting like this.
Then Isa turned her back, cradled the baby in her arms, and from an angle only Leon could see, slightly lowered the blanket on the baby.
Leon dropped his gaze and likewise saw no tail on the fourth.
Instantly, the old father's feelings grew a little complicated.
On one hand he was puzzled: tails are the most obvious dragon trait; the first three all had tails, so why didn't the fourth?
On the other hand he felt a secret joy: no tail meant the baby had more human features. After years of back-and-forth with the mother dragon, he'd finally scored a win.
But even while quietly pleased, Leon still felt worried.
If the baby could never grow a tail in the future, would people start to suspect something?
A hundred mixed feelings churned within him; Leon knit his brow and quietly asked,
"Sis, you're well-informed, is this normal?"
Isa shook her head, "Not really sure. Let everyone else leave first; Noah and the others should go out too."
"All right."
Leon turned and beckoned Anna over, then whispered a few words in her ear.
Anna nodded and immediately instructed the maids and physicians in the room to step out quietly, and, saying "Mommy and Daddy and Aunt need to talk privately," she also took Noah and the three little ones out of the room.
Noah was the last to leave the bedroom. Before closing the door she peered through the crack toward the bedside.
Daddy was half-squatting by the bed, talking to Mommy about something.
Noah didn't get to keep watching and shut the bedroom door.
———
"No tail?"
Rossweise also looked puzzled. She tried to sit up in bed; Leon quickly came forward and supported her arm so she could lean on the headboard.
Isa passed the baby into her sister's arms, and Rossweise smoothed the blanket's edge down.
"Really no..."
Encountering this situation for the first time, Rossweise didn't know whether it was good or bad.
"Normal born viviparous baby dragons have obvious dragon traits, dragon eyes and tails."
Isa crouched, tickling her little niece with a finger.
"The baby's dragon eyes are normal, but there's no sign of a tail at the lower back. You two, when you were trying for the baby, did you do anything strange?"
The couple looked at each other, recollected, and shook their heads in unison.
"No, just normal... that sort of thing, and then she got pregnant."
"Then why do Noah, Luna, and Little Light all have tails, but the fourth doesn't?"
Isa rubbed her chin and frowned, thinking. For a while she had no clue. After all, her sister and brother-in-law's people-dragon romance was unprecedented; there was no past case to consult.
Leon looked at his little daughter and his thoughts flashed back a few years.
After a moment he slapped his palm and exclaimed in sudden understanding,
"Oh! I know!"
"What?"
"When you asked just now whether we did anything strange while trying for the baby, of course not. For the fourth child, Rossweise and I were both very serious about having a child, so we wouldn't mess around."
Leon continued, "But if you look from another angle, precisely because we didn't do anything strange, that might be why our youngest daughter has no tail now."
Isa quickly raised a hand to stop him, "Wait, wait, your causal jump is too big, I don't follow. Little Rose, did you understand?"
Rossweise's pupils shifted, thoughtful, "I think... I get it, sis."
Isa paused and pondered, "The 'strange things' you two did that only you would know... I'll ask in advance, this isn't something not suitable for kids, is it?"
Leon waved his hands frantically.
"No no no, big sis, it's... the Blood Charm."
Isa arched an eyebrow. "The Blood Charm? Oh~ I've heard of it, that charm that can be used only once in a lifetime. Didn't you and Little Rose start this ill-fated romance because of the Blood Charm?"
She hesitated, then asked curiously, "But didn't you only use the Blood Charm in the dungeon when you conceived Noah and Luna? Did you also use it when you conceived Little Light?"
Rossweise quietly covered her face and, a little unwillingly, nodded.
"You used it, Little Rose?"
"Y-yes, I used it..."
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Isa slowly began to clap and kept exclaiming, "You two always manage to outdo me whenever I try to accept a new standard of married life."
The elder sister sighed and summarized, "So: when the Blood Charm was used, Noah, Luna, and Little Light had tails; but without the Blood Charm, the little niece doesn't have a tail."
"Though we don't know the exact mechanism, whether the Blood Charm was used is the only difference among these pregnancies."
The couple nodded in agreement.
Suddenly Leon realized something.
"Hey, wife."
"Hmm?"
"No matter human or dragon, the Blood Charm can only be used once in a lifetime, right?"
"Yes."
"And you and I already used up that precious chance. That means... from now on, every baby will have no tail! I'll win at you for life, mother dragon!"
Rossweise gave him a dumbfounded look and rolled her eyes. She wanted to grab a pillow and throw it at him, but having just given birth she had no strength.
"Hmph! So what? Don't forget those things you promised me just now, hub—band—"
"What things? I don't remember! Doesn't count!"
"Sis's husband, I recorded all those things you said with the memory-stone just now, teehee."
"I hate all the adult mother dragons in the Melkvei family!"
Whether or not she had a tail wouldn't affect their love for this new life. She was a member of the Melkvei family and represented the start of a new life.
Leon picked up his little daughter and walked to the window. The first ray of dawn shone through the glass and lit the baby.
Her ruby-like eyes glittered, bright and dazzling.
———
A few kilometers outside the Silver Dragon territory, Constantine slowly stood up.
He lifted his foot; beneath it lay the corpse of a small dangerous-species creature.
Constantine bent and pried a black scale from the creature's chest, holding it up to the sunlight to inspect.
"Is this the same kind of black dragon scale that was taken from Adam's corpse...?"
As he pondered, a childlike voice sounded nearby, "Father, we've been here so many days, and you still haven't told me why."
Wind and dust lifted the Red Flame Dragon King's robes. He narrowed his eyes, put the black crystal away, and then said in a deep voice, "I owe a fool a lot of favors. Now I want to do something within my power, consider it repayment."
Constantine gazed toward the silver castle in the distance.
Judging by the increased guards on the Silver Dragon border recently, today should be that fool's big day.
When they last campaigned in the Nightmare Moon Forest against Adam, Leon casually mentioned he was about to have another baby.
Constantine had kept that in mind ever since.
He couldn't determine the exact birth date, so he estimated a likely window and came by every day to keep watch for a while.
Unexpectedly, he did get something. The scouting dangerous-species he just stomped, and the black crystal in its corpse.
"We don't need to come back tomorrow, Hefi."
"Yes, Father."
"But remember one thing."
"What is it, Father?"
Constantine slowly raised a hand and pointed toward the Silver Dragon Sanctuary.
"This child being born right now in that castle will become someone you'll have to defeat in the future."
Young Hefi didn't understand why her father gave such an order.
But she nodded earnestly, "I understand, Father."
Hefi Constantine stared at the castle and, vaguely, felt that intangible... fate.
———
A week later, the little red dragon girl Hefi was fated to defeat had just learned to crawl.
Yet still there was no sign of a tail.
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