After comforting Muwen a little, he turned to the maids and said, "You can go now." When he got to Noah's side, Leon stopped because Noah was staring straight at him. It was clear she had something to say.
After a short moment of the father and daughter looking at each other, Noah spoke. "Next time you go out alone, remember to tell us."
She paused for a second, then added, "Muwen will worry about you a lot."
Leon smiled helplessly and nodded. "Alright, sorry for making you—uh, for making Muwen worry."
Noah sniffled, feeling a little better. "Also, I… I want to say sorry to you too."
"Hmm? Why?" Leon asked.
"When I could not find you today, I thought… I thought you had… you left us," Noah said. "I am sorry for not trusting you about this."
A child who acts older than her years always feels responsible for her own mistakes. Even if she did not say it out loud, no one would have known about this mistake.
Leon smiled with relief. He crouched down to look Noah in the eye. He understood his eldest daughter's heart. She wanted love and affection but was afraid to take that important step.
Leon could not promise Noah anything with easy words like "I swear" or "I guarantee." Noah would not easily believe that. He could only slowly show her through what he did that he was a good father.
Leon reached out and patted Noah's head. He did not say more about this topic. He just reminded her, "You have to go back to the academy tomorrow morning. Do not stay up too late."
After everything was settled, Leon went back to Rossweise's room. The mother dragon still showed no sign of waking up.
Leon sat on the chair next to the bed, crossed his legs, brushed the dust off his pants, and sighed. "Ah, you have no idea how good our daughter is to us. I hope you get to enjoy that too in the future."
The only answer was Rossweise's steady breathing. Her breaths were a little deeper than yesterday.
Leon noticed this and reached out to feel her pulse. It was indeed stronger than yesterday. "You really are a dragon king. Your body heals very fast."
He was a little surprised. His look at Rossweise became sharper. It was like a lion slowly getting closer to its prey— well, before the real hunt, he needed to clean the prey.
Leon decided to try once more to wipe Rossweise's body. He refused to believe his dragon slayer's heart could change into something else. He filled a basin with warm water, wet a towel, and stood by the bed. He took a few deep breaths.
"Alright, let us start. This time, I will not fail!!" His determined look was not like someone doing this for the first time. It was more like a new cook trying to flip a pancake.
He lifted the covers— no, the blankets. Rossweise's slim body was in front of his eyes.
The mother dragon might be tricky, and they might be enemies. But… This body was perfect, almost like a piece of art. And art has no sides.
Leon did not spend too much time looking at it because he did not know much about art. Also, he was worried this "art" might shake his resolve again, which would not be good.
He quickly took off Rossweise's strap nightgown. Blushing, in the soft moonlight, he started wiping from her chin and neck down.
She was usually very clean, bathing every day. It had been two days since she fell into a coma. Leon had only washed her face and hands. Cleaning her body felt more personal, and it made him shy.
Being openly seen was one thing, but carefully wiping her body was different, you know? If he could, Leon would want to wear his black and gold battle armor to clean this mother dragon's body.
Because that smell would be right, would it not? A dragon slayer should be fully armed to face a mother dragon!
Actually, if he wore the helmet, he would not have to worry about his red face being seen.
Wait a minute—
Leon had a sudden thought. If he did not have a helmet, he could use something else to cover his eyes! And that was when the idea of a blindfold came to his mind!
Leon did not waste time. He found a piece of cloth and covered his eyes with it. Besides, back at the academy, he had practiced fighting blindfolded. He used very precise and sensitive touch to get top scores. So, a blindfolded massage should be no problem at all.
But it turned out that being too precise and sensitive was not always a good thing…
As the warm towel moved over Rossweise's chest, the feeling changed completely from flat land to mountains. Leon's face turned bright red, and his hands shook a little. Because of the blindfold, his other senses became even sharper, almost making him imagine things.
"Master Leon, use a bit more strength, rub my waist harder."
Not only that, but the blindfold seemed a little see through. Faintly, Leon saw flashes of purple light…
It definitely was not a dragon tattoo!
Absolutely not!
In the end, he held his breath and gathered a lot of courage to finish wiping Rossweise's upper body. When he got to her stomach and thighs, Leon felt much more relaxed.
When he was all done, Leon realized that blindfolded massage was much more tired than doing it with eyes open. So, he silently crossed out "blindfolded massage" from his list of things to do after slaying a dragon.
After cleaning up, Leon massaged her hands and feet again to help blood flow.
Hey, this was not just to take care of the mother dragon, you know? It was to stop her from waking up with numb hands and feet and not being able to cooperate with Leon. That was why he was being so careful.
Yes, it was all for a better time during his revenge!
Feeling better after finishing, Leon thought for a moment. Then he put the big teddy bear he brought from the dragonling park next to Rossweise's pillow.
This was a somewhat satisfying night for him. He felt very tired. Instead of getting into the bed, he just moved a chair to the bedside and fell into a deep sleep with his head on the edge of the bed.
But because he was tired and sleeping in a bad position, Leon kept having weird dreams.
In his half sleep, Leon's arm moved. His fingers accidentally touched the teddy bear. But the feeling was not like the cotton inside a teddy bear. It felt a little hard.
Leon opened his eyes a little to look at the toy bear, but it looked normal on the outside. He did not think much about it. He closed his eyes again and went back to sleep.
.
.
.
The next morning, Noah came into Rossweise's room. She saw Leon sleeping in a strange way, half on and half off the bed. She whispered softly, "Did taking care of Mom make you this tired…"
Noah walked quietly on her toes. She passed the sofa and took a jacket. She walked over to Leon. Just as she was about to put the jacket over him to keep him from getting cold, Leon suddenly woke up with a start.
"Hmm? Noah? Good… good morning," Leon rubbed his sleepy eyes and stretched lazily. "Going to school?"
Noah nodded.
"Let us go, Daddy will walk with you."
"No need, you should rest," Noah said.
Leon smiled, stood up, and jumped up and down a few times. "It is fine, let us go."
Noah did not say anything else. The father and daughter went to the front yard of the temple. They waited for the "school bus" Leviathan.
"How is Mom?" Noah asked.
"She is getting better fast. When you come back this weekend, she will probably be awake," Leon said honestly.
"Mm… Thank you for taking care of Mom," Noah replied.
Leon smiled and patted her head. "We are family. There is no such thing as hardship."
As they talked, Leviathan's huge shape appeared in the distance.
"Will there be many tests this week?" Leon asked.
"Yes."
"Just do your best, and you will surely get better, Noah."
"Okay, I understand."
The giant dragon Leviathan hovered slowly above the Silver Dragon Temple. Then it opened the teleportation light beam.
"I am going now."
"Alright, be careful on the way and look after yourself."
Noah nodded and hurried into the teleportation beam under Leviathan.
She turned back, hesitated for a moment, and finally waved to Leon.
Leon also waved his arms with a smile. "Pay attention in class, stay away from those troublemakers, and if anyone bullies you, fight back! Dad has your back!"
"Okay!"
Even though Leon wanted to say, "If anyone bullies my daughter, I will destroy their whole dragon clan because that is what Dad is good at," he decided not to. It might be too scary for a child.
Leviathan flapped its huge wings and slowly flew away from the Silver Dragon Temple. Leon stood with his hands in his pockets, quietly watching Leviathan disappear into the distance.
Meanwhile, in the room, the silver haired beauty lying on the soft bed moved a little. Her fingers twitched.