Rossweise withdrew her gaze. "Muen, have you not played with Shirley for a long time?"
"Yeah, yeah!"
The little dragon princess stood on her tiptoes to look at Shirley behind Rossweise. "Long time no see, Sister Shirley!"
Shirley waved back. "Long time no see, Princess."
"Then let Sister Shirley play with you for a while. Mommy has some things to take care of."
"Okay~"
Muen skipped past Rossweise and ran over to Shirley.
Shirley ruffled her hair gently, then looked at Rossweise. "You've been through a lot, so please rest well."
"Mm, I will."
With that, Shirley bent down, picked up Muen, and said, "Your Highness, let's go pick some fruits in the garden."
"Okay~"
Shirley carried Muen away.
Rossweise glanced up at the balcony and chuckled softly. "You, my dear, I know all your weaknesses now. Next, you won't be able to handle what's coming."
With determined steps, the queen walked into the temple.
Knock, knock, knock—
Leon froze for a moment, then hesitantly walked to the door.
Now, the elusive figure who had occupied his thoughts for a day and a night was right behind that door. All he had to do was open it to see her.
Leon pursed his lips, quickly running through possible opening lines in his mind.
Should he casually say "good morning," or smoothly gloss over the fact that she had been gone for a day and two nights?
As he pondered, a voice came from outside the door, "I know you're standing right there. Open the door."
Leon sighed and raised his hand to open the door.
It had been several days since they returned from Flowing Cloud Valley that Leon and Rossweise faced each other so closely again.
Leon scrutinized her; she looked… a bit tired. Had she been flying for a long time? Despite the slight fatigue, there was a faint hint of happiness and satisfaction on Rossweise's face. Was going out really worth being this happy about?!
So… had the secret dragon clan meeting gone smoothly? Did she achieve the desired results? Or… did she meet someone in secret?
While Leon was lost in thought, Rossweise had already stepped inside. "Why so slow?"
Leon snapped back to reality and closed the door. "You've been gone for a day and a night, and the first thing you do when you come back is knock on my door. Shouldn't I prepare my opening lines carefully?"
"So, is this your carefully prepared opening line?"
"No, actually, what I prepared was: 'Welcome back, Your Majesty. Thank you for remembering there are a few people at home waiting for you to feed them.'"
Rossweise chuckled. "Why do you seem so concerned about me not being home yesterday? Missing me?"
"Me, miss you? What would a dragon slayer want with a dragon?" Leon retorted. "If I were to miss you, it would be… to know your whereabouts so you wouldn't ambush me out of nowhere."
"Hmph, fine then. I was actually going to share what I saw and heard these past two days with you, but I didn't expect you to be so guarded. You've really hurt my feelings. Well, I don't feel like telling you anymore. Bye."
With that, Rossweise turned to leave. But the next second, she stopped. The belt of her skirt was gently tugged.
The force was minimal; if Rossweise wanted to leave, she could easily break free. But if she left just like that, knowing how stubborn he was, he wouldn't chase after her even if it meant swallowing his words.
After a moment, a hesitant voice came from behind, "Where did you… go yesterday?"
Rossweise turned back, smiling meaningfully. "Do you want to know?"
He nodded.
She crooked a finger. "Come closer, and I'll tell you."
Intuition and experience told Leon this was a trap. But curiosity drove him to take a step forward.
By the time he regretted it, he was already standing right in front of Rossweise.
Rossweise pinched his ear with a playful smile, leaned close to his face, and lightly brushed his nose with her finger—yes, his master hadn't lied; it did seem slightly concave.
Then she teased in a soft voice, "I'm not going to tell you. Guess for yourself."
Leon shook his head to free his ear from her grasp and hastily took two steps back. "I knew you were playing tricks. I won't ask anymore."
"You're my prisoner of war. Why should I tell you where I went?" She laughed, as if eagerly anticipating Leon's reaction.
Leon also realized that Rossweise had come to confront him precisely because she noticed his slight panic and worry earlier.
Ha, Mother Dragon, between "the truth" and "confronting you," my choice is definitely—confronting you.
"But your captive is a dragon slayer who can take down most of your forces without magic. Are you really so confident to go out alone without any explanation?"
Leon stared into her silver eyes. "Being so careless, watch out or I'll—"
"What will you do? Hmm?" Rossweise stepped forward, interrupting Leon's incantation. She even deliberately thrust her chest forward, forcing Leon to retreat another step.
"Well? What will you do?"
Damn. How can such a pretty face carry such an intimidating aura? It's simply unfair!
With his incantation interrupted, Leon's momentum faltered, and he could only squeeze out, "I'll make sure Muen eats steak for all three meals."
Rossweise chuckled. "Let's not involve our daughter in our quarrels."
After a moment's thought, she added, "But you're right, I should take precautions. I'll remember that next time—"
She deliberately trailed off.
Leon raised an eyebrow. "Notify me?"
"Lock you up."
"…Really, Mother Dragon."
"Alright, I did have some secret matters to attend to, nothing dangerous."
To be honest, meeting a former top dragon slayer alone was somewhat risky. But Rossweise currently had no intention of telling Leon about his master.
Play first, talk later!
Besides, the master was safe for now, and Rossweise just wanted to take advantage of these days to put the "Leon Cosmodeous Weakness Checklist" she recently acquired into practice.
Think about it—back at her eldest sister's place, not only did this guy see her past, but he also scared her with spiders, forcing her to reveal an unknown side of the queen.
These black histories were definitely powerful weapons for Leon to dig into Rossweise's heart in their future "marital routine."
And Rossweise knew well that the only way to shut Leon up was to retaliate in kind. So, regarding the master—I know you're eager, but don't rush. Let me rush first.
"Alright," Leon said.
"Mm," Rossweise nodded, saying nothing more.
The couple fell silent for a moment.
Although she planned to retaliate with Leon's past, she couldn't be too aggressive. A perfect social death required brewing, foreplay, development, before reaching the climax.
Rossweise needed to patiently wait for the opportunity to let her little captive step into the trap she had set.
And until that opportunity arose, their state seemed to be… "not knowing how to face each other after accidentally sharing their first kiss."
After a brief silence, Rossweise said, "Have you had breakfast?"
"No," Leon replied.
"Alright, I'll go call Muen. Let's have breakfast together later."
"Oh, okay."
"I'll let you know when it's ready," Leon nodded.
Rossweise then left the nursery and returned to her room to prepare breakfast. It must be said, the queen was truly the queen—flying all night and still having the energy to make breakfast.
She tied on her apron, washed and chopped vegetables, lit the fire—everything was done methodically.
"Beef sandwiches for Muen, bread and milk for me and the captive, and then… a salad."
"Cucumber, tomato, onion… and some salad dressing. Hm? Where's the salad dressing?" Rossweise opened the pantry and searched.
"Oh, here it is," she reached for the bottle of salad dressing.
However, just as she was about to take the dressing, she noticed a few carrots next to it…
Rossweise blinked, a smile spreading across her face.
"Balanced nutrition is important, dragon slayer."
She hummed a light tune as she picked up a particularly plump carrot, her fingers deftly peeling it with a small knife. The bright orange strips fell into the salad bowl, stark against the green lettuce.
Let's see how you handle this, Leon Cosmodeous.