"Cosmodeous, you'll never see me dressed as a bunny girl in your lifetime. Just give up on that dream."
"But… why do you want to see me dressed as a bunny girl the most?"
Though unintentionally confirming her position in Leon's heart, extending this line of questioning might reveal more interesting details. So… it was all fishing, plus a bit of pure curiosity.
"Because… because… I…"
His voice grew softer and softer, as if he might fall asleep at any moment.
Rossweise's curiosity was thoroughly piqued. She couldn't help but lean in closer, afraid to miss his next words.
However…
"Huff… huff…"
"No, what's wrong with you? Just say it."
Rossweise gently shook his shoulder.
Then Leon let out a soft snore.
Rossweise sat on the bed, hands on her hips, rolling her eyes.
Two thirty-one.
It was already past two-thirty.
"You little rascal, when you say two-thirty, you mean exactly two-thirty, not a minute less."
Rossweise said indignantly, "Next time, I'll just let you sleepwalk and see if you're still so lucky."
Well, since it was already past two-thirty, Rossweise had achieved her goal for the night.
Next… should she take advantage of this guy being completely defenseless and give him another late-night lesson, something that had been missing for half a month?
As Rossweise pondered, her hand reached toward his cheek.
However, just as her fingertips were about to touch Leon, she stopped herself.
She remembered the day Noah passed her entrance exam. She had drunk too much at the celebration banquet. That had been the perfect opportunity for Leon to take advantage of her vulnerability.
But he had said he didn't want to exploit someone's weakness. A true dragon slayer must defeat the dragon king honorably.
Rossweise's eyes flickered slightly as she muttered, "Hmph, and it's not even effective when you're half-asleep. It's more satisfying to torture you when you're awake."
With that thought, Rossweise lifted the blanket, quietly got out of bed, glanced back at Leon, and left the nursery.
The next day, Leon woke up leisurely, opening his eyes halfway to glance at the clock. It was a quarter past seven in the morning.
Hmm, so early, let's sleep a bit more—
Huh?
So early?
That's not right!
Leon jolted awake, looking around the bed and then at other places in the room where one could lie down or sit. Everything was tidy, with no signs of a battle.
Based on his usual intensity when completing assignments, the room should have been a mess by now.
But last night… nothing seemed to have happened?
After his mind cleared a bit, Leon came to a conclusion:
She's afraid.
I won!
Look, everyone, this is how a fully recovered top dragon slayer exerts pressure on the dragon bloodline.
Let me develop a bit more, and I'll easily control that mother dragon with a wave of my hand!
Leon suddenly felt a bright future ahead. But he couldn't celebrate too early.
Given that mother dragon's cunning nature, she might come up with various ways to undermine him afterward, then seize the opportunity to strike.
This time, Leon had finally gained the upper hand, and he couldn't afford to waste it. He had to be even more careful.
With these thoughts, Leon got out of bed, freshened up, got dressed, and left the room, heading to the dining room for a meal.
As he opened the door, he ran into Rossweise.
She had changed out of the provocative ultra-short nightgown from last night and was now wearing casual home-style attire with a long skirt.
The couple exchanged glances, and Leon spoke first, "What time did you leave last night?"
Rossweise calmly replied while tidying her hair, "I left after you fell asleep."
"Didn't you say you were going to sleep in my room?"
"Yeah, I slept for a while and then left. Is there a problem?"
Rossweise stamped her foot, giving him a sidelong glance, "What's with your tone? Seems a bit disappointed?"
Leon chuckled. Clearly, when you, mother dragon, were about to make your move last night, you found that your body was no longer what it used to be, so you slipped away in embarrassment, right? Don't think I can't figure it out.
But Leon had also become adept at hiding his thoughts. In front of this mother dragon, he had to play it cool.
"What's there to be disappointed about? Sleeping is sleeping, that's it. After all, the whole castle is yours; you can sleep wherever you want."
"You're wrong."
At her words, Leon stopped and turned to look at her. "Wrong about what?"
As Rossweise walked past him, she slowed her pace, gazing into his eyes.
"This castle is mine, and everything in it is mine. Including you, the prisoner."
Leon chuckled, shrugging nonchalantly. This level of mental attack didn't affect him much anymore.
"Mother dragon, you should update your tactics."
Hands in his pockets, Leon turned and continued toward the dining room.
Seeing that her tactic had no effect, Rossweise came up with another idea. She walked alongside Leon, pretending to be casual.
"By the way, last night when I left, I heard you talking in your sleep."
"What did I say?"
"It was intermittent, something like… a female classmate, regretting not agreeing to you back then, and so on."
Leon's steps faltered, his expression panicked.
He had indeed rejected many female classmates in the past for the sake of his studies and career. But most were forgotten now, their names and faces blurred in his memory.
However, there was one he still remembered clearly.
Leon glanced at the mother dragon beside him—
Ah, yes, it was her.
Theoretically, the only female classmate who could make him talk in his sleep would be her.
Leon also recalled hesitating a bit when he rejected her back then. It was inevitable; she was very attractive to him.
But his response at the time had still been, "You're a good girl."
How could it be that after all these years… he was still dreaming about her?
Rossweise looked at Leon's reaction and thought to herself that he must be mentally going through his "Rejected Female Classmates List" and should have already guessed who she was referring to.
"What's more, if I had agreed to you back then, I wouldn't have become a dragon slayer, let alone gone to battle. And I wouldn't be here now, defeated and captured, regretting it all."
Rossweise clasped her hands together dramatically, mimicking a prayer. "Oh, how touching, Dragon Slayer. I never thought you had such a heart-wrenching secret crush. It seems I'm really the heartless dragon who tore you apart from your loved one."
Leon's face turned green. It felt like he had swallowed ten pounds of carrots.
"I… I never had a crush on her at all. Stop making things up."
Hmph, of course I know you never had a crush on her. You spilled your true feelings in your sleep last night.
"But you were dreaming about being with her?"
"But it's just a dream. I can't control what happens in my dreams."
Rossweise continued walking toward the dining room, hands on her hips. "And you call yourself the strongest dragon slayer, yet you can't even admit to secretly liking a girl. How embarrassing."
Leon trotted after her, waving his hands as he explained, "But I really didn't have a crush on her."
"I'm not listening."
"You have to listen! How can you just ignore me?"
"Time for food~"
"Ugh, you're such a dragon—"
Rossweise interrupted with a laugh.
Muen rubbed her sleepy eyes as she walked out of her room. She was wearing her cute pink pajamas, her fluffy hair sticking up and her sleep hat askew.
At the end of the hallway, she saw the backs of her mom and dad. Her dad was chatting animatedly, while her mom smiled to herself.
Hmm… they must be telling some funny morning jokes~
Mom and dad are really happy together~
.
.
.
In the evening, the Leviathan school bus descended slowly.
Leon shielded his eyes with his hand, watching the massive creature hovering in the sky. "If we had one of these as a pet, how much food would it eat in a day?"
Rossweise crossed her arms. "What? You want to retire with your female classmates and raise one after they graduate?"
"Enough with the jokes!"
A teleportation beam appeared, and Noah came running out of it, waving to a few classmates on the Leviathan.
Oh, it looks like our daughter has good relationships at school.
"Mom, Dad, I'm back."
A maid approached and took Noah's backpack.
"Muen." Noah opened her arms.
Muen ran over with a smile, "Sister~"
The two dragon sisters hugged each other, Muen rubbing her sister's cheek affectionately.
The couple also smiled with satisfaction.
But Leon noticed that Noah was holding something in her hand, so he asked, "Noah, is that your homework?"
Noah walked over, holding her sister's hand, and handed the paper to Leon.
Leon took it and saw that it was some kind of competition rules.
Looking down, he read, "Essay competition?"
Rossweise also leaned in, saying, "Please write an essay with the theme of 'family' and 'happiness,' with a minimum of eight hundred words. Oh, and there's a word count requirement too."
Leon handed the competition rules back to Noah. "Have you decided how you're going to write it?"
Noah nodded. "Yes, I've decided. Since the theme is about family and happiness, most of our classmates will probably write about family love, especially since there are many cocoon-born dragon families."
"If I write about family love too, I might not stand out. So I thought, why not take a different approach and highlight the unique advantages of being born from a live-bearing dragon family."
The couple looked at each other, blinking, "The unique advantages of being born from a live-bearing family? You mean…"
Noah smiled, "I mean you two."