In the end, Leon came up with a tutoring method perfectly suited to Noa’s current situation.

Among the books just delivered by the head maid Anna, there were some old test papers from Saint Hiss Academy.

Leon glanced through these test papers, which were all related to knowledge about the Dragon Clan.

Seeing this, Leon secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The so-called "Know yourself and your enemy, and you’ll never lose a hundred battles." As one of the Empire’s top Dragon Slayers, he probably understood the Dragon Clan even better than they understood themselves.

Although my body isn't as strong as it used to be (damn it, why does Roswitha's voice automatically come to mind when I think of this phrase?).

But the knowledge Leon had accumulated in the past had not been forgotten.

He planned to use his understanding of the Dragon Clan, combined with the test papers and the content in the Dragon Clan-related books, to teach Noa.

Leon quickly drafted the tutoring plan.

After all, he was once a top student who graduated from the Dragon Slayer Academy with first place in both written exams and practical combat.

"Alright, Noa, let’s officially begin. First, we’ll study the ways Dragon Clan utilize magic."

Saying this, Leon slid a book on the basics of magic in front of Noa.

"This book is well-designed; the chapter titles are straightforward and clear, summarizing the corresponding content nicely."

"This is my idea."

"First, skim through the table of contents, and then use green, yellow, and red pens to mark the chapters based on whether they’re ‘easy to understand,’ ‘somewhat understandable,’ or ‘completely incomprehensible.’"

"I just looked over the materials from previous years and found that passing the entrance exam for Saint Hiss Academy usually requires about a year of preparation."

"But we only have a month."

"So we must do everything we can to improve the efficiency of your studies."

"I trust you, Noa. You can do this."

"When you’re ready, we’ll begin."

With that, Leon pushed the three pens and the book on magic basics toward Noa.

Noa was very composed with her emotions.

Although impressed by this “single dad’s” efficiency, she didn’t act overly childish.

She took the book and pens and immediately started marking the contents according to Leon’s method.

Watching his eldest daughter’s focused expression, Leon felt a sense of gratification.

There was no unnecessary conversation, no meaningless questions; everything was oriented toward efficiency.

But on second thought, teaching a student like Noa was also somewhat stressful for Leon as a teacher.

Noa’s learning ability was undoubtedly stronger than Muen’s, meaning Leon, being her instructor, had to stay ahead of her at all times.

Otherwise, the efficiency of their studies would take a significant hit.

"Whew, looks like I’ll be burning the midnight oil starting tonight," Leon thought to himself.

Just like back in his days at the Dragon Slayer Academy, where he often studied until past midnight.

His roommate used to call him the "Involuted King," but Leon never argued against it.

Leon had only known one thing: If he didn’t study diligently at the academy, his mentor would smash a boulder on his chest when he returned.

"I'm done marking."

Noa’s soft voice brought him back from his thoughts.

Leon collected himself, took the book, and checked the chapters Noa had marked.

"Hmm, not bad. The green and yellow sections make up about seventy percent of the material. Only a few chapters are marked red because they’re hard to comprehend. Is that correct?"

Noa nodded.

"Alright then. This is just creating a simple framework for our studies. The red-marked chapters aren’t necessarily incomprehensible, and the yellow ones might not be fully understood either. So our next step is to focus on the yellow-marked chapters. As we go through them, we’ll identify areas of confusion, agreed?"

"Alright."

Leon nodded and began explaining the yellow-marked portions to Noa.

The study session flew by, lasting a full three hours.

Leon annotated the book extensively, covering all the key points with Noa.

The next step was to "learn by doing."

He pulled out a set of past test papers. "Let’s try these questions. This will give us a more direct way to identify any gaps in our understanding."

"Let’s begin." His choice of words—"our understanding"—caught Noa’s attention.

She realized Leon often used such phrasing to include himself, rarely saying things like, "Did you get it?"

Noa didn’t know if he did this intentionally, but this way of speaking indeed made it easier to follow his train of thought.

Shaking her head to clear unnecessary thoughts, Noa focused on solving the problems.

The test paper consisted mostly of comprehension and simple reasoning; no numerical calculations were involved, so Noa completed it quickly.

She bit the end of her pencil, furrowed her brow, and carefully analyzed each question.

It was hard to imagine a toddler, barely over a year old, engaging in such deep concentration.

After coming up with an answer, a faint smile would unconsciously appear on her usually expressionless face.

But whenever she noticed Leon watching her nearby, she’d instantly revert to her impassive demeanor.

She was quite endearing.

This kind of subtle cuteness was unlike Muen’s; it was more restrained and reserved.

Twenty minutes later, she handed the paper to Leon.

Leon reviewed it and calculated her score.

"Out of 100, guess how much you got?" Leon asked, trying to ease the tension of their study session.

"50?"

"62."

"Oh."

Leon set the paper down. "Not satisfied?"

Noa pressed her lips together, placed her small hands on her knees, and silently nodded.

"Well... Having high standards for yourself isn’t a bad thing. But you should also understand that typically, baby dragons your age wouldn’t even encounter questions of this difficulty. What’s more, over the past ten years, the average score at the academy has been around 80. It’s a tough test."

Leon smiled as he set the test aside. "Getting 62 on your first try is already impressive."

"...Thank you."

"What did you say?" Leon didn’t catch it.

"Nothing."

Noa rubbed her tiny nose. "Let’s keep going."

Leon chuckled and reached out to pat her head, but then remembered Noa’s earlier warning not to touch her without permission.

He awkwardly withdrew his hand halfway. "We’ll stop here for the morning. You should eat now. After lunch, take a 30-minute nap, and we’ll continue afterwards."

"Okay."

Noa hopped off her chair and walked toward the door.

When she saw Leon wasn’t following, she turned back and asked, "Aren’t you coming to eat?"

Leon shrugged and half-joked, "Your mom’s put me on house arrest. Go complain to her for me, will you? Ask her to give your old dad more free time."

Noa nodded earnestly, "Alright."

"Wait, Noa. Can you bring back some chili for me later? The spicier, the better."

Noa blinked and asked, "Do you really love spicy food that much?"

"Not really. I need it for something else."

Softly acknowledging this with an "Oh," Noa nodded and didn’t ask further.

She opened the door and left.

Leon stretched, stood up to loosen his stiff muscles, and then sat back down to prepare for the afternoon’s lessons.

As he’d thought, having a smart student wasn’t an easy job.

He needed to stay ahead of Noa at all times to properly guide her.

Of course, he had a good guess why Roswitha had deliberately assigned him as Noa’s tutor.

One reason might be to give her sharp-witted daughter an opportunity to put Leon through his paces.

Muen instinctively liked Leon, so there wasn’t much need to cultivate their relationship.

But Noa was different.

Even at her young age, she already had her own thoughts and way of doing things. It would take more for her to accept someone who, after two years of being comatose, had just awakened and become her father.

And beyond that, Leon sensed there might be other reasons for Noa’s wariness.

Given her intelligence, she had probably already noticed that the feelings between him and Roswitha weren’t as harmonious as they should be for a couple.

So… this tutoring session wasn’t something Leon would approach with a dismissive attitude, nor did he view his daughter as a source of torment.

He decided to take it seriously, hoping to change some of Noa’s impressions of him.

And then—

Win her over.