Noa sat on the bench at the training ground, beads of sweat trickling down her small nose and forehead. She had just finished a set of physical training exercises.

During her break, Noa replayed a brief conversation she had with Leon yesterday.

"Mom is in a coma now. Do you have any plans?"

"No, I don’t have any plans, Noa. I just want to take good care of Mom."

This question hadn’t come out of nowhere.

In fact, Noa had long suspected that there was something... odd about her family.

It might not be as harmonious as it appeared on the surface.

Leon and Mom seemed to be hiding something from everyone.

And that "everyone" included Noa and Muen.

What kind of secret could be so serious that even their own daughter couldn’t know?

Noa couldn’t figure it out.

But she had a faint inkling that perhaps... Leon didn’t truly belong here.

She remembered he once tried to escape. Mom, Muen, and Noa had all witnessed it with their own eyes.

But after Mom brought him back, Noa asked him where he had been trying to run off to.

Mom had evaded the question.

Since then, Leon had stayed obediently in the sanctuary, raising children, teaching classes, and working tirelessly without showing any further signs of wanting to escape.

But Noa wasn’t fooled. She knew very well that this man, shrouded in mysteries, was exceptionally clever.

No one could tell if he was staying of his own volition or quietly waiting for the next chance to make his move.

So, about the answer he gave her yesterday—

"I don’t have any plans. I just want to take care of Mom."

Was it the truth or a lie? Only he would know.

When the love someone offers conceals unknown intentions, Noa would rather distance herself from that love than become a tool to be used by others.

That was why she always felt like there was a barrier between her and Leon.

In Noa’s eyes, Leon’s love didn’t seem entirely pure.

Noa closed her eyes tightly, shook her head, and pulled herself out of her thoughts.

She jumped off the bench, intending to do one last set of physical training before going back to rest.

But just as she took a step, she heard Muen’s voice.

"Sis! Sis!"

Muen came running to her in a rush.

Noa quickly went over to meet her. "What’s wrong? Don’t rush. Speak slowly."

"My Rubik’s Cube broke, and I wanted to find Dad to fix it. But I couldn’t find him anywhere."

Noa frowned, unconsciously tightening her grip on Muen’s hand.

Could her hunch be true...?

But she refrained from drawing any conclusions and simply said, "Let’s go look for him again."

"Okay."

However, after a thorough search, Leon was nowhere to be found.

The two sisters eventually came to Roswitha’s room.

Looking at their mother lying unconscious on the bed, Muen finally broke into sobs.

"Mom! Dad is gone!"

Noa’s suspicions and fears were undeniably confirmed.

Leon—he had truly left!

Suppressing her disappointment and sadness, Noa waited until her younger sister cried herself tired. Then she gently comforted her:

"Muen, don’t cry anymore. Some people are wonderful, but if they don’t belong here, they’re bound to leave sooner or later."

"But... but Mom is still unconscious, and now Dad is gone too. What are we going to do?"

"Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you and protect you. I’ve grown a lot—I can do many things now."

She had always prided herself on being mature. At this moment, she resolved to shoulder the responsibilities of an adult—

Even though she hadn’t even graduated from kindergarten yet.

"So what should we do now?"

Noa’s eyes darted around, and her gaze fell on a photo on the bedside table.

It was a shrunken version of a family portrait they had taken earlier.

"If he’s gone, that means we need to start a new life. Let’s say a proper goodbye to him."

Noa took Muen back to their shared bedroom. She then rummaged through a pile of photos and found a spare copy of the enrollment photo they had taken before.

She fetched a pair of scissors and cut Leon’s part out of the picture.

"Sis, what are you doing?" Muen asked.

"In the adult world, when someone leaves, you’re supposed to put their photo on a table, surround it with flowers, and set a fire nearby," Noa explained with an air of authority. "Then you throw things you think are meaningful to them into the fire. This is how you bid farewell to the person."

Muen sniffled a couple of times, her voice still choked with tears. "I don’t get it."

"In short, it’s for Dad’s own good."

"Oh, okay. Then I’ll go look for something meaningful to Dad."

"Alright. Oh, and remember to change into a black dress in a little while."

"Why?" Muen asked.

"I don’t know, but whenever adults say goodbye to someone, they always wear black clothes."

"Okay, Muen understands."

Once everything was arranged, Noa put away Leon’s photo and crawled under her bed to retrieve her small wooden box.

Inside was the same black fragment, a piece of paper with her name written on it, and a handmade Rubik’s Cube.

She stared at them nostalgically for a moment, then hugged the wooden box and walked out of the room.

About an hour later, in the Castle’s back courtyard, two little dragon girls stood dressed in black dresses.

Muen was holding a plate of pan-fried steak—

Because apparently Dad liked pan-fried steak, and she planned to toss it into the fire later.

Noa, on the other hand, was holding her small wooden box.

In addition to them, they had summoned some of the maids from the Castle.

The maids looked at the two princesses, utterly baffled.

"What... what is going on?"

"No idea. Maybe the princesses are playing some sort of make-believe game?"

"Make-believe? But it looks so solemn and serious. They even took down His Highness’s photo."

"Sigh, who can understand how kids think? Let’s just do as we’re told."

"True."

"..."

"Silence!"

Noa, her small face set in a serious expression, played her role with great conviction. "We are now going to hold the farewell ceremony for Leon Casmod. Please treat this seriously."

The maids stood up straighter, doing their best to cooperate with the little princess.

"In retrospect, Leon Casmod lived a short life—but a meaningful one. His departure is undoubtedly a heavy blow to us all."

One maid’s eye twitched slightly. "What kind of make-believe is this? Why does it feel like... they’re holding a funeral?"

"His Highness hasn’t said anything, so what’s the point in us questioning it?"

"But according to this game, doesn’t it mean His Highness is supposed to have... passed on?"

"Shh! Quiet!"

"Oh, right."

Imitating the tone and mannerisms of adults, Noa concluded her eulogy and placed Leon’s photo on the table behind her—

Funny as it was, she had used an empty can as a photo stand, thanks to Muen’s suggestion.

"Alright, everyone can start crying now," Noa announced.

"C-Crying?"

"Yes. Isn’t crying a part of saying goodbye?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Muen wailed beside her.

"Dad! Dad, how could you leave us? Dad, I miss you so much! I even made pan-fried steak for you. Come back to see us, please—boohoohoo!"

Muen cried so genuinely and wholeheartedly that her sobs tugged at everyone’s hearts.

Noa turned around and pointed at her sister. "See? Like my sister."

Even though they still didn’t quite understand why the little princesses were playing such an inauspicious game of make-believe...

The maids figured it was best to follow orders.

"Uh... uh, Your Highness, how could you leave when you have such adorable daughters?"

"We’ll miss you so much, Your Highness~"

"..."

While the others put on their show, Noa turned back toward the bonfire burning before them.

"Muen, did you throw the pan-fried steak into the fire?"

Muen nodded.

"Then why do you still have a piece in your hand?"

"Uh... well, I thought I might get hungry after the farewell, so... Dad shouldn’t mind, right?"

Noa’s small face turned solemn. "He probably wouldn’t."

Saying this, she lowered her gaze to the wooden box in her hands.

This was her last tangible connection to that man.

Burning it would sever all ties between them.

Taking a deep breath, Noa exhaled slowly, as if finally ready to make the decision.

Goodbye forever, Father—

But just then, a familiar voice suddenly broke through.

"Hey, who’s being commemorated here? Let me join in too."

The two little dragons turned their heads in unison toward the sound.

There, they saw the familiar figure of Leon. He knelt down in front of the photo, gave a solemn double kowtow, and then straightened up, smiling.

"When I was a kid, your grandfather taught me how to play a traditional wind instrument called ‘suona.’ Do you know what that is? It’s an ancient, mystical instrument from the East, often used in funeral ceremonies. Want me to give you a little performance?"

Before the two little ones could react, the maids behind them cried out:

"The princesses’ filial piety touched the heavens. His Highness has come back to life!"

(A Sleeping Dragon: What on earth is all this racket?)