Roswitha woke up in the afternoon.

Isa had already left. She couldn’t stay for long; without the Dragon King in the tribe, it would easily invite trouble.

The warm afternoon breeze wafted in through the window, gently stirring the thin gauzy curtains.

A faint milky scent unique to babies came from nearby.

Roswitha turned her head and saw her little daughter lying obediently beside her pillow, sleeping peacefully.

Her tiny pink clenched fists rested on her chest, and her chubby little face radiated tranquility and cuteness. Just looking at her was incredibly healing.

On the other side of the baby lay Leon.

Roswitha’s gaze moved past the baby and landed on Leon's face.

His breathing was even, his eyes slightly closed, and his dark bangs fell over his forehead, half-concealing his brows and eyes.

On his rugged and steadfast face, there seemed to be a new, faint scar.

Roswitha wasn’t particularly sensitive about her own beauty and charm, but she was very confident in her taste.

The first time she met Leon three years ago, she had said that scars were the perfect complement to this handsome face.

They stripped away all traces of softness, leaving only the captivating presence of a truly masculine man.

Those of the Dragon Clan harbored a deep-seated desire to conquer. Yet, at certain moments, Roswitha herself longed to be conquered.

She couldn’t stand those princeling types or titled lords from the Dragon Clan—she thought they were nothing more than shallow pretty boys.

If someone truly wished to win her over, they’d at least need to have a testosterone-packed face like Leon’s.

Oh, of course, this didn’t mean that Leon had conquered her.

As if! If he wanted to conquer her, the kid better train for another two hundred years.

Still, that didn’t stop Roswitha from secretly admiring the captive’s face.

This queen admits it: she’s a shallow face-con!

Besides, wasn’t it just a coincidence that he happened to match her preferences? Yes—pay attention to her wording—just a ~coincidence~.

What’s wrong with looking? Just looking didn’t mean anything.

Roswitha slowly extended her hand, her arm passing over her little daughter’s head. Her warm, soft palm gently pressed down on Leon’s hair.

Her fingertips slowly traced downward, brushing over his forehead, earlobe, nose tip, philtrum, lips, and chin.

“I really want to give you a tail,” Roswitha murmured softly.

“I really want to cut your tail off.”

Her fair jade fingers stiffened ever so slightly. After a brief moment of panic, Roswitha withdrew her hand at lightning speed.

“You... you weren’t asleep?”

“I woke up when you started sneaking glances at me.”

“Who was sneaking glances at you? Have some self-awareness. I was looking at my daughter.”

“I~ was~ looking~ at~ my~ daughter~,” Leon mimicked Roswitha in a singsong, mocking tone.

Roswitha ground her teeth. If her daughter weren’t lying between the two of them, she would’ve kicked him right then and there.

Awake but pretending to sleep—if he loved sleeping so much, he’d have all the time he wanted after he was gone!

Roswitha ignored him and huffily turned over.

Rustle, rustle—

The sound of slight movement came from behind her. Leon had sat up and was now leaning against the headboard, letting out a tired sigh.

He ruffled his hair, shook off some sleepiness, and remarked, “This morning was really dangerous—your sister almost figured it out.”

Roswitha’s pupils slightly contracted, and she also sat up.

The two of them leaned against the headboard, beginning an afternoon chat.

“My sister is really smart,” Roswitha admitted. “What surprises me, though, is that your nonsensical story actually worked. She believed it.”

“That wasn’t nonsense—it was all based on reality.”

Roswitha raised an eyebrow and glanced at him sideways. “Based on reality?”

“Yeah, every line from that story has a real-world counterpart.”

Roswitha thought back to the rambling fairy tale he had spun this morning. “We’ll meet in a special place, and we’ll come to know each other in a special way. How does that correspond to reality?”

“Didn’t we meet in the Silver Dragon Clan’s dungeon? And I got to know you because you were drunk and came to torment me,” Leon shrugged. “It doesn’t get more special than that.”

Roswitha pursed her lips. “And the part about ‘you traveled across the Dragon Clan, through mountains and rivers’?”

Leon spread his hands. “I graduated from the Dragon Slayer Academy at fifteen. Before meeting you, I’d already served in the military for five years, and I’ve slain more dragons than a butcher’s killed pigs. That counts as traveling, doesn’t it?”

Roswitha took a sharp breath and narrowed her eyes slightly. “That’s your idea of traveling, huh? Fine, fine, you’ve won, you scoundrel.”

Leon let out a long sigh, his gaze fixed forward as he resumed the earlier topic. “Your sister really is sharp.”

Roswitha pressed her lips together, recalling their eye contact this morning, when this scoundrel had even suggested eliminating Isa to tie up loose ends.

Of course, she knew it was nonsense. Leon would never actually do such a thing.

After all, even if he didn’t care about her, he had to consider their daughter—it was her blood relative, after all. How could he possibly harm her?

Still, Roswitha decided to seize the opportunity to press him. “So because my sister is smart, you wanted to kill her earlier, huh?”

“As if. I was just joking to ease the tension.”

Leon added, “Besides, if being too smart was enough to get you killed, I’d have been dismembered ages ago.”

“...Constantine would never believe he died at the hands of such a shameless man.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, dragon lady? Are you saying I’m not smart?”

Roswitha gave him a sarcastic, toothy grin. “Oh, you’re smart, all right. Super smart. The smartest of them all.”

Leon was about to fire back, but his expression suddenly turned serious, as though he had just remembered something important.

His brow furrowed, and he grew pensive.

Roswitha noticed his change in demeanor. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

Leon fiddled with his fingers and said quietly, “Your sister almost figured out that I’m human this morning. But Constantine... he really does know.”

Hearing this, Roswitha felt a chill run down her spine and couldn’t help growing tense. “How could Constantine know you’re human? This was the first time you two met, wasn’t it?”

Leon nodded. “It was. I’ve only ever encountered his kin from the Crimson Flame Dragon Clan—never the Dragon King himself.”

Roswitha thought for a moment. “Dragon Kings live extraordinarily long lives. It’s possible they might not appear on the battlefield for decades or even centuries. You’ve only been with the Dragon Slayer Army for five years, so it’s normal that you wouldn’t have encountered him.”

“Right. But how did he figure out I was human...?”

Leon sighed. “Did he recognize the Black Gold Chariot? But I disguised my armor beforehand, and it was nighttime—the lighting was poor. There’s no way he could’ve identified it.”

Silence filled the room as the couple pondered the situation. All of a sudden, a thought struck Roswitha.

Constantine had begun stirring up internal conflicts within the Dragon Clan and annexing lesser clans about a year ago.

Coincidentally, it was one year ago that she had made an agreement with Leon’s mentor, Tiger, to keep Leon away from the Empire during that time.

Could there be a connection between these two “one-years”...?