Leon slowly opened his eyes.

A blue sky, white clouds, grasslands, forests, and a gentle breeze—

Hiss—

It felt eerily familiar, like a scene from the Bible, as if conjured by an old acquaintance with a hint of madness.

He sat up slowly, scanning his surroundings.

Not far away stood what seemed to be a collapsed hill, its shattered boulders now blanketed in moss after years of neglect.

Further ahead lay a dense mountain forest, its towering trees standing sentinel for centuries.

After a prolonged observation confirmed no immediate threat, he staggered to his feet.

His body was frail.

His magic was utterly depleted, and every fiber of his body screamed in pain—a cruel side effect of the Nine Hells Gate.

Yet he could still walk.

With a weary body, he trudged toward the forest.

Though the place seemed deserted, Leon recognized it faintly.

“The Silver Dragon Territory’s border…”

Yet he didn’t see a single dragon nearby.

Nor were there any signs of a battle.

“So… did I really manage to seal that spatial rift?”

Leon had no idea how long he’d been out—or if he’d ever lost consciousness.

The moment he had stepped into the rift, he’d lost all perception of the outside world.

All he knew was that he had drained every last bit of his magic; only he could seal the rift.

Now it seemed Leon had succeeded… yet not entirely.

Where in the world had everyone gone?!

Where was his wife? His beautiful, gentle, virtuous wife—proud and stubborn, tough as steel, yet he loved her all the same!

And his children? His eldest, the ‘Involuted King’; his second, the family mascot; and his third, the aspiring scientist—his three precious girls

Where are they all?!

Leon was filled with questions as he stepped into the forest, heading in the direction of the Silver Dragon Castle he remembered.

“If the spatial rift was sealed, Roswitha and the others should be safe…”

“But why haven’t I seen any sign of them?”

“And if it wasn’t sealed, why does the Silver Dragon border seem completely intact?”

Leon continued walking, silently analyzing the situation.

But his thoughts were a tangled mess; he couldn’t calm down enough to think clearly.

He was worried about Noa, Muen, and Aurora—and, of course, Roswitha.

To be honest, Leon was starting to regret stepping into that rift so decisively.

But his regret wasn’t about the risk of death—it was that he hadn’t said more to Roswitha before doing so.

His mind was foggy, yet he still vividly remembered saying those three words to Roswitha just before entering the rift.

He wasn’t sure if that dense dragon had even heard him clearly.

Even if she hadn’t, she could’ve guessed what he said by reading his lips, right?

“Well, wasn’t that the confession you’ve been dying to make? Satisfied now, dumb dragon?”

He mumbled to himself as he pressed on.

Along the way, Leon didn’t forget to observe his surroundings.

Judging by the sheer overgrowth of the forest, these giant trees had been left to grow unchecked for a long time. Their branches showed no signs of being trimmed.

Ordinarily, as this was the first line of defense at the border, such trees should’ve been regularly pruned to avoid obstructing the line of sight.

He remembered visiting here with Roswitha on inspections and how the Silver Dragon soldiers had done an excellent job maintaining the area.

But now, it was clear that no one had tended to this place for a considerable period.

Leon made a mental note of this inconsistency and continued toward the Silver Dragon Castle.

Judging by the position of the sun, he estimated it was around 8 or 9 in the morning.

But when he’d entered the rift, it had been late afternoon.

Even if over ten hours had passed, the forest shouldn’t have changed this much.

“Could I have taken a wrong turn?”

Leon abruptly paused.

The chances of him being mistaken were slim.

But not impossible.

After hesitating for a moment, he decided to backtrack and carefully assess the area from the perimeter to confirm where he was.

With that in mind, Leon turned around.

However, as soon as he took a step, the ground beneath him gave way, and he toppled into a shallow pit.

“Damn it… Who the hell dug a pit here…”

Caught off guard, the fall only made his already exhausted and overworked body feel even worse.

Leon sat dejectedly in the pit, taking a moment to recover before climbing out.

As he was about to stand, something in the bushes beside the pit caught his eye.

The bushes were dense, which explained why Leon hadn’t noticed the pit and had stepped into it by accident.

“A pit... and shrubs…”

Something clicked in Leon’s mind, and he pushed aside the leafy outer layers of the bushes to examine the area closely.

Sure enough, a particularly smooth, deliberate cut along the edge of the bushes caught his attention.

Looking more closely at the pit itself, though most of it had been swallowed up by dirt and moss, traces of a similarly smooth edge could still be discerned.

“It’s that hidden outpost that was silently destroyed by spatial magic all those years ago…”

In other words, he'd taken the right path. This was indeed the forest leading to the Silver Dragon Castle.

“If there are no signs of battle or invasion along the border, that must mean they’re safe, right?”

With that thought in mind, Leon braced himself against the edge of the shallow pit and pushed himself out.

Having confirmed he was indeed within the Silver Dragon territory, Leon picked up his pace toward the castle.

...

Leon arrived at the castle perimeter around dusk.

But an ominous feeling crept over him.

The long journey from the border to the castle should’ve been full of bustling activity. Yet he hadn’t encountered a single Silver Dragon along the way.

Knowing Roswitha, with how cautious she was, there was no way she wouldn’t station guards or sentries on patrol.

There was no time for further thought. The castle gates loomed ahead and, pushing past his overwhelming fatigue, Leon pressed onward.

However, when he reached the castle entrance, the sight that greeted him left him utterly stupefied.

The once-grand silver gates hung precariously on the stone walls, now weathered and overgrown with weeds.

Beyond the gates, the courtyard was in complete disarray—flowerbeds had crumbled apart, and moss had overtaken the stone tiles.

What shocked Leon most of all, though, was the state of the castle itself. The walls were scorched, with marks of fire evident everywhere, while an entire section of the left-side buildings had been obliterated.

The place was a ruin.

Leon’s pupils shrank in disbelief. Ignoring the pain wracking his body, he rushed into the courtyard.

“Noa!”

“Muen!”

“Aurora!”

He called out the names of his daughters.

But the only response was the whisper of the wind brushing through the grass.

“Roswitha! Are you here?!”

Thud, thud—

A few stones tumbled from a nearby pile of debris.

But there was still no sign of anyone.

Fear gripped Leon’s heart like a vice.

Could it be that he hadn’t managed to stop the rift after all?

Could his wife and children already be…

In his daze, a faint pink blur darted past out of the corner of his eye.

Leon’s sharp gaze caught the fleeting figure clearly.

“Who’s there? Who is it? Someone from the Silver Dragon Clan?”

He had no time to think about their identity—he simply bolted in that direction.

“Hey, I saw you! Stop hiding and tell me—where is everyone from the Silver Dragon Clan?!”

Leon rounded a corner of the wall but saw no one there.

He frowned, extinguishing the small flicker of hope that had just ignited in his chest.

“Did I imagine it…”

He murmured to himself in disappointment, preparing to turn away.

But then, that pink blur appeared again—this time directly in front of him, almost ghost-like.

Before Leon could react, a sharp sting erupted in his jaw.

Darkness overtook him, and he fell unconscious.

...

Leon had no idea how much time had passed before he came to.

It was nighttime now, and a small campfire burned beside him.

Looking further ahead, he saw a young woman sitting on a rock.

She appeared to be about twenty years old and had long, pink hair. A pair of black-framed glasses rested on her nose, highlighting her pale, delicate skin.

Her side profile was exquisite, like a finely etched sculpture—and oddly familiar.

The girl was draped in a tattered lab coat, underneath which she wore a shirt and fitted pants.

The pants, too, had a few tears, revealing glimpses of her thighs.

In her hand, she held a skewer of roasted meat—likely her dinner for the evening.

Leon sat up slowly, rubbing his still-sore jaw.

The girl glanced his way, her pink eyes flashing with a hint of surprise, and her frosty expression softened slightly.

Looking at him seemed to stir some heavy memories within her.

However, Leon didn’t seem to notice her emotional shift. Pressing his lips together, he tentatively asked, “Did you… knock me out?”

The girl nodded absentmindedly.

“With just one punch? You knocked me out with one punch?”

For the first time, General Leon was starting to doubt his own resistance to damage.

Even the Dragon King hadn’t managed to knock him out with a single punch, yet this girl had.

The girl glanced at her right hand, flexing her fingers. Like Leon, she seemed puzzled, too.

“Yes. I’m not sure why either… but the moment I saw you, I just couldn’t stop myself from giving you an uppercut.”

Leon didn’t lash out at her for punching him unconscious.

For one, he was currently so weak that he’d likely lose any fight.

And secondly, if she were truly an enemy, she wouldn’t have been casually roasting meat here like this afterward.

So, perhaps, the uppercut had been nothing more than a misunderstanding.

Leon studied the girl’s face.

She looked so familiar.

Far too familiar.

It was as if she were carved from the same mold as that stubborn dragon.

“Have we met before?” Leon asked, moving closer to the campfire.

The girl blinked, then smiled faintly.

She withdrew her gaze and stared quietly at the fire.

The flames danced in her pink eyes, like radiant gemstones.

"What a lousy pick-up line. How did you even manage to win Mom over back then?"

The sheer amount of information packed into that sentence almost made General Lai's CPU short-circuit.

He widened his eyes and stammered, "You—you are—"

"My name is Aurora, Aurora K. Melkevi."

She handed the skewer she was holding to Leon and said, "Of course, if it's you, you can also call me by another name—Aurora."