Roswitha brought Rebecca to a quiet riverside spot. The two walked along the gravel path by the river, chatting as they strolled.

And chatting about gossip is always the most effective way for girls to bond.

“Leon likes silver and silver-haired girls, I do know that much,” Roswitha remarked. “Hmm... are there any secrets that only you classmates know about?”

The first time Roswitha met Tiger, the old man had told her some embarrassing tales about Leon’s past and a few lesser-known weaknesses. But after all, those were just things Tiger had picked up from the perspective of a parent.

If you really wanted a comprehensive understanding of someone’s school-day embarrassments, you had to rely on their schoolmates!

And Rebecca wasn’t just one of Leon’s old classmates; she ended up joining Leon’s dragon-slaying squad after graduation. Their relationship was that close—surely this little girl must know Leon's secrets.

What?

You’re asking why, after being married for so long, the Queen was still so intent on digging up her husband’s old scandals? Oh, don’t worry about it.

One of the queen’s interests in life is indulging in a bit of gossip.

“Secrets only classmates would know... Let me think.” Rebecca pinched her chin and gave it serious thought.

After a moment, she raised a finger. “Oh~ I’ve got one. Back in school, the captain had received a lot of love letters. Most of them he wouldn’t even read before tossing them out, but there was one letter he hesitated over before throwing away. You know about this, right?”

Roswitha nodded.

“The letter was from an upperclassman of his—silver hair, tall, and very pretty~” Rebecca said enthusiastically as she recounted Leon’s past.

Roswitha squinted at her slightly.

Rebecca quickly turned to another topic. “Ahem, but she wasn’t as beautiful as you, sister-in-law. Not even ten of her could compare to you, hehe.”

The little girl might seem a bit wild, but she did have a knack for reading the room.

Roswitha covered her mouth with a soft laugh. “Hmm, and then?”

Rebecca opened her mouth, about to continue, but suddenly realized something. She turned and asked cautiously, “By the way, sister-in-law... you’re not someone who gets jealous easily, are you?”

Roswitha raised an eyebrow. Seems like this nugget of gossip must be pretty juicy since Rebecca was treading so carefully.

Amusing. I’m a queen, not a jealous girl. How could I get worked up over something so trivial?

With a smile, Roswitha replied, “Of course not. I never get jealous.”

Rebecca eyed her suspiciously. “Really?”

“Really. I’m the Silver Dragon Queen—a broad-minded woman.”

Hearing this, Rebecca glanced at her sister-in-law’s ample chest, then down at her own rather flat figure.

Hmm, yes. Truly broad-minded.

“As long as you’re not jealous. Then I’ll continue!” Rebecca said.

“Go ahead.”

High emotional intelligence: I don’t get jealous.

Low emotional intelligence: I’ve already fixed that trashy man before jealousy even had a chance.

“There was a time when our academy hosted a fellowship party, where everyone could freely choose their dance partners,” Rebecca began.

“I’m pretty short, so no one wanted to dance with me; Martin doesn’t like socializing, so he didn’t dance either. The two of us just sat on the sidelines drinking, all the while watching the captain.”

“Oh, at the time he wasn’t our captain yet, but Leon Casmod was already quite a big name at the academy.”

“A lot of girls invited him to dance at the party, but as expected, he turned them all down.”

“But!” Rebecca’s tone grew more dramatic.

“When that silver-haired upperclassman asked him to dance, he actually said yes!”

“Even though their dance only lasted for one song that night, that incident had been a talk of the academy for quite a while!”

By the time Rebecca finished vividly describing the event, Roswitha had maintained her elegant posture and composure throughout.

But if Rebecca had observed closely, she might have noticed that Roswitha’s tail—once dragging idly on the ground—had started to lift slightly.

Among Dragons, the tail only lifts when emotions were stirred.

Alas, the wild girl wasn’t a scholar of dragon biology and didn’t understand their behavioral cues.

She only wanted to share some fun gossip about the captain’s youth with her gorgeous sister-in-law. What was wrong with that?

“And then?” Roswitha asked softly.

“And then? Well, that silver-haired upperclassman came to believe that she was Leon Casmod’s chosen one, the only girl who could crack his reserved heart. The fact that he agreed to dance with her at the party was her ultimate proof.”

Rebecca tucked her hands into her pockets and spoke in an unhurried tone. “Then she confessed her feelings. And, as expected, she was rejected.”

Roswitha raised an eyebrow. “Leon danced with her but still rejected her?”

“Yes, sister-in-law. And his reason for rejecting her was—ironically enough—the dance itself.”

“Oh? How so?”

“Later on, when the captain occasionally shared snippets of his almost non-existent romantic history, he explained the main reason why he rejected the silver-haired upperclassman.”

“To put it simply, while her appearance matched his preferences, her personality fell far short of his expectations.”

“During the dance, the captain could clearly sense that the upperclassman was yielding to his lead, following every motion and rhythm he set. Even when he missed a beat, she adjusted herself to cover his mistake.”

“He didn’t like that.”

“He believed that in a normal relationship, both people should stand on equal footing. But the girls, including that upperclassman, all treated him as if he were some untouchable ‘star.’ That made him really uncomfortable.”

At this, Rebecca paused for a moment before giving a helpless smile.

“But sister-in-law, after living with him for so long, you probably know him well enough.”

“That guy, even though he likes to show off sometimes, is still outstanding in every aspect. He is talented, responsible, and with a great personality. When someone pursues someone like that, how could they not instinctively lower their own status?”

“In the end, I think—” Rebecca stretched lazily, deliberately dragging out her words.

Roswitha glanced at her sideways, intrigued by the conclusion and judgment the girl was about to make.

“There’s only one woman in this world who could ever conquer Leon Casmod.”

“And who’s that?” Roswitha asked.

“You, of course,” Rebecca replied with a sly grin. “I don’t know you very well yet, but I can sense a streak of dominance in your personality. You definitely won’t let the captain take the lead in your daily life, do you?”

Roswitha chuckled softly. “Oh, no. I won’t stoop to competing with a twenty-something brat—how childish.”

Really, Your Majesty?

As if your countless ‘battles’ with that fake husband couldn’t fill an entire notebook.

“But I do discipline him occasionally,” Roswitha added.

“Exactly~ The captain is not the kind of person who listens to just anyone.”

Roswitha smiled faintly before asking, “By the way, do you remember the song they danced to that night?”

“Eh... That was a long time ago.” Rebecca furrowed her brow in thought before suddenly clapping her hands. “Got it! I don’t remember the name of the song, but I can hum it for you.”

“Alright.”

Rebecca began humming the tune.

Roswitha listened carefully. After a moment, she said, “Got it. I know which song it is.”

“Hmm? Sister-in-law, you’ve been living in Dragon Clan, but you know human songs?”

“Yes. Not long ago, I started trying to learn and understand human cultures.”

That was true.

Leon, with Arora, had noticed it too when he stumbled upon the human books she had procured for her study in her library.

“Oh, I see.”

Roswitha reached out and gave Rebecca’s small head a pat. “Thanks for sharing all this with me. Anything else? Like what he’s afraid of, or what he’s not good at?”

Rebecca thought for a moment. “Actually, yes! Sister-in-law, have you heard about his old nickname in school, ‘The Strongest Man on Land’?”

Roswitha blinked. “He’s very strong... that, I know.”

Oh, and I know it very thoroughly, too.

“No, no, sister-in-law. The key part of the nickname isn’t the ‘strong,’ it’s the phase ‘on land.’”

Roswitha frowned slightly. “‘On land’? What do you mean?”

“It means—the captain’s a terrible swimmer! He aced every test and evaluation at the academy, but he doesn’t know how to swim!”

“That extraordinary man... can’t swim?”

Roswitha thought back for a moment.

Last time, when their whole family went to the beach for vacation, over several days, she hadn’t seen Leon swim even once.

“Yep, that’s right. That’s why everyone called him ‘the strongest on land.’”

Roswitha nodded thoughtfully, murmuring to herself, “I see...”

Seems like I have to shop for some new swimwear, my little lion~