Leon kicked Constantine's head with a powerful blow, allowing the battered "big rubber ball" to roll a few times on the ground.

He himself staggered back a few steps, showing a hint of exhaustion.

To be fair, this recent battle could undoubtedly rank as the top of "General Leon's Ten Classic Battles."

Why the top? Because, to date, there hadn't been another nine battles that exerted so much pressure on him.

Granted, Constantine wasn't an especially powerful Dragon King—not for Leon, at least—but upon reflection, both of their encounters had been rather memorable.

Leon looked at the decayed head and let out a cold snort.

"Finally, you can rest in peace now, old Constantine."

A stat monster can only be felled by a stitched monster;

And a stitched monster can only be felled by a strategy monster.

If he hadn’t held back a trick or two in reserve to deal with the Empire, this battle might not have ended so easily.

As soon as Leon caught his breath, the sound of hurried footsteps came from behind him.

Leon turned around to see Roswitha and Isa.

The two sisters ran over and glanced at Constantine's head.

"Is it done?" Isa asked.

"Yeah," Leon nodded.

"You're not hurt, are you?"

Roswitha asked while giving Leon's arms and shoulders a cursory check.

Leon chuckled softly, gently pushing down Roswitha's wrist before taking her cold little hands into his own. With just the right degree of pressure, he reassured her that he was fine.

"Don't worry, no injuries," Leon said.

The queen slightly nodded, and under the cover of the night, she allowed the blush on her face to spread unrestrainedly.

Isa, too, exhaled in relief and patted the dust off her skirt. Then, crossing her arms, she tilted her head as she glanced at the younger couple.

"You two lovebirds can save the flirting for later. For now, would someone explain why the Heart-Guarding Dragon Scale suddenly turned into a time bomb?"

As a seasoned Dragon Queen, Isa was quite familiar with the properties of a Heart-Guarding Dragon Scale.

It was the "valve" for a Dragon Clan’s power, as well as an important "safety mechanism" to protect against the disastrous consequences of uncontrollable magic.

That is to say, in specific circumstances, however, a Heart-Guarding Dragon Scale could indeed act as a massive bomb. Its explosion would unleash not only the magic energy accumulated over centuries but also the intrinsic magical force of the Dragon King itself.

Throughout Dragon Clan history, there had been battles where desperate Dragon Kings chose to self-detonate their Heart-Guarding Dragon Scales in suicidal maneuvers against their foes.

But while dragon scales could serve as weapons, the most critical point was this: they could only be detonated by their rightful owners.

If any random dragon could detonate someone else's scale, then there would be no need for physical combat. Everyone would merely focus on figuring out how to make their counterparts become angry.

So, the fact that Leon had just snapped his fingers to detonate Constantine's dragon scale seriously piqued Isa's curiosity.

Seeing Isa’s strong desire for answers, the couple exchanged a glance, still holding hands, before immediately activating their team’s private telepathic chat.

**Roswitha:** *We can’t tell her the truth. My sister’s smart. The moment you even mention the Empire, she’ll start suspecting you.*

**Leon:** *Got it. Give me a few minutes to come up with a solid excuse.*

**Roswitha:** *A few minutes? Where am I supposed to find you “a few minutes?”*

**Leon:** *What can I do, honey? Unless you want your dear husband’s human identity exposed too?*

**Roswitha:** *Ugh, you… Fine! Just come up with something quickly! I’ll stall her.*

**Leon:** *OK.*

Letting go of Leon’s hand, Roswitha walked over to Isa. She bit her lips briefly before opening her mouth to speak.

"Actually... it wasn’t exactly a time bomb," she said.

Isa raised an eyebrow at her sister. "Not a time bomb? Then what was it?"

"It was... a remote-controlled bomb!"

"..."

Isa fell silent, feeling somewhat speechless.

“Roswitha, whether it’s a time bomb or a remote-controlled bomb, that’s just a metaphor; no need to nitpick the terminology."

Ise said this lightly while slowly turning her gaze toward Leon.

“So, little brother-in-law, how exactly did you pull it off?”

“Ah… Sis, the thing is—”

Seeing her sister bearing down relentlessly, Roswitha began thinking, trying to come up with excuses to buy time.

But Isa wasn’t someone who could be fooled easily. Lying outright or making flippant remarks would only invite suspicion.

Yet Roswitha wasn’t particularly skilled at lying in the first place, and now she barely had any clever phrases left to stall with.

Just when the queen was reaching the brink of despair, that man finally opened his mouth.

“Actually, Sis…” Leon started.

Isa nodded slightly. “Mm, go on.”

“During the six months I went missing, I accidentally stumbled into the future twenty years ahead through Lavie's spatial rift. You’re already aware of this, right?”

“Right. Roswitha mentioned it in a letter a few days ago but didn’t go into detail. I’ve been meaning to ask you about it since. After all, time travel is a rare occurrence I’ve never seen before.”

Isa looked at Leon with interest. “So, does your ability to detonate Constantine’s dragon scale have something to do with your journey to the future?”

“Yes, it does, to some extent,” Leon replied.

“To begin with, that dragon scale wasn’t Constantine’s original Heart-Guarding Dragon Scale. It belonged to a Black Sun Dragon King named Bly. That’s why Constantine was able to use space magic, silently infiltrate your sanctum, and evade Roswitha’s lethal strike.”

“Which also explains how I detonated the scale in the first place.”

“When I returned to the present from the future, Bly and Jagus were attacking Roswitha’s Silver Dragon Castle. I took action to deal with them, as well as four other Dragon Kings.”

“But I didn’t destroy their Heart-Guarding Dragon Scales because, while in the future…”

Leon took a slow, deep breath. He was about to start lying and couldn’t help feeling nervous.

Beside him, Roswitha was also on edge, fervently hoping her husband could come up with a decent excuse—anything to keep her sister from uncovering the truth. Otherwise, Constantine wouldn’t be the only one to lose a “respawn round” tonight.

“I discovered in the future that there’s a mysterious organization collecting Dragon Clan Heart-Guarding Dragon Scales for unknown purposes, though it’s evident that they’re an enemy,” Leon continued.

“So, after returning to the present, I made a point of leaving some contingencies in place during my first battle with Bly and the others. I tampered with their dragon scales, turning them into hidden trump cards I could use in future situations—like the one against Constantine just now.”

When Leon finished, he glanced at Roswitha.

**Leon:** *What do you think, honey? Wasn’t that a solid excuse?*

**Roswitha (her expression was a mix of a twitching smile and deep exasperation):**

*“A mysterious organization?” Seriously!? That’s what you came up with after taking two whole minutes to think? Could you be any lazier? Do you think my sister’s an idiot or something? Do you think she’ll actually buy this garbage?*

**Leon:** *Why wouldn’t she believe it? I think my excuse is flawless.*

**Roswitha:** *If she believes you, I’ll…*

Isa suddenly nodded in realization. “Oh~~ So that’s how it is.”

She actually got it!!

Leon shrugged and then glanced at Roswitha with a smug grin.

**Leon:** *What were you saying just now, Your Majesty? You’ll what, exactly?*

**Roswitha:** *I’ll… I’ll clasp… my husband’s hand right now—is that good enough for you?*

The couple wordlessly got together, Roswitha gently linking arms with Leon and leaning close to whisper, “My sister must be groggy after the battle, too unfocused to dig deeper into your flimsy excuse. Consider yourself lucky.”

Leon whispered back, “I’ll patch up the details later. For now, let’s just get through tonight.”

Truthfully, Leon’s excuse was indeed pretty half-baked.

All he had really done was substitute “the Empire” with “a mysterious organization.”

Everything else he said was the truth.

However, the mention of the Empire was genuinely the most critical piece of information omitted from his explanation.

As long as Isa didn’t connect Leon’s actions to preparations against the Empire, no matter how clever she was, her suspicions wouldn’t leap directly to him being human.

After all, the Dragon Clan had clashed with numerous other races besides humans. Many factions waged wars over finite resources.

When Isa believed Leon’s hastily concocted story, both Leon and Roswitha silently breathed a sigh of relief.

What they didn’t realize, however, was that Isa was secretly watching them, a hint of doubt flickering in her mind.

“Something about this… feels a little off,” she pondered.

Her brother-in-law was simply too enigmatic. Yet Isa couldn’t just bluntly interrogate him; doing so would yield no useful information.

“If you’ve left a contingency against that so-called mysterious organization, little brother-in-law, then I’ll leave a contingency against you,” Isa thought to herself.

“You truly are an exemplary family member, husband, and father. But you are far from being… an exemplary liar.”