Before the arrival of the two members of the Sea Dragon Clan entertainers—oh, no, two guests of the Sea Dragon Clan!—Leon needed to recover from his injuries first.

After all, fulfilling the promise he once made to Claudia required a healthy body.

Speaking of injuries, the battle with the Empire made Leon vaguely realize his limits.

If not for the double mana reserves stored in the second Dragon Mark, and if not for Roswitha’s Heart-Guarding Dragon Scale, then “Night Armor” would have been Leon’s final dance.

Even as the strongest Dragon Slayer, he could not endure the backlash from the full unleashing of the Ninth Gates.

No wonder the ancient text *Nine Hells Gate* had so many annotations emphasizing phrases like, “Few in this world can open all nine gates.”

It seemed to constantly remind practitioners that achieving power beyond one’s limits came at a steep price—often far greater than one could imagine.

Thus, after resolving the Empire’s crisis, Leon began contemplating how to break through his current limitations.

Leon was fully aware that it was not yet time for him to retire.

Setting aside the fact that Elizabeth, the queen of the Empire, was still missing, there was also the situation with Constantine. Although Constantine had played a role in securing victory over the Empire this time, it didn’t necessarily mean that he was firmly aligned with Leon.

With the vast Primordial Power Constantine commanded, given his belligerent personality, he would never allow such immense power to go to waste.

Not to mention Constantine had personally declared that he would defeat Leon one day.

Adding in the various lurking threats within the Dragon Clan, Leon found no reason to resign himself to a leisurely retirement.

Thus, to survive in such chaotic times—and to protect those he held dear—Leon needed to grow stronger. Stronger than he was now.

Of course, though he couldn’t completely let his guard down, Leon did grant himself a brief vacation.

After all, having just dealt with the mess within the Empire, he wanted to take this chance to recuperate and rest for a while.

Spending his days chatting with his daughters, giving them a bit of magical guidance, listening to their sweet, affectionate cries of “Daddy”—

Now *that* was the life of a proper dad!

However...

There were always those who seemed intent on disturbing Leon’s peaceful break.

Roswitha Melkevi, Queen of the Silver Dragon Clan, a self-proclaimed workaholic, and one of the only two in the world capable of restraining Leon—

The other being Aurora’s uppercut.

Over the past few days since returning from the Empire, Leon had been constantly avoiding Roswitha.

**Day One:** Roswitha suggested that Leon join her for a bath.

Leon tactfully declined with the excuse: “Your Majesty, you’ve been traveling and inspecting the borders today. You must be exhausted, so you should rest early.”

**Day Two:** Roswitha wanted Leon’s opinion on a new black lace slip she had purchased, asking if it looked good.

Leon dodged again by replying, “Babe, with your figure, you’re a born clothes hanger! You’d look great in *anything*! I’m beat, I’m going to bed first!”

**Day Three:** Roswitha brought over a brown hard candy, claiming it was Aurora’s newly-crafted condensed, harmless version of the **Black Dragon Bolus**, with incredibly stable effects. She urged Leon to give it a try.

Leon deflected by saying, “I’m the strongest Dragon Slayer! If I’m going to take anything, it’s gotta be the **Black Dragon Bolus Pro Max**. Condensed formulas don’t do it for me.” For the third consecutive day, he evaded her advances.

**Day Four:**

“Tonight, after your bath, wait for me in bed, prisoner.”

The queen issued her command with regal authority, abandoning their playful “married couple code language” and speaking plainly to avoid Leon finding yet another excuse to get out of “turning in homework.”

“...I—I’m feeling a bit tired. How about tomorrow?” Leon attempted to resist.

“Don’t you humans have a saying, *‘Tomorrow is uncertain, so seize the day’*? Isn’t it meant to remind you to cherish the time at hand and accomplish today what can’t wait till tomorrow?”

“You’re mistaken, babe. The saying actually goes, *‘Tomorrow is plentiful, so there’s no rush.’* It means that life is long, so there’s no urgency; things can wait till tomorrow!” Leon lied with an earnest face.

The queen, however, merely snorted coldly. “Your life is long? Longer than mine?”

“Ah... well...” Leon stumbled on his words.

Uh, come to think of it, probably not!

“Is it really so urgent, my dear dragoness?”

“I’m not in a hurry.”

Roswitha spoke calmly. “I just think you’ve been working too hard these past few days, taking on a lot of pressure. I want to help you blow off some steam. It’s all for your own good.”

“Wow, what an absolutely airtight excuse you’ve got there!”

Roswitha tilted her head slightly, crossing her arms as her beautiful silver eyes studied Leon.

After a moment, she asked, with a significant gaze,

“Leon.”

“What?”

“You’re not... having a *midlife crisis*, are you?”

General Leon froze, blinking. “Mi—midlife crisis...?”

“Yes. I’ve heard that human men, once they reach a certain age, will start losing interest in ‘that’ area. They become dispassionate, even physically incapable. So, is this why you’ve been rejecting me all this time?”

“Nonsense! I’m only twenty-five! I’m in perfect physical condition; where’d this midlife crisis come from?!”

Hearing this, Roswitha revealed a triumphant smile.

For Leon, goading techniques were ancient, but still effective.

“Then go take a bath.”

“...”

It was only then that Leon realized he had once again fallen into the dragoness’s trap.

In truth, Leon hadn’t been dodging these “homework sessions” because of any so-called midlife crisis, but rather out of careful calculation for the future.

During the battle with the Empire, Leon had gone all out at the very beginning, using up an entire Dragon Mark’s worth of mana to perform a Dragon Annihilation.

He then used his remaining mana to open the Ninth Gate.

After the fight, his right leg had been fractured due to the backlash, and he was now in a cast.

In short, Leon was in a state of zero mana and low health.

Engaging in any “intense activity” with the dragoness in such a condition would place the entire process under her control.

The mere thought of that was terrifying!

Thus, Leon had spent the past few days inventing one excuse after another to refuse Roswitha.

He hoped to bide his time and only face her once his body had recovered enough to even the playing field.

But then again, as the saying goes: **You can’t sleep in the same bed as two different kinds of people.**

If Leon’s refusal stemmed from his poor current physical state and his fear of losing control during their “engagement,” then naturally, Roswitha had come to the exact opposite conclusion.

**Strike when the iron is hot! Take him down while he’s weak!**

If she didn’t give him a night of unforgettable “dragon-riding,” would he even remember his role as her captive?!

Besides, it wasn’t as if Roswitha hadn’t been planning something since the very day they returned from the Empire.

Today was simply the day her patience ran out, and she decided to take off the gloves with Leon.

If he continued to refuse her, she might have to switch to... more “forceful” measures.

The couple locked eyes.

After a long while, Leon caved, making one last attempt to gain her sympathy.

“Roswitha, look, my leg is still injured. Moving up and down isn’t convenient... Plus, if I push myself too hard, it might make my injury worse. You don’t want your husband walking with a cane, do you?”

“No problem; you don’t have to move.”

Roswitha’s voice was still calm as she delivered her next explosive line in the same tranquil tone:

“I can handle being on top.”

Leon: ?

“Such bold words! Bold words, I tell you!!”

“What are you yelling about? It’s not like we haven’t tried that position before.”

“Bu—but still, it’s not appropriate...”

“Ugh.”

Roswitha furrowed her delicate brows and let out a small sound of annoyance.

“Say ‘no’ one more time, and you’ll really kill the mood.”

After pausing briefly, she added with a tone of understanding:

“Alright, fine. Since it’s inconvenient, we can use a relatively safer method instead.”

Leon looked up, and a sense of impending doom welled up inside him.

“What... method?”

He watched as Roswitha rose gracefully from the bedside, her bare, snow-white feet stepping gently on the floor. She approached him slowly and reached up to loosen her brassiere.

Her bosom spilled free from its constraints, bouncing lightly.

Moonlight flowed in from the window, scattering faintly over the soft pink spots.

The sight was so breathtakingly seductive that Leon couldn’t help but blush a little.

“Roswitha...”

“I’m trying this for the first time as well, so bear with me.”

“Huh?”

Don’t scare me like this, dragoness! Now I’m even more nervous!