Leon exhaled a breath of cold air. His constitution let him withstand low temperatures, but they still made him uncomfortable.

“I’ve already worked things out with Myron. It should be fine from here on, right?”

He headed toward the mountaintop, leaving a trail of footprints behind him. Judging by the time, he should reach the summit just as everything was settled.

By then, Fio would be his slave.

The thought made Leon feel a little embarrassed, even though he hadn’t meant to have any impure intentions toward Fio.

“I just need to explain things properly to Fio. It’ll be fine, Leon…”

Leon tried to encourage himself and calm his nerves.

He looked like a cool, handsome type, but in reality, he was terrible with women. He even had a fear of them.

Ever since he was little, Leon had always been in the spotlight. He’d shown extraordinary talent, and with his good looks, he’d been incredibly popular with women.

But that popularity with the opposite sex brought him one disaster after another. The accidents it led to made him lose all interest in human women.

Leon began rejecting everyone with a cold expression and devoted himself completely to training.

But that only backfired. His strength kept growing, and his popularity rose right along with it… Surrounded by women, Leon became even more withdrawn. He was convinced he’d die alone and never fall in love with a woman.

Everything changed four years ago, when Leon accepted an invitation from the Donghui Kingdom. He joined a party of other powerful fighters to defeat the Ice Dragon King, Fio, who had supposedly been wreaking havoc.

That day, his companions fell one by one. Then the Ice Dragon King revealed her humanoid true form—and Leon fell in love at first sight.

“Fio is so cute. She’s absolutely world-class!”

Remembering Fio that day still made Leon’s heart flutter. He let out the same heartfelt exclamation he’d made back then.

Every little thing about her hit his sweet spot and completely won him over. And the fact that Fio wasn’t human, but a dragon, only made him more excited the more he thought about it.

Fio hadn’t killed anyone like the evil dragon of the rumors. Instead, she’d spared their lives.

After returning to the Donghui Kingdom, Leon investigated the matter from every angle and discovered that things weren’t as simple as they seemed.

The stories about the so-called “evil dragon” threatening the world were just rumors spread by the Donghui Kingdom. It seemed the people in power were plotting something.

Leon was deeply in love with Fio, and he couldn’t let his unrequited love fall into their hands. So he trained wherever he could, grew stronger on the brink of death, and devoted himself entirely to the one thing his heart held dear.

Through hard work and talent, Leon had finally become strong enough to protect Fio.

“I’ll protect Fio, no matter what.” Leon looked at his hands, covered in calluses, and said it aloud.

A few days ago, Leon learned that the Donghui Kingdom had joined forces with other countries to form a dragon-slaying party even stronger than the one from four years ago. They were going after Fio.

There was no time. Leon had no choice but to resort to this plan: get to Fio before they did, forcefully take her somewhere safe, then tell the Donghui Kingdom he’d killed the Ice Dragon King by himself.

“But this is going to make Fio’s impression of me absolutely awful. She must hate me now.” Leon let out a pained sigh.

If he succeeded, there was no doubt about it: Fio would become a slave who obeyed his every command.

Leon let himself drift into a daydream. He’d give Fio an order, and she’d obediently throw herself into his arms, blushing as she slowly slipped off her clothes—

“No. I can’t think about that.”

Leon activated his skill, Heart of the Clear Mirror and Still Water, and calmed himself down, driving away his impure thoughts.

“I swear, even if I jump off this mountain and die out there, I’ll never order Fio to do anything weird.”

……

When he returned to the snowy mountaintop, he saw Myron and Fio.

Fio looked utterly devastated, holding the slave contract as if her soul had left her body.

When Myron saw him, he smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

Leon immediately understood. What an excellent butler—he’d sold out his silly former master without batting an eye.

Nice! Leon cheered inwardly.

“Your Highness Fio, this experience is just what you need to correct your flaws and learn what life is like at the very bottom,” Myron said. “A leader who’s never experienced the lowest rungs isn’t a good one.”

Myron turned and headed back toward the Frost Sanctuary.

Leon’s heart pounded. He walked up to Fio, struggling to keep his emotions in check, and said, “Fio, let’s go. Starting today, you’re my slave.”

“Ah…”

Fio slowly raised her head and met Leon’s gaze.

Tears glimmered in her silver eyes. Her pitiful, bullied look nearly made Leon’s heart leap out of his chest.

Holy crap, she’s so cute. I want to hug Fio so badly.

Huff, huff… Calm down, Leon. Don’t cross the line. Whatever you do, don’t act like some scumbag lolicon. You absolutely can’t let her opinion of you get any worse.

“Are you unhappy about becoming my slave?” Leon asked in a cold voice.

“……!”

Fio seemed startled and stumbled several steps backward.

Leon immediately wanted to punch himself. He’d instinctively used the same approach he’d used with other women, and it had backfired spectacularly.

But Leon had so little experience with women that he had no idea what else to do.

He reminded himself not to say anything careless. First, he had to reassure Fio and tell her he meant no harm—that he was doing all this to protect her.

“Don’t worry, Fio. From now on, you can relax. Just listen to me and do as I say, and you’ll live happily ever after. You won’t have to think about anything anymore.”

After a long silence, Fio asked timidly, “Are… are you a lolicon?”

A crucial dialogue option had appeared!

Leon had read plenty of dirty books. He knew that if he picked the right answer here, Fio’s affection for him could shoot up all at once.

If he said yes outright, that would be the typical answer of a perverted scumbag.

But if he said no, he’d hurt Fio too. And if he admitted it later, he’d seem like a two-faced liar.

So he had to tell her what he truly felt and win her heart.

“A lolicon? Sorry, but I’m not that kind of low-class pervert. I’m excited about you because you’re not human—you’re a dragon.”

“You…!”

Fio was looking at Leon like he was a complete pervert.