Chapter 40: Cheers and Champagne!
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One evening after the entrance exam ended, the Melkway family received their admission letter from Saint His Academy.
As for the reactions:
Noia was thrilled because her sisters could now enjoy a higher quality and more comprehensive education.
Moon was happy because once school started, she could keep a close eye on her sister and prevent that little dragon girl from stealing her away.
Little Light was ecstatic because she was off to her next great adventure, swimming freely in a sea of fun!
Meanwhile, the couple was overjoyed that their kids were finally out of the house, allowing them to sneak in a third baby! (Crossed out.)
In short, after a month of cramming, the two daughters successfully passed the entrance exam.
However, the specific scores wouldn’t be revealed until three days later at the school’s entrance ceremony.
Still, Leon and Roswiser were “very confident” about their scores, believing a middle-of-the-pack result was in the bag.
With this, they could wash their hands of the model family titles this year and escape that cringe-worthy speech at the ceremony.
To be fair, both of them had public-facing jobs: the queen of the Silver Dragon Race and the former head of the Dragon Slayer Army. A few words in front of a crowd didn’t faze them too much.
But they were wary of Vice Principal Wilson and feared he might come up with some new antics.
Given that guy’s enthusiasm, kissing in public probably wouldn’t be enough to satisfy him this time around.
The couple was playful behind closed doors, but showing off their love in front of a crowd was a whole different ball game.
Just plain awkward.
Later that night, the three little ones gathered excitedly to chat about their lives at the academy.
Leon and Roswiser stood out on the balcony, feeling the cool evening breeze, clinking their wine glasses gently together.
“Cheers! Here’s to our successful plan of not dying of embarrassment!”
Roswiser smiled lightly, “Look at you, the non-drinker, proactively wanting to celebrate! You must be really pleased with the plan.”
Leon took a sip of his red wine and nodded, “This is our first successful rebellion against Vice Principal Wilson, so of course it’s worth celebrating.”
Roswiser wholeheartedly agreed, clinking glasses with Leon again.
After a moment, she gazed into the deep crimson wine, her reflection staring back at her. “But… Doesn’t this feel like we’re uncorking the champagne a bit too early? Every time we’ve done this before, it ends in disaster…”
Leon waved his hand dismissively, “Nah, trust me! From my years of dealing with dragons, I can assure you, even if we pop this champagne right on Wilson’s face, nothing disastrous will happen.”
The queen raised an eyebrow, playing with her wine glass, and then smirked, “Let’s hope so.”
“What’s wrong? You don’t look quite as excited.”
“Hmm? Really? I’m quite excited!”
Leon squinted, as if realizing something, and leaned toward Roswiser with a mischievous grin. “You actually…”
Roswiser shot him a glance, “Actually what?”
“Looking forward to us showing off our love in front of everyone?”
At that, her cheeks flushed, and she gently pushed Leon’s shoulder, “Who, me? Looking forward to showing off with you? Don’t be so shameless! Plus, showing off requires actual love, and do we even have that?”
Leon pretended to sulk, but he merely shrugged and went along with the mother dragon.
“Suit yourself.”
“Hmph, childish!”
With a flick of her tail, the queen donned her dragon-wing slippers and hurried off the balcony.
Leon chuckled at her proud retreat but didn’t follow her.
He turned back, leaning against the balcony rail, gazing into the dark night with a soft sigh,
“Humans… dragons… such a contradiction, always awkward.”
…
Three days later, the entrance ceremony at Saint His Academy rolled around.
Inside the auditorium, hundreds of dragons and one lone human waited quietly for the Vice Principal to announce the top three test scores.
Of course, before that came a lengthy speech.
“Thank you all for choosing Saint His Academy. I’m Vice Principal Wilson—”
In the crowd, Leon held Moon while Roswiser held Little Light. The whole Melkway family huddled in one corner.
They’d discovered ten minutes prior that even doing nothing but standing there would draw everyone’s attention to them.
So they quietly retreated to the corner and opted for a low-key approach.
“Hey, I wonder which family will win the model family title this year.”
“I think that kid from the Electric Dragon Race seems pretty smart. Definitely them.”
“Hmm… not necessarily. I feel my kid is way smarter than he is.”
“Pfft—”
“Speaking of which, the last model family from the entrance ceremony was impressive too. I heard they were a dragon family, and that dragon husband sang a love song for his wife!”
“Oh, that’s amazing!”
“Yeah, right?”
Leon listened silently, rolling his eyes at the side conversations. Singing? Seriously? This had to be the Vice Principal’s doing!
Sure enough, his guess was spot on. Public kissing wasn’t enough for that old guy anymore.
Last time it was singing, so what was it this round?
Dancing? Poetry? Something else?
No matter what it was, it’d double the level of awkwardness for Leon and Roswiser!
And just thinking about singing love songs while looking at Roswiser, whose stunning face was also ice-cold, made him lose his grip on reality.
Though he had sung to her stomach filled with Little Light back in the day…
Shaking his head, he pulled himself back from those chaotic thoughts.
Wilson had wrapped up his speech and was now reading the testing results.
The family with the highest score would be named the model family for the year.
“I’m sure everyone has heard that this year’s test was the hardest we’ve seen in years.”
“We didn’t aim to make it difficult for everyone. The point was to identify the strengths and weaknesses of our little young dragons so we can assist their development.”
“In increasing the difficulty, we also slightly lowered the passing threshold, allowing us to fulfill our goal while also letting more exceptional children join the academy.”
“Well then, let’s announce the top three scores!”
With that, Vice Principal Wilson pulled out the scorelist.
The families below grew tense, eagerly hoping for their children to get a good entrance score.
After all, they were dragons! How could they not be competitive?
However, the only family at ease among them was the Melkway family tucked in the corner.
No joke, what did the model family have to do with them?
They were just here for a formality.
The couple exchanged knowing smiles, feeling secure in their victory.
“Dad, what are you chuckling about?” Little Light asked.
“Hmm? Ah… Dad just thought of something happy.”
“What happy thing?”
After all these years, he finally gave up on the easy-to-win championship!
Leon squeezed Little Light’s cheek, laughing without answering.
“Now, the third place for this entrance test is—Christina from the Electric Dragon Race, along with her mom, Ms. Aethea! Congratulations!”
Applause erupted.
Christina, the little young dragon, blushed and folded her hands, nodding to everyone in gratitude.
Roswiser clapped along, suddenly feeling Leon nudge her arm gently.
Roswiser: [Third place is out, we’re safe!]
Leon: [Though I kinda want to counter you and say not to celebrate too early, but… we’re really safe!]
Leon: [Shh, play it cool and keep a low profile.]
“All right, now for the second place in this entrance test…”
“The Silver Dragon, Moon K. Melkway, along with her dad Mr. Leon and mom Mrs. Roswiser! Congratulations to them!”
The applause grew louder than before.
Like a bolt from the blue, Leon and Roswiser stood frozen in place.
It wasn’t until someone next to them quietly reminded them that they snapped back to reality.
Leon let out a breath, looking down at Moon,
“Wow, you’re amazing!”
“It’s Dad who’s amazing~”
Haha, sweetie, you’re too cute. Let’s not have you say things like that again!
But the fact that their dear daughter managed to snag second place despite Leon and Roswiser intentionally lowering her interview scores only proved Moon’s high skill level in this challenging test;
And this score was the perfect conclusion to their “not dying of embarrassment” plan.
It secured them a comfortable distance from being a model family while also ensuring their daughters didn’t feel discouraged.
That said, Moon and Little Light weren’t overly obsessed with being number one. They both approached the test with the mindset of “as long as we pass.”
After all, they were much younger than the other young dragons, and they’d only studied for a month.
On another note, if Moon and Little Light had strict expectations like Noia, Leon and Roswiser would never intentionally lower their scores just to avoid embarrassment.
That would seriously derail their priorities; they were not those types of parents.
In conclusion, this second place was a win-win result for everyone.
Mom and Dad didn’t embarrass themselves, and their darling daughter’s abilities were recognized.
Melkway, WIN!
“Leon…” Roswiser’s voice interrupted Leon’s wandering thoughts, sounding a bit serious.
Leon quickly switched gears and looked at her, “What’s up?”
“Why did the Vice Principal only mention ‘Moon’ and not ‘Little Light’?”
Leon blinked and shrugged, “Well, even though Moon and Little Light are both our kids, the scores are calculated separately.”
Roswiser swallowed, slowly turning her head to look Leon in the eyes,
“Then do you think… there’s a chance that Moon is second and Little Light is—”
“First place, Aurora K. Melkway!”
