Chapter 131: Winning at the Start Line
Roswiser hadn’t told Anna and the others about her pregnancy yet. After all, she was barely two months along. In Dragon Race, if they went with the live birth route, it was pretty much the same deal as humans—about ten months of pregnancy.
With ten months of pregnancy and a noticeable bump at four months, Roswiser figured she’d wait a while before breaking the news to her confidantes. Revealing it too early might distract them from serving His Majesty, which could throw a wrench in the works at the Silver Dragon Temple.
It’s well-known that the Silver Dragon Queen is a workaholic, and pregnancy wouldn’t change that! Anyway, working at a normal intensity during the early months doesn’t harm the baby, so why not?
The couple planned to share the exciting news with their daughters after Noia returned home from her vacation in a couple of days. Even though the girls were still quite young, they had the right to know that a new sibling was on the way!
…
A few nights later, Leon lay in the baby room, hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. On his bedside table were three books: Essentials for Expecting Fathers, Nutritional Needs of Dragons During Pregnancy, and Prenatal Education Techniques: Don’t Let Your Young Dragon Baby Lose at the Starting Line.
He actually picked up a few tips on caring for pregnant women from the first two books. But those were for the second trimester, and Roswiser wasn’t even two months along yet—plenty of time to go.
The last book, however, was something he could act on right now.
After confirming Roswiser was pregnant, the couple had a friendly debate over which of them Noia and Moon looked like more. Instead of arguing over whether they favored dad or mom, it was more about whether they looked more human or like dragons. After all, both of them had strong racial pride!
After some back and forth, Roswiser landed the final blow with, “They both have tails!” Point taken.
It was true; the little dragon girls were just over a year old, and even the relatively precocious Noia’s mind wasn’t fully developed, so from a psychological standpoint, identifying if they leaned more towards humans or dragons was impossible.
That left them to squabble about appearances, and the conclusion? Leon was utterly defeated.
As he turned to leave that night, Roswiser stabbed one last time with, “They’ll grow dragon horns when they mature. Excited?”
Leon: “Excited for horns, huh…”
But Leon wasn’t ready to give up. Though their dragon traits were more prominent than human ones, Noia did share elemental attributes with him, proving that human genes might still hold their own against dragon genes.
Plus, when Roswiser was pregnant with the first child, Leon was out cold the whole time. So, if she was raising the baby entirely dragon-style, it favored dragons—not surprising.
But now Leon was wide awake!
He needed to secure his status in the family. At a basic level, this was a father’s quest for validation; at a grander scale, it was a critical round to prove human genes are more powerful and superior!
As they say, “A small step for Leon, a giant leap for humanity.”
“If I don’t dive into hell, who will?” Leon thought, getting more excited by the minute, feeling the weight of all humanity on his shoulders.
In the first season, both daughters resembled dragons, and he lost his shot at victory. Now he was primed for the second season, ready to claim the championship!
Failure was not an option!
Leon sat up and glanced at the wall clock; it was just past three in the morning. Mother Dragon should be sound asleep by now.
Being a man of action, he’d decided to go full throttle for this second baby season—there was no time to waste!
He hadn’t been idle these past few days; he’d even drafted a preliminary “How to Make the Second Baby More Human Like Plan”—shortened to the Second Baby Plan.
Step one: prenatal education!
Letting Roswiser’s little baby absorb a bit of human culture may just tilt the scales toward the human side soon enough.
With that thought, Leon hopped out of bed and rummaged around for some props for his little education session. He then made a stealthy move toward Roswiser’s room.
But as he reached the door, Leon abruptly stopped. “Mother Dragon locks her door when sleeping; I’ll just climb over from the balcony.”
Their rooms were adjacent, meaning he could easily shimmy from his balcony right into Roswiser’s.
Under the starry night sky—a perfect time for stealthy action—Mr. Casmod, already a father, decided he would sneak into his wife’s room through the balcony in the dead of night—all in the name of molding that second baby to resemble him!
It’s a level of dedication, folks!
The moon was bright, and the night was still as Leon smoothly slipped onto Roswiser’s balcony, quietly opening the door to her inner sanctum.
On the soft, spacious bed lay the Queen, her delicate limbs tangled in the sheets, her silver hair cascading like water. She breathed evenly, her serene sleeping face radiating beauty.
Leon settled next to her, trying not to wake her up, instead testing to see if she was in deep slumber.
“Hey, Roswiser, wake up, urgent matter!” he whispered, but she stirred not a bit.
“Perfect, looks like she’s in good pregnancy sleep mode!”
Heart pounding, Leon pulled out his special little gadget—the Shadow Stone.
This thing wasn’t exactly a rare treasure; he had stumbled upon a shop selling it while wandering through the Silver Dragon tribe. He fully intended to buy it, but the shopkeeper insisted, “Your Royal Highness, it’s an honor to give you something from our humble store!”
Leon replied, “Alright, I’ll sing your praises when I’m with Her Majesty, maybe even arrange for her to endorse your shop!”
The purpose behind acquiring the Shadow Stone? To record some… prenatal stories.
With the stone cradled in his hands, he anxiously bit his lip and carefully placed it on Roswiser’s belly.
Gingerly, he released his grip and shot a glance at Roswiser. Good, still asleep.
With a deep breath, he activated the Shadow Stone.
There were no images, but gradually, his voice resonated through.
“Once upon a time, in a faraway western continent, a wise and brave race emerged, and they called themselves ‘humans.’”
That was from a history book he found in Roswiser’s private library—though there’s no way dragons would write about humans as “wise and brave!”
So of course, Leon had polished the content beforehand.
“Humans, a magnificent race, a valiant race!”
“They are resilient, unwavering, always fighting for a better tomorrow!”
Once he reached that point, Leon paused the Shadow Stone, looking solemnly at Roswiser’s belly, “Did you hear that, little one? Humans are the number one race in the world! The glory of dragons is all just puffed-up hot air. Your daddy can take them out one by one like chopping veggies, so you better take after humans, alright?”
He resumed playback.
As the cute story session wrapped up, Leon put the Shadow Stone down and seriously said, “Alright, little one, you’ve learned where humans come from. Now, let’s lighten the mood with a poetry reading! How about we do ‘The Greatness of Humankind Needs No Words’?”
He couldn’t find anyone else who would recite the greatness of humanity in the Silver Dragon tribe without being deemed a “dragon traitor,” so he had to do it himself.
Clearing his throat with a serious expression, he passionately recited to Roswiser’s baby bump, “Oh~ Humanity, you are truly great!”
“The radiant sun rises in the east, awakening those resilient and brave souls!”
“Look, they unite and collaborate, and face challenges together—a selfless, giving spirit!”
“…”
“When friends come, we serve them delicious treats; when evil dragons arrive, we stand ready with swords!”
“Every wicked Dragon King shall fall to the might of humanity!”
“Aha! The greatness of humanity needs no words!”
(Second Baby: Forget it, Dad. This kind of art form feels a bit too advanced for me right now.)
