### Chapter 23: Come Back, Old Kong
After a few days of tutoring Moon and Little Light, things went just as Leon expected: the daughters loved learning, and the old dad loved teaching. With this mutual enthusiasm, their progress was lightning fast.
Plus, the two little dragon girls were each other’s study buddies, which sparked a competitive spirit between them.
Now, it’s not that they had to outdo each other, but just keeping a tiny bit of competition in everything they did made their efficiency skyrocket.
At that point, Noia was studying alone, relying on her incredible talents and innate “Ultimate Scholar” body. In just a month, she passed Saint His Academy’s entrance test with flying colors.
Leon was confident that Moon and Little Light would also score well.
Of course, even if they ended up with mediocre grades, Leon wouldn’t hold it against them or be dissatisfied.
After all, the Melkway family was all about love and harmony—except for that Mother Dragon.
The three of them, father and daughters, were making solid progress together.
On the weekend, Noia came home on break.
This time, she didn’t bring any friends along.
At the dinner table, Roswiser brought up a visit to Isar.
“Are we going to Aunt Isar’s place?” Moon asked, her beautiful eyes sparkling with anticipation.
“Yep! Aunt Isar wrote that she really, really misses you all!” Roswiser said.
“Yay! Off to Aunt Isar’s then!”
Although Isar didn’t have kids of her own, she adored these three little dragon girls like they were her own.
Naturally, the kids warmly responded to their aunt’s affection, and whenever the topic of visiting Isar came up, they were always thrilled.
“But… didn’t Aunt Isar just go through a war recently?” Amid the joy, Noia voiced her concerns about what was happening at her aunt’s place.
“Don’t worry, Aunt Isar’s area has settled down now.”
Roswiser assured her, “We can comfortably visit her.”
Noia nodded, “Alright.”
Moon blinked, as if struck by a thought, and asked, “By the way, Mom, don’t we need to submit a family photo for the entrance exam?”
On hearing that, Roswiser recalled that indeed, Saint His Academy had such a requirement.
“True, but no rush. We can take it in a few days,” Roswiser responded.
Moon pondered and proposed, “How about we take a family photo while visiting Aunt Isar? What do you think, Mom?”
That was actually a good idea.
Roswiser turned her gaze toward Leon.
He nodded slightly, indicating he was on board.
At this point, Leon didn’t really have much resistance toward photo ops anymore.
After experiencing “Holding Hands with a Dragon,” “Kissing a Dragon,” and “Having Babies with a Dragon,” what’s one more thing like “Taking Photos with a Dragon”?
I’m already a “Dragon Hero,” what do I have to fear?
Seriously.
“Great! We’ll go to Sky City with Aunt Isar.”
“Yay~”
…
After dinner, Leon and Roswiser returned to their room.
Roswiser headed straight to the study, rifling through the desk drawer to pull out a photo.
Leon walked over, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, “What’s that?”
Roswiser flipped the photo to face Leon, saying, “Our first family photo.”
Leon squinted, studying it.
The photo had been preserved well; it hadn’t yellowed but still showed some signs of age.
In it, there were four people: him, Roswiser, and the two daughters, Noia and Moon.
However, among these four, a whopping three had the signature “Sima” frown.
Back then, his relationship with Roswiser was pretty terrible; they could barely hold their frail bond together thanks to their daughters;
And Noia at that time had quite the grudge against him—she’d even request permission for a hug!
If it weren’t for the entrance exam, the three would have never appeared in the same photo.
Leon took the photo from Roswiser’s hand, studying it closely.
“Just two years, and Noia and Moon have changed so much!”
The two little girls in the photo looked like standard lolis, and holding them felt just right.
But now, two years later, they had grown taller.
Such a growth rate was impossible for human kids.
“The development speed of dragon cubs is really fast. By about eleven or twelve, their bodies are fully developed, transitioning into the second phase of internal development,” Roswiser explained.
“Internal… development?”
“Yep, things like strengthening bones, meridians, organs, and magical pathways. This second stage continues until around age twenty, at which point their bodies will be strong enough to transform into their dragon forms.”
Dragon forms…
Leon remembered that when he traveled to the future, Noia and the others were about twenty then, and future Little Light said she had just learned to transform into a dragon and couldn’t fly for long.
How splendid! Twenty years in, and they could sprout huge wings and soar around.
Meanwhile, General Leon was still fighting in harsh battlefields with Rebecca and Martin, gnawing on tree bark at the tender age of twenty.
Roswiser came over, standing beside him, looking at that first family photo together.
After a moment, she asked, “What were you thinking back then?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, when we took this photo, what were you thinking?”
“I was thinking about you, dear wife.”
Roswiser rolled her eyes and lightly elbowed his chest, “Quit buttering me up; I’m asking seriously!”
Leon reminisced about the scene and replied, “I was probably wondering… how long do we have to maintain this fake family? Wishing it all would… hurry up and end.”
Upon hearing his answer, the queen’s pupils shifted.
She wasn’t one to dwell on the past, nor did she erupt in rage over it;
But Leon’s response struck her as poignant.
Reflecting on how time had passed, that trapped man back then had now become an indispensable part of this family.
Roswiser lowered her silver eyes, the corners of her mouth lifting involuntarily.
Leon noticed her little reaction, raised an eyebrow, and asked, “What are you smiling about?”
“Huh? Nothing, I wasn’t smiling,” Roswiser quickly put on her typical icy façade.
Leon clicked his tongue and then asked, “What about you? What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking about how to torment you.”
“… Well, that fits my stereotype of you perfectly, Mother Dragon.”
Roswiser playfully punched his chest and then put the photo back in the drawer.
Then she turned, gently leaning against the desk’s edge, staring at Leon, and asked, “When did you change your mind about all this?”
“When did I? Hmm…”
Leon paused for a moment and said, “Probably after Constantine’s invasion.”
Old Kong was sent by the empire to deal with Leon in the Silver Dragon Race.
But what he didn’t expect was that it turned into an old lady swinging on a swing—showing up, but never leaving!
After taking care of Constantine, Leon returned to clean house for the empire.
It was precisely because of that trip to the empire that both he and Roswiser realized how much they depended on each other.
So it was completely justifiable for Leon to say that he changed his mind after Constantine’s invasion.
Roswiser’s situation was pretty similar.
“Oh? So it took you that long?” Roswiser tilted her head, smiling.
“Long? What do you think it was?”
The queen smiled, her expression flirtatiously charming, as she reached out and lightly hooked Leon’s collar, pulling him closer.
Looking into Leon’s deep, dark eyes, she gently said, “I thought it would have happened much earlier. After all, that would mean you were conquered by me, the great hero Casmod.”
Leon lowered his gaze to the delicate hand on his collar, then lifted his hand to grasp her slender wrist, “Changing my mind doesn’t mean I was conquered by you.”
“Then what else?” Even though her wrist was being held, Roswiser continued to trace her nails lightly along Leon’s cheek.
“You’re wrong, Roswiser. The reason I changed my mind is that I’ve already conquered you.”
He released the lovely wrist and pulled her slender waist into his arms.
Their black and silver eyes locked, seemingly sparking invisible fire.
Under normal circumstances, teasing would lead to kisses, face caresses, and then a trip to the bedroom for some couple activities.
However, Roswiser managed to hit the brakes in time.
“We have to wake up early to go to my sister’s place tomorrow; we can’t fool around tonight.” She gently pushed Leon away, but her smile remained.
Leon scratched his head; thankfully, the Dragon Pattern hadn’t lit up; otherwise, they wouldn’t call it a night just because of her words.
The queen tilted her head, silver strands falling around her, teasingly asking, “Since you changed your mind because of Constantine’s invasion, should we thank him?”
Leon shrugged, “His remaining brain is long gone; not even a wooden tablet for offerings exists. How should we thank him?”
Roswiser covered her mouth, giggling, “What if some of his surviving kin use some witchcraft to resurrect him? Turning him into a super zombie dragon or something? What will you do?”
“What will I do? I can k*ll him once; I can k*ll him again.”
On the subject of dragon-slaying, General Leon had never been vague. “When that time comes, I’ll stand on his zombie head and tell him, winning the revival match doesn’t matter; ending up as the champion is what counts.”
