Vol. 3 Ch. 29

Leon kicked Konstantin’s head aside, watching as the decayed "ball" rolled a few times across the ground. He stumbled backward a few steps, clearly exhausted.

Truth be told, this battle could easily rank as number one in “General Leon’s Top Ten Classic Fights.” Why number one? Because so far, no other fight had put this much pressure on him.

Although Konstantin wasn’t one of the strongest dragon kings (at least from Leon’s perspective), both of their battles had been quite memorable.

Leon gazed at the rotting skull and scoffed.

"Finally, you can rest in peace, Old Konstantin."

If it takes a stitched monster to defeat a numbers beast, then only a mechanics beast can defeat a stitched one.

If he hadn’t saved a trump card for the Empire, this battle might not have ended so easily.

Catching his breath, Leon heard the sound of hurried footsteps approaching from behind.

He turned to see Rosvisser and Isha.

The two sisters ran up, glancing at Konstantin’s lifeless head.

"All done?" Isha asked.

"Yeah," Leon nodded.

"Are you hurt?"

Rosvisser asked, gently checking his arms and shoulders.

Leon smiled, lightly pressing her wrist down before holding her cold hand, squeezing it just enough to let her know he was fine.

"Don’t worry, I’m not hurt," Leon reassured her.

The Dragon Queen nodded slightly, her face blushing as the night’s cover allowed her to hide her embarrassment.

Isha, feeling relieved, brushed the dirt from her dress, crossed her arms, and tilted her head as she glanced between her sister and brother-in-law.

"You two can flirt later. Now, one of you needs to explain why that heartscale suddenly turned into a timed bomb."

As an experienced dragon king, Isha knew well the properties of a heartscale.

It was the "valve" of a dragon’s power and also served as a safeguard, preventing dragons from self-destructing when their magic went out of control.

In certain situations, a heartscale could indeed act as a powerful explosive, detonating not only the accumulated magic over the years but also the innate power of the dragon itself.

Historically, there had been famous battles where dragon kings, in their final moments, detonated their own heartscales to bring down their enemies in a last act of defiance.

While a heartscale could indeed serve as a bomb, the key point was that it could only be detonated by its original owner.

If any random dragon could blow up another dragon’s heartscale, there would be no need for combat—everyone would just figure out how to "heat up" their opponents' scales.@@novelbin@@

So, the fact that Leon had triggered Konstantin’s heartscale with a mere snap of his fingers deeply piqued Isha’s curiosity.

Seeing her sister’s eager thirst for answers, Leon and Rosvisser exchanged a glance, quietly slipping into their private communication.

Rosvisser: *We can’t tell her the truth. My sister is sharp; if you mention the Empire, she’ll suspect you immediately.*

Leon: *I know. Give me a few minutes to think up a good excuse.*

Rosvisser: *A few minutes? Where do you expect me to find those minutes?!*

Leon: *What else can I do, darling? You don’t want your husband’s human identity to be exposed, right?*

Rosvisser: *Ugh, fine! Hurry up and think of something. I’ll stall her.*

Leon: *Got it.*

The couple released each other’s hands, and Rosvisser moved closer to Isha, pressing her lips together before speaking.

"Actually... it wasn’t exactly a timed bomb."

Isha raised an eyebrow. "If it wasn’t a timed bomb, what was it?"

"It was… a remote-controlled bomb!"

"..."

Isha blinked, a bit dumbfounded.

"Ros, it’s just a metaphor. No need to get all technical," she said flatly, her gaze drifting back to Leon. "So, brother-in-law, how exactly did you do it?"

"Ah… well, actually, sis—"

Seeing that Isha was close to getting straight to the point, Rosvisser’s brain raced, trying to think of ways to buy time. But she knew her sister was too smart for outright nonsense, which would only make her more suspicious.

And lying wasn’t Rosvisser’s strong suit, so she couldn’t think of anything witty to say to stall.

Just when the Dragon Queen was starting to feel desperate, *that* man finally spoke up.

"Actually, sis," Leon said, his tone suddenly serious.

Isha nodded, "Mm, go on."

"You know how I disappeared for six months and accidentally ended up twenty years in the future through Ravi’s space rift, right? You remember that part?"

"Yeah, Ros wrote to me about it recently, but she didn’t give many details. I’ve been meaning to ask you about it. Time travel’s a rare thing, you know—I’ve never heard of anyone actually doing it."

Isha looked intrigued. "So, what does your time in the future have to do with how you blew up Konstantin’s heartscale?"

"It’s related," Leon said. "You see, that wasn’t actually Konstantin’s original heartscale—it belonged to Black Sun Dragon King Blythe. That’s why he could use space magic, appearing at your palace undetected and even avoiding Rosvisser’s fatal blow."

"And that explains how I was able to detonate it."

"When I returned from the future, Blythe and Jagus were attacking Rosvisser’s Silver Dragon Palace. I took them both out, along with four other dragon kings."

"But I didn’t destroy their heartscales because, while in the future…"

Leon took a deep breath, feeling the pressure of the lie coming. He was a bit nervous.

Rosvisser clenched her fists beside him, silently praying that her husband would come up with a believable excuse and not give her sister any reason to suspect anything. Otherwise, Konstantin wouldn’t be the only one losing in tonight’s revival match.

"In the future, I discovered that some mysterious organization had been collecting dragon heartscales for an unknown purpose, but they were clearly hostile toward us."

"So, after returning to the present and fighting Blythe and Jagus, I deliberately set up a trap, rigging their heartscales as a secret weapon—just like I used to take down Konstantin tonight."

After finishing, Leon looked over at Rosvisser.

Leon: *How was that, love? Pretty good, right?*

Rosvisser (her face twitching slightly, filled with disbelief): *"Some mysterious organization"?! Really? You spent two whole minutes and came up with something *this* lazy?!*

*Do you honestly think my sister is an idiot? You think she’ll buy that?*

Leon: *Why wouldn’t she? I think it’s a perfect explanation (totally sure).*

Rosvisser: *If she believes that, I’ll—*

Isha’s eyes lit up. "Ohhh~~ That makes sense now."

*She believed it!*

Leon shrugged, then smugly turned to Rosvisser.

*You were saying something, Your Majesty? You’ll do what now?*

Rosvisser: *I’ll… I’ll grab my husband’s hand right here and now, how about that?*

The couple quietly reconvened, Rosvisser wrapping her arm around Leon’s and leaning close to whisper in his ear.

"My sister must be tired from the fight. Her head’s muddled; otherwise, she’d have torn apart your weak excuse right away."

Leon whispered back, "I’ll patch it up later. Let’s just get through tonight."

Leon’s excuse had indeed been thrown together.

He simply replaced "the Empire" with "a mysterious organization."

The rest had been the truth.

But the Empire was a key part of the story. As long as Isha didn’t link Leon’s actions to the Empire, she wouldn’t immediately suspect his human origins.

After all, humans weren’t the only ones at war with the dragons. Many other races were involved, all fighting for limited resources.

Seeing Isha accept Leon’s hastily concocted explanation, the couple breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

Unbeknownst to them, however, Isha was watching them closely, her mind filled with doubt.

"Something about this still feels… off," she thought.

Her brother-in-law was proving difficult to pin down, but she couldn’t just ask him directly—that wouldn’t yield any useful information.

Well, if Leon had left something prepared for this so-called "mysterious organization," then perhaps she’d just have to keep an eye on him.

He was indeed an exceptional family member, husband, and father.

But he wasn’t exactly the best… liar.