Vol. 1 Ch. 56

Knock, knock, knock—

“Coming.”

Leon went to answer the door.

Outside were Muen and Noia.@@novelbin@@

“Mom—huh? Dad? Did you sleep in Mom’s room last night?” Muen’s face was filled with anticipation and gossip.

Leon smiled awkwardly and scratched his head. “Yeah, we stayed up late studying poetry, songs, and the mysteries of the universe with your mom, so I ended up sleeping here.”

“Can Muen join next time when Mom and Dad sleep together?”

“Of course, yes.”

“Yay! Long live Dad!”

Muen was about to pounce on Leon, but he made a hushing gesture.

“Shh, Mom is sick and still sleeping. Don’t wake her up.”

Muen’s smile froze. “Sick? How did that happen?”

Leon opened the door. “You’ll see when you go inside.”

The two kids glanced at each other and quickly stepped into the room.

At a glance, Mom was indeed lying stiff on the bed.

Muen called out, “Mom,” and immediately ran over.

She stood by the bedside, gently poking Rosvitha’s wrist but got no response.

“How did Mom get sick?” Noia turned to look at Leon.

Leon stood at the bedroom door, hands in his pockets, calmly explaining, “We were chatting on the balcony last night, fell asleep unknowingly, and caught a cold from the cold wind blowing all night.”

Pausing, Leon added, “Perhaps it’s a bit more serious than just a cold.”

He knew Noia was intelligent and precocious. However, no matter how bright and mature she was, she was still just a little dragon girl barely over a year old. In the realm of knowledge she had touched upon, there was little to do with illness. Leon had counted on this fact to calmly fabricate lies.

“But don’t worry, Dad will take good care of Mom,” Leon said.

Muen held Rosvitha’s slightly cool hand, and sniffled, her tone filled with worry.

“Mom, why are you so careless? You have to get better soon; when you do, Muen won’t make you angry again.”

The atmosphere in the room became somber for a moment.

Coincidentally, at this moment, the maid Anna knocked on the door.

Since Leon hadn’t closed the door earlier, Anna stood at the entrance, holding some nutritional supplements.

“Your Highness, I brought the nutritional supplements you asked for,” Anna said.

“Oh, good, thank you. Just leave them by the bed,” Leon replied.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Anna walked into the bedroom with the supplements. Seeing Muen and Noia, she respectfully greeted them, “Good morning, Your Highnesses.”

“Anna, my mom is sick,” Noia said.

As Anna arranged the supplements, she said, “When I came to see His Majesty this morning, His Highness had already informed me. I’ve conducted a thorough examination, and while Her Majesty is indeed very weak right now, all her indicators are normal. As long as she rests for a few days, there shouldn’t be any problem. Your Highnesses need not worry too much.”

After arranging the supplements, Anna turned around, smiling, “I’ll temporarily handle the internal affairs of the clan these days. If Your Highnesses and His Highness are interested, you can also come and take a look, and oversee my work.”

“Well, thank you for your hard work, Anna.”

“Where, as long as I can alleviate Her Majesty’s worries, there’s no hardship to speak of. If there’s nothing else, I’ll go busy myself, Your Highness.”

“Alright.”

After nodding in acknowledgment to Leon and the two little dragon girls, Anna hurriedly left.

Leon extended his arm. “See, even Anna said Mom is fine. You should feel relieved now.”

With that, Leon squatted down and wiped away the tears from Muen’s eyes. “There, there, in a few days, you’ll see Mom lively and energetic again. Muen, no more crying.”

Muen nodded vigorously. “Yeah, Muen won’t cry.”

“Good girl. Stay here and accompany Mom more, but don’t get too close. Colds are contagious, you know.”

“Okay, Muen understands.”

With that, Muen walked to the bedside, keeping a certain distance, gazing at her mom who was unconscious on the bed.

She was truly the kind of obedient and well-behaved yet innocent little girl. She couldn’t hide her emotions, but that made her easier to handle.

At this moment, Muen’s tuft of hair on her head and her tail behind her were drooping, lacking their usual vitality.

Although Rosvitha was usually strict with them, she was still their mom after all. How could children act as if nothing had happened when their mom was sick?

Leon sighed in relief, and his peripheral vision inadvertently caught sight of Muen’s drooping tail behind her.

He blinked, feeling like something was amiss…

What could it be…

Suddenly, he remembered. When he was tidying up the bed just now, he didn’t seem to see Rosvitha’s tail.

Leon opened his mouth, wanting to ask what was going on.

But as the words reached his lips, he swallowed them back. Because neither Anna just now nor Muen and Noia currently showed any surprise or curiosity about “Rosvitha’s tail being missing.” That meant this matter was quite ordinary for the dragon race. There was no need to especially inquire about it. If he did ask, it would definitely arouse… his eldest daughter’s suspicions.

Thinking this, Leon looked at Noia. Sure enough, the icy little dragon girl was scrutinizing him expressionlessly.

Leon scratched his temple. “What’s wrong?”

Noia averted her gaze. “Nothing.”

Why did he just… stare at Muen’s tail? And then look slightly surprised at Mom’s waist?

Noia’s mind stirred, pondering silently.

The two sisters stayed with Rosvitha all morning. When it was lunchtime, they were led away by the maid.

However, Noia stopped in the corridor after taking a few steps, turning back to look at Leon without saying a word.

Leaning against the doorway, Leon asked, “Why are you looking at me again?”

Noia squinted slightly, whispering, “Mom is still unconscious. Do you… have any plans?”

At first listen, this sounded somewhat inexplicable. But Leon dared not treat it lightly. His eldest daughter was very clever and wouldn’t ask such questions for no reason. Perhaps she had realized something?

“No, I don’t have any plans, Noia. I just want to take good care of Mom,” Leon replied calmly.

There was no panic, nor was there any pretentious assurance. It was just as relaxed and natural as everyday conversation.

Noia met his gaze briefly before saying, “Is that so? That’s good,” in a faint tone.

Then she left with Muen and the maid, without looking back even once.

Watching Noia’s departing figure, Leon sighed, “Indeed, she’s too clever, my dear daughter. Hmm, just like me.”

Although there was some self-praise in his words, Leon and Noia were indeed quite similar in terms of their intelligence. The insight of this father-daughter pair surpassed one another.

Leon breathed a sigh of relief, closed the door, and returned to the bedroom. He pulled a chair to the bedside, pondered for a moment, then lifted the blanket and turned Rosvitha over.

The hem of her nightgown was empty, and her usually flexible “versatile” tail was conspicuously absent.

“Indeed, the tail is gone,” he muttered.

Turning Rosvitha back and tucking her in again, Leon thought, “But if the tail were still there, lying flat like this would be very uncomfortable, wouldn’t it?”

He tried to imagine it, realizing that if he had a long protrusion on his tailbone, he would probably only be able to sleep on his side.

Leon didn’t dwell too much on Rosvitha’s missing tail. Instead, he turned his gaze to the nutritional supplements on the bedside table.

When Anna came this morning, Leon asked her if she could prepare some nutritional supplements for Rosvitha, just like she did when he was unconscious.

Anna said, “Actually, it’s unnecessary. The dragon race’s physiology allows them to go without eating or drinking during hibernation without any issues, as they store energy during their usual feeding times. However, if Your Highness is concerned about Her Majesty, I can prepare some nutritional supplements for her.”

“Not eating or drinking is fine… quite impressive,” Leon commented as he reached for a bottle of nutritional supplements.

Since Rosvitha didn’t need them, he would take care of them himself. He planned to confiscate all these supplements.

That way, when Rosvitha woke up, she would be greeted by a dragon slayer full of energy and ready for action.

Leon smiled and made a toast gesture towards Rosvitha.

“Cheers, my beloved wife.”