The Queen smiled with satisfaction, her eyes curving into two happy crescent moons. Leon couldn't tell if she was laughing at him or if she just found their conversation funny.
He silently turned back around and kept working on the tutoring plan.
Rustle—
The sound of fabric moving on the bedsheet, then the slow click-clack of high heels getting closer. A moment later, a light, familiar fragrance drifted from behind Leon. It was Rossweise's scent. He had smelled it many times before. She reached for a chili pepper on the desk, brought it to her nose to smell, and immediately frowned. The smell was very strong. Even a dragon like Rossweise found it overpowering. Yet, Leon used it as a wake-up tonic.
It was reckless.
Rossweise put the chili down and reached her hand toward Leon's chin. Before he could react, she pinched his chin and turned his head to face her.
Her fingertips felt very warm. Up close, Leon's whole face and lips were bright red, and the corners of his eyes were still wet. She gently brushed her thumb over his burning lower lip, not using much force.
"If you need to stay awake, ask Anna for coffee. What's the difference between this and hurting yourself on purpose?"
"I drank coffee for half a year back in school. You get used to it, and it stops working. Chili is more direct," Leon replied.
"But this is dragon pepper. Aren't you a human? Aren't you afraid you can't handle it—"
"Don't look down on me."
Alright. When he got stubborn like this, he was just like Rossweise. Not even eight strong oxen could change his mind.
Rossweise chuckled and let go of his chin. Leon pressed his tingling lips together, secretly glad that Rossweise had touched his face.
He didn't have any strange tastes; it was just that Rossweise's fingertips were cool. When they touched his hot skin, it felt nice.
Thinking about it that way sounded a little weird.
"Rest early. Don't eat too many peppers. If your mouth gets too numb, you'll have to teach Noah using sign language," the Queen advised.
With that, the Queen in her high heels walked leisurely out of the bedroom. The door clicked shut, and the light from the hallway disappeared as Rossweise left.
Leon let out a sigh of relief. Once he was sure Rossweise was far away, he took the medicine book out again and kept reading. Finally, in the last book, he found a medicine that seemed to fit what he needed.
The name of this medicine was "Dragon Power."
Leon took a sharp breath. "This sounds even stranger than 'Dragon Kidney Protector'… It's not some kind of love potion, is it?"
Luckily, the description said that "Dragon Power" was a very strong health tonic and had nothing to do with that.
Leon's eyes lit up. He immediately looked to see where he could get this "Dragon Power."
But the next part felt like cold water dumped on his excited heart.
"Although the ingredients for Dragon Power are common, even the best dragon medicine makers have a very low chance of making it successfully."
"As a health tonic, Dragon Power is often in an awkward spot in the dragon market. It's valuable, but not many people want it." Leon rubbed his chin and kept reading.
The book also talked about how to make Dragon Power, stressing how hard it was to get the process just right.
Leon pressed his lips together and flipped through the pages again. He found that besides Dragon Power, no other medicine really fit his needs. Also, dragon ingredients and human ingredients were very different, especially in how you prepared them.
So, while in the dragons' territory, he had to use what they had. After thinking for a moment, he picked up a pen and paper and wrote down the list of ingredients for Dragon Power. He planned to give the list to Anna tomorrow and ask her to help him get the things.
Leon couldn't just leave his room, so this was the only way for him to get the ingredients.
At the same time, Leon added a few other random ingredients to the list. This would confuse anyone who saw it and stop them from figuring out he was trying to make Dragon Power.
"Damn, the more I hear this name, the weirder it sounds. You dragons have such beautiful names for other things, like 'Moon,' 'Hero,' 'Galaxy.' But when you name medicines, it's either 'Kidney Protector' or 'Dragon Power'…"
Leon neatly put the list away as he complained. Then he stood up and went to the bathroom to drink another mouthful of cold water.
His mouth still felt numb and spicy. He tried to let out a breath and felt his throat was uncomfortable.
A slight burning feeling followed the warm air as it passed over his throat.
"Tomorrow, I might really have to teach Noah using sign language."
That was probably an exaggeration, but his throat would definitely be uncomfortable. After washing up quickly, Leon got into bed and fell asleep.
.
.
.
The night passed quietly. The next morning, the maid Anna brought Leon his breakfast. He gave her the list of ingredients he had prepared the night before.
Anna didn't ask many questions. She just said she could probably get everything by tomorrow. Leon said that was fine and there was no rush.
After Anna left, Leon brought the breakfast into the room. It was bread, boiled chicken breast, and a glass of water.
There was nothing to complain about. Having food like this, Leon felt he was better off than 99.9% of other prisoners.
He tore off a small piece of bread and put it in his mouth. He chewed a few times and swallowed.
But when the bread got to his throat, a sharp, painful feeling hit him. Leon quickly took a sip of water to help the bread go down.
He raised his hand to touch his throat. He could feel the discomfort even through his skin.
"As I thought… I ate too many peppers."
There was a knock on the door. Someone was there. Leon put the bread down and went to answer it.
It was Noah.
Just her.
"Good morning, Noah," Leon greeted his eldest daughter with a smile, even though his throat hurt.
"Good morning."
Still no "Dad." But Leon was used to it now. He let Noah into the room. The little ice dragon girl was holding her homework from yesterday. She followed Leon into the bedroom. They sat down in the same spots as the day before, and Noah handed him her finished homework.
As he looked over the paper, he heard Noah speak.
"Um…"
"What is it?"
"Here. This is for you."
"Candy?" Leon blinked and asked, "What kind of candy is it?"
"Throat lozenges."
Leon was a little surprised. "For me?"
"Yeah. It's from Mom, not from me."
Leon didn't call her out on the lie. He just took the throat lozenges and said, "Please thank your mom for me."
"Yeah…"
So… saying it's from Mom… that should be fine. Noah thought to herself.
Leon took a throat lozenge to soothe his throat. At the same time, he started checking Noah's homework.
"Well done. You finished almost all of it. So, our main job this morning is to review what we learned yesterday. Should we start now?"
Noah nodded obediently. "Okay."