After comforting Muen, Leon turned to the maids. "You can go now." When he got to Noah's side, he stopped because she was staring straight at him. It was clear she had something to say.
After a short moment of the father and daughter looking at each other, Noah spoke. "Next time you go out alone, remember to tell us."
She paused for a second, then added, "Muen will worry about you a lot."
Leon smiled helplessly and nodded. "Alright, sorry for making you—uh, for making Muen worry."
Noah sniffled, feeling a little better. "Also, I… I want to say sorry to you too."
"Hmm? Why?" Leon asked.
"When I couldn't find you today, I thought… I thought you had… You left us," Noah said. "I'm sorry for not trusting you about this."
A child who acts older than her years always feels responsible for her own mistakes. Even if she didn't say it out loud, no one would have known.
Leon smiled with relief. He crouched down to look Noah in the eye. He understood his eldest daughter's heart. She wanted love and affection but was afraid to take that important step.
Leon couldn't promise Noah anything with easy words like "I swear" or "I guarantee." She wouldn't easily believe that. He could only slowly show her through his actions that he was a good father.
He reached out and patted Noah's head. He didn't say more about this topic. He just reminded her, "You have to go back to the academy tomorrow morning. Don't stay up too late."
After everything was settled, Leon went back to Rossweise's room. The mother dragon still showed no sign of waking up.
Leon sat on the chair next to the bed, crossed his legs, brushed the dust off his pants, and sighed. "Ah, you have no idea how good our daughter is to us. I hope you get to enjoy that too in the future."
The only answer was Rossweise's steady breathing. Her breaths were a little deeper than yesterday.
Leon noticed this and reached out to feel her pulse. It was indeed stronger. "You really are a dragon king. Your body heals very fast."
He was a little surprised. His look at Rossweise became sharper. It was like a lion slowly getting closer to its prey—well, before the real hunt, he needed to clean the prey.
Leon decided to try once more to wipe Rossweise's body. He refused to believe his dragon slayer's heart could change. He filled a basin with warm water, wet a towel, and stood by the bed. He took a few deep breaths.
"Alright, let's start. This time, I will not fail!!" His determined look wasn't like someone doing this for the first time. It was more like a new cook trying to flip a pancake.
He lifted the covers. Rossweise's slim body was before his eyes.
The mother dragon might be tricky, and they might be enemies. But… This body was perfect, almost like a piece of art. And art has no sides.
Leon didn't spend too much time looking because he didn't know much about art. Also, he was worried this "art" might shake his resolve again.
He quickly took off Rossweise's nightgown. Blushing, in the soft moonlight, he started wiping from her chin and neck down.
She was usually very clean, bathing every day. It had been two days since she fell into a coma. Leon had only washed her face and hands. Cleaning her body felt more personal, and it made him shy.
Being openly seen was one thing, but carefully wiping her body was different. If he could, Leon would want to wear his black and gold battle armor to do it. Because that smell would be right, wouldn't it? A dragon slayer should be fully armed to face a mother dragon!
Actually, if he wore the helmet, he wouldn't have to worry about his red face being seen.
Wait a minute—
Leon had a sudden thought. If he didn't have a helmet, he could use something else to cover his eyes! And that was when the idea of a blindfold came to mind!
He didn't waste time. He found a piece of cloth and covered his eyes. Besides, back at the academy, he had practiced fighting blindfolded. He used precise and sensitive touch to get top scores. So, a blindfolded massage should be no problem.
But it turned out that being too precise and sensitive wasn't always a good thing…
As the warm towel moved over Rossweise's chest, the feeling changed completely from flat land to mountains. Leon's face turned bright red, and his hands shook a little. Because of the blindfold, his other senses became even sharper, almost making him imagine things.
"Master Leon, use a bit more strength, rub my waist harder."
Not only that, but the blindfold seemed a little see-through. Faintly, Leon saw flashes of purple light…
It definitely wasn't a dragon mark!
Absolutely not!
In the end, he held his breath and gathered a lot of courage to finish wiping her upper body. When he got to her stomach and thighs, Leon felt much more relaxed.
When he was all done, he realized that blindfolded massage was much more tiring than doing it with eyes open. So, he silently crossed out "blindfolded massage" from his list of things to do after slaying a dragon.
After cleaning up, Leon massaged her hands and feet again to help blood flow.
Hey, this wasn't just to take care of the mother dragon, you know? It was to stop her from waking up with numb hands and feet and not being able to cooperate. That was why he was being so careful.
Yes, it was all for a better time during his revenge!
Feeling better after finishing, Leon thought for a moment. Then he put the big teddy bear from the dragonling park next to Rossweise's pillow.
This was a somewhat satisfying night for him. He felt very tired. Instead of getting into the bed, he just moved a chair to the bedside and fell into a deep sleep with his head on the edge.
But because he was tired and sleeping in a bad position, Leon kept having weird dreams.
In his half-sleep, his arm moved. His fingers accidentally touched the teddy bear. But the feeling wasn't like the cotton inside. It felt a little hard.
Leon opened his eyes a little to look at the toy bear, but it looked normal. He didn't think much about it. He closed his eyes again and went back to sleep.
.
.
.
The next morning, Noah came into Rossweise's room. She saw Leon sleeping strangely, half on and half off the bed. She whispered softly, "Did taking care of Mom make you this tired…"
Noah walked quietly on her toes. She passed the sofa and took a jacket. She walked over to Leon. Just as she was about to put it over him, he suddenly woke up with a start.
"Hmm? Noah? Good… good morning," Leon rubbed his sleepy eyes and stretched lazily. "Going to school?"
Noah nodded.
"Let's go, Daddy will walk with you."
"No need, you should rest," Noah said.
Leon smiled, stood up, and jumped up and down a few times. "It's fine, let's go."
Noah didn't say anything else. The father and daughter went to the front yard of the temple. They waited for the "school bus" Leviathan.
"How is Mom?" Noah asked.
"She's getting better fast. When you come back this weekend, she'll probably be awake," Leon said honestly.
"Mm…Thank you for taking care of Mom," Noah replied.
Leon smiled and patted her head."We're family. There's no such thing as hardship."
As they talked, Leviathan's huge shape appeared in the distance.
"Will there be many tests this week?" Leon asked.
"Yes."
"Just do your best, and you'll surely get better, Noah."
"Okay, I understand."
The giant dragon Leviathan hovered slowly above the temple. Then it opened the teleportation light beam.
"I'm going now."
"Alright, be careful on the way and look after yourself."
Noah nodded and hurried into the teleportation beam. She turned back, hesitated for a moment, and finally waved to Leon.
Leon also waved his arms with a smile. "Pay attention in class, stay away from troublemakers, and if anyone bullies you, fight back! Dad has your back!"
"Okay!"
Even though Leon wanted to say, "If anyone bullies my daughter, I'll destroy their whole dragon clan because that's what Dad is good at," he decided not to. It might be too scary for a child.
Leviathan flapped its huge wings and slowly flew away. Leon stood with his hands in his pockets, quietly watching it disappear into the distance.
Meanwhile, in the room, the silver-haired beauty lying on the soft bed moved a little. Her fingers twitched.