You Dragon Race people sure had a lot of ridiculous rules, Leon grumbled inwardly.
Just as Leon was thinking about what words he should use to praise his well-behaved daughter, there was a knock at the door.
He carried Mu En over and opened it.
It was Head Maid Anna.
"It's lunchtime, Prince. Please let me take the Princess for now."
"Alright."
Leon placed Mu En in Anna's arms.
Mu En reluctantly stretched out her arms. "Will Daddy play with Mu En again this afternoon?"
Leon nodded. "Of course."
"Okay, it's a promise."
"Mm, it's a promise."
Anna left the room with Mu En.
Leon let out a breath and turned toward the balcony.
Looking down into the courtyard, he saw Losweiser discussing something with a Dragon race guard.
After speaking for a few moments, the guard gave a slight nod, then vanished from the courtyard in a flash.
As though she had noticed Leon's gaze, Losweiser turned around and looked up toward the balcony.
Leon did not avoid her gaze. He simply stood there, meeting Losweiser's eyes.
The former strongest Dragon Slayer and the proud, aloof Silver Dragon Queen stared at each other from above and below.
A breeze rustled the leaves. The midday sunlight was warm like a lover's embrace.
Other than when it involved "revenge," Losweiser rarely took the initiative to speak with Leon.
Of course, Leon could not be bothered to go out of his way to chat with her either.
To outsiders, they might have seemed like a respectful married couple living a busy yet harmonious life after marriage.
But only they themselves knew what undercurrents lay hidden beneath that harmonious surface.
Leon and Losweiser looked at each other for a long time, neither taking the initiative to say anything.
Losweiser had no intention of wasting any more time and turned to leave.
"Hey!"
Leon's voice suddenly came from above.
Losweiser stopped and turned her head back to look up.
"I want to go out for a walk."
Leon said, "I've been stuck in this room so long I'm suffocating."
As soon as he finished speaking, Losweiser flashed to the outside of the balcony in the blink of an eye.
She beat the dragon wings behind her back to hover in midair, her long silver tail hanging below to maintain her balance.
Leon was startled. He thought he had said something wrong again and upset that Dragon Queen.
"You may only leave this room when you're playing with Mu En," Losweiser said coldly.
"But... won't Mu En think that's strange?"
"What's strange about it?"
"Her dad only goes outside when he's playing with her, and spends all other times in the room. She'll definitely become suspicious, won't she?"
"Her father is in poor health and cannot go out freely. That's reason enough."
"...You've really thought this through."
"Play the role of her father properly. Don't think about anything else, much less do anything else. Understood?"
Leon shrugged without answering.
He had nothing else he wanted to ask Losweiser anyway.
Even going out for a walk had become a luxury. What was there left to discuss?
Leon waved his hand, turned around, and headed toward the bedroom.
Watching Leon's thin, solitary back, Losweiser's pupils trembled slightly, and an unusual expression flashed through her cold eyes.
"Leon." She called out to stop him.
Leon halted and half turned around. "What?"
"Mu En will come to see you again this afternoon. You need to teach her how to write names."
Leon frowned slightly at that. "And then?"
"I'll check her learning results tonight. If she learns it, you can take a walk with me in the garden tomorrow. For one hour."
Leon blinked and seized upon a key phrase. "Take a walk... with you?"
Losweiser paused slightly, but she did not seem particularly flustered. She still said calmly, "Don't misunderstand. I merely want to keep an eye on you. You're a slippery one. If it were someone else, they might let you escape."
Leon snorted. "Teaching a child to write her own name—how hard could that be?"
"I never said it was her own name."
Losweiser said, "She has to write the names of everyone in our family."
"Including mine?"
"Obviously. Aren't you her father?"
"...Fine, it's a deal. No backing out."
Losweiser gave a cold hum. "I don't need to make any promises to you, Leon."
"Dragon Queen, you really don't respond to either carrots or sticks."
Losweiser ignored Leon and turned to fly down.
Leon withdrew his gaze as well and headed into the inner room.
But after taking only two steps, he suddenly realized a very serious problem. He immediately rushed back to the balcony and shouted at Losweiser below.
"Hey, Dragon Queen, you still haven't told me your surname!"
"Leon Kasmod."
"Losweiser Melkwy—"
"Whew... what a tongue-twisting name."
While grumbling, Leon wrote his own name and Losweiser's name on a sheet of paper.
Then he wrote "Mu En Melkwy" beneath them.
He had originally wanted to fool Mu En into thinking that she had taken Leon's surname.
But when he thought of Losweiser discovering his little scheme tonight, he feared he would not escape another day of punishment.
So he decided not to provoke that Dragon Queen over something like this if he could help it.
That meant his task for the afternoon was to teach the little Dragon girl how to write those three names.
Generally speaking, human children began learning basic literacy around the age of three.
But a Dragon girl born of a Human-dragon hybrid was presumably smarter than an ordinary human child.
So there was no problem with teaching Mu En these basic things when she was over three years old.
Thinking of that, Leon could not help but sigh at how perfectly timed his awakening had been.
If he had awakened any earlier, Mu En would not even have been able to walk, and he would not have needed to work this hard;
And if he had awakened any later, Losweiser probably would have found someone else to teach her basic common sense, and Leon would not be taking care of the child every day now.
It was hard not to suspect that the Dragon Queen had calculated exactly when he would wake up when she saved him.
Leon shook his head and gathered his thoughts.
He looked at the three names he had just written and began pondering how he should teach Mu En to write them later.
"Melkwy... Melkwy..."
Though it was a mouthful, as Leon repeated it, he seemed to make an association.
"Melkwy—oh~ so it's a transliteration of 'Milky Way.'"
He had not expected the Dragon Race to have such a romantic streak when it came to naming.
As he was marveling at this, Leon heard some movement at the door.
He put down the paper, stood up, and went to open it.
"Oh, Mu En. You finished lunch so quickly."
The little Dragon girl outside raised her head and looked at the man before her.
Her delicate, adorable face showed no expression.
"Mu... En..." she murmured her own name.
"Come in. Daddy will teach you something new this afternoon."
As he spoke, Leon bent down and picked her up directly.
The little Dragon girl did not resist. She merely glanced at the hands around her waist and asked coldly, "Who gave you permission to touch me?"
Leon:?
What?
Why did that tone and expression look so much like Losweiser's?
I just taught you about having two sides this morning, and after one meal you're already putting it into practice on your dad?
Leon did not bother making a fool of himself. He set Mu En back on the ground.
Mu En lowered her head and patted the wrinkles in her skirt, then looked back up at Leon.
"Without my permission in the future, you cannot touch me, much less hold me. Understood?"
Leon sucked in a sharp breath.
If the earlier "Who gave you permission to touch me?" had resembled Losweiser in both tone and expression;
Then this "Understood?" sounded as though it had been carved from the exact same mold as Losweiser.
Authoritative, leaving no room for negotiation—an outright command that no one was allowed to touch her.
"Mu En... what's wrong with you?"
"Hmph, idiot."
"Huh?"
The little Dragon girl rolled her eyes at him, ignored him, slammed the door shut, and walked away.
The stubborn little footsteps gradually faded, leaving Leon alone in the entryway in complete disarray.
After recovering somewhat, Leon stepped forward, intending to open the door and see what was going on.
But the moment he took a step, the door was pushed open from the outside.
"Daddy, I'm back~"
"Holy—"
Dragon girls truly were born with immense strength. Just opening a door sent her old father flying three meters away.
"Ah, Daddy, are you okay?"
Mu En hurried over in concern and helped Leon up.
Before you continue