Shut Up, Evil Dragon—I Don't Want to Have Children with You Again

"Dragon medicine is pretty easy to refine, too."

Just as he was marveling at it, there came a knock at the door.

Leon put Dragon's Might into the drawer and rose to answer it.

It was Mu En.

"Daddy!"

She called out happily, raising her arms in a gesture asking to be held.

Leon bent down and smoothly scooped her into his arms. "Good morning, Mu En. What made you come looking for Daddy?"

"Big Sister said she was going to do physical training today, and that Daddy should have some free time, so Mu En came to see Daddy."

No wonder he hadn't seen Mu En except at dinner these past two days.

So she had been afraid of delaying Leon's teaching progress.

Who said only the eldest daughter knew how to handle things?

Wasn't this little daughter still her old father's little padded jacket?!

Leon carried Mu En into the room, and father and daughter chatted about the interesting things that had happened over the past few days.

As they talked, Mu En wrinkled her nose and sniffed. "Daddy, why does your room smell like medicine?"

Leon was speechless.

What, were all dragon noses this sharp?

Losweiser had smelled the medicine yesterday, and now Mu En had smelled it today too.

"There's no medicine smell, Mu En. You must have smelled wrong," Leon said.

But Mu En stubbornly shook her head. "No, I didn't smell wrong. It's definitely medicine."

She jumped down from Leon's lap, followed the scent to the drawer, and pulled it open.

Leon wanted to stop her, but it was already too late.

Mu En took out the Dragon's Might he had just refined. Tilting her head, she asked, "Daddy, what is this? Is it chocolate candy?"

Seeing the little dragon girl's eyes light up, Leon hurried over and gently pinched her little hand. "Th-this isn't chocolate candy."

"Then what is it?"

Leon's mind raced as he cobbled together an excuse that sounded somewhat plausible.

After stammering for a moment, Leon said with solemn seriousness, "This is medicine I made for Mom."

Mu En froze. She immediately put away her playful mood and asked worriedly, "Medicine for Mom? What's wrong with Mom? Is she sick?"

"No, Mom isn't sick. She's just been feeling a little unwell lately. Maybe she's been working too hard, so Daddy prepared this medicine for her to help her recover. I'll take it to her tonight."

Mu En nodded as if she understood. "Then Daddy, you have to take good care of Mom."

"Mm. Daddy will."

The father and daughter chatted for a little longer before Mu En trotted away.

She said Daddy had been busy with Big Sister's entrance test lately, so she couldn't keep bothering him.

She had only come today because Daddy hadn't spent time with Mu En in so many days, and she had missed him too much.

Damn it.

Every single word from this little dragon girl stabbed right into her old father's heart.

She was even warmer than wearing the Black-Gold War Chariot!

(Black-Gold War Chariot: I'll burn your dreams, Casmod!)

That evening, after finishing a busy day, Losweiser came to the room Mu En and Noa shared.

Noa was still doing physical training in the cathedral's practice grounds.

Though it was already rather late, Losweiser knew her eldest daughter's temperament. Unless she was so exhausted that she could no longer get up, she would not stop.

Only Mu En was in the sisters' room. She sat on the carpet fiddling with her large tail, looking somewhat bored, while all her little toys had been tossed aside.

The moment she saw Mom arrive, Mu En immediately got to her feet and hurried over.

"Mom~"

Her form of address for Losweiser had also changed from "Mother" to "Mom."

Just as Leon had said, she preferred this more affectionate way of calling her.

Mu En ran to Losweiser's skirt, hugged her calf, and looked up. "Mom, are you feeling better?"

Losweiser blinked, unable to make sense of it. She crouched down and asked, "Mom has always been very healthy. Why would you ask that?"

Mu En froze. "Daddy said you've been working too hard lately and aren't feeling very well. Daddy even specially made medicine to nourish your body!"

Losweiser raised an eyebrow. "You made medicine for me? What was it like?"

"Um... it was dark brown, like chocolate candy, and shiny."

"Dark brown... chocolate candy... replenishes the body..."

Losweiser pondered those keywords, then murmured to herself in disbelief, "That guy actually managed to concoct a medicine even alchemists couldn't make, in a nursery...?"

"Mom?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

Losweiser paused. Thinking back to how she had said a few days ago, "Your body isn't what it used to be," she roughly guessed why Leon had made Dragon's Might.

The Queen's scheming thoughts began to churn as she said to Mu En, "Mom's perfectly healthy. The one who isn't healthy is Daddy."

"Daddy?"

"Yes. Daddy's a man, and men have to hold up the family, so he can't say he's sick. So we shouldn't expose him—we should care for him more instead, okay?"

Mu En nodded her little head in sudden understanding. "Mu En understands! Mu En will care for Daddy more!"

Losweiser smiled and pinched the baby fat on her daughter's cheek. "Mu En is such a good girl. Now Mom is going to check on Daddy. Wait nicely by yourself until your eldest daughter comes back, all right?"

"Okay! Mom, you have to take good care of Daddy!"

Losweiser rose to her feet with a faint smile.

"Don't worry, Mu En. I'll definitely take good care of your Daddy."

The rain fell harder and harder.

Leon lay against the headboard, one hand tucked beneath his head while the other tossed the small transparent box containing Dragon's Might into the air and caught it, over and over.

Though the medicine was finished, he still had some concerns.

Namely...

Leon looked at the peppers on the table.

Most foods unique to dragonkind were beyond what the human body could withstand.

Leon had been trained by Master from childhood like a diamond drill; only after growing up had his body become this tough.

Eating a few dragon peppers was just child's play;

but this dragon nutritional supplement...

What if its effects were too potent after he took it, so much so that his body couldn't bear them and suffered some adverse reaction?

That would be putting the cart before the horse. Not only would his body fail to recover—it might end up even worse off.

Leon wrestled with himself, tipped his head back, and sighed at the ceiling.

Just as he was caught in his dilemma, he heard someone push open the door.

Without opening his eyes, he hid Dragon's Might beneath his pillow.

He didn't need to look to know who had come.

"Hi, Your Majesty," Leon said lazily.

Losweiser sat down beside the bed. "You actually took the initiative to greet me tonight."

"You took the initiative yesterday, I'm taking it today. Perfectly reasonable."

Losweiser gave a soft, amused snort. She had no intention of beating around the bush with Leon and got straight to the point.

"I heard from Mu En that you made a medicine for me that looks remarkably like chocolate candy, meant to condition my body. But I know that it was actually prepared for yourself, wasn't it?"

At once, Leon shed his frivolous manner. He sat upright, his expression turning serious.

"Don't be nervous. I'm not here to question you about anything. I'm only surprised that you managed to refine such a rare medicine in such crude conditions. I've never seen that kind of medicine myself either. Could you... let me take a look?"

Losweiser wore a smile, and her tone was sincere. She truly had come to discuss this with Leon.

In truth, once she learned of Dragon's Might, she could have simply taken it from Leon by force.

After all, this was the Silver Dragon Queen's territory.

Leon had used her medicinal ingredients to refine Dragon's Might on her turf. Even if she took it away, he would have nothing to say.

Yet she still spoke to him gently and tried to negotiate.

Leon hesitated for a moment, but he still took Dragon's Might out from beneath his pillow.

Losweiser accepted it and carefully examined it in her palm.

Leon watched Losweiser, wondering whether this dragon woman was going to seize the chance to mock him again.

After a short while, Losweiser nodded.

"Mm, not bad. To refine a pill of such flawless quality under these conditions—you really are impressive, Leon."

She smiled, then teased, "How did that saying go again? Accomplished in both letters and arms?"

Leon froze.

She actually didn't laugh at me?

He rubbed his nose, still somewhat unaccustomed to Losweiser's lavish praise.

This Dragon Queen usually racked her brains looking for ways to tease and mock him.

Yet after seeing this genuine Dragon's Might, she had actually acknowledged Leon's ability.

Naturally, Leon felt so pleased he could practically bubble over.

Watching Leon's smug expression, Losweiser chuckled to herself.

Just as I thought—getting a handle on a little fool like you is ridiculously easy. A few compliments, and you're already floating on cloud nine~

Of course, Losweiser's praise just now had also come from the bottom of her heart.

Having been raised on the belief that strength commanded respect, she naturally acknowledged a person's capabilities.

But then Losweiser changed the subject.

"However... you can't take this medicine. Or rather, it isn't suitable for you."

Leon raised a brow. "Why?"

"As a restorative medicine for dragons, its effects are far too potent for a human body. You won't be able to withstand it."

Losweiser's tone was quite solemn.

"If you want to restore your body's functions as soon as possible, I can have Anna and the others prepare other kinds of nutritional supplements for you. As for this Dragon's Might... the fragile human body truly cannot bear a dragon's power. There has never been a precedent of a human taking dragon medicine before."

Her expression and tone at that moment were unlike before, when she had been mocking Leon.

In Losweiser's understanding, humans truly could not withstand such overwhelming power.

She was kindly warning Leon—

Though kindly warning an archenemy did sound rather strange;