Chapter 335

"Where did you find it?" Losweiser asked.

Under the bed.

"Is it... Mu En's?"

Leon shook his head, memories flooding back. He gently stroked the wooden box and whispered, "It belongs to Noa. Noa burned this box before I returned from the future."

Losweiser raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"She said... these are all things that have extraordinary meaning to her, but when tragedy struck, these things that should have been a place to cherish memories became torment. If I hadn't been able to change the past and bring the world back on track, then there would have been no point in her keeping this wooden box."

Leon said, "This Rubik's Cube was made for her and Mu En a long time ago; this note has her name on it, which I wrote together when I was teaching Mu En how to write her name; and this essay was written based on our first date in Sky City, which she even won an award for."

Noa shares a similar personality trait with Losweiser: on the surface, they appear indifferent to everything and maintain a cold and detached attitude towards all matters.

But in reality, they are all very thoughtful and will carefully protect anything they cherish.

They strive for perfection in every detail.

Just like the Rubik's Cube she kept for so long, the note she kept for so long, and the essay that carried his and Losweiser's first beautiful memories.

"That child...cares about this family more than we thought," Losweiser said with a smile.

"Um..."

Compared to her peers, Noa is indeed more mature, and she has more things on her mind.

At the same time, this will make her emotional journey more arduous than that of other young dragons.

Whether in the future or now, Noa will always be the most sensible one.

In terms of fatherly love, Leon gave each of his daughters the same amount of love; he loved each of his children and cherished them as the apple of his eye.

But if he had to say who he owed the most to, he felt that the person he owed the most to was Noa.

It was because he didn't handle his relationship with Noa well at the beginning that this sensitive child felt that her family was in danger, thus constantly pushing herself to work hard so that she would be able to protect her family.

He has a stubborn and awkward personality, just like him, and also like Losweiser.

"Hmm? What is this fragment?" Losweiser asked, pointing to the black crystal fragment.

"I'm not quite sure either."

Leon picked up the fragment and examined it carefully. "I saw this piece in her box in the future, but before I could ask about it, our eldest daughter burned them all. This shows that she was quite proficient in Fire Element magic."

Losweiser smiled. "So... now do you see anything?"

Leon frowned slightly. "It feels very familiar; the texture and feel are very familiar..."

Upon closer examination, Leon suddenly seemed to realize what it was.

"Holy crap... no way..."

"What?"

Leon slowly turned his head to look at Losweiser, and said in disbelief,

"This is... a fragment of the Black-Gold War Chariot."

"How did Noa get fragments of the Black-Gold War Chariot?"

Leon was a little confused for a moment.

In this Silver Dragon Sanctuary, the Only One who knows his human identity is Losweiser.

One key piece of evidence proving he was human is his Black-Gold War Chariot.

Back in the day, General Leon, clad in Black-Gold War Chariot, left no place untouched by dragons in his wake.

During the time he served the Dragon Slayer Army, he was either slaying dragons or on his way to slay dragons.

Besides Rebecca and his teammates, his most frequent companion was this powerful enchanted armor.

Those Dragon Race who survived his clutches at that time didn't know his name, but they all tacitly gave him the same title:

A man in black armor.

Although the nickname is somewhat long, most Dragon Race shudder when they hear it.

During the years when Leon was most efficient at slaying dragons, he became a nightmare for the entire Dragon Race, and his Black-Gold War Chariot left an indelible impression on the Dragon Race.

This is also why Leon had camouflaged his Black-Gold War Chariot with paint before his previous encounters with Constantine and Star.

It wasn't that he was afraid of being recognized by the enemy, since they already knew his identity before coming to expose him.

Leon cannot be recognized by the Silver Dragon Clan members, otherwise he will not be able to stay here to gather intelligence and information.

Of course, most importantly, he didn't want his daughters to discover that their father was actually a human.

He had analyzed the pros and cons many times, and in any case, suppressing his human identity was the safest option right now.

But why are there fragments of the Black-Gold War Chariot in Noa's little wooden box?

"Does Noa already know your identity?" Losweiser asked with some concern.

Leon had shared his concerns with her, and she fully understood, promising to do everything in Leon power to keep his secret.

This was not only to allow him to continue operating within the Dragon Race as the 'Silver Dragon Prince' and gather more information about the empire's conspiracies, but also to maintain the family they had worked so hard to build.

Leon stared at the fragments, pondered for a moment, then slowly shook his head.

"I think Noa probably doesn't know I'm human yet. But..."

"But?"

"But she must have already realized that there's something wrong with her father's background."

His expression was solemn as he lowered his head and toyed with the fragments in his hand.

"A long time ago, when you first took me to the warehouse in the back mountains and gave me the Black-Gold War Chariot, I noticed a gap in the breastplate. If I'm not mistaken, that gap was caused when Victor tried to assassinate me with the enchanted dagger."

The enchanted dagger that Victor used to assassinate Leon was made from the ivory of Polar Mammoth and possessed extremely strong enchantment properties.

After being enchanted, it is entirely possible to pierce the breastplate of the Black-Gold War Chariot at extremely close range.

However, polar mammoth ivory is extremely rare, and the enchanting process is even more complex; a slight mistake can destroy a precious piece of raw ivory.

Therefore, in most cases, these things are used to make jewelry or collectibles, and are rarely used to make weapons.

Of course, wasting a few ivory tusks is nothing in order to assassinate the Empire's former top Dragon Slayer.

It's a pity they didn't manage to kill him in the end.

It's quite amusing that a few years later, Leon blew up the precious Heart-protecting Dragon Scale, which he cherished.

Losweiser recalled for a moment, then said,

"After that battle a few years ago, we recovered your Black-Gold War Chariot when we were cleaning up the battlefield, which should have included this fragment. But I didn't see it myself; I only came to see it once afterward."

The couple looked at each other, then blushed and looked away simultaneously.

They all knew what Losweiser meant by "afterwards".

The Blood Seduction.

The beginning of everything.

Looking back, it truly evokes a legendary quality, abstract yet imbued with a sense of fearlessness in the face of death.

"When you came to see it, did you find this fragment?" Leon asked.

Losweiser shook her head. "I... I didn't pay much attention."

"Wow, lady, you can't even notice such a shiny piece of shard?"

Losweiser rolled her eyes at him. "I was only thinking about how to torture you when you woke up. Preserving your Black-Gold War Chariot was already a huge favor! Who cares about such a small fragment..."

Actually, this wasn't Losweiser's excuse; it was mainly because the fragment was indeed quite small.

How big can a nick be caused by a dagger used for assassination?

Its main focus is on depth, not width; as long as it can destroy the target's heart, that's enough.

"So you brought Noa here later?"

"No, I've never brought her here before."

Losweiser said, "This is crucial evidence that exposes your lowly human nature. How could I possibly bring my daughter here?"

Leon's face darkened. "Could you please remove the modifier before 'human'?"

"I'm projecting my feelings onto you back then. I absolutely hated you back then."

"I was in a coma for two whole years, and during that time you didn't suffocate me by sticking a pillow over my face. I really thank you, Your Majesty."

"You're welcome, it's my pleasure."

Leon smiled, waved his hand, and after a few teasing remarks, the topic returned to the fragment of the Black-Gold War Chariot.

"So... this fragment ended up in Noa's hands without your knowledge, but she has never mentioned it in all these years."

Leon's mind stirred slightly, and he continued,

"Noa said that this box contains her most precious memories, so this fragment is naturally one of them. But judging from the timeline, she obtained this fragment during the two years I was in a coma."

"To be more precise, that would be... subtracting the ten months of pregnancy and the subsequent three to four months of development... so if we calculate it that way, Noa obtained the fragment about a year before I woke up. Is that right?"

Losweiser followed Leon's line of reasoning and nodded, "That's right, it should be around this time."

This speculation further confirmed Leon's earlier thought that Noa had already realized there was something wrong with her father's origins.

But from then until now, a full four years have passed, and Noa has never mentioned it.

Why is that?

Given the child's capacity for thinking, it was impossible for her not to be curious about this fragment.

So... either Noa already knows enough secrets, and she doesn't need to put any more effort into this fragment;

Or it is...

She was protecting this secret with Losweiser and Leon.

Without consulting them at all, and completely unaware of her parents' past grievances and grudges, Noa realized that if she were to uncover the truth about this matter, it could change her family.

Even her future, and the future of her sisters.

So the child chose to keep the secret in her own way, but without letting the truth slip away from her.

Of the two guesses, Leon leans more towards... the latter.

He examined the fragments in his hand; the sunlight shone on them, dazzlingly bright.

After a short while, Leon put the fragments back into the box, then pushed the box back under the bed.

"So... what are your plans?" Losweiser asked softly. "Will you test Noa to see how much she actually knows, or...?"

"Testing her...?"

Leon shook his head. "There's no need."

"And our eldest daughter, Losweiser, is very smart. She immediately becomes alert as soon as we try to probe her."

"By then, no matter how much she knows about me, there will be some problems in our relationship... I don't want that."

"So let's just... maintain the status quo for now."

"Hmm... no problem."

The Queen breathed a sigh of relief and said slowly, "Actually, Noa cares a lot about this family, and she also cares about us, Mu En, and Xiao Guang. That kind of care can't be faked, so there's no doubt that she loves us."

"Perhaps we're overthinking it? Regardless of how Noa obtained this fragment, she didn't choose to confront us, Leon. She's very sensible, isn't she?"

Leon nodded in agreement. "That's right. Such a sensible child..."

Losweiser raised an eyebrow, thinking he was about to say, "There aren't many children this sensible."

However, that scoundrel of a man always left her speechless.

"Such a sensible child—just like me."

The Queen's mouth was practically sticking out to the sky.

"Like you? Like you fighting off vicious dogs at five and breaking rocks on your chest at seven? Or like you, stubborn and pretending to be stupid, a clueless straight man?"

"Nonsense, how could I let my precious daughter break a boulder on her chest? Only my old lecherous master would do such a thing."