Shut Up, Evil Dragon, I Don't Want to Have Children with You Again — Chapter 37

After thinking it over, he took a few more parts.

Finally, he grabbed several paints in different colors. That completed the preparations.

"All right, let's go."

"Mhm!"

The father and daughter returned to the garden, found an open patch of ground, and sat down on the grass.

Leon laid out the parts he had just brought back one by one.

Then he rubbed his hands together. "Well then, Dad's getting started."

"Go Daddy!"

Leon methodically assembled the assorted parts.

Some could be fitted directly into place, while others needed to be cut, polished, or subjected to other delicate and complicated work with tools.

He worked very seriously.

Mu En watched just as seriously from the side.

She had already thought Dad was very handsome.

But for some reason, when Dad started working with those complex parts, gears meshing and locking together in his hands, all kinds of linked mechanisms coming to him as easily as turning his hand over, the sight of him studying them so intently made him seem... even more handsome.

Mu En did not really understand things like temperament or charm.

She only felt that her Dad was more than eight streets ahead of all the other male dragons in terms of handsomeness.

"Almost done."

Leon examined the object in his hands.

It was a black cube, each side divided into nine smaller squares.

"Is it finished, Dad?" Mu En leaned closer to take a look as well.

"No, there's one last step."

Leon brought over the six prepared paints, dipped a brush into one of them, and asked, "For the final step, does Mu En want to give it a try?"

"Huh? Can Mu En do it?"

"Of course you can. Come on, give it a try."

"Thank you, Dad!"

Whether making a game or a toy, the most important thing was letting children feel deeply involved.

Leon had Mu En sit on his lap, then gently held her wrist from behind and taught her how to color the cube in her hands.

Although some places were not painted very neatly, Leon said nothing. He merely patiently helped Mu En touch up the spots that needed fixing.

In the end, through the father and daughter's cooperation, a cube with six different colors was finished.

Mu En held it in both hands. Though she did not really know what it was, anything Dad made had to be awesome!

"This little toy is called a Rubik's Cube. You can twist it however you like. Give it a try."

"Oh, okay!"

Mu En tried twisting it a few times. Sure enough, the small squares of different colors shifted apart and ended up in different positions.

"The way to play a Rubik's Cube is to restore all the little squares of the six colors. It may be a bit difficult when you first start, but if you keep playing, you'll find the trick to it."

Leon had quite liked studying little toys like this when he was in school.

He still remembered that in their first Alchemy Mechanics class, the teacher had assigned them to make a simple mechanical linkage device.

What Leon had handed in was a simplified Rubik's Cube.

The teacher had been rather pleased with it, joking that even if Leon did not go slay dragons after graduation, he could still open a toy store and entertain children. He would definitely be very good at it.

Who would have thought his Alchemy Mechanics teacher's casual remark would become prophecy? Leon really was raising a child now—

And the deadly part was that he was actually doing a pretty great job of it.

As Mu En listened to Leon's explanation, she studied the Rubik's Cube in her hands.

Leon patiently explained the tricks and formulas to her from beside her.

As he spoke, Leon suddenly raised his head and warily looked around.

Dragon Slayers were extremely sensitive to being watched.

Especially when it was a dragon's gaze.

Leon thought Losweiser was spying on them from the balcony again.

But there was no sign of that Dragon Queen on the balcony.

He quietly observed the surroundings again.

It was obvious that the gaze secretly watching them came from behind.

Leon did not turn around. Instead, he carefully recalled the layout of the Silver Dragon Sanctuary.

Behind where they were now seemed to be... a training ground?

The place where Noa did her physical training.

At the thought, Leon smiled knowingly.

That child, of course, would never take the initiative to join him and Mu En.

Leon looked up at Mu En. She was still studying how to restore the first face of the Rubik's Cube.

Taking advantage of the time, Leon continued tinkering with the parts from earlier.

Good thing he had taken extra from the warehouse, precisely for a situation like this.

In less than half an hour, the second Rubik's Cube was finished.

Likewise, Leon did not color it. Instead, he quietly set it aside along with the jars of paint.

Just then, Mu En had grown tired of playing as well.

"Daddy, let's go back and rest for a bit first. Then teach Mu En properly—Mu En really can't put it back together."

"Sure. Let's go."

Leon rose to his feet, took Noa's hand, and left the garden.

After walking some distance away, Leon secretly glanced back over his shoulder.

A tiny figure emerged from the grass behind the garden.

Leon smiled and withdrew his gaze.

Noa quietly came to the place where Leon and Mu En had been sitting.

On the bench beside it sat an uncolored Rubik's Cube and several jars of paint.

Noa stepped forward, picked up a brush and the paint, and colored the Rubik's Cube just as Leon had done earlier.

Before long, a Rubik's Cube that was not particularly pretty but was barely playable was complete.

She tried twisting it twice, and a distinct sensation of mechanical pieces snapping together traveled through her fingertips.

Noa paused slightly. "It seems... kind of interesting."

Then, following the method she had overheard earlier, Noa scrambled every face of the Rubik's Cube before restoring it bit by bit.

She was quick-witted and learned fast. In less than ten minutes, she had nearly restored it.

Just as Noa was about to continue, she heard someone calling from afar.

"Princess Noa! Break time is over. We need to continue physical training!"

Noa hurriedly stuffed the Rubik's Cube into her pocket and ran toward the training ground as she replied, "Oh, coming!"

That evening, in the sisters' room, Mu En knelt on the bed, still fiddling with the Rubik's Cube Dad had made for her that day.

She had studied it for nearly the whole day, yet still could not successfully restore it.

After several more failed attempts, Mu En tossed the Rubik's Cube aside, then unwillingly smacked it with her tail.

"I'm not playing anymore! Mu En is so dumb—she can't even solve one face!"

Noa was nearby preparing what she needed to study for tomorrow. Seeing that her younger sister was close to breaking down, she put down her textbook and moved closer.

"I'll teach you."

"Hm? Eldest daughter, you know how too?"

Noa did not answer. She merely picked up the Rubik's Cube and began explaining the trick to her younger sister.

"If you want to restore it, you shouldn't solve it face by face. You should solve it layer by layer, like this."

Watching Noa's practiced movements, Mu En was a little dumbfounded.

"Eldest daughter... how are you so skilled at this?"

"Huh? No, no, I'm not. I'm just okay."

"Did you play with it before?"

"How could I? I have no interest at all in toys little kids play with. There, you learned it, right? Here, take it back."

Mu En took the fully restored six-faced Rubik's Cube, happily hugged it to her chest, and crawled beneath the covers.

Before long, Mu En's even breathing could be heard.

"Mu En?" Noa called to her younger sister.

When she received no response, Noa carefully climbed out of bed.

She then took out her small wooden box from beneath the bed and opened it.

Inside was a black metal fragment, along with a sheet of paper bearing her name.

She took out her little Rubik's Cube from her pocket and carefully placed it inside the wooden box.

The day of Noa's entrance test was drawing ever closer.

Besides the entrance test, they also needed to prepare a few other things in advance.

For example, a family portrait.

Saint Hiss Academy was an aristocratic academy among dragonkind, and it held strict standards for the students it admitted.

Although most Dragon race families consisted of single dragons reproducing asexually, there were also those, like Losweiser, who reproduced "normally."

Whether it was a "single-parent" family or a family with "both parents present," family was a crucial part of the assessment criteria.

Only a harmonious, loving family that upheld the ideals of dragonkind could raise qualified young dragons.

The Young Dragon Department of Saint Hiss Academy only admitted students from such families.

Unfortunately, though, Leon's "family" had absolutely nothing to do with the words "harmonious" or "loving."

"Nothing to do with them? Even if it doesn't, we'll have to pretend it does."

Losweiser said, "Noa cares a great deal about this entrance test, and you've all worked hard for it for a month. So no matter what, we have to pass it."

Leon scratched his head. "So... are we going to take a family portrait?"

"Of course. A few days ago, I used a messenger dragon to book a photography studio. Get yourselves ready—we'll head over in a while."

After a pause, Losweiser added, "And while we're at it... we'll take a family photo too."

Leon frowned. "A family photo?"

He recalled that not long ago, when Losweiser's eldest daughter—the Red Dragon Clan's Queen, Ischa—had come to visit, Mu En had said she had wanted to take a family photo for a long time.

Since his little daughter wanted it, and it was on the way anyway, Leon naturally had no reason to refuse.

He threw back the covers, got out of bed, and prepared to get dressed.

"Ah, wait. There's one more thing," Losweiser said.

"What?"