Chapter 415

Looking at the old church before her, now worn and dilapidated with age, Losweiser finally understood why Leon had chosen this place as his final stop.

She said she wanted to stand in Leon's hometown and understand Leon from another perspective;

Leon then took her to the place where he grew up.

Although he was adopted and taken away by his master when he was five years old, Leon would often return to the orphanage to visit the teachers there.

As they grow up, they often come here to volunteer during holidays.

The children here also adored Leon, and his astonishing talent for taking care of children was already evident back then.

In front of the orphanage gate, Leon and Losweiser held hands even tighter.

"I haven't been back for many years, and this place has changed so much."

Whether it was his first trip back to the Empire to resolve Victor's matter or his investigation of the secrets of the Heart-protecting Dragon Scale twenty years later, Leon never had the chance to return to the orphanage.

If you calculate the time, it's been at least five years...

At that moment, one of the nuns in the monastery seemed to notice them.

The nun stepped forward, opened the door, and smiled politely.

Good evening, gentlemen. How may I help you?

However, Leon simply stared silently at the elderly nun, as if lost in thought.

Memories surged through my mind.

Scenes from his childhood played out before Leon's eyes like a slideshow:

At the orphanage, Leon celebrated his first birthday on the very day the elderly nun found him.

He got into a fight with his roommate because he said the nun's cooking was terrible.

To protect a girl, young Leon fought off a vicious dog with his bare hands and ultimately won. Of course, it was the nun who took Leon to the hospital afterward to treat his wounds.

The nun teacher in front of him was in almost every moment of his childhood memories.

Without his master and mistress, there would be no Leon the Dragon Slayer today.

If it weren't for the nun, Leon might have frozen to death sometime twenty-five years ago.

Her name was Caroline, Caroline Casmod, the only daughter of the orphanage director at the time.

Although she was old in Leon's memory, she seemed to have aged more than ten years in just five years.

His hair was completely white, and there were clearly visible wrinkles under his eyes.

"Gentlemen?"

Seeing that Leon did not answer for a long time, the nun asked again.

Leon then came to his senses, "Ah... we're tourists from a neighboring country... we're just browsing around."

"Is that so? Would you like to come in and take a look?"

Leon shook his head. "No, no, I'll just stand at the door."

He deliberately lowered his voice, and with the disguise that Lionheart Society carefully prepared for him, even Teacher Caroline did not recognize him.

If I get recognized, it might cause some unnecessary trouble.

Just then, Teacher Caroline asked suspiciously,

"Sir, haven't we... met somewhere before?"

Leon was startled and quickly denied it, "No, this is my wife and I's first trip to the Empire. You must have mistaken me for someone else."

"Yeah..."

Caroline lowered her eyes and murmured to herself, "I guess it's because I miss that child too much..."

Leon blinked. "You mean...?"

"His name is Leon."

Speaking of this, Teacher Caroline's face was full of satisfaction.

"The best child I've ever taught."

123 Leon Bro Bro

Caroline sighed softly, lowered her eyes, and the relief in her voice gradually turned into disappointment.

"But I haven't heard from him in a long time. I heard he suffered a defeat five years ago and was listed as a traitor by the Empire. At its worst, his wanted posters were plastered all over the streets of the Empire. Sigh..."

This long sigh was filled with very complex emotions.

Did Teacher Caroline secretly believe in Leon, or was she disappointed in this student she had once taught, the most outstanding one...?

Leon was also undecided for a moment.

Seemingly realizing she had said too much, Caroline immediately changed the subject, putting on her previous amiable smile again, and said,

"Judging from your appearances, you two must have just gotten married not long ago, right?"

Hmm... Is five years a long time?

The couple looked at each other and tacitly decided to go along with what Teacher Caroline wanted to say.

"Yes, not long."

Leon said, "I was walking around when I heard children playing here, so I came to check it out."

"Do you two like children very much?"

"Yes, my wife and I both really like kids."

They fell in love and got married, and in just five years they had already had three children.

Caroline smiled, slowly turned around, and looked at the children in the yard.

"If all parents were like you, there wouldn't be any poor little ones in the world."

Having worked as a teacher at the orphanage for decades, Leon understood Caroline's sensitivity.

She loved children, but she never got married in her entire life.

Besides her status as a nun, there was another important reason: she knew that once she had her own children, she would no longer be able to distribute her love and attention equally to every child in the orphanage as she did now.

They were originally poor abandoned children, and it was the orphanage that gave them the opportunity and courage to face life again.

But this process requires the nuns to fill it with their love.

Therefore, Caroline never had any children of her own.

Or rather, every orphan in the welfare home is her child.

"Teacher! Teacher!"

During our conversation, a young nun jogged over.

Leon looked in the direction of the sound, and then opened his mouth in surprise.

"Sharon ..."

Losweiser glanced at him sideways.

Was he just saying the name of that young nun?

Judging from Leon's expression, the other person seemed to be an acquaintance.

Losweiser wasn't jealous, because Leon's eyes and tone only showed surprise and astonishment at the reunion of old friends, without any melodramatic "white moonlight returns" feeling.

"What's wrong, Sharon?"

A young nun Sharon stood in front of Caroline. "Teacher, we still have a lot of paper lanterns to finish for the Festival of a Thousand Lanterns in a few days. The headmistress said we need to hurry up."

"Okay, I'll go back and help right away."

"Okay, I'll go first—"

As she was talking, the little nun inadvertently caught a glimpse of Leon and his wife beside her.

She had never seen that beautiful woman with black hair before.

But this man...

Sharon narrowed her eyes slightly. "Wait, sir, haven't we met somewhere before?"

Before he could even answer, Leon suddenly felt a force coming from his palm.

Turning my head, I saw it was Losweiser.

The Queen turned on in-team voice chat.

Yes, honey, haven't we met somewhere before?

Even if I'm not jealous, it's still necessary to find out who this acquaintance actually is.

Didn't I tell you about my glorious feat of killing a vicious dog with my bare hands when I was five years old?

Yes, I did say that, it was to save a little girl.

She is that little girl.

[...]

Losweiser rolled her eyes, speechless.

What a small world, what a wonderful coincidence.

After explaining to Her Majesty the Queen, Leon denied it again, just as he had done before.

"You've never seen me before, have you? I think I have a very common face. Even Teacher Caroline mistook me for someone else just now."

Sharon nodded in realization, "Oh, I see... I thought Brother Leon had come back."

The word "Brother Leon" made the force on Leon's hand increase even more.

But Leon had to pretend that nothing had happened.

Sigh, I should have done good deeds anonymously when I was a child.

"You mistook him for Leon too?"

Teacher Caroline smiled helplessly, "I wonder how that child is doing now... I hope he's been captured by the Empire."

"No way!"

Sharon, being younger, spoke her mind, "Brother Leon will definitely not be arrested. And, and I never believed he was a traitor from the beginning."

Caroline glanced at Leon and Losweiser, quickly pressed Sharon's wrist, and gave the couple an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, Sharon just said it offhand."

Since we can't ascertain Leon and Losweiser's origins, it's best to avoid discussing matters like treason... if possible.

Although Caroline missed the child very much, she had no choice but to follow the rules of this country since she lived there.

"Fine."

Leon said, "I just heard from Sharon that you're preparing paper lanterns for the Festival of Festival of a Thousand Lanterns?"

"Yes."

Would an orphanage still take on this kind of job?

Although the Festival of a Thousand Lanterns is a major festival of the empire, in Leon's memory, the orphanage had never made any paper lanterns; they had always bought them directly from outside shops.

"Yes, it was out of necessity that I tried every possible way to make some money."

Upon hearing this, Leon frowned slightly.

When did welfare homes in Zhongcheng District have to resort to making paper lanterns to "supplement their household income"?

Looking at the extent of the damage to the church and its entrance, Leon had a vague sense of unease.

"But aren't welfare homes funded by the government? How come...?"

"Ah, it's nothing—"

"In the past few years, of course, the royal family provided funding. But in recent years, the royal family has added so many messy auditing agencies. As the funding is passed down from them layer by layer, by the time it reaches our welfare home, we're lucky if a third of it is still there!"