"I can't figure out what women are thinking."
Leon muttered as he walked over and sat down on the living room sofa.
The sound of running water came from the bathroom. Losweiser was probably taking a shower too.
That only made Leon more certain of his guess.
If he didn't lose a hundred grams tonight, he probably wouldn't be getting out this door.
Leon took deep breaths over and over, trying to relax.
About ten minutes later, the bathroom door opened, and Losweiser emerged.
She wore a simple spaghetti-strap nightgown. The Dragon Mark at her chest was faintly visible, her wet silver hair draped over her shoulders, and a light mist still rose from her smooth, shapely calves.
Her skin was so smooth that even water droplets could not linger on it. They slid down her cheeks to her chin before finally falling onto her slender, straight collarbones.
Barefoot, Losweiser walked past Leon while drying her hair.
"Right on time. Oh, you took a shower too."
Leon looked at the trail of wet footprints she had left on the floor, blinked, and said nothing.
Losweiser poured a glass of water and held it out to Leon.
"Have some water first. I'll dry my hair."
If she asked, "So, little brother, how long have you been in this line of work?" next, that would be the killing blow.
Leon silently picked up the glass and took a small sip.
A moment later, Losweiser had dried her hair and returned to the living room. She stood before Leon with her hands on her hips.
"Alright, let's begin. Where do you want to do it? The living room, or... the balcony?"
Leon froze. "The balcony... wouldn't that be inappropriate?"
Losweiser shrugged. "What's inappropriate about it? No one can see us anyway."
Leon covered his face. "Well, if you're not afraid of embarrassing yourself, then let's go to the balcony."
"Tch, what's embarrassing about it? The living room, then. It's the same wherever we do it."
As she spoke, Losweiser walked around the coffee table between them and sat down beside Leon.
Leon let out a long breath, closed his eyes, and reclined on the sofa.
Honestly, he wanted to punch himself again so that by the time he opened his eyes, Losweiser would have already taken care of herself.
But after waiting for a while, Leon realized that nothing had happened.
Then Losweiser's voice drifted over from beside him. "What are you doing?"
Leon opened his eyes and sat upright again. "Huh? I... weren't you going to do that...?"
Losweiser gave a soft snort and looked at him teasingly. "Oh? And what exactly is 'that'?"
Leon swallowed awkwardly, suddenly at a loss for words.
Then he watched Losweiser pull out a thick set of test papers from beneath the coffee table.
"Saint Hiss Academy is also very strict in its assessment of family members, and it provides corresponding compatibility tests. We need to get to know each other better over the next few days before school starts, so we don't fail to answer something and affect Noa's admission evaluation."
She glanced at Leon, lightly tapping the test booklet's cover with her index finger as she took great satisfaction in admiring his bewildered, embarrassed expression.
"...Losweiser, you really are—"
This Dragon Queen had deliberately led him into misunderstanding her just for this socially fatal moment, hadn't she?!
Losweiser narrowed her eyes slightly and said in a faintly disdainful, teasing tone,
"Mr. Casmod, you're rather pent-up, aren't you? But tonight isn't suitable. Another day."
Losweiser did not tease Leon too much. After all, the most urgent matter at hand was improving their compatibility.
Of course, not compatibility in bed. Saint Hiss Academy did not test for that.
"The family assessment rules are quite simple."
Losweiser began explaining the assessment method to Leon.
"The academy will prepare two sets of answer sheets. The questions will concern the other person's habits, personality, experiences, and so on. One person will first write the answers based on their own circumstances, then the other person will fill out the test, and finally the answers will be compared. The higher the score, the better we understand each other."
Leon blinked, sprawled across the sofa as he flipped through the various test papers in his hands.
"Sounds like one of those boring little couple compatibility games."
"I think it's boring too, because I have absolutely no interest in your life history, hobbies, or habits."
"Thanks. Same here."
Losweiser tossed Leon a pen. "But compatibility between family members is a very important part of the assessment. The academy uses it to judge whether a family is harmonious. To make sure Noa can enroll successfully, we have to gain a deep understanding of each other in these next few days."
Leon bit the end of the pen. "Judging whether a family is harmonious through compatibility... isn't that a bit... hasty?"
Losweiser shrugged.
"The test questions prepared by the academy aren't the simple couple questionnaires you described. Many of these questions involve professional psychological knowledge and can accurately analyze your hidden personality flaws. The academy believes that only families who understand each other's flaws and still live together are harmonious families."
Leon glanced at the test paper in his hands and asked, "Then does 'What is your partner's favorite color?' count as a psychological test question too?"
"Why doesn't your brain ever work? There have to be basic compatibility questions too!" Losweiser silently covered her face.
Leon nodded. After a brief silence, he asked again, "Then what's your favorite color?"
"Black."
Losweiser answered without hesitation, then immediately asked back, "What about you?"
"Silver."
As soon as the words left their mouths, they both seemed to feel that something was off.
They looked at each other at the same time—
At each other's hair.
Black hair.
Silver hair.
The next second, they spoke in unison. "Coincidence."
The second after that, they spoke in unison again. "Damn it."
The two unfortunate spouses both turned their heads away and automatically skipped the subject.
Leon flipped through several more test papers and found that some of the questions really did concern psychology and personality.
Leon was not very good at psychology.
And Dragon Race psychology was even more beyond him.
All he knew was what dragons thought when they were about to die—after all, he was quite skilled at slaying dragons.
After the husband and wife studied the papers for a while, Losweiser took a blank answer sheet and began writing something on another piece of paper.
A moment later, she handed the answer sheet to Leon. "Alright, let's try it first and see how many questions about me you can answer correctly."
Leon took the paper and began answering.
"First question: What is a phrase your partner often says?"
Leon immediately wrote, "Do I even have to think about it? Of course it's 'You idiot.'"
Losweiser rubbed her forehead. "You idiot... you didn't have to say it out loud!"
"Second question: Has your partner ever been especially disappointed in you over something?"
Leon's brows furrowed slightly. As he wrote down his answer, he muttered, "Yes..."
"No." Losweiser suddenly spoke.
Leon paused and looked sideways at her.
Losweiser lowered her eyes and fiddled with the tip of her tail.
She knew Leon was looking at her, but she still did not raise her head. She merely repeated in a low voice, "I... have never been disappointed in you over anything, Leon."
"Is that because... there's no need to be disappointed in me?"
Losweiser's tail stopped moving. Then she shook her head. Rather than answer directly, she said, "That has nothing to do with this question. Keep answering."
Something stirred in Leon's heart, but he did not press any further.
For the next dozen or so questions, he did not read his answers aloud. He simply wrote them down in silence.
Once he was done, he handed the test paper to Losweiser.
Losweiser compared it with the answers she had written earlier.
"How many points?" Leon asked.
"Forty-five."
Losweiser looked serious. "You failed."
Leon lowered his head, rolling the pencil between his fingers. After a moment of silence, he said quietly, "Sorry."
"There's no need to apologize. If I answered yours, my score might be even lower."
As she spoke, she pushed another test paper and a blank sheet of paper toward Leon. "Give it a try. Write your answers on the blank paper."
Leon nodded and picked up the pen and paper to begin writing.
While Leon wrote his answers, Losweiser carefully reviewed the test he had just completed.
She found that every question Leon had answered correctly was related to her everyday habits.
Things like her catchphrases, which hand she preferred to use, how she liked to position her tail most comfortably, and so on.
The questions he got wrong were basically ones like the earlier question about whether she had ever been disappointed.
Those were questions Leon could only understand after Losweiser said the answer herself.
Otherwise, given the grudges between Leon and Losweiser and the way they interacted in daily life, there was no way he could have answered them correctly.
Losweiser was not someone who liked opening up to others.
She was already used to bottling everything up and slowly processing it by herself.
If she truly could not bear it anymore, she would probably only write letters to her sister Ischa and chat for a while.
Losweiser let out a long breath, shook her head, and pulled herself from her thoughts.
Just then, Leon pushed the blank answer sheet over to Losweiser.
Losweiser nodded, accepted it, and began answering.
When she was done, she handed it to Leon to compare, just as he had done earlier.
"How many?"
"Fifty-eight."
Losweiser spread her hands and smiled. "We still need more practice."
Leon looked at the test papers spread across the entire coffee table. After pondering for a moment, he said, "We haven't spent enough time together, and the way we interact isn't normal either. So it probably won't be possible to get a very high score in a short time."
"But there's no other way. For Noa, we should both work hard."
Whenever it involved her daughter, Losweiser was always like this—gentle and reasonable, completely different from the arrogant, cold Silver Dragon Queen she usually was.
Leon knew very well that she loved their daughters too.
There was no doubt about that.
Before the next round of testing began, Leon still could not help asking,
"Losweiser."
"Yeah?"
"That question about disappointment earlier... was that your real answer?"
Losweiser turned to look at Leon. Meeting his gaze, she replied firmly and decisively, "Yes."
Before you continue