Under the quilt, Leon tentatively moved his hand toward Rossweise's side. Seeing that Rossweise didn't resist, he slowly held her delicate, boneless right hand.
The couple stayed silent for a moment. Then Leon spoke,
"Have you made up your mind, Rossweise?"
"Mm, primordial magic may not be the only method, but it's the most effective one in the short term."
Leon blinked and asked again, "Rossweise, besides protecting our clan and daughters, it seems like you have another reason. What is it? Can you tell me?"
Listening to Leon's question, Rossweise lightly bit her lip, turned her head to look at him, "Do you really want to know?"
Leon also turned his head and met her gaze, "Yeah."
Rustle!
The beauty sat up, her tender skin brushing against the quilt.
She leaned toward Leon, pinched his chin, her fingertips brushing the scars on his face, and looked into his deep black eyes.
"A long time ago, you were constantly gloomy because of what Augus said, worried about losing me and our daughters. That night, I talked to you for a long time, and you finally let go of the knot in your heart."
"But just saying things isn't nearly enough, Leon."
"So I want to use my actions to prove to you that I, like you, care about this family, care about our daughters, and care about…"
Warm breath swept across his face, and a soft, wonderful feeling came from his lips.
She gently kissed the corner of Leon's mouth, "The person I love."
———
Twenty days later, at the border of human and dragon territory, in a mountain stream cave.
Rebecca and Tiger sat on either side of a wooden table.
In front of both of them lay a pile of handgun parts.
The elder and the young faced each other. Then, Rebecca softly said, "Start."
As her words fell, the two simultaneously lowered their heads and began assembling the parts.
Barrel, slide, return mechanism… all kinds of intricate parts quickly rotated and combined in Rebecca's hands. In just ten seconds, she finished assembling the handgun.
Then she raised it and aimed the muzzle at Tiger's forehead.
Looking again at Tiger's hands, his gun assembly wasn't even halfway done.
"You lost again, old man."
"Again, again!"
Rebecca put down the gun, propped her chin with both hands, and smiled at the stubborn old guy across from her, "Still going? Old man, this is already the thirty-fourth time you've lost to me. No matter how many more times, the result will be the same."
The crazy girl had a point.
Tiger sighed, tossed the unassembled gun onto the table, leaned back slightly in his chair, closed his eyes, and rubbed his glabella.
Rebecca picked up the unfinished gun from her dad and slowly assembled it, saying, "Why hasn't the Silver Dragon Queen come yet? It's already the agreed meeting time."
She and her old man had arrived this morning, and now it was close to noon.
With the Silver Dragon clan's speed, they should've arrived by now.
Tiger shook his head, "No idea, maybe something delayed them."
Rebecca's thoughts stirred, and she suddenly thought of something, "Right, didn't the Empire recently try to eliminate the Silver Dragons completely, but then… failed?"
"Mm! Not sure what method the Silver Dragon Queen used to repel the joint invasion of the Empire and other dragon clans."
"Could it have been outside help?"
"The only reliable outside help the Silver Dragons have is Rossweise's older sister, the Red Dragon Queen, Isa. But Isa's side was also caught in war not long ago, probably too busy to care about others."
Rebecca curled her lips, rested her hands behind her head, lifted her legs onto the edge of the wooden table, and leaned back. The front two legs of the chair lifted off the ground, but she still maintained balance with ease.
"If they really wanted to eliminate them completely, they wouldn't give up so easily, right? I still think the Silver Dragon Queen got some outside support," Rebecca said.
"Let's hope so."
Tiger's expression grew grave. He stared at the tabletop, his voice low, "If there really is outside help, who knows if they're powerful enough to bring Leon back."
Rebecca glanced at her old man quietly. She knew just how important the captain was in the old guy's heart.
Though Leon was adopted, the old man had treated him as his own all these years.
Aunt Charlotte doted on the captain even more.
After Leon disappeared, if it weren't for her and Martin holding him back, the old man would've charged the Royal Guard alone with a blade.
Their ragtag group of old, weak, cripple, and shut-ins had already lost a top-tier fighter. If anything else went wrong, they might as well disband.
As for Leon's disappearance, Rebecca's own mood had sunk to rock bottom.
Years ago during the Silver Dragon battle, she'd left Leon behind and escaped back to the Empire with the Dragon-Slaying Army.
But even then, she still held onto a shred of hope in her heart, believing that someone as capable as the captain wouldn't die so easily.
Three years later, Leon did come bouncing back to her, alive and well.
But this time, Leon vanished into a spatial rift.
No body, no news, whether dead or alive, no one knew. No matter how optimistic Rebecca was, how much she believed in Leon, she couldn't convince herself he was still alive.
All they could do now was avenge the captain, crush that damned emperor and the dragon clan's conspiracy completely, and expose everything.
She pulled herself out of her thoughts and let out a breath.
Then she looked at her old man, who was still sulking.
Thinking for a moment, Rebecca said, "Old man, take out your granddaughter's photos, let's take a look."
After the captain left, photos of the little dragon girls had become the old man's only emotional support.
He always looked at them when in a bad mood, it always worked wonders.
Sure enough, Tiger nodded and took a few photos from his chest pocket.
Two of them, one was an already yellowed family portrait, the other was a solo shot of the pink-haired girl.
The rest were pictures Rossweise brought last time they met after Leon disappeared.
Rebecca stood up and walked over to Tiger's side, looking at the girls in the photos.
Though the Silver Dragon clan was constantly at war, judging by their clean little faces and the room backgrounds in the photos, Rossweise was protecting them very well.
"Half-blood baby dragons grow so fast, huh? Compared to the family photo, they've already grown so much," Rebecca said.
"Mm…"
Tiger looked at the granddaughters in the photo, and finally a smile appeared on his weathered face.
Seeing her old man's mood improve a bit, Rebecca continued to tease, "If I get the chance, I want to be their godmother."
Tiger paused, then laughed and asked, "You're only in your twenties and already want to be a mom?"
"Being a godmother doesn't mean I want to be a real mom."
Rebecca picked up a photo of Luna and Aurora hugging each other with their little tails entwined and said, "I get to skip marriage and pregnancy and still have such cute daughters, what's not to love?"
Tiger chuckled, "Then it depends on whether the Silver Dragon Queen agrees to let you be their godmother."
Rebecca opened her mouth, just about to say something.
But then a familiar voice came from the cave entrance, "It's fine, no need to ask her. I agree."
Hearing that, Tiger and Rebecca both froze for a moment.
Recovering slightly, they slowly turned their heads and looked toward the cave entrance.
There stood two figures.
One of them was naturally the Silver Dragon Queen.
And the other…
"C-CAPTAIN!", After a brief moment of mental blankness, Rebecca's eyes turned teary. Shouting as she ran toward Leon.
Seeing this, Leon's heart skipped a beat.
The crazy girl's stance clearly said she was about to give him a long-lost reunion hug.
In the future, she did this too, and Leon had openly returned the old comrade's hug.
But that was when his wife wasn't around.
Right now, Rossweise was standing right beside him.
Even though his relationship with Rebecca was pure and innocent comradeship, hugging another girl in front of Rossweise…
God knows what vinegar-laced punishment the jealous Silver Dragon Queen might dish out later at home.
Rossweise glanced at the man caught in a dilemma, suppressing a smile at the corner of her mouth, and softly said, "Hug her."
"Really?"
"In public, I'll always give my man face."
General Leon's eyes lit up, "You never said I was your man at home."
Rossweise gave him a sideways glance, "Hug or not? If you don't, I'll hug her for you."
Leon immediately stepped forward and gently hugged Rebecca.
Of course, it was just a light embrace, Rebecca also took the chance to wipe her tears on the captain's clothes.
"Captain, I thought you were really done for this time. Our ragtag old-weak-cripple-shut-in combo can't go on without you, Captain!"
"...Why are you always hung up on that B-tier combo of yours?"
Rebecca laughed, wiped away the remaining tears from the corners of her eyes, and said with a grin, "Good thing you still have a conscience and knew to come back. With such a beautiful wife waiting at home, of course you couldn't rest easy fooling around outside."
Leon gave a wry, fake smile, lifted a hand and poked the crazy girl's forehead, "You're really good at small talk, Rebecca."
The familiar sharp-tongued banter, whether now or in the future, Rebecca never changed.
Leon felt comforted by that.
Then, his eyes passed over Rebecca's head and looked at the old man behind her.
"Master…"
"Kid," Tiger stood still, holding the family photo Leon had given him for the first time. Tears welled in his cloudy eyes, "You're finally back."
"Yeah, sorry, Master. I made you and Mistress worry."
Tiger stepped forward and patted Leon's arm, "You're back, that's all that matters."
The two exchanged a few words.
Rebecca keenly noticed a glimpse of silver patterns peeking from under Leon's short sleeve.
She squinted slightly, then pointed at the captain's arm and said, "Old man, your disciple's gone astray again. He even got a tattoo on his arm. Hey, Captain, you're married and have three kids already. How can you still act like a delinquent teenager with a full sleeve? You should set an examp—mmph mmph mmph!"
Leon slapped a hand over Rebecca's little face and pushed her aside.
"Grownups are talking, kids shouldn't interrupt. We'll talk about delinquent stuff later."
"Hey! We haven't seen each other for six months! You don't miss me at all?", Rebecca grumbled, but it felt like someone patted her on the shoulder.
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