She turned her head and saw that the silver-haired beauty had somehow appeared behind her.
Only to see Rossweise gracefully raise her right hand, lift her index finger to her lips in a silencing gesture, then gently smile and say,
"Shh, let them talk business. I'll keep you company to pass the time."
Rebecca's eyes widened slightly.
'Damn, the dignified Silver Dragon Queen actually offered to chat with me to pass the time, what an unexpected honor.'
The few times she'd met Rossweise before, her impression of her was summed up in two words: Cold and Aloof.
But maybe that had something to do with Leon's disappearance.
Now that Leon was back, his wife was in a good mood and willing to chat with Rebecca, seemed pretty normal.
"O-okay, then let's talk over there."
"Mm."
Rossweise and Rebecca went to the side, not disturbing the master and apprentice's serious discussion.
Once seated, the girl and the dragon suddenly fell silent.
Rebecca had never sat this close to the Dragon Queen before.
To say she wasn't feeling any pressure would be a lie.
She could only sneak glances now and then at the beauty beside her, then quickly turn her head away.
To be honest, the captain really had great taste in women, Rossweise's face was perfect from every angle.
So beautiful that even as a fellow girl, Rebecca had to admit she was a top-tier beauty.
And being next to a beauty like that, usually pretty stressful.
Rebecca pursed her lips, rubbed her palms, and looked around.
"How old are you this year?", Rossweise asked softly.
"Ah... I'm twenty-two."
Out of politeness, Rebecca asked back, "What about you?"
"Over two hundred."
"...Mm, nice."
'Captain, didn't expect you to be in a May-December relationship.'
Seeing Rebecca slightly surprised, Rossweise covered her mouth and chuckled.
She actually had a pretty good impression of this human girl.
Leon's loyal comrade, a reliable partner, an excellent gunner. Despite being a young girl, her sense of duty had already surpassed most who claimed to be just.
Especially in the future, when Leon went missing, Tiger retired, and Rossweise was AFK during the catastrophic opening, Rebecca still risked herself to gather intel for Noah.
Just for that willpower and courage alone, Rossweise found her worthy of respect.
Rebecca heard her laughter and asked nervously, "What's so funny…"
"Nothing, I just think you… are very interesting," The queen rested her cheek in one hand, smiling at Rebecca.
Rebecca's pupils flickered.
She remembered, the first time they met, Rossweise had also said before leaving, ("Interesting human girl.")
And every time Rossweise looked at her, there was this feeling… like watching a child.
'What is it, Your Majesty? Planning to adopt me as your goddaughter?'
'Then wouldn't I be a generation below that dog captain?'
'That's absolutely not okay!'
"Have you ever flown?", Rossweise's voice interrupted Rebecca's wandering thoughts.
Rebecca shook her head, "Fly? No, I'm a gunner, I haven't learned flying-type magic."
Rossweise softly said "oh," then asked, "Then… how about I take you out for a spin?"
———
To be honest, this was Rebecca's first time having such close contact with a dragon, and not just any dragon, but the Dragon Queen.
She, like Leon, was trained in the Empire's Dragon Slayer Academy, where they'd been indoctrinated since young with beliefs like "Defeat all evil dragons, reclaim human lands."
Before she knew her captain had married this female dragon under her, Rebecca's mindset had always been that way, thinking all dragons in the world were enemies, and as a dragon slayer, her job was to drive them all out without exception.
But thanks to the captain's various abstract actions, Rebecca had gradually come to understand the dragon race from a different angle.
Although her understanding was still shallow, she had at least realized one truth:
Humans can marry dragons, have kids, and build a good family together.
If someone had told Rebecca in the past that humans and dragons could not only get along but even have three kids, she would've shot that person in the head with her pistol, just to check if their brain was full of glue.
Even now, Rebecca still found it hard to believe she was sitting on the back of the Silver Dragon Queen, soaring freely through the clouds.
"Um… how should I address you?", Rebecca tried to start a conversation.
The Silver Dragon Queen had graciously taken her out for a flight to relieve boredom, she couldn't just sit there like a mute.
Might as well chat, ease the awkward atmosphere a bit.
"Whatever you like, you can call me anything."
Actually, Rossweise used to take the matter of "titles" quite seriously.
Back when Leon first awakened, Noah and Moon both addressed her as "Mother" or "Your Highness."
Which showed how strict the Melkvei family's upbringing was.
But later, as she spent more time with Leon, Rossweise stopped being so rigid and harsh.
Titles, so long as they were appropriate, were fine. As for other matters, she wouldn't be too demanding.
"Emmmmm..."
Rebecca thought for a bit, then a lightbulb lit up over her head.
"Then I'll call you… Sister-in-law!"
As soon as the words fell, the wild girl could clearly feel the giant dragon beneath her tremble slightly.
"S-sister-in-law?", The queen was momentarily speechless, she hadn't expected the girl to come up with that.
"Yup," Rebecca nodded, thinking Rossweise didn't understand the term "sister-in-law," so she carefully explained,
"In human society, your older brother's wife is called sister-in-law, it's also a respectful title. And since the captain is one year older than me, and he married you, that makes you my sister-in-law."
"I know what 'sister-in-law' means, it's just… just…"
"Just what?", Rebecca thought the queen found it beneath her status to be addressed as sister-in-law by a human.
But Rossweise's reply was, "Your captain and I actually… aren't that close. You don't need to call me sister-in-law."
Rebecca's bright green eyes widened, "Not that close to the captain? But you guys have three kids!"
"Having kids doesn't mean we're close…"
Rebecca tilted her head, "Then do you live together?"
"Does sleeping in the same bed count?"
"Of course it counts."
"…Mm, we live together."
Rebecca asked again, "Have you ever held hands?"
"H-held…"
"Kissed?"
"…Rarely."
Rarely, as in, whenever there's a chance, they're all over each other's mouths.
"When was the last time you kissed?"
For some reason, the air stirred by the dragon's wings felt a bit hot.
Rebecca didn't notice, assuming it was the weather.
But if she turned her head slightly, she'd see the queen's wings and tail had turned a little red.
"Last time we kissed… was a long, long time ago. I told you we rarely kiss, how could I remember?"
Rossweise wasn't trying to lie.
She just wasn't ready to be completely honest with Leon's people yet.
Humans still harbored mistrust toward dragons, so dragons naturally couldn't trust humans right away.
Rossweise took Rebecca out for a flight partly because she found the girl likable, interesting, and trustworthy;
And partly to learn more about her.
Rossweise hoped to build a bond of trust with someone like Rebecca.
But before that trust was built… better to control the speed and scale of gossip.
"Oh, so you only kissed a long time ago… then you guys really—"
"Aren't close, right?"
"You're super close, Sister-in-law."
Rebecca smiled and patted the scales on Rossweise's back, "What's so hard to admit?"
"I'm not… not embarrassed."
Before she knew it, she'd accepted being called sister-in-law by Rebecca.
Rebecca also stopped digging into the nature of her relationship with the captain.
After all, the queen had already tacitly agreed to the title "sister-in-law", those who know, know.
"Oh right, there's an old human saying: 'Nothing tastes better than dumplings~'"
"Mm? And then?"
"Nothing looks better than a sister-in-law!"
"..."
"Ah! Finally got to say it, I was holding it in forever."
Rebecca lay on the dragon's back, looking at the blue sky, a relieved smile on her cute face.
"The first time I saw you, I thought you were super pretty, totally different from the dragons we've met before."
"What were the dragons you met before like?"
"Ferocious, looked like they wanted to eat people right away."
"Oh, I eat people too when I'm hungry."
Rebecca: ?
"And I especially like eating quirky, pretty girls like you, one bite and you won't make a sound," Rossweise said with a smile.
Noticing the joking tone in the queen's voice, Rebecca's pounding heart finally calmed down.
She pouted, then continued where they left off—
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