Chapter 118: Comfortable

They returned to the Silver Dragon Sanctuary before dinner. As soon as they heard noises in the courtyard, Muen hurriedly ran out, bouncing on her small legs, and then eagerly stuck to her sister. They did this every week and never got tired of it.

Rosvitha had explained before that because most dragon clans were only children, once they had siblings, they cherished and relied on each other greatly.

Thinking for a moment, Leon suddenly asked, “Did you behave like this with Isabella when you were younger? It’s hard to imagine you begging for kisses from your sister.”

Rosvitha kicked him suddenly.

Back to the story.

Although Noia didn’t win a specific rank in this essay competition, everyone understood that the champion was still the champion—

The Champion of the Void was still the champion.

Moreover, this was acknowledged by the Headmaster himself! So, it was still worth celebrating.

At the lavish dinner table, Muen read her sister’s essay from beginning to end several times.

Then, shaking her fluffy head, she pointed to the content and asked Noia, “Sister, why is the word ‘sister’ mentioned so few times in your essay? Why! Do you not love Muen anymore?”

Noia didn’t answer directly; instead, she handed her sister a chicken leg, stuffing it into Muen’s mouth. “What do you think?”

Muen’s taste buds, along with the part of her brain responsible for jealousy, were instantly conquered by the delicious aroma of the chicken leg.

She put down the essay, nodded repeatedly, and mumbled with her mouth full, “Sister loves Muen! Everything is in the chicken leg!”

Noia ruffled her sister’s fluffy head and then took back her essay, setting it aside. This dinner was enjoyed joyfully.

After finishing their meal, Noia took Muen back to their room. Muen, feeling a bit stuffed from eating too many chicken legs, sprawled out on the bed in a “big” shape, slowly digesting.

Meanwhile, Noia quietly retrieved her small wooden box from under the bed.

Looking at the faint layer of dust on the wooden box, Noia felt a sense of emotion. It seemed like she hadn’t put anything in there for a long time.

A child surrounded by love wouldn’t have the spare energy to try to prove that they are loved.

Noia blew off the dust on the box and then opened it. Inside was still a piece of black metal shard, a note with her name written on it, and a handmade simple Rubik’s cube.

She rearranged the items inside, making space, and then carefully placed her essay inside. Satisfied with the arrangement, Noia locked the wooden box and pushed it back under the bed.

As she got up, she heard Muen humming on the bed, “Sister… Muen’s tummy hurts~”

“You lie down right after eating so much, of course, you’ll feel uncomfortable.”

Noia pulled her sister’s wrist, “Come on, let’s go for a walk outside, take a couple of rounds, and then come back.”

Muen wriggled on the bed for a moment and then slid off, put on her shoes, and followed Noia hand in hand to the courtyard behind the sanctuary.

Meanwhile, Leon and Rosvitha were cleaning up the battleground after dinner. It was the same old routine: he scrubbed, she rinsed.

Leon might write an autobiography one day, and when someone asked him how he managed to get through the days when he was captured by the Silver Dragon Queen, he would say, “By washing dishes.”

In prison, you had to sew, but being captured only required washing dishes. In hindsight, being captured seemed more comfortable. Leon shook his head, stopping his wandering thoughts.

“Did you put away the pen Noia gave you?” Leon found a topic.

“Yeah, why? Regretting it and want to take it back?” Rosvitha teased.

Leon chuckled, “Am I as petty as you? Besides, you heard what our daughter said, she listened to her dad and gave the gift to her mom.”

Leon leaned closer to Rosvitha, proudly repeating, “She listened to her dad~”

Rosvitha lifted her hand, wet with water, and flicked some droplets onto Leon’s face. Leon instinctively recoiled and hastily wiped his face, “See, you can’t deny you’re petty.”

Rosvitha glanced at him. “Idiot, get back to work.”

“But speaking of gifts…” Leon calculated the days. “Isn’t next Tuesday your birthday?”

During their last date, they had encountered a fortune-teller named Afu.

In the first round of calculations, they discussed zodiac fortunes, and Rosvitha had mentioned her birthday was on the twenty-fifth of October.

Leon wasn’t particularly concerned about Rosvitha’s birthday at this moment.

He just wanted to confirm, so that on the day of her “birthday,” when the entire Silver Dragon Sanctuary was busy, he wouldn’t be clueless about it, which could be detrimental to their fake family bond.

Rosvitha’s mind stirred slightly. Indeed, next Tuesday was the day she was born. However, it wasn’t her “birthday.” The way dragons celebrate birthdays is a bit different from humans.

Because dragons have extremely long lifespans, if they were celebrated every year, they would be celebrated hundreds or even thousands of times in their lifetime, which would become tiresome.

So, before reaching adulthood, dragons celebrate once a year, and after reaching adulthood, they celebrate once every ten years.

By the way, it’s worth mentioning that in dragon culture, reaching adulthood isn’t at eighteen like humans, but at twenty.

Dragons who are twenty years old have acquired enough physical fitness, logical thinking, and mastery of magic, fully prepared to embark on their long lives.

Rosvitha did a quick calculation. Next Tuesday, she will be two hundred and eighteen years old, with two more years until her next birthday.

She glanced at Leon and decided not to tell him about the once-in-ten-years birthday tradition. Because she wanted to… mess with his mindset.

“Yeah, it’s my birthday, so what? Are you going to give me a gift?” Rosvitha asked.

“I will gift you with a distance of a thousand miles. How does that sound?” Leon replied.

“Hmph, you dog of a man, if you’re not giving a gift, don’t mention it.” Rosvitha pouted.

Leon shrugged, unfazed. After all, there’s no tradition since ancient times where captives give birthday gifts to their captors, right?

“But since you’re not giving a gift… at least you should show some other kind of gesture, right?” Rosvitha asked again.

Leon blinked. “What… gesture?”

Rosvitha pretended to think for a moment, then had a sudden idea. “You can… organize my birthday this year.”

Leon was taken aback, pointing to himself. “Huh? Me?”

Rosvitha nodded.

“With so many people in the Silver Dragon Sanctuary and you being the queen yourself, surely there will be a lot of people lining up to celebrate your birthday. Do you really need me to organize it for you?” He resisted.

This refusal indicated that organizing a birthday party would make him feel troubled and uncomfortable.

Fine. As long as you’re uncomfortable, then I’m comfortable. That’s how the Silver Dragon Queen thought.

“Why not?” Rosvitha set down the plate in her hand, put her hands on her hips, and turned to face Leon. “Last year, you were still in a coma on your birthday, and the kids were too young. They were clamoring for you to wake up, and the birthday was utterly meaningless. Now that you’re awake this year, don’t you think you should make it up to us?”

“Hey, you—”

Rosvitha interrupted Leon’s prelude to a protest, speaking confidently, “Moreover, to put it nicely, as a model husband of a family, isn’t it quite normal to celebrate your wife’s birthday? Don’t you want others to think our relationship is harmonious?”

“…” Leon was speechless, but he pondered Rosvitha’s words and caught onto a key phrase—’to put it nicely’.

So he curiously asked, “What about if we put it not so nicely?”

Rosvitha replied without hesitation, “Not so nicely, as a captive, what qualification do you have to negotiate with me? You’ll do whatever I tell you to do.”

Alright, that hit the spot.

Leon thought about why the previous string of words sounded so pitiful, nothing like something Rosvitha would say. Until this last sentence, the familiar formula, the familiar captive.

Seeing Leon’s reaction, Rosvitha felt quite satisfied.

After a few quiet days, Leon sighed and nodded, “Alright, I’ll make it up to you.”

If Rosvitha hadn’t mentioned the daughters just now, Leon might not have agreed so readily. But since she brought that up, Leon couldn’t ignore the feelings of their daughters.

Noia had just written in her essay how genuine her parents’ love was, and she believed they were a loving couple.

How could Leon disappoint his daughter?

But!

Not disappointing his daughter was one thing, but whether he could obediently listen to Rosvitha and organize a birthday party for her was another matter entirely.

He looked at Rosvitha and asked, “So, I’ll give you a human-style birthday. I’m quite good at that.”

Rosvitha shrugged, “Sure, it’s up to you. But if you can’t satisfy me in the end… you’ll have to come up with something else, got it?”

Leon chuckled, raising his hand, “I promise you’ll be satisfied.”

Rosvitha glanced at the hand in front of her, without much hesitation, she extended her hand and clasped it with Leon’s, their palms meeting in agreement.

And thus, the deal was sealed.