This is bad.

My family.

Waking up to a pink-haired beauty, who looks about the same age as me, claiming to be my youngest daughter?

If I calculate that right, that means I would’ve had Aurora when I was just a year or two old?

Even though General Leon was tough enough to single-handedly take down the neighbor’s rabid dog at five, he wasn’t so powerful that he could father children before turning ten.

The campfire crackled nearby, casting light on Leon’s utterly bewildered face.

Aurora, watching his expression, knew he couldn’t accept this truth so easily. So, for the time being, she suppressed her excitement at reuniting with her father and calmly said:

“If you don’t believe me, you can ask me anything about the Melkwy family.”

Her tone was cool, carrying a detached air that reminded Leon of Rosvisser when they first met.

But Aurora’s voice, besides being cool, had the distinctive, mechanical tone of a ‘researcher,’ like everything was under her control. Even though her heart was in turmoil, her rational mind kept her grounded.

In this situation, the first thing to do was to earn Leon’s trust, then slowly help him adjust to this world that was both familiar and unfamiliar to him now.

Leon snapped out of his shock just a little.

It was hard for him to immediately believe the woman in front of him was really Aurora, but her suggestion wasn’t unreasonable.

So, for now, he decided to ask a few questions to test her.

After thinking for a moment, Leon asked, “When’s Rosvisser’s birthday?”

“October 25th, she’s a Scorpio.”

“Noa’s birthday?”

“February 16th, Aquarius.”

“And Moon’s—”

“They’re twins, so they share the same birthday.”

After smoothly answering these questions, Aurora quickly moved on to a rapid-fire response:

“You, Leon Cassmod, born August 5th, Leo, 186 cm tall, 77 kg. You don’t have a favorite food, but you hate eggplants and carrots.”

“Mom’s favorite is oranges, though her favorite thing ever was the orange-flavored ice cream you bought her at the Sky City Theater. She said it was the best ice cream she’s ever had.”

“On her 218th birthday, you made her a gigantic cake with 218 candles on it.”

“You also have a sister named Isa, who’s the Queen of the Red Dragon Clan and our aunt. The first word I ever spoke was ‘Aunt Isa’ because I thought it was funny to watch you and Mom argue every day, so I kept quiet on purpose.”

“Constantine was the only Dragon King whose death date you remembered clearly because that was the day I was born.”

“If you want me to continue, I can list a lot more.”

General Leon listened to her responses, which flowed as naturally as if she were reciting a menu, and found himself stunned once again.

He swallowed and blurted out, “You... you’ve been investigating me!”

Aurora blinked, then sighed helplessly, “I already told you, I’m Aurora. These are just family details, why would I need to investigate you? And besides, these are things no amount of surveillance could uncover.”

“...That’s true.”

As much as it was hard to accept, it seemed more and more likely that this really was Aurora.

What finally convinced Leon, besides her rapid-fire answers, was the undeniable sense of familiarity that only family could bring.

There’s a certain connection between family members that’s hard to explain, a natural bond that makes trust come easily.

Even for someone as cautious as General Leon, he couldn’t find it in himself to doubt the girl in front of him.

But—

“No, no, no, wait. When I entered the spatial rift, Aurora was only four or five months old.”

Leon stretched out his hand, gesturing the size he remembered Aurora being, then widened his arms to measure the girl in front of him. “How did a little nap turn my tiny daughter into a 170 cm tall glasses-wearing woman?”

Dragon genes are impressive—Noa could handle lightning magic at two years old.

But no matter how powerful, it shouldn’t be possible for a cute baby dragon to grow into a tall, bespectacled woman overnight.

Aurora raised her well-shaped brows. “A nap? That nap of yours sure lasted a while.”

“A while? How... how long?”

Aurora propped her chin on her hand, extended two fingers, and held them up to her father.

“Two days?”

She shook her head.

“Two years?”

Another shake.

Leon’s mouth twitched. “T-twenty years...?”

“Correct~”

Aurora clasped her hands together and smiled with her eyes closed, almost like she was celebrating her father for guessing correctly, though her voice remained cool and indifferent. “To be exact, it’s been twenty years, four months, and eight days.”

Dragons, with their long lifespans, usually didn’t bother keeping track of time.

But Aurora had remembered the exact twenty years, down to the day.

Looking at his still-confused father, Aurora continued:

“To be honest, my mind’s a mess right now too. I don’t even know how to handle this.”

“For you, the battle with Star Dragon King Stah and sealing the rift happened just yesterday.”

“But for me, it’s been twenty years.”

Aurora let out a long sigh, closing her eyes as she rubbed her temples. “So, I... ugh.”

After the brief conversation with Leon, the emotions Aurora had been holding back were starting to slip.

For her, her father had been gone in the spatial rift for twenty years. His sudden reappearance left her unsure how to react.

Her heart was a chaotic mix of feelings, but the most prominent one was a sense of relief that she finally had someone to rely on.

When Leon disappeared to seal the rift, she had only been a few months old.

But even so, Leon had left a strong impression on her:

Gentle, strong, with a deep sense of responsibility.

It had always seemed like, as long as he was there, any problem could be solved.

So, even though two decades had passed, the moment Aurora saw Leon again, the weight on her heart that had been there for twenty years finally lifted a little.

But after that relief came an overwhelming silence.

Aurora knew she needed to explain everything that had happened.

But she didn’t know where to start.

She had so much to tell her father, so much to vent about.

She took off her glasses, wiped her eyes clumsily, sniffled a bit, and put her glasses back on.

Leon pursed his lips. He could see how overwhelmed and conflicted Aurora was.

Even though he wanted to know more about these “twenty years,” he decided to comfort his daughter first.

He glanced at Aurora’s glasses and asked, “You... you’re nearsighted?”

As a father, of course, he cared about his daughter’s health.

Aurora nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been nearsighted for a long time. I read too many books.”

Leon thoughtfully nodded, glancing at Aurora’s lab coat. He remembered what she had once told him about her dreams.

“You told me when you were little that you wanted to be a scholar or a scientist. So now... have you achieved your dream?”

“Sort of...”

“Sort of?”

“Yeah, because what I research can’t be made public. It’ll never get official academic recognition from the dragons.”

Leon blinked. “So what exactly are you researching?”

Aurora didn’t answer, instead asking an unrelated question, “When did you regain consciousness?”

“Today.”

Aurora’s gaze lowered, and she muttered softly, “Today... so that means there are six months left.”