Chapter 157: Hedgehog Couple

"Maybe Mommy isn't feeling well today, so she didn't talk much."

Leon rubbed Luna's little head, "Daddy promises you, by tomorrow morning, Daddy and Mommy will be just like before."

'Hopefully, I can appease that mother dragon within twenty-four hours,' Leon silently prayed.

Luna blinked her beautiful big eyes, wrapped her arms around Leon's neck, and spoke seriously.

"Daddy."

"Hm?"

"Luna thinks you and Mommy are like two hedgehogs," Luna's face was full of seriousness.

Hearing this, Leon froze on the spot.

'What kind of strange analogy is this?'

How were the two of them like hedgehogs?

"Why do you say that?", Leon asked.

"You and Mommy both have spikes on the outside, but you're soft on the inside."

"Uh… interesting, hmm."

Leon didn't know how to evaluate a child's strange metaphor, so he could only say, "Interesting."

However, Luna's next words unexpectedly touched Leon's heart.

"If neither of you puts away your spikes, you'll never be able to give each other a real hug. Either you'll hurt Mommy, or Mommy will hurt you."

Luna used the simplest childlike words to explain something that even Leon had never thought of.

"So, only if you both put away your spikes at the same time can Daddy and Mommy hug each other, right?"

Leon was stunned, speechless for a moment.

He and Rossweise had already tried their best to appear loving and harmonious in front of Luna and Noah, yet in Luna's heart, did she still see them as a pair of hedgehogs?

Leon had overlooked something quite interesting—children's hearts were pure and untainted, allowing them to perceive the most genuine emotions.

Those emotions couldn't be faked. No matter how well they pretended, there would always be flaws that only children could notice.

Leon didn't know how his daughters truly saw them as a couple.

But clearly, it wasn't what he and Rossweise thought.

They had underestimated their daughters and had oversimplified this grand game of playing house.

Leon held Luna in his arms, stayed silent for a long time, then finally let out a slow breath, "Mm, Daddy knows what to do now. Thank you, Luna."

Hearing Leon say this, Luna's serious little face finally broke into a smile, "You're welcome, Daddy!"

"But where did you learn such a strange metaphor? Daddy doesn't remember teaching you that."

"From Young Dragon's Enlightening Stories, the chapter The Hedgehog Couple," Luna answered earnestly.

It sounded like one of those short reading passages from an elementary school textbook.

Yet the simplest stories often contained the most profound truths.

Truths so complex that adults couldn't understand them, only children could grasp their hidden wisdom.

'Thank you to the author of Young Dragon's Enlightening Stories, and thank you, Hedgehog Couple!'

After sorting out his emotions, Leon and Luna began their lesson for the day.

———

At midnight, the man beside her was already fast asleep. Rossweise slowly sat up, lifted the blanket, and carefully got out of bed.

Dressed in pink couple's pajamas, she slipped on her dragon-wing slippers and tiptoed out of the bedroom.

With winter approaching, the temperature outside was a bit chilly. Rossweise pulled her pajamas tighter around her, bypassed the guards at the temple's back door, and quietly slipped into the nearby bushes.

She looked up, confirming that her bedroom balcony was directly above, then lowered her head and started searching for something.

That photo.

The reason she had been sulking wasn't entirely because of Leon.

A part of it was because of herself.

'Why am I so stubborn?'

'Why do I care so much about saving face?'

'If back then, I had softened just a little and told Leon, I just want to keep this photo, what's it to you?'

'Wouldn't I have been able to keep the photo without any issues?'

'Why do I have to sneak out in the dark to find it now?'

Sigh. Acting tsundere feels great in the moment, but staying tsundere forever leads straight to disaster.

She had made her bed, now she had to lie in it.

'Once I find the photo, I need to hide it somewhere he'll never find it!', Rossweise thought to herself.

But it had been over twenty hours since she, in a fit of rage, had thrown the photo away. A small breeze had even blown through during that time—who knew where it had ended up?

And now it was nighttime, making it nearly impossible to see anything on the ground.

After searching for about twenty minutes, Rossweise still hadn't even caught a glimpse of the photo.

Feeling a bit defeated, she squatted down, wrapped her arms around her knees, and buried her face in her arms.

The cold air surrounded her, and her silver tail drooped weakly onto the ground beneath her.

That photo had been a candid shot, a one-of-a-kind moment in the world. If she lost it… she would never find it again.

She didn't even know why she cared so much about that photo.

At first, she simply hadn't known what to do with it. But as the days passed, it seemed to take on a new meaning for her.

Something she couldn't quite explain.

Perhaps, only by finding it would she be able to figure it out.

'But… it is probably lost forever—'

"Are you looking for this?", A familiar voice sounded beside her.

Rossweise's body stiffened, and she slowly lifted her face from her arms.

The very photo she had been searching for so desperately was now right in front of her.

In the picture, she and her captive were gazing into each other's eyes, smiling.

Sunlight streamed through the photography studio's window, casting a glow on her silver hair and reflecting in that man's deep black eyes, making them shine brilliantly.

The man beside her also squatted down, sitting next to her.

Holding the photo between his fingers, he placed it in their line of sight, "Picked it up while training with Luna today. And listen, I just happened to find it, okay? I wasn't like you, deliberately looking for it."

Rossweise suppressed a smile at the corners of her lips, "I wasn't deliberately looking for it either. I was just… taking a walk."

"Oh? Your Majesty, you took a walk all the way into the bushes? Did you get lost?"

"Go to hell," Rossweise bumped Leon's shoulder.

Since they were both squatting, it was hard to maintain balance, and Leon fell right onto his butt.

He simply sat cross-legged on the ground, looking down at the photo in his hands, "Hey, you know what Luna said about you?"

"What did she say?"

"She said you're like a hedgehog."

The queen's eyes flickered, and she let out a small snort, "Don't try to fool me. Luna definitely said it was about both of us."

"Haha, wife, you're so smart."

"Shut up. Who's your wife?"

Rossweise stood up and kicked Leon's butt before heading straight for the temple's entrance without looking back.

Leon immediately scrambled to his feet and jogged after her.

The backdoor guards, seeing their queen and prince consort returning in matching pajamas in the middle of the night, momentarily wondered if their eyes were playing tricks on them.

"Your Majesty, Prince Consort, good evening!", the guard greeted.

Rossweise nodded slightly, "Mm."

As Leon passed by, he patted the guard's shoulder, "Mm, we were here to check on you. Good job, promotion tomorrow."

Oh? Checking on the guards in couple's pajamas?

The guard straightened his posture, "Thank you, Your Highness!"

The couple entered the bedroom one after the other.

"Where are you putting the photo?", Leon asked.

"Wherever you want," Rossweise climbed into bed.

"Tch, good intentions taken as donkey liver and lungs. If you don't care, then I won't care either."

Leon casually tossed the photo onto the nightstand and got into bed as well.

Leon casually tossed the photo he had worked so hard to retrieve during the day onto the bedside table and then climbed into bed as well.

That night, the couple actually slept quite soundly.

.

.

.

The next morning

Leon slowly woke up.

Rossweise was already at the dressing table, getting ready.

He sat up slowly, his gaze drifting toward the bedside table.

There, the photo of him and Rossweise had already been placed in an exquisite photo frame and set beside their family portrait of four.

———

Noah's winter break had arrived.

Leon had previously promised her that he would teach her some advanced lightning magic during the break.

Because of this, Leon had to speed up the process of solving his mana exhaustion problem.

Although he still hadn't found the true cause even now, over the past month, Leon had managed to pull off a brilliant act of "diverting attention and deceiving the heavens," successfully tricking his own body and storing a good amount of mana in his dragon markings.

With this stored mana, demonstrating or teaching Noah was more than manageable.

Of course, the reason Leon was able to save up so much mana in just over a month was also thanks to that dragoness.

Ever since that night with the photo, their relationship had eased up a little—

At the very least, it was no longer a brutal cycle of "one disagreement, one round of mating; constant disagreements, mating every day."

However, Leon figured this had a lot to do with Rossweise's gradually growing baby bump and the fact that she hadn't come up with any new tricks for now.

But regardless of the reason, saving up mana was a good thing.

If Rossweise ever got into a particularly dominant mood again and felt the urge to relive the joys of turning in assignments, Leon was determined to make sure that dragoness wouldn't leave unscathed.

'With this much lightning-element mana, if I don't zap your tail numb, I might as well admit defeat.'

———

[Winter]

A fresh snowfall had draped the entire Silver Dragon Sanctuary in a layer of white.

In the training grounds, Luna wore pink dragon-claw earmuffs and thick gloves, pushing a massive snowball that was completely disproportionate to her small frame.

Daddy said that freshly fallen snow had the best stickiness, making it the top choice for building snowmen. So if she wanted to make a perfectly round, standard snowman, now was the best time.

The little dragon girl had already finished the lower half of the snowman and was now working hard on building the upper half.

After teaching his younger daughter how to make a snowman, Leon turned to start teaching his elder daughter advanced lightning magic techniques.

"Noah, first tell me about your learning progress at the academy."

That way, Leon could determine where to begin.

If the lesson was too basic, Noah might have already learned it at the academy, making it a waste of time.

But if the lesson was too advanced, even with Noah's intelligence, she might find it overwhelming, which wouldn't be effective for learning.

═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═

patreon.com/ZenonTL

🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.