Dragon Queen and Dragon Slayer

It was as if a bomb buried for over twenty years had finally been detonated.

And Leon's ability to accept things was considered relatively strong. As for Rebecca behind him, if Rossweise weren't holding her up, she would have already fainted by now.

"So, do you now understand why your master insisted on coming to the Sea Dragon Clan at the end of his life?"

Claudia said, "He knew how severe his injuries were, so he just wanted to see Charlotte one last time before leaving this world."

"One last time…"

Claudia patted Leon on the shoulder, "I know about your plan to resist the Empire. This is a revolution, Leon. Revolution always comes with sacrifice."

Leon couldn't hear anything anymore.

He was like a puppet whose strings had been cut, dragging heavy steps over to Charlotte, gently wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

Master's wife had nearly cried herself into a tearful mess. She tightly held her husband's hand, unwilling to let go.

"Leon… Did Rebecca give you that memory stone…"

Having seen his wife, fulfilling his final wish, Tiger wanted to take the last few minutes to chat with his disciple.

"She gave it to me… Master."

"Mm… Inside is key evidence exposing the Empire's conspiracy. Be sure to use it well. It can help clear your name…"

"I understand… Master…"

"How's the Silver Dragon King recently…"

"We're doing—"

"And the granddaughters… The elder sisters should be five years old by now. And little Little is already three…"

"M-Master?"

"Why aren't you talking anymore? I'm the only one talking here… makes me seem so boring, haha…"

He could no longer hear.

The old, clouded pupils began to blur.

"Kid… If you get the chance, be sure to bring your master's wife to meet them… tell them… their grandpa was actually pretty amazing…"

"Really want… really want to hug them once—"

"Unfortunately… it seems like there won't be a chance."

He looked upward with his fading eyes, as if summoned by some kind of force, but continued muttering,

"This life of mine is coming to an end just like this. Though I didn't achieve anything grand, at least… I'm satisfied."

"When I was young, I served in the Dragon-Slaying Army, constantly at war, never settled anywhere."

"When I retired, I was already past the age of dating and marriage."

"If I hadn't met your master's wife, this old man probably would've stayed a bachelor his whole life."

"I once thought being a wanderer was my final destination, but I didn't expect… my true destination was you, Charlotte."

"It's just that… your family hasn't really approved of our marriage since more than ten years ago…"

"But we still made it through half our lives hand in hand. At the end of mine, I'm glad you're by my side, Charlotte."

"I remember—cough cough—remember a novel, there was a line that seemed to describe our experience and ending."

'The roaming dragon must return to the sea… the sea does not welcome me… Jiraiya—'

His hand slid from Charlotte's cheek. In his final moment, he had still tried to wipe away the tears at the corners of her eyes.

"Tiger?… Tiger! Tiger!!"

"Master… Master!"

"Dad!"

Rebecca threw herself onto Tiger's arm and burst into heart-wrenching sobs.

Charlotte's tears seemed already drained. She leaned powerlessly into Leon's arms, a crushing despair and helplessness instantly flooding her mind and body.

And the last sentence from Master continued to echo in Leon's ears.

The roaming dragon returns to the sea…

A drifter who should have wandered all his life, finally found support and a home, and when death came, he accepted it calmly.

Tiger Lawrence… this former dragon slayer… ended up dying at the hands of the country he once swore loyalty to.

How can one… accept that…

"I want to save him."

At the moment when despair engulfed everyone, Charlotte's firm and resolute voice was like a blade, piercing through the gloom, parting the clouds to reveal the sun.

"His heart has already been completely destroyed, Charlotte. Even Nether Lotus Grass has no effect."

Claudia said, "I—"

"I want to save him."

Charlotte quickly walked in front of Claudia, staring directly into her sister's eyes.

"His heart is destroyed, right?"

"Mm…"

"I have a way. I can use my Heart-Protecting Dragon Scale!"

'Heart-Protecting Dragon Scale?'

Hearing that term, Leon looked at Master's wife in astonishment.

He only knew that it was the "insurance switch" of dragon power, at a critical moment, it could protect a dragon from death.

And to condense a complete Heart-Protecting Dragon Scale, it took at least two hundred years.

In the future timeline, it was precisely because Rossweise didn't have her dragon scale on her that she fell into a long coma after sacrificing herself in a desperate strike.

Which showed how important this item was to dragons.

But Leon didn't know… the Heart-Protecting Dragon Scale could… actually save a life?

"No, Charlotte. If you give him your dragon scale, what about you?"

"I don't care. I must save him."

"Charlotte!"

"Four hundred years!"

Leon had rarely seen Master's wife truly angry, but this time, she really was furious.

"Sister, for four hundred years, I've always listened to you, listened to Father. Marrying Tiger was the only decision I made for myself. Because of that, I didn't go home for thirty years."

"And… and it was Tiger who saved my life back then. Now it's my turn to save him. What's wrong with that?"

"Besides… don't I even have the right to rebel twice in four hundred years of life?"

"Charlotte…"

"Let me do it, Sister… please."

Claudia's expression changed from anger to calm, and then finally to helplessness.

She closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

"Do as you wish. I really can't control you. Everyone else, out. Leave Charlotte alone in here."

Claudia led the others out of the chamber.

Charlotte slowly walked up to the ice bed, looked at her husband, and softly said, "I won't let you just leave me like this, Tiger."

———

"Looks like it's up to me to clear up the doubts in your hearts."

Outside the chamber, Claudia crossed her arms over her chest, leaned against the wall, and began to speak slowly.

"Thirty years ago, the war between the Empire and the Dragon Clan reached a white-hot phase."

"At that time, our Sea Dragon Clan hadn't chosen seclusion yet, so we were also forced to join the war."

"One day, after a battle where both sides suffered heavy losses, because it was our territory, our rescue team arrived first and began searching for survivors."

"Charlotte isn't a combat-type dragon, but she has significant achievements in healing magic. She thought this mission was just to treat the wounded, so she volunteered to join the rescue team by asking Father."

"Father approved."

"But reality turned out completely different from what Charlotte expected."

"The rescue team's mission wasn't only to retrieve wounded soldiers in time but also to eliminate any surviving enemy stragglers on the battlefield."

"Charlotte had never killed anyone before, such a thing was incredibly difficult for her."

"So she buried her head in treating the wounded, hoping to finish her task quickly and return."

"However, what must be faced still came to her."

"She encountered a dying dragon slayer, lying in a sea of blood and corpses. It seemed he was injured while protecting a comrade, though the comrade had ultimately died."

"Maybe you've guessed, this severely wounded dragon slayer was your master."

"That was their first encounter."

"As for the outcome, it shouldn't be hard to guess either? My little sister let him go."

"That should've been the end of it. The two of them shouldn't have had further contact."

"Until…"

At this point, Claudia's tone grew more solemn.

"The Empire began collecting our dragons' Heart-Protecting Dragon Scales."

"And Charlotte… was one of their targets."

"She wasn't good at fighting, and after falling into the Empire's hands, she had no strength to resist."

"Many other dragons were captured along with her, all stripped of the ability to fight. The Empire's transport team planned to take them back to the capital and then extract their Heart-Protecting Dragon Scales."

"At the same time, after many battles, Tiger gradually noticed some clues and dark sides of the war."

"But he couldn't confirm what the conspiracy was. On one side was the blazing war, on the other was inner justice, these two clashed in Tiger's heart, creating conflict."

"In the end, he chose to leave the Dragon-Slaying Army and planned to retire."

"But at that time, with frequent battles and a shortage of manpower, the Empire forcibly assigned him to the transport team. And that's what led to his second encounter with Charlotte."

"To repay the previous life-saving grace, Tiger secretly released Charlotte. To avoid pursuit from the Empire, he hid her in his own home."

Claudia sighed and continued, "Like all cliché love stories, they soon fell in love."

"But since there had never been a precedent for human-dragon marriages, they never dared to have children, so they adopted one from the orphanage."

"Yeah, that's you, Leon."

After a brief pause, Claudia looked up at Leon and Rossweise, staring at the couple for a moment. She snorted with laughter and shook her head.

"Your master and master's wife didn't dare have kids for thirty years, and you two… popped out three in five years."

Honestly, Claudia really admired this pair. The young people didn't just go wild, they were bold too.

Have kids? Sure. Not even a blink.

The couple blushed from Claudia's teasing.

Rossweise turned her head in embarrassment and said nothing.

Leon scratched his forehead, "That was actually a… beautiful accident."

"Heh… life is full of accidents."

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