"Where did you find it?", Rossweise asked.
"Under the bed."
"It's… Luna's?"
Leon shook his head. Memories surged into his mind. He gently stroked the wooden box and said softly, "It's Noah's. Before I returned from the future, Noah burned this wooden box."
Rossweise raised her eyebrows, "Why?"
"She said... this box contained things that held extraordinary meaning to her, but when tragedy struck, those things that should have been a source of longing turned into torment. If I hadn't managed to change the past and set the world back on track, then keeping this box would have been meaningless."
Leon said, "This Rubik's cube was something I made for her and Luna a long time ago; this note had her name, I wrote it while teaching Luna to write names; and this essay, she wrote it based on our first date to Sky City. She even won a prize for it."
Noah had one personality trait that was quite similar to Rossweise. On the surface, she seemed indifferent to everything, with a cold and aloof attitude toward the world.
But in reality, both of them had very delicate minds, carefully guarding anything they cherished.
In the finer details, they both strove for perfection.
Just like how she kept this Rubik's cube for so long, this note for so long, and the essay that carried that beautiful memory between him and Rossweise.
"That child… cares about this family more than we thought," Rossweise said with a smile.
"Mm…"
Compared to her peers, Noah was indeed more mature. She thought about a lot more with her little head.
At the same time, that made her inner journey much harder than other young dragons.
Whether it was in the future or the present, Noah was always the most sensible one.
When it came to fatherly love, Leon gave each daughter the same amount. He loved every child and regarded them as the apple of his eye;
But when it came to guilt, the one he felt he owed the most… was still Noah.
It was because he hadn't handled his relationship with Noah well in the beginning that made this sensitive child feel like her family was on the brink of collapse, constantly pushing herself to work hard so that she would have the ability to protect this family.
That stubborn and awkward personality, like him, and like Rossweise.
"Hmm? What's this shard?", Rossweise pointed to the black crystal fragment and asked.
"I'm not quite sure either," Leon picked up the shard and examined it carefully, "I saw this piece in her box when I was in the future, but I didn't have the chance to ask before our eldest daughter set the whole thing ablaze. Judging from that, her proficiency with fire-element magic must be really high."
Rossweise chuckled, "So… now do you see what it is?"
Leon frowned slightly, "Very familiar, the texture and the feel are both very familiar…"
He thought carefully, then suddenly, as if a realization struck him—
"Damn… no way…"
"What?"
Leon slowly turned to look at Rossweise, his expression filled with disbelief.
"This is… a fragment of the Blackgold Chariot."
"How would Noah have a fragment of the Blackgold Chariot?"
Leon was momentarily stumped.
In the Silver Dragon Sanctuary, the only one who knew about his human identity was Rossweise.
And the key piece of evidence that could prove he was human was his Blackgold Chariot.
Back then, General Leon wearing the Blackgold Chariot left no dragons alive in his path.
During his service with the Dragon Slayer Corps, he was either slaying dragons or on his way to slay dragons.
And his most constant companion, aside from a few teammates like Rebecca, was this powerful enchanted armor.
The dragons who barely survived his assaults never knew his name, but they all, tacitly, gave him the same nickname:
The man in black armor.
Though a bit long, most dragons would tremble upon hearing that nickname.
During the years when Leon had the highest dragon-slaying efficiency, he had once become a nightmare for the entire dragon race, and the Blackgold Chariot had left an indelible mark on them.
That's also why, during his previous encounters with Constantine and Star, Leon had camouflaged the Chariot with paint.
It wasn't because he feared being recognized by enemies. After all, they already knew his identity when they came after him.
What Leon couldn't afford was being recognized by the silver dragons. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to stay here and gather intelligence.
More importantly, he didn't want his daughters to find out their father was actually a human.
He had analyzed the pros and cons of this many times. No matter how you looked at it, keeping his human identity under wraps was the safest move.
But then why was there a Blackgold Chariot shard in Noah's little wooden box?
"Could it be that Noah already knows your identity?", Rossweise asked worriedly.
Leon had confided his concerns to her. She understood completely and had promised to help keep the secret at all costs.
Because this wasn't just for the sake of letting him continue his work as a "Silver Dragon Prince" gathering intelligence on the Empire's conspiracy, it was also to maintain the family they had worked so hard to build.
Leon stared at the fragment, contemplated briefly, and then slowly shook his head, "I think Noah probably doesn't know I'm human. But…"
"But?"
"But she's definitely already sensed that there's something suspicious about her dad's background," He looked solemn, toying with the shard in his hand.
"A long time ago, when you first took me to the back-mountain warehouse and brought out the Blackgold Chariot, I noticed a crack in the chestplate. If I'm not mistaken, that crack was caused when Victor tried to assassinate me with an enchanted dagger."
The traitor Victor had used a dagger made from polar mammoth ivory for the assassination, something with extremely high enchantment compatibility.
And after enchanting it, at extremely close range, piercing the Blackgold Chariot's chestplate was entirely possible.
However, polar mammoth ivory was extremely rare, and the enchanting process was highly complex, one slip-up could ruin an entire tusk.
So in most cases, these materials were used for jewelry or collectibles, rarely for weapons.
But of course, to assassinate the Empire's former top dragon slayer, wasting a few tusks was nothing.
Unfortunately, it still didn't succeed.
Instead, a few years later, Leon ended up bombing Victor's cherished heart-scale. What a twist of fate.
Rossweise recalled and said, "After that battle a few years ago, when we cleaned the battlefield, we recovered your Blackgold Chariot, which probably included this shard. But I didn't personally check it, only came to look... afterward."
The couple exchanged glances, and then simultaneously blushed and looked away.
They both knew what Rossweise meant by "afterward."
Blood Charm.
The beginning of everything.
Looking back on it always felt absurdly tragic and heroic all at once.
"When you came to look, did you notice this shard?", Leon asked.
Rossweise shook her head, "No... I didn't really pay attention."
"Wow, sis, such a shiny fragment and you didn't notice?"
Rossweise rolled her eyes, "All I was thinking about back then was how I was going to torture you after you woke up. Keeping your Blackgold Chariot intact was already me doing you a huge favor, okay? Who cares about some tiny shard..."
[Note: Actually, this wasn't just an excuse from Rossweise. The shard really was quite small. A crack caused by an assassination dagger wouldn't be very big. It's all about depth, not width, as long as it shatters the target's heart, that's enough.]
"Did you ever bring Noah there later?"
"No, I never took her there."
Rossweise said, "That's the key evidence exposing your lowly human identity, how could I bring our daughter there?"
Leon's face darkened, "Can you drop the adjective before 'human identity,' please?"
"I'm just channeling how I felt about you back then. I totally hated you at the time."
"And I was in a coma for two whole years. During that time, you didn't smother me with a pillow in my sleep, so really, thank you, Your Majesty."
"You're welcome, it was my duty."
Leon smiled and waved it off. After a few teasing exchanges, the topic returned to the Blackgold Chariot fragment.
"So… this shard ended up in Noah's hands without your knowledge, and she's never mentioned it all these years."
Leon's thoughts stirred. He continued, "In the future, Noah said this box held her most precious memories, so this shard must be one of them. Judging by the timeline, she would have obtained the shard during the two years I was in a coma."
"To be more precise, subtract ten months of pregnancy and three to four months of infant development… That means she got it about one year before I woke up. Right?"
Rossweise followed Leon's reasoning and nodded, "Right. It should've been around that time."
This conclusion only reinforced Leon's earlier thought, that Noah had long suspected something about her father's origins.
But from then until now, a full four years, Noah never brought it up.
Why?
Given that child's capacity for thought, there's no way she wouldn't be curious about the shard.
So… either Noah had already uncovered enough secrets and didn't need to delve further into the shard—
Or...
She was helping Rossweise and Leon guard this secret.
Without consulting them, without knowing the full history between her parents, Noah realized that if she ever dug out the truth, it might change her family.
Maybe even her future, and her sisters' futures.
So, the child chose her own way to keep the secret while not letting the truth drift too far.
Between the two possibilities, Leon leaned more toward… the latter.
He examined the shard in his hand. Sunlight glinted off it, dazzling and bright.
After a moment, Leon placed the shard back in the box and pushed it under the bed.
"So… what are you planning?", Rossweise asked softly, "Are you going to test Noah, see how much she knows, or…?"
"Test her…", Leon shook his head, "No need."
"And our eldest daughter is smart, Rossweise. The moment we try to probe, she'll sense it immediately."
"At that point, no matter how much she knows about me, there'll be a crack in our relationship… I don't want that."
"So for now… let's keep things as they are."
"Mm… that's fine."
The Queen let out a relieved breath and slowly said, "Actually, Noah really cares about this family, and she cares about us, and Luna, and Little Light. That kind of care can't be faked. So without a doubt, she loves us."
"Maybe we're overthinking it? No matter how she got the shard, Noah never chose to confront us, Leon. She's very thoughtful, isn't she?"
Leon nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Such a thoughtful child…"
Rossweise raised an eyebrow, thinking he was about to say, "There aren't many kids this thoughtful."
But this damn man never failed to leave her speechless.
"Such a thoughtful child, just like me."
The Queen's mouth nearly twisted into the sky, "Like you? Like you fighting hounds at five, breaking stones on your chest at seven? Or like you playing dumb and being a stubborn idiot?"
"Nonsense, how could I ever let my precious daughter break stones on her chest? Only my pervy old master would pull stunts like that."
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