Leon saw her like that, thought for a moment, then stepped forward, ignoring the queen's murderous gaze, and boldly plopped down beside her.
Rossweise glared at him, not showing a pleasant face.
But that didn't faze a married man with high emotional intelligence.
Leon lightly pinched Rossweise's tail.
Rossweise gave a symbolic couple of flicks trying to break free, but Leon took the opportunity to directly hold her tail and let it swish onto his own arm.
Then he pretended to look weak and frail, saying in an exaggerated tone, "Aiyo, Your Majesty's tail is so strong! It made this weak little prisoner doubt the meaning of life~"
Rule number one of married life: feign weakness to capture the strong, lure the enemy with softness.
On the surface, Rossweise still held her pose, but in truth, the corners of her mouth were already twitching.
She withdrew her tail, putting on a proper air and said, "Now that you know how powerful this queen is, behave and take your beatings obediently from now on, hear me?"
"Yes yes yes, Your Majesty's lesson is right."
Rule number two of married life: actively admit mistakes, never change even if beaten to death.
"You talk sweet now, but you'll forget it in a blink," Rossweise said with a hint of grievance.
"What are you saying? Everyone knows, I love my wife the most."
Rule number three of married life: rope in outsiders, there's safety in numbers.
Rossweise playfully rolled her eyes at him, "Calling me wife so intimately, anyone who didn't know better would think we're actually married."
'Mm, she's appeased now,' Leon thought.
Female dragons were a little different from regular women.
Regular women, once coaxed properly, would flip instantly, calling "hubby this, hubby that" sweetly until it became nauseating;
But female dragons were different.
When a female dragon said things like "I'm not your wife, we're not married, I don't like you at blah blah blah!", it meant she was truly happy.
Don't ask why. It's experience.
"So, you stormed in just now in a huff, what for?"
Now for the main point.
Rossweise opened her mouth, but hesitated to speak.
She originally wanted to ask Leon, 'Are we in that so-called cooling-off phase? You don't seem that interested in me lately?'
But if she asked that, wouldn't it make her look like she cared a lot about how Leon felt about her?
'If the dog-man caught wind of that, wouldn't he get all smug?'
So she swallowed those words back.
After a brief moment of thought, Rossweise changed her approach, "Lately, it seems like our fake family maintenance plan has run into some trouble."
Leon blinked, "Some trouble? What trouble?"
"It's just... Milan and the others think... think the two of us have gone bland."
"Gone bland? What's bland?"
"...Feelings. The feelings have faded!"
"You always say there are no feelings between us, so how can they fade?"
"We don't have feelings, but in other people's eyes, we do have feelings."
Rossweise explained seriously, "Milan came to me just now, said she feels like we've entered the post-marriage dull phase, said you... said you..."
"Said what about me?"
Rossweise blushed slightly, and also felt a little guilty.
The guilt came from the fact that this was actually a question she wanted to ask, but bound by her "queen persona," she had to wrong poor little Milan instead.
"Said you don't care about me as much as you used to..."
Then Rossweise quickly shifted the topic, "See, doesn't this prove our fake family is starting to show cracks in the eyes of others?"
Leon blinked, thought for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully, "Makes sense... Since this is all an act for others, we can't use our own standards to judge it. The effect we're showing should be judged by outsiders, right?"
"Mm mm, exactly."
"So, what did you say to Milan?", Leon asked.
Rossweise froze for a second, then stammered, "I-I didn't say much, just told her we're the same as always."
"What a totally unconvincing answer, mother dragon," Leon ruthlessly roasted.
"Then what would be convincing? You do it if you're so good?"
"Of course I can do it!"
Leon puffed out his chest proudly, cleared his throat, then said earnestly, "First of all, we haven't entered a cooling-off phase. As the saying goes, seven-year itch is for old married couples. We've only been married five years, it's not time to itch yet."
"Second, even when two more years pass, we still won't enter any dull phase, because—"
The queen was intrigued by his serious face, "Because?"
"Because every day with you is joyful. Where would any dullness come from?"
Rossweise: (//?v?//)
"Also, I don't think showing affection means being glued together in front of others all day. Giving each other some personal space actually helps improve married life quality."
Rossweise: (//?v?//) 'Mm mm!'
"Oh, and I've never not cared about you. I care about you a lot, Rossweise. Without you, I couldn't live."
Rossweise: (//?v?//) !!
"Because you need to cook for me."
Rossweise: ...?
"Alright, finally."
Leon turned to look at Rossweise, stared into her silver eyes, and spoke word by word, "If anyone still thinks we're distant and not in love, then I suggest they go to Vice Principal Wilson and ask for a backup of When Love Sinks West's memory stone, then fast forward to the last line."
Of course, the last line from the play When Love Sinks West, directed by Noah, needs no elaboration. Rossweise remembered those three words very clearly.
She originally thought that was just a line Leon made up for dramatic effect in the play's ending, a pretend love that would be forgotten afterward.
But she didn't expect that he'd bring it up now.
'Could that mean... it wasn't just an improvised line?'
'Maybe that dog-man slipped in a bit of his true feelings while "muddling through"?'
'Hard to say, really hard to say, ah.'
Rossweise smiled faintly, crossed her arms, and said in a playing-hard-to-get tone, "What line? I don't remember."
Leon paused, "You're already over two hundred and getting forgetful?"
"Hiss—"
Seeing the dog-man was not getting it, Rossweise got a little anxious, "I mean, there were so many lines, how could I possibly remember every single one?"
"But the last line, there's no way you forgot it."
"Then I just forgot it, so what?"
Rossweise's classic "wrong but still proud" attitude, and worst of all, Leon couldn't do much about it.
Not because he was afraid to reason with her, but because...
When the mother dragon acted unreasonable, she had this... adolescent-girl-like charm when she pouted.
Something you rarely saw from her.
Of course Leon had to treasure it.
"Alright, if you forgot, then you forgot."
Leon shrugged, rubbed his nose, and turned his head.
Rossweise raised an eyebrow, bumped his shoulder in frustration, "Would it kill you to say it again?"
All that circling around, she just wanted to hear Leon say those three words again.
After all, everyone knew what that "last line" was.
But how could that be enough?
Only repeating the exact words in full would make it meaningful.
Rossweise looked at Leon expectantly.
In her heart she thought, since this dog-man threw a direct pitch once, throwing another one should be fine, right?
Right right right?
"I'm not saying it," Leon looked stubborn like a mule.
The queen frowned in displeasure, "Why not?"
Leon stammered, not giving a straight answer.
But Rossweise knew he must have a reason for not saying it.
And that reason probably had nothing to do with his usual "tough mouth."
Because Rossweise could tell Leon wanted to express something to her, but because of some reason, he chose to stay silent.
"Is it... embarrassment?"
Rossweise asked, "What's there to be embarrassed about? It's just the two of us here. Only I can hear what you say."
Her tone softened a little.
The silver dragon queen rarely coaxed anyone to speak.
But if it meant hearing those three words from the dog-man again, coaxing a bit was no problem~
Leon shook his head, "No, I'm not embarrassed. Back then with hundreds of dragons watching, I wasn't embarrassed. So I wouldn't be now either."
"Then why won't you say it?"
"Because. Because..."
"Hm?"
Leon lowered his head, fiddling with his fingers, "Because it's been a week since the play ended, and you still haven't responded to those words."
Hearing that, Rossweise froze.
She never expected that to be the reason.
When Leon said that, she could even hear a faint grievance in the voice of this once-fearsome dragon slayer.
This guy always claimed to be a "reckless brute," but he was surprisingly delicate inside.
Rossweise lowered her eyes, gently placed her hand on the back of Leon's hand, and after a while, softly said, "I... it's not that I didn't want to respond. I just thought it was a line from the play... I didn't know that was—"
She pursed her lips, a blush creeping up her cheeks, "That was something you wanted to say to me."
Leon shrugged, giving no reply.
Rossweise looked up at his profile, an indescribable feeling of sorrow welling in her heart.
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