The next morning at breakfast, Muen finished eating eagerly, hopped off her chair, and hurried to the backyard practice field to wait for Leon, ready for today's magic lesson.
Leon and Rossweise were nearly done with their meal.
Rossweise had little appetite. She rested her head lazily on one hand while idly pushing the slices of bread around her plate with the other.
The queen lowered her eyes and spoke slowly, "Last night…"
When Leon heard "last night," he immediately tensed up, pausing his actions to look nervously at Rossweise. Had she discovered his prenatal education session from the previous night?
"I had a nightmare last night," Rossweise said.
She set down her fork and met Leon's gaze, her expression showing no signs of deception.
It seemed she really had just had a nightmare.
Leon breathed an internal sigh of relief. "What kind of nightmare?"
"I dreamt…"
Rossweise took a deep breath, as if even recounting the nightmare required courage. "I turned into a human, and even… praised the greatness of humans… Dragon's bless, it was terrifying."
Leon's mind raced. My prenatal education plan last night might not have affected the third child, but it certainly had an impact on you.
Initially, Leon had worried about his poetry recitation skills, doubting his talent. But if it could give the Mother Dragon nightmares, then it must be effective poetry after all.
In that case, he needed to double his efforts and instill more of humanity's cultural essence into the second child. The baby was sure to love it!
[Third Child: Father, for the sake of me calling you 'father,' please stop! Awkwardness is bad enough once; we don't need a repeat!]
But since last night's incident hadn't been discovered, Leon decided not to comment on Rossweise's "nightmare."
Better to say less and avoid mistakes.
He lowered his head and continued finishing his food.
Seeing Leon had no intention of discussing the topic further, Rossweise turned and asked, "What are you planning to teach Muen today?"
Leon's mind worked quickly. "Basic fire magic."
He didn't want another eggplant-themed dinner just for neglecting to teach his daughter fire magic. Besides, his initial insistence on only teaching lightning magic had been partly to spite Rossweise.
But Leon wasn't truly that petty.
Their precious daughter had the rare gift of dual awakening; how could they let it go to waste?
They definitely needed to pursue both paths simultaneously.
Rossweise nodded. "Teaching her how to control the transformation of the fire element's form is enough. As for Dragon's Flame, I'll take over her instruction in a couple of days."
Dragon's Flame was an exclusive skill of dragons; even if other races learned the release methods and techniques, it wouldn't be of much use.
"Alright," Leon replied, setting down his fork and standing up. "I'll go find Muen."
Rossweise withdrew her gaze, looked down at the slices of bread on her plate, hesitated for a moment, then took a small bite.
A wave of nausea washed over her.
She furrowed her delicate brows and quickly picked up her water glass, taking a sip to suppress the discomfort.
"Phew… Quite troublesome."
Rossweise leaned back in her chair, gently touching her still relatively flat abdomen.
"My dear, Mommy will endure a lot for you—" She looked up at the ceiling, intending to add, "so you should listen to Mommy once you're born."
But she paused, realizing that was still seven months away—too early. So, she changed her words mid-sentence. "So, let's transfer some of this hardship to Daddy; I'm sure he won't mind."
Hardship might not disappear, but it could be shifted from one person to another, right, my dear captive?…
After awakening her elemental affinity, Muen's daily routine consisted of learning magic with her father on the practice field in the mornings and consolidating her foundational knowledge in the library during the afternoons.
After all, talent alone wasn't enough; continuous learning and improvement were necessary to progress.
Every afternoon, after teaching Muen enough, Leon would take some time to check his own mana condition.
He quietly entered the library's restroom, locked the door behind him, then approached the mirror and pulled open his shirt to reveal the silver dragon mark on his chest.
Since discovering the true cause of his mana depletion, Leon had taken some remedial measures. He looked at the dragon mark on his chest, sensing the flow of mana within him, and muttered to himself, "It seems the remedial measures are starting to show results. If I keep this up, I should be able to accumulate a considerable amount of mana by Noah's winter break."
Leon's remedial measures weren't particularly complex.
Previously, while researching the cause of his mana depletion, Leon had discovered that something inside his body would steal mana as he gathered it.
This "something" had a partner, or "little brother"—the dragon mark. The two divided the spoils without interfering with each other. Leon decided to act on this discovery.
Since the mana within the dragon mark wouldn't be stolen by that "something," he began storing a portion of his mana inside the dragon mark.
Simply put, the dragon mark became Leon's mana bank, allowing him to freely deposit or withdraw mana.
To be honest, even Rossweise probably didn't know about this function of the dragon mark, and it was quite coincidental that Leon had discovered it. The remedy he devised proved highly effective.
Now, Leon spent several hours every night condensing mana. A small portion was stored in the dragon mark, while the rest had to be reluctantly offered to its mysterious "big brother."
Though this method was slower in accumulating mana, it was far better than having nothing left, as before.
In fact, a few days ago, Leon had some concerns about his remedy. Would the Mother Dragon take away the mana stored in the dragon mark when he "submitted his homework"?
After all, the essence of this "homework" was to transfer a part of his essence into the recipient's body.
Would the mana also be transferred in the process? If so, how much? If Leon diligently saved mana for half a month, only to have it all taken by Rossweise during "homework submission," it would be a significant loss.
However, after confirming Rossweise's pregnancy with their Third Child and Leon's diligent study of "post-pregnancy knowledge," he discovered that intimate activities were not advisable during pregnancy.
Finally, this gave Leon a legitimate reason not to "submit his homework"!
Mother Dragon, for the sake of the child, please endure these seven months.
He straightened his clothes and casually left the restroom. Time flew by during their studies.
At dinner, Muen enthusiastically shared with Rossweise what she had learned that day. Rossweise listened patiently, her face adorned with a mother's comforting smile.
Leon didn't disturb the mother-daughter duo. He quietly finished his meal and returned to his room. Lately, he had been returning quite early and hadn't been playing cooking games with Muen as much. He had to prioritize storing mana, so he temporarily set aside other activities.
Back in his room, Leon sat cross-legged on the bed and began condensing magical energy. As usual, most of the mana was transferred to a part of his body he couldn't perceive, while a small portion was stored in the dragon mark.
Adjusting his breathing, he focused on his task. He didn't know how much time had passed when he finally opened his eyes and glanced at the clock on the wall. "Oh, it's already past two in the morning."
He was always focused when doing something, and condensing mana required a great deal of attention, so he hadn't noticed how late it had become.
But strangely, Leon didn't feel tired. He looked at the bedside table, where several books on pregnancy precautions were placed, and an idea sparked in his mind.
"Third Child Plan, activate!"
They had promised to continuously instill human cultural essence into their Third Child, so how could they skip a day? Leon had secretly prepared tonight's "program" to satisfy their Third Child.
He gathered the props for prenatal education, replicated his previous actions, and checked the balcony. Then, he opened the balcony door and quietly slipped into Rossweise's bedroom, closing the door behind him.
Bathed in the faint moonlight, he tiptoed to Rossweise's bedside. However, when he tried to test whether Rossweise was already asleep, he was surprised to find that she wasn't there!
Leon's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly reached out to feel under the covers. The warmth lingering in the bedding indicated that Rossweise had left not long ago. But the bathroom light wasn't on, meaning she hadn't gone there.
As his brain raced, Leon heard the sound of the door lock clicking at the entrance of the room. Soon after, he heard gradually approaching footsteps…
Leon widened his eyes slightly, staring intently at the bedroom door. "Uh-oh."