The next morning, Leon slowly woke up.
His senses gradually returned, bringing with them the familiar aches and soreness all over his body.
Sitting up in bed and leaning against the headboard, he glanced down at his chest and arms, which were covered in faint scratch marks and love bites.
He grabbed a hand mirror from the nightstand to check his neck, and sure enough, it was the same story there.
"Last night was... quite something," he muttered to himself.
It had been a while since he and Rossweise had been that unrestrained.
The main reason, of course, was their daughters.
They all lived on the same floor, and the children's rooms weren't far from their own. If things got too loud, the girls would definitely hear. The thought of Aurora swinging the door open, blinking her big, mischievous eyes, and asking, "Mommy, Daddy, why aren't you asleep? What are you doing so late?" was a scenario Leon would rather avoid. He'd prefer to die of embarrassment ten times over on Vice Principal Wilson's podium than face that.
But now, the girls were away at school.
The entire residential wing of their home belonged to just the queen and her prince-consort.
Frankly, they could have been as loud as they wanted in the hallway if they'd felt like it—
Ahem. No need to let his thoughts wander too far.
Leon shook his head, clearing away the vivid imagery.
"You're awake."
Rossweise walked up to the side of the bed.
Leon turned to look at her.
Her silver hair was neatly pinned up, and she was dressed in simple, practical clothes, holding a broom in one hand and wearing a cleaning mask over the lower half of her face.
"What's going on? Has the queen been demoted to a maid?" Leon teased.
"The girls are away at school, so their rooms are empty. I thought it was a good time to do a thorough cleaning," she replied matter-of-factly.
"You could have just had Anna send a maid to do it."
Rossweise shook her head. "This is something I want to do for my daughters myself—as their mother, not as their queen."
She was always the type to act on her thoughts immediately.
And it wasn't just a passing whim. If she decided to do something, she would see it through with precision and perfection.
Leon scratched his head. "Well... I'll wash up quickly and meet you in the girls' room to help."
"Mm-hmm."
Rossweise, looking full of energy, turned and left with her broom in hand.
Leon rubbed his slightly aching temples. Ah, if I'd known there was a major cleaning day today, I wouldn't have stayed up quite so late last night...
Seizing the moment, he mused wryly. Men sure come up with all sorts of lofty excuses for the sake of reproduction... Leon Cosmodeous thought to himself with a hint of self-deprecation.
He tossed off the blankets, got dressed, and performed his ablutions before grabbing the set of cleaning tools Rossweise had left prepared for him and heading to the girls' room.
When he arrived, Rossweise had already opened all the windows wide to air the place out.
She was standing on the balcony, one hand holding the broom, the other resting on her hip. She was even wearing flat shoes and a simple apron over her clothes, clearly fully prepared for the task.
"Can I take a picture of you like this?" Leon asked with a grin.
"Why?"
"Well, I've seen you in so many incredible outfits—queen's robes, bunny suits, nurse uniforms... But I've never seen you dressed like a cleaning lady. It's a novel look."
Rossweise narrowed her eyes. "Your options are to either help me clean, or go to the palace hall and handle today's administrative work in Anna's place."
Leon shrugged, picked up a broom, and put on his own mask before walking further into the room.
"I'll handle the bedroom, and you take care of the balcony?" he suggested.
"Alright."
And so, the couple got to work.
Leon was, surprisingly, quite proficient at cleaning.
As a child, he'd often helped his mistress with housework, and he'd become skilled at it over time.
Rossweise, naturally, was no slouch in domestic skills either. Leon had discovered long ago that she was more than capable in that regard.
It further proved that Rossweise had earned her title and status through sheer effort and competence, not by birthright. She had risen from the bottom, step by step.
Thanks to their efficient teamwork, the room was quickly transformed, becoming spotless and filled with the fresh scent of the outdoors.
Just as they were about to finish, Leon found a small, unassuming wooden box tucked away under the girls' bed.
Not thinking much of it, he opened it, expecting to find some miscellaneous trinkets or forgotten toys.
But when he saw the contents, he froze.
Rossweise, having just finished wiping down the balcony railings, noticed Leon staring intently into the box and walked over curiously.
She peered inside, seeing a small collection of items.
"A Rubik's cube, some handwritten notes, an essay... and two photographs. One is the very first family portrait we ever took, and the other is from just a few days ago."
Her gaze then fell on an object nestled at the very bottom of the box. "Is this... some kind of magical material?"
It was a shard of black crystal, which shimmered with a subtle metallic sheen in the sunlight streaming through the window.
"Where did you find this?" Rossweise asked.
"Under the bed."
"Is it Muen's?"
Leon shook his head, memories from a ruined future flooding his mind. He gently stroked the edge of the wooden box and said quietly, "It's Noah's. In the future I came from, just before I left, Noah burned this very box."
Rossweise raised a delicate eyebrow. "Why would she do that?"
"She said..." Leon's voice was soft. "...that these were all things that held extraordinary meaning to her. But when true tragedy strikes, objects meant to hold happy memories become a burden. She said if I hadn't managed to change the past, if things remained broken, then keeping this box would have been pointless."
Leon continued, his finger lightly tracing the items. "This Rubik's cube is something I carved for her and Muen a long time ago. This note has her name on it—I wrote it out for her when I was first teaching Muen how to write her own name. And this essay... it's about our first date in Sky City. She even won a small award for it at school."
Noah's personality had a lot in common with Rossweise's—outwardly calm and somewhat indifferent, seeming not to care deeply about anything, but in reality, both of them were intensely meticulous and fiercely protective of the people and things they held dear.
They both strove for perfection in the smallest of details.
Just like how Noah had secretly kept this simple Rubik's cube, the practice note, and the essay that memorialized her parents' early days together.
"That girl... cares about this family far more deeply than she ever lets on," Rossweise said, a warm, understanding smile gracing her lips.
"Yeah... she does."
Compared to her peers, Noah had always been more mature, her thoughts often extending far beyond her years.
This also meant that her emotional journey had been much more complex and difficult than that of other young dragons.
Whether in the grim future or in the present they had fought for, Noah was always the most responsible, the one who shouldered the most weight.
In terms of fatherly love, Leon gave each of his daughters an equal amount. He loved them all unconditionally and cherished each as a priceless treasure.
But if he had to name the one he felt the most indebted to, the one he wished he could have understood sooner... it would be Noah.
It was his initial, clumsy mishandling of his relationship with her that had caused this sensitive child to believe her family was fragile, pushing her to work tirelessly to ensure she alone had the power to protect it.
Her stubborn and somewhat awkward nature was a poignant mix of both his and Rossweise's own traits.
"What about this shard?" Rossweise pointed to the fragment of black crystal.
"I'm not sure about that one either."
Leon carefully picked up the shard and examined it closely under the light. "I saw this same piece in her box in the future, but I didn't have time to ask her about it before she... burned everything. That fire she started was proof enough of how formidably skilled she'd become with fire magic."
Rossweise let out a soft chuckle. "So... any ideas now?"
Leon frowned slightly, turning the shard over in his palm. "It feels familiar... the texture, the weight... it's definitely familiar..."
He thought carefully for a long moment, sifting through decades of memories. Then, suddenly, his eyes widened in stunned realization.
"Oh my god... no way..."
"What is it?" Rossweise asked, her curiosity piqued by his reaction.
Leon slowly turned to look at her, his expression one of sheer incredulity.
"This..." he said, holding up the black shard between his thumb and forefinger. "...is a fragment of the Black Gold War Chariot Armor."