Chapter 18: A Family with a Missing Member

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The door swung open so hard that Leon was momentarily stunned, his head spinning from the impact. Luckily, his master's old training in "Indestructible Body Technique" had toughened him up over the years. If he could withstand breaking bricks on his chest as a kid, surely he could handle being tackled by his little dragon daughter, right? Just needed a moment to shake it off.

"I'm so sorry, Daddy. Did… did I hurt you?" Luna's little fingers clutched his sleeve, her face a perfect picture of guilt.

Leon was floored. Just a minute ago, she'd been scolding him, refusing to let him touch her—and now? Now she was back to being the sweet girl he knew, ready to cry if he didn't forgive her.

'Could it be…' he wondered with mild horror, 'Do half-dragons suffer from split personalities?'

Leon settled into a chair with Luna by his side, who was busily tending to him with utmost seriousness. She stretched out her little hand, gently rubbing his nose while softly apologizing.

"Daddy, I didn't mean it. I really didn't. I didn't think just pushing the door a little bit would send you flying like that."

She pouted, her big eyes glistening with concern, as though she'd break down in tears if he didn't forgive her immediately.

"Daddy, are you still in pain? Let me blow on it for you. Blowing on it always makes it better~"

With that, she lifted his chin with her small hands and blew softly on his forehead, her warm breath brushing against his skin, melting away whatever frustration he had left.

Rossweise's biting sarcasm was no match for this—the coldest criticism from the dragon queen was just background noise to him. Yet when Luna so much as pouted, Leon would start wondering if he was somehow at fault.

'Daughters', he thought, 'not only keep their fathers warm but have a way of breaking down the hardest walls.'

Leon gently lifted Luna onto his lap, brushing a tear from the corner of her eye. "There's nothing to worry about, Luna. If anything, it's my fault for not being strong enough. Imagine, your old dad can't even stand up to a door. Guess I'd better get stronger so I can handle it next time, right?"

Luna laughed, wiping her eyes. "As long as Daddy isn't hurt, it's fine."

Leon smiled and playfully pinched her nose. "Alright then, how about we just—" he made a dramatic gesture, "turn the page and forget about it?"

Luna's eyes sparkled with a grin. "Okay~ Daddy's the best~"

With that, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

Leon felt both flattered and a bit bewildered.

Just five minutes ago, she was giving him the cold shoulder. Now, she's calling him the best, blowing him kisses. Dragons really are full of surprises.

"Daddy, what are we doing this afternoon?"

That question snapped him back to the task at hand. Reaching for a sheet of paper, he pointed to the writing on it. "Well, how about I teach you to write three very important names?"

Luna's eyes lit up with excitement. She'd never tried writing before, so this felt like a whole new world. She eagerly nodded. "Yes! Daddy, teach me!"

"Didn't your mom ever teach you how to write?" he asked casually while preparing the paper and pen.

"Mom said she'd leave it for you to teach me when you woke up."

'Typical', He rolled his eyes, 'Lazy dragoness.'

Luna climbed onto a small stool beside him, listening attentively as Leon guided her on how to hold the pen properly. She learned quickly, practicing a few times until she could grip it without issue.

Once she got the hang of it, Leon started from the basics. "Alright, the first name we'll learn is mine: Leon Casmodeous. Want to try writing it?"

"Okay!" Luna held the pen with both hands, pressing it down on the paper so hard that even her lips puckered with effort.

Leon's name was relatively simple, its pronunciation based on "lion." The spelling wasn't too complicated, either.

"Not so hard, or you'll tear the paper. Just take it slow and easy," Leon said, watching her.

Luna nodded, absorbing every bit of advice, and, with a little guidance, managed to write a rough but readable "Leon Casmodeous."

"That's great, Luna. Now we'll focus on the order of each stroke, alright?"

"Stroke order?" Luna blinked, as if hearing it for the first time. "I thought you could just write however you wanted, as long as it looked right."

Leon chuckled. "Well, there's a saying—'Without rules, there's no order.' If there weren't rules about stroke order, writing would just be a mess, like random doodles. Sticking to a sequence helps make it look nice and neat."

"Oh, okay! I'll work hard and follow the strokes."

Luna took to the instructions well, and Leon continued explaining, correcting her as she adjusted her approach.

In no time, Luna was writing Leon's name clearly and neatly.

Next up was Rossweise's name. It was more complex, but thanks to the "Mom Buff," Luna was more focused than ever.

She went through seven or eight sheets of scratch paper practicing her mother's name, far more than the three pages she'd used for Leon's.

Watching the pile of paper scraps, Leon couldn't resist a dry comment. "Looks like you're quite dedicated to writing your mom's name…"

"Um…" Luna looked up, a little embarrassed.

"Alright, you keep practicing. I'm just going to the bathroom for a minute," Leon said, getting up.

"Okay!" Luna nodded, her big eyes following him.

Although she was too young to understand what "jealousy" meant, she sensed that her father cared about the difference in the number of practice pages. So, while Leon was gone, she quietly picked up the pen and practiced writing his name over and over.

When he returned, she proudly held up eleven sheets filled with "Leon Casmodeous."

"Look, Daddy! I wrote your name on eleven pages."

Leon stared for a second, then felt a surge of warmth in his heart.

'This girl truly understands me more than anyone ever could. She's a thousand times better than that stubborn mule of a mother of hers.'

He hugged Luna's soft cheeks close, rubbing his face against hers affectionately. Luna giggled, cheeks squished flat, overjoyed by the unexpected affection from her father.

"Alright, last up is your name, Luna Melkvei."

"Huh? But that's not my full name," she corrected him.

Leon blinked, surprised. "How could we understand 'Luna' differently?"

"No, I mean, my middle name. I have a middle name, too."

Middle names were common in the Empire's royal family, usually derived from the surname of the family member who had married into the line, as a gesture of respect for their lineage. He didn't expect the dragon clan to follow this practice.

"So, what's your middle name?"

"K."

"K?"

"Yes! Luna K. Melkvei. The 'K' is from your last name, Casmodeous." She smiled brightly, as if sharing a treasured secret. "That's what Mother told me."

Leon was stunned. "Your mom… said that?"

"Uh-huh."

He felt a little off-balance, genuinely taken aback. He'd assumed he was just a placeholder, a babysitter with no real position in the dragon queen's world. His title of "Father" was only real in Luna's mind; surely Rossweise couldn't care less.

And yet, when naming Luna, Rossweise had adhered to custom, giving her his initial as a middle name.

Leon didn't know what this meant for dragons, but in human society, passing down a surname's initial to a child was a meaningful acknowledgment of someone's role in the family.

He pressed his lips together, unsure what to make of Rossweise's thoughts.

Perhaps she'd done it to make their "family" charade seem more convincing?

After a brief silence, Leon shook off his thoughts. "Alright, got it. Let's start practicing your name."

"Mm-hmm!"

As she practiced, Luna focused earnestly on each stroke, her name coming together quickly on the paper.

Unlike Rossweise's complex name, Luna's was simple, sounding similar to "moonlight" and easy to spell.

He couldn't help but feel relieved that not everyone went for a grandiose name like Rossweise's. Imagine if, one day, the dragon queen was actually in trouble, and he messed up her name during the heat of battle.

"Done!" Luna lifted her sheet proudly. "Look, Daddy! Is it good?"

Leon looked over her work. For a child her age, her handwriting was neat and well-formed.

He smiled, ruffling her hair. "Luna, you did amazing. You've learned to write all our names in no time. That's impressive."

"Our names?" she echoed, tilting her head in confusion. "You mean, like… family names?"

"Exactly. We're a family."

Luna paused, then shook her head. "No, no, if we're a family, then we're missing someone."

Leon's heart skipped a beat, and his smile faltered.

'Missing… someone?'

Suddenly, he thought back to that odd encounter at lunchtime with the "other". [T/N: Finally]

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