Chapter 32: Dragon Mark: This Family Would Fall Apart Without Me

In the evening, after settling Little Light in the nursery, Leon returned to Rosvitha’s room.
The bedroom lights were off, but the study was still lit, indicating Rosvitha was still working overtime.
Leon walked to the study door and looked inside.
The scene in the study was like a peaceful painting. The silver-haired beauty sat upright at the mahogany desk, her spine straight, shoulders trembling and rising slightly as her fountain pen moved across the paper in harmony.
Her long, snow-white legs were perched on the high chair, those somewhat childish dragon wing slippers dangling from her toes, creating an adorable contrast with her elegance and concentration.
Rosvitha wore a soft nightgown, simple in silhouette yet with an unintentional touch of sensuality. The dragon mark on her chest came alive with each breath, dancing above that soft fullness.
Her figure had returned to its pre-pregnancy state, slim where it should be slim, curved where it should be curved.
Of course, Leon hadn’t come to the study to peek at his fake wife’s figure.
If he wanted to look, he just needed to say so – Rosvitha had countless ways to tease him into activating his dragon mark.
Leon silently watched Rosvitha for a long while, opening his mouth but saying nothing.
Rosvitha was always very focused when working, and Leon knew how it felt to be interrupted while concentrating on something.
Moreover, this favor he wanted to ask Rosvitha for was indeed… somewhat embarrassing to bring up.
Maybe I should look for another way to open the first gate… Leon thought, about to turn and leave.
“Do you need something?”
Just as he was about to step away, he heard Rosvitha’s familiar monotone voice.
Leon stood at the doorway, turned to look at her, but still remained silent.
Rosvitha noticed Leon’s gaze, paused for a moment, put down her pen, and raised her head to respond, “Go ahead, what is it? I’m done working.”
Leon lowered his eyes to look at the pile of documents on her desk.
Having learned about this kind of work from her before, he could now more or less understand what she was handling.
Clearly… there was still a lot of work unfinished, yet she still said she was done.
Well, never mind.
Since the Queen had specially made time for him, it would be inappropriate if he continued to hesitate.
“I want you to help me with something,” Leon said.
“Mm, what is it?”
“Help me open a gate.”
The Queen paused, blinking, “Open… what gate? Don’t you have the key to my room?”
General Leon’s face reddened as he timidly pulled out the “Nine Hell Gates” from behind his back.
Rosvitha’s gaze fell on the book.
She remembered, this was the ancient text that Teg had given to Leon in the cave a few days ago, which contained records of some extremely powerful martial arts.
Rosvitha leaned forward slightly, resting her chin on one hand, asking leisurely, “So, this ‘gate’ is a term mentioned in this ancient text, and you want me to help you practice?”
Leon nodded, “Simply put, yes.”
Given Rosvitha’s considerable knowledge of various magic and ancient texts, when Leon brought out the “Nine Hell Gates” and made his request to “open a gate,” she had roughly guessed what it meant.
However, she didn’t quite understand why a simple request for training assistance, which wasn’t a big ask, would make the usually thick-skinned Leon blush.
Setting aside her confusion for now, the Queen readily agreed, “No problem, what gate needs opening, and what should I do? Just tell me directly.”
“Open… the Steel Gate.”
……
……
The crow really wanted to fly in with a “caw caw,” but the Queen’s study wasn’t somewhere just anyone could enter.
Even so, after that abstract and outrageous name was spoken by Leon, the study was instantly filled with an awkward atmosphere.
Rosvitha’s face also turned red in a flash.
She finally understood why this dog of a man had been so hesitant earlier – so it was this kind of request…
After desperately calming herself, Rosvitha tried her best to make her tone sound as normal as usual,
“Leon, as you know, dragons are a race that pursues pure love, and I’m the same. So even though we’re fake spouses, I won’t do anything that would betray you.”
Rosvitha said, “But this request… even the purest love might have trouble accepting it. At least personally, I can’t accept it.”
Finally, Rosvitha muttered under her breath, “Tsk, I didn’t expect you to be into such kinky things.”
“No, Rosvitha, let me explain—” General Leon tried to salvage his image.
“If you’re trying to convince me to accept your new kinks, you might as well save your breath.”
Rosvitha showed a slightly disgusted expression for the first time.
Unfortunately, Leon wasn’t an M, so he couldn’t enjoy this wonderful disgust.
He quickly rushed to Rosvitha’s desk and opened “Nine Hell Gates,”
“It’s not what you’re thinking, it’s a concept mentioned in the book, look for yourself.”
Rosvitha lowered her eyes suspiciously and quickly skimmed through the content on the page.
Then she rolled her eyes in exasperation.
“Why are the things your master gives you so abstract?”
Leon also spread his hands helplessly, “You know, being abstract is our family motto. It’s just that I, being exceptionally excellent, have added some brilliance to this abstractness.”
Rosvitha extended her long leg and kicked Leon’s knee under the table, “Stop talking about your brilliance, captive.”
After speaking, she stood up, straightening her nightgown that had wrinkled from sitting for so long, then walked out of the study,
“Come on then, let me help you—open—the—Steel—Gate.”
Hiss—
Even though he knew this was just part of training, and this “steel gate” wasn’t that other meaning, why did it still feel so chilling…
Leon swallowed and took a deep breath to adjust his mindset, then followed Rosvitha to the bedroom with the ancient text.
The couple turned on the bedside lamp, and Leon removed his shirt, lying flat on the soft bed.
Rosvitha knelt beside him, holding “Nine Hell Gates” in one hand while gently placing her other hand on Leon’s abdomen.
“The first gate of the Nine Hell Gates is a necessary path for practicing this martial art, and once opened, it will remain in an ‘open’ state, with no need to reopen it during subsequent training or combat.”
Rosvitha read the book’s contents, “Oh, so in other words, the first gate is like the foundation when building a house – you need to lay a solid foundation before you can build upwards.”
“Although I’d love to praise Your Majesty’s metaphorical skills, can we start quickly?”
Leon said, “Your hand on my stomach makes me feel very insecure.”
Having bare-chested physical contact with Rosvitha was probably like a little lamb washing itself clean and then telling a wolf “Mr. Wolf, please don’t eat me, pretty please?”
Smack—
Rosvitha slapped Leon’s abdomen, “Shut up. Let me see what I need to do… According to the book, the waist and abdomen are the core of the body’s power. Hmm… I have profound experience with this.”
Very profound, very deep experience.
“At the same time, it’s also like a switch for the body’s power. Only by simultaneously mobilizing internal and external forces to impact this ‘switch’ can the first gate be opened.”
“And this force must be controlled and assisted by someone of Dragon King level.”
“It’s not that the power needs to be at Dragon King level, but rather the degree of precise control over the power…”
“Oh~ Simply put, they’re worried one mistake could blow up the practitioner, right?”
After understanding the principle of opening the gate, Rosvitha looked at Leon, her gentle fingertips tracing circles on his abs. With a mischievous smile and an artificially coy tone full of feigned concern, she said,
“Darling~ You really trust me, don’t you? What if I accidentally blow you up?”
“Then you’ll get two husbands,” Leon replied.
“What do you mean?”
“Upper body and lower body – you can keep whichever one you prefer.”
Leon played along with her joke.
Although the joke was somewhat dark.
Rosvitha giggled and pinched his kidney, “I want both the upper and lower body. Alright, I pretty much know what to do now, are you ready?”
Leon pressed his lips together, took a few breaths, then nodded, “Ready, let’s do it.”
“OK, feel my power, and simultaneously mobilize your own magic. The two forces will clash, and we’ll try to open the first gate in one go.”
“Got it.”
Leon closed his eyes, mobilizing the magic he had accumulated recently from his dragon mark.
Rosvitha also slowly guided out her own power.
In the beginning stage, the couple first released a small amount of power to sense each other.
Only after ensuring they could sense each other did they continue to increase their magical output.
“Leon, the book says that besides magic power, you also need to gather your ‘qi blood’ in your abdomen. This will speed up the opening of the first gate, try it.”
“Alright.”
The so-called ‘qi blood’ was also explained in detail in the book.
Qi, meaning the body’s ‘elemental qi’ or ‘vital qi’, is the most fundamental and important energy in the human body, and is also the driving force that maintains life activities;
Blood is more straightforward to understand, simply referring to blood itself.
The two combined form ‘qi blood’.
Where qi blood flows, it increases the transmission efficiency of the body’s magic circuits and can also speed up metabolism. As Rosvitha said, the gathering of qi blood is beneficial for opening the first gate.
However, Leon’s understanding of ‘qi blood’ knowledge wasn’t deep, and he hadn’t practiced much in this aspect.
Actually, for the vast majority of people, their innate magic circuits were already sufficient, and there was no need for qi blood assistance.
Yet now, to open the first gate, he had no choice but to mobilize qi blood.
You only know what you’re missing when you need it, Leon lamented silently.
“Leon, focus more, you can do it.”
At the moment of distraction, Leon heard Rosvitha’s encouragement.
He opened his eyes and looked at his wife beside him.
Her silver hair fluttered chaotically in the magical energy currents. With both hands raised and brows slightly furrowed, she focused intently on controlling the power’s intensity.
Opening the first gate carried some risk – while they wouldn’t actually be split between upper and lower body as they had joked earlier, injury was certainly possible if they weren’t careful.
Seeing Rosvitha taking it so seriously, Leon smiled appreciatively. “Alright, I understand.”
He closed his eyes again, channeling magical power while sensing the path of vital energy flowing through his body.
But this wasn’t something that could be accomplished with just a few words of encouragement.
Though Leon managed to successfully guide some of his vital energy toward his abdomen through his efforts, it wasn’t enough.
“How can we get more vital energy to gather here…”
Rosvitha muttered, “Vital energy… vital energy…”
Her peripheral vision caught sight of the dragon mark on Leon’s chest, and suddenly an idea flashed through her mind.
“Leon, I have a way to help direct more vital energy downward.”
“What- wait, what do you mean downward?” Leon’s focus seemed slightly off.
Rosvitha didn’t explain further, just smiled and said, “Bear with it, it’ll take some effort.”
“Bear with what? Hey, dragon lady, explain yourself!”
As his words fell, Leon suddenly felt an intense heat in his chest.
Looking down, he saw the dragon mark.
The mark was glowing with a deep purple light.
Leon couldn’t help but be startled, “Hey hey hey, dragon lady, now isn’t the time for this!”
“Have you forgotten, Leon? The dragon mark is the most effective aphrosidiac – it can make you stirred up in an instant, increase your heartbeat, raise your body temperature, and then… guide the vital energy downward.”
After a pause, Rosvitha added, “Well, although it’ll eventually gather elsewhere, you can intercept it while it’s flowing through your abdomen.”
“You think this is like robbing a train?! How can you just intercept it?!”
“Do you have any other methods to get your vital energy flowing? If not, just honestly experience what the dragon mark brings you.”
They had thought General Leon using the dragon mark to store magical power was already an incredible application;
Now Rosvitha was using the dragon mark’s abilities to mobilize Leon’s vital energy.
Tsk, having the dragon mark on this fated couple was truly worth more than its value.
At this point, Leon indeed had no other effective methods to mobilize his vital energy.
Might as well give it a try.
While feeling the gradually rising energy, he controlled his magical power to create a counterflow with Rosvitha’s force.
His body also underwent subtle changes during this intense process.
Centered on Leon’s abdomen, an endless stream of energy gradually spread to his limbs and throughout his body.
His bones, blood vessels, and meridians all seemed to be undergoing a special kind of tempering.
As the energy surged, a faint white light slowly seeped out from beneath Leon’s skin, with traces of black matter mixed within the light.
Rosvitha remembered reading that these were “impurities” within a practitioner’s body. One of the benefits of opening the first gate was removing these impurities, making the practitioner’s physique more pure.
This meant that her and Leon’s method was working.
Coming back to her senses, Rosvitha could clearly feel the force transmitted through her palms.
Those firm muscles were like a beast about to awaken – just touching them, one could feel the fierce power contained within.
Leon and Rosvitha’s magical powers intertwined without any rejection reaction.
Leon kept his eyes tightly shut. In the darkness, a faint light seemed to flicker.
That light grew brighter, as if eagerly wanting to surge out from behind some barrier.
When the light completely filled his vision, Leon suddenly awoke from his daze.
He abruptly sat up, bare-chested, breathing heavily as if he’d just had a nightmare.
After calming down slightly, he felt a warm, soft touch on his shoulder.
Leon slowly turned his head – it was Rosvitha, who had gently placed her hand on his shoulder.
The queen’s hair was disheveled, her face flushed, with a smile at the corner of her mouth. “We succeeded, Leon. The first gate is open.”
Hearing this, Leon was also extremely excited.
But amid his joy, his first words were: “You’re not hurt or anything, are you?”
Rosvitha was startled, raising her eyebrows, “You’re that concerned about me? Well then, I am hurt – ow my hand hurts, ow my waist hurts, ow my legs hurt, everything hurts.”
Leon gave her a blank look, “How childish.”
After a pause, he looked at Rosvitha’s face again.
It was red.
Hm?
Why was it red?
Successfully opening the first gate was cause for happiness, but why would her face be red?
It wasn’t until Rosvitha’s hand quietly slid from his shoulder to his waist that Leon suddenly realized.
“I blame the dragon mark!”