Chapter 69: A Punch That Brings Out Father-Daughter Love!

As Leon expected, Aurora carried him slowly into the mountain valley, finally stopping before that familiar waterfall.
Aurora flapped her wings, parting the waterfall’s flow—the movement identical to when Rosvitha had brought him here, making it hard not to suspect if the mother dragon had personally taught this trick to her daughter.
This action further confirmed Leon’s suspicion that his daughters actually knew about their father’s human identity.
But why hadn’t Aurora exposed this?
Leon couldn’t understand.
After entering the cave, Aurora transformed into her human form, then called toward the cave’s depths, “Sister.”
Though her tone maintained that cold scientist style, Leon could hear the familial intimacy within it.
It was this word “sister” that made Leon nervous.
As a father, he had countless times imagined what his daughters would be like when they grew up.
Little Light beside him wasn’t too different from what he had imagined.
If he had to point out one thing, it was that even at twenty years old, she still didn’t forget to give her old father an uppercut upon meeting.
It was like father-daughter love encoded in their genes.
He wondered what Noia had become, from that former study-obsessed child who tried so hard to act like an adult.
Leon felt both excited and nervous.
He gazed into the cave’s depths, and after a moment, a tall figure emerged from the darkness.
Low-heeled boots gently struck the cold stone, footsteps rhythmically echoing through the cave.
The young woman who walked out from the shadows wore a fitted black outfit, tight pants outlining her perfect leg contours, her waist though slender was full of strength.
She had medium-length hair, thick black with traces of silver highlights.
That exquisite face, like a work of art, showed no expression—the women of the Melkvi family were all skilled at maintaining stern faces.
She had grown taller, her steps more steady and firm, those sharp blade-like eyes resembling a battle-hardened female general, truly deserving to be called gallant and heroic.
“Noia…”
Leon felt an indescribable feeling.
Though in his visions of the future, Noia was indeed meant to be this cool and sharp, as she was a born warrior destined for an extraordinary life;
But when he actually saw with his own eyes the daughter he once held in his arms become like this, his heart was filled with mixed emotions.
From a child pretending to be grown up, to now a frost-faced warrior, just how much… hardship had she endured.
When Leon came back to his senses, Noia was already standing before him.
His daughter had grown into a beauty, just like her mother.
But on that beautiful face was a faint scar.
Although it was very light now, barely noticeable unless up close, but as one’s body and skin come from their parents, even the tiniest wound would catch Leon’s eye.
As he thought, over these many years, Noia must have endured much hardship.
And with her personality, she must have suffered the most among the three sisters.
Leon gazed into his daughter’s eyes, and Noia returned his gaze.
Her eyes also resembled her mother’s, at first glance appearing indifferent to everything, emanating coldness and detachment.
But once you broke through that surface layer of ice, you could feel the intense emotions within their hearts.
Noia’s pupils trembled slightly, her ice-sealed face showing traces of emotion.
She wasn’t like Aurora who could suppress her feelings with absolute calmness; she was mature, but she also relied more on her father.
For Noia, it had been a full twenty years since she’d seen her father.
Now, that family member she’d been constantly thinking of stood before her, countless memories flooded her mind, washing over her tear ducts.
Seeing his daughter’s emotional fluctuation, Leon slowly raised his hand, moving it to Noia’s eye corner, wanting to wipe away her about-to-fall tears.
However—
Snap—
Noia suddenly gripped Leon’s wrist.
The old father froze, blinking, “What’s wrong, Noia—oof!!”
Before he could finish speaking, a piercing punch landed on Leon’s abdomen.
The old father’s knees instantly weakened, his head dizzy.
But he used his last moment of consciousness to poke Noia’s nose, “You… you Melkvi family mother dragons aren’t just good at changing faces, you’re also very skilled at… patricide…”
With that, General Leon’s eyes darkened, he fell backward, and passed out.
Aurora’s face flashed a trace of panic, but it vanished instantly.
She walked slowly to her sister’s side, looking at their unconscious father,
“Dad just came from the other side of the rift, his body hasn’t recovered yet. That punch of yours was truly a bit heavy-handed.”
Said Aurora, who had just knocked out their old man with an uppercut a few hours ago.
Noia wiped the tears from her eye corners, adjusted her emotions, “This was just the first punch, there are still three more to go.”
Aurora raised an eyebrow, mentally calculating, then said, “Actually, it’s two – mom’s and second sister’s.”
“What about yours?”
“I already delivered mine.”
“Oh.”
Noia looked at their father lying unconscious on the ground, a trace of apology crossing her cold face, “Then I… did hit too hard.”
……
Leon slowly opened his eyes, before him was an old wooden table.
He was sitting in a chair.
On the table sat an oil lamp, its flame flickering, wavering, as if it might go out at any moment.
Across the table were his two filial daughters.
“Dad, you’re awake,” Aurora flickered her pink eyes.
Leon forced a smile, enduring the pain in his abdomen, glanced at his youngest daughter, then looked at his eldest, “Are you angry with me, Noia?”
He could probably guess why Noia had greeted him with a punch.
Because he had promised her before that their family would never be separated, yet due to the spatial rift incident, he had disappeared from their world for a full twenty years.
Logically speaking, Leon entered the spatial rift to save their family, so it wasn’t like he disappeared without reason;
But the matter of “losing a father” absolutely couldn’t use “logic” to cover up “emotion”.
It could only be analyzed from the perspective of “feelings”.
Noia’s punch wasn’t her blaming Leon, but rather using the simplest method to tell dad:
How they had survived all these years without him.
Her grievances, her longing, all her feelings for Leon, whether peaceful or extreme, were contained in that single punch.
Noia had thought about hugging him, but the emotions a hug could express were too singular.
She would indeed hug Leon, but not at this moment of reunion.
“I don’t know,” Noia answered.
Leon paused slightly, then lowered his eyes, “Alright… whether you’re angry with me or not, I apologize to you.”
“Okay, I accept your apology. Although I also don’t know if I’m angry with you or not.”
Feelings are always vague and messy things, and Noia truly didn’t know if she should be angry with Leon.
But if she could get an apology from dad for free, why not?
Mom had said before that there weren’t more than five people in the world who could make their stubborn father bow his head and apologize.
“Wow… that was a quick acceptance, I thought there would be more back and forth,” Leon sighed.
“Back and forth? How so?”
Noia leaned against the chair, arms crossed, legs crossed—her sitting posture identical to her mother’s.
“Like the way you and mom went back and forth, ending up without even a confession?”
Leon pressed his lips together, “Did your mother tell you everything about us……”
“Mm.” Noia nodded.
“Not just told us—it was detailed to the point that we could write a painful youth romance novel with no problems,” Aurora twisted the knife.
Leon: ……
So, were he and that mother dragon actually the protagonists of a painful youth romance novel?
Heavens! What kind of love story has the main characters having children before falling in love? This is completely backwards!
“Of course, besides your love story—ah, let’s tentatively call that awkward relationship ‘love’, what do you think, Little Light?” Noia looked at her sister.
Aurora nodded.
Clearly, both sisters were fair in their assessment of their parents’ love story—dad was awkward, mom was awkward too.
Two peas in a pod.
“Besides your love story, mom also told us about how you two actually came together.”
Noia’s expression was quite subtle.
But anyone who wasn’t dense could understand what she meant.
Leon’s heart trembled, it seemed they really did know everything.
He kept his eyes lowered, choosing to remain silent.
“So, our once harmonious family was actually false, wasn’t it? It was a lie you and mom wove together.”
After knowing the truth, she didn’t immediately fixate on her bloodline, but rather cared more about their family.
“You kept saying you loved mom, loved us, but all of that was—”
“Was all true, Noia.”
Leon finally spoke.
Staring at the table surface, he said firmly,
“Indeed, your mother and I coming together initially was completely accidental, and your births were also unexpected.”
“It might be just as you said, this family could be a lie that your mother and I fabricated, everything could be false.”
“But.”
“Noia, Little Light, my love for you is real.”
“I love you, love Muen, you are my daughters, the most important people in my world.”
He pressed his dry lips together, rubbing his cold palms, continuing,
“It was you who made me become a father, I really… thank you so much.”
“Because of your births, I finally had people worth risking my life to protect.”
“Noia, you can blame your mother and me for concealing things from you to maintain the family, but don’t say my love for you was also fake.”
“I really… love, love you all so much…”
Sitting before them was once the strongest man, but now he lowered his head, suppressing his voice, repeatedly saying he loved them.
Constantine might have been right – those we love are also our weaknesses.
But Leon willingly accepts being bound by this weakness.
They are his family, his most important connections in this world.
Noia and Aurora exchanged glances, then looked back at the man sitting across from them.
“You haven’t gotten to the main point yet.”
“Huh? What?” Leon looked up, completely bewildered.
“We’re just teasing you, Dad. Everyone knows you’re completely devoted to your daughters,” Aurora said with an unconcealed smile.
Leon’s face immediately darkened. “So now that you’ve grown up, you’ve learned to play with your father’s feelings, huh?”
“Who’s playing with your feelings? We haven’t seen each other for twenty years – we just wanted to confirm if you still love us.”
After making this superficial excuse, Aurora quickly changed the subject. “Ahem, Big Sis is right – you haven’t gotten to the main point yet.”
“What main point?” Leon asked.
Noia put down her legs and leaned forward across the table, looking at Leon. “You love me, you love Muen, you love Little Light, but haven’t you forgotten one last family member?”
Leon blinked, then suddenly realized. “Oh~~~I know!”
“Mm-hmm, go on.”
“I love the donkey too.”
Noia & Little Light: ?
“Sis, I take back what I said earlier – that punch you gave him wasn’t hard enough.”
SLAM—
Noia slapped the table. “Be serious, you old bastard! Say it – do you love her or not?!”
“Do… do I really have to say it……”
The sisters nodded in perfect sync.
Leon could see there was no escape.
He let out a long sigh, composed himself, then nodded seriously:
“I love her. Rosvitha Melkvi, your mother… I love her.”
He thought that back then, before entering the time rift, that stupid dragon probably hadn’t heard his confession clearly…
That’s why their daughters were forcing him to say it now.
But there was one thing Leon didn’t understand – why did this “love” have to be said right now?
Couldn’t it… wait until they met the female lead of their parents’ love story face to face?