Chapter 2: Sister-in-law Hello!

To be honest, this was Rebecca’s first time being so close to a dragon—and not just any dragon, but the Dragon Queen herself.
Like Leon, she was an excellent dragon slayer trained at the Empire’s Dragon Slaying Academy. From childhood, they were indoctrinated with ideas like “defeat all evil dragons, reclaim human territory.”
Before learning about the Captain’s marriage to the female dragon beneath her, this had been her understanding – that all dragons in the world were enemies, and as a dragon slayer, her job was to drive them all out without exception.
But through the Captain’s various abstract operations, Rebecca gradually began to understand dragons from a different perspective.
Though her understanding wasn’t very deep yet, she at least grasped one truth:
Humans could indeed marry dragons, have children with them, and maintain a good family.
If someone had told Rebecca before that humans and dragons could not only coexist harmoniously but even have three children together, she would have surely used her gun to crack open their skull to check if it was filled with paste.
Even now, Rebecca could hardly believe she was sitting on the Silver Dragon Queen’s back, soaring freely through the clouds.
“Um… what should I call you?” Rebecca tried to start a conversation.
The Silver Dragon Queen had condescended to take her flying and keep her entertained, so she couldn’t just sit there like a mute gourd without saying anything.
She should at least chat a bit, to keep the atmosphere from being so stiff.
“Whatever you like, you can call me anything.”
Actually, Rosvitha used to care a lot about ‘forms of address.’
During the period when Leon had just awakened, Noia and Muen both called her “Mother” or “Mother-sama.”
This showed just how strict the Melkvi family’s upbringing was.
But later, as she spent more time with Leon, Rosvitha became less rigid and strict.
As for forms of address, as long as they were proper, it was fine. Regarding other aspects, Rosvitha didn’t demand too much.
“Emmmmm……”
Rebecca thought for a moment, then a lightbulb went off in her head,
“Then I’ll call you… Sister-in-law!”
As soon as the words fell, the crazy girl could clearly feel the giant dragon beneath her body shudder.
“Si-sister-in-law?” The queen was at a loss for words, truly not expecting this girl to come up with such a form of address.
“Yeah.”
Rebecca nodded, thinking Rosvitha didn’t understand the term ‘sister-in-law,’ so she earnestly explained,
“In our human society, an elder brother’s wife is called sister-in-law, it’s also a term of respect. And since Captain is a year older than me, now that he’s married you, that makes you my sister-in-law!”
“I know what sister-in-law means, it’s just… just…”
“Just what?”
Rebecca thought the Queen was disdaining being called sister-in-law by a human as beneath her status.
But Rosvitha’s answer was,
“The Captain and I aren’t actually… that close, you don’t need to call me sister-in-law.”
Rebecca’s beautiful blue-green pupils widened,
“Not close with Captain? But you already have three kids!”
“Having children doesn’t necessarily mean we’re close…”
Rebecca tilted her head, “Have you two lived together?”
“Does sleeping in the same bed count as living together?”
“Of course it does!”
“…Then yes, we’ve lived together.”
Rebecca asked again, “Have you held hands?”
“We have…”
“Have you kissed?”
“…Rarely.”
Rarely, meaning they would kiss intensely whenever they had the chance.
“When was the last time you kissed?”
For some reason, the air stirred by the dragon wings became a bit hot.
Rebecca didn’t notice, thinking it was just the weather.
But if she had turned her head slightly now, she would have seen that a certain queen’s wings and tail had already turned slightly red.
“The last kiss… was very, very long ago. I already said we rarely kiss, how would I remember?”
Rosvitha wasn’t intentionally trying to lie.
She just wasn’t ready to be completely honest with Leon’s people yet.
If humans harbored misgivings about dragons, then naturally dragons couldn’t immediately trust humans either.
Rosvitha taking Rebecca out for a ride was firstly because she found this girl quite nice, interesting, and reliable;
Secondly, she wanted to get to know her better.
Rosvitha hoped to build a relationship of trust with an interesting girl like Rebecca, which was why she did this.
But before establishing trust… it was better to control the speed and extent of gossip spreading.
“Oh, you only kissed a long time ago… then you really are—”
“Not close, right?”
“You’re way past close, sister-in-law.”
Rebecca laughed, patting the scales on Rosvitha’s back, “What’s there to be embarrassed about?”
“I’m not… not embarrassed.”
Without realizing it, she seemed to have accepted Rebecca calling her sister-in-law.
Rebecca also stopped digging deeper into what kind of relationship she had with the Captain.
After all, since the Queen had tacitly approved of her using the term sister-in-law, those who knew, knew.
“Oh right, we humans have an old saying that goes, ‘Nothing tastes better than dumplings~'”
“Mm? And then?”
“Nothing looks better than a sister-in-law!”
“…”
“Ah! Finally said it, I was about to burst.”
Rebecca lay on the dragon’s back, looking at the azure sky, a relieved smile appearing on her cute face,
“The first time I saw you I thought you were super beautiful, completely different from the dragons we’d met before.”
“What were the dragons you met before like?”
“Fierce and scary, looking like they wanted to eat people right away.”
“Oh, actually I eat people too when I’m hungry.”
Rebecca: ?!
“And I especially like eating pretty, quirky girls like you. They don’t make a sound when eaten.” Rosvitha said with a smile.
Sensing the playful tone in the Queen’s voice, Rebecca’s frantically beating heart finally calmed down.
She pouted, then continued what she was saying before.
“Other Dragon Kings give me the impression that they’re impossible to communicate with. But you’re different – even though you’re cold, talking with you is quite comfortable.”
This time, Rosvitha didn’t answer immediately.
After pondering briefly, she replied,
“Actually, our ability to communicate friendly now is merely the result of a series of accidents.”
Rebecca raised her eyebrows. “What… do you mean?”
“If the Empire hadn’t tried to assassinate Leon back then, he wouldn’t have been captured by me, we wouldn’t have gotten married, and we certainly wouldn’t be chatting here.”
“Hmm… it really was a series of accidents.” Rebecca contemplated.
“So fundamentally, I’m not that different from those Dragon Kings in your impression.”
After a pause, Rosvitha added playfully, “Oh, there is one difference – at least I don’t eat humans.”
Rebecca smiled faintly but didn’t say anything, continuing to wait for Rosvitha to go on.
“And your evaluation of me just now was made after getting a general understanding of who I am, right?”
Rebecca nodded, “Mm-hmm.”
“Rebecca, I’m not trying to justify this human-dragon war that has lasted nearly a hundred years. I just want to say that it’s very difficult to make accurate judgments without understanding each other.”
Rosvitha continued,
“To be honest, I used to hold deep hostility towards humans too, and there’s no need to hide that. My union with Leon wasn’t as smooth as you might think – he went through a lot of hardship in the process.”
“Ah… of course, I went through a lot too.”
“My change in perspective towards Leon and the human race happened gradually through our interactions.”
“But I also understand that one person can’t represent an entire race, so besides Leon, I want to try to understand the people around him.”
“This might help me better understand what kind of enemies we’ve been facing for the past hundred years, and allow me to make more accurate judgments.”
Rebecca quietly contemplated.
She rarely thought deeply about things.
But Rosvitha’s words were indeed interesting and worth careful consideration.
After a while, she asked softly, “So that’s why you’re trying to get to know me?”
“Yes. So… now that you know my thoughts, what do you think?”
Rebecca bit her lip lightly, thought for a moment, and said slowly,
“I never imagined I’d be discussing such things with a Dragon King. Maybe it’s too early to call you sister-in-law. Before that… we should try to be friends, don’t you think?”
Rosvitha’s pupils flickered slightly as she smiled, “I know what you humans call this… besties.”
Rebecca also laughed at Her Majesty’s choice of words.
“Yes, besties. Though the two-hundred-year age gap is quite big… but if the Captain can marry you, why can’t I be your bestie?”
Thank goodness it’s just besties, Your Majesty.
I thought you were going to adopt me as your goddaughter or something.
“So what do human besties usually do when they get together?”
Rebecca thought for a moment and said,
“Chat, eat together, drink, and gossip about boyfriends and stuff. Though I don’t have a boyfriend.”
Rosvitha blinked, “You don’t, but I do.”
The silver dragon half-turned her head, exchanging a knowing look with the young woman on her back.
Two seconds later.
“Let me tell you, Your Majesty, the Captain loves silver-haired older women like you the most! Back in school—”
General Leon would never know that on that day, his most loyal gunner completely exposed all his secrets to his wife.
The moral of this story is:
Never let your wife meet your college classmates.
Otherwise,
Best case scenario: All your secrets exposed;
Worst case scenario… Your family status might be at risk!