Leon had no particular expectations for the principal, he just hoped she wouldn't be as obsessed with shipping CPs as the vice principal.
When they arrived at the principal's office, Wilson knocked on the door three times and respectfully said:
"Principal Oullette, the Melkvei couple has arrived."
"Mm, come in."
The vice principal pushed open the door and led the couple into the office.
"Thanks, Wilson."
Leon followed the voice.
Behind the desk sat a woman. Judging by her appearance, she looked about the same age as Rossweise's grandmother.
But a dragon's real age couldn't be judged by appearance, so Leon wasn't sure how many years the principal had actually lived.
She sat upright, smiling, with an air of maturity and composure.
"No trouble at all, Principal."
Wilson, rarely serious, gave a slight nod and respectfully said, "I'll leave you to talk. I have other matters to attend to."
"Alright, Wilson."
The vice principal turned and left.
Oullette looked at Leon and Rossweise, gesturing with her hand, "Please, take a seat."
Rossweise nodded and sat down with Leon in front of the desk.
Oullette's gaze fell on the two little dragon girls, smiling as she praised, "Such adorable daughters. Are they both live-born wyrmlings?"
"Yes, Principal."
"Hmm, it seems you aren't a traditional dragon family."
'We're not even fully a dragon family, can you believe that,' Leon thought to himself.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Rossweise asked, "Principal, we haven't heard from you in so many years. What have you been up to?"
"Before I answer that, I want to show you something."
As she spoke, Oullette took a delicate gift box from a drawer in her desk.
She pushed the small box in front of Rossweise and gently opened it.
Inside was an exquisite necklace.
The pendant held a milky white crystal that sparkled under the sunlight.
"This was entrusted to me by your grandmother, Veronica Melkvei, to give to you. Consider it a belated wedding gift."
———
"A... wedding gift?", Rossweise was a bit confused.
She could understand receiving a wedding gift. Grandma Veronica, though strict, had always been kind to her and her sister Isa. When they were young, they received gifts from their grandmother on every major holiday.
When she and Leon "got married," it was very... low-key. Their grandmother only found out afterward.
So it wasn't surprising that she'd now make up for the wedding gift.
What truly puzzled Rossweise was, 'Why would my grandmother entrust Principal Oullette to deliver it?'
From her recollection, aside from the two sisters graduating from St. Heath's Academy, the Melkvei family had no connection with Principal Oullette.
Looking at the exquisite and radiant pendant, Rossweise's eyes shifted slightly.
"Principal, when did you meet my grandmother?", After thinking it over, Rossweise decided it was better to be direct.
As the principal of St. Heath's Academy, Oullette was certainly a neutral party, so there was no need to beat around the bush.
"Well... if we're talking about when we met, that was a long time ago."
Principal Oullette smiled, "When you were still a student at St. Heath's, I already knew Veronica. But we were just acquaintances then. Later, by chance, I encountered your grandmother again during a survey project in the Far North."
The Far North?
Survey project?
Rossweise had a vague impression of this.
When her grandmother last returned and gave her intel on the spatial dragon king Ravi, she mentioned she'd been operating in the Far North all these years, supposedly for a survey project.
But her grandmother hadn't elaborated, and Rossweise hadn't pressed.
Now that Principal Oullette brought up this so-called survey project again, Rossweise couldn't help feeling curious.
"Principal, have you been operating this... survey project in the Far North all these years?", Rossweise asked.
"Yes. It's a rather large project, sometimes keeping me away for years."
Principal Oullette adjusted her glasses and smiled wryly, "I thought my academy would be in chaos under that old rascal Wilson. But to my surprise, he managed things quite well, especially discovering a genius student like Noah."
'Managed well? You mean ignoring his duties as vice principal to rally the whole school into becoming Melkvei CP fans?'
'Principal, are you confused?'
Leon silently listened to his wife and the principal talk, without interjecting.
He didn't know much about dragon affairs, so it was better to listen than speak.
This was one of the tips Rossweise gave him when teaching him the ways of power and politics.
Also, the "Far North" they spoke of was a region completely inaccessible to humans, only appearing in history books.
Probably only dragons, with their thick skin and rugged bodies, could survive such harsh conditions, Leon thought.
"The vice principal certainly... manages things well, mm," Rossweise echoed.
Leon glanced at her.
He knew that whenever Rossweise said something she didn't believe, she'd add a "mm" at the end.
Like: ("Leon, you're asking if I hate you? I hate you to death! Mm!")
("Leon, your cooking is awful. Mm, really awful.")
("Leon, how could you think I like you? Are you insane? Mm, you're insane.")
And so on.
But even if he saw through her surface-level politeness, Leon didn't show it.
"What exactly were you surveying in the Far North?", Rossweise asked.
"Something very ancient, so ancient it doesn't belong to our era."
The principal said, "But the survey project has now been terminated."
"Terminated?"
"Yes," Oullette nodded, "The project required help from someone like Ravi, a spatial-type dragon king. But it turns out he was a spy planted in the team, secretly trying to steal our findings. He suddenly left the Far North, and the next we heard of him... was in that battle at your Silver Dragon border."
As she spoke, Oullette slowly turned her gaze from Rossweise to Leon.
Leon raised an eyebrow, glanced at Oullette, then at Rossweise, and adjusted his posture, "What is it, Principal?"
"Even though I've only just returned from the Far North, I heard about it, the Silver Dragon prince stopped Ravi's final spatial rift disaster. Some dragon scholars said that if that rift hadn't been stopped and had continued to expand, the destruction wouldn't have been limited to just the Silver Dragons."
Oullette looked at Leon approvingly, "So, in a way, Mr. Leon, you saved many more dragons."
"..."
It was clearly a compliment, but why did it sound so strange?
A dragonslayer saving dragons... was he a living Buddha or something?
But that wasn't Leon's intention. All he knew at the time was that if he didn't stop the rift, his wife and kids would be doomed.
As for saving more dragons...
Whatever. Let's just call it one life for another.
He'd probably killed more dragons than he saved anyway. Say what you will.
"Even if I hadn't done it, someone else would've stepped in to stop the rift, Principal," Leon said humbly.
That's what he said.
But if they'd waited for someone else to stop it, they might have been too late.
"Principal, you said Ravi might've been a spy planted in the survey team?"
"Yes."
"Then... do you know who sent him?"
Oullette shook her head, "That's unclear. But what's certain is that there were others in the team with ulterior motives besides Ravi."
Leon raised an eyebrow at this and muttered in his head, 'Your team's full of talent, huh, Principal? What, like half the dragons were spies? Want to hire me to catch them? I'm great at it.'
"After Ravi left, we had to slow down the project. Still, even with the delay, we achieved considerable results."
Oullette continued, "But before we could even celebrate, the Ironwing Dragon King, Fell, stole part of our findings and disappeared."
"Fell, huh... mm. The Ironwing clan rivals my Silver Dragons in speed. It'd be easy for them to shake off most trackers," Rossweise said.
"Sigh, what a headache."
Oullette paused, seeming a bit downcast, "I'll get you some tea."
"Ah, thank you, Principal."
"No problem."
Oullette stood to fetch some tea leaves.
Taking the chance, the couple whispered together.
"Do you think this Ironwing Dragon King is also working with the human empire?", Rossweise asked softly.
Leon frowned slightly, "You mean, he stole your grandmother's survey results and handed them over to the Empire?"
Rossweise nodded, "Very likely. Ravi was one of the dragon kings cooperating with the Empire, right?"
"Indeed."
Leon's eyes flickered, and he added, "But from what Principal Oullette said, although she suspects Ravi and Fell were working for an organization, she doesn't know that the 'organization' is actually the human Empire."
"Mm, right. But if the principal knew Ravi and the others were cooperating with the Empire, she'd probably also realize the Silver Dragon Sanctuary has been hiding a human." [T/N: I mean, HOW????????BS]
Rossweise looked at Leon and said, "Because from Constantine to Star, to Ravi and recently Bly, these dragon kings didn't attack the Silver Dragon Sanctuary for no reason. They must have a shared goal. And if you trace that goal back and find the Empire behind it, it's not hard to guess who they were after."
Rossweise's analysis was sound and easy to understand.
So far, only a handful of people knew the secret of the human Empire's secret alliance with dragons.
And if that secret got out, the consequences would be catastrophic.
Even Leon couldn't predict what would happen. That's why he hadn't exposed the conspiracy yet. He was gathering solid evidence and leverage to overthrow the Empire's ridiculous rule in one strike.
As for the dragons, once they learned Constantine, Ravi, and the others were "dragon traitors" working with humans, and that they repeatedly attacked the Silver Dragon Sanctuary, it would be hard not to suspect that the Silver Dragons were also colluding with humans.
At that point, not just Leon, but Rossweise and their children would become targets of the entire dragon race.
General Leon wasn't afraid. However many dragons came after him, he'd kill them all.
But his wife and kids weren't like him.
If anything happened to them, what good would Leon's strength be?
So in a way, Leon, the Empire, and those "dragon traitors" were all grasshoppers tied to the same rope. If one exploded, they all would.
This was a dangerous game. Both sides were walking a tightrope, trying to secure their footing while toppling the other.
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