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Stop Calling Me "Mate"! I Only Defeated You Once, Not Married You! (Web Novel) - Volume 8, Chapter 41: Indulge Once
Volume 8, Chapter 41: Indulge Once
This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl
Just call me Isha, Mr. Leon.”The red-haired beauty’s lips curved with a faint smile as she gestured to the older woman beside her.
“This is my grandmother, Veronica.”
While she spoke, Isha cast a glance toward the anti-magic cage behind Leon—and met Rosvisser’s eyes. The instant their gazes touched, Isha quickly looked away. She didn’t notice the stunned, exasperated look spreading over her younger sister’s face.
Rosvisser exhaled softly and shook her head.
“This timeline’s turning out livelier than I expected.”
First old Constantine, now Isha and Grandmother Veronica. If anyone else showed up next, she figured she wouldn’t even be surprised anymore.
“Alright, Martin, take them to rest and arrange lodgings.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Martin led Isha and Veronica toward the camp. Leon watched their backs silently for a moment before lowering his voice.
“You think those two are safe?”
“The sensory mages didn’t detect anything unusual.”
Rebecca had returned and reported:
“I’ll still station extra men outside their tent tonight.”
“It’s fine to trust, but never without caution,” Leon said.
Isha’s story was convincing enough—a remote village attacked by dangerous beasts wasn’t rare. But that didn’t mean he could drop his guard.
After issuing his orders, Leon returned to the prison wagon. The cage holding a Dragon Queen had to be under his watch, day and night.
“Didn’t think you were such a kindhearted man, great hero~”
Rosvisser’s tone was impossible to read—half mocking, half fangirl. She’d been tossing out comments like that the whole trip, and by now Leon was completely immune.
“You’re not afraid they’ve got some ulterior motive?” Rosvisser asked.
Leon sat on the edge of the wagon, leaning lazily against the bars, speaking in his usual calm voice.
“Two unarmed women—what kind of motive could they possibly have?”
He had in fact arranged full precautions, but he wasn’t about to argue over something so trivial with a prisoner. There was no point—and with this female dragon, any topic risked turning into an endless debate. To preserve his sanity, Leon had learned to answer her in the fewest words possible.
“So I’m also an unarmed woman, huh?” Rosvisser said with a sly smile.
“You? Unarmed? Funniest thing I’ve heard since I joined the army.”
“Oh? You’ve heard something funnier? Go on then, tell me~”
Leon opened his mouth, then realized just in time that he was about to be baited again. He clamped it shut and said nothing.
Seeing him go quiet, Rosvisser didn’t push further. She turned, glancing toward the tent where Isha and Veronica were staying, and muttered:
“Sis... what are you even up to this time...”
Hours passed. Night deepened, the wind howled, and only the whisper of grass and leaves filled the silence.
After a month of forced marches, the dragon-slayer troops were utterly exhausted. Apart from the sentries, nearly everyone was fast asleep in their tents.
Leon sat under the open sky, wrapped in a single blanket atop the wagon, dozing lightly. His body had grown used to the rough conditions, so even in the cold and discomfort, he could sleep.
Rosvisser watched the thin blanket on his shoulders and murmured:
“In this cold, one blanket isn’t nearly enough...”
It might only be a world spun from the threads of time, but watching her husband work himself to exhaustion—even if it was to escort her as a captive—still made her heart ache.
She took off her cloak and, through the gap between the bars, awkwardly draped it over him.
“Mmh...”
Leon murmured faintly in his sleep, curling a little as if warmer now.
Rosvisser sat behind him, watching his sleeping face, a soft, fond smile spreading over her lips.
“What a fool you are...”
“Little one! Little one~”
Just as she whispered, she suddenly heard Isha’s voice. She turned and saw her elder sister and grandmother sneaking out of their tent.
Each of them was wrapped in a blanket, and the soldiers assigned to watch them were all lying on the ground, fast asleep.
From the other side of the cage came Rosvisser’s hushed voice.
“Sis, Grandmother—what are you doing here?”
“Saving you, of course,” Isha whispered. “A few days ago, we heard the Silver Dragon Sanctuary had fallen. Some surviving soldiers escaped and came to me—they said you’d been captured. I rushed here immediately, and ran into Grandmother along the way.”
“Grandmother, you...”
Even though this was another possible branch of the time-web, the basic facts hadn’t changed. In any version, Grandmother Veronica at this point in time should still have been far in the northernmost lands, conducting the original ruins excavation.
It was true in reality as well. Rosvisser hadn’t seen her grandmother in years before her capture. Her sudden appearance here was beyond strange.
“Silly child. No matter how busy I am, I’d never ignore you or your sister. When I heard you were in trouble, I came straight from the far north. I met Isha on the road, and together we planned your rescue.”
Hearing that, Rosvisser recalled—Grandmother had said before, even in the real world, that she knew everything Rosvisser had been through. She only intervened when absolutely necessary.
And clearly, her granddaughter being captured by the dragon-slayer army qualified as very, very necessary.
“Thank you, Sis, Grandmother, but I—”
“No need for thanks between family. I stole the wagon keys from the sentry post. You go free Anna and Sherry; I’ll get Little Ross out. We’ll regroup at the meeting point.”
As she spoke, Isha handed the key ring to Veronica. Grandmother patted her shoulder.
“Alright. Be careful, both of you.”
“Mhm.”
Then Grandmother ran toward the cages holding Anna and Sherry.
Isha quietly crept up to Rosvisser’s wagon.
The key to open her cage was only one—kept by Leon himself.
“Wait, Sis!”
Rosvisser suddenly called out.
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“I... I...”
She hesitated, unsure how to say it.
How was she supposed to tell her sister, ‘Ah, Sis, I actually let myself get captured on purpose because I want to fall in love with the dragon-slayer hero who caught me, so please let me stay here~’?
Isha would go berserk. Completely.
The Melkvey women were fierce, but in this era Isha still couldn’t imagine her sister dating—let alone marrying—a human. She would never allow Rosvisser to stay.
“Oh, you’re worried they’ll chase after us? Don’t worry, Little Ross. Grandmother and I spent a long time preparing this.”
Isha stomped her foot lightly on the ground.
“Under this area, Grandmother used a mysterious white crystal to cast a special spell. It puts designated targets into a brief sleep.”
“And our disguise—Grandmother’s illusion spell from the same crystal—was what kept the sensory mages from noticing us.”
“White crystal...”
Rosvisser thought to herself: she must mean a Primal Crystal. Magic released through a Primal Crystal wouldn’t be detected by ordinary sensing magic.
“No, Sis, that’s not what I mean.”
Standing inside the cage, Rosvisser gripped the bars tightly, biting her lip, struggling before finally saying:
“I can’t go, Sis.”
“Huh? Not going? Are you feverish, Little Ross? What nonsense is that?”
Rosvisser bit down harder and forced herself to explain.
“Actually... actually, I let him capture me on purpose.”
Isha froze.
“You let him capture you?”
She glanced toward the sleeping Leon, eyes narrowing.
“He doesn’t even look that impressive.”
Rosvisser smiled wryly.
“Ha ha... don’t joke like that, Sis. He breached my Silver Dragon Sanctuary effortlessly—how could he not be impressive? In raw strength, yes, he’s far ahead. But in wits—in the real world, I don’t think he’s ever actually beaten me.”
“I don’t care how strong or clever he is, Little Ross. I’m here to rescue you. You’re coming with me.”
Isha’s voice hardened.
Rosvisser’s eyes flickered. She looked at Leon’s back. If she left now, who knew when she’d ever see this version of him again?
And the magic holding this illusion together—she didn’t even know how long it would last. At any moment, she and Leon could wake back in the real world.
And she still hadn’t proved the answer in her heart.
So she couldn’t go.
In the real world, she didn’t have the luxury of acting on emotion. But in this constructed one... she would allow herself, just this once, to follow her heart.
“No, Sis. I have my own plan,” Rosvisser said firmly. “I can’t leave yet—not now.”
“Little Ross, you...”
“One month.”
Rosvisser quickly added:
“Give me one more month. When I finish what I came here to do, I’ll come find you.”
Isha still couldn’t understand. “A month? That’s plenty of time for them to take you all the way back to the Empire. Once that happens, escaping won’t be so easy. Whatever you’re planning, this is too dangerous.”
“Just trust me this once, Sis. Please. I’ll be fine, I promise I’ll come back safely.”
“Little Ross...!”
Before she could say more, Leon suddenly let out a low groan, stirring as if trying to wake from sleep.
Isha frowned.
“He’s already breaking through the sleep spell?...So he’s not ordinary after all.”
It was a trap spell—one that only schemers like Isha and Veronica could pull off with any success, and even then it was powerful.
Yet Leon was already resisting it after barely half an hour. That alone showed how strong his magic and willpower were.
“He’s waking up soon, Sis. You have to go,” Rosvisser urged. “I’ll be fine. We’ll meet here again in a month. Believe me this once, alright?”
Seeing Leon about to wake, Isha knew she couldn’t delay.
She had no choice but to trust her sister and leave her behind.
“Alright, Little Ross. I believe you. Take care of yourself, you hear?”
“Mhm, I know. Tell Grandmother I’m sorry for being disobedient—for making her come all this way and waste the crystal.”
Isha shook her head.
“Tell her yourself when you come back in a month.”
Rosvisser smiled faintly.
“Alright. I will.”
Isha spread her dragon wings, stepping back, her eyes never leaving her sister.
“Be safe, Little Ross. Don’t let anything happen to you.”
“Mhm... I promise. We’ll see each other again, Sis.”
All the words she wanted to say turned into a single tear.
Isha beat her wings, taking one last, lingering look at her sister before turning and soaring into the night sky.
When she was gone, Rosvisser looked down at Leon, who was just beginning to stir awake, and whispered softly,
“Please, you idiot... don’t let me down.”
