Skadi, My Wife

Chen An scoffed. "Does a handsome guy like me need to praise himself? Everyone already knows, okay? The reason I don't like fighting is because I love peace. If you don't believe me, Exusiai, put down that watermelon and let's have a go."

"Who's afraid of who?!"

Without another word, Exusiai set down the half watermelon in her hands and rolled up her sleeves, preparing to fight.

Every time they played games, he beat her until she questioned her life. Whenever they bickered, he never gave an inch either. He never stopped until he made her so mad she wanted to hit someone. She had wanted to beat Chen An up for ages!

If Chen An hadn't run off so fast every time he provoked her, she would have beaten him up long ago!

And now Chen An actually said he wanted to fight her? Haha, heaven had eyes! He was asking for death!

"I offered my heart to the bright moon, yet the bright moon shines upon a ditch. I originally wanted to get along with you, Exusiai, as an ordinary person, but I never expected you to be so ungrateful, insisting on bringing this suffering upon yourself... Sigh, it seems I have no choice but to get serious this time."

Chen An let out a melancholy sigh, then...

He suddenly tossed aside the watermelon rind in his hand, pointed at the 'ferociously grinning' Exusiai, and shouted, "Skadi, get her!"

Crash! Someone's integrity shattered all over the floor.

Exusiai: "..."

You win!

Exusiai shot Chen An a vicious glare, then decisively chose to surrender.

She could still bully Chen An a little, but Skadi? Give her a break! She was the kind of ruthless person who could ram her head into a streetlamp pole, come out fine herself, and leave the pole critically damaged. Who could afford to provoke someone like that?!

He actually had the nerve to use her as a thug. No wonder he could brag about being impressive. She really couldn't afford to mess with him. Couldn't afford it.

While Chen An and Exusiai hurt each other with words, Texas and Lappland silently ate their watermelon.

Though she had been played, Texas was not particularly upset.

Lappland had not forcibly pressured her, and neither Chen An nor Skadi had been hurt. That was enough.

Texas felt relaxed, but Lappland was different. Her mentality was practically exploding.

Damn it! She had finally made up her mind to force Texas's hand, and she had been so close to succeeding. Then Chen An and Skadi came along and made a mess of things, and Texas's wild killing intent vanished completely.

Not only that, she no longer had any desire to spar with Texas either.

With the atmosphere like this, how the hell was she supposed to fight?!

Lappland suspected Chen An had done it on purpose. As for Skadi... though Skadi had also ruined her plan, Lappland did not think Skadi was that crafty. She was just purely dense.

That man. It seemed she had to teach him a lesson.

Grinding her teeth inwardly, Lappland suddenly sped up her eating and finished the watermelon in her hands in just a few bites.

Throwing away the rind, she wiped her mouth and stood up. Looking at Chen An with a smile that did not reach her eyes, she said, "I hadn't planned on doing anything to you, but now... Kid, you dared get in my way. I'll give you one minute to come up with some begging lines. If they don't satisfy me, then even if you're Texas's friend, even with Skadi protecting you, I..."

She let out a cold chuckle, her threatening attitude impossible to miss.

"Finished? Oh, perfect. Exusiai showing up was a bit unexpected, but Texas did come, and the misunderstandings that needed clearing up have been cleared up. It's time to head back."

Chen An clapped his hands and got to his feet. "Skadi."

"Hm?" Skadi looked up in confusion.

Chen An smiled at her. "That's enough. We're going home."

"Oh."

Nodding in realization, Skadi also stood up.

At that very moment, something unexpected happened.

In a flash, with no room to react!

A faint explosion of compressed air suddenly rang out, and a wave of air surged.

In the very second before Skadi straightened up, she vanished from where she stood and appeared before Lappland.

Grabbing Lappland by the collar and yanking hard, Skadi leaned forward and slammed into her without hesitation.

There was no time to react. There had never been time to react.

Lappland only felt her collar tighten sharply, followed by a burst of pain in her forehead. Then the world spun, and her consciousness instantly fell into darkness.

"You..."

Lappland opened her mouth instinctively. Before she lost consciousness completely, all she saw was Skadi's ice-cold face.

Lappland Was Kidnapped

Lappland opened her eyes. She smelled something familiar, yet the ceiling before her was unfamiliar.

The lights were soft and close at hand, yet for some reason they felt extraordinarily distant, like a Halo from another world.

She instinctively clenched her fist. It felt easy and strong.

The pain that would occasionally surface throughout her body after contracting Oripathy, along with the ever-present oppressive discomfort, had all vanished.

Her body felt completely renewed, and even her thoughts had become clear and lucid, no longer plagued by their former agitation.

The environment, her body, her thoughts.

Everything seemed wrong. Though all those changes were for the better, the strange sensation made Lappland frown.

"You're awake."

Texas entered the room carrying a stack of clothes. She happened to see Lappland sitting upright in bed, frowning as she thought.

She was a little surprised, because Lappland had woken at exactly the time Chen An had predicted.

"This is your room? Did you save me?"

Lappland remembered what had happened at the abandoned factory. Skadi, seemingly acting on Chen An's orders, had attacked her, and then she had passed out.

She had also realized that the owner of the familiar scent filling the room was Texas.

So, unsurprisingly, this room belonged to Texas.

"No. Chen An did."

Texas placed the clothes by the bed. She had gone out to buy them earlier. Lappland's original clothes had been taken to be washed—Texas had helped take them off.

"Chen An said your Oripathy was serious. If it went untreated any longer, something might happen. He noticed it. He also said he had given you medicine for Oripathy before and specifically told you to remember to take it, but you clearly did not listen and never took it. So, in order to treat your uncooperative Oripathy, he had Skadi sneak attack and knock you out, then brought you back."

Texas paused, then added blandly, "Chen An is a doctor. He can provide basic treatment for Oripathy. He can't cure it, but he can keep it from flaring up. He treats all the patients in the Lower District. I didn't tell you last time because I didn't want you getting too close to Chen An. But since he is willing to help you on his own initiative, I won't stop him."

"You slept through the entire day. After we came back during the day, Chen An began treating you. The treatment is done now. I don't know how he did it, but he said your Oripathy has been suppressed. So, do you have any other problems?"

When Lappland recalled Skadi's sneak attack earlier, she had actually suspected that Chen An wanted to do something to her, but Texas had been present, so he had failed, and Texas had saved her.

She had even felt killing intent rise within her. She had planned to leave after Texas went away, then find an opportunity to kill him.

But according to what Texas was saying now...

Lappland fell silent, her feelings exceedingly complicated.

So that was what had happened? That man really was a hopeless idiot.

"Looks like you don't. Then get up already. Your old clothes are being washed, so I bought you these new ones. Get dressed and come next door. Chen An said dinner will be ready soon."

Without waiting for a response, Texas turned around and left the room cleanly after saying that.

Lappland stared blankly at the clothes Texas had left behind for a while, then suddenly snorted disdainfully.

"Idiot man."

Then she got up and put on the clothes.

"Whoa, whoa! What's with this fire? Why did it suddenly get so big?!"

"Rich young lady, how many times have I told you? Don't come into the kitchen while I'm cooking. At the rate things go, with the kitchen seeming to pick a fight with you every time you enter, we might end up with no food at all."

"So noisy! Shut up! Obviously the equipment is the problem. What does that have to do with me?!"

"Yeah, yeah."

When Lappland had changed clothes and come next door, she stood at the door for a long while before finally gritting her teeth as if she had made up her mind and pushing it open. What she saw was Chen An, looking helpless as he ushered an unfamiliar blonde girl with twin spiral ponytails and a disgruntled expression out of the kitchen.

The house was not large. Lappland could see them, and naturally Chen An and the others could see her.

"Yo, Lappland, you're here. Dinner will be ready soon. Find somewhere to sit for now."

Chen An greeted her with a smile. Swire looked suspicious. "Who's this woman? Another one from Penguin Logistics?"

"No, she's a friend of Texas and mine."

"Oh."

Swire acknowledged it without asking further questions, then stormed away indignantly.

Lappland looked around the room and saw Texas, Exusiai, and Skadi again.

Texas wore an apron as she chopped vegetables in the kitchen. Exusiai sat before the television in the living room playing games, while Skadi sat on the sofa behind her reading.

Her tail swayed. After hesitating for two seconds, Lappland walked into the living room.

"Hello."

Skadi looked up at her and greeted her politely. Her attitude was gentle, with none of the coldness she had shown when she attacked Lappland.

Lappland said nothing and sat down on the other end of the sofa.

After watching Exusiai's game for a while, she suddenly asked, "Hey, can I play too?"

Exusiai turned around in surprise and gave Lappland, who somehow felt different to her, a puzzled look. She picked up the unused controller and handed it over, warning fiercely,

"You can play, but if you hold me back, don't blame me if I start cursing."

Lappland ate dinner at Chen An's home. The dinner itself was quite interesting.

As soon as they sat down at the table, Exusiai began chattering away. She bickered with Chen An while complaining about the Halo above her head.

She said it was too glaring and made it hard for her to sleep every night. She also said that her second greatest wish in life was to turn off the fluorescent lamp over her head.

Chen An looked down on her and asked why she made it so complicated. Couldn't she just take it off and put it away? Exusiai immediately mocked him, saying that if the thing could be removed, no Sankta would keep it on their head all the time. If Chen An could take off her Halo, she would even bring her own dowry and become his bedwarming maid.

Then, then Chen An casually removed Exusiai's Halo.

Exusiai's nonstop chatter abruptly came to a halt. Her face was filled with shattered worldviews and doubt over her entire life.

The Feline named Swire had scolded Chen An and Exusiai as soon as she sat down, telling them to talk less while eating and show some table manners. Neither paid attention to her, making her so angry that her fur nearly stood on end.

Then she saw Chen An remove Exusiai's Halo, and the chopsticks in her hand clattered onto the table. She was just as dumbfounded.

Other than occasionally putting food onto Chen An's plate, and smiling whenever Chen An put food onto hers, Skadi ate quietly throughout the meal.

Texas was much the same. The only time she showed any surprise was when Chen An removed Exusiai's Halo.

After her surprise faded, she seriously suggested that Chen An keep it and hang it in the living room as a lightbulb to save on electricity bills. She also teased Exusiai, telling her to hurry and prepare her dowry so she could become a bedwarming maid.

Exusiai flew into a rage over that. While loudly cursing Texas for being disloyal and betraying her, she snatched her Halo back from Chen An and put it back on her head.

She had put it back on, but then Exusiai tried to remove the Halo herself. No matter what she did, she could not manage it, and she once again fell into a state of questioning her life.

Swire was so shocked that her tail spun in circles. She kept asking Chen An what was going on, what was going on, overflowing with curiosity.

It was a noisy atmosphere, but also a warm one.

Lappland felt that she would probably never forget this dinner for the rest of her life.

Is That Kind of Touching Even Proper?

After dinner.

As usual, Exusiai stayed behind and went to the living room to play games.

To be honest, she was very curious about how Chen An had managed to remove the Halo from her head—when Swire asked, Chen An had said he simply took it off because he wanted to. She did not believe that.

But she did not dare ask, because she was worried Texas would tease her again, and she was afraid Chen An would really seize on her slip-up and make her warm his bed.

She and Skadi were good friends. Making her warm Chen An's bed—what kind of nonsense was that?!