Skadi, My Wife

Skadi was highly capable, so there was no need to worry too much. After getting separated from Skadi, Chen An felt that their fate had probably come to an end. So instead of looking for her, he left her a message in his own way and departed.

That separation lasted quite a long time. It was not until more than half a year ago that Skadi finally found him in Yan Nation.

At the time, he was on the run from several girls who wanted to tie him up and drag him home to be their groom.

And then came their third separation.

Strictly speaking, that third separation did not really count as a separation.

After all, Chen An and Skadi had been apart for less than half a day that time.

The reason it counted was because Chen An had genuinely wanted to leave Skadi that time.

It could not be helped. The situation had been seriously off.

After their second reunion, Skadi told him that she understood his thoughts. During the time she had spent searching for him, she had already given up her promising career as a bounty hunter. Now, like him, she was unemployed.

On top of that, Skadi had become increasingly bold. Not only had she stolen several kisses while he was off guard, but whenever they rested at night, she would use excuses like being afraid of the dark or worrying that he would run into danger if she was too far away, always inching closer to him.

In short, no matter how he looked at it, she seemed to be harboring improper intentions toward him, just like those girls in Yan Nation who had wanted to tie him up and take him home as their groom.

Worried that if this continued, he would not only fail to become a cold, ruthless, solitary traveler from another land, but might even get pounced on by Skadi and lose his innocence, Chen An quietly abandoned her and ran away one night while she was asleep.

Then... then, worried that Skadi might react too strongly and have an accident because of it, he came back after observing her from nearby.

There was no helping it. When Skadi woke up and found that she had been left behind, the helpless, panicked look on her face was simply too pitiful.

Chen An only wanted to be a cold and ruthless traveler from another land. It was not like he was actually cold and ruthless. He had known Skadi for years. Seeing her so pitiful and helpless, how could he truly just walk away?

As for whether softening his heart might lead to some unforeseeable consequences... as long as he stood firm, there would definitely be no problem.

That was right. There definitely would not be a problem.

And after that, Chen An never separated from Skadi again. They had remained together until now.

Introductions over, the focus returned to Chen An.

After entering, Chen An took off his shoes by the door. Before he could even enter the living room, he saw Skadi emerge from the room. Wearing a silk nightgown and hugging a pillow patterned with cute animals, she looked at him with eyes full of accusation.

"You promised to take a nap with me, but you lied again."

Chen An: "..."

He gave an awkward laugh. "W-Well, Exusiai asked me to play games with her, and you happened to be asleep..."

Skadi said nothing. She looked aggrieved. Stare~

"I'm telling you, Skadi..."

Skadi said nothing. She looked aggrieved. Stare~

"Can you stop looking at me like that?"

Skadi said nothing. Her expression became even more aggrieved. Stare~

Chen An: "..."

Finally realizing he had nothing to say, he was defeated by Skadi's aggrieved gaze and raised his hands in surrender.

"Alright, alright, I was wrong, I was wrong. I shouldn't have disliked how tightly you hugged me in your sleep, worried that my innocence might be in danger, and slipped away after you fell asleep. I'm sorry. So, Titi, can you stop looking at me like I'm some heartless bastard?"

Skadi said nothing. Barefoot and hugging her pillow, she walked over to Chen An.

She raised her face to look at him. Her silver-white bangs parted down either side of her forehead, and Chen An's reflection lay in her vermilion eyes. She did not say a word, simply looking at him so earnestly.

Chen An met her gaze. After several seconds, he sighed helplessly.

"Alright, alright."

He lowered his head and lightly kissed Skadi on the forehead before saying with a somewhat lifeless expression, "Is this enough now?"

For Skadi, apologies were not words. They were actions.

That was how she treated Chen An, and thus she expected Chen An to treat her the same way.

Incidentally, the action Skadi wanted was actually a kiss, but Chen An refused no matter what. In the end, it had become a kiss on the forehead.

Incidentally again, Chen An was not particularly willing to kiss her forehead either, but he could never win against Skadi when she put on that pitiful look, so he had no choice but to accept it.

"..."

Still silent, Skadi's eyes curved slightly as she revealed a sweet, delighted smile.

At that very moment, upon the distant sea.

Strange murmurs arose, and enormous waves surged across the tranquil ocean.

The tide churned and billowed, countless silver-white sprays gathering and shattering.

Silver-white hair danced in the wind. Like an illusion, a woman with crimson eyes and red robes silently emerged from the gaps between the bursting foam.

She stood upon the sea, which had suddenly calmed, and gazed toward the east.

Her gaze crossed countless mountains and rivers, seeing Skadi in Chen An's embrace, her face filled with happiness.

"Me, Chen An..."

She stood hesitantly upon the sea for a while, then suddenly began to hum a somewhat sorrowful tune as she set off down the road.

I will find you both, she thought.

And so.

At this time,

At this moment.

The land welcomed a new guest.

Her name was—Skadi.

Skadi: I've Come to Find You

The horizon had been dyed red, and the sun was about to set.

It was time to begin preparing dinner.

There was a saying: men handled affairs outside, women handled affairs within. But that did not quite apply to Chen An and Skadi.

Skadi possessed immense natural strength, and even when she had been a bounty hunter, her fighting style had been exceptionally unrestrained rather than technique-oriented. Fine, delicate work was simply difficult for her, especially household tasks. If she insisted on doing them, she would always accidentally use too much strength and turn everything into a mess.

So although she had not been a bounty hunter for some time, aside from tasks like sweeping the floor, Chen An handled basically everything else at home.

Otherwise, even while washing dishes or chopping vegetables, Skadi might accidentally use too much force, crush a bowl in her hand, or split the chopping board in two with one thud.

Though somewhat unwilling, Skadi had no choice but to accept it in order to keep herself from causing even more trouble.

Entering the kitchen, Chen An opened the refrigerator and casually asked Skadi, "Skadi, what do you want to eat tonight?"

Skadi answered seriously, "Anything is fine as long as Chen An makes it."

"Anything, huh..."

Chen An could not help rolling his eyes at her. "It's always like this. Don't you know that 'anything' is the hardest thing to make?"

Skadi thought for a moment. "Then you can make apple pie and chocolate cake. Exusiai and Texas like those things best."

Although Exusiai and Texas were girls, neither liked making food at home. Whenever they were hungry, they generally ordered takeout.

However, after becoming familiar with Chen An and Skadi, the two changed their ways and got into the habit of eating at Chen An's home.

At first, they felt a little embarrassed about always coming over and imposing on them. But Chen An's cooking was simply too good, and he did not mind them coming over for free meals. Before long, as long as they were not out working or making deliveries, they would basically come to Chen An's home for all three meals.

Naturally, they contributed toward the food expenses.

Because of that, Texas had felt too awkward to settle the score with Chen An even after he had seen her in an embarrassing state of undress.

Exusiai had just furiously kicked Chen An out of the house because she realized it was almost mealtime. Otherwise, could she have kept playing with Chen An for another two hours?

It was precisely because Skadi had long grown accustomed to their household of two becoming a household of four at mealtimes, sometimes even more, and because she was the sort who liked to consider others, that she said this.

Chen An said irritably, "I make Chinese food. The things you mentioned are fine as midnight snacks, but mixed into dinner? Are you trying to make us sick of food?"

Skadi fell silent.

She tilted her head and looked at Chen An. Seemingly noticing something, she wrinkled her delicate nose, then lowered her head to sniff the scent on him.

It was not her scent.

Skadi frowned, secretly pouted, and ran to the living room to toss the pillow she had been hugging onto the sofa.

Then she ran back into the kitchen. Under Chen An's astonished gaze, she began taking off his outerwear and said solemnly, "It's cold today. I'll warm your clothes up for you."

Chen An: "..."

It was summer! There was neither wind nor rain, and he was not even wearing short sleeves. Was she treating him like an idiot by using the cold weather as an excuse?

And besides, he had worn those clothes all day. Why did she need to warm them up?!

Chen An was utterly speechless at Skadi's excuse. However, he was already used to her frequent strange behavior, so although he did not know whether to laugh or cry, he still let her take off his outerwear—so long as she was happy.

Skadi folded Chen An's clothes, happily stuffed them inside her nightgown, and warmed them against her belly. Then her nose twitched, and she frowned again.

There was still a scent. So it was not just on his clothes?

Chen An was chopping vegetables with a kitchen knife, going thunk thunk thunk, when he suddenly noticed Skadi blowing on his hair. His face darkened as he stopped. "What is it now? Don't tell me you still think I'm cold and are trying to warm me this way?"

Skadi nodded repeatedly. As she nodded, she did not forget to seize the chance to breathe a puff of air onto Chen An's face as well.

The scent was fine. It lived up to the phrase "breath like orchids"—no bad breath.

Chen An: "..."

So why had he softened his heart and gone back then? Because this girl was stupidly adorable?

Chen An shot an irritated glare at Skadi, who was still blankly blowing on his hair. Too mentally exhausted to bother with her anymore, he simply treated her as though she did not exist and continued what he had been doing.

Skadi seriously blew on Chen An for a while. Only when she could no longer smell any other scent on him did she finally stop in satisfaction.

She did not leave. Hugging her belly, which had become round and bulging from the clothes stuffed inside, she looked at it for a while before saying, "Chen An, can you teach me how to cook again next time?"

"Teach you what, braise yourself in an iron pot? If that's what you want to learn, I can teach you."

As Chen An placed the chopped vegetables onto a plate, he casually instructed... yes, instructed Skadi:

"First, prepare a large pot. Then pour half a pot of water into it. Next, start a fire beneath it. Once the water boils, hold the lid and jump in. Wait a few minutes, and your iron-pot braised self will be ready. How about it? Think you can learn that?"

Skadi was a little unhappy. "Why are you talking like that? I'm serious, okay?"

"So am I."

Chen An glared at her irritably. "If I'm not teaching you that, what else do you want me to teach you? Tossing a wok? Miss Skadi, can you tell me how many woks you smashed when you tried to learn that? Twelve! Can you tell me how, when I was teaching you something as simple as tossing a wok, and specifically told you not to hit the stove with the bottom of the wok, you went BANG BANG BANG! BANG BANG BANG! and smashed twelve woks in no time at all, taking the poor stove down with them?!"

"I-I don't know. I didn't even use any force. I just set it down lightly, and the wok broke..."

Skadi looked somewhat guilty, and even stumbled over her words. Yet even so, she still tried to argue, "I was really careful! Those woks just weren't sturdy enough. My sword... I've cut lots of things with my sword, and it never broke, so it really wasn't my fault."

"Your sword? You still have the nerve to mention that!!!"

His fury suddenly shot through the roof. Chen An raised his voice and fiercely scolded Skadi in frustration.

"If you can't learn to toss a wok, then you can't learn it. If you smash twelve woks, then you smash twelve woks. But can you tell me how you managed to turn learning how to chop vegetables into nearly demolishing the entire kitchen?!"

The unbearable memory rose in his mind, making him unable to keep from becoming exasperated.

"The kitchen knife was too light, so you weren't used to it. You took out the weapon you had hidden and used it as a kitchen knife. You even said you were afraid I'd scold you, so you specifically waited until I wasn't home to practice... Skadi, Skadi, were you trying to learn how to chop vegetables, or were you trying to tear down the house? If you want to tear down the house, I'm telling you that you don't need to learn. If you want to wreck the place, you do not even need a weapon. Just take off the necklace I gave you before, jump twice in the house, and you can tear the whole place down. Got it?"

"Don't say I'm heavy. We agreed before... Wuh~"

Skadi protested, but Chen An's insincere smile frightened her into stopping. She lowered her head pitifully. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to help you. The land-dwellers all say that girls need to be virtuous, sensible, and able to do housework if they want the person they like to like them. I can only fight, so..."

"No 'so.'"

Chen An pinched Skadi's cheek, leaving her unable to say another word. "It's true that virtuous girls are likable, but being a little clumsy does not mean a girl can't be liked. Talulah is just as clumsy as you. Before she met Alina, she even needed me to wash her underwear. It honestly made people wonder how she had grown up at all, but plenty of people still liked her."

"I don't need other people to like me."

Mumbling somewhat unclearly, Skadi raised her head with anticipation in her eyes. "Chen An, do you like me?"

Chen An grew irritated and could not help pinching Skadi's soft, pleasant-feeling cheek again. "Obviously. If I hated you, do you think I would have kept traveling with you all this time and be living with you now?"

"Then... then..."