Skadi, My Wife Chapter 36

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

Seeing Exusiai suddenly thank her, and the grateful look Exusiai beside her gave her as well, Skadi blinked and smiled.

Her expression seemed to say, You're welcome.

After nervously finishing her bath, Exusiai got dressed and immediately perked up, her energy and confidence fully restored.

"You foolish man!"

The moment she returned to camp, Exusiai struck a grief-stricken pose and loudly berated Chen An:

"The three of us gorgeous beauties were bathing in the stream, and we even specifically allowed you to watch, yet you didn't look at all! Do you know that if other men found out you wasted such a blessing, they'd laugh themselves to death at you?!"

"...That makes sense."

After giving it some thought and deciding Exusiai had a point, Chen An nodded as if enlightened and grabbed her soft little hand.

"Bathing twice in one night isn't a problem anyway. You girls are done bathing, but I haven't washed yet. A-Neng, how about you take another bath? This time, we'll bathe together. Then nobody will laugh at me."

"!?"

Her imposing air instantly vanished. Like a startled little animal, Exusiai flushed bright red as she frantically pulled her hand from Chen An's grasp and shook her head hard.

"Forget it, forget it! The stream water is so cold. You should go find Texas and Skadi instead."

Before she could even finish speaking, Miss A-Neng, who had just been so arrogant, ran over to Skadi and Texas and hid herself behind them like an ostrich.

Tch. With skin that thin, she wanted to provoke me? Amateur!

Chen An curled his lips disdainfully. He could not even be bothered to press his advantage and continue bullying Exusiai.

Texas spoke at that moment. "Chen An, where are we going next? Do we have a destination?"

"Not for now, but Skadi likes the sea, so we might go to Siesta. It faces the ocean and is also a tourist destination. I hear it's a nice place."

"Siesta? I know it, I know it."

The halo above Exusiai's head brightened, and she suddenly became energized again, recovering from her ostrich state. "The Obsidian Festival is held there every year. Emperor likes that festival most. Last time I wanted to go on vacation, if we hadn't happened to find that lake outside Lungmen, I actually wanted to go to Siesta."

As expected of the ever-energetic Exusiai—her energy recovered incredibly quickly.

In just a few minutes, she had completely forgotten how she had failed to tease Chen An and gotten teased in return. She began chattering away, not only talking about the plans she had made for her previous Siesta vacation, but also eagerly planning how they should spend this trip to Siesta.

Like a chatterbox who never learned her lesson.

Siesta, huh~

Texas nodded thoughtfully without asking more.

When she had left Lungmen, she had already resolved to follow Chen An wherever he went. So she had no objections no matter where he said they were going. She had only asked casually.

Compared to that, there was something else she cared about more.

After hesitating for a while, she finally asked the question she had wanted to ask all along but had never voiced. "I understand not taking the main roads—it's to avoid being tracked. But Nian and Dusk... Chen An, who are they? Why did you leave Lungmen to avoid them?"

Since Chen An had not mentioned the names Nian and Dusk when he told Skadi they were leaving, he was somewhat surprised when Texas brought them up.

But after thinking about it, he understood. "The rich lady told you, right? I remember she was there when I ran into Nian and Dusk."

Texas nodded noncommittally, tacitly admitting it.

Skadi was curious too. "Nian and Dusk, who are they? Did we leave Lungmen in such a hurry because of them?"

Nian and Dusk were people Chen An had met in the Yan Nation, during the period when he had been separated from Skadi. So Skadi did not know them at all.

"Them~" Chen An wore a melancholy expression.

A gleam flashed in her eyes. At some point, Exusiai had shut up to eavesdrop, and she hurriedly rummaged through Texas's backpack. Before long, she found what she was looking for and trotted over to Chen An with it.

"Here, have a smoke. Take your time, Lord Chen."

Giving Exusiai an approving look, Chen An took the cigarette pack from her hand... no, the paper box containing chocolate sticks. He took out a chocolate stick, held it between his lips, and put on a world-weary expression.

Texas: "..."

Watching those two drama queens, several black lines appeared on Texas's forehead.

Were they filming a movie? She had only asked about two people's backgrounds, okay?

Skadi covered her mouth and smiled. This was why she had secretly gone to tell Exusiai that she was leaving with Chen An.

Whenever Chen An and Exusiai were together, the atmosphere was always cheerful.

"Nian and Dusk are sisters. They're both my friends—very good friends."

"Nian is a little like Exusiai. They're both optimists, but Nian is even more lawless and fiery."

Exusiai wrinkled her nose in dissatisfaction. What did he mean, lawless and fiery? She could accept the first part, but the second did not describe her at all, okay?

"Dusk is a little like Huil. She seems hard to approach, but it's not because she's serious and harsh, with no tolerance for wrongdoing. She's hard to approach because she sees through worldly affairs and is pessimistic about the future. She doesn't want to place hope in anything or indulge in fantasies, so she comes across as cold and distant."

"I met them more than a year ago. I met Nian first, then met Dusk through her. But..."

Painful memories surged into his mind, and Chen An's gaze grew even more weathered.

He bit through the chocolate stick in his mouth, let out a long breath, and clapped his hands. His melancholy tone abruptly turned incomparably cheerful. "But the story after that is too long, so I'd better not tell it~!"

Texas: "..."

Exusiai: "..."

Skadi: "..."

The three who had been listening intently all collapsed at once.

Chapter Fifty-Five: Fast-Forward to Getting Married on the Spot

Exusiai was extremely dissatisfied with Chen An's despicable behavior of starting his story, piquing her curiosity, then refusing to continue. She tried to use some special methods to make him smarter and tell the whole story properly.

A loser who could not even beat up a small-time thug—wouldn't Lord A-Neng be able to bully him with ease?

Exusiai was very confident in herself, but in reality...

"Behave yourself and eat, damn it!"

Chen An chopped her on the head with his hand and sternly scolded her. The imposing Exusiai instantly became a punching bag. Chen An had not made her any smarter; instead, she herself had become obedient.

As she obediently ate dinner and stole glances at Chen An beside her, Exusiai was utterly baffled.

This isn't right. This isn't scientific. What exactly went wrong?

Wasn't this guy supposed to be easy to bully? That was how it normally was. But why did he suddenly become so scary every time he put on that stern face? It makes me feel like a mouse seeing a cat.

...It would be nice if my chest were as big as Skadi's.

Miss A-Neng suddenly sighed deeply, feeling gloomy.

If I had Skadi's figure, I could just smother him with my chest whenever something happened. Let's see if he'd still dare be mean to me.

The night grew deeper.

Unlike in the city, the mountains were livelier at night than during the day.

The faint footsteps of animals moving about, the buzzing cries of insects beating their wings, and the rustling of leaves rubbing together as trees swayed in the night wind—countless sounds that seemed too subtle to notice during the day suddenly became strikingly clear at night. Mixed together, they made people restless and uneasy.

Texas and Exusiai had worked at Penguin Logistics for several years. Both were seasoned hands at dirty jobs, and they were very brave.

Although they had not spent many nights in the wilderness, the complex and gloomy nocturnal sounds of the forest could not frighten them.

Still, neither of them could sleep.

For Texas, it was because of the brightness of Exusiai's halo. As for Exusiai~

Tonight, everyone was sleeping in the same tent. Thinking that this probably counted as sharing a bed, Exusiai felt embarrassed but could not suppress her curiosity about what sounds Chen An might make after falling asleep. She kept trying to listen in, so she could not sleep either.

After keeping her eyes closed for a long time and trying hard to summon sleep without success, Texas opened her eyes and said irritably, "Exusiai, can you turn off the light bulb over your head? It's too bright. I can't sleep."

"You think I don't want to?!"

Exusiai was indignant. If the circumstances allowed, she would have wanted to roll around twice and scream for a while to vent her frustration. "I don't know what other Sankta think, but I've always wanted to turn off this light bulb over my head, okay? It's ridiculously bright! I can't sleep without an eye mask every time, and it means I can't even wear hats. Most of my clothes have hoods, okay!"

Perhaps because people wanted most what they could not have, Exusiai especially loved hats because her halo meant she could not wear them—putting one on made her dizzy.

Whenever she bought clothes, whether everyday outfits or pajamas, they almost always had hoods.

Take right now, for instance. The pajamas she was wearing had a hood—she had changed into them in the tent before coming in to rest.

Because of this, she sometimes envied Texas. Texas could wear party hats at parties, but she could not.

"What about an eye mask?"

Facing Texas, who wanted to borrow one, Exusiai said righteously, "When we left, I was too busy packing clothes and games I liked, so I forgot to bring something like that."

"..."

Texas's tail swayed twice. She wanted to hit someone!

Suddenly sensing killing intent, Exusiai shuddered and immediately knew something was wrong.

Having been friends with Texas for years, Exusiai knew her far too well. That silent, narrowed-eyed look Texas was giving her clearly meant she wanted to beat her up!

Her eyes rolled, and clever Miss A-Neng quickly thought of a solution.

"Ahem."

Pretending to clear her throat, Exusiai sat up in one motion. "Skadi, Chen An, are you asleep?"

"No."

"I'm asleep. Don't call me if you need something, and definitely don't call me if you don't."

Under Exusiai's furious gaze, Chen An lazily sat up, took two balls of cotton from who knew where, stuffed them into his ears, and lay back down.

He looked like a salted fish declaring that the master was dead and should not be disturbed.

Exusiai was furious. What did he mean, asleep? Did sleeping people talk? Did they move? Did he think he was sleepwalking? Even sleepwalkers would not answer other people or take targeted actions!

"Skadi, move over—get up!"

After calling to Skadi beside Chen An to make room, Exusiai went to Chen An, who was playing dead, and roughly dragged him up. That was not all—she angrily confiscated both balls of cotton from his ears.

Those cotton balls were pretty useful equipment. She might need them when she slept later, so she was confiscating them.

Only then did she angrily say, "Playing dead with me? You want a beating? Nobody's asleep now, so perk up. Let's have a late-night chat party."

Chen An really did not want to indulge Exusiai, but she had already dragged him up. What else could he do?

That was why, when they were setting up the tents earlier, he should not have listened to Exusiai throwing a tantrum and set up only one tent. He should have set up two, or three—one for him and Skadi, and one each for Exusiai and Texas.

Chen An sighed and reluctantly sat up.

By the way, Chen An never used tents when he spent the night alone in the wilderness. He would simply find a suitable place, lean against something, and spend the night with his eyes half-closed.

After Skadi joined him, it was more or less the same, except they would build an extra fire. Like him, Skadi did not like using tents when camping outdoors—there was no need. Bugs did not dare bite her anyway.

The reason they had set up a tent tonight was to accommodate Texas and Exusiai.

Originally, they had planned to set up two tents. But Exusiai said Chen An was unreliable and might sneak away if she did not keep an eye on him. Under her coercion, the two small tents became one large tent.

As for where the tent came from?

Chen An's ability was to create things from nothing, conjuring objects out of thin air. As long as he wanted something, he could make it. The gifts he had given Exusiai and Texas had been made by him too—otherwise, where would he have gotten the money to buy them?

Also, despite having such an ability, Chen An did not use it much in daily life because it would be too boring. That was why he worked, using all sorts of methods to swind... no, earn money to support the household.

Of course, he was not that stubborn. When it was time to use it, he would not hesitate.

"Alright, alright, stop pulling. Aren't I up already? Say what you want to talk about quickly. We'll chat for a while, then go to sleep. We still have to travel tomorrow."

Very satisfied by Chen An's cooperation, Exusiai stroked her chin and thought for a while before saying, "I can't think of any interesting topic right now, so how about we talk about you and Skadi? Chen An, Skadi has been with you for a long time, right? When are you planning to marry her?"

Now I'm not sleepy anymore!

Texas stared brightly at Chen An, looking as though she wanted to know the answer too.

Skadi looked at Chen An expectantly. "Chen An, when will we be together?"

Chen An: "..."