Skadi, My Wife

So Chen An left, but not alone. Before leaving, he invited Schwarz to come with him.

"Miss Schwarz, come along. Tell me what you and Ceylon like to eat on the way. If I make something neither of you likes, what kind of hospitality would that be?"

After glancing at Ceylon, who had taken a book from her little bag and was reading with a smile full of happiness and anticipation, then at Chen An, who was smiling as he invited her, Schwarz hesitated before following Chen An out... No, that description was not quite right. She simply left with Chen An.

There are guests at my house, so there won't be a second chapter today.

As the title says, there are guests at my house, so there won't be a second chapter today. By the way, there originally wasn't even going to be a first chapter, but I get really anxious if I don't update at all, so I squeezed out some time to write one. Stares at the sky.

Also, let me emphasize this: this is a harem novel. A harem novel! Not some stock-picking novel.

There will be girls, and I won't keep stringing things along without making their feelings clear. Skadi has basically said it outright already, and everyone knows it in their hearts. It'll be the same for everyone.

When the time comes, they'll naturally sleep together. I'm not going to drag things out by stubbornly saying no. Nothing has happened yet purely because Skadi is innocent. Otherwise, if she had really said it, it would have happened long ago.

As for the others, come on, the feelings have to develop first. Chen An isn't the type to fall in love with every girl he sees, nor is he the kind of person who casually lusts after someone's body. They're all friends right now, and neither their feelings nor their relationship status has changed. How could anything happen?

Once their feelings reach the same point as Skadi's, Exusiai and Texas will jump right on him, okay?

That's it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments. I'll explain what needs explaining. I'm going to entertain the guests now.

The Big Sister Called Schwarz Started Acting Strange

"Miss Schwarz, what flavors of food do you and Ceylon each like?"

"Miss likes sweets and lighter flavors. I'm fine with anything."

"Anything? Wow, Miss Schwarz, you're easy to feed, huh?"

On the way out to buy groceries, Chen An chatted with Schwarz.

Unlike earlier at the house, where Ceylon had done all the talking while Chen An stayed quiet, now that they were outside, Chen An was the one talking while Schwarz stayed silent.

Only when she occasionally encountered a question that required an answer did Schwarz break her silence, replying in a muffled voice.

Perhaps she was tired of Chen An's chatter, or perhaps she was genuinely curious, but Schwarz suddenly asked:

"Why did you do that last night?"

"What?"

"You said those things to Miss on purpose, didn't you? Why?"

Though it was a question, Schwarz's tone was exceedingly certain.

She was convinced that Chen An had deliberately said those things last night.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Miss Schwarz."

"You can't fool me."

Watching Chen An play dumb, Schwarz spoke without haste, but her voice was full of certainty. "You did it on purpose last night. I could tell."

"...Tsk. Miss Schwarz, can't you be more like Ceylon? A little more innocent, a little easier to fool?"

Seeing that playing dumb would not fool Schwarz, Chen An clicked his tongue and admitted it.

He had indeed said those things deliberately last night because he could not bear to watch the situation between Ceylon and Schwarz any longer.

They clearly considered each other important, yet they had grown distant over a small misunderstanding. It was truly hard to watch.

"Why?"

Schwarz still asked the same question. She genuinely did not understand. "The matter between Miss and me clearly has nothing to do with you. Why would you do something like that?"

"It's already in the past, and it wasn't even a bad thing. Why do you have to ask why?"

Chen An replied lazily, "There's no particular reason. I just couldn't stand seeing the situation between you and Ceylon. You should cherish the people important to you. Growing distant over a tiny misunderstanding only hurts them and hurts yourself. Who could stand watching that? And besides, you're wrong about one thing. While you, Miss Schwarz, indeed don't have much to do with me, Ceylon does. Last night, Ceylon and I introduced ourselves to each other. We're friends now. And when it comes to friends, helping out with small things is perfectly normal, right?"

"..."

Schwarz said nothing, but Chen An continued in a lighthearted tone, "Besides, I didn't really do anything. I just said a couple of things."

Schwarz opened her mouth. After a long pause, she finally said, "You really are a strange person."

Chen An was a strange person.

She had thought so even before she had much contact with him, when she had merely been following her master's orders to investigate who he was and why he had said those things to Ceylon.

Siesta was a tourist city. Every outsider who came here did so for tourism and vacation.

Even the musicians and their fans who had gathered because of the Obsidian Festival had come for more or less the same reason.

But Chen An was different.

On his first day in Siesta, he helped a little girl who had gotten lost find her parents.

The child's parents had wanted to reward him, but he accepted nothing. Even for the house he was now living in for free as thanks, he had insisted on paying rent.

That could perhaps be dismissed as an accident, but during the period afterward, he did not go around sightseeing and having fun. Instead, he immediately found the place where Siesta's Infected gathered.

Without caring about the hostility and resistance of those Infected, who had suffered discrimination and unfair treatment, he earnestly treated every Infected person willing to approach him. Nor was it limited to them; he treated the curious civilians with equal care.

Afterward, he did not mind treating even the Infected who had initially been hostile and resistant toward him.

Throughout that time, he had almost never accepted payment. The little compensation he did receive was promptly given to patients from struggling families.

He had even paid some patients' medicine bills out of his own pocket.

Why did he do that? Schwarz did not understand.

Was he trying to gain a sense of fulfillment, or raise his reputation in Siesta?

But if he wanted a reputation in Siesta, should he not have sought out Siesta's wealthy and influential people?

And if it was fulfillment he wanted, then after helping others, he should have hoped for praise and grateful looks.

Yet according to her investigation, Chen An did not care about any of that.

Almost all the patients he had treated after arriving in Siesta were Infected and civilians. After treating them, he had withdrawn from their lives as though his work were done, and had hardly appeared before them again.

Gratitude? Praise? He did not care about any of it.

Was it simply because he was upright and kind, unable to bear seeing those Infected living miserable lives?

Schwarz had begun to think that might be the case. There were not many good people in this world, but there were still some.

But after interacting with Chen An, she became somewhat confused.

Chen An was incredibly improper. His actions and words were often unexpected, making people want to hit him. Could someone like that truly be called upright?

And he was quite afraid of trouble. Ceylon had merely wanted him to help persuade her father, yet he had kept avoiding her. When they met, he ran off at once. When he saw Schwarz coming to thank him and guessed what she was about to say, he turned around and ran again.

Would someone so afraid of trouble really cause himself trouble out of kindness?

Schwarz did not think so, but the facts were that Chen An had indeed treated those Infected. And last night, he had even deliberately said those things, helping her repair her relationship with Ceylon, even though the matter between her and Ceylon had absolutely nothing to do with him.

And earlier, he had avoided them because he feared trouble.

Schwarz secretly studied Chen An, her gaze complicated.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Miss Schwarz."

Chen An's voice remained as lazy as ever, giving off the feeling that he was carefree and at ease with everything. "But if it really was a compliment, I hope you'll use a different word next time."

He pretended to ponder as he stopped walking, then grinned at Schwarz. "How about handsome? Or extremely handsome?"

"..."

Shameless!

Schwarz silently slapped that label onto Chen An. Her face went cold, and she looked as though she could not be bothered to respond to him.

Chen An did not care. Chuckling, he led Schwarz onward toward the nearby market.

Along the way, he brought up another matter. "Come to think of it, Miss Schwarz, I told you the first time we met that you could come to me about your Oripathy, right? But you still haven't asked me about it. What are you thinking?"

Schwarz answered coldly, "With Miss taking care of me, my Oripathy is not very serious. You needn't trouble yourself."

Schwarz had contracted Oripathy when she was very young and had later been sold to a mercenary group, where she was trained as a child assassin. At the time, her Oripathy had not been in good condition—how well could a place that trained child assassins possibly have treated her?

But later, she accepted a mission to assassinate Ceylon's father. The mission failed, and she became Dorcus's servant and Ceylon's bodyguard.

From that point onward, her Oripathy received excellent care. Later, Ceylon had even gone to study in Victoria in hopes of curing her Oripathy.

With all those factors combined, although Schwarz had contracted Oripathy early on, her symptoms had remained stable.

And since she did not particularly trust Chen An, this somewhat unfamiliar outsider, she had never taken his words to heart even though he had mentioned it from the beginning.

Chen An sighed gloomily. "I knew it... Lappland was the same, and so are you. I really don't know what you people are thinking. Do I look that much like a bad guy? Am I really not trustworthy at all?"

Schwarz neither answered nor had any thoughts on the matter. She did not know Lappland.

Too lazy to keep talking to Schwarz about it, since she probably would not listen anyway, Chen An casually pulled a medicine bottle from his sleeve. Just as he had done with Lappland, he shoved it into Schwarz's hand.

Schwarz froze. She looked at the extra bottle in her hand, then at Chen An, utterly baffled.

What was in this bottle? Why was he giving it to her?

"There's a special medicine for treating Oripathy in there. It can't completely cure Oripathy, but it can suppress relapses very effectively. As long as you don't come into contact with Originium again or encounter a situation where you could contract Oripathy again, it generally won't relapse."

"...Huh?"

"What do you mean, 'huh'? You won't let me treat you, so of course I can only give you this. Did you expect me to have Skadi knock you out and forcibly treat you, like I did with Lappland?"

Without caring whether Schwarz knew Lappland or not, Chen An rolled his eyes and complained irritably.

After that, he added, "Remember to take it. If you're worried, go back and have someone check it for you. Also, this medicine only works for you, so don't think about saving it to give to someone else later."

Schwarz looked at the bottle in her hand, her expression hesitant, as though she were debating whether to keep it.

"When we get back, I'll tell Ceylon about this and have her make sure you take your medicine. If you refuse, don't blame me for asking Ceylon to tie you up so I can treat you. Ceylon only wants what's best for you. If she wanted to tie you up and take you to a doctor, surely you wouldn't run away, would you?"

"..."

Looking at Chen An's mischievous grin, Schwarz bit her lip and put away the medicine bottle.

Refusing was useless, because Ceylon was at Chen An's house.

If she declined, Chen An only had to go back, tell Ceylon about it, and give her the medicine. Given Ceylon's personality, she would definitely make Schwarz accept it. She might even make her take it on the spot to see how effective it was.

She said in a muffled voice, "Thank you. I will compensate you."

"No need. It's not some big deal, and it doesn't cost anything to make."

Schwarz insisted, "I will compensate you. Even if Miss finds out about this, she will want me to compensate you."

"You're pretty stubborn, aren't you?"

Chen An stopped walking. Looking at the stubborn Schwarz, he felt somewhat helpless. "I told you it's nothing important, and it isn't valuable. Why are you being so stubborn, Miss Schwarz?"

Schwarz said nothing, but she had no intention of changing her mind. She could accept Chen An's kindness, but she would not accept it for free.

Seeing through Schwarz's thoughts, Chen An felt even more helpless. He thought for a moment. "How about this? Since you insist on compensating me, then your ears... Wait."

Thinking of something, Chen An stopped speaking.

Originally, he had wanted to fool Schwarz into letting him touch her ears as payment, but upon seeing her cold, expressionless face, he suddenly changed his mind.

Miss Schwarz looked fierce. If he asked to touch her ears as payment, she might beat him up. But if he only asked her to smile, that should not be a problem.

Thinking his new idea was good, Chen An tested the waters. "I have enough money on me for now, so I don't need money as payment. If you insist on compensating me, how about giving me a smile?"

A smile?

Schwarz's swaying tail suddenly stopped, and she froze just like its owner.

"You see, I like seeing people smile happily more than anything. But ever since I met you, Miss Schwarz, I haven't seen you smile even once. So how about it?"

Chen An thought for a moment, then added, "I know it might be difficult to ask you to smile at me. You can go back and smile at Ceylon, then have Ceylon tell me about it."

He earnestly tried to persuade her. "Miss Schwarz, you're already so beautiful even without smiling. If you smiled, you'd definitely be even prettier. Girls all like being prettier, and you should be no exception, right? Even if you don't care about being prettier, think of Ceylon. If Ceylon could see you smile, she would definitely be happy too, wouldn't she?"

Schwarz looked at Chen An, who was trying to persuade her, her emotions a tangled mess.

Using a smile as payment... This guy really was a strange person.

Her eyelids lowered. "That kind of payment won't work. I'm not very good at smiling."

"You're not good at smiling? I'm great at that."

Chen An suddenly perked up. Ignoring Schwarz's unapproachable air, and not caring whether his actions might upset her enough to make her hit him, he stood before her, rubbed his hands together, and placed his warmed palms on Schwarz's cheeks.