Skadi, My Wife

Testing the Boundaries of Love

Skadi said she wanted to go out and have fun, but there was nowhere in particular she wanted to visit. She simply wanted to take a walk with Chen An.

Chen An, on the other hand, had a destination in mind. After leaving home, he and Skadi took a car all the way to Lungmen's commercial district.

Lungmen was one of Terra's most economically developed mobile cities.

Back when she was still a Bounty Hunter, Skadi had visited Lungmen several times. But burdened by the belief that she was a harbinger of disaster, she had never gone anywhere crowds gathered.

As a mobile city—and one of the most economically developed ones at that—Lungmen had an enormous population.

Not only the Upper District, but the Lower District as well.

Thus, although Skadi had come to Lungmen several times, her understanding of the city had once been practically nonexistent—she had never entered the Upper District even once. Even in the Lower District, the slums as people called them, she had always left as soon as her missions were complete, never lingering for long.

As she spent more time traveling with Chen An, made many friends, and gradually opened up, Skadi no longer agonized over her supposed disaster-bringing nature. Yet because of her past experiences, she still instinctively avoided crowded places.

Not counting when she was with Chen An and the others, Skadi had never come to Lungmen's commercial district by herself.

Chen An himself rarely came to the commercial district either. Whenever he did, it was usually because Exusiai had dragged him along. At those times, Skadi was always afraid of getting separated from him, yet too embarrassed to stay too close because Exusiai would tease her. She would silently follow by his side and rarely look around at anything.

But things were different now. It was just her and Chen An, so Skadi no longer had to worry about blushing from Exusiai's teasing.

Her hand tightly looped around Chen An's arm as she pressed close to him and followed him down the street, curiously looking this way and that.

She suddenly said in a low voice, "Chen An, there are so many people."

"You've been here a few times, haven't you? Why are you only saying that now?" Chen An asked in surprise.

"I never really looked before. I only noticed now."

"Then you'd better stick close to me. If you get lost..."

Chen An wanted to say, "I won't go looking for you," just to scare Skadi, but she interrupted him first.

"You'd find me quickly, right?"

Skadi asked very seriously, "You always say mean things to scare me, but you're only trying to scare me. I know that."

Chen An froze for a moment, feeling as though Skadi had gotten smarter.

Back at home, he could make her angry with just a couple of words. How come after leaving the house, she knew how to cut him off?

Skadi said with certainty, "If I get lost, you'll definitely find me right away. It has to be that way."

"Keep dreaming."

Chen An looked disgusted, showing no mercy in his reply. "Finding lost people is such a hassle. I'm too lazy to go through all that trouble. If you get lost, this old man definitely won't come looking for you."

"Ah..." Skadi widened her eyes, looking a little hurt.

Then Chen An added, "But that won't happen, because I won't let you get lost."

Skadi blinked. She said nothing, merely smiling sweetly.

They looked like a couple, and their intimacy rivaled that of a couple, but they were not actually a couple.

Chen An and Skadi, whose relationship was somewhat awkward, continued strolling down the streets.

After wandering through the commercial district for over half an hour, Skadi took a liking to a hat.

It was a white sun hat with a broad brim and a beautiful white ribbon around it. Skadi had liked it at first sight.

But the sun hat was not cheap. Though Skadi liked it, she also felt it was not very practical, so she had no intention of buying it.

She stood outside the clear glass display window and looked at the hat for a while. Then she pursed her lips and tugged Chen An away.

But she could not pull him along. Instead, Chen An pulled her into the shop and bought the sun hat for her.

The sun hat was beautiful. On Skadi's head, it could not simply be called suitable—it fit perfectly.

With her silver hair flowing beneath the broad-brimmed white sun hat, Skadi looked utterly gorgeous.

That was what the shop assistant said, but Chen An felt she was wrong. Skadi—or rather, Skadi as she was now—did not suit that hat.

So after buying the hat, Chen An led Skadi into a clothing store nearby.

After looking around the shop, he bought her a plain white long dress.

Skadi changed into the dress in the fitting room. With the white sun hat on her head, she looked like a refined young lady raised in a good family, gentle and graceful, as though she had become a different person.

Looking at herself in the full-length mirror, Skadi liked the white dress at first sight, just as she had liked the sun hat. This was despite the fact that she rarely wore dresses.

Like the hat, the dress was expensive. When Skadi saw its price, she could not help showing a startled expression.

She could not understand it. The dress did not even look very durable, so why was it so expensive?

But when Chen An bought the dress and gave it to her, she said nothing. She merely accepted it happily.

A former comrade had once told her that if she ever met a man she liked—someone reliable, gentle, handsome, strong enough to carry her, who did not dislike her for being a hunter, and who sincerely treated her well—then no matter what decision he made, she should not argue with him and should choose to trust him.

Skadi had taken those words to heart, though that comrade had added afterward—"I was kidding. A man that perfect doesn't exist in this world. If he does, make sure you introduce him to me first!"

After that, Chen An led Skadi through several more clothing stores and bought her several new outfits suitable for summer.

By the time they had finished shopping, it was nearly noon.

They did not go home. Instead, they found a restaurant by the street for lunch and rested for a while. Since it was rare for them to come here, they decided to wander around the commercial district a little longer.

This time, they were no longer shopping for themselves. They were preparing gifts for Exusiai and Texas—whenever those two returned from a distant mission, they would bring back something for everyone. Since Chen An and Skadi had come to the commercial district themselves for once, they naturally had to buy something for them too.

Putting aside the matter of returning kindness, if Exusiai found out that they had gone shopping only for themselves and forgotten about the others, she would be angry for two whole days!

When buying gifts for friends, of course they had to get something they liked.

So the two first visited a game store and bought two new games.

It was worth mentioning that Chen An had initially wanted to buy only one, because one of them was a fighting game. If they bought it back, Exusiai's reaction would probably not be happiness, but a complete mental breakdown, so he had not wanted to buy it.

But after thinking about it, he realized that even if he did not buy it, game enthusiast Exusiai would buy it herself. Besides, the game seemed quite popular, and who knew how many more days it would be before she returned? If he did not buy it for her now, she would probably have to put in much more effort to get it herself later. So in the end, he bought it anyway.

After buying Exusiai's games, the two began choosing a gift for Texas.

Unlike Exusiai, Texas was difficult to shop for, because she did not seem to have anything she particularly liked.

Exusiai had once said that when she first met Texas, Texas had loved smoking. But that was in the past. Texas had already quit smoking, and even when she occasionally held something in her mouth now, it was a chocolate stick rather than a cigarette.

Even if she had not quit, Chen An would not have bought her cigarettes as a gift.

After deliberating for a long time, Chen An finally bought Texas a hair tie and a pair of earrings.

He bought the earrings because Texas had a habit of wearing them. As for the hair tie... Texas had long hair, and every time she returned from a mission, she would complain that it sometimes got in the way. Yet she refused to cut it short like Exusiai did, so a hair tie would make a good gift.

As an aside, Skadi's hair was even longer than Texas's—much longer, in fact—but she did not need a hair tie because she already had plenty.

Once they had finished buying gifts, the two simply began having fun in the commercial district.

They wandered into this shop and looked through that one, until they eventually arrived at an arcade.

Skadi was not very interested in games. When Chen An and Exusiai played games at home, Texas would occasionally join them, but Skadi never did. She preferred watching from the side.

But today, she was unusually interested. Upon seeing the arcade, she excitedly dragged Chen An inside.

In the blink of an eye, evening arrived.

When the two came out of the arcade, Skadi looked thoroughly satisfied, though also somewhat uneasy—she had been having so much fun that she had accidentally failed to control her strength and broken several arcade machines.

She nervously glanced back at the arcade behind them and asked Chen An in a small voice, "Chen An, is it really okay to leave without paying for all the machines I broke, pretending we don't know anything?"

"Arcade buttons breaking is normal. Even if you hadn't broken them today, they would have broken on their own eventually. So don't worry. As long as it wasn't intentional, it's fine to run off without paying."

After saying that with a straight face, Chen An's expression abruptly changed. He snapped irritably, "Do you know how expensive a single machine is? You broke so many of them! If we didn't pretend to be innocent and run away, where would we get enough money to pay for them? Should I leave you there to work off the debt?"

In truth, they did not have to pay. Every time Skadi broke a machine and then guiltily dragged Chen An elsewhere, Chen An would restore the machine to the state it had been in before it was damaged.

Otherwise, after so many machines were broken in one afternoon, the arcade staff would have come after them long ago.

But Chen An had no intention of telling Skadi that. The way she looked like a good child who had done something bad—terrified yet delighted—was really quite entertaining.

"No!"

Skadi jumped in fright and quickly hugged Chen An's arm tightly. "You can't leave me behind. I don't want to be separated from you."

"Then why aren't you running already?"

Chen An shot Skadi a look of exasperation. Then, as though they had truly done something bad and were about to get into trouble, he grabbed her hand and ran.

"Ah!"

She cried out, then instinctively ran after him. Looking at his hand holding hers, Skadi blinked, her heart inexplicably filling with happiness.

Penguin Logistics, Mission Accomplished

After spending the whole day out on the town, they returned home beneath a night sky glittering with stars.

After putting away everything they had bought, Chen An took a shower.

After him, Skadi also entered the bathroom.

Skadi especially loved soaking in the bath. Every time she showered, she would soak in the bathtub for quite a while.

Sometimes Chen An felt that if Skadi soaked a little longer and the bathtub water could stay hot for a long time, like a hot spring, then there might be no need to go through much trouble. Once she had soaked long enough, he could enter the bathroom and toss salt, MSG, and other seasonings into the tub, and a steaming pot of boiled Skadi would be ready to serve.

It was worth mentioning that Chen An had wanted to discuss this possibility with Skadi several times. But Skadi was good-tempered, not without a temper, and fearing a beating, Chen An ultimately never mentioned it.

Skadi would take a while in the bath, and there was no need to wait for her. After finishing his own shower, Chen An returned to his room and picked up a book.

Just as Chen An felt it was about time to close the book, turn off the light, and rest, there came a knock.

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone knocked on his bedroom door.

Chen An looked over and saw Skadi, freshly bathed. She looked like a lotus emerging from water, dressed in a loose nightgown with her hair still slightly damp. Standing at his door, she hugged a white pillow and gazed at him eagerly.

"Chen An, can we sleep together tonight?"

Quite surprised by Skadi's words, Chen An stared at her in astonishment.

Skadi softly added, "I want to sleep with you tonight. Is that okay?"

The night grew deeper, but Skadi kept tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep.

Growing somewhat annoyed by her movements, Chen An turned over beside her and glared. "Why do you keep tossing around instead of sleeping? Didn't you used to fall asleep right away?"

"I'm happy."

"What are you happy about?"

"This is the first time Chen An has agreed to sleep with me."

Chen An was speechless. "What first time? Haven't we slept together plenty of times already?"

"It's different."

Skadi's voice was soft, but her tone was serious. Chen An's vision was unaffected by the darkness, so he could see her eyes curved into crescents, brimming with happiness.

"Before, Chen An would only agree to nap with me. At night, unless I secretly came over myself, Chen An would never agree. Today is the first time."

Chen An said nothing and merely snorted.

After happily saying her piece, Skadi asked expectantly, "Chen An, can you hold me while we sleep?"

"Since you're not asleep yet, stop dreaming first," Chen An replied.

Skadi puffed out her cheeks, then reached out and hugged Chen An herself. It was one thing to make the decision on her own, but after hugging him, she even rubbed her face against him hard.

Chen An: "..."

Could he change his mind now and kick Skadi back to her own room?

Chernobog.

After several days of travel, Exusiai and Texas had finally delivered a certain trafficked person they had been escorting here.

According to Ch'en, their employer for this job, the trafficked person had been recommended to Chernobog by her as a special employee. Therefore, after they brought the person to Chernobog, someone from the Human Resources Department would come to receive them. Once they handed the person over to Human Resources, their mission would be complete.

Neither Exusiai nor Texas knew where Chernobog's Human Resources Department was, but Ch'en had given them a phone number before they departed. Besides, they had acquaintances here.