Chapter 133

“Well, since you guys are here, I’ll take my leave now.”

“Stay for dinner.”

“Ah, no thanks. I don’t want to be a burden.”

Even so, Aqua’s gaze was fixed on Eve. Eve, holding Keru, didn’t seem too pleased with Aqua’s stare.

“Then I’ll head out first. See you tomorrow at the office, Eve. Mother-Body, when should I start coming in?”

“Starting the day after tomorrow should be fine.”

The dispatch contract is still valid. Honestly, it’s not like it matters whether it’s followed or not, but surprisingly, she seems quite diligent, which was unexpected.

*Thud*—the door closed, and suddenly, it felt quiet.

“…Should we sit down?”

“Where?”

Eve’s words made me feel awkward.

When we moved out, all our stuff came, but we didn’t have a sofa to begin with. We ordered a new one, but it’s delayed. Is this how Baemin (delivery service) works now?

“Uh, yeah. You’re right.”

“Ah, forget it. It’s fine. Here, take this first.”

Eve handed Keru over, and I placed her on the floor.

“Hey, Keru, no matter how busy you are with the Dark Realm, if you don’t come home, I’ll forget about you.”

“Is that my fault…?”

Keru looked up at me with a resentful expression. Well, she’s not wrong. If you don’t come home, how am I supposed to know when to move? Is it my fault?! Huh?!

“Who’s the one who abandoned the Dark Realm work and didn’t come back, leaving Kenneth and me to handle everything…”

“Alright, alright.”

When she put it like that, I had nothing to say. I get that the Dark Realm is busy, but honestly, even if I went to take over, it wouldn’t help much. I just told them to keep doing what they were doing, but I didn’t expect her to use that as an excuse.

“They even took the Rose Garden, so next year’s budget planning is going to be a mess…”

“Ugh, so noisy. A leopard talking now.”

“Ugh!”

I covered Keru’s mouth.

“Where are the kids?”

“I told them to have lunch and look around the neighborhood. They should check out what’s around here.”

“I see.”

Eve started wandering around the house, humming. Master bedroom, small room, small room, living room, bathroom… Come to think of it, she came to see the house before, so why is she so worried now?

I’m not a kid.

“Ugh, the house is so tiny.”

“Is a booger this big?”

“I said it’s small, small!”

The atmosphere is kind of weird.

“It’s not like you haven’t seen the whole house… You’re staying for dinner, right?”

“Hmm…”

Eve seemed to be pondering something.

Watching her, I felt a strange mood. I, who know your secret, am someone who knows exactly who you are, not as a Magical Girl. If only I didn’t know, things might have been different, but that’s just a hypothetical wrapped in pretty packaging.

A candy whose flavor you can only imagine until you unwrap it.

The packaging has already been unwrapped, and the result is right in front of us.

You don’t know, but because I know you, I can’t accept you. And because I can’t accept you, it’s hard for you to treat me warmly like before.

Maybe—

“Alright, fine. Are you cooking?”

That’s unexpected.

“Sure, why not. How about kimchi stew…”

“At least try making doenjang stew!”

What’s wrong with kimchi stew?

“I make good kimchi stew, don’t I?”

Eve let out a deep sigh at my words.

“It’s good, sure. But eating it all the time gets boring…”

“How much have you even eaten?”

“Don’t you think eating kimchi stew for a week straight is a bit much?”

“Ugh, you’re so picky. What do you want to eat then?!”

“Hmm…”

Watching Eve sink into thought, I felt a bit uneasy.

***

Usually, when you move, you order in or eat out on the first day, but with Eve here, neither of us felt like it.

“Suddenly, she wants to eat galbi-jjim. It’s so time-consuming.”

The dish Eve wanted was galbi-jjim. It’s not like I can’t make it, but it takes a long time.

“These days, supermarkets sell pre-marinated ones, you know?”

“Do you think just removing the blood makes it galbi-jjim? You really don’t know anything, always ordering in.”

“You’re the one who’s going to make it anyway.”

Well, that’s true.

“Do you think I’ll be making it for you forever…”

Hmm.

Even if I, as a goddess, live forever, Eve isn’t like that, is she?

…Thinking this, we walked and soon arrived at the mart.

“There’s a big mart here too.”

“Hey, Incheon is a big city, you know?!”

“Is it?”

Does she have no common sense?!

I was baffled watching Eve casually say something that would require an apology to the ten million citizens of Incheon.

“Let’s hurry and shop. It’s cold.”

On my first day moving, I ended up making galbi-jjim. Holding a memo with the ingredients in one hand, I was pulled into the mart by Eve with the other.

***

“Everything’s here.”

“That’s why it’s a big city… right in the middle of a bustling area…”

I wonder if she thought Incheon was some rural village.

“Stop nagging and peel the onions. You should help too.”

“Mother-Body. Is there anything I can help with?”

Keru, who had quietly crawled out of the master bedroom, glanced at me, and I kicked the trash bag at my feet toward her.

“Take this out.”

“Is this all?”

“Well, this might be a bit much. Never mind. Just rest.”

There really wasn’t much to help with. We bought pre-marinated ribs, and all the vegetables and fruits to steam with them were already prepped, so all that was left was cooking.

Taking the peeled onions from Eve, I put them in the steamer and lit the stove. Finally, there was some time to rest.

“Ugh, I’m tired.”

Not that I was actually tired. I’m not human, so I don’t get tired. But it’s just something you say, like, “I should be tired after all this.”

“You’ve worked hard.”

“Yeah.”

“Ah, Mother-Body.”

“Yeah?”

Keru, sitting under the kitchen table, called me as if she had thought of something.

“Regent Kenneth said he needs you to come by soon. There’s a lot of paperwork to approve.”

“Alright, I’ll go soon.”

I said “soon,” but I didn’t say when. They managed fine without Vesprede, so it’s not like anything will happen if I don’t go.

“Is this the right place?”

“501, yeah.”

“Is this our house?”

Familiar voices echoed. The kids must be back, so I got up from the table and headed to the entrance.

“Unnie, I’m back… Oh… Eve unnie is here too.”

“Did you have fun?”

Dusik paused at the entrance, then took off his shoes and came in.

“Wow, it looks much better with all the stuff in. It was so empty last time.”

“I told you it would look different once the stuff came in. Did you doubt me?”

This kid.

I patted Dusik’s head and smiled.

“Unnie, it smells really good. Are you already preparing dinner?”

“Yeah. Eve wanted galbi-jjim. We’re working on it. It’s still got a ways to go.”

“Eve unnie, you could’ve just ordered it. You’re making Unnie work so hard.”

Dusik suddenly chimed in, poking Eve’s side.

“Hey, ordering in and homemade are totally different. I’m good at cooking now.”

Honestly, my cooking has improved a lot. Sure, I messed up a few times back at the officetel, but that was because I wasn’t used to cooking in large quantities. I can handle this much now.

***

“Wow, it’s sweet.”

“Hey, the recipe was off.”

It was sweet. The galbi-jjim was as sweet as honeycomb candy.

“Mom, I liked it.”

“Uwu, really?”

“Yeah, I really liked it.”

When you raise kids, you end up catering to their tastes. Even Eve, who said it was sweet, finished a whole bowl of rice, and Dusik and Sohee had a pile of bones in front of them. Even Kabe left bite marks on every bone.

“Anyway, it was tasty. Thanks for the meal.”

Eve, who had scraped off the galbi-jjim sauce and mixed it with rice, patted her bulging stomach and grinned.

“It was sweet, but still good, right?”

“Yeah. But maybe cut back on the sugar next time. It would’ve been really good if it were less sweet.”

“Next time, I’ll make it again.”

My cooking skills are pro-level now. Seeing how easily I made galbi-jjim.

“Is there another can of beer?”

“We need to buy more. We emptied the fridge when we moved.”

We drank two cans each while eating, but it felt like there wasn’t enough. Eve seemed to feel the same, looking for more beer, but sadly, there was none left.

“Can I stay over?”

“No reason not to. But the bed is much smaller than yours.”

Eve’s house had a room just for her, about the size of our entire place. The bed there was huge.

Compared to that, our current bed is just a regular king-size, so it’s smaller.

“It’s fine. I’m not picky about sleeping arrangements.”

“Alright, then it’s fine. Kabe, you good? Hey, stop eating.”

Kabe, still reluctant to let go, was sucking on a bone. I took it from her and patted her head.

“Mom will make it again next time.”

“Okay. It was so good.”

“Hehe.”

It feels so good hearing the kids say it’s delicious. Heh.

“Then, I’ll go buy some more beer. And some drinks for the kids.”

“Alright.”

“Ah, Unnie. I’ll come with you. I need to buy something too.”

“Really?”

Dusik, what’s this about? When Eve said she was going to buy beer, Dusik wanted to come along. I nodded.

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