CHAPTER 363: JOINT OBSESSION (1)

0% Even though the world had calmed down and a peaceful era had arrived, things were the same as ever in the Garda Household.

After ascending to the Chieftain, a position with absolute power, Kasa Garda’s relationship with her granddaughter remained pretty much the same.

Their dinner was always simple; following their tribe’s customs, without any servants, just family cooking and eating together regardless of rank.

Given Kasa’s age, Riru did most of the cooking and serving.

The meat and vegetable stew smelled amazing, but the atmosphere was as stiff as a corpse.

“Men are simple creatures.”

“...”

“Yet you still fumbled it. Dumbass.”

“...Shut up and just eat, Grandma.”

Kasa ignored Riru’s curt response and glared at her while crossing her arms.

Her face gave off the silent pressure of ‘How the hell can you eat while talking about this?’.

“So you let that bastard slip away right in front of your face, huh?.”

“...”

“What do you think, Kariya?”

‘Kariya’ wasn’t a name, but a title in the Tribal Alliance.

It referred to the woman just below the elder in the clan. Usually that’d be Riru, but right now the one who had that title was someone else.

“Oh my, to be called that, I’m honored.”

Hearing that feminine voice that was totally out of place among the rough tribal women, Riru’s face scrunched up.

Although, it was probably because the woman who said that looked exactly like her.

‘Kariya’—the Blue Devil—who always had a bright smile on her face, covered her mouth with her hand and chuckled.

“...This thing isn’t my sister.”

“In this old hag’s eyes, she looks exactly like you.”

“...”

“Since I say so, then that’s the truth. No ifs and buts.”

Well, she wasn’t wrong.

The elder possessed all the power in the clan, after all.

“My, I do think it’s a little too much for a man to abandon such a good housewife. Such a pretty, cute, and a good homemaker~”

“Stop it—!”

As Blue casually tried to stretch her cheeks, Riru started to freak out.

Every one of Riru’s moves were packed with destructive force, but Blue dodged them all with ease, and even managed to pinched Riru’s cheeks anyway. It was impressive to say the least.

Then again, considering that Blue was toying with her past self here, this was no surprise.

“Still, it’s strange that you’re not using this unique advantage of yours, Riru.”

“...What?”

“You know, surprisingly, there’s no woman around that man who’s good at these...’little things’. They’re all amazing at big stuff, but none of them can clean or cook, no?”

“...”

She was right.

Except for Iliya, they were all rich kids who never worked a day in their lives.

In fact, that was why Riru and Iliya quickly became friends, they had a common ground in that area.

What Blue was trying to ask was, why didn’t Riru appeal to Dowd using these advantages, but to that, Riru just awkwardly avoided eye contact as she told her the reason

“...Because it’s embarrassing.”

For someone who was born and raised as a warrior, appealing to someone using her femininity and acting all coy about it was pretty much as natural as a fish trying to climb a tree.

That wasn’t the only reason, though.

“A-Also...”

“Also?”

“If he complains...”

The emotion condensed in Riru’s unconscious gulp was clear as day.

Fear.

She had never shown this side of hers to anyone outside of her family, so she had no clue how he’d react to it.

Seeing this, Kasa clicked her tongue disapprovingly and took a spoonful of the stew.

“It tastes fucking divine.”

“...”

“Too bad my granddaughter’s a dumbass who can’t even catch one man with this kind of talent. Good grief.”

“E-Enough...!”

Riru blushed and tried to stand up.

‘Tried’ being the key word here.

“Ah, grandma’s scolding big sis again!”

“Sis, what happened this time?”

“...”

Because at that moment, a bunch of noisy kids burst in, stopping Riru from blowing up.

They probably smelled the food she made and came rushing in.

“...”

In the end, Riru sat back down with a huff, unable to do much but grumble and complain.

“...There’s no way he’d like this stuff.”

It was just yesterday that she finally found out where Dowd was.

●

“...Oh.”

“Shut up. Don’t say anything.”

“...”

After that, Riru went and offered Dowd a home-cooked meal directly. That was how desperate he was.

She literally went a million light-years away from her usual image.

Seeing the plate in front of him, Dowd blinked in confusion.

Seras, who came with her, was deliberately left behind since Riru insisted on seeing him alone. And so, with trembling hands, as if she had made some life-or-death decision, she presented the meal to Dowd.

“...”

Not knowing how to react, Dowd just stared blankly before finally taking a good look at Riru’s face.

She was clearly nervous as heck.

“Riru.”

“...What.”

“Did you make this yourself?”

“...”

Riru nodded, her face was red as tomato, and her body was trembling like a leaf.

“...”

After watching her silently for a while, Dowd nobbed with a wry smile.

“You made a big decision.”

“...It’s not a big deal.”

Though her answer was gruff, her body flinched at his words that hit the nail on the head.

“...You’ve never done anything like this before. What’s the occasion?”

“...”

In a way, she used to have an almost allergic reaction to anything ‘feminine’.

For her to do this on her own? Something big must’ve happened.

Riru fidgeted for a while, then finally stuttered out:

“I-I...”

With her eyes tightly shut, her ears bright red, and her body trembling all over—it was clear how embarrassed she was right now.

“...I... I thought maybe... I... I was lacking in... f-feminine charm c-compared to the others...”

“...”

“When I saw you dis-disappear with another woman like that...”

Though her sentences were choppy from her swallowing nervously mid-sentence.

The meaning between the lines was clear as day to anyone with half a brain.

Because Dowd prioritized someone else first, she was worried she didn’t look feminine enough.

And so, she was trying to show that she can display typical ‘femininity’ too.

I’m a proper woman too.

So, please.

Love me, Dowd Campbell.

“...”

If that was really the case, then his response couldn’t be more obvious.

“Thank you. That makes me happy.”

Dowd said before he started to eat slowly. Meanwhile, Riru’s whole body flinched, as if she had been struck by lightning.

It was a simple, and warm meal.

But, even he could tell how much effort she put into making this.

“I-It’s nothing special...”

“But it is. I won’t get to eat this if it wasn’t for you.”

“...S-Stop making fun of me.”

“I’m not. To me, there’s no food tastier than this.”

“...”

“I’m happy to have you by my side.”

“...”

While Riru was making weird noises like ‘Eek...! S-Stop...’ with her eyes closed, body trembled, unable to speak properly...

Dowd finished the meal with a slight smile.

“Thank you for th—”

Now, if he could just finish that sentence, it would be perfect.

Sadly, a certain someone grabbed his arm just before he could do that.

“...Riru?”

Huh?

Did I do something wrong?

Given how tight her grip in his arm was, that was the first thought that came up in his mind.

But she doesn’t seem hostile...?

It’s more like...

[...She’s horny.]

“...”

He wanted to argue with Caliban about using such words to describe a woman, but it was hard for him to deny his words.

After all, he could see the hearts in her eyes.

And her abnormally twitching lower abdomen.

He could feel the intense heat rising from there, as if she was desperately trying to suppress it.

“...Come with me.”

Riru declared this with rough, heavy breathing.

“Don’t just talk. Prove it with your actions.”

“...”

For Dowd, this was an ominous sentence, to say the least.