Rurin's Grocery Shopping (2)

“Give me this.”

Rurin sniffed the various meat smells, then seemingly remembering her original purpose, belatedly handed the paper El gave her to Rayne.

In fact, to Rayne, Rurin was a very peculiar woman. She rarely spoke to anyone other than El.

When she did speak, it was either in short answers or commands for some reason.

But she knew very well how much Rurin liked El. One could say she realized the aura Rurin directed at El from the moment they first met.

Anyway, Rayne analyzed Rurin’s behavior of using command tones and reached one conclusion.

El also never really explained much about Rurin, so there were many secrets, but El once revealed himself as a wizard and called Rurin a woman he wanted to be with.

So in the end, isn’t the important thing that the two of them have hearts that connect with each other? There were many unknowns, but it was a beautiful thing, so she was happy to support them.

Therefore, she decided to overlook Rurin’s tone and immediately accepted the paper.

“Hmm, four pounds of uka sirloin… Just a moment. I’ll get it for you soon.”

Rayne entered the butcher shop with a friendly smile, and Rurin watched her quietly.

‘I like meat.

It’s delicious when grilled.

Is today meat day? That’s a good thing.

Since I got tricked like this, that much is naturally my right.’

Rurin thought this as she stared at the meat.

Suddenly, she felt hungry.

As Rurin was staring at the meat in distress for a while, Rayne finally returned.

“Hmm. Here it is. Should I have it delivered later?”

“No need. This much is just a finger’s worth.”

Rurin accepted the meat in the shopping bag. From that moment, the butcher shop disappeared from her sight and her interest.

She turned her head coolly and started walking again. The next target was vegetables.

Rayne watched Rurin’s back and thought.

If El is a retired wizard, Rayne thought El was a 5th or 6th-class wizard, but anyway, a wizard of that level is treated as nobility.

So Rayne thought that Rurin must also be a daughter of a high-ranking family, and that El must have run away with her because their family opposed their marriage.

If so, that tone makes sense.

Giving up that high status and running away with El, it’s such a wonderful romance. Rayne’s eyes began to sparkle.

So she decided that if any stranger came looking for Rurin, she would never tell them anything and clenched her fist.

And that clenched fist was intended for Knoll, who went out without permission.

Unaware of Rayne’s slightly off-the-mark imagination, Rurin, having acquired the meat, started walking again for her next mission.

Soon, the inside of the market appeared. This path was more familiar to Rurin because Elena’s clinic was at the entrance to the inside of the market.

Elena’s clinic, the only place Rurin had visited alone.

And in front of that clinic was a familiar redhead, nodding off.

Seeing that, Rurin ran over and hit Sereina on the back of her head.

Thwack-!

“What are you lazing around for? Fool.”

Sereina, who had been dozing off in the warm sunlight, was startled awake by the impact to the back of her head.

Normally, she would wake up in alarm if another dragon approached, but since Black Dragon Rurin already lived nearby, her guard had long been down.

As a result, Sereina, who suffered this calamity, raised her eyebrows furiously.

“How dare you hit someone’s head? This!”

“Don’t sleep.”

Normally, she should be lazing around in front of the restaurant herself. But now, caught in El’s trap, she couldn’t stand seeing another dragon sleeping.

“Ugh.”

Rurin looked at Sereina with such thoughts. The more she thought about it, the more resentful she felt. She wanted to sleep too. So she tried to hit her again, but Sereina quickly dodged.

Rurin was not pleased.

A Red Dragon should just take the hit. Just take it!

“What’s with the Black one going wild? Did you lose your reins?”

Sereina shouted as she kicked at Rurin. But Rurin twisted her body slightly and avoided the kick.

“Pathetic.”

But because of that, her shopping bag fell to the ground. Dirt almost got in. Startled, Rurin quickly grabbed the shopping bag, dropping her sneer.

“What are you doing? You really lost your reins. Where’s your master?”

“Shopping at the market. So don’t bother me.”

“You’re the one bothering, what nonsense is this, really!”

Sereina, enraged again, looked around wildly. But of course, El was nowhere to be seen.

Separated from El?

This fool?

Sereina began scrutinizing Rurin with a very perplexed expression.

“Did you finally eat him? Were you hungry?”

“Eat what. I didn’t eat. This meat needs to be grilled.”

“No, not that…”

Ah. This fool! Sereina thought, trying to say something more, but gave up. It was nonsense anyway.

“You, are you out shopping?”

“Yes. So don’t bother me.”

After hearing that she was out shopping, Sereina, finally understanding the situation somewhat, shuddered and shook her head.

“Oh dear, you disgrace of a dragon. What are you doing.”

“You’re the disgrace.”

“Se-Sereina, why is it like this?”

And then, a hurried voice from Elena came from inside the clinic.

“Huh? What?”

Sereina, who was looking at Rurin, went into the clinic, and Rurin turned her back and started walking towards the vegetable shop El had designated.

A girl came into Rurin’s sight.

A girl who looked about 5 or 6 years old.

The reason the girl caught Rurin’s eye was simple.

It wasn’t because the girl was huddled against the building wall looking pitiful or because her face was cute.

To Rurin, human faces meant nothing. Even if a cute girl was dying while coughing up blood, Rurin wouldn’t care.

But contrary to dying, she was interested in food, specifically with what the girl was eating. The girl was chewing on an unfamiliar strange flower. And she looked like she was enjoying it.

“What is that?”

Rurin crouched in front of the girl who was chewing the flower and matched her gaze.

In fact, Rurin’s mind is very simple.

Seventy percent of her mind is filled with thoughts of El. Twenty percent is occupied with revenge against her mother. Five percent is taken up by hunger and sleep.

And the rest is about one percent of dislike for everything else. And there’s also a tiny percentage taken up by curiosity.

Sometimes Rurin moves out of curiosity even amidst her annoyance.

It was the same when she made judgments on behalf of El, and it was exactly like that now.

The girl eating something strange piqued her curiosity. It was never like this, but after living with El, her interest in tasty things increased slightly. Curiosity about food now took up about 5% of her mind.

“This is a Hibiren flower.”

The girl told Rurin the name of the flower and continued chewing without any particular reaction.

“Hibiren flower? Never heard of it. Is it tasty?”

Rurin wouldn’t know the names of flowers in the human world. She didn’t even know basic human common sense.

Aside from innate knowledge about mana, she had no experience learning common sense.

Rurin had spent hundreds of years just sleeping in the lair.

Of course, even if she had plenty of common sense, the flower the girl was eating was unique and intriguing to Rurin.

While flowers were occasionally used in cooking, the flower the girl was eating was entirely different from those culinary flowers.

So, curiosity.

Curiosity about the girl who only ate flowers.

No, not the girl, but curiosity about the flower.

“Yes. It’s tasty.”

The girl nodded and handed the Hibiren flower to Rurin. Hungry Rurin took the flower and began examining it.

She parted her lips slightly, still glossy with lip balm. As her long hair fell and got in the way, she frowned and tucked it behind her ear. The hair El had tied back had come undone and fallen.

Then she opened her mouth again and put the mysterious flower called Hibiren into her mouth.

Chew chew.

Her cheeks moved back and forth. The Hibiren flower wasn’t that big, but she kept rolling it around because she didn’t like the taste more and more.

At first, it had no taste, but soon Rurin frowned. Her brain sent a signal that this wasn’t something to eat.

“Ptui! Ptui!”

She spat out all the remaining Hibiren flower from her mouth and looked at the girl with a baffled face.

In the past, Rurin had brutal eating habits, eating monsters raw, but that was when she was consumed by darkness and couldn’t see anything. For Rurin, who had developed a refined palate, the flower the girl ate tasted terrible.

“What is this rubbish you’re eating? Strange human.”

But the girl in front of her didn’t care about Rurin and continued chewing the flower well.

“This is tasty, unnie.”

“Unnie? Who?”

“You’re unnie!”

The girl pointed at Rurin. Rurin looked around. She was the only one there interacting with the girl.

“Strange human. Anyway, don’t eat such tasteless things. You’re like the old me.”

“No. It’s really tasty.”

Rurin’s blunt statement was ignored by the girl, who continued chewing the Hibiren flower as if wondering what she was talking about.

Chew chew.

The girl’s small lips opened and closed, continuously chewing. Her chubby cheeks, full of baby fat, turned rosy, showing her enjoyment.

Rurin couldn’t understand. So she decided to ignore it. Her curiosity was satisfied by knowing the flower was tasteless.

So she decided to continue on her way to buy vegetables.

“Then, I’m going.”

She said that and turned around. But she soon felt someone grabbing her leg and had to stop.

The girl was clinging to Rurin’s leg.

“What is this!”

Rurin was flustered. As always, a subtle aura surrounded her. Because of this, men who tried to approach due to her beauty were automatically repelled.

But this girl showed no reaction even when she met Rurin’s gaze.

“Let go.”

So she reluctantly released a bit more of her aura.

Dragon Fear. Normally, an average human would be frightened and let go by now.

If she released more aura, they would faint from fear. A bit more would kill a typical human.

But that would cause a huge commotion. She pictured El furious. That would be troublesome.

If she killed a human, El wouldn’t do anything for her for a while.

So she released a tiny bit, bit by bit. Considering the girl’s age, this should be enough to get a reaction.

But the girl opened her mouth with pure, clear eyes.

“Unnie? I like you, unnie!”