Newlyweds And Everyday Life (2)

“That was delicious! I ate your bacon too. Hehe. I’m not embarrassed by things like that. You can tickle me more—my thigh, above it, below it, wherever.”

“What? Hey—HEY!”

Rurin stood up with a smug grin. The bacon on my plate had mysteriously vanished. All that was left was untouched salad.

While I was goofing around, she casually stole and ate my bacon too.

A wave of inexplicable defeat washed over me.

I resigned myself to eating salad, my heart heavy with defeat as our breakfast ended in hollow silence.

Well, I guess some mornings are just like that.

Accepting my fate, I went to the bathroom. Our lair’s bathroom was massive—this one was tiny and tight.

By that I mean, if both of us were in there, we had to be close. Rurin insisted on joining me while I washed up, sitting on the closed toilet lid and just watching me.

“My love.”

“Yeah?”

“Yep, I can see you even in here. Always.”

“Being visible in the bathroom too…doesn’t feel like a great thing.”

I muttered that as I started brushing. Then I shoved a toothbrush into Rurin’s mouth too—she was just sitting there doing nothing.

“You too. Let’s go.”

“Mmmphhh!”

You can’t protest with a toothbrush in your mouth. Whatever she grumbled, it was incomprehensible.

But I already knew what she was trying to say.

“Even if your teeth are invincible and never decay, brushing is still a must. And if we’re gonna kiss, your mouth needs to be clean.”

“……”

The moment I said “kiss,” Rurin didn’t argue—just started brushing, slowly but surely.

“Honestly, this tight space makes washing easier.”

“Muhhh?”

“‘Muhhh’? What is ‘Muhhh’? Anyway, enough brushing—let me wash your hair. Just sit still and let me pamper you, my dear wife.”

“No! I’ll wash your hair too! It’s only fair!”

“Oh, really?”

Nod nod.

That confident face. I still remember the shampoo nightmare from last time—foam everywhere thanks to her enthusiasm.

“Hehehe.”

Leaving the suddenly giggling Rurin behind, I began washing her hair, and the bathing process was nearly complete.

After the bath, it was time to get dressed.

Right now, Rurin was wearing the loose T-shirt we bought yesterday. Since it was mine, it reached down to her thighs when she wore it. It was very baggy.

As I mentioned earlier, when she wore it, her hands disappeared into the sleeves.
When she raised her arms to yawn, her little hands would adorably peek out.

It was incredibly cute, but I swear I never forced her to wear it. In fact, it was the opposite.

But the baggy-clothed Rurin phase was over. Because we had to go outside.

“Okay, raise your arms. Let’s take this off.”

Nod, nod, nod.

I lifted the oversized shirt and helped her change her underwear,

then dressed her in the expensive one-piece she got during our last visit to Korea—and that completed today’s outfit.

With Rurin, she had zero resistance to showing me her bare skin. Even most married couples aren’t this casual about it, right?

She gets ridiculously shy about hugging first or saying she loves me, yet in this aspect, she’s totally unfazed. It’s fascinating.

She really has no concept of what’s considered “normal”.

Of course, when it comes to others, not only does she never show skin, she still hates even the slightest physical contact.

That part hasn’t changed one bit.

One time at the restaurant, her shirt rode up as she reached for something, and she almost tried to kill a customer just for seeing her belly button—I barely managed to stop her.

And now she insists on dressing me too.

There’s a strange logic to Rurin’s embarrassment ecosystem I still can’t figure out.

Honestly, it’d be easier if we just changed clothes separately, but she doesn’t like that either.

“My love, you look cool.”

Rurin got on her tiptoes, stood on the low table, and helped me put on my T-shirt—and that marked the end of our long getting-ready routine.

“But hey, Rurin.”

“What?”

“Aren’t your nails getting kind of long? Why do they grow so fast?”

As we were heading out, I noticed her nails.

Because of the Regana, Rurin doesn’t let her nails grow out.

She also hates the feeling of long nails,

so I trim them for her regularly,

but today, they’d grown quite a bit.

“Yeah. It’s annoying. I don’t like them long.”

“Alright. Let’s trim them before we go—it won’t take long.”

“Ooh!”

Rurin nodded eagerly, her face lighting up.

So our outing was put on hold for a bit.

We went back inside and sat down. Rurin followed me and sat right across from me.

I pulled a nail clipper out of our bag.

Then I took her fingers in my hand. At the same time, I clamped the clipper down on one of her nails.

A little pressure, and click—her nail came off cleanly.

Each time that crisp clipping sound echoed—Rurin would reflexively cross her legs.

Another click.

“Kyaa!”

“Why ‘kyaa’?”

“I don’t know. It just felt…‘kyaa.’”

“What does that even mean?”

I ignored her nonsense and moved the clipper back to her next nail.

After dozens of soft clicks, the nails on one hand were almost all trimmed. Then I filed the edges smooth—scritch scritch—to make them neat and pretty.

“My love, you really are good at this. A true nail-clipping master.”

“Oh really?”

“But you’re not allowed to cut anyone else’s nails. Because…it’s ‘kyaa.’”

“What about mine?”

“Handle those yourself. I don’t care.”

“When would I even be clipping anyone else’s nails? And what on earth does ‘because kyaa’ mean?”

“It’s just…a thing.

“Like, when you’re really focused and clipping my nails like click click—it makes my heart race or something.”

“…From nail clipping?”

“I don’t know!”

She struck a pose like she was going to explain, then got embarrassed again—and quietly offered her other hand.

So I trimmed that one too.

“Alright. Now we can go.”

“Yeah? And what’s fun out there, exactly?”

“Dunno. Guess we’ll find out?”

“Well, even if it’s not fun, it’ll still be fun with you.”

Rurin gave me the brightest smile.

If it’s for that smile, then I’ll gladly keep doing all this. Heh.

And with her nails freshly trimmed, we finally headed outside.

Our first stop: the supermarket.

We only stopped by a convenience store yesterday, so we needed to pick up actual supplies.

“Oooh! What is this place? There’s so much stuff!”

We went straight to the nearest one—

—and the moment we stepped in, Rurin’s eyes went wide.

She looked totally culture-shocked by this massive modern marketplace.

“My love, is this what you call a market?”

“Yeah.”

“What kind of market is this big? And it’s so weird too.”

Rurin’s first impression of the supermarket was simply: weird.

I mean, that’s fair coming from someone from another world.

“Weird or not, everything on those tall shelves is for sale. The quantity is insane, right?”

“All of that?”

“Yep.”

“It feels like this place was built for dragons. It doesn’t suit humans.”

“Well, a lot of things are sold in bulk, so maybe you’re not wrong.”

Rurin wandered around curiously, darting from aisle to aisle. Her eyes were sparkling with pure curiosity.

She finally came to a stop in front of the snack section—the one area she knew well.

All the snacks she used to absentmindedly munch on in the other world—

were now stacked high up to the ceiling.

“My love! That’s the one I snack on sometimes! Oh, and that one—I eat that a lot!

“My love, my love, MY LOVE! This is the chocolate bar that saved our lives! We have to buy it!”

“Snacks? We won’t even have time to eat them.”

It’s not like we’re bringing them back to the other world.

But Rurin shook her head fiercely and protested.

“My love. You fool. Did you already forget what happened the other day?”

“That chocolate bar in my pocket saved the day!”

“That’s why you always keep a few on hand.”

I mean, yes, it did help us out…a little.

So I let it go. She wanted to buy them—so I let her.

At least she understood the concept of purchasing, which was a relief. It’d be a real problem if she tried to just walk out with everything like it was hers.

Thinking that, I glanced at our cart.

It was already filled with snacks.

Anyway, I’m banned from using mana in this world.

Because it takes a huge amount of mana to open dimensional rifts.

That’s why I can’t even use summoning magic here—so shopping like this is my only option.

Rurin darted around thumping again, grabbing snacks at random without even reading the labels and tossing them into the cart.

“You’re not even checking what they are?”

“My love.”

“Yeah?”

“Not knowing what it is makes it more fun! You’re clearly a noob!”

“Oh, and you’re an expert?”

“Of course! I am the master of snacks!”

Well, long live the Snack Queen, I guess.

A few minutes later, the great Snack Queen finally wrapped up her glorious snack haul, and we pushed the cart out of the snack aisle.

Well—tried to, anyway.

If it weren’t for the one little boy we noticed standing alone.

“Is he lost?”

“What’s a ‘lost’?”

“It means a child who got separated from their parents.”

“Oooh.”

I approached the sniffling child in the snack section, and knelt down to meet his eye level.

I’d heard that when talking to scared kids, it’s best to get down to their level, so I tried it—but it didn’t seem to be helping.

“Are you okay? Where’s your mom?”

I asked gently, but the kid barely looked at me and just kept sniffling.

No doubt about it—he was lost. Alright, we should take him to the store’s lost child center.

Or maybe just find a store employee?

I stood up to go find someone,
but Rurin, who had been quietly watching from the side,
squatted down in front of the child instead.

“Hey little lost one. Where’s your mom?”

The kid reacted differently to Rurin than to me—

He actually looked at her.

Then Rurin casually reached into her pocket—and pulled out a chocolate bar.

When the heck did she stash that?

“Want this? It’s tasty. Emergency-use chocolate bar.”

She unwrapped it and handed it to him.

Uh, Lady Rurin—that hasn’t been paid for yet…

…not that I said that out loud.

It was such a surprisingly heartwarming moment that I didn’t say anything—I just watched, wanting to capture it in my memory.

Then the kid responded to her—and definitely reacted to the chocolate bar.

“Choco…?”

“Yeah. It’s sweet, so don’t cry. It’s for emergencies, but I’ll give it to you just this once.”

“So, where’s your mom?”

Rurin gently stroked his head as she spoke, and the kid took the bar and pointed somewhere down the aisle.