Peaceful Days. If I Could Live Like This, I Would Have No Other Wishes~

I woke up and looked in the mirror. Clear nail marks stood out on my neck. When I touched them, the bruised skin stung sharply.

"Ouch... It really ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hurts. Yesterday's events are hitting me all over again."

The werewolves—those foot soldiers of the dragons. The fact that they'd come all the way here meant the witch's location had been exposed.

What should I do now? Should we leave this place? My head was spinning with worries. Then I started rationalizing it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to myself. Since I'm still alive and unharmed, nothing bad is going to happen, right?

I decided to shake off the anxiety. Yeah. As long as the witch stayed by my side, nothing terrible would happen. She was incredibly strong—she'd handle everything. I forced myself to calm down and headed outside to finish the ceiling work I'd left incomplete yesterday.

Burn marks were scattered everywhere. I needed to erase all traces of the fight before Serina returned. I didn't want to make her anxious for no reason.

I gathered some lumber, climbed the ladder, and began working on the ceiling. Tap. Tap. Tap. The sound of the hammer driving in nails echoed with each strike, sending a throbbing pain through my skull that kept stimulating something deep in my mind.

Contract. Fate. Those words kept flashing through my thoughts.

What the hell...? Why were those words coming to me?

It was irritating. As I hammered away, I glanced at my hand. A strange pattern was engraved on the fourth knuckle of my right hand.

I set the hammer down and rubbed at the mark. It wouldn't come off?

Ah, fuck... I scrubbed until my skin turned red, but the pattern remained. At first I thought it was a wound from the werewolf, but the design looked familiar. It resembled the ring pattern I'd seen in my mother's room. The memory was coming back, faint but there.

Why was this on my knuckle...?

I decided not to think about it anymore. Nothing had happened. I didn't want to shatter the happiness I had right now. Dragons or whatever—they were making me too sensitive.

I picked up the hammer again and steadily finished the remaining tasks one by one. And to lift my mood, I decided to build a bathroom for Serina.

I went to the storage shed where I'd kept the leftover bricks from building the house. It was packed full of them. I also had the white stones I'd collected from the mountain. I could make a pretty impressive bathroom with these.

Serina would love it, right? If it wasn't enough, I could always call a craftsman from the village to reinforce it. Or I could just tell Lucas to build a villa here instead of that holy temple nonsense.

I cleared out the space behind the toilet and created an area that actually resembled a proper bathroom. Not bad so far. I'd decorate it further with the white stones, mix fine soil with water to fill the gaps, and shape a bathtub large enough for Serina using the earth and stones. I'd even make a proper drain hole.

This was pretty good... I might be giving professional architects a run for their money. The bathtub was already taking decent shape. Now I just had to wait for it to set properly.

I couldn't even imagine how happy Serina would be.

Three days flew by in house repairs and ranch construction.

I was heading down to the village. I was curious whether anything had happened while I was gone. I wanted to ask Serina how she'd been. I even caught myself worrying that she might have massacred the villagers.

"Uncle."

I greeted the guard at the checkpoint.

"Oh, Allen. It's been a while."

"Have you been well?"

"Yes. Did you finish your work properly?"

"Yes, of course. By the way, has anything happened with Serina?"

"Lady Serina? What do you mean?"

"Ah, never mind."

From the uncle's reaction, it seemed nothing had happened. Serina must have kept her promise well.

After passing the checkpoint, I headed straight for Sylvia's house. I flung the door open and immediately shouted her name.

"Serina!"

My eyes met Serina's. She was cooking in the kitchen. The moment she saw my face, her eyes turned red.

"Allen...!"

She set down the wooden spatula and ran to me, then jumped straight into my arms.

"How could you leave without saying anything?"

"I'm sorry. I was afraid you'd try to stop me if I told you."

"If you ever pull something like that again..."

"I know. I won't do it again."

"Do you have any idea how lonely I was?"

"I'm sorry. Did Maria keep you company?"

"No. You made me lonely."

"Sorry, sorry. Did you learn a lot about cooking?"

"Yeah. I'm worried you'll turn into a pig at this rate."

"Why? Are you going to cook lots of delicious food for me?"

"Of course! But what is this? What happened to your neck?"

"Ah... it's nothing."

"Nothing? That's clearly a scratch. Who did this? Bring them here. Noona will scold them for you."

"No, it's not that. I got hurt while working on the construction."

"You should have been more careful."

"Right. I'll be careful next time."

"Good. Don't get hurt. Have you eaten?"

"Not yet. I want to eat your cooking."

"Wait a little. You can look forward to it."

While I held her and we talked, Maria came out from the other room.

"Allen oppa!"

"Maria. Have you been well?"

"Of course! Do you know how much Sister Serina missed you? I barely managed to stop her when she said she was going up the mountain to see you for a bit."

"Really?"

"Yes. But she said she'd cook delicious food when you returned, so she studied really hard."

"That's good. She listens well too."

I stroked Serina's hair. She quietly savored my touch.

"It's been so long since I've felt this!"

Meanwhile, Maria set the table for lunch. It looked like the cooking lesson had just ended.

"Shall we eat?"

The dishes Serina made were a fish stew and salad—light and perfect. I took a spoonful of the thick broth. The fish inside was plump and satisfying.

"Wow... You really made this, Serina?"

"I did. Is it good?"

"Yeah. What have you been doing for three days!"

"I made it while thinking of you."

Serina's cooking skills improved every single day. At this rate, she could run a household no problem!

We prepared to leave the village. We'd stayed longer than intended. Between the vampire attack and various other incidents, we'd ended up remaining much longer than planned.

We said our goodbyes to Lucas and Nimeli before departing. We planned to come down every week anyway.

Serina seemed to have grown attached to the village, because she looked quite reluctant to leave. The villagers now welcomed her warmly, so we could visit comfortably whenever we wanted.

"Well, we'll be going now. We'll come back soon."

"Aigoo, Allen. Take good care of Lady Serina."

"That's right, Allen. Just live here."

"Yeah. The Lord even offered you a mansion, so why go back up the mountain? We're going to build Lady Serina's holy temple soon anyway?!"

"I'll think about it. There are still many things I need to sort out."

The villagers urged us to move down, but I wasn't sure yet. After spending over five years in the quiet, secluded mountain since leaving the village, I'd grown used to the solitude. The village had its own charm, but I felt a little sad about losing time alone.

"Serina, are you sad?"

"No."

"But you look depressed."

"I miss Maria."

"You like Maria?"

"Yeah. She's cute."

It seemed she'd grown close to Maria in that short time. I'd held the prejudice that a witch couldn't get along with villagers. That made sense—the only sides of her she'd shown me before were selfish and terrifying. I guess I'd misunderstood her a lot.

I should come down to the village more often.

When we arrived home, Serina was startled.

"Wow. Is this really our house?"

"It's changed a lot, hasn't it?"

"Yeah. What's that bathtub?"

Out of everything I'd done, the bathtub seemed to catch her eye the most. She opened the bathroom door several times just to stare at it.

Seeing her reaction made me feel strangely proud.

We unpacked the luggage we'd brought from the village and organized everything. Ah, not we. Just me. Serina's attitude hadn't completely changed yet. The moment we arrived, she declared she was tired and flopped down on the bed.

As expected. If her attitude changed completely, that would be a problem.

"Allen. I'll cook dinner tonight."

"Really?"

There were still some changes. Perhaps because she'd gained confidence in cooking, she firmly declared that she would handle all the meals from now on.

I was more than happy to let her.

"What are you going to make?"

"Deer dish."

"Deer? Where's the deer?"

"Where? I'll just catch one."

"By yourself...?"

"Yeah. Wait for me."

"Okay. I'll do my chores then."

I went to inspect the goat ranch once more. There might be shoddy construction or areas that needed maintenance. After finishing some simple repairs, I fed the baby goats. Today I specially brought snacks for Melo from the village.

"Melo. Did you guard the house well?"

"Woof woof!"

Melo happily devoured the dried meat. He was gulping it down when he suddenly ran off and started barking furiously.

"Melo, is something there?"

I followed him and saw Serina carrying a large deer over her shoulder.

"You really caught one...?"

"Of course."

"You're going to cook deer for me?"

"Yeah. I'll make it delicious, so wait."

It was bewildering. Watching her lightly carry a huge deer on one shoulder was pure terror.

Whoa... I'd forgotten. Serina was a witch...

Ah... It really hit different.

And one week later.

We were spending truly peaceful days.

The witch had become obsessed with meat dishes and caught wild game every single day to cook for me.

"Honey, aah!"

I had no idea where she'd learned these strange words. We weren't even married, yet she called me honey.

"Serina... where did you learn to call me honey?"

"The village women called their husbands that?"

"I see..."

"Do you not like it?"

"No, I like it."

When I praised her cooking, she seemed so happy that she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even took over cleaning for several days.

Ah... If I could live like this every day, I would have no other wishes. So peaceful~~