Hours passed.
The sun began its slow descent toward the horizon, painting the sky in shades of orange and gold. Long shadows stretched across the apartment, creeping along the walls like silent visitors.
The broth had transformed.
What had once been simple water and bones was now something magical—cloudy and rich, the color of heavy cream, smelling of pork and ocean and pure, concentrated umami. It bubbled gently on the stove, filling the apartment with a fragrance that could make angels weep.
The dough had rested.
Been rolled.
Been cut.
Perfect, golden noodles lay in neat piles, waiting for their moment.
The toppings waited too—chashu pork glistening with marinade, soft-boiled eggs cut precisely in half, menna, negi, nori, everything arranged like soldiers before battle.
Yuuta stood back.
Surveyed his work.
"Perfect," he whispered.
The kitchen looked like a professional ramen shop had exploded inside his apartment. Every surface held something beautiful. Every pot contained something delicious. Every corner smelled like heaven.
Now came the hard part.
The waiting.
---
Yuuta moved to the living room and collapsed onto the sofa.
His eye throbbed.
The bruise Loid had left was worse than he'd thought—purple and black and swollen, pulsing with every heartbeat. He'd grabbed an ice pack from the freezer and pressed it against the wound, but the relief was minimal.
"What the hell does Loid eat?" he muttered. "Rocks? His punch feels like I got hit by a boulder."
He shifted the ice pack.
Winced.
"My eye is burning."
The clock ticked.
The broth simmered.
The sun continued its slow descent.
And Yuuta—
Yuuta fell asleep.
The ice pack slipped from his hand.
Clattered to the floor.
He didn't stir.
His breathing deepened.
And for the first time in days, his face held no tension, no worry, no fear.
Just rest.
---
Outside, the world turned golden.
The sky blazed orange and pink and purple, casting warm light across the city. Windows caught the glow and turned into mirrors. Birds settled into their evening routines. The neighborhood grew quiet, peaceful, ordinary.
Erza and Elena rounded the corner.
Elena bounced with every step, her new dinosaur book clutched to her chest, stickers already plastered across her cheeks and arms. She'd opened the package the moment they left the bookstore and had been applying them ever since.
"Mama! Look! This one is a T-REX! It says ROAR!"
"I see."
"Mama! This one is a TRICERATOPS! It has three horns!"
"Fascinating."
"Mama! This one is—"
"Elena." Erza's voice was calm. "Save some excitement for when we get inside."
"But Mama—"
"Inside."
Elena pouted.
But she kept bouncing.
---
They climbed the stairs.
Seventy-eight books in one arm.
A bouncing child in the other.
Erza moved effortlessly, as if the weight meant nothing—because it didn't. This was barely a fraction of her strength. A warm-up. A morning stretch.
But something else occupied her mind.
A feeling.
Strange.
Unfamiliar.
She'd felt it in the bookstore, when the cashier mentioned her marriage. When Yuuta's face appeared in her mind. When her lips curved without permission.
What is this?
She didn't know.
Didn't understand.
Didn't want to examine it too closely.
But it was there.
Growing.
Warm.
---
"Oh! Miss Konuari!"
A voice interrupted her thoughts.
Miss Kano stood in the hallway, a bag of trash in her hand, her eyes wide as they took in the sight before her. The same Miss Kano who had appeared in Chapter One, who had witnessed the chaos of Erza's arrival, who had seen more than she should have.
"What a... what a ridiculous amount of books!"
Erza's eyes narrowed.
"None of your business, human."
Miss Kano laughed—nervously, but also warmly.
"Oh, come on, Miss Konuari. You can talk nicely. I'm your neighbor."
Behind Erza, Elena peeked out.
"Mama! Mama! This is the human from when Papa was hiding!" She giggled at the memory.
Erza's hand moved.
Gently.
Firmly.
Pushed Elena back behind her.
But in that moment, Miss Kano saw.
Saw Erza carrying seventy-eight books with one arm.
Saw the complete lack of strain on her face.
Saw the impossible strength of the woman before her.
"You're really strong, Miss Konuari."
Erza's lip curled.
"It's pathetic that humans consider this strength." She shifted the books slightly. "Your definition of power is laughable."
Miss Kano blinked.
Then smiled.
"Well... I guess I'll leave you to it, then."
She carried her trash toward the chute.
Erza continued toward her door.
But as she walked, something Miss Kano had said echoed in her mind.
Miss Konuari.
Konuari.
Yuuta's name.
Her name now.
Their name.
She didn't react.
Didn't show anything.
---
Erza pushed the door open.
"WELCOME BACK HOME!"
Elena's voice exploded through the apartment like a tiny firecracker. She threw her arms wide, her dinosaur stickers catching the light, her face split in the biggest grin imaginable.
"Mama! I said it! Just like Papa says it!"
Erza glanced down at her daughter.
"You don't need to mimic that pathetic father of yours."
"But Mama, it's FUNNY!"
"There is nothing funny about—"
Erza stopped.
Her nose twitched.
Her eyes widened.
What is that smell?
It hit her like a wave—warm, rich, complex, delicious. A fragrance that seemed to wrap around her senses and pull her forward. Her mouth watered before she could stop it. Her stomach—her ancient, dragon stomach that had tasted delicacies from across entire worlds—growled.
She walked toward the hall.
Toward the source.
And then she saw it.
The table.
Covered.
Absolutely covered with food.
Bowls of ramen sat in perfect arrangement, steam rising from each one like offerings to the gods. The broth was the color of cream, rich and inviting. Noodles lay in perfect coils. Toppings were arranged with artistic precision—pink-swirled chashu, golden eggs cut in half, green onions scattered like emeralds, nori standing at attention.
It was beautiful.
It was perfect.
It was for her.
Erza's heart did that thing again.
That strange, aching, warm thing.
"Damn," she whispered. "This feeling again."
She moved toward the sofa, her arms still full of books, needing a moment to compose herself. She would set them down. She would gather her thoughts. She would—
She stopped.
Yuuta was asleep on the sofa.
Curled in an awkward position, his face slack with exhaustion, one arm dangling toward the floor. He looked young like this. Vulnerable. Human.
And his eye—
His eye was swollen.
Purple and black and wrong.
Erza's heart lurched.
Rage flooded through her—hot, immediate, violent. Who had done this? Who had dared to touch what was hers? She would find them. She would end them. She would—
Her hand slipped.
The books fell.
CRASH.
Seventy-eight volumes hit the floor in an avalanche of paper and binding, the sound echoing through the apartment like a thunderclap.
Yuuta shot up from the sofa like a rocket.
"NO! WAIT! ERZA, DON'T DESTROY THIS WORLD! I'M STILL YOUNG!"
His arms flailed.
His voice cracked.
His body moved in approximately seventeen directions at once, none of them useful.
Elena burst into giggles, her tiny hands clutching her dinosaur book, her face bright with pure, innocent joy.
"PAPA IS SO FUNNY!"
Yuuta blinked.
Looked around.
The hall was still there. The TV was still there. The table—the beautiful, magnificent table—was still covered in the ramen masterpiece he'd created.
"Phew." He slumped back against the sofa, his heart hammering. "It was just a dream."
Then he looked up.
Erza stood before him.
Towering.
Furious.
Yuuta's blood ran cold.
The dream had been about her destroying the world.
The reality, he realized, might be worse.
"Well..." He swallowed hard. "Erza. Welcome back."
His brain screamed at him.
So much for the blackmail plan! So much for making her beg! She's going to kill me! She's going to freeze me! She's going to—
Erza raised her hand.
Yuuta braced for death.
She read my mind. She saw my evil plan. This is it. This is the end.
Her hand touched his face.
"What happened to your eye?"
Her voice was cold.
But her touch was gentle.
Yuuta's brain short-circuited.
"I... I fell down the stairs."
He looked away.
Couldn't meet her eyes.
Couldn't let her see the guilt written across his face.
Erza's expression shifted—frustration, concern, and something else. Something she couldn't name and didn't want to examine.
"You... you IDIOT!" Her voice rose. "Can't you walk properly?! Look at you! You're already the weakest, most pathetic mortal I've ever met, and now you can't even navigate stairs without injuring yourself?!"
Yuuta blinked.
Is she... worried?
"I'm sorry," he said. "I wasn't paying attention."
He smiled.
That stupid, warm, infuriating smile that he couldn't seem to control.
Erza's eye twitched.
She grabbed his cheek.
Pulled it.
Hard.
"What is wrong with your smile?! Don't you fear death?! Don't you understand how furious I am?!"
"I—ow—I'm sorry—it hurts—"
"GOOD!"
She released him.
Sighed.
Long.
Deep.
Frustrated.
"Idiot." She searched for words, any words, to fill the silence. "Baka. Stupid. Fool. Moron."
Anything she could call him.
Anything to hide what she was really feeling.
Yuuta didn't respond.
He just looked at her.
At the way her eyes kept returning to his wound.
At the way her hands—her deadly, powerful, world-ending hands—were trembling slightly.
At the way her voice, for all its coldness, held something beneath the ice.
Does she... care?
Is it possible that she...
Erza's fingers touched his eye again.
Gently.
So gently.
Warmth bloomed from her touch—not anger, not power, but healing. Her magic flowed into him, soft and warm and kind, seeping through his skin and into the damaged tissue beneath.
The swelling receded.
The pain vanished.
The bruise faded like it had never existed.
Yuuta's eye was whole again.
He stared at her.
She stared back.
And in that moment, neither of them knew what to say.
---
The silence stretched.
Longer than was comfortable.
Longer than was safe.
Longer than either of them expected.
Then—
"PAPA! MAMA! THE FOOD!"
Elena's voice shattered the moment like a hammer through glass.
She was already climbing onto her chair, her eyes fixed on the ramen bowls with the kind of desperate hunger only children possessed.
"IT SMELLS SO GOOD! CAN WE EAT NOW?! PLEASE?!"
Yuuta blinked.
Looked at the table.
At the food he'd spent hours creating.
At the family waiting to enjoy it.
"IT SMELLS SO GOOD! CAN WE EAT NOW?! PLEASE?!"
Elena's voice bounced off the walls like a tiny, adorable earthquake.
Yuuta blinked, pulled from his daze, and looked at the table.
At the food he'd spent hours creating.
At the family waiting to enjoy it.
"Yes," he said softly, reaching out to ruffle Elena's silver hair. "Let's eat."
Elena scrambled onto her chair, her dinosaur book forgotten, her eyes fixed on the steaming bowls with the kind of desperate focus that only children and starving soldiers possessed.
"What did you make, Papa?! It smells SO good!"
Yuuta smiled.
"It's called ramen."
Both of them looked at him.
"Ramen?" Erza repeated, her brow furrowing. "What kind of ridiculous name is that?"
"Well," Yuuta said, settling into his own seat, "it's a dish from Japanese cuisine. Ramen. It's made with rich broth, strong flavors, lots of protein, and a hundred different tastes all working together."
Erza stared at the bowl before her.
Steam rose in delicate spirals. The broth was opaque and creamy, the color of well-brewed tea. Noodles lay in perfect coils beneath a landscape of pork, egg, vegetables, and seaweed.
It looked...
Good.
Too good.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Did you make this just because?" Suspicion dripped from every word. "No one spends this much time on food without a reason."
Yuuta's smile flickered.
She's right, of course. There was a reason. A whole dramatic, blackmail-y, "make her beg" reason that completely failed the moment she walked through the door.
But he couldn't say that.
Couldn't admit that he'd planned to hold this food hostage.
So he improvised.
"Well..." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "You let me call you by your name. Just Erza. No queen, no highness, no formalities."
He glanced at her.
Quickly.
Then away.
"I thought... maybe I should thank you. Properly. With food."
Erza stared at him.
Her expression didn't change.
But something behind her eyes—something deep and carefully guarded—shifted.
He made all this... for me?
Because I let him say my name?
My name, which everyone in my world says every day without thought?
He made a feast... for that?
"Idiot." Her voice was sharp. "Wasting money on food."
Yuuta looked at her.
A specific look.
The kind of look that said really?
"I just feel," he said carefully, "like someone stole my money and is now lecturing me about wasting it."
Erza's hand moved faster than thought.
Her fingers found his ear.
Twisted.
"Ow ow ow—!"
"Listen here, you pathetic mortal." Her voice was ice, but her grip wasn't cruel. Just... firm. "I am already frustrated enough living in this world. It's YOUR fault I'm stuck on this miserable planet. And unlike SOME people, I didn't waste money on useless things."
She released his ear.
Crossed her arms.
"I bought books. For knowledge. For understanding this ridiculous world YOU dragged me into."
Yuuta rubbed his ear, wincing.
"Okay, okay, I get it. I'm sorry." He looked at her—really looked at her. "You don't have to justify it. My money is your money now. I trust you."
The words hung in the air.
Simple.
Ordinary.
True.
Ba-DUMP.
Erza's heart stopped.
Then started again.
Twice as fast.
Three times as loud.
Ba-DUMP. Ba-DUMP. Ba-DUMP.
Her face went red.
Crimson.
Burning.
She stood abruptly.
"I—the bathroom—"
She fled.
Left Yuuta and Elena at the table.
Left the ramen steaming.
Left the words echoing in her mind.
My money is your money.
I trust you.
In the bathroom, she pressed both hands to her chest.
Stared at her reflection.
At the red face.
At the racing heart.
At the woman she didn't recognize anymore.
"What," she whispered, "is happening to me?"
---
At the table, Elena looked at Yuuta.
"Papa?"
"Yeah, sweetheart?"
"Why is Mama's face red?"
Yuuta smiled.
Small.
Warm.
Hopeful.
"I don't know, Elena. But I think... I think it's a good thing."
"Oh." Elena accepted this easily and turned back to her ramen. "Papa, this is REALLY good!"
"Eat up, little princess."
He looked toward the bathroom.
Toward the queen hiding from her own heart.
And somewhere deep in his chest—
Hope bloomed.
---
To be continued...
[Important Announcement!]
Yuuta: (waving at the screen awkwardly)
"Hey, hey, my dearest and only loyal reader! I have some super important news to share with you today!"
(clears throat dramatically)
Yuuta:
"I've officially signed a contract with Webnovel! Woohoo! Sooo... I'll be needing your continued support more than ever! Let's walk this crazy journey together, alright?"
Elena: (tugging his sleeve, tilting her head cutely)
"Papa, papa! Why did you join this 'contract' thingy?"
Yuuta: (chuckling, ruffling her hair)
"Because, sweetheart... Papa also needs money! Gotta feed you and buy ice cream, right?"
Erza: (crossing her arms, smirking coldly)
"Tch. Greedy mortal."
Yuuta: (fake crying dramatically)
"Hey! I'm not greedy! I'm... uh... financially responsible!"
(straightens up proudly)
"And don't worry! I'm not going to lock any chapters until we complete the first major arc! You'll get plenty of story before any locks!"
Elena: (bright smile)
"Yay! Papa's the best!"
Erza: (giving a tiny, rare smile)
"Hmph. Then it's acceptable."
Yuuta: (grinning wide)
"Alright then! That's all for today's important talk!"
(waves at the screen with Elena and Erza standing beside him)
Yuuta, Elena & Erza (together):
"Bye-bye! See you in the next chapter!"