CHAPTER 115: DON’T WORRY, OUR WIFE IS STRONG

"You’re distracted." Grace kicked her knee, knocking her to the ground. "We’ll stop here for today, but you have to follow Aarona and the rest to the dungeon," Gace said as she sent energy into the heaving Eva, healing her tense muscles and bruises.

"Hahhh... no off day. Mum, I don’t want to become muscular from all this training,’’ Eva cried out, exhaling like a fish out of water.

Grace felt helpless as she tapped Eva lightly on the forehead. "You child. Others worry about breaking down from all the training, yet you’re bothered about growing muscles."

Eva rubbed her head, ignoring her mother’s words. "Imagine me—short, muscles bulging out of my clothes, and with delicate features. Ew! (∩︵∩)" Her face scrunched up in disgust.

Grace wasn’t much better; the ridiculous image Eva painted sprang vividly to her mind, and she shook her head quickly, trying to banish it.

"Don’t worry, mum promises to keep you the way you are. Now, wash up and follow them to the dungeon." Grace helped her up before turning to leave.

Eva felt around her body, sighing in relief when she touched the soft yet slightly toned frame.

She didn’t feel like standing under a shower and chose to bathe in the spring in her space.

⸙⸙⸙⸙

After her much-needed bath, she went to the kitchen to steal some leftover food or the meal the chef had prepared to be served.

Reaching the kitchen, she held her breath, glancing around and peering at the chef’s busy back.

Her gaze fixed on the freshly baked spring rolls, and her mouth started watering. Swallowing hard, she tiptoed into the kitchen.

Her hands reached out with the spring roll, her fingers nearly grazing it, when...

"Miss, you could have just asked for some instead of stealing; they were made for you in the first place." The chef’s abrupt voice startled Eva, causing her to yelp and withdraw her hand while flashing him a sheepish smile.

"What... no, I was just arranging it in order. Cough... yes." Eva laughed awkwardly when she noticed the chef wasn’t buying her flimsy excuse.

"Like the roasted red chicken stew, and the baked bread?" The chef asked with an arched brow before sighing and filling a plate with spring rolls.

Here. I’ll make your favourite meat dishes for dinner," he promised, unable to stay angry with the pitiful look she was throwing his way. He also liked the fact that she enjoyed his cooking—plus, they bring back prey from the dungeon, so he was not worried about promising her a meat dish.

"Chef, you are the best! (⁠人⁠ ⁠•͈⁠ᴗ⁠•͈⁠)." Eva’s eyes sparkled with star signs as she took the plate from him and left the kitchen amid his soft chuckles.

Outside the mansion, Julian leaned against the open bus as soon as he saw Eva coming out with a plate in her hand.

"You were caught stealing food again," Julian stated as she threw closer, brushing the crumbs from the corner of her lips.

"What do you mean by steal? I took it honestly and openly." Eva responded loudly, trying to hide her guilt and embarrassment at being caught.

"Yes, yes, I believe you, Eva dear. Can we get going now before your grandpa terrifies Ethan with his brooding gaze?" Julian lowered his voice so only the two could hear, nodding towards Randall, whose face was etched with a permanent scowl.

"My granddaughter, come sit here," Randall said as soon as Eva entered the bus, but Aaron was much quicker and pulled Eva to his seat.

Ethan swiftly started the bus, not allowing Randall a chance to speak, clearly seeking revenge.

While Julian leaned against the window, his eyes sparkled with laughter at Randall’s constipated face.

They drive in silence, only the sound of Eva chewing filling the bus. Although they were tempted by how lively she ate, they didn’t ask her for a bite, knowing she would never share. Even if she were full, she would still keep it in her space to eat later—that’s how stingy she was with her food.

An hour passed, and Ethan parked the bus, then they stepped down, taking out the oxygen masks.

Randall smoothly created a warp gate and then entered, passing through it. They removed their oxygen masks, passing them to Eva, who stored hers in her space.

Eva brought out everyone’s beast from her space, each beast going straight to its master.

"We’ll split up and meet here in an hour. Eva’s with me," Ethan said, as he carried her and dashed into the left corner before anyone could react.

"Ah! Put me down!" Eva’s voice echoing ahead snapped them out of their stupor.

"Ethan, bring my sister back! Sh*t!" Aaron cursed, but it was too late; they had already gone.

Julian furrowed his brows and sighed as he teleported after them, leaving the fuming Aaron and the frowning Randall.

"Stop! Or I’ll throw up!" Eva gagged, feeling her food creep back up her throat. Ethan, realizing he had gone too far, quickly stopped and set her down.

Eva drew in a few deep breaths to calm her nausea before turning to Ethan. She pinched his waist sharply.

"Don’t do that again. I nearly threw up. You could’ve just asked me nicely." He didn’t dodge and allowed her to vent her anger.

Ethan smiled, glad to finally have her to himself, but the moment was short-lived when Julian appeared a few metres away. His enormous snake hissed at Whitey and Foxy, almost as if in greeting.

"If he didn’t steal you away, did you really think Aaron would let us have time alone together?" Julian chimed in with a closed-eye smile, ignoring Ethan’s cold glare.

"Alright, the monsters are here," Ethan interrupted, then stared ahead, and they heard sounds of bones creaking and rubbing against each other.

Eva and Julian grew serious as they watched the monsters covered in bones and grey furs, with their red eyes staring back at them; their beasts were the first to launch an attack.

"Don’t consume too much monster core and faint like the other day!" Eva warned Foxy before she took out a silver bat from her space—a gift from her mother dearest.

They joined the fray, the sounds of weapons clashing against hard bone and the wails of monsters and roars of beasts echoing through the air.

Boom!

Eva slammed the bat onto the monster’s furry area, causing a dent as she flipped backwards to dodge an attack from her right.

Throwing the bat into the air, she caught it with her left hand, using it to block the monster’s claws while retrieving a dagger from her space and piercing it into the monster’s head.

Ethan glanced over at Eva and felt relieved and proud that she was holding her own against a S-ranked monster without breaking a sweat.

"Don’t worry, our wife is strong," Julian muttered from the side, while killing a monster with a flick of his sword.

The fight continued, their beast tearing out beast cores and devouring them without pause.

Time passed, and the fight concluded, Eva gasping, her fingers numb and trembling slightly.

"Should we go back, or are we still hunting?" Eva asked breathlessly, trying to control her erratic heartbeat.

But when she looked over, she saw their beasts curled up on the ground with a mask of pain on their faces.

"Something’s wrong with them." Julian squatted and touched his snake with a frown.

But before they could understand the situation, right before their eyes, their beasts shrank to the size of a normal animal infant.

"What the f*ck!" Eva swore in disbelief, rubbing her eyes and feeling the dungeon lighting was playing tricks on them.

Evan Ethan had to search around for any monster that might have been using its illusion power on them, but found nothing.

They had to come to terms with the fact that their beast had shrunk. The idea of hunting more monsters was far from their minds as they collected their respective beasts and headed towards the waiting point, only to find that Aaron was facing the same issue.

-End of Flashback-

"We’re here," Julian announced, snapping Eva out of her thoughts. She looked outside and saw noisy crowds gathered in front of the dungeon entrance.

"You can do this," Eva whispered to herself before opening the door, ignoring the curious, assessing looks cast at them.