"Wake up, you little idiot! You've been asleep for three hours. Is that what you call 'taking a nap'?"

Scaramouche looked at the person who was rolling herself in a blanket. He grumbled. It was six in the afternoon, and he had already cooked dinner. That’s why he wanted everything to be done quickly, or the food would get cold soon.

Lumine yawned, stretched a bit, and looked at the clock on the wall. It had really been three hours since she had taken her nap. She looked at Scaramouche:

" Ehe, it's just not like what i expected... Sorry. "

Scaramouche lightly tapped her head, still grumbling but more gently than before.

"Alright, alright, I don't give a f*ck. Now go to the restroom and wash your face; brush your hair too—it looks messy."

Lumine hastily followed his instructions. After five minutes, she was already sitting at the dining table, waiting for Scaramouche to put the food on it. The smell of curry spread throughout the house, fragrant and seductive. Lumine, fascinated, exclaimed about how delicious it was:

"Your food is always the best. Look at this, so delicious! You should open a cooking class soon."

"You're talking too much. Just eat, or I won't let you have any cheesecake afterward."

Lumine couldn't believe he used dessert to threaten her. How cruel...

After dinner, Lumine and Scaramouche washed the dishes together. Although he preferred to do this alone, she whined and wanted to help, so this was the outcome. Scaramouche could let her do it by herself, but he didn’t like seeing that, so he always ended up washing the dishes after a meal. In his words, this useless girl couldn’t be allowed to interfere with housework. But, as always, she wanted to do it together. Scaramouche criticized and grumbled every time she asked to help but would also give her a towel to clean the table—the thing he had already cleaned.

Lumine was checking her missions while Scaramouche was reading books about researched artifacts for his essay at the academy. While highlighting the incomplete tasks, she glanced at him. A bold thought appeared in her mind, and she asked:

"Sorry for this sudden question, but would you mind if I asked you something?"

"Huh? What if I said I mind?"

"I’d still ask."

He raised an eyebrow at her response.

"Fine, go ahead. What do you want to know?"

"What do you know about making love?"

He was stunned, looking at her with wide eyes as if he had misheard or was hallucinating. He thought for a moment, wondering if he had read too many books lately and was now so out of sorts that he was confused. Lumine saw his reaction, and her face turned red like a tomato. Maybe she had lost her mind.

"S-Sorry, I-I think it’s too weird to ask you something like that. I’m j-just, well, let’s just keep doing our things and forget what just happened!"

She hurriedly continued her unfinished list with a red face (Oh my god, what did I just do? So dumb, argh, he’ll get mad at me soon, oh no...). She was lost in thought, not realizing that Scaramouche was still watching her. He actually enjoyed this shy expression of hers. The question was quite strange, but, with him, it might be a good chance...

"So, little traveler, tell me, why are you suddenly wondering about that problem?"

Lumine was surprised. She hadn’t expected him to ask her about it. For a moment, she thought he would glance at her and then kick her off the chair to wake her up, but, contrary to her expectations, the situation was quite... strange.

"I said forget it..."

"Go ahead, I don't mind."

He smirked at her words and chuckled lightly. He turned his chair towards her, indicating that he wanted to listen. Lumine knew she couldn’t ignore this anymore, so, with a shy face, she spoke in a low voice:

"Well, you’ve been living for many years, so you might have experienced many things, and... um... I just wonder if you’ve ever been dating or... um..."

"Making love, huh?" Scaramouche finished her hesitation.

She nodded shyly, not daring to look at his face, her ears as red as her face.

He chuckled slightly, amused.

"Hmph, about that... Well, which version do you want to hear? The long version or the short version?"

"What?" Lumine was shocked; she just couldn’t absorb what she had just heard.

He chuckled quietly at her confused response. He explained, somewhat amused by the situation:

"Yeah, there are different versions. There’s the short version, which is much simpler, and then the long version, which... let’s just say it involves doing a lot of different things. You don’t know that?"

She quickly corrected herself, telling herself she couldn’t let him know that she didn’t know anything:

"O-Of course I know! So... so you’ve been dating and... and done that?"

He smirked and nodded at her words. He elaborated further, his tone a little more teasing:

"I had a feeling you didn’t really know about this, given how innocent you are, haha... How do you think? I’m older and more experienced in this world than you are, so yes, I’ve done it many times."

His eyes locked with hers, waiting for her reaction. Her face tightened, and she didn’t seem very happy. She tilted her head and answered indifferently:

"I see."

Scaramouche noticed her change in demeanor and replied with a hint of mock arrogance:

"What's wrong, my little kitty? Did that new information upset you?"

She frowned:

"I'm not your little kitty, don’t call me that."

"Oh, did that bother you, darling?" Scaramouche smirked and chuckled slightly, clearly enjoying the tease.

"Hey!" She growled, her face reddening again.

"Okay, okay, I won’t call you that anymore. It's just so funny, you’re so easy to tease. It’s hard to resist, darling…”

"Y-you're still doing it!"

Scaramouche enjoyed her reaction.

"What’s wrong, darling? Can’t handle a little nickname? Hehehe…”

"Urgh... Fine. I’ll deal with it, but... don’t ever call me that when we’re not alone, okay? That nickname will cause misunderstandings!" Lumine said, frustrated and knowing she couldn’t stop him.

He smiled, acknowledging her concern.

"Hmph, alright, fine. If that’s what you want, darling. I promise I won’t call you 'darling' in front of others—only when we’re alone like this."

She was still uncomfortable with the nickname but felt powerless to change it. She turned back to her checklist, sighing.

"So when can I call you that in front of others?"

Her pen halted suddenly. She looked at him in panic, unable to believe what she’d just heard.

"H-huh?"

"I said, when can I call you 'darling' outside?"

He looked straight into her eyes, clearly not joking.