CHAPTER 8

Sighing, Eva hastily got dressed. She must speak to him again. Her mind had cleared up somewhat now after her bath, so she might be able to think of a persuasive reason to convince him to let her go. There was no harm trying her luck.

When she reached the living room, Gage was still there but he was dressed now. Thank god! His ridiculously perfect body was truly distracting!

Though… looking at him now, she ended up pinching the skin between her brows because despite him wearing a grey shirt, he still managed to look as distracting as before. Shirtless or not! Damn this man!

Prepared to immediately speak as soon as she reached him, Eva had just halted and opened her mouth when her stomach decided to 'speak up' first.

Silence reigned. A crow flew above them again. Then her stomach gave out another loud growl that could not be ignored.

She face-palmed, her ears reddened hotly with embarrassment. But as she put down her hands and was about to speak to cover the rumbling sounds of her stomach, she was shocked at the sight of him suddenly appearing right before her and squatting down.

Her eyes went as wide as saucers as she looked down at him, wondering what he was up to this time. Before she could say anything, she saw him putting a pair of white slippers before her bare feet.

Her lips gaped open, never expecting this action from him at all. He looked up, looking absolutely handsome that she had to catch her breath.

"Wear these." He said simply and Eva just blinked at that pair of white house slippers. She was dumbstruck.

What… what is he doing? Did he not… had he not asked her to stay as the replacement for his maid? Then why is he…

"Anything wrong?" his voice nearly jolted her out of her skin. She snapped out of her daze, clearing her throat before attempting to speak.

"N-nothing," she replied, averting her gaze from him as she hastily slid her cold feet into the warm fluffy slippers. She sighed out softly at how warm and toasty her feet felt in it. Inwardly, she was shaking her head hard as if to ward off some silly thoughts.

"Alright, come along with me, pet." He then started walking and Eva followed obediently behind him for now, trying to regain her lost composure again. When she realised that he was leading her to the kitchen, she took a deep breath. Something popped into her mind. Alright, this was her chance. He was definitely going to ask her to cook! She remembered how everyone reacted when she had tried to cook before. She could still remember the horror on everyone's face upon tasting her food. Well, she knew herself how awful her cooking skills were, so she totally understood why they had shown her that face. If this sly devil tasted her food, he would definitely throw her out, right? That was for sure!

Silently, Eva uttered a 'let's do it' while clenching her fists tightly behind him.

…

Moments later in the kitchen…

Eva was sitting silently, drinking, suspiciously observing the man cooking, over the rim of her glass. When they had entered the kitchen earlier, the devil did not actually ask her to cook. Surprisingly instead, he had even pulled out a chair for her and made her sit and watch.

When she had attempted to stand up and offer him some help, he ordered her to stay still and wait. This caused Eva to just sit there, looking utterly confused and speechless. What was going on? Was I not supposed to be the one cooking as the temporary maid? Why did it become him ordering me to just sit here to wait and just watch? Oh gods! I really have no idea what is going on here anymore.

Eva pinched the skin between her brows again, feeling as though she was going to have another pounding headache again. I just cannot understand what is with this man and what is going on around here anymore. She kept telling herself.

No matter how much she thinks about it, there was no way she could come up with any logical reason for why he is behaving this way. She could not help but feel even more suspicious now!

Sooner than she had expected, he was done cooking and a fragrant and steaming bowl of soup was placed before her. Eva salivated at the sight of the delicious food. She swallowed before her saliva could drool out of her mouth.

When she lifted her eyes, he was sitting across from her, smiling.

"Go on, dig in. This will be good for your hangover." He said, resting his temple against his knuckles as if preparing to watch her eat that way. "You watched me like you were trying to solve an intricate puzzle the entire time I was cooking. I'm sure you will see it if I put something weird in there."

Eva cleared her throat before unceremoniously grabbing the utensils, narrowing her eyes a little at him. She scooped a spoonful of soup, blowing on it to cool it a little before sipping it, allowing it to coat her tongue before swallowing it. And wow! She felt her shoulder relaxing just at the taste of it.

"How is it?" He asked, looking so dazzling that Eva almost choked on her second mouthful.

"It's good," was all she could say. Damn you! How could you cook so well, too? This is bad. I am hungry and this is probably the most delicious chicken noodle soup I have ever tasted! She screamed in her mind. It was warm, with just the right hints of saltiness from the seasonings and sweetness from the root vegetables. The flavours were so simple, yet at the same time so complex.

He just smiled as he watched her devour and enjoyed the soup to the point that she seemed to have forgotten all about his existence before her.

Then he pushed a plate of French toasts before her as well.

Eva was finally jolted out of her soup tasting heaven and stopped drinking before looking up at him. Her eyes narrowed with obvious suspicion now and said, "You're not actually a male witch in disguise planning to fatten me up before eating me, are you?"

Read the novel in advance on pat-re-on.

www.pat-reon.com/kazzenlx (remove the dash ^^)

Read the comic version for Free on tapas app