"Cyrus?" Roxanna called his name. "Is that you?"

Usually, Cyrus was the one who cooked in the kitchen, so Roxanna assumed it was him. But to her surprise, the person who walked out of the kitchen was not Cyrus, but Azul.

"Oh... Azul?" She tilted her head a little. "I thought Cyrus was cooking."

Azul didn’t say anything for a moment. He looked down and couldn’t stop fidgeting with his fingers behind his back. "Cyrus is teaching some of the children how to make a stone axe properly. They asked him to do that after seeing him teach Skiv."

Roxanna blinked a few times, trying to wake herself up fully. "I see..." she said, then looked at him more carefully. "Then... what’s wrong? Why do you look so nervous?"

Azul then lifted his head, looking straight into Roxanna’s eyes. "You know... since everyone is very busy today because there are many buildings that need to be demolished, they just eat raw meat as usual. But... I know you can’t eat that." He hesitated. "So I told Cyrus I would cook for you, but..."

He hissed softly, then continued, "I don’t know if it will taste as good as his cooking."

"Ah! Why are you worrying about that?" Roxanna said enthusiastically. "Azul has worked hard to cook for me, so of course, I will like it!"

[Besides... I rarely ate good food when I was locked in the shelter before, so I don’t think Azul’s cooking will be that bad.]

[And hasn’t he accompanied Cyrus while cooking several times?]

Because of that, Roxanna was completely convinced that Azul’s cooking would taste good and that he was just lacking confidence.

At least... that was what she told herself.

The moment she saw the food, she couldn’t help but froze in place. [Did he try to cook... or create poison?]

"This... doesn’t look too bad," she said, forcing a small, awkward smile.

[How can he be this bad?! Hasn’t he accompanied Cyrus cooking several times?!]

"L-Let’s just ask Cyrus to come back for a moment!" Azul suddenly said, quickly pulling the plates away. His face turned red from embarrassment. "And I’ll throw this away!"

Before Azul could stand up, Roxanna immediately grabbed his hand. "Ah, don’t throw it away!"

She held onto him so tightly that it almost felt like she would break his hand.

[I’m sure I didn’t say anything wrong... so why does he want to throw it away all of a sudden?!] Roxanna thought in confusion.

"I will eat it! I will eat it!" Roxanna spoke in panic because she truly didn’t want to hurt Azul’s feelings.

Honestly, she couldn’t understand how Azul’s cooking could turn out like this when he had watched Cyrus cook step by step.

[Oh... did he forget the steps? Maybe I should leave a recipe book in the kitchen—ah, right. None of them can read...]

Meanwhile, Azul was still trying to pull her away from the food. "I know you don’t want to hurt my feelings, but it will hurt me even more if I see you eat this."

Roxanna looked down, observing the dishes again. [Well... yeah, they really looked... terrible.]

The meat was burnt black, and the soup was thick and strange, like something a crazy witch would make.

It was, without a doubt... a complete disaster.

Roxanna swallowed hard, thinking that she would probably have diarrhea if she ate Azul’s cooking. Still... she knew that sometimes, a spouse had to make sacrifices for their partner, and right now, it seemed like this was her turn to sacrifice for Azul.

[It’s just food! The worst that could happen is a stomachache... I’ll survive!]

Yeah, she just hoped that the meal wouldn’t make her miscarry.

Right after she thought that, Azul spoke again, "The point is, I don’t want you to eat this! If you don’t want to trouble Cyrus, then you can eat fruits first, alright?"

Before Roxanna could reply, the system suddenly chimed in.

[Ding! Ding!]

[Side Mission Activated: Train Your Husband!]

[Goal: Teach Azul until he can become a good cook, so he won’t need to rely on Cyrus anymore.]

[Reward: a full pack of premium cooking spices!]

Roxanna frowned as she read the mission. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to teach Azul, she just didn’t like the way the system phrased it.

Train her husband? What were they, her pets?

[Well... my husbands are technically beasts, but they’re special!] Roxanna puffed her cheeks in annoyance. [And I hate that word. The evil Roxanna used to say "train" all the time when she disciplined my precious husbands!]

[What a bitch!]

Roxanna froze for a second, shocked by her own thoughts. She didn’t expect herself to use such a harsh word right after waking up.

On the other hand, Azul couldn’t help but feel really touched. His wife was just... so cute, and sweet in her own way. Honestly, he didn’t really care if the system wanted her to train him to be a better husband.

If anything, it made him feel happy.

And because his wife was so sweet, he felt even more unwilling to let her eat his cooking.

"I’ll teach you!" Roxanna suddenly grabbed his hands, making Azul accidentally drop the plates he was holding. "I’ll teach you how to cook properly! But this time... I’ll go slower!"

Before, she and Cyrus had already tried to teach him, but maybe they hadn’t explained things well enough back then. Besides, she also wanted to try the new passive skill she had just gotten yesterday.

[Can I really make someone understand faster and better?] she wondered.

While she was still thinking about it, Azul finally spoke, a little unsure, "Is it... the voice inside you that told you to do this?"

Roxanna paused for a moment before nodding. "Yes. Do you want to try?"

At first, she thought maybe he wouldn’t like being used for her missions again and again. But Azul’s quick nod gave her a completely different answer.

"Alright." A bright smile spread across his face. "My cooking is already at the bottom of hell anyway, so I’d be happy if my lovely wife wants to teach me."