Please Bully Me, Miss Villainess!

Chapter 167 : Dislike and Like

"Whew— Today's work is all done!"

"...This is quite early indeed."

Stretching lazily, Yvonne glanced at the sky that hadn't fully darkened yet, and couldn't help but exclaim.

With Elsa's help, she had indeed become much more relaxed.

"Then shall we go play somewhere next? Let's relax a bit!"

"Well..."

Should she take a break?

She actually felt somewhat at a loss, because it seemed like it had been a very long time since she last had time she could freely dispose of.

Yvonne felt that if she became a corporate slave in reality, she'd probably be the type to be worked to death.

"Elsa, is there anywhere you want to go?"

"I don't have anything in particular... I just occasionally want to do things that couples do."

Things that couples do...

This question was more difficult than imagined.

Although they had been dating for some time now, regarding the question of 'what exactly should couples do together', apart from some content not suitable for children, Yvonne really couldn't immediately think of anything.

If she had to say... things like holding hands, eating together, sleeping together... these rather ordinary activities, they were already doing all the time.

"The wind seems a bit noisy today... The astrologer's weather forecast says it might rain."

She deliberately changed the subject,

"The weather has been getting colder lately... Don't you think so?"

"Hmph... It seems Evie doesn't plan to go out and play with me?"

Folding her arms, she looked somewhat displeased.

Yvonne felt a bit helpless, and could only express her true feelings:

"...For me, just being alone with you is already a form of relaxation."

Hearing this answer, her eyes widened slightly. Whether it was due to the sunset shining in from the window or not, her cheeks were tinged with a rosy color.

"—Don't be satisfied so easily~~ There are still many interesting things we can do!"

Although she complained like this, judging by her expression, this answer seemed to be passable.

This wasn't a lie either. The two of them living in the same space, being together—this in itself was already enough to make one feel healed.

Rather than lovers, to be honest, it now felt more like married life.

They were no longer just lovers; now, nurtured by the slowly passing time, there was also an additional bond akin to family ties.

Just like this, without needing to deliberately do anything, slowly deepening their bond, Yvonne felt it was a wonderful thing.

"Alright, alright, today's 'hug'—"

"'Hug'?"

Staying in her embrace, she made a confused sound.

"Ah... This word means 'embrace'."

Occasionally, she wanted to introduce some knowledge from that world to her.

"Then 'hug-hug'~"

It must be said, she learned very quickly. It's relaxing to be with a child with a smart head.

Actually, Yvonne sometimes felt that Elsa was too indulgent towards her. Basically, she would accept any action Yvonne made without reservation.

As long as Yvonne wanted, casually touching, hugging, and kissing her like this wouldn't bother her; rather, she very much welcomed it.

"Next time... when we can rest for longer, let's go play somewhere."

Yvonne wasn't a person skilled at making plans.

Because, if she made plans and ended up not fulfilling them in the end, it would bring her a very severe sense of failure.

For someone like herself, should it be called overconfident... or something else?

So... if she didn't hold expectations or make predictions about the future from the beginning, when plans fell through, it wouldn't feel so bad...

That's what she originally thought, but when facing Elsa, countless thoughts about 'possibilities' would always spring up in her mind.

Always thinking about what interesting things might happen if they did this... or did that,

Such fantasies couldn't be stopped unless they were realized,

So to save the fantasies on the verge of running wild, Yvonne could only choose to promise Elsa the future in a definite form.

And for things she had planned and promised, she wanted to try her best to accomplish them.

"I'll look forward to it."

On such a stormy night, isn't it nice to hug your girlfriend and take a nap?

"...Unbelievable, why are your hands always so cold?"

"What can I do about it~~"

Generally speaking, based on the law of conservation of energy, producing magic requires a lot of internal consumption. Because of this, having too much magical capacity will cause a certain degree of burden on the body.

This is also why the mage profession is always fragile.

Although Yvonne had been diligently exercising with this genius magic girl, one could still see that Elsa's constitution was considerably weaker than that of ordinary girls. Fortunately, through exercise, it could be remedied to some extent, already reaching an above-average level, but the physically weak constitution typical of her profession still hadn't been greatly improved.

"Come a bit closer."

"...Like this?"

Just hugging like this still didn't feel enough. Yvonne tried touching her with her foot, and sure enough, a chill came through.

"Sigh... Can't you use magic to warm yourself up or something?"

Yvonne made a resentful complaint about the rules of this world.

"Evie, didn't you score quite high in 'Magic Theory'? Magic can't be used on oneself, you know?"

"Of course I know that..."

If it could be used on oneself, dark magic users would have long since been consumed by their own magic.

It's not even winter yet...

If it's always this cold, what will happen during the coldest days of winter?

Although it was still early, she couldn't help but worry about future matters.

Fortunately, her own body was quite warm. Fumbling under the blanket, Yvonne tried to wrap her feet around Elsa's toes, then pulled her hand to place it on her own chest, hoping to share some of her body heat.

"So warm... Phew..."

Narrowing her eyes, her facial expression also began to relax. While she could still stay awake, she moved even closer to Yvonne.

Her soft flaxen hair brushed against Yvonne's nose tip, bringing a pleasant fragrance.

She really loves to be pampered...

But this isn't bad either.

After all, she's being pampered by me. Who would refuse a girlfriend as cute as a kitten or puppy?

Being able to share body heat like this is itself a highly happiness-inducing thing.

After her body warmed up, Yvonne also drowsily entered the realm of dreams.

Then, she had a strange dream within a dream of sleeping together with Elsa.

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"Bebe, being picky with food is not good!"

"...Wuhnn!"

It was lunchtime, but the dining table was not very peaceful.

Today's menu at the Smollett household was carrot-stewed camel deer meat. The texture of camel deer is similar to beef, with the tendon meat already soft and flavorful, and it had taken on the unique sweetness of carrots. Bebe liked it very much and ate quite a bit in one go,

But all the carrots were left behind.

At this moment, the little one was sticking out her tongue and making faces, refusing to eat the carrots on her plate no matter what.

"Be good, or Mama will get angry— I'll really get angry!!"

Elsa seemed to be taking it quite seriously, but the more forceful she became, the more Bebe refused to eat.

There was no help for it; all children tend to have this kind of rebellious psychology to some extent.

Helplessly, Yvonne had to step in to mediate, standing between the two.

"Elsa... Is there really a need to force the child like this...?"

Even with quite a lot of spices added, carrots still have a strange raw smell. Most children wouldn't like this flavor, which Yvonne could understand.

"No, Evie! —If we indulge her like this, this little mouth will only become pickier in the future!"

However, Elsa wouldn't back down either. Children from the relief agency had all experienced the pain of resource scarcity to some extent. Having food to eat was already something to pray to the Goddess for, so she was quite upset about the behavior of picky eating, which seemed to blaspheme the divine grace:

"—Bebe, children who are picky eaters won't grow tall, you know!!"

"Hmph!"

"Ah ah~~ You picky little rascal!!"

Actually, what Elsa said made sense.

Picky eating has a big impact on children's health. During the rapid growth stage, they need to obtain nutrients from different foods. If a child lacks certain nutritional components due to picky eating, it will directly affect normal development and growth, and even lead to lowered immunity, making them prone to various diseases... These are all things that Yvonne, as a parent, didn't want to see.

"Pfft..."

Linda behind them couldn't help but laugh, teasing the two:

"As expected of a child adopted by the Young Miss... Quite similar to the Young Miss when she was little."

Originally, as a maid, she shouldn't make such impolite remarks, but due to the influence of the previous 'Wingless Witch', the witch contracts of the four families had all disappeared in this timeline. The elf race represented by Linda no longer had any contractual relationship with the Smollett family. Her choice to stay was entirely of her own will.

Having been with the Smollett family for so many years, she had long since developed a bond that transcended blood ties with the Smollett family.

The relationship between them now might be more aptly described as 'family'.

Of course, another part of the reason was that observing these two was truly very interesting.

"Lin—da! That's not fair~~!"

For this act of exposing old stories, as the head of the household, all Yvonne could do now was express her condemnation with her eyes.

"Ah, I remember too—"

Elsa seemed to recall some fragments as well,

"Evie also really disliked eating carrots when she was little. Secretly stuffing the carrots from lunch to me to eat—That kind of thing happened too! I remember it very clearly!"

Folding her arms, Elsa looked at Yvonne helplessly. This expression seemed to say 'like mother, like daughter'.

"I'm saying... Everyone has foods they dislike, isn't that quite normal?"

"But Evie, as a mother, you should set a good example for your child!"

Good example...

Hearing these words, Yvonne knew she couldn't escape.

"Wu?"

Bebe pushed the plate piled with carrots in front of Yvonne, looking up at her like a savior.

"There's really no help for it..."

Yvonne had always been most vulnerable to this kind of gaze. She could only pick up the fork.

"I'll eat a few pieces for you... But you have to eat the rest yourself properly, okay?"

"Wu~~"

Hearing that she still had to eat it herself in the end, Bebe's ears immediately drooped.

It seems she really dislikes carrots...

Yvonne smiled bitterly in her heart.

Actually, Yvonne didn't have such an aversion to carrots now, after all, she was already an adult.

As a child, disliking many vegetables was actually because elders and adults used some self-righteous method to forcibly promote them, leading to eating being not enjoyable at all. Plus, compared to meat, the texture of vegetables was really quite inferior, and most vegetables also had strange flavors, so…

She used the fork to pick up two pieces of carrot specially cut into small flower shapes from Bebe's small plate in front of her, and put them in her mouth to eat.

"It's quite delicious, you know?"

Seeing the little one's doubtful face, Yvonne had to lean down and whisper to her:

"Today's dish was specially made by Elsa. If you don't eat it, she'll be sad, you know? Bebe likes Mama Elsa the most, right? So be a good child and eat it all up in one go? How about it?"

"Wu..."

Under her patient persuasion, finally, she picked up the steel fork with her little paw, stuck it into the softly cooked carrot, closed her eyes, chewed a few times, and quickly swallowed it.

"!!"

After swallowing, Bebe opened her eyes with an expression of discovering a new continent.

"The taste is indeed not bad... right?"

"Mm!"

Yvonne smiled and patted her head.

"Evie... What exactly did you say?"

Yvonne blinked and kept the secret:

"This is magic that makes food delicious."

"There's no such magic!"

Yvonne and Bebe exchanged a glance and giggled.

Not only overcoming likes and dislikes towards food, what Yvonne wanted to teach this child was also the feeling of wholeheartedly treating the intentions of those important to her.

"Speaking of which... I have a good method to make carrots easier to swallow."

Yvonne suddenly had a flash of inspiration, with a certain food that often appears in manga popping up in her mind.

"—Linda, I remember you're quite knowledgeable about spices, right?"

"Yes, Young Miss. Are you thinking of purchasing spices?"

"Yes, I want these few spices... Do you know where we can buy them?"

Yvonne, relying on the terms in her memory, wrote down a list of spice names on paper and held it up to Linda:

"Hmm... Apart from a few that might be a bit difficult to obtain, the main ingredients are quite easy to gather. Young Miss, have you thought of a new menu item?"

The most needed are turmeric and coriander seeds...

Linda roughly glanced at it. Most of the raw materials were not expensive and had a high cultivation rate, quite easy to purchase through the guild.

"That's right—"

Autumn had arrived, and the second batch of potatoes planted in late spring in North Kalos had already matured.

And what Yvonne had thought of was an explosive national-level dish that could once again ignite potato sales—

"What I want to make... is curry!"