The morning sun was a relentless intruder, pouring through the inn windows with a warmth that felt almost offensive.
The restaurant was already a chaotic mess of humanity. Customers grunted over breakfast while servers navigated the cramped aisles with the desperate agility of prey animals, balancing tea, soup, and fresh steamed buns. It was a well-oiled machine of mediocrity.
Until—
The front door creaked open.
Reality seemed to warp. The entire inn collectively stopped functioning.
Silence. Absolute, suffocating silence.
The staff froze. The customers stopped chewing. Travelers looked up from their bowls with wide, uncomprehending eyes. Even Tong, stationed near the entrance, blinked in synchronized confusion.
Standing in the doorway was Da-li, calm and unbothered as always. But beside her... was an anomaly.
Bliss.
Her blonde hair shimmered like spun gold, and the elegant blue hanfu draped over her figure made her look like a celestial being who had accidentally stepped into a pigsty. She radiated a cold, noble aura—a sharp contrast to the grease and steam of the inn.
Da-li looked entirely too pleased with the devastation they were causing. Bliss, on the other hand, looked like she would rather fight a Great Devil than survive another ten seconds of social interaction.
Rui stood near the kitchen entrance, his mouth hanging open. His soul seemed to be in the process of an undignified exit from his body.
Eunha walked past, carrying the tiger cub, Raijin. She stopped, looked at Rui's gape-mouthed expression, and used both tiny hands to physically shove his jaw shut.
**CLACK.**
"Close your mouth, Uncle," the child muttered.
Rui blinked twice, then pointed an accusatory finger at Bliss. "MADAM! THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!?"
The inn exploded into noise.
"DON'T SAY IT LIKE SHE'S A RARE CREATURE, YOU MORON!" Toru roared.
"She looks like a noble..." a waitress whispered, her eyes wide. "A very... very expensive noble."
Bliss stood there, enduring the mental warfare of a hundred staring eyes. Da-li ignored the chaos entirely, gliding toward the counter with the casual indifference of a predator.
"Good morning, everyone."
"GOOD MORNING, MADAM!" the staff shouted in perfect, terrified synchronization. Years of survival instincts had conditioned them well.
Da-li gestured toward the frozen blonde beside her. "This is Bliss. An old friend of mine."
The entire inn stared again. Bliss internally suffered. Every military instinct she possessed was screaming at her to establish a perimeter and demand rank. Instead, she offered an awkward, pained bow.
"G-Good morning..."
The whispers started instantly.
"Is Madam Da-li collecting beautiful women now?" one customer wondered aloud.
"Keep your voice down if you value your life," Toru hissed from the sidelines.
Suddenly, Raijin leaped from Eunha's arms. He landed squarely on Bliss's lap with a dull thud. The cub stared into her eyes—ancient golden eyes meeting the instincts of a Draconian captain.
Then, the beast curled up and went to sleep.
"HE LIKES HER," a waitress gasped.
"That cub bites everyone else," a dishwasher added, sounding personally offended.
Eunha nodded solemnly. "Aunt Bliss has been accepted."
Bliss looked completely emotionally unprepared for the approval of a magical apex predator. Da-li quietly hid a smile behind her tea. Watching one of Draco's most feared killers lose repeatedly to domestic life was becoming the highlight of her decade.
The inn eventually returned to a state of semi-normality.
Or, as normal as things could be when a stunning noblewoman was sitting in the corner trying to blend into the woodwork. Customers ate. Trays were carried. But every few minutes, a head would turn to catch another glimpse of the "anomaly."
Bliss sat near the counter, her posture unnaturally straight. She was realizing something horrifying: this inn operated with more chaotic unpredictability than a three-way battlefield.
Shouting in the kitchen. Broken plates. Unsuccessful flirting. Rui singing dramatically while sloshing soup onto the floor.
Yet, the machine kept turning. She couldn't understand how.
A teacup and a plate slid onto the table before her.
"For you, Lady Bliss."
It was Rui. He pulled up a chair and sat down sideways, looking like a man about to begin a high-stakes interrogation. Bliss sensed immediate danger.
"Sooo..." Rui smiled, a look that he clearly thought was charming but was actually just suspicious. "Miss Bliss. Who's in your family?"
Bliss answered with the brevity of a prisoner of war. "Myself. My parents. My siblings."
Silence.
Rui froze. Then, slowly, he turned away and gave a massive, spiritual thumbs-up toward the kitchen.
> *(Thoughts)* She's not married. EXCELLENT!
>
"WHAT'S EXCELLENT!?" Toru yelled from the back.
"THE FUTURE!" Rui screamed back.
Raijin woke up instantly, his tiny body tensed for an ambush. His eyes locked onto Rui with a look of pure, unadulterated suspicion. Bliss silently agreed with the cub.
A few minutes later, Rui returned with a fresh plate of sushi. It was perfectly cut, meticulously arranged—a rare moment of actual competence from the man.
"Made it specially for you," he said, striking a pose that involved brushing his hair back with way too much flourish. "I'm Rui Ishikawa. But close friends... they call me Rui."
He leaned in, dropping his voice. "Though you, Miss Bliss... you may call me Ru."
Bliss blinked. Then, she gave a respectful, polite nod. "Thank you, Mr. Ru."
The kitchen staff collapsed. Toru had to grab the counter to keep from falling.
"MR. RU! SHE TURNED HIM INTO AN OLD MERCHANT!"
"DEVASTATING!"
Bliss remained blissfully unaware that she had just dealt Rui a critical blow. She took a bite of the sushi. Her eyes widened.
"Hmph... It's really good."
Rui didn't just stand up; he exploded. "YESO! YESO! YESO! YEEESSOOO!!"
He began spinning in a victory dance. Raijin looked at the display, then looked at Eunha. The child patted the cub's head sympathetically.
"Uncle Rui is weird," she whispered. The tiger cub seemed to agree.
In the kitchen, Toru watched through the serving window, his eye twitching with rhythmic intensity.
"God dammit... the fool isn't working at all today."
"The two of us can handle it," Mochi said, his knife a blur as he decimated a pile of vegetables. "But during the rush... we're going to drown."
"I swear, if he starts reciting poetry, I'm throwing him into the soup," Toru muttered.
Outside, the "marriage interview" continued.
"I have my own house," Rui stated proudly. "I live alone. No landlords. No drama."
"That sounds... convenient," Bliss replied, struggling to follow the conversation.
"Also," Rui placed a hand over his chest, "I can cook anything. My future companion would never have to touch a stove."
Bliss looked genuinely impressed. "That is actually impressive, Mr. Ru."
"I clean. I wash clothes. I even know how to braid hair," Rui added, leaning in for the kill.
"Multifunctional..." Bliss whispered.
Nearby, Da-li sipped her tea, her eyes dancing with amusement. Eunha climbed onto the seat next to her mother and whispered loudly:
"Uncle Rui is mating dancing."
Da-li nearly choked. The staff erupted into fresh rounds of laughter.
"EUNHA, PLEASE!" Rui wailed.
Bliss looked at Rui, and for the first time, a glimmer of suspicion entered her eyes.
The door opened again. A traveling merchant stepped in, crates strapped to his back and polished silver spoons hanging from his belt.
Rui's soul left his body.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!"
The merchant jumped. "What?"
"IT'S ANOTHER SPOON MERCHANT!" Rui pointed with shaking hands. "I WON'T LET YOU TAKE MY BRIDE AGAIN!"
"I SELL KITCHENWARE!" the man screamed as Rui charged.
The merchant turned and bolted back into the street, Rui hot on his heels. "GET BACK HERE, YOU HOMEWRECKING CUTLERY DEMON!"
Silence returned to the inn. Bliss stared at the empty doorway.
"What... just happened?"
"His wife ran away with a merchant," Da-li said, taking a calm sip of tea. "The sight of spoons triggers his trauma."
Bliss's shoulders slumped. "Oh... that's actually very sad."
Da-li leaned closer, a playful wink glinting in her eyes. "Don't worry. If anything happens... I'll protect you."
Bliss turned bright red. Critical damage.
"Though it's interesting," Da-li mused. "You're acting so shy now, but last night—"
Bliss lunged across the table, covering Da-li's mouth with her palm.
"PLEASE do not discuss what happened between us last night in public!"
The entire inn froze. Toru lowered his tray. The silence was absolute. Da-li gently moved Bliss's hand, a teasing smile on her lips.
"Why act embarrassed now? You seemed quite comfortable last night."
Bliss looked like she was about to spontaneously combust.
The evening shift finally wound down.
The staff gathered at the counter for their wages—the daily ritual of survival. Toru, Mochi, the servers—they all received their due.
Then, Rui stepped forward. He looked exhausted but proud, likely still thinking about "Mr. Ru."
Da-li placed a single, lonely coin on his palm.
Silence. Rui stared at the coin. Then at Da-li. Then at the coin again.
"Huh? A... a coin?"
"Yes," Da-li said, flipping a page in her ledger. "Since you were absent for most of your shift—and served multiple dishes for free—this seems reasonable."
The staff began to vibrate with suppressed laughter.
"B-But... I served them to Miss Bliss!" Rui gestured desperately. "They were 'on the house,' right?"
"Nope," Da-li replied. "This is business."
Rui collapsed onto his knees with a dramatic thud. "OHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
"MADAM, YOU USED MY FEELINGS FOR PROFIT!"
"And you attempted to flirt during working hours," Da-li noted calmly.
"THAT SHOULD COUNT AS OVERTIME!"
The inn roared with laughter. Eunha walked past, looking down at the man collapsed on the floor. She shook her head.
"Uncle Rui lost everything."
"EVEN THE CHILDREN MOCK ME NOW!"
Da-li smiled behind her sleeve. And Bliss, watching this absurd, chaotic mess of a family, found herself smiling too.
She didn't even realize she was doing it.