Asha, without any hesitation, led Jackal inside, who immediately grabbed Najee by the scruff of his neck and dragged him out.

“Why is this here?”

“Najee, this fellow…!”

As Wied’s eyes widened, he yelled, and Najee, hanging in the air, laughed awkwardly with a haha.

Jackal, with his arms crossed, stood and explained the whole story to him.

All the while, Najee glanced at Jackal beside him, his face pale.

When Wied’s story ended, Jackal looked down at Najee, swiftly.

Najee caught his gaze and flinched, rolling his eyes.

“Chchief… So, what happened is…”

As he reached out his hand, Najee clenched his eyes shut, stopping his excuse midsentence.

But Jackal roughly ruffled his brown hair and said,

“If you’re going to hide, you should hide properly. Didn’t I tell you that?”

Najee’s eyes widened as he looked up at him.

Jackal said with a calm face,

“Just go. The concerned party has forgiven you, so it doesn’t matter.”

Najee’s eyes grew round as he bowed his head to the head chef and him.

Then he looked at Asha last and said,

“I’m sorry, sis! I think I was thoughtless. And thanks for covering for me! I’ll definitely repay you for this!”

Najee ran off somewhere, his body nimble.

Asha sighed in relief.

Jackal muttered, watching Najee’s retreating back,

“…Poor kid. Losing his parents at such a young age, he even pulls stunts like that for attention.”

Although Najee was often scolded by everyone, and even though the scolding was enough to bring tears to his eyes, the next day he would cling affectionately to everyone as if nothing had happened, calling out, ‘My bros!’

No one in the organization could hate him for that.

But even Wied’s eyes widened a bit at his words just now.

Contrary to what he thought was just a big appetite, Jackal’s eyes seemed to understand much more.

Somehow, Asha thought he could be a ‘good father’.

Her face flushed at the thought that suddenly crossed her mind, and she deliberately changed the subject.

“Mr. Wied, what was the dessert?”

“Ah, nothing much, just flowershaped cookies. They were cookies filled with jam made from pickled flower petals instead of fruit. We wanted to try to capture the festival atmosphere this time.”

Asha’s mood became slightly sentimental at his words.

In the capital of the empire, food was plentiful everywhere.

People living in the Ezuheim Empire were entitled to enjoy the Flower Festival, but the minority tribes were always the exception.

They had to hide in the cold northern region, enjoying nothing, celebrating nothing, like outsiders uninvited to the festival.

She too had experienced the festival for the first time when she entered the imperial palace and only then learned that such delicious street foods existed in the world.

At that time, Asha had a good idea and said,

“Mr. Wied, let’s go to the kitchen right now!”

(This is the time separator.)

In the evening, the hideout hosted a wild boar party.

Asha really savored the wild boar roast for the first time in a long time, unknowingly closing her eyes and shivering.

“Umm, I’ve missed this taste…….”

As she indulged in the wild boar roast and slowly savored it, Gebev, who was beside her, chuckled.

Jackal, as usual, tore off a large chunk of wild boar leg, ripping it thoroughly, and silently placed it on Asha’s plate.

Najee, in the midst of his growing years, tore at the wild boar roast beside them, biting and ripping it with his teeth.

Despite having eaten all the snacks in the morning, the speed at which the food disappeared was astonishing.

Suddenly noticing Asha beside him eating slowly like a rabbit, Najee glanced at her and said,

“Sis, if you eat that slowly, it’ll be stolen.”

Suddenly, Najee pulled a dagger from his waist and unceremoniously cut the wild boar meat, piling it like a mountain on Asha’s plate.

He sheathed the knife again, humming a tune as if nothing had happened, and continued to tear at the meat.

Although she had only thought of him as a mere child, his appearance just now was truly like that of a skilled hunter.
The organization members found him and laughed teasingly.

“You know how to yield food to a lady, you’ve grown up, little one!”

“Big sister is thin, so she has to eat more than me.”

As Nazhi calmly retorted, they burst into even greater laughter.

But then, it happened.

Yuris opened the door and shouted.

“Attention, everyone! We have a special dessert prepared for today! Asha even helped make it!”

Women appeared, holding large trays in both hands.

The trays were filled with cute and lovely confectioneries.

The colorful confectioneries ranged from various shapes of flowers to refreshing fruit shapes.

Everyone’s eyes widened in admiration at their beautiful appearance.

Jackal looked at Asha, slightly surprised when he heard she had made them.

Asha smiled and took a few confectioneries from the tray, approaching Jackal first.

On the tray were confectioneries resembling hyacinths, camellias, and various beautiful flowers.

She was pleased that she could do something for the organization members as well.