Chapter 94: A Very Domestic Evening

"Mother. You are the embodiment of life itself, Lady Valendorf. Or should I say... Mother Nature?"

Dr. Sasha rose to her full height. All of her eight eyes gleamed like rubies as she looked at Lydia with awe.

Lydia stared at her.

At this point, she began to wonder whether Dr. Sasha was a traffic light with wings.

Are her eye colors connected to her moods? How unusual.

Dr. Sasha swallowed hard before suddenly clapped her hands. The loud sound startled Lydia so badly that she nearly jumped out of her seat.

"You have a really strong mind, Lady Valendorf," Dr. Sasha declared. "I don’t think your final Guide Rank will be lower than S-Rank."

Wait. What did she mean?

"No, no, no. S-Rank won’t do you any justice! How interesting. I might require quite some time to combine this discovery with the rest of your test results before I can make a final evaluation."

"So... what’s my real Guide Rank, Dr. Sasha?"

"I’ll need some days to determine it, Lady Valendorf."

Dr. Sasha seemed far too pleased with herself. Despite having just witnessed something extraordinary inside Lydia’s Spiritual Domain, she showed no intention of explaining what she had seen.

At least Lydia didn’t have to do more tests.

Dr. Sasha flapped her enormous wings and floated toward her desk before turning back to Lydia.

"Your mental power is truly unique, Lady Valendorf. It reminds me of Mother Nature herself—the life-giving and guiding force behind all creation."

Dr. Sasha’s head rolled really fast, almost like a driller now. Was it because of her excitement?

"I’ve never encountered anything quite like it. Not even in my entire 8,000 years of life."

"Is that a good thing, Dr. Sasha?"

"Very much so. You’re an enigma."

Dr. Sasha’s eight eyes gleamed again.

"I’ll inform Count Ludenberg about this matter later. Gosh. To think that I even get paid to do this? Any person would kill to experience something like that, Lady Valendorf. Believe me."

An enigma? Mother Nature? Lydia had absolutely no idea what the doctor was talking about.

After saying goodbye to Dr. Sasha, Lydia left the examination room.

She thanked the nurses and the receptionist before stepping into the elevator.

Once the doors closed, she finally allowed herself to relax.

The elevator began descending. A soft sound played whenever it passed another floor, and Lydia leaned against the wall while taking out her bracelet.

She sent a message to Russell.

[Lydia: I’m done. What should we do now?]

Lydia didn’t expect an immediate reply, so she didn’t look at her bracelet again.

The elevator continued moving down. For the first time that day, she could finally breathe without worrying about her reevaluation.

Then her bracelet buzzed.

[Russell: Let’s go back to the dorm. We will have final exams soon.]

He was right. Their final exams were approaching, and she still had plenty of studying to do.

The rest of their walk back to the dorm was peaceful. However, Russell decided to stop by a grocery store to buy some ingredients.

"How was your test? Any discomfort? Nausea? Dizziness?" Russell asked as he examined a tray of spinach. "I heard Guides often experience that when they have to undergo a thorough reevaluation."

Lydia checked the fresh tomatoes displayed nearby. "Not really. I was a little nervous, but Dr. Sasha was really kind."

She picked up a few tomatoes and placed them in the trolley. Russell nodded before selecting some carrots.

Unfortunately, the moment he examined one of them, he immediately threw it back.

The carrot had... feet.

No.

FEETS.

All over it.

"Okay. I don’t want that abomination running away when I have to cut it for our dinner."

Lydia nearly burst out laughing. But he had a point there.

Miasma pollution had mutated not only monsters but sometimes even groceries.

Since so many places had become barren, scientists had been relying on Mana Stones and Magic Crystals to develop better soil.

However, strange things could still happen.

Sometimes, even food produce began to grow unusual parts.

Wings. Feet. Hands.

And sometimes... eyes.

Sure, these strange vegetables were usually sold at discounted prices.

The Lydia in her previous life would have been overjoyed to hunt for such produce.

Her paycheck from the Imperial Authority had barely been enough to make ends meet back then.

Lydia had been forced to cut her food budget by purchasing suspicious-looking groceries.

When you’re broke, you can’t afford to be picky. Those 50-70% discounts were worth fighting for!

Or not.

Sometimes, the strange vegetables ended up becoming a delicious meal. Other times, they resulted in a wonderful date with her toilet at midnight.

Lydia really didn’t want to repeat those miserable days. Not when most of her dinners had always been a hit-or-miss situation.

She glanced at the fresh vegetables in the trolley. These fresh ones sure were way much more expensive than those polluted ones.

But Lydia was glad she didn’t have to rely on those things anymore.

Her eyes darted toward the aisle of meat produce. Since most cattle were on the brink of extinction due to Dimensional Rifts, the scientists had developed lab-grown meats these past decades.

Just like the polluted vegetables, sometimes these meats could mutate as well when it passed its expiry date.

And Lydia had just spotted one such case in a fresh batch of meat on the rack behind Russell.

It winked at Russell.

Yes. Winked.

"Rest assured, I won’t buy those... suspicious-looking meat, Lydia."

"Sure, the chances of chicken thighs winking at you are low. But never zero."

Despite being a monarch, Russell certainly knew his way around a grocery store.

He carefully selected the freshest cabbages, potatoes, broccoli, and various kinds of mushrooms.

Russell even seemed determined to buy almost every kind of meat available in the store.

Fresh meat from real animals, not the lab-grown ones. That was certainly going to be expensive.

Lydia watched him as he filled the trolley.

How much is he planning to cook?

She hadn’t expected him to be so enthusiastic about grocery shopping.

Then again, she remembered how carefully he had prepared meals for her when he was still disguised as Rishe.

It seemed that some things hadn’t changed at all.

Before Lydia could even open her bracelet, Russell had already paid for the groceries.

"Don’t worry about it."

Lydia looked at him.

Since he clearly had no intention of letting her pay, Lydia decided not to argue.

Russell picked up the bags and turned toward her.

"Let me cook for you tonight."