A Husband For Killer Mom

It took hours for Richard and Anxia to calm Lori before the girl fell asleep due to exhaustion. And that, too, she refused to sleep if she couldn’t hold her parents’ finger.

“I didn’t mean to make her cry.” Richard couldn’t stop the regret that filled his heart. He thinks too highly of himself and believes he has given the best for Lori. In fact, he didn’t know anything about Lori, and he made a fatal mistake that caused fear to fill his beloved baby’s heart.

“I know. I don’t blame you.” Anxia answered him in the same whispering voice so as not to wake Lori.

“I didn’t expect her to take what I said seriously. I mean, she’s not even five... how could she comprehend what I’m saying?”

“She’s a special one.” Anxia looked at her daughter gently, shifting slightly and soundlessly to kiss the top of her daughter’s head. “Even though she is only three, she can memorize all the secret codes I teach her. Isn’t she amazing?”

“What?”

“Otherwise, how do you think we could safely move around while Master Yu was hunting us?”

Richard’s eyes widened at this, and he realized something. His three-year-old daughter had already apprehended the meaning of codes and secret motions to trick unexpected foes. He also remembered how talented his daughter was at acting and changed her facial expressions to fool the adults. This girl knew when to speak and when to be silent.

.....

As long as Lori was with them, the child knew no fear, as if she believed her parents would protect her.

No. Lori had complete faith in her mother and not in Richard. Now Richard realized it. If Lori had to choose between her mother and father, she would pick Anxia without a doubt.

It was not surprising, considering that Lori has been with her mother since birth, whereas she only met Richard a few months ago. Even though Lori indeed adored and loved Richard as her father, yet Anxia’s presence in her heart was much higher than her father’s.

“Now I understand.” Richard felt grateful that Anxia chose to stay. “I will be careful how I speak when Lori is around. I know she is brilliant, but I didn’t expect her to have such sensitive feelings.”

“You should have listened to me from the start. It’s your fault.”

Richard’s eyebrows rose at his wife’s last sentence. “You said you didn’t blame me.”

“I don’t blame you because you misspoke. I blame you because you don’t want to listen to me. You should have.”

Richard chuckled at his wife’s answer. “Okay, okay, it’s my fault. I’m sorry. From now on, I will listen to you.”

Anxia turned her head away... more like hiding her face from Richard’s intense gaze. She didn’t expect a proud man like Richard to apologize so easily and grant her wish.

If it were the Anxia of the past, she would take advantage of Richard’s kindness and make him do whatever she wanted. But now... Anxia felt a warmth envelop her heart, so she didn’t want to do anything but enjoy this quiet, peaceful moment.

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Just as the clock almost hit two, Richard woke up slowly without causing a quake. He managed to get out of bed without waking Lori up, but not Anxia. His wife immediately woke up when she felt a soft sound caused by the friction of Richard’s cloth against the bed sheets.

“Richie?” Anxia called hoarsely with a frown, thinking an intruder had invaded the room.

“I’m sorry. Did I wake you up?”

Anxia leaned again while shaking her head as if to say it wasn’t Richard’s fault that she woke up.

Trained as an assassin who must stand guard under any circumstances, Anxia didn’t easily fall asleep at the slightest movement or sound. Her instincts always wake her up and alert her.

But when she realized that Richard had made the sound, Anxia lowered her guard.

“You want to go back to your room?” Somehow she felt lost when Richard wasn’t here.

Richard couldn’t see Anxia’s expression clearly because the lights had been turned off a few hours ago, but he could still detect the sadness in his wife’s voice.

“No. I’ll be outside the balcony. I had promised my cousins to play a game.”

“Game?”

“An online game.”

“I didn’t know you liked playing online games.”

“I only play when my cousin urged me. Go back to sleep. I’ll be back when I’m done.”

Richard stroked his wife’s cheek gently making Anxia’s eyelids feel heavy again.

For some reason, it’s been easier for Anxia to sleep at night lately. Usually, she was not sleepy and could only sleep after the clock passed two in the morning. But recently, she’s been able to sleep before ten at night.

More precisely, she fell asleep while putting her daughter to sleep, which should have been impossible.

It was a habit that Anxia would stay awake even though Lori was fast asleep. Her instinct would keep her awake as she always felt haunted by the threat of danger.

She believed she was beyond master Yu’s reach, but Anxia couldn’t help feeling uneasy at the sudden attack that was stalking her as well as her daughter. It was a common strategy to give a sneak attack when the target was sleeping at night. That’s what she did throughout her mission. She always waited for her victim to be off guard and for all the house occupants to fall asleep, then she infiltrated.

That’s why she couldn’t sleep well and put all her senses on alert and guard. Even if she managed to fall asleep, Anxia would wake up immediately upon hearing the slightest sound.

However, she didn’t know when it started so that she could sleep easily and in more peace. She no longer felt the undue agitation as if she was a normal girl living a normal life. Even at this moment, drowsiness returned to her as she felt the soft caress of a big warm hand on her head. It brought her to dreamland.

After making sure his wife was sound asleep, Richard walked over to grab his laptop and headset, then headed out onto the balcony after putting on his coat.

He could have played inside, but he knows his shortcomings. Once he was engrossed in playing, he could make loud comments following the battle’s outcome. Richard wasn’t sure if he could control his voice when playing inside, which would wake his wife and baby. Thus, he decided to play outside.

After closing the balcony door, then Richard turned on his laptop. He logged in to the game server he had downloaded a few days ago.

Kendrich had given him an id where he could use high-level characters so he wouldn’t die quickly fighting the main boss on the hundredth floor.

As soon as his avatar character appeared in the game, his four brothers greeted him with scolding, and their voices rang over his headset.

“Richie, you’re late.”

“We have become geezers thanks to you.”

Richard rolled his eyes lazily at Kendrich and Henrich’s grumbling.

“Hey, did you forget I live on another side of this world?”

“Hahaha, when are you going to the states? Bring your wifey too.” teased Diego.

“Shut up! Let’s go finish this quickly.”

“Hohoho, brother, do you want to return to your wife’s arms that soon? I can understand.” Raymond’s teasing invited laughter from others.

Richard was too unconcerned with his cousins’ teasing, so he decided to move his avatar towards a tower where they had to climb up to the hundredth floor to fight the final boss.

“Hey! Why did you go alone?” Kendrich grumbled, moving his avatar to catch up with Richard’s.

“Henrich, behind you, is a fire-type monster, don’t use fire magic against it,” instructed Kendrich so that his cousins would not fight fire-powered monsters with fire magic.

“If its power is fire, my water magic can kill it,” exclaimed Raymond, moving his mouse along with his five left fingers on the keyboard with agility. His avatar glowed in a blue halo, created a whirlpool around the monster, and attacked the fire monster.

Just as he had expected, the fire beast’s blood immediately decreased drastically until it died instantly.

They defeated the minor monsters in just a few minutes and arrived at the fiftieth floor. Their journey to the hundredth floor was already halfway done, but starting on the fifty-first floor, they would all deal with monsters that were even stronger and tougher than those on the lower floors.

Five different yet high-level avatars walked vigilantly through the hall of the fifty-first floor, looking for the door leading to the next floor.