I adopt the male lead

chapter 21

Karina shakes her head and hurriedly wiped away the water around her eyes.

“I- I got something in my eye.”

It was a lie that even younger kids wouldn’t believe, but the children nodded their heads kindly.

“Aren’t you guys hungry? Do you want me to cook something for you?”

“We’re hungry!”

The children shouted in chorus.

“Okay, I’ll make you something delicious today.”

“Yesterday was delicious.”

“It’s more delicious than yesterday.”

Karina felt much better as she looked at the children whose eyes still remain shining with hope and her worries disappeared.

Children don’t have to worry about adults. No, they shouldn’t. It was a lesson from the past.

Karina had to worry about her mother who never looked after her throughout her short childhood. She wanted to give her children a different childhood.

‘If I had some money, I would have said let’s eat out today.’

Karina sighed as she recalled yesterday’s dinner. Cooking using fire in the guest room was prohibited, so Karina was extremely limited in what she could cook.

She could ask Roland and Melissa to light a fire. But Karina announced that the children shouldn’t use fire-related magic in case they got close to playing dangerous fire games.

The children were very confused at first and asked again if they really couldn’t. No one would stop them from playing with matches in the orphanage and Lord Lenque loved it when Roland do dangerous magic tricks.

Still, Karina was more precious than any other adult so the two children never used any fire-related magic as they were told.

She gives her all and tried to make bread by simply inflating it without using fire magic. Of course, the result was a room bombed with flour.

Fortunately, Karina wasn’t the only one in the neighborhood who couldn’t afford to have an oven at home so she was able to hear various recipes from the merchants.

“What’s the food for today?”

“Goose salad with ham and cheese baguette.”

“It looks delicious!”

The children exclaimed loudly, clinging to each of her sides, and stared at her.

“If you don’t stop you will get injured, step aside.”

Karina spoke sternly but the children knew it was just all talk so they didn’t even move.

“…Instead, you have to stay calm. Do you understand?

“Yes!”

The children kept their promise. Karina cut the ham and cheese baguette into sandwiches. The children stood by quietly waiting and ate the sandwiches that Karina made as they approached.

In the end, the only sandwich she ate was the tail of the baguette but Karina didn’t mind. It’s a good thing to be thankful that the children are eating well, not something bad to be scolded at.

She picked up a ripe apple to make a chopped vegetable salad, then immediately-

Bang!

A roar rang out.

“…!”

Karina was so startled that she couldn’t utter a single word and hugged Roland and Melissa tightly with her eyes closed.