Show me (Ryomen Sukuna x Reader)

Enigma ~ Ch42

Author-san whispers : Double update so if you didn't get the last notification then go back to chapter 41!

(Y/n)'s Point Of View

After scolding the cook, Sukuna ordered the man to cook whatever dish I wanted to be served for his dinner. Then, before leaving, he proceeded to warn the man that he would be fired if he so much as felt a tinge of fear escape me again. Upon his exit, Sukuna incinerated the kitchen doors, muttering something along the lines of that he had no need for doors in his temple that wouldn't stay open.

(Y/n) stayed in the kitchen with that cook, teaching the man how to cook traditional Chinese chow mein- with Uraume watching diligently from beside the ash of what used to be the doors. (Y/n) asked her multiple times why the lady was there or if she wanted to sit, but never once got a reply. Eventually dinner was finally cooked and Uraume voiced that she could take the dish to Lord Sukuna. But (Y/n) declined the offer, wanting to deliver it herself. Uraume did not argue.

"I have brought you your dinner, my Lord. Your cook has served you chow mein." (Y/n) said softly with a smile as she walked into the main hall of the north wing, again finding Sukuna sitting with a map in his hands. The man closed the map once he heard (Y/n)'s voice, motioning for her to put down the tray on the table infront of him.
"You're delivering it yourself?" Sukuna asked, almost sounding suprised but by the colour of his aura, (Y/n) knew he wasn't.

"I admit that I do like to come here to the north wing. This is always a perfect excuse." The girl then giggled sheepishly as she put down the tray gently, making Sukuna huff with amusement.
"Another Chinese dish, I see?" Sukuna guessed, seeing the unfamiliar style of food infront of him. He wondered how much effort it took (Y/n) to get his cook to make this. After assigning Uraume to watch over them both, he hoped it was zero effort- that the cook was too scared to ever say no to (Y/n) again.

"You seemed to enjoy the last few dishes I'd made you so I gave the cook a scroll with my recipes. I don't think he appreciated my colour-coded inking method with each instruction very much but he still executed the dish perfectly nonetheless." (Y/n) giggled. Again, Sukuna huffed. As long as the bastard didn't complain, Sukuna guessed he'd allow him to keep living.

"I see." Sukuna mused casually as he dug into his food, his aura lighting up with content. (Y/n) smiled when she noticed this, her fingers fiddling by her front as she inhaled deeply, proud.
"Oh, and my Lord...I never had the chance to thank you earlier for coming to my rescue- for protecting me yet again. I truly am grateful." The girl smiled, bowing her head with respect. Sukuna hummed in response.
"Well, as I've mentioned before, fear is a disgraceful emotion and I loathe it." He replied, making (Y/n) nod in understanding.

It was then that she realised that he did not say that he only saved her so that he wouldn't have to feel the fear himself. He only said that he loathed the emotion. But, maybe the girl was reading too much into it. Surely.
"I am curious, though." Sukuna then suddenly said, making (Y/n) tilted her head with curiousity.
"About what, my Lord?" (Y/n) asked innocently.

"About why you put yourself in such a situation when I hadn't even requested dinner." Sukuna mused, his voice low as if he were trying to hide how hard he'd been thinking about this- because he was. Ever since he walked out of those kitchens, he'd wondered why she'd put herself through that out of her own free will. He'd understand if she'd wanted the cook to make herself some food- but all that just to make him a meal? Sukuna didn't understand.

"I've realised that you do not eat much, my Lord- only one meal every two or three days, and that is not healthy!" (Y/n) frowned, holding herself back from scolding him. "So...I just thought it would be a good idea to try to ask your cook to make you meals more regularly. I didn't realise it could go so awfully..." Sukuna paused eating at this new information. She'd done all that because she was worried about him- his heath?

"I do not eat often because food is nothing more than sustenance. Meals are also time consuming- and I hate time wasted on something as tedious as meals." Sukuna sighed as he took another bite. (Y/n)'s lips parted with awe, unable to believe her ears.
"But...meals are yummy?" She whispered, making Sukuna huff with amusement, a smile threatening to slip past his lips.

"You're an enigma." Sukuna muttered to himself as he shook his head, a little smile breaking through his carefully built walls- a smile that (Y/n) genuinely thought she was imagining. And yet, she couldn't help but also smile, a bright smile that practically lit up the whole room, butterflies dancing in her stomach that she tries to hard to push away so that nobody else would feel it too.

"Ah, and my Lord! I have also brought back the second scroll you have lent to me!" (Y/n) said with realisation, pulling the scroll out of her kimono sleeve as she rushed to the shelves. This time, having a better understanding of the filing system he had going on here, she found its place much easier.
"Do you enjoy that particular myth?" Sukuna suddenly asked interestedly as (Y/n) placed the scroll delicately in its place.

"Indeed. It was beautiful." She whispered with a smile. The scroll depicted the the story of the fire phoenix, an mystical animal that gets reborn from it's own ashes once it's time has come to an end. After reading it, she realised the Lord was sending her a message.
"And did you come to any realisations from it?" Sukuna then asked, making her smile as he'd confirmed her theory. He'd planted that scroll there so that she would become interested by the insignia and pick that particular one.

The message was that she was like a phoenix. She'd gone through her cycle as a slave and a whore- going through tragedy after tragedy. But now, her shackles were off and she was able to be reborn from her ashes and become the person she was truly meant to be.
"Yes. I now realise why you asked specifically for a phoenix to be stitched into the back of my new kimonos." (Y/n) told him with a smile, gratitude in her eyes that Sukuna easily saw.

"Good girl." He praised, "I was worried you'd be too stupid to understand." He then joked, making the girl giggle.
"Luckily, I was not." She replied.
"There's another scoll by the latern to your left. You are to read that one next." Sukuna suddenly ordered, making (Y/n)'s eyes flicker over to where he'd just directed her to.

"You're allowing me to read another?" The girl asked.
"Did I stutter?" Sukuna then asked with a raised brow, making the girl smile brightly at him.
"No, my Lord." (Y/n) said thankfully, watching as he nodded and went back to focusing on his food, waving her away with his hand as he said,

"Now off you go."

(A.N ~. Vote & comment!)

Chapter 43 Quote Teaser :

"You are not to make physical contact with her nor involve yourself with her romantically or sexually in any way or manner. That- I'd say is the most important rule."