Jade clenched her fist before releasing it in acknowledgement of her defeat.

Meanwhile, Zach walked over to her with a bowl in his hand that contained her own share.

They might be rivals, but he would never allow someone he cared about to feel unhappy.

"You must be hungry like everyone else, here's something for you to…," Zach began to say, but Jade suddenly grabbed the bowl from his hands and forcefully placed it on a nearby table.

She grabbed a hold of his hand this time around and dragged him out of the kitchen.

The moment they stepped out of the kitchen, she let go of his hand and stared into the distance with her back facing Zach.

She clenched her hands against her chest as she tried to mentally prepare herself to kiss him.

But first, she had something to say to him.

"You won the bet. I hate to admit it but you're really talented. Even the way you move while cooking makes other chefs I've worked under look like mere mortals in comparison to you."

Hearing this, a smile appeared on Zach's lips, it felt as though Jade had indirectly called him the god of cooking and he liked it.

Jade continued. "But a deal is a deal, so here goes nothing," Jade turned around and instantly pecked Zach on the lips.

It was her first kiss but she had no choice but to give it to Zach.

She quickly ended it before heading back to the kitchen.

As she walked away, she started speaking to Zach. "You must never speak of this to… hmmm," however, while she was walking away she suddenly felt his hand pulling her back to him before her lips were expertly captured by his.

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Jade tried to pull him away from her but Zach had already wrapped his arm around her waist, thereby making it difficult for her to escape his grip.

Jade was surprised by how strong he was, even though he had yet to undergo his mana core awakening.

Her eyes widened when she felt Zach insert his tongue into her mouth before he began to explore every inch of it.

She tried to free herself once again but it was still in vain.

'How can he be this strong?' She wondered but decided not to direct mana towards her fist as it might hurt him, and she wasn't particularly adept at using healing magic.

This meant that she would have to ask Zach's Aunt for help, but doing that would lead to his Aunt finding out what led to the injury.

So in the end she decided to let Zach do what he wanted with the mindset that this would be the first and last time they ever did this.

However, unbeknownst to Jade, Aurora was hiding at the Kitchen entrance, watching the both of them kissing.

Her initial purpose for coming there had been to ask Zach if he could allow Luna and maybe she as well, to have some more of his delicious dumpling, but never in her wildest dream could she have imagined that she would see Zach and Jane engaging in such an act.

Her eyes suddenly locked onto that of Zach but she swiftly turned her head away. She didn't know exactly why she did that but it seemed like the most reasonable thing to do.

"What did big brother say?" Luna asked while rubbing her big stomach when she noticed Aurora walking back. It was clear for everyone to see that she was about to burst, but Luna was adamant about finishing her big brother's cooking, provided he allowed it.

Aurora forced a smile on her face. She didn't want Luna to suspect anything, so she replied with a cheerful demeanour.

"Your big brother said it's all yours," Although Zach didn't say that, Aurora said it knowing that there was no way Luna could finish the food all by herself.

"Really?" Luna couldn't believe what she was hearing and had to confirm what she heard one more time.

Aurora nodded her head in response and Luna rejoiced before facing the dumplings.

No matter how big her stomach got, she was going to finish the food.

'I can't afford to waste my big brother's precious food,' she thought before digging in.

Meanwhile, Zach and Jade broke their kiss with a bridge of saliva linking their lips together. Their eyes were locked on each other while they both panted heavily.

"Why did you do that?" Jade asked while trying to catch her breath.

"Because the first one wasn't really a kiss."

"What?"

"Besides, you cheated, so it was the least I could do as payback."

"W-what? How did you...." Aurora's eyes widened in disbelief. She couldn't comprehend how Zach was able to find out that she cheated, but before she could say anything else, Jade noticed Zach handing over a folded piece of paper to her.

"What is this?"

"It is a list of recipes I want you to work on before tonight."

"Wait, why are you giving this to me? You already won the bet, so you don—"

"You've wanted to learn some new recipes for some time now, right? So this is the least I can do to help you. I won't ask you why you seem so desperate, though. Rather, I will wait for you to tell me when you are ready. Maybe by then, you'll learn to trust me more. We are family after all, aren't we?"

"You can also let me know if you have a question or two about the recipes," He added and Jade was left speechless by the words coming out of Zach's mouth.

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A/N:- If you've read up to this point of the novel and you're currently enjoying it, I beseech you to please support my novel with your power stones and reviews as well. This little bit of contribution is enough to make me more enthusiastic about writing more chapters for you all to read and enjoy. Thank you so much.