Repairing A Broken Home With My Patriarch System

Evelyn’s nose twitched as she stared at the teacups in disbelief. Did Ethan actually wake up early to make tea for himself? Then why make two cups?

”Good morning, Evelyn.”

She flinched when she heard that voice and turned to look. Ethan was just coming out of the kitchen, having gone to rinse his empty cup.

He looked at her with a neutral expression, then rubbed his neck. ”Is there something on my face?”

His tone wasn’t nice, but it wasn’t harsh either. It made Evelyn feel puzzled.

She quickly shook her head and answered, ”N-No, there’s nothing. Um, good morning.”

Ethan sighed, then gestured at the teacups he had placed on the table.

”Where’s Nora? I made tea for both of you.”

Once again, Evelyn was stunned, and she stammered. ”W-w-what?”

Ethan gave her a dry stare, as though he were too tired to explain.

”What’s wrong? You don’t want it?”

He understood why she was surprised, so he intentionally avoided touching the topic. When he didn’t receive an answer from her, he walked over to the chair and sat down.

”It’s past seven already. Go wake Nora, and have the tea. When you guys are ready, we’re heading to the market.”

He spoke casually, then became engrossed in his phone.

Evelyn kept looking at him like he was an alien for a few seconds, then slowly nodded.

”I... I understand.”

She stiffly returned to the room, still dazed and confused.

Once she was gone, Ethan glanced in her direction and sighed. ”Really... how much effort do I have to put in before she thinks I’m actually just being nice?”

Soon, Evelyn returned with their daughter who was still rubbing her eyelids. The little girl glanced at him, then greeted him in a flat voice.

”Good morning, dad.”

Ethan smiled reflexively, but his smile froze when he noticed her lack of enthusiasm.

’Ha... what did I expect? This body is really the worst.’

Still, he returned her greeting and focused on his phone again. Evelyn led Nora to the living room, then sat opposite Ethan.

”Here, drink this,” She said, handing a cup of tea to her daughter while she took another.

Nora’s eyes widened in surprise. ”We can drink this? Isn’t it daddy’s tea?”

Ethan’s brows twitched, but he didn’t react. ’Better let Evelyn handle it.’

Evelyn glanced at him with a puzzled look and answered her.

”Um... your dad made it for us.”

Nora froze, then immediately placed down the cup.

”Dad has poisoned it,” She said confidently.

Ethan almost choked on his saliva and he looked at her in disbelief. How could such a young girl say something so horrible?

More shocking was that Evelyn wasn’t surprised. She actually turned and looked at him in suspicion.

’Goodness...’

Ethan quietly massaged his forehead. Without saying a word, he picked up Nora’s teacup and drank a little from it.

Then, he set down the cup before her. ”See? Daddy didn’t poison you. I don’t even know why you’d think that.”

The little girl’s eyes narrowed, and she sounded puzzled. ”This is odd.”

Evelyn wanted to shout, ’Exactly my thoughts!’

But she held back and remained mature. There was indeed no reason for Ethan to poison them unless he now wanted to get rid of them from his life.

She picked up her cup and drank the tea slowly. At the same time, Nora picked up her cup and slowly drank from it.

Ethan pretended not to pay attention to them, but he was monitoring their movements.

Immediately after they finished drinking, he saw that strange holographic screen appear before his eyes.

But before he checked the messages, he first looked at Nora and Evelyn. The two of them were looking at him with skeptical expressions, but had nothing to say.

’So they can’t see the screen, huh? Is it private to me?’

He ignored their looks and focused on the system messages.

[You have completed today’s task!]

[You have received Cooking Mastery. Claim reward?]

Ethan nodded internally, and the screen disappeared. He blinked once, then twice. It wasn’t like his brain was suddenly flooded with knowledge of cooking.

Instead, it was more like he already... knew everything about cooking. It felt like remembering a detail he had forgotten.

’This... this is surely surprising.’

He thought, his gaze still fixated on the phone. His wife and daughter didn’t notice anything strange, and quickly finished the tea. Then, Evelyn took Nora’s hand and led her to the bathroom to wash up.

They still needed to reach the market early.

Ethan willed it, and the information he desired to see appeared in his eyes. ’I guessed right. It listens to my thoughts.’

[Current Family Status: Broken.]

[Family Happiness: 7.01%]

[Patriarch Qualification: F-]

[Objective: Repair Your Family.]

Looking at the change in the Family Happiness, his brows twitched. A 0.01% increase? Truly... unsavory.

”This would be a lot of work, huh?” He muttered, then glanced at his phone.

On the screen was displayed different regional information on the current situation of the companies in the country, including those abroad.

’I remember most of the things that happened to each company, which should be enough for my plans.’

Since he came from the future, he would utilize his knowledge properly.

’Thankfully, I had an interest in all these things while I was a kid. Else, I would be limited in what I can do currently.’

Some time later, Evelyn and Nora emerged from the bedroom. The woman wore a beautiful white gown with a floral pattern while the little girl wore a brown round-neck top with short blue jeans.

Ethan slipped his phone into his pocket and stood up, offering a faint, gentle smile.

”Alright, let’s go.”

Seeing that smile, Evelyn shuddered. She couldn’t help but dread how much of her business money he was going to try and ’borrow’ today. Or was he looking to cause trouble for the customers?

Still, she suppressed her anxiety and nodded, pulling Nora with her.

The family of three stepped out of the rundown apartment that looked too shabby for Ethan’s taste.

’Yeah, we’re definitely changing location soon. I can’t survive living in a house like this.’

He had other plans for today, though. And that was to help Evelyn earn more in her fruit stall. He didn’t know how good she was as a businesswoman since the original Ethan didn’t care, but he knew she could never be better than him.

It wasn’t for nothing that he had become the second-richest man in the world, after all.

’One step at a time...’