Chapter 57 : Chapter 57
Volume 1
Chapter 57 : I’ll Just Take a Peek
“What are you doing?”
Muen had been staring blankly at the glass of water when Eluca’s voice suddenly sounded behind him.
He jumped so hard in fright that he nearly slapped the glass straight into her face.
Luckily, he stopped himself in time.
“What’s wrong?” Eluca asked curiously.
“Nothing, it’s just that you walk so quietly. You startled me.”
“I see. Well, it can’t be helped. In my house, if you drag your feet when you walk, you get smacked for it,” Eluca said with a laugh.
“Same here, same here. My family was like that too. It feels like families everywhere care a lot about things like that. Like how you’re not allowed to smack your lips while eating.”
“Exactly.”
Eluca shrugged, then turned and went back into the kitchen.
Not long after, she came out of the kitchen carrying a huge platter of roast whole lamb with some difficulty.
“The roast lamb is ready.”
“That fast?”
Muen hurried to his feet to help her.
“It’s only been an hour, right? Is it even cooked?”
“It was already done long ago.”
Eluca blinked and said playfully,
“I put the lamb in the oven over a low flame before I left the house. All I needed to do after coming back was sprinkle on some spices. As for why I made you wait so long… Well, actually, it was to let you get a little hungrier first.”
“That’s so cruel!”
“Haha, I’m joking. After adding the spices, it still needed to go back over the heat for a while. Otherwise, the flavor wouldn’t seep in properly.”
Eluca handed Muen a knife and fork. “Cut it yourself. I’m not helping with something this small.”
“Thanks.”
Muen accepted the knife and fork.
Just as he was about to start carving, he suddenly seemed to remember something and stared fixedly at Eluca.
“Um… you should eat first.”
“Hm?”
Eluca frowned slightly and looked at Muen.
“You think I poisoned it?”
“No, no.”
Muen waved his hands vigorously and laughed awkwardly.
“I just thought that I suddenly came here to freeload food and drinks, and you’ve been busy for so long. If you don’t even get to taste the food first, then wouldn’t that make me, as the guest, a little rude?”
“Is that so?”
Eluca stared at Muen for a long while. Then her brows rose, and she smiled.
“I’ll take that as what you mean, then.”
Picking up a silver knife, Eluca skillfully shaved off a piece of the crisp, fragrant skin from the roast lamb and brought it to her cherry-red lips.
Her teeth bit into the skin with a crunchy crackle.
Just hearing it was enough to make one’s mouth water.
“Then I won’t hold back either.”
Seeing that, Muen could not resist any longer.
He picked up the knife and fork and displayed his Dagger Combat Technique LV5 to the fullest while carving up the lamb.
The firm lamb entered his mouth, and the rich fragrance of spices instantly filled his nose.
There was not the slightest trace of gaminess.
It tasted so good that it could stand shoulder to shoulder with the chefs of the ducal estate.
“How is it?”
“It’s reawwy good!”
With his cheeks puffed out like a squirrel stuffing its face, Muen could not help giving her a thumbs-up.
“Is that so? Then that’s good.”
Eluca pressed her lips together in a smile.
But after finishing the first bite, she did not continue eating right away.
Instead, she carefully used the silver knife to slice the lamb into thin, delicate pieces and place them on a plate, even arranging them neatly.
Was that for her husband?
That was Muen’s natural assumption, and once more he could not help sighing at how affectionate this newlywed couple was.
Then, thinking of his own miserable state, unable to return home and still being hunted by a yandere, sorrow welled up in him.
So he could only turn his grief into appetite and lower his head to eat with all his might.
...
“Woof!”
In the middle of his feast, Muen suddenly heard a dog bark.
He instinctively looked up toward the source of the sound.
Huh? That direction sounded like it was coming from inside the house.
“That’s the dog we keep at home,” Eluca explained.
“It’s usually very well-behaved. If it suddenly starts barking now, it’s probably hungry.”
“You have a dog?”
Muen’s eyes lit up.
“Can I see it? I really like dogs.”
In his previous life, he had always wanted to raise a golden retriever, but neither his time nor his circumstances had allowed it.
Until the day he died, the closest he had gotten was petting one a few times in a pet shop to satisfy the craving.
So now that he had a chance to pet a dog, there was no way he could let it pass.
“Sorry, no.”
Eluca refused decisively.
“My dog is very afraid of strangers. Otherwise, it wouldn’t always stay hidden in the room and refuse to come out.”
“I see.”
Muen let out a disappointed sigh.
“Then there’s no helping it.”
It seemed he really was fated never to have a pet in this life.
On the other hand, there were always people wanting to keep him as a pet instead.
Which was really painful to think about.
“Then eat slowly. I’m going to feed my doggy.”
Carrying the plate of lamb she had just sliced piece by piece, Eluca hummed a little tune as she turned down the hallway, walked to the innermost room, and opened the door.
“Woof woof, woof woof woof woof.”
“Be good, doggy. Good doggy. I brought you food.”
“Woof woof woof...”
Eluca casually shut the door, and the barking became muffled, but Muen still felt as though he could hear the... excitement in it.
“It looks like Eluca and her dog are very close.”
How enviable.
With a sigh of admiration, Muen resumed his second round of battle with the roast whole lamb.
“Huh?”
Halfway through eating, Muen suddenly raised his head and said in shock,
“So those slices of lamb were all for the dog?”
...
“Ah, I’m full.”
After polishing off nearly half the roast lamb, Muen leaned back in his chair, rubbing his round, swollen stomach and feeling an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.
What could possibly make a person happier than eating delicious food until they were stuffed after being hungry all day?
“At this point, even if I died right now, I’d have no regrets.”
“You’re full?”
Eluca came out of the room carrying an empty plate.
“You look tired. Do you want to sleep for a bit? The guest room is empty.”
“I-is that really okay?”
Muen hesitated a little. “I’ve already freeloaded food and drinks, and now I’d be freeloading a bed too.”
“Think of it another way. You’ve already freeloaded food and drinks, so why care about freeloading a little sleep too?” Eluca said with a smile.
“That’s true.”
Muen was not the type to stand on ceremony either, so he nodded and said, “Then I can only trouble you a little more.”
“It’s fine. The first room on the left is the guest room.”
“Many thanks.”
Muen walked into the guest room.
It was obvious that it had not been specially prepared. The bedding was very simple, and there was not even a quilt.
But for Muen, it was already more than enough.
As soon as he lay down on the bed, the exhaustion that had built up over the past two days swallowed him like a tidal wave.
He quickly fell asleep.
Outside the window, the moon was just right, casting down its pure, bright light.
Everything was as still and quiet as ever.
...
“I love you.”
...
“Oh no!”
Late in the middle of the night, Muen suddenly opened his eyes wide, his expression extremely grave.
It was as if he had encountered some major crisis.
“I need to use the toilet.”
He had eaten too much at once, and now his stomach was feeling off.
“So I really shouldn’t have indulged myself like that?”
Muen carefully got out of bed, then quietly opened the door and stepped into the hallway without making a sound.
“Damn, I forgot to ask where the bathroom was.”
“At this hour... Eluca is probably asleep already. It would be a bit rude to wake her.”
Standing at the end of the hallway, Muen faced the three unfamiliar doors before him.
“One out of three. The odds of picking the right one are pretty good, right?”
Muen placed his hand on the doorknob of the door furthest to the right and slowly applied pressure.
The door gradually opened a crack.
“Woof.”
A dog’s bark suddenly slipped out through the gap.
“This is...”
Muen froze for a moment.
It seemed to be the room where Eluca kept the dog.
“So it’s not the bathroom.”
Muen sighed in disappointment and prepared to quietly close the door again.
“Wait.”
But at once, a light suddenly flashed in Muen’s eyes.
“Since I’m already here, why not quietly take a look?”
He really did love dogs.
Just one look should be fine, right?
Thinking that, Muen had already lowered himself and slowly brought his eye toward the crack in the door.