Mushroom sauce, egg yolk sauce, strawberry jam… each was spread one by one on top of Lya’s head.
Lya lay limp in a Great Dish four times her size, a little green garnish flower atop her head, her whole body sprinkled with Rosemary.
The entire Pupu had been turned into a “delicious” Pupu sashimi.
She was terrified and desperate, her expression anything but fake.
She never imagined she could survive hellish disasters, escape betrayal and conspiracies, and even evade a hero’s pursuit, only to die in the hands of this group of madwomen.
She might even be eaten alive, turned into the beautiful Dafen!
” Hehe, Big Boobs, hurry and take out the magic shadow stone, film this for me. “
Aelita raised the plate, eager to stir up trouble.
” This is a Pupu raised by a hero, high-grade ingredient, unique in the world! “
Yuna’s face stiffened as she looked toward Margaret.
But she said, ” Princess, you do it. I think this is a bit cruel, I’ll step back for now. “
Aelita smirked.
” Cruel? Or are you just afraid the hero will come back and blame you? “
” Little Aelita, how can you think of me like that… No, she looks so pitiful, I can’t bear it. “
Yuna’s delicate face looked shattered and pure, on the verge of tears, as if genuinely hurt by Aelita’s words.
Then she fled, hurrying out of the council chamber.
” What a mess. Fine, I’ll do it. “
Margaret pinched her temples, exasperated, then pulled out the magic shadow stone that could record and store images, aiming it at the little Elf striking a pose.
Aelita waved at the magic shadow stone, smiling brightly.
” Hello, viewers! Today is episode sixteen of . “
” I, Aelita, Elf Survival Specialist, Adventurer, and Gourmet, will introduce you to a brand new ingredient you’ve never seen before—Pupu! “
” It’s said to have sixty times the moisture of beef… Look, poke it, it still moves. So cute. I wonder if it’ll still be pink when pulled out. “
With that, Aelita lowered her head and stuck out her pink tongue, licking Lya.
” Mmm So sweet! “
” Disgusting. “
Margaret raised the magic shadow stone, unable to help but comment.
” Stop playing around and hurry up and eat this gross thing, I hate her. “
Aelita prodded Lya with her dinner knife.
” Don’t rush. Savoring the struggle of food is an important part of the eating experience too. “
She smiled at Margaret.
” Don’t all you nobles love to eat freshly cut meat from little lambs, and those seven or eight-year-old… what’s it called? Oh, ‘Miyang’? “
Margaret’s eyelid twitched fiercely.
She forced herself to stay calm.
” I don’t like eating that kind of thing. “
” Because you think the flesh of the Dustfolk is sour? “
” Shut up! “
Margaret was annoyed and embarrassed.
She didn’t understand why this damn Elf always spoke so sarcastically, stabbing at people.
” Don’t your Elf elders teach you noble etiquette? “
She shot back.
Aelita spread her hands with a mischievous smile.
” Of course, but I’m just a hundred-year-old Elf baby, not very good at talking. Why can’t you be more understanding toward an underage Elf? “
Margaret was speechless, both angry and helpless.
A hundred years old really was a “baby” among Elves who lived thousands of years.
Their banter delayed things for a while.
Aelita picked up her knife and fork again.
But at that moment, two sets of noisy footsteps echoed outside the door.
At the same time, Yuna’s pitiful, clear voice drifted closer.
” Jon, don’t be angry, Princess didn’t mean any harm… “
The door suddenly burst open, sand winds swirling around the tall, burly figure of the Hero as he stormed in.
Jon first scanned the council chamber, seeing Lya’s body still intact, and breathed a sigh of relief.
But when he noticed the sauce at the edge of the plate, his expression turned to disbelief.
” Why? “
His face wasn’t angry, but filled with intense confusion and helpless astonishment.
Like when he first learned that the kind, gentle widow next door, who dressed beautifully every day and invited bachelors inside, wasn’t just being hospitable—but selling herself.
” Why do something so absurd? “
He looked at the two of them as if seeing them for the first time, his tone pale and shattered.
Aelita feigned surprise, her face pure.
” Oh, so this Pupu wasn’t raised to be eaten? Then… I’ll give it back to you? “
She picked up the plate and handed it toward the hero.
Jon didn’t take it.
Yuna tugged at Jon’s sleeve, pleading.
” Jon, the Princess didn’t mean to. She decided for you, but it was for your own good… “
Jon slowly looked toward the noblewoman sitting elegantly at the main seat, hand resting on her sword.
Once, he thought they were beautiful and noble as paintings, flawless, unreachable.
But to see the ethereal “goddess” doing something like eating another’s pet…
The illusion shattered in an instant.
Margaret, feeling his gaze, grew more and more embarrassed.
She stood up with a “huff,” chest out and chin raised, glaring at Jon.
” Enough! Are you really going to argue with us over a monster? Do you have any dignity as a hero? “
Jon opened his mouth.
He wanted to argue that it wasn’t about being a “monster,” but that they took his belonging without permission and even tried to eat it.
But he wasn’t good at arguing.
Just as he gathered his words, Margaret’s barrage of questions overwhelmed him.
” A dignified hero, keeping monsters, and such a pathetic one at that. How shameful! “
” You’ve just defeated the Demon King and now you’re indulging in pleasure and women—do you plan to keep a succubus next? “
” So what if we ate it? We’ve fought together for months, defeated the Demon King, is our bond weaker than a Pupu? “
” And… “
She was still a princess, after all, well-versed in rhetoric—unlike him, an uneducated country bumpkin.
Jon’s mouth moved, but he suddenly lost the will to argue.
” Last time. Don’t do it again. “
He snatched Lya from the plate and walked out of the council chamber without looking back.
After Jon left, Margaret stood up angrily, grabbed her sword, and left as well.
She didn’t care about a Pupu.
But she cared about the hero’s attitude just now.
She was a proud princess, a companion who fought alongside the hero, yet he turned against her for a mere Pupu?
Utter insubordination!
All this over a Pupu—she’d compensate him with ten! No, a hundred! An entire farm!
After all, he was just a Dustfolk, with that narrow, oblivious nature.
Jon didn’t know that if she declared she wanted to eat someone’s daughter, there’d be plenty of people who’d willingly send their seven or eight-year-old girls to her private estate.
[Ridiculous! And ‘don’t do it again’? Who are you to decide what I can do?]
[If you forbid it, I just want to… heh!]
Margaret left, filled with resentment, without another word.
Only Yuna and Aelita remained in the council chamber.
An awkward silence filled the air.
” Why did you help me? “
Yuna suddenly asked.
Margaret was straightforward, not clever.
She didn’t realize—Aelita had deliberately provoked her, forcing her to stand against the hero.
The aim was to prevent the marriage alliance.
But this foul-mouthed long-ear, mischievous and adept in “Fairy Speech,” surely saw through everything.
Yet the Elf didn’t expose her, instead adding fuel to the fire by trying to eat Pupu, heightening the tension.
In some ways, that was helping her.
” Because it’s fun “
Aelita grinned.
” I love watching humans fight. Whoever starts a war, Elves always join the party~ “
” …You’re all so boring. “
” Only the apex of the food chain, the rulers of all life, can afford to be this bored. “
Aelita replied languidly.
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