Chapter 150
Meat and vegetables were flying in an orderly line through the air and out the window.
Ella couldn't help but wear a bewildered expression at the sight of them moving in groups as if they were a flock of migratory birds or a herd of cattle. She rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was hallucinating due to being contaminated by Anastasiya's colorful jellies, and even turned her head quickly to look at others to check if she was the only one seeing this.
Fortunately, it wasn't a hallucination only visible to Ella's eyes, as people one by one began to notice the existence of ingredients making a great escape from the dining room with dumbfounded expressions.
"No way..."
The Grand Witch and Agnes's reactions weren't much different from Ella's.
They just blinked and stared at it, wondering if fairies were playing tricks.
Strangely enough, though, Lee Yang-hoon and his wives and concubines laughed as if it was absurd but didn't show any signs of suspecting it to be a hallucination. Lee Arin also glanced at it once and then dropped her head back towards her food as if she understood something.
And Lee Serin's lips were moving slightly as if she was having some conversation with the demon standing next to her.
Perhaps curious about this scene?
Anastasiya bounced over to Lee Arin.
She placed her palm on Lee Arin's thigh to make her notice her presence, and as soon as Lee Arin looked at her curiously, she seized the opportunity to hop onto her lap. Then, leaning against Lee Arin's body, she asked:
"Hey, A-rin? Big sister has something to ask you. You'll answer, right?"
"Huh? Sure!"
When Anastasiya cutely leaned against her and made her request, Lee Arin nodded as if enchanted.
"Do you know what that is over there~?"
"Hm? It's probably my brother's doing."
Lee Arin casually dropped those words in response to her question.
But thinking that Anastasiya in her arms might need further explanation to understand, she opened her mouth again.
"This kind of thing happens from time to time. He tests sorcery or does strange things saying he's trying out sorcery. There were times when he brought a bunch of cockroaches, or brought a flute and dozens of hamsters saying he was going to imitate the Pied Piper..."
Lee Arin wore an expression as if reminiscing.
"It seemed to have slowed down lately, but as expected... Still, this is relatively tame, so don't be too surprised... By the way, Anastasiya? Want to eat with me?"
"It's okay~"
"I'll feed you..."
"It's okay~"
Anastasiya firmly rejected Lee Arin's offer and got down to the floor. Then, as if her business was finished, she turned back to her seat without looking back, coldly. She then grabbed one of Ella's hands and said:
"Let's go take a look."
"What?"
"Aren't you curious?"
"Ah, no..."
Anastasiya's eyes widened at Ella's refusal.
Her face looked as if she hadn't expected her suggestion to be rejected.
She asked with a shocked face:
"You're not curious?"
It was the same words as before, but the nuance was completely different.
If the previous one was closer to a suggestion, this time it carried tremendous pressure, as if saying, "You're not curious about this? Are you in your right mind?"
Ella was momentarily silent at the sight of Anastasiya placing curiosity above common sense or etiquette. Then, looking at her with eyes full of a sense of duty, she said:
"Sister. Just eat your meal quietly."
"Meal?"
At the mention of a meal, Anastasiya looked at her table.
Colorful.
A mountain of snacks made of jelly and chocolate.
Anastasiya took her eyes off the table and looked towards the window.
Vegetables and meat were flying through the air.
Vegetables and meat!
Going out the window!
And not by walking or crawling, but flying!
Anastasiya couldn't stand it.
Her mind, her instincts, the numerous lives she had lived in her dreams were all telling her to rush out the window right now and check what had happened to the vegetables and meat.
Moreover, since her instincts weren't telling her it was dangerous, taking a quick look shouldn't be a problem.
"Little sister. It seems this big sister wants to go outside and take a look at that."
"Eat your meal and then go look."
"I'm telling you, big sister wants to go look at that."
"And little sister told big sister to eat her meal and then go look."
"Then if you're not going to look with me, could you at least let go of my hand? It's stuffy having my hand held so tightly~"
Anastasiya whined to her little sister. But Ella, without batting an eye, wore a resolute expression and sat her back down in the chair, threatening that as long as her eyes were wide open, Anastasiya wouldn't be able to leave here until she finished her meal.
Anastasiya, caught between Ella's words and her curiosity, debated whether to rush outside or not, but remembering Ella's mention of etiquette yesterday, she sat quietly in her seat and ate her meal. After all, etiquette lessons were bound to happen, but there was no need to unnecessarily increase the intensity of those lessons.
"The current appearance of the dining room is the result of the Grand Witch personally putting her hand to everything..."
"I thought it was too sophisticated, to think it was the Grand Witch's work..."
"Moreover, the very idea of ordering food directly is such an enlightened thought..."
So Anastasiya listened to the voices of older people reaching her ears with one ear and let them out the other, focusing all her nerves on the food and ingredients.
And to avoid being caught by Ella with a book, she imitated the table manners she had seen and heard in her dreams, eating elegantly and neatly, then left the dining room under Ella's dazed gaze.
Click.
And as soon as she closed the dining room door, she ran down the corridor and came out to the garden.
Knock knock.
As soon as Anastasiya came out to the garden, she signaled to a tree that had taken a suitable position as if asking to be carried. But even after knocking twice, perhaps because the effect of witchcraft had ended, the tree showed no reaction, and she shook her head as if disappointed and started running on her own.
Thus, she was finally able to reach the place where vegetables and meat were moving at a slow pace.
"Wow."
The first thing that caught her eye was a mushroom.
Not a mushroom used as a food ingredient, but a huge stone-like mushroom that at a glance seemed to be about half her body size. The mushroom was wearing its characteristic wide, semicircular cap, and had a white column-like body standing upright and bulging. And it was constantly moving the horizontal lines on the upper part of the column, which looked as if the mushroom had a mouth and was opening and closing it wide, chewing something.
There were eleven such mushrooms in total.
The mushrooms opened their mouths at the same timing as if they had coordinated it, and closed their mouths at the same timing. And in sync with that timing, as if there was an invisible conveyor belt, the ingredients were cut into eleven small pieces and entered the mouths of the mushrooms. And each time a mushroom absorbed food ingredients, it gradually swelled its body larger.
And in the center of the growing mushrooms was Jinseong.
Dressed in casual attire of jeans and a shirt, Jinseong was lying on a soft-looking bed made of several mushroom caps, tearing and eating raw meat.
He was chewing with his front teeth and canines, thoroughly soaking the mushrooms with the blood from the raw meat, and fruits floating above were longing to enter Jinseong's stomach. The blood disappeared instantly as soon as it touched the mushroom caps, like water being absorbed into a sponge, and each time this happened, it strangely created the illusion that blood vessels were flowing through the mushrooms.
Anastasiya looked at this scene with admiring eyes and approached Jinseong. Then, looking at him as if he was fascinating, she asked:
"Benefactor, is that tasty?"
"It's passable."
Jinseong answered Anastasiya's curiosity-filled question.
But contrary to Jinseong's words that it was edible, his expression was utterly expressionless, and his attitude suggested that he was eating not for taste, but to survive, or because of some obligation.
"What does it taste like?"
Anastasiya felt her curiosity bubbling up even more at his expression.
And Jinseong acted as if her attitude was familiar to him.
"It tastes like my primitive instincts are awakening."
He didn't show any particular aversion even when Anastasiya showed curiosity, and rather gave an answer that stimulated her curiosity. And it seemed to be effective, as Anastasiya smiled cutely and asked for just one piece, and Jinseong tore off a very small piece of meat and placed it on her hand.
And just as she was about to bring it to her mouth with an expression of dying curiosity...
"Kyaak! Sister! Why are you trying to eat something like that!"
Ella, who had finished her meal and came out to the garden to monitor Anastasiya, rushed over like lightning and snatched the raw meat from her hand.