Ch.142Newlywed Life? – 2

From what seemed to be the kitchen area based on its location, the sound of humming came continuously from in front of a kiln slightly taller than a person’s waist.

All kinds of positive emotions were swirling within it. The song never once stopped as Olivia roasted her left arm over the fire.

Though it was a human body part, it apparently still belonged to the meat category, as the smell of something cooking gradually spread. The sizzling sound was an added bonus.

Olivia kept her hands constantly moving. Since her left arm was cooking over the kiln, only her right hand was active.

She would reach into a pocket dimension she had created nearby to pull out something resembling spices and sprinkle them on her left arm, or take out seasonings of colors I’d never seen before and slather them on thickly.

I couldn’t be certain whether those seasonings and spices were made from ordinary ingredients.

Considering Olivia’s personality, it wouldn’t be strange at all if they were made from her own ground-up internal organs.

Human vital organs like the liver or heart.

‘She’s done it before, after all.’

I recalled the past. It was from the time when we were researching together at the magic tower, when Olivia had only shown a somewhat dangerous level of obsession rather than being this completely insane.

Back then, she would often serve me various dishes she claimed to have made herself whenever she had the chance.

Olivia’s cooking skills were good enough that she could have opened a restaurant, so I ate those dishes with pleasure when I didn’t know what they were made of.

But after discovering that what she presented as steak was actually her own heart, and the sauce she had applied was a mixture of blood and brain matter, I simply couldn’t eat any more.

Well, now it was all just a memory from the past. Something I could laugh off as, “Oh, that happened once.”

Though what happened afterward was not something I could laugh about.

‘I wonder what that seasoning is. Seeing that it’s red, I’m sure blood is definitely in there. Is it brain matter again this time? Or something else?’

So naturally, what she was applying to her left arm now couldn’t be normal seasoning either. I could be certain of that. Whatever part she used, it was clearly seasoning made from Olivia herself.

“Now if I just add this… Done!”

Seeming to have completed her cooking, Olivia let out a small exclamation. With a gesture, she extinguished the kiln’s fire, carefully cradled her smoking left arm, and approached me.

“I’m sorry it took longer than expected, Master. But you didn’t wait too long, did you? I know you must be hungry too, so I tried to be quick, but I couldn’t just focus on speed and lose the flavor. I put a lot of effort into this. So it will definitely be delicious.”

Olivia snapped her fingers, and a white desk that had been standing next to the wardrobe stretched out its legs. Then, with a clattering sound, it began walking toward where I was sitting.

While we commonly refer to the thin pillars supporting a desk as “legs,” seeing an actual desk moving those legs like a four-legged beast and walking steadily toward me evoked indescribable emotions.

The desk that boldly walked right up to me adjusted to an appropriate height matching my waist, then immediately stiffened and returned to its original role as an ordinary desk.

“Here, Master. What do you think? Just as I said, right? Don’t worry. The arm isn’t going to run away anywhere. You can just savor it slowly, one bite at a time.”

Olivia knelt on my left side and sat demurely as if it were the most natural thing. She had twisted her body completely to face me, with her left arm extended forward.

Her perfectly roasted left arm, emitting the aroma of various spices and the distinctive smell of cooked meat, naturally came to rest on the desk in front of me.

I truly never imagined I would experience something like this again. Without a mirror, I couldn’t see my expression, but even if I could, it certainly wouldn’t be one that could be described as pleased.

Completely ignoring my reaction, Olivia began to ramble on about her freshly roasted left arm.

“Since blood should still be flowing through the veins, you’ll be able to taste both my blood and the meat together. It was quite a challenge to adjust my healing ability so that the blood would flow properly through the veins while maintaining the cooked state of the skin and muscles, but I’m willing to go through any trouble since you’ll eat it deliciously, so don’t worry. Now, where would you like to start? Fingers? Wrist? Forearm?”

A fork and knife appeared in Olivia’s right hand. Similarly, black threads extending from her right fingertips forcibly placed the fork and knife in my hands.

Her gaze carried the pressure to hurry up and eat.

Unable to hide her anticipation, the fingers attached to the well-cooked left arm were still twitching slightly. At their tips, I could see fingernails that had half-melted and stuck to the skin.

Just as Olivia had said about adjusting her healing ability to keep blood flowing normally through the veins, red blood was slowly seeping out between the shrunken skin that had taken on the characteristic color of well-cooked meat.

As I stared at the left arm before me with emotionless eyes, Olivia smiled contentedly.

“This feels just like we’ve gone back to the old days. I really missed this. Even when my body was torn to pieces with nothing left of my form, even when I was recovering from the wounds you inflicted on me, Master, you have no idea how much I missed you through all of that. The things that happened in the past. And the things that happened with you, Master. They were all such precious memories to me. I’m so happy that we can continue those memories again.”

Memories, huh? Could those really be called memories?

They couldn’t be. They shouldn’t be. They might be memories from Olivia’s perspective, but from mine, they absolutely were not.

As past events freshly surfaced in my mind, I remained frozen, unable to even think about moving my hands. Seeing me like this, Olivia let out an “Ah,” as if she had realized something.

“Oh my, I was wondering why you were just staring blankly instead of eating. I almost made another mistake. I’m sorry, Master. I keep forgetting because I’m so happy being with you. Hehe. But you won’t mind my mistakes, will you? Because you love me too. They say that when you love someone, their flaws become invisible and their strengths are magnified. Hmm, no. Since you and I are a perfect pair, maybe there weren’t any flaws to begin with?”

Olivia’s hand snatched the knife from my hand and began cutting her roasted left arm herself. The sharp blade dug into the meat’s surface, splattering small drops of blood.

She divided the fingers into three parts at the joints, and for some reason, cut off the thumb whole. The cross-section revealed bones that had almost completely lost their white color.

Then she cut the palm, which had become round in shape, and moved the knife in a cross pattern to divide it into four pieces. Blood mixed with meat juices dripped down the surface of the desk.

The cutting stopped there. Tossing the knife carelessly onto the desk, she now took the fork from me, speared one of the three-sectioned finger joints, and held it out.

“Say ‘aah,’ Master.”

With an “aah,” Olivia brought the fork with the finger close to my mouth. I could feel the warmth of the roasted meat on my lips, and the smell invaded my nostrils.

“I was such a fool. Of course newlyweds should feed each other. Thank you so much, Master. I was able to do this because of you. Truly, I still have so much to learn from you. This is why I need you, Master. Forever.”

One second, two seconds, three seconds. Time continued to pass. I still hadn’t opened my mouth. Despite my uncooperative attitude, which would normally provoke irritation, Olivia was still smiling.

I had never seen Olivia angry with me. No matter how uncooperative I was, no matter how I rebelled, she always treated me with a smile.

“Aah.”

—CRACK!

Yes, just like now.

A whip made of black mana that had sprung from the floor pierced my lower jaw and forcibly pulled it downward. The impact dislocated my jaw with a cracking sound.

Taking advantage of the opening, Olivia quickly pushed the fork into my mouth.

“Hehe, how is it? Delicious, right?”

My hyper-regeneration ability activated, pushing back the thorn that had half-destroyed my lower jaw. The mangled joint returned to its original position, and only then could I feel the texture of the meat in my mouth.

It was a taste I had experienced before.

And it was also a taste I never wanted to experience again.

The black mana extending from Olivia grabbed my lower jaw once more. Then it forcibly made a back-and-forth motion, making me chew and swallow the finger that had entered my mouth.

In this situation, there was no way she would control her strength. Every time my upper and lower jaws collided, teeth shattered and broke repeatedly.

The front teeth were the first to be destroyed, and the molars held out the longest. As teeth collided with each other and one side broke, the shattered teeth then dug into the gums and palate.

Gulp. My Adam’s apple pulsed slightly. The fragments of broken teeth and Olivia’s finger went down my throat together. I could no longer taste the meat.

My body immediately began to regenerate. The tooth fragments that had gone down my throat came back up through the esophagus and regained their original shape. The black mana holding my lower jaw gradually dissipated.

Still, there was one fortunate thing. Thanks to the blood I tasted as my mouth was literally smashed, I could ignore the flavor of Olivia’s finger.

“Feed me too, Master. Surely you’re not just going to receive?”

Olivia held the fork in reverse and extended the handle toward me. As I just glared at the outstretched handle, black mana pierced my hand and forced me to grasp it.

The fork was lukewarm, perhaps because it had been in Olivia’s hand until just a moment ago. I speared one of the roasted fingers on the table.

As I tried to bring it toward Olivia’s mouth, something brushed past my wrist. Exactly one second later, my severed wrist rolled on the floor.

Blood spurted from the cross-section. Wasn’t that the right answer?

“Wrong, Master.”

Olivia tapped her lips with her right hand.

“You should use this.”