raknovel 121. Plump hind legs!
121. Plump hind legs!
Xin Lai stood up and swung the now-cleaned Sacred Flame Blade down with great force.
The blade made a slight sizzling sound as it entered the flesh; that was the sound of the blade touching the scalding grease.
He cut into the fattest piece, the marbling clearly visible at the cut, the juices flowing down the blade, glistening in the firelight.
He cut off a thick slice, skewered it with a cleaned and trimmed bear rib, and turned to hand it to Eve.
"Eat up, that's about enough."
He pushed the meat skewers forward a bit, adding, "Be careful, they're hot."
Eve's eyes lit up instantly, as if the dark red current in her pupils had been injected with new fuel.
She reached out and took the roasted meat. The moment her fingertips touched the bone, she involuntarily swallowed and made a soft gurgling sound in her throat.
The piece of meat was still emitting tiny white steam, and the fat sizzled and danced at the edges of the meat, emitting an aroma so close it almost overwhelmed her reason.
"Uh-huh."
She must have taken Xinlai's advice to heart. After taking the roast meat, she subconsciously brought her mouth to the meat and gently blew on it, wanting it to cool down a bit before taking a bite.
However, she forgot one thing.
A visible gust of cold air escaped from her lips, like the most biting wind on a snowfield compressed into a tiny beam, precisely striking the piece of roasted meat.
The sizzling grease on the surface solidified instantly under the chill, making a soft crackling sound, and transformed from a liquid crystalline sheen into a thin white solid film adhering to the surface of the meat.
The surface of the meat, which was still faintly red in the center, was covered by this chill. The steam that was originally rising stopped abruptly, and the whole piece of roasted meat went from being scalding hot to being lukewarm in the blink of an eye.
The temperature wasn't completely lost, after all, it was just a casual breath, not a real water magic.
However, the texture and taste are definitely not as appealing as before. Once the oil solidifies and then melts, the melt-in-your-mouth smoothness will be greatly reduced.
Eve paused for a moment, then looked down at the roast meat in her hand, her brows furrowing in a complicated expression.
She also forgot that she was already a witch.
After her magic awakened, her body underwent a fundamental change.
Now, even her casual breath naturally carries a strong magical power and the aura of water and ice elements.
This is an instinctive reaction of her witch-like constitution, and has nothing to do with her own will; it's as natural as an ordinary person exhaling carbon dioxide.
But she hasn't gotten used to this change yet, and hasn't learned how to rein in this ever-present, ever-present magic in her daily life.
Xinlai watched all of this without showing any surprise. She simply took the skewer of meat that had been blown cold from Eve's hand and put it back on the makeshift grill above the campfire.
The meat hissed the moment it touched the flame, and the solidified fat began to melt again.
"Let me cut it for you again."
He spoke in a very calm tone, without complaining, blaming, or even the slightest hint of impatience.
But a fleeting hint of disappointment flashed in Eve's eyes, not at Xinlai, but at herself.
She now needs help even to eat a piece of grilled meat, and even the most basic daily actions can be messed up because of the changes in her body.
The noblewoman who used to live freely among people is gone; in her place is a witch who has to carefully control even her breathing.
That disappointment lingered in her eyes for less than a second before she forcibly suppressed it.
Her gaze then returned to the whole bear hind leg sizzling and charring over the campfire, and a renewed desire for food rekindled in her eyes.
Disappointment is one thing, but hunger is another, and the two things are not contradictory at this moment. Besides, no matter what, Xinlai is still by her side, and that is the most important thing.
Xinlai cut off a new piece of meat, this time choosing a spot further inside, where the meat was more tender and the fat was more evenly distributed.
When the blade sliced through the meat, the juices practically gushed out, flowing down the blade onto his fingers. He skewered it with a bear rib, making sure the temperature wasn't too hot before handing it over.
Eve took the roast meat. This time, she learned her lesson and didn't blow on it. Instead, she carefully opened her mouth and gently tore off a small piece with her teeth. Her eyes widened slightly the moment the meat entered her mouth.
It's fatty but not greasy, and the lean meat is tender without being overly mushy, with just the right amount of chewiness. Every bite releases bursts of juice in your mouth.
The meat fibers of monsters are firmer than those of ordinary wild animals, but the roasting time is just right, ensuring that it is cooked through without becoming dry.
Although no seasonings were added—no salt, spices, or sauces were present—the richness of the flavor was indeed diminished.
But the taste is simply unbeatable; the pure aroma of meat alone is enough to make it a delicious dish.
In addition, this meat was baked by Xin Lai herself, and she and Xin Lai had just been through so much together. As she ate the meat and swallowed it, the warmth spread from her stomach to her limbs, making her unable to resist tearing off a second bite.
She ate with relish, her cheeks puffing out as she chewed, moving back and forth with the movement of her teeth, like a squirrel hoarding food.
Seeing that she was eating peacefully, Xinlai picked up the skewer of grilled meat that Eve had cooled down and then reheated, and sat down next to Eve to eat it slowly.
He took a bite, chewing very slowly, not because he was savoring the taste, but because his mind was not on the meat at all.
It's obviously unrealistic to take Eve directly back to the royal city.
Such a large fluctuation of magical power, whether it was the leakage during the awakening process or the elemental aura that Eve is constantly emanating from, is too conspicuous.
Once this level of magical fluctuations gets close to the royal city, the monitoring arrays and magical detection devices in the father's palace will immediately sound an alarm.
By then, whether the official explanation is the birth of a witch or the emergence of heresy, it will not be a trivial matter that the father can simply laugh off.
My father has always been swift and decisive when it comes to matters concerning the kingdom's security; he would rather kill a thousand innocent people than let one guilty person go free.
But Sinlai, being a prince, couldn't disappear for too long.
A day and a night was the limit of his escape this time.
So many things happened yesterday, the cleanup work must be piling up, and he needs to go back and deal with the mess he left behind personally.
Although Alaya could help cover things up for a while, she was not the prince himself, and some things had to be handled by Sinlai himself.
If he delays any longer, once the news reaches his father's ears, the investigation will have a chain reaction, and in the end, not only will he himself be implicated, but Eve's existence may also be exposed.
Xinlai chewed on meat, but his brows furrowed more and more, the firelight casting a deep shadow between his brows.