READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 16
Chapter 16 – What Are You Touching?!
Fruits have a bunch of ways to spread their seeds around. The fruit that Lian had split open was one of those sneaky types. But instead of smelling all sweet and nice, it had an odor similar to raw meat to lure in animals.
This fruit was packed with seeds like a strawberry, so even if a single animal took a bite, it ended up helping the fruit spread its seeds. Hence, it evolved to smell like raw meat to attract even more critters.
But nobody in the kitchen had a clue about this.
“What on earth… what happened?”
Noah stared at Lian, his eyes trembling, darting around like a chicken running from a hawk.
Even though she had run off for a comfy life, Noah couldn’t just ignore Lian, who was busy cleaning up with his blood-soaked hands that looked like they could pop.
“Look me in the eyes and tell me. Was it actually an insect? If that bug exists, we need to find it now, or the kids are gonna be in serious trouble!”
“Uh, well… the thing is…”
Lian, flustered by Noah’s serious stare, started spilling the beans about what went down.
The problem was that Lian was so flustered he started elaborating the tale way too much, beginning from when he arrived in the kitchen.
“No, this isn’t right!”
Lian paused with a pout, stopping just short of detailing how he dropped a jar in the kitchen.
“Let’s stick to the main points.”
In the comedy biz, if a person rambles too much, most folks just nod off and leave. So, Lian, out of habit, decided to cut down to the chase.
“Phew… to put it simply, when I got to the kitchen, it was a total mess. While I was cleaning, Lady Lania showed up and caught an intruder hiding out. And then…”
“What?! Hold on! An intruder?!”
“Uh, yeah. This dude with ridiculously big arms and a skinny body… right, and his cheekbones were sticking out like crazy.”
Noah’s face turned ghost white.
He remembered seeing a man with arms so thick they were practically weird and cheekbones that stood out like a sore thumb.
The rain was pouring down, mixing with sounds of bargaining and screams that echoed through the forest, stabbing at Noah’s eardrums.
The temperature had dropped so much that Noah’s hands felt like they were frozen, gripping tight in pain. He was desperately trying to keep himself and his brother Nero warm, somehow holding onto their stubborn lives.
“Tch, it’s always filthy around here.”
Crouching up to maintain warmth, that’s when a sharp voice cut through. Noah pulled Nero closer and carefully shifted his gaze outside the narrow cage they were in.
The dude outside, with arms bulging to an absurd level and a stick-thin body, caught their attention with those protruding cheekbones that were just too hard to ignore.
“Welcome! Are you looking for something in particular?”
Dovan, dressed in robes only fancy high-ranking dark sorcerers wear, had the slave trader scurrying over, rubbing his hands together like some nervous fly.
“Heh, you don’t recognize me?”
“What?! Oh– wait… it’s you, Master Dovan!”
The slave trader was sweating buckets, sneakily glancing at Dovan’s exaggeratedly jutting cheekbones.
“Well, you know what I want then.”
The slave trader could feel icy sweat trickling down his spine. Dovan was a mad dark sorcerer that took joy in twisted experiments.
Desperate, the trader dug deep into his memories, hoping to recall Dovan’s peculiar tastes.
“Ah! Naturally, I know what you seek! Come this way, I’ll show you the top-notch slaves!”
The slave trader bowed so low it looked like he might break, pointing awkwardly with both arms at the same time. Dovan seemed pleased—no words were necessary as he followed along.
But just as Dovan was about to move forward, a slave being dragged along like a bewildered animal collapsed right in front of him.
This slave flopped down because their tendons were sliced, unable to walk properly, and the muddy floor was too slippery!
Splat.
The skinny slave fell into the filthy puddle. Struggling like a fish out of water, they gasped up at Dovan.
“…”
Dovan silently glared at his shoes and pants. The mud shot up from the fallen slave had messed up his shoes and pants, and he was NOT having it.
“How dare you…!”
With a fierce glint in his eye, Dovan pointed his wand at the fallen slave.
As he opened his mouth to chant, an ominous magic circle flared to life in the air.
Whoosh!
A fireball, about the size of half a head, zoomed straight at the slave.
Boom!
“Arrrggghhh!”
In a flash, the slave was engulfed in dark flames and turned to cinders like dry kindling.
The horrific smell of human flesh roasting made Noah slam a rag over his mouth like a makeshift mask, covering his brother’s mouth the same way.
Thump, thud!
“How dare you! How dare you wreck my clothes!”
Dovan kicked the charred remains, spewing a torrent of curses.
Crunch.
A sound no one wanted to hear echoed, and Noah squeezed his eyes shut. It felt like he couldn’t breathe. He wanted to cry out. But he just couldn’t.
Crying would only get him sold quicker, or worse, get him beaten to a pulp for being too loud. He’d seen too many kids perish for that very reason.
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Uh? What?!”
“Do you want to die?!”
“Arrghhh!”
Boom!
Dovan, furious, unleashed a spell at the panicking slave trader, who couldn’t even make eye contact.
Afraid that Dovan’s rage might shift towards them, Noah curled tighter around the shaking Nero.
‘That man was in the kitchen?!’
Noah’s face paled even more.
“But nothing serious happened… wait, what are you touching?!”
“You—where are you hurt?!”
Noah yanked up Lian’s blood-stained clothes, shivering at the contact. His eyes fell on scars that looked like scribbled notes—ones he had seen before.
“I’m really not hurt!”
Lian yanked his shirt down forcefully, shouting back.
“But there’s blood…!”
“Talking about blood again—oh, this?”
Lian finally realized Noah mistook juice stains on his clothes for blood.
‘It really does look like blood. Even the smell…’
Given that they were in the land ruled by the Demon King, fruits that smelled bloody or pulsed like a heartbeat weren’t exactly rare.
There were fruits that could make humans sick, and some looked downright creepy.
“This isn’t blood; it’s juice from making this!”
Lian pointed to the neatly poured juice in the cups. The juice in the cup kind of looked like blood someone might keep around for a midnight snack—vampire-style.
“That’s… juice?”
“Yeah, it doesn’t taste bad. Just a sec.”
He had saved some fruit while working. When he brought over what he’d set aside, Noah’s eyes widened in uncertainty.
“Try this.”
“This…?”
“It’s really delicious!”
At that, Noah gulped hard, trembling a bit as he picked up the soft fruit.
As he lifted it, juice squirted out—not blood—flowing as he shoved it into his mouth.
“…!”
“Good, right?”
Noah nodded silently. Just as he said, it was pretty tasty. Before he knew it, he had grabbed another piece, and Lian beamed, setting a plate in front of him, encouraging him to indulge more.
“I’ll go grab the juice! You keep munching!”
“Wait…!”
But before Noah could grab Lian back, Lian took off like a rocket, making it impossible for Noah to catch him.
“…So why are your hands like that?”
Only then did Noah realize Lian was hiding another injury.
“When he comes back… I’ll have to ask properly.”
What kind of wound was it? A fresh one or an old scar?
Such thoughts raced through his mind, quickly giving way to feelings mixed with self-mockery.
‘What are you even gonna do once you figure it out? Even if you find out, what can you actually do?’
Noah silently stared down at his juice-stained hands. Those hands, dyed red like blood, felt as if they had caused harm.
Drip, splash!
Panicking, Noah rushed to the sink, turned on the tap, and furiously washed away the juice stains.
“It’s just fruit, really. Yeah, nothing to worry about.”
He scrubs obsessively, but the red didn’t seem to want to budge—at least, that’s how it felt.
Splash…
As Noah heard the rushing water, it reminded him of Dovan’s face. He remembered the times he secretly wiped away tears while holding Nero close.
“…”
Noah stared silently at the water spiraling down the drain. A feeling of hopelessness began to creep in.
While Noah wrestled with his trauma, Lian was just entering the reception room.
“Ugh, guaaak!”
“Hmm, what’s up?”
“Please finish the cookies first before talking, Master.”
When he opened the door, the scene that met him was Dovan, tightly bound in iron chains, rolling around on the floor, while Lania, mouth stuffed with cookies, bombarded Dovan with various spells.
Mia sat on a couch, flicking through a hefty book.
“Hmm.”
Lian quietly shut the door he had just opened.