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It took Lesiah more than ten seconds to distinguish reality from her dream after opening her eyes. Patterns of strange beasts carved into the black ceiling gradually grew clearer in her vision. The blood-red eyes on their ferocious faces seemed to have come alive and were staring right back at her.

They startled Lesiah and instantly cleared the fog in her mind before sending a chill down her spine.

Upon realizing that it was just a lifelike mural, she breathed a sigh of relief. Shortly after that, she found herself mulling over another question:

Where is this?

Just when she was about to scan the unfamiliar surroundings… A strange yet familiar face that she least wanted to see came into her view.

“Ohoho, you’re finally awake, beautiful Princess Lesiah.”
“Shiloah?!”

Her eyes widened and her body immediately tensed up. Thoughts of trying to escape from this strange person, who threatened to end her life several times, filled her head.

However, she couldn’t even budge.

It was only then she realized that her limbs and waist had been restrained, rendering her into a guinea pig on an experiment table. Apart from her neck and fingers, she couldn’t really move the other parts of her body.

Lesiah then finally recalled being poisoned by Shiloah’s mist. Remorse came back to her. She was an expert in traps, but she was careless enough to be caught in one that was this obvious.

“What the hell do you want with me?”

Her movements might be restricted, but certainly not her facial expression. She sent a death glare at her captor, like a puppy baring its fangs after being cornered. Rather than intimidation, it was more of an attempt to suppress her fear.

Shiloah remained unbothered. He merely dragged a sharp claw along her flawless skin, leaving a faint white mark in its wake. A look of admiration appeared on his face as he admired his perfect artwork.

Lesiah gritted her teeth to suppress the disgust welling up in her, as she thought to herself that she much preferred Lilith’s touch over his!

“Ohoho, what do I want to do? Didn’t I make it clear before?”

His half-painted black and white face drew closer to hers before he repeated his plan word by word.

“To. Turn. You. Into. My. Main. Course.”
“What?!”

Lesiah jolted when she realized that she wasn’t bound to an experiment table, but an extremely huge plate.

She had been put in a white dress and laid on a speckless white plate, looking no different than a white carp waiting to be placed in a steamer.

Out of the corner of her eye, she finally noticed something that made her tremble in fear.

A brown woven bamboo structure with steam constantly escaping from the top of it. She could even hear the rumble of boiling water.

It turned out to be a gigantic steamer!

Color instantly drained from her face as tremor raked her delicate body.

She could even hear her heart thumping against her chest loud and clear, probably at a rate of two hundred beats per minute.

“Y-You’re… not planning on steaming me alive, right?”
“Ohoho, I never joke around.”

Out of nowhere, Shiloah took out a wicker basket and started hopping around Lesiah as he threw various ingredients, like a fairy throwing rose petals.

“Carrots, cabbages, tomatoes, potatoes… Hmm… Ginger, garlic, star anise, bay leaves…”

Lesiah’s heart pounded violently at every ingredient he named. She could barely contain her urge to scream in fear.

“W-Wait…! I’m not tasty at all…! I haven’t had a bath for three days! My body is extremely filthy! You’re gonna have a bad stomach ache if you eat me…!”

However, Shiloah showed no signs of slowing down.

“Ohoho, I’m not human. Things you may perceive as filthy don’t necessarily mean the same to me. If I were really bothered by that, I wouldn’t be steaming you alive.”

A wave of disgust washed over her when she understood the implication of his words.

There was no way she wanted to be eaten by such a disgusting guy!!

“HELP!”
“Ohoho, don’t count on anyone rescuing you. That companion of yours named Lilith had probably died tragically. To be safe, we even made sure to only pull both of you here. That way, there’ll be zero chance of anyone else coming to your rescue this time.”
“Lilith… is dead?”

Lesiah’s eyes widened in disbelief.

The golden demon that the nine human nations showed no hesitation in issuing a kill order and offered a bounty of one billion gold? That lecherous demon who did all those animalistic things to me? She died so suddenly without a warning? How is that possible? Would she keel over and die this easily?

“Impossible! You must be lying!”
“Ohoho, do you really think I can’t take care of one little girl when you were out cold for so long?”
“…..”

Silence filled the air.

Deep in her heart, she knew that even if Lilith was made of steel, her armor would’ve been punctured by now, after passing out for so long.

Shiloah wasn’t lying.

And this outcome stemmed from her incompetence to see through such a simple trick.

Lilith’s death was her sin.

“Ohoho, what’s the matter with you, princess? Have you not always despised that person? Why do I see a trace of… sadness and… anger within you?”
“……”
“Ohoho, how scary. Too bad, looks can’t kill.”

With enough ingredients added, Shiloah placed the plate, where Lesiah was lying on, into a huge steamer.

“Ohoho, humans are strange creatures indeed. Despite being so terrified of their imminent death, news of their dead companion was enough to invoke anger so strong that it could overshadow terror. This truly eludes my understanding.”

“I’m gonna kill you!” Lesiah spat bitterly.

“Ohoho, unfortunately, that shall remain an unrealized dream, for you will soon become my most perfect meal.”

Shiloah effortlessly lifted the steamer insert, along with the huge plate where Lesiah was lying on, like they weighed nothing.

They were then lowered into the steam basket before a lid was placed over it.

As soon as Lesiah was trapped inside the steamer, the air around her instantly turned hot and humid. It didn’t take her long to experience difficulty in breathing.

Then, something in her body evaporated along with water. She felt her pores slowly getting cleaned out and she even gradually relaxed. It felt like she was enjoying a good sauna.

“Ohoho, this is only a brief respite. Please enjoy it while it lasts, princess.”

The princess knew that this wasn’t the time to enjoy a free sauna. The utility blade between her right thumb and index finger was already working on cutting the shackle that bound her wrist.

Unfortunately, her efforts were futile as it didn’t even leave a scratch on the metallic surface. All it did was fill Lesiah’s heart with anxiety and despair.

It went without saying that an omniscient being like Shiloah wouldn’t overlook the fact that she had a blade hidden up her sleeve. A blade of that size, even with battle qi instilled in it, could do nothing against metal.

And the despair of having Lesiah’s hopes being snuffed out along with her life was exactly what he needed.

It was something that would make her even more flavorful.

The ultimate flavor that he pursued.

As the temperature in the steamer continued to rise, Lesiah started registering pain on her skin, in her nose, throat, respiratory tract and lungs. Those sensitive organs could barely handle the heat and she started having difficulty in breathing.

Even with a layer of battle qi protection, the hot air was threatening to pierce through the thin protective barrier. She had no idea how high the temperature of the air was by now, but it would definitely burn her respiratory system and skin within an instant.