The light in the castle corridor came from the candle stands held by two ghoul guards. Following Butler Laisa's orders, they were heading to the kitchen to see how Chef Nelson was getting along with the food.
"This game seems to have lasted quite a bit longer than usual."
"Mr. Vali must be delighted. He loves board games, but unfortunately, his opponents never last three hours."
They chatted idly.
Before they knew it, the two ghoul guards had reached the castle kitchen... The door was ajar, and a sliver of light spilled through, but neither guard heard any sound coming from inside.
"Mr. Nelson, are you there? We came to see whether the food was ready."
The guards pushed open the kitchen door. At a glance, however, they could not see Chef Nelson anywhere... The candles were lit, and some fresh meat had been left on the table.
More precisely, it was a long, straight thigh—a woman's left leg.
"He must have been preparing this meat... Maybe something came up and he stepped away?" Ghoul Guard A thought for a moment, then walked straight to the table. He picked up a chef's knife, sliced off a piece of flesh from the left leg, which had evidently only just been thawed, put it into his mouth, and slowly chewed. "Mm. Not bad."
"This food is for the banquet." Ghoul Guard B shook his head.
"What's the harm? A few slices of meat won't matter... Huh? What's this? The thing you stepped on?"
"Maybe it's Mr. Nelson's pet?" Ghoul Guard B answered instinctively. They knew that Mr. Nelson kept a large number of spiders and reptiles. But when he lifted his foot, what he saw was not one of Mr. Nelson's adorable pets.
They had stepped on a chef's hat.
"This isn't