Chapter 189 - 25: Why Is There a Kitten in the Kitchen

Chapter 189: Chapter 25: Why Is There a Kitten in the Kitchen

A Demon certainly could not be considered human.

When Lilia transformed back into black mist and slipped out through the crack in the door, the heavily intoxicated male servant didn’t notice her at all. She circled him once before drifting down the stairs.

The middle-aged man rubbed his eyes. By the time he opened them again, the faint, ephemeral black mist had already vanished. He paled in shock, almost convinced that the alcohol had gone to his head and caused hallucinations. For a moment, even his drunkenness dissipated significantly.

Paying no mind to the servant’s reaction, Lilia followed the staircase all the way out of the attic.

Raindrops the size of beans fell relentlessly, their transparent trails linking end to end like an inverted bead curtain. As a renowned and powerful noble in Taronia, Count Beaumont naturally had a massive residence. Especially on a night like this, with heavy rain and low visibility, a first-time visitor could easily get lost in the complex web of diverging paths. However, this was no obstacle for Lilia. Having lived here for over a decade, she could navigate the estate with her eyes closed.

Lilia didn’t head to the front hall. While there was indeed plenty of food there, there were also many Mages. Even those white-robed people who had chased her here might not have left yet. If she went there recklessly in her current state, she would likely be completely surrounded. To be safe, she had a better place to go.

The black mist continuously weaved through the night rain. Soon, she arrived outside a brightly lit building.

Compared to the quiet outside, it was incredibly noisy here. Dozens of figures bustled about the spacious area, punctuated by the occasional shouts of the steward. Mixed into the cacophony was the rich, savory aroma of food. There were freshly baked lobsters, fresh turbot, various cuts of roasted beef, mutton, and venison, along with countless types of small desserts. A dazzling array of food was neatly arranged on the central tables. People hurried back and forth, some placing freshly cooked dishes down, while others picked up trays to deliver them to the banquet hall in the main house.

Lilia had never visited the kitchen before. Seeing such a lively scene, she found it rather novel for a moment. She hid by the door and observed for a while, waiting for the moment when there were the fewest people near the tables before swiftly slipping underneath one.

Then, in a blind spot unnoticed by the servants, a child’s arm reached out from beneath the table. Once. And again. First, she grabbed a tablecloth, and then she began searching for simple, portable food.

"Lobsters have shells and are easy to eat, so I can take a few of those," she thought. "The pan-seared steaks are charred on the outside and tender on the inside, without any excess juice. I can pack those up too. I also can’t skip the staple foods. I’ll grab two extra loaves of white bread... Damn it, I forgot that staple foods rarely appear at banquets. In that case, I can only grab a few more pieces of meat. Eating more high-quality protein will provide enough energy..."

Under the table, the items Lilia had gathered quickly piled up in the center of the tablecloth. Feeling she had enough, she grabbed the opposite corners and tied them into a bundle with practiced ease. With the goods in hand, she now faced only one problem: how to get it out.

Getting in had been easy. Lilia could move as black mist, and few of the busy chefs and servants would notice a slight shift in the air’s color. However, she couldn’t carry objects in that state.

It wasn’t exactly impossible to carry things, but since the bundle wasn’t made of Demonic Qi, it couldn’t turn into black mist like she could. If she left in that state, from the servants’ perspective, they would see a bundle tumbling out the door at extreme speeds before vanishing into the rain outside. Unless she could convince them that they were experiencing a mass hallucination, this incident would sooner or later reach Count Beaumont’s ears as an urban legend of a haunted kitchen. By then, Lilia might not be able to stay hidden.

"What should I do?" The girl looked at the bundle in front of her, a worried expression crossing her face.

Just then, the steward’s angry shouts rang out from a short distance away. "I said half an hour ago that we need to prepare at least fifty portions of baked lobster! Why is the count still short?!"

Underneath the table, Lilia remembered that she had taken at least five large lobsters. For once, the girl lowered her head with a guilty conscience, though she felt absolutely no remorse in her heart. Baked lobsters were just really delicious.

A maid nearby responded in utter panic, "Sir! We should have already prepared enough..."

"Already prepared enough? Do you think I’m an idiot, or just blind?" The steward raised his voice again. "If they were really finished, then where are the remaining five portions? Don’t tell me they were eaten by rats!"

This was clearly an unreasonable outburst of anger. This was the kitchen of the Beaumont Earl Mansion. Let alone rats, if even a single fly landed on the ingredients during food preparation, the servants responsible for cleaning that day would probably be held accountable.

However, while the speaker meant nothing by it, the listener took it to heart. Lilia suddenly thought of a brilliant idea to sneak the food out.

On the other side of the dining table, the steward pinched the bridge of his nose. The food wasn’t finished, and losing his temper here wouldn’t help. Orders from the front hall could come down at any moment. He stopped pursuing who was responsible for the lack of efficiency and instead urged the chefs to swing their spatulas a bit faster.

The reprimanded maid let out a sigh of relief. She was just about to return to her unfinished work when her footsteps suddenly halted. Her normally slender eyes widened into perfect circles!

What... what did she just see?! Was it an illusion? It had to be an illusion! In a place like the kitchen, right under such an important dining table, how could a black cat suddenly run out?! And dragging a bundle almost the same size as its body! Sprinting at full speed!

What was even more bizarre was that the pattern on that bundle looked incredibly familiar. It looked... exactly like the tablecloths used in the kitchen!

The scene before her was too absurd. The maid even wanted to rub her eyes to prove that everything she saw was a hallucination.

The steward, who hadn’t gone far, saw the maid’s shocked gaze and wide-open mouth. The anger that had just subsided flared back up with a WHOOSH. "What are you standing around for?! Do you think we aren’t busy enough?!"

"N-No... sir! I just..."

"You just what? Spaced out? Got distracted? Or did your spirit leave your body and wander off to the Star Realm to meet the legendary Lord of Star Spirits?"

The maid was rendered speechless. Listening to the steward’s rapid-fire questioning, she wisely chose to keep her mouth shut. If she told him she had just seen a cat, the entire kitchen would probably explode in an uproar. After all, wild stray cats represented germs and contamination. If one really had appeared, all the prepared food would probably have to be thrown away. Not only would it need to be prepared all over again, but there certainly wouldn’t be enough time. When that happened, all the blame would fall entirely on her head.

Having worked here for so long, the maid was well versed in the golden rule: doing more only led to more mistakes. Since she was the only one among so many people who had seen it, she would just pretend it was her own hallucination.

"Yes. Exactly. It was definitely a hallucination!" she thought, nodding to herself. "How could a little kitty appear in a place as important as the kitchen?"

Having convinced herself, the maid meekly returned to her work.