The girl's voice carried a hint of irrepressible joy. With a faint smile, Elsa handed the cake box to Meli.
"The pharmacy owner gave it to me. I told him I was bringing the cake to a lovely Blessed Girl, and he was so happy he fell to the floor in convulsions."
"Don't gross me out, Elsa. I'll kill every one of those perverted aristocrats who enjoy tormenting children on sight."
Meli spat with a frown, her voice full of disgust, yet her hands quickly took the cardboard box, and she couldn't wait to flip open the packaging.
The box that originally held four pieces of cake now only had three left, but Meli didn't mind such small details.
The cloyingly sweet aroma of cream mingled with the scent of the fluffy baked cake base as it wafted out.
Meli's tense little face softened unconsciously as her bandaged Fingers pinched a small piece of cake and stuffed it into her mouth.
Her cheeks puffed out slightly, like a little squirrel that had snuck a snack.
"It's too sweet."
She mumbled indistinctly, but she didn't stop her movements; her other hand was already reaching for the second piece.
"If it weren't to recover my strength, I wouldn't touch something this sickeningly sweet."
"You should have a piece too, Elsa. I haven't seen you eat anything today."
With that, she pinched a piece of cake and handed it over.
Elsa pulled up her sleeve slightly and took the cake.
"It looks so beautiful, smooth and greasy like a fresh..."
"Stop, stop, stop, Elsa! Can you wait until after we finish eating before saying those disgusting things?"
Meli knew Elsa's terrible metaphors all too well. If she let her finish, she probably wouldn't be able to enjoy the cake anymore.
Elsa chuckled and took a bite. The cream was squeezed against her red lips, and with a flick of her fragrant tongue, she swept the corners of her mouth clean.
Neither of the two women noticed that inside the cake filling, there seemed to be some of the same strange powder as in the potion... Tap-tap!
A sudden sound of footsteps, approaching from afar, echoed outside the previously silent door.
The two inside immediately became alert. Meli, being injured, retreated toward a corner where there was a back door for evacuation.
Elsa leaned against the wall by the door, her Kukri already gripped in her hand.
While tracking them, Grin had kept quite a distance.
But a killer's sixth sense kept plucking at Elsa's nerves; she felt as if a thin thread was hooked onto her shadow... The magic mirror sensed Elsa's aura and gradually locked onto the coordinates.
Good grief, they're hiding so far away.
No wonder I couldn't find little Meli at first; she wasn't even in the service area.
The magic mirror flew to a wooden door and raised its handle to point.
"This is the place, Master. Both the big one and the little one are inside. Should we start a fire first or go with poison?"
"Hmm?" Grin glared fiercely at the magic mirror. "Are you trying to tell me how to do my job? Ever heard of 'courtesy before force'? Watch and learn."
After saying that, Grin straightened his clothes and walked up to the door in an orderly fashion.
Just as he raised his right hand to knock, he first called out loudly:
"Is anyone home? Community warmth delivery!"
Bam! The person inside kicked the door.
Grin's eyes widened as he felt the wooden door flying toward him.
"Holy crap!"
Boom!
The wooden planks smashed against Grin and shattered into countless small pieces.
Fortunately, Grin had a strong physique and was unharmed.
At that moment, Elsa stepped slowly out from the shadows behind the door, that signature faint smile on her face.
The Kukri in her hand glinted coldly under the moonlight, looking incredibly sharp.
"Young man, following a frail woman in the middle of the night isn't very gentlemanly behavior."
"You kicked the door off its hinges and you're calling yourself frail?"
Grin patted his clothes, shaking off the wood chips.
Elsa didn't dare relax at all. The person before her was dressed properly; he definitely wasn't a resident of this poor district.
Walking straight up to knock on their door made him even more suspicious.
He had shattered the sturdy wooden door upon impact without retreating a single step; from the feedback, this person was definitely not someone who could be easily defeated.
This was the first time Elsa had seen Grin in this form, and for a moment, her eyes held a hint of confusion.
"How strange. Have we met somewhere before, young man?"
The little mummy poked half a head out from behind the doorframe, with quite a few cake crumbs still hanging from the corners of her mouth.
Seeing this, Grin mischievously released a trace of the beast prince's aura.
Meli's pupils shrank suddenly, and her bandaged hand clamped over her mouth.
That oppressive feeling, mixed with the rank smell of the forest and sheer violence, pierced her nerves like ice-cold needles—it was the giant beast from the forest that had brought her such despair!
"It's you!"
"Elsa, this guy is that monster!"
Meli's teeth-gritting expression was exactly the same as that Ulgarum pup from before, though her trembling legs betrayed her unease.
Elsa's expression turned grave as she moved slightly in front of Meli.
"I see. Looking closely, your eyes are as beautiful as ever, Mr. Beast. Or should I call you the Fake Count?"
"Don't be nervous, I'm just here to check the water meter." Grin spread his hands and said with a wicked grin, "Now, who wants to be the water meter first?"
Elsa's ears twitched; she heard the rustling of people putting on clothes in the other residences upstairs.
"Mr. Beast, if you start something here, a lot of people are going to die."
The commotion from the door shattering just now had already woken up many nearby residents.
Lights flickered on in some houses, and a few hot-tempered older women leaned halfway out of their windows to curse:
"What's all the noise in the middle of the night? Are you going to let people sleep or not!"
"If you keep it up, I'll have the Guard arrest your whole family!"
Elsa deftly hid her Kukri in the darkness of the night, instantly switched to a pitiful expression, and bowed deeply toward those windows.
"Sumimasen! It's all because my dear husband drank too much outside. Our child is also very sick. Please, everyone, forgive us."
"Tsk tsk, what a useless man!"
"Exactly! This kind of trash only knows how to take his temper out on his wife!"
"I bet he's not even as good as an Earth Dragon..."
Grin wasn't happy about that. He pointed a small hand and shouted back, "Damn it! The one who mentioned the Earth Dragon, that's going too far!"
"You dare talk back! Today, this old lady is going to teach you a lesson!"
Splash! A basin of foot-washing water cascaded down from above.
"Holy crap!"
Grin quickly performed a lunging roll, barely dodging the lethal move.
"You old hag! You really want to be the nail that sticks out, don't you!"
"Oho!" The woman was full of fighting spirit, pointing at Grin from afar and cursing.
"You brat, just you wait!"
After saying that, the old woman turned back into her window, and a moment later, a "splashing" sound could be heard.
Grin guessed she had gone back to refill the water and quickly looked for cover.
Elsa narrowed her eyes into slits.
From the moment he appeared, Grin had acted with total ease, which gave Elsa a faint sense of foreboding.
Within just a few breaths, the old woman poked her head out of the window again, holding a basin brimming with water in both hands.
"You men, getting yourself all drunk and confused in the middle of the night, then coming back to beat your wife—you're nothing but a coward!"
Grin's eyelid twitched as he shot a glare at Elsa, the instigator of this situation.
Then, he put his hands on his hips, looked up, and shouted in one breath:
"I'll beat her if I want to! If I don't beat her today, I won't be able to sleep! If she doesn't get beaten by me today, she won't be able to sleep either! Not just her, I'm going in to thrash that little one too!"
As he spoke, Grin walked toward Meli's house.
The woman upstairs was so angry that smoke was practically coming out of her ears.
"This is truly outrageous! Why are all the men on this street alcoholic, violent jerks!"