Chapter 123: Let Them Eat Cake

By the time Sora finished preparing everything, it was almost dinner.

Not long afterward, Ace and Lucas arrived at the wild kitchen.

Xavier was already seated at the round table.

Lukan was there as well.

It wasn’t surprising that Xavier had arrived early.

That snake had been visiting Sora more and more frequently recently, so his early arrival was practically becoming a habit.

What surprised everyone was Lukan.

He had arrived even before Ace and Lucas.

Usually, Lukan was easygoing and gentle with everyone. He rarely showed any signs of aggression or hostility.

Yet today, something was clearly different.

Xavier had been glaring at him for quite some time.

The atmosphere between the two was so tense that even Ace noticed it immediately.

He glanced between them.

What had happened?

Xavier’s possessiveness was obvious, but Lukan was usually so mild that Ace couldn’t understand why the snake seemed particularly irritated by him today.

Knowing Xavier wasn’t someone who could easily be questioned, Ace wisely turned toward Lukan.

"Why did you come back so early today?"

Lukan’s expression remained calm.

His voice was as gentle as usual.

"I caught my prey a little earlier than expected, so I returned sooner."

Ace nodded.

He didn’t ask anything else.

Although he was curious about why Xavier seemed to be glaring at Lukan as though the latter had committed some unforgivable offense, it wasn’t appropriate for him to interfere.

Instead, Ace quietly nudged Lucas and motioned toward Xavier.

Lucas glanced over.

Then he shrugged.

"What’s there to see? Let him be angry by himself."

His tone was casual, but his eyes held a knowing look.

Lucas didn’t need much time to figure out the reason.

It probably had something to do with Sora.

Ever since Sora and Lukan had returned from the Temple of the Gods, Xavier had started behaving strangely.

His possessiveness had become even more obvious.

And now, after seeing Lukan arrive early and spend so much time with Sora, it seemed the snake’s patience had finally reached its limit.

Across the table, Xavier’s cold gaze remained fixed on Lukan.

Lukan, however, continued sitting calmly.

He didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.

Neither of them spoke.

But the invisible competition between the two beastmen had already begun.

Sora, who was busy preparing the evening meal, remained completely unaware of the subtle confrontation taking place behind her.

She simply looked at the cake sitting in front of her and smiled.

She had finally succeeded in making it.

And more importantly, she had just found another way to attract Ryan’s attention.

As long as she continued creating things he had never seen before, she believed she would eventually break through his defenses.

She just hadn’t expected that her actions would also stir up another kind of competition among the males around her.

For now, though, Sora had more important things to worry about.

Dinner.

And the cake.

The moment she looked at the fluffy cake topped with bright red berries, her stomach growled softly.

She immediately decided that before anyone else could fight over it—

she was going to have the first bite.

* * * * *

Ever since Sora and Lukan had gone to the Heavenly God Mountain, Xavier had started behaving strangely.

Ace had noticed it more than once.

The usually cold and calculating snake seemed to become especially irritable whenever Lukan was anywhere near Sora. Even now, Xavier’s dark gaze remained fixed on Lukan, making the atmosphere around the table slightly awkward.

Ace was just about to say something when Lucas suddenly brightened.

"What’s that?"

His eyes widened as he stared toward the path.

"It looks really good!"

Everyone immediately turned in the direction Lucas was looking.

Sora was walking toward them carrying something round.

At first glance, it looked almost like a small mountain.

Its surface was covered in a layer of pale, fluffy cake, and bright red wild raspberries were scattered across the top. The combination of the white cake and vivid red berries made it look particularly attractive.

Sora’s lips curved upward when she saw everyone’s expressions.

She carefully placed the cake on the center of the table.

"This is my newly developed raspberry cake."

She paused briefly before adding, "Since I made it with everyone’s help, you should all try it."

Sora had become much more careful with her words lately.

She didn’t want to accidentally reveal anything that could later be used against her. Living among a group of powerful beastmen meant she couldn’t afford to be careless.

As she glanced around the table, however, she suddenly noticed that one person was missing.

Damien wasn’t there.

Sora frowned slightly.

"Where’s Damien?"

Lucas shrugged.

"I don’t know. I haven’t seen him today."

Ace followed up with a puzzled expression.

"Neither have I. Where could that black bear have gone?"

Sora frowned thoughtfully.

Damien usually wasn’t someone who disappeared without saying anything.

Before she could think too deeply about it, a crisp voice suddenly came from above.

"Kaelira, were you thinking about me?"

Sora immediately looked up.

A familiar figure dropped down from a nearby tree.

She rolled her eyes.

"When did I think about you?"

Damien grinned as he walked over.

"If you weren’t thinking about me, why did you ask where I was?"

Sora stared at him.

"When did asking where someone is mean I was thinking about them?"

Damien sat down in his usual place, completely shameless.

"You can keep pretending."

"I wasn’t pretending."

Sora gave him an annoyed look before picking up the cake.

"You’re just too self-important."

She placed the cake down and immediately turned around.

She wasn’t going to waste her time arguing with this black bear.

He had almost managed to lead her into his ridiculous line of reasoning.

Sora walked back toward the bread oven.

She opened the oven and began taking out the other food she had prepared.

One roasted chicken.

Several sweet potatoes.

The dried kiwi slices.

One by one, she carried everything back to the table.

Soon, the simple round table was filled with food.

Lucas stared at the feast before him.

"Today’s dinner is too extravagant. There’s everything!"

His eyes moved from the roasted chicken to the sweet potatoes and finally settled on the cake in the middle.

Damien, who had been pretending not to care, also looked toward the cake.

Although he had never seen anything quite like it before, he had already heard Sora talk about it.

He took a deep breath.

"It looks delicious."

His tone was deliberately casual.

But Sora knew exactly what he was doing.

This black bear was clearly trying to flatter her.

Still, she was in a good mood today.

After all, this cake was her pride and joy.

So she decided to give him some face.

"This is my new cake. You guys should try it."

Sora reached toward the cake.

The moment she did, several pairs of eyes followed her hand.

Every single beastman at the table was staring.