I Supported My Fiancé for 10 Years After He Said, 'Let's Get Married When I Succeed,' but When He Finally Did, He Dumped Me. By the Way, I'm a Witch and Turning 30 Next Year!! - Episode 32

For some reason, the dinner I had prepared last night was now being shared not only with Ie but also with Carbuncle.

Carbuncle hadn’t eaten anything for the past month, so it eagerly devoured the food.

“A whole month? Were you okay?”

Ie answered my question.

“A sacred beast only eats like this when its holy power is depleted. Generally, this is called ‘holy eating.’”

“I see.”

Apparently, it converts the magic within food into holy power and absorbs it. Because of this, not eating for a month wasn’t a problem, and normally, it wouldn’t be eating so greedily.

Since I had made plenty of food, it wasn’t an issue that Carbuncle ate so much. We decided to eat as well.

“Ie, shall we eat?”

“Yes, let’s eat.”

We gave thanks to the gods and appreciated the blessings from the heavens.

The onion gratin soup had melty cheese, and the onions were simmered until they were soft enough to melt in the mouth. Ie looked completely astonished as he ate.

“I’ve never had such delicious soup before!”

“Oh really? It’s actually a common dish in restaurants around here.”

For someone of noble status, a dish where cheese stretches as you scoop it with a spoon probably wasn’t part of his usual meals.

Ie seemed to love the onion gratin soup, which made me happy.

The white fish meunière was coated in breadcrumbs before being grilled, making the outside crispy and the inside tender. It paired perfectly with tartar sauce.

The roasted winter vegetables brought out their natural sweetness, the lamb pie had incredibly tender meat, and the tomato-braised spare ribs had meat so soft that it fell right off the bone.

Everything turned out delicious.

Even the homemade bread, which I had thought might be too much, disappeared in no time.

Ie ate with such enthusiasm that it was a pleasure to watch. It made all the effort worth it.

Carbuncle also ate a surprising amount—probably even more than I did.

Its belly was round and full, making it look incredibly adorable.

“Phew… It has been so long since I’ve had such delicious food.”

“Couldn’t you be satisfied with Saint Sui’s holy meals?”

“Her food is awful! No, it became awful!”

Became awful? What did that mean?

Ie leaned in closer to Carbuncle, pressing for an answer, but Carbuncle averted its gaze as if it had said something it hadn’t meant to.

“If you tell us, I’ll give you some custard pie and berry tart.”

“I’ll talk!!”

It was surprisingly easy to bribe. While thinking that, I cut up the desserts and served them.

Carbuncle wagged its long tail from side to side as it ate, not leaving a single crumb behind.

After finishing everything, it suddenly snapped back to reality.

“Ugh… I had planned to solve this on my own, and now I have to talk about it…! It’s all because the custard pie and berry tart were too delicious!”

Even as it shifted the blame, Carbuncle kept its promise and began to explain.

“Actually, someone appeared with the intention of kidnapping the Saint!”

Carbuncle had tried to protect her, but every attack spell it used was absorbed and reflected back with twice the strength.

“Not only that, but I was blasted outside the Holy Church and sealed away until just recently.”

It had regained consciousness a month later.

The place it had been transported to was the attic of the apothecary, and the loud “boom!!” from earlier was likely the result of it breaking free from the seal.

“To think such a thing happened within the Holy Church…”

“They must have cast strong warding and soundproofing magic.”

“So, who was the enemy?”

“I don’t know.”

The only thing it was certain about was that the enemy used a sinister type of magic that was the complete opposite of holy magic.

“The opposite of holy magic?”

Ie looked at me, as if asking for my opinion.

“It was probably dark magic.”

Unlike black magic, dark magic consisted only of forbidden spells that were extremely powerful and cruel.

Hearing that even the sacred beast Carbuncle couldn’t stand against it, I could only think of one explanation.

“Dark magic?”

“Yes. It usually requires a sacrifice to activate, and its effects include cursing people, stealing things, or creating monsters—horrible things that make you sick just hearing about them.”

The only thing that could rival dark magic was the great holy magic wielded by the Saint.

“Is there a connection between this and the Saint’s cooking becoming bad?”

Ie’s question was sharp.

Carbuncle noticeably flinched.

“Uh… well… yes. The thing is, the Saint…”

Carbuncle looked off into the distance before revealing a shocking truth.

“The Saint actually died once.”

“What!?”

The moment I heard those words, a shock ran through me.