When Lucifer was in his past life, he still had some cooking skills under his belt.
But after spending a century as a Sanguine in Terra, he had completely adapted to their lifestyle.
His only intake was blood.
Not to mention bowls, chopsticks, pots, or spoons, the only seasoning in Lucifer’s entire house was alcohol.
Besides, food seasonings on Terra were notoriously rare.
In the entirety of Kazdel, the only place likely to have luxury items like salt or sugar was probably the Demon King’s palace.
Fortunately, most of the Sarkaz Royal Courts didn’t need to consume food like normal people to acquire nutrients and energy, otherwise Lucifer would have starved to death long ago.
As for Warfarin, she was even less of a cook.
Most of the blood she consumed was mooched off Lucifer.
If it were just him and Warfarin tonight, it wouldn’t have mattered.
But they had Ermangarde with them, and a Lich obviously couldn’t share a meal with Sanguines.
Staring at the dumbfounded looks on Lucifer and Warfarin’s faces, Ermangarde let out a heavy sigh.
She should have guessed the lifestyle habits of Sanguines.
Fortunately, Ermangarde always carried a few food ingredients “on her person” just in case when traveling far.
“Alright, well, surely you guys have fire here?”
“How rude.
We are Sanguines—we not use fire.”
Isn’t it common knowledge that vampires are afraid of fire?
Feeling Ermangarde’s intensely skeptical gaze on him, Lucifer couldn’t help but look away.
“What do you expect, should I summon a Sarkaz Diablo for you?”
In the end, Lucifer and Ermangarde still managed to scrounge up some candle flames and matches.
Though it wasn’t much, it was probably enough to grill some meat.
Ermangarde reached into the “void rift” on her chest and pulled out some prepared beast meat, along with cumin powder specifically for outdoor grilling.
The seemingly bottomless “void rift” and the white rope knot extending from the dark abyss piqued Lucifer’s curiosity immensely.
He really felt like pulling that rope knot to see if he could pull it all the way out.
However, Lucifer suppressed the urge, lest he accidentally drain Ermangarde’s HP bar to zero.
“Uh-huh?
Curious about my rift?”
Lucifer’s intense stare made it impossible for Ermangarde to ignore.
Hearing this, Lucifer nodded.
The Liches he had met could be counted on one hand, mostly brief encounters due to Royal Court business.
Ermangarde was definitely the most memorable Lich he’d met.
Besides, who wouldn’t be curious when someone has a literal black hole on their chest?
Come on, that’s so cool!
“A bit.
Can that void rift of yours hold anything?”
“Void rift?
That’s an interesting name for it…
But no, not everything.
At most, it can hold about the size of a single room.”
“What about living creatures?”
“Probably not…
At least, I wouldn’t want to try…”
These were all old, repetitive questions for a Lich.
Almost everyone who saw it would ask how much stuff a Lich’s “void rift” could hold, and whether small animals could be put inside too.
The former was easy enough to answer, but the latter was a bit more complicated.
In theory, it wasn’t impossible to put living creatures, like animals, into a void rift.
But no Lich was willing to try.
Deep inside every Lich’s void rift lay their life-knot.
If those animals or some other living creatures accidentally damaged their life-knot, they’d be in for a world of hurt.
And the reason for this causal link was something Liches—Ermengarde included—would never easily share with others.
Otherwise, it would be tantamount to exposing a Lich’s weaknesses and operational strengths.
But if it was Lucifer…
Before long, the three of them were eating hot, savory grilled meat.
“By the way, do you Sanguines eat raw meat?”
“Don’t do us dirty like that.
We’re not as barbaric as the Scavengers and Wendigos.”
Ermengarde’s comment was a stereotype that Sanguines were tired of hearing.
People unfamiliar with Sanguine habits often confused their diet with those of the Scavengers and Wendigos.
But as long as it was a flesh-and-blood creature, it would usually end up being divided among these three major races, sometimes leaving not even a splinter of bone behind.
“I thought you guys lived solely on blood.”
“That’s a bit of a stereotype.
Just because blood is a Sanguine’s staple diet doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy normal food.
I mean, would you turn down a dessert like cake?”
Lucifer immediately spoke up to clear his name.
Even though he had been fully shaped into a Sanguine inside and out, Lucifer hadn’t completely forgotten his foodie nature.
It was just that food which seemed ordinary to him—like grilled meat sprinkled with cumin—was extremely rare in Kazdel.
Talk about looking like a clown.
“…”
Ermengarde watched Lucifer tear into the cooked meat bite by bite, her mind wandering slightly.
Despite being a Prince second only to the Sanguinarch, he was an oddity who felt out of place among the Sanguines, and indeed the entire Sarkaz race.
It was hard for Ermengarde not to pay attention to him.
After dinner, there was no dramatic conflict over who would clean up the mess; Lucifer, as the host, naturally cleaned up the table.
But with no internet and no decent entertainment facilities, as night fell, there didn’t seem to be anything else to do but sleep.
“Yaaawn~ I’m heading to bed.
Goodnight, guys,” Warfarin said, stretching and letting out a lazy yawn.
“Eh?
Going to sleep already?”
“Come on, Sanguines aren’t completely nocturnal creatures.
What’s wrong with sleeping at night?”
The physiology of Sanguines sometimes puzzled Lucifer.
They fit the traditional vampire stereotypes in so many ways, yet not only could they eat normal food, but the night wasn’t their domain either.
They only had a slight psychological aversion to sunlight, and moving around in the daytime had almost no effect on them.
“So, do you sleep hanging upside down like a bat?”
“?”
Warfarin glanced down at her blood-bat coat.
Clearly, this outfit of hers had caused Ermengarde to misunderstand a lot.
But to be directly misconstrued as an actual bat?
That was a stretch.
“I’m tired.
You two have fun.”
Having no interest in explaining the ins and outs to the young Lich, Warfarin headed straight to the second floor, picked a random room, and went inside.
Lucifer, who was mixing some blood wine, glanced at Ermengarde, who showed no signs of sleepiness.
“You’re not sleeping?”
“It’s a bit early.
I’m semi-nocturnal.”
Due to work and study, Ermengarde often stayed up until the early hours of the morning before sleeping, which had gradually formed her biological clock.
By the time Lucifer finished mixing his blood wine, Ermengarde, who was still feeling a bit bored, used her world-class intellect to come up with a bright idea.
“Hey.”
“Hmm?”
Ermengarde spoke to get Lucifer’s attention.
Then, she wrapped her fingers around her silver-white life-knot, looking into Lucifer’s crimson eyes with a coquettish gaze.
“Since you’re so interested…
how about you touch my ‘void rift’?”