Gabriel nods with a tilted grin and replies, "As you command, boss."
Ethan looked at the food in front of him, then at Gabriel, and whispered, "Please tell me that's not what I think it is."
Gabriel put a piece of meat in his mouth and said, "Yes, it is. But there's chicken and salad if you want."
Ethan replied while pulling the salad plate toward him, "Yeah, I think I'll just stick with the salad here."
Gabriel smiled unintentionally, a genuine smile, then returned to his plate and murmured, "Anyone who dares to hurt you will wish for death for the rest of their life."
---------------------------------
Dozens of people sat on both sides of the table — politicians, gangsters, police officers, and doctors.
Each one looked at the others, some with polite greetings, others with hidden hatred.
At the head of the table sat Elena — the Spider Lady — staring at Gabriel.
She placed her elbows on the table, tilted her head slightly to the right, and asked:
"So, what was your last hunt, my dear angel~?"
Gabriel looked at her for a moment, stabbed his fork into a piece of meat, and said,
"A twenty-two-year-old girl."
Elena's eyes sparkled with sudden joy, and she asked curiously,
"Oh, really?
And how did she taste?"
Gabriel was about to answer, but Ethan, sitting beside him, muttered loudly enough for Elena to hear clearly:
"He didn't even cook her to taste her, because of your stupid meeting."
Gabriel let out a small laugh as he ate his piece of meat, while Elena's smile faded,
her expression turning cold as she stared at Ethan and asked:
"And why do you find the monthly dinner stupid?"
She paused, then continued slowly, "My dear assistant…"
Ethan looked at her with excitement, but before he could say a word, Gabriel joined the conversation calmly:
"He's just a teenager, Elena, so you might find him complaining about anything just for fun."
Elena didn't take her eyes off Ethan and said with her nose slightly raised:
"Hmph. Then he'd better stay silent, or endure it."
"He will," said Gabriel before turning toward Ethan and whispering angrily:
"Do it again, and you'll find yourself on the table next month.
And believe me, I won't be able to stop her — she's the boss, don't forget that."
Ethan placed his hand on his mouth, then dragged it across his lips as if closing a zipper,
then looked ahead and roughly pulled the salad plate toward him.
Gabriel smiled in relief and returned to his dish, while Elena looked to her left,
where Victor sat, eating silently all this time, his single eye fixed on his plate, not looking right or left.
Elena kept staring at Victor's face for a few moments, examining him like a distorted painting.
Her eyes moved between the exposed half of his face — sometimes on his deformed eye, or his missing eyebrow —
then down to his lips, half of which had melted away, hidden behind a piece of cloth.
Victor's eye darted nervously between his plate and Elena, who kept staring at him in silence.
Victor couldn't bear being watched like that, so he turned his face away and asked hesitantly,
"Why are you staring at me?"
Elena smiled gently, brought her right hand closer to Victor's face, and whispered,
"Nothing, I just want to see what's under that mask."
Victor grabbed Elena's hand before it reached his face and said, without looking at her,
"There's nothing left under this piece of cloth."
A flash of madness shone in Elena's eyes for a moment.
She turned her gaze toward Gabriel, observing his calm and self-control,
then turned back to Victor, extended her other hand, and said loudly enough for all to hear:
"I just want to see what Gabriel did to you, Victor."
She whispered, "I want to see his art."
Victor gave up and released her hand, his single eye fixed on the ground in shame.
Elena's fingers touched Victor's face softly, sliding across his cheeks as she first observed the side of his face that had survived.
Then, slowly, her fingers slipped under the piece of cloth covering the half of his face.
As she pulled it back little by little, her pink lips moved slowly as she whispered,
"What did you do to him, Gabriel?"
Elena pulled the cloth away piece by piece.
The first thing that appeared was half of his nose — fused with the other half without an opening,
making it impossible to breathe through.
The cloth slid further until the hidden half of Victor's mouth was revealed.
His lips looked as if they had been melted away, leaving only a thin layer of pale skin.
Elena did not feel disgust or revulsion — curiosity was what guided her.
Victor, on the other hand, was filled with shame and weakness.
His hands clenched the tablecloth, his legs trembled,
but he had to let her unveil what was left of his features.
Elena pulled the cloth completely away, and what appeared made most of those present fall into silent observation.
Victor's right eye looked more like a… deformed void covered with melted skin around a hollow hole in his skull.
Elena remained silent for a while, staring at Victor's face in his humiliation.
"Heh…" a small laugh began to escape from Elena's lips.
"Heh… hehehe."
"Heh–hehh–HAHA… HAHAHAHA—AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
BANG! (Her hand slammed the table.)
"HA—HAHAHA!!!"
Elena's laughter spread among everyone like a plague, until the hall exploded with scattered laughter —
from the guests to the servants and the guards.
Victor looked around — everyone was pointing and mocking him.
His heartbeat quickened, his body trembled; you could see his knees knocking together.
Victor couldn't stand it any longer.
He quickly hid his face behind the cloth mask again,
then raised his single eye toward Gabriel,
where a salty drop mixed with hatred and pain fell slowly onto the silk tablecloth.
After a minute of hysterical laughter, Elena pushed her chair back
and began moving slowly toward Gabriel, a wide smile drawn on her face.
She stopped directly behind Gabriel, leaned down,
and slowly wrapped her arms around his neck.
Gabriel exhaled deeply, his eyes fixed on his plate, showing no reaction.
Elena brought her face close to Gabriel's ear and whispered playfully,
"You're still the same as I know you, Darling… but that was a bit too much, even for Viiic–tooor~."
Gabriel turned to her and said in a calm tone,
"No, not too much."
Elena wasn't surprised by his answer,
but she asked while looking at Victor, whose face was turned to his plate, unable to speak,
"Really? Then what would have happened if you hadn't been merciful?"
Her fingers slowly touched the skin of his neck,
as if touching a warm statue rather than a man.
Gabriel cut a piece of his food with the knife and replied,
"I would have taken his whole face—and you would have found him wandering the streets like a walking corpse."
The laughter among the guests began to fade,
and Elena swayed slowly from side to side while holding Gabriel, saying,
"You're so cruel, Darling. Do you know that?"
Before Gabriel could respond, someone beside him spoke innocently:
"Uhh… why are you holding him like that?"
Gabriel turned to his right, and the one who spoke was Ethan,
his eyes shifting between him and Elena, his mouth half-open,
wanting to ask a thousand questions.
Some guests laughed quietly; others choked on their food.
Elena turned her face toward Ethan and replied, her eyes half-closed:
"You're lucky, boy, that you're Gabriel's assistant,
or you'd already be dead."
Ethan raised his hand in surrender and said,
"No, no! I didn't mean to offend you — I'm just curious,
because this is a cannibal dinner, not a romantic one, right?"
He tilted his head slightly to the side like a confused child. "Right?"
Gabriel chuckled lightly despite himself,
then placed his hand on Elena's to gently move her arms away and said,
"He's right about that."
The hall fell silent for a moment — even the sound of dishes stopped.
Elena looked at Gabriel, then at Ethan —
and simply smiled coldly, as if nothing had happened.
--------------------------------