Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

For a few moments after the first bites, nobody said much. Conversation had not ended. It had simply been outranked by the meal.

The Snow Wasset had softened the way Nia had hoped, rich without becoming heavy, the broth carrying meat, wine, onions, roots, and herbs together instead of letting any one flavor sit alone. Around the table, people kept returning to their bowls with the quiet concentration of those who were still deciding what had happened to something they thought they already knew.

Beside her, Kael was already halfway through his bowl.

Across the table, Auren was not doing much better.

Cassiel watched him scoop up another mouthful.

"At least slow down enough to taste it."

Auren finally looked up from his bowl and glanced around the table.

Nobody seemed interested in stealing his dinner.

"Then I think I'm safe."

Nia laughed into her spoon.

Darius reached for another piece of bread and dragged it through the broth. When he tasted it, his brows lifted.

"I've had Snow Wasset before."

"So have I," Selvan said.

Darius looked at his bowl again. "It never tasted like this."

Selvan nodded. "It usually tastes like Snow Wasset."

Auren swallowed. "What does that mean?"

"It means people spend half the meal talking about how rare it is."

Several people chuckled.

Nia shook her head. "That's ridiculous."

Darius pointed toward the pot.

"Most people stop at the ingredient itself. Bringing down a Snow Wasset is already the achievement."

Sera nodded.

"They'd roast it, stew it, thank the Beast God for the meal, and consider the matter finished."

Nia looked around the table, then back at the broth coating her spoon.

"So the cooking is mostly supposed to stay out of the way."

Shen set his spoon down, attention sharpening in that quiet way of his.

"Most of the time, yes."

That helped more than the earlier explanations had. Nia could understand respect for the ingredient. She understood not wanting to cover something rare beneath heavy-handed seasoning. What she did not understand was stopping there when the food itself was already offering more.

"The onions make the broth sweeter," she said. "The wine balances the richness. The stock carries flavor through everything else."

Several people followed the explanation until the last part.

Then the expressions around the table shifted into polite confusion.

Nia looked from face to face.

"You really don't think about food this way."

Sera smiled. "We think about good ingredients. Not what happens after."

Selvan lifted his cup. "Preferably without ruining them."

Nia laughed. "That's not the same thing."

"It has worked fairly well for us."

Auren pointed at his bowl. "Whatever this is, keep doing it."

Cassiel pushed the bread basket toward him. "You only care because it tastes good."

"That seems like a valid reason."

Rhaegar finished another spoonful, then said, "The onions."

Everyone looked toward him. He glanced at Nia. "The sweetness isn't separate."

Nia brightened. "Exactly."

Rhaegar nodded once and returned to eating.

Shen's attention lingered on the broth, turning something over the way it often did when a new idea settled into place.

"If ingredients can change that much during cooking," he said eventually, "there are probably many combinations we've never tried."

"There are."

"How many combinations are we talking about?"

Nia laughed.

"Enough that I couldn't count them."

Several people looked skeptical.

"Hundreds at least. Probably thousands."

Silence settled across the table for a moment.

Selvan set down his cup.

"That sounds like a dangerous number of meals."

Nia laughed.

"You're acting like I discovered a new species."

The room laughed. Tea appeared, then a second pot.

Dinner gradually slowed from eating into lingering. Nobody seemed particularly eager to leave. Outside, winter pressed against the mountain, and inside the kitchen remained warm and full, the kind of warmth that made people stay seated after their bowls were empty.

Darius settled further into his chair. "This reminds me of the western cliff hunt."

Groans circled the table as soon as the hunt was mentioned.

Sera lowered her tea.

"If you're telling the story, tell it properly. It snowed for most of that hunt."

Darius dismissed the correction with a wave.

"We still tracked the herd for two days before we found where they were bedding near the western cliffs."

Auren leaned forward. "Were they huge?"

"They were elk."

"That's not an answer."

"They were large elk."

Auren looked immediately vindicated. "See?"

Darius pointed at him. "Now you're understanding the story."

Cassiel rolled her eyes. "No one understands the story yet."

Darius ignored her too. "We brought six sleds."

Sera took a drink of tea. "We did."

Auren’s smile widened. "You're saying that like six sleds survived the trip."

Laughter spread around the table.

Darius looked offended.

"We started with six."

He looked at Sera. Sera looked into her tea, and the lack of defense answered for both of them.

Nia laughed.

Darius eventually blamed the river crossing.

Sera blamed the ice.

Neither appeared interested in conceding the point.

Darius pressed on. "We got the first sled across. The second sled across." He paused. "The third sled found a rock."

Sera looked up. "The sled found it?"

"It suffered considerable damage." Nia was already laughing by the time he added, with great dignity, "Afterward, there were technically more sleds than before."

Auren nearly choked. Cassiel buried her face in her hand.

Darius spread his hands. "We still got the elk."

"You got the elk," Sera said. "And then you complained the entire way back up the hill."

"Everyone complained."

"That part is true," she allowed.

Even Kael's mouth shifted into something close to a smile.

The conversation drifted from there. Someone mentioned Tarek. That led to another story, then another. The tea level kept dropping.

At some point Selvan folded one of his notes closed. "This reminds me of a merchant from Autumn Crossing."

Darius groaned. "Oh no."

Auren sat straighter. "What?"

Selvan looked pleased. "He attempted to sell common mountain mushrooms as rare medicinal stock."

Cassiel blinked. "To who?"

"Elder Bran."

The reaction was immediate.

Nia looked around the table.

"That bad?"

Selvan considered the question for a moment.

"The merchant arrived extremely confident. Confident enough to spend most of the morning explaining why the mushrooms were worth the price."

Darius grinned.

"I think he spent longer praising them than unloading them."

Several people laughed.

Selvan nodded.

"The confidence lasted right up until Elder Bran asked where they had been harvested."

"He lied?" Auren guessed.

The collective wince around the table answered before anyone spoke.

Selvan nodded.

"He assumed Elder Bran wouldn't recognize the location."

Selvan took a sip of tea. "Elder Bran had collected mushrooms from that hillside two days earlier."

The room erupted. Even Shen looked away briefly. Nia nearly spilled her tea laughing.

The first lie should have been enough to end the matter. Somehow, the merchant chose a second.

Even now Selvan sounded mildly impressed by the decision.

"I've never understood why he thought that would improve the situation. Elder Bran waited. The merchant kept going. By the third version of the story, the mushrooms had apparently been harvested from a cave that doesn't exist."

Darius laughed into his cup. Selvan nodded solemnly.

"The crying began shortly afterward."

The kitchen dissolved again.

By the time the laughter settled, the second pot of tea was nearly empty. Sera looked across the table toward Kael with the expression of someone who had just remembered something.

Kael looked up the moment he saw her face.

"No."

Sera smiled into her tea.

"You already know which story I'm thinking about."

Nia leaned forward. Auren and Cassiel sat up. Darius looked delighted.

Sera ignored all of them. "When Kael was fourteen, he disappeared before sunrise because he decided the grain stores needed a replacement support beam."

She shook her head, though the warmth in her expression ruined any attempt at true disapproval.

"Nobody had asked him to do it."

Nia looked at Kael. "You just left?"

Kael remained entirely unapologetic.

"The replacement lasted."

Judging by his expression, he still considered that a complete defense.

The room exploded. Sera pressed a hand against her forehead and looked toward Nia.

"His father spent half the day searching for him."

"The beam still lasted."

Darius was laughing openly. Nia could not stop smiling. It was easy to picture a stubborn boy deciding something needed doing and refusing to wait for permission. That felt exactly like him, which only made Kael's complete lack of repentance funnier.

The stories continued until the tea was gone and evening had fully settled over the mountain. Eventually people began standing, not because they wanted to leave, but because tomorrow would still arrive.

Sera rose first. Darius followed. Rhaegar drained the last of his tea and stood.

Auren attempted to remain seated until Cassiel caught his sleeve.

"We're leaving."

"I could help."

"You could eat leftovers and call it help."

"I could do both."

"That is exactly the problem."

Selvan gathered his notes. "Good meal."

Auren pointed at him. "That's the third time."

Selvan tucked the slate beneath one arm. "I've had additional opportunities to evaluate it."

Shen snorted quietly.

One by one they filtered out of the kitchen, voices fading into the corridor, footsteps following, until only three people remained — Nia, Kael, and Shen.

The room felt different then, quieter in the way rooms get when they've been well-used.

Without discussion, they started cleaning. Nia gathered bowls while Shen washed and Kael dried, the work flowing easily between them in the way it had come to. Shen had a bowl ready before she reached for it. A cloth passed between Kael and Shen without comment. One shelf filled, then another, and no one needed instructions.

By the time the last dish found its place and the final cloth was hung to dry, the kitchen looked like itself again.

Shen glanced toward the corridor. "I should head home."

Nia nodded. "You should." Morning came early in winter.

His gaze moved briefly between her and Kael, and something in his face softened, small enough that she almost missed it.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

"Sleep well."

A faint smile touched his mouth before he turned toward the door.

After he left, the room changed by a small degree. It was not emptier exactly, but the evening narrowed around the two people still standing in the kitchen.

Kael closed the storage cabinet. "The bath should still be warm."

Nia blinked, then smiled. She'd almost forgotten — the heated bath, finally finished.

"Good."

Kael's eyes warmed slightly. "Good?"

"I'm still excited about it."

"You've used it three times."

"And?"

"You remain excited."

"I worked hard on it."

"Mm."

Nia laughed.

Together they extinguished the remaining lamps near the kitchen entrance, leaving behind warm stone, quiet corridors, and the lingering comfort of a good meal shared with people who felt increasingly like family.

Kael's hand settled against the small of her back as they headed toward the bath hallway. Neither of them hurried. The warmth waiting ahead was not going anywhere.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!