Even though Theo didn’t feel comfortable walking around in just his pants, he consoled himself with the fact that he was in the middle of a forest accompanied by only an old man with the same ‘fashion sense’ to witness it.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and exited the room with the goal of finding the dining room or wherever the dinner awaited him. His vampiric senses eased that task, as he could clearly smell what he believed to be meat and a fragrance of something… sweeter. Following that scent through a narrow corridor, he quickly arrived in a room slightly bigger than the one he had just come from, equipped with a table capable of seating six people. There was also a fireplace and two sofas which didn’t fit the style of an old wooden cottage, as they gave one a sense of luxury.

The old man didn’t appear to be present, so Theo wasn’t sure how to proceed. The table was half-filled with food; a giant bowl filled with greens, presumably, some sort of salad and multiple plates of different meat and other foods Theo had knowledge on, so he decided to pass the time by searching for their names in his ‘library’.

Standing at the side of the table lost in his own world like some sort of a weirdo, he finally discovered that there were not two, but three empty plates at the table. As to drive this point further, another individual walked into the room carrying a big plate filled with various kinds of meat. That individual was also the owner of the sweet fragrance he detected before.

A young lady that looked like she just entered her twenties, with long brown hair, slightly tanned skin, and deep green eyes that stole Theo’s attention. She wore a simple beige dress that despite its looseness failed to completely hide her figure.

Once she noticed the shirtless Theo standing at the side of the table, she let out a faint gasp of surprise and avoided his gaze.

“Hello.” Her voice sounded melodic and calm despite her previous reaction, which was a far cry from how Theo currently felt.

You can imagine that someone who used to possess a curse that caused him pain proportional to the attractiveness he felt for any individual he touched, would develop some sort of subconscious fear of the opposite sex, especially the beautiful specimens of that category.

“H-hello.” Theo stuttered as he tried to suppress the nervousness he realized was now completely irrational.

“You are welcome to take a seat.”

“O-oh, right. S-sorry, I couldn’t find any shirts, so…” Theo blurted out whatever came to mind before he was mentally interrupted.

‘Why are you acting like a total dufus?’

‘Shut up.’ Although he would’ve hated being interrupted by Eileen previously, it strangely helped him calm down somewhat. That also made him think about why he never felt nervous when talking to her. Was It because she was so small or did it have something to do with the system, he didn’t know, but he also didn’t have time to think about it now.

“It’s ok, my grandfather doesn’t own any shirts, I’m sure we can figure something out after dinner.” Her eyes trailed along his body while she said that. But as if she realized she was being impolite, she quickly turned her vision to the table as if trying to find any free space for the plate.

“Nonsense! True men don’t cover their muscles.” A loud voice came out of the same entrance the young woman came from.

“Grandfather, will you stop with your nonsense, you’re embarrassing yourself.” The young lady put a hand to her face right after putting down the plate of food.

The 2-meter-tall mountain of old muscles entered the room, even though he was only 10 centimeters taller than Theo, the pure difference in mass made it seem like he towered over him.

“The only nonsense here is this pointless conversation we’re having, let’s stop the bullshit and begin with dinner.” He said as he sat at one of the ends of the table with a single seat.

The young lady took the seat to his left, leaving Theo with the seat opposite of her, the right side of the old man.

“I believe we had yet to introduce ourselves, I am Vanessa, who might you be?” She said in composure that didn’t fit a girl living in the middle of a forest. The old man apparently didn’t like waiting and immediately dug into a big slice of steak.

“I-I’m Vaness… No, I mean, I’m Theo, nice to meet you.” She smiled in response, apparently finding his reaction entertaining.

“The meat is gonna get cold if you two keep wastin time, you can leave the takin for later.” Said the old man with a mount full of food. Vanessa flashed Theo a helpless smile and started filling her plate, her etiquette clearly leagues above her grandfather’s.

Theo, on the other hand, was a little happy to avoid the conversation for now, he also realized that he was starving. Now that he thought about it, the last time he ate was on Earth. The sweet fragrance that he smelled ever since he left his room also enticed his appetite, so he put a couple of slices of meat on his plate and subconsciously avoided the vegetables.

All that could be heard were the sounds chewing, as well as noises of forks and knives hitting plates. Theo filled his plate again before he could even realize what happened, with each bite his hunger seemed to only grow instead of subsiding. He entered his own zone, where only the meat before him and how quickly he was able to stuff it in his mouth mattered.

What broke him out of that zone though, was the empty plate of meat that used to be filled to the brim at the start of the meal.

When he glanced upwards, he was met with two pairs of eyes staring at him, making him feel a little uncomfortable.

“Holy fucking shit, did your parents never feed you or what?”

“Grandfather, language.” Said Vanessa in a deadpan voice.

“I guess there’s gonna be a lot of hunting to be done for breakfast.” He replied in a matter-of-fact tone, apparently not very bothered by it.

The embarrassment that Theo felt at that moment couldn’t even be gauged, not daring to keep any eye contact, he just continued to stare at the empty plate.