“They have a financial budget of a small country and yet they couldn’t soundproof the goddamn walls,” I grumbled silently as I begrudgingly marched towards the end of the deep dark end of the dungeon. 

Their cries persisted, growing desperate as it was longer—fiercer than usual. 

Can’t they just kill them already!?

A few days had passed since I last saw them.

In my spite, I have broken a few window panels in the hallway near my room while I was practicing magic. It obviously alarmed both the staff and the Marquess couple as they rushed towards the incident. Before they could get to where I was, I grabbed the nearest broken glass and jammed it into my right palm.

“Ghh…!”

An unbearable sting zapped through my arm that I couldn’t help but cry out in agony. It was much more painful than I imagined. 

Then with fantastic timing, the majority of the people living in the mansion came over to my location. I acted like I wasn’t the one who broke the panels as I cried fervently— longer than usual, fiercer than usual.

Seeing Marquess’ hastened steps to come all the way here, the first thing they do is to order is to find the culprit, without even sparing an eye to my injured self. Marge the maid ran over to me and carried me to a separate room. She offered consolation as she patted my back while shushing before I decided to tone it down. 

“My Lady, you’ll have to bear with it for a while.” She said as she wrapped my right hand which still had the glass shard in it in gauze.

Is she a dumbass???

Feeling the shard dig deeper into my skin, I was itching to smack away her hand and let all profanities slip through my mouth. However, I was only 4 year-old, and that would stain my image. Instead, I let out a sob, trying to appeal for her to stop desperately.

“My Lady, the doctor should be here early in the morning. Take this medicine if you’re in any pain.” She said, after leaving circular pills. After that incredible attempt at first aid, the moment I pretended to be asleep, she tucked me in and just left. 

I think you should take this medicine instead, Marge, so you can understand your painful stupidity!

Honestly, Marge, you’re a terrible caretaker! How are you not fired yet?

Leaving a child alone after an unknown threat (at least for them) or even leaving a 4-year-old with a bunch of medicine is just asking me to just go die.

I lifted my hand which was throbbing, unwrapping the gauze, my hand trembled from the pain. I sighed and decided to just pull it out myself. 

In any case, thanks to their fantastic supervision, it allowed me to sneak around the mansion unattended. The blood was still seeping from the gauze, but it wasn’t like I’m about to die from a blood loss. 

I placed the pill bottle inside my plush toy bear, its buttoned eyes held a shimmering red color and its fur was black. Holding the stuffed bear tightly, the pills jingled inside the ampule simultaneously hearing the clanking of chains resonating as I illuminated my surroundings using the ball of mana. 

Why am I here again? 

I asked myself again, every time I go back down here. It may be on a whim or maybe because I was in desperate need of a long nap without any interruptions. 

Apparently stealing their keys didn’t do shit because 2 days later they reinstalled a new one. So I had to steal it again.

Couldn’t they just look for another way to past time? 

I came near the children, as usual, they were huddled up like a heap of corpses and their tattered woollen clothing was soaked in dried blood.  

“Hey, are you still alive?” I poked the one with two horns, only to receive a groan.

Still alive and well, I see. 

This time I wore a heavy cloak and was careful to not let the blood stain my night dress. Last time, I had to incinerate my clothing to avoid suspicion. It was weird enough that a child would be walking around covered in grime and blood. Since I had no way of disposing evidence, the only choice I could come up with was to let my dress catch on fire from a nearby candle holder.

They could just brush it off as some stupid mistake by a kid playing with literal fire. 

“You…” A raspy voice called out from the darkness.

I felt a chill shoot down my spine as I quickly turned to the source with vigilance. Seeing that a pair of alabaster eyes surrounded by a pure black sclera was giving me an attentive stare.

He’s awake.

We both silently stared at each other before I pulled out a cup of water from【The World】. Seeing a cylindrical cup with clean water did not surprise him one bit considering he had previously known about this. 

“First, drink up.” I held the paper cup towards him as he shakily reached out with his bruised hand, almost desperately without any hesitation.

He drowned the whole thing with frevor, trying to quench his dry need as he spilled some on his clothes. Before I could even warn him to slow down, he coughed violently as I try pat his back to aid in relieving him. 

“There’s more water so slow down.” 

I refilled his cup. This time I could see the hesitation in his eyes. At first, he was probably acting out on survival instinct and now that he has some energy he could faintly rationalize what was happening.

“Not thirsty anymore?” 

Thinking I was about to grab his cup, he quickly took a tentative sip, still keeping an alerted stance from me. 

Children were like an open book as emotions were clearly written across his face. An easy mirror to his mental state.

From what I can observe it was clear he had doubts and suspicions about me.

He must be wondering why I keep coming back here to help them. My main problem would be gaining the trust of these children.

Interpersonal relationships are a pain. 

“You won’t have to worry about the Marquess couple for a while.” 

It would be favorable to appeal to all of them but there were a few problems that I encountered:

The girl with a horn on her right side beside him were still blacked out from the beatings. Holding any conversation with her was useless from what I could infer from our previous encounter. She was incomprehensible that even my linguistic power couldn’t decipher it. When I tried to write my thoughts, she just stared blankly. 

On the other hand, one of the children whose horn was present on the left side of their temple was capable of simple phrases. He refuses to have a conversation with me and would scream at my face every chance he gets.

What a headache.

In any case, it seemed that this kid with two horns was less wary of me considering he had associated me with someone who satisfies their hunger and thirst. 

For now, he will do. 

I summoned 6 pieces of salt bread followed by stuffing the pain medication into its crevices. Its effect was enough to last for 5 hours at most. I pointed each 2 pieces of bread to their corresponding receiver. Making sure that the boy with two horns could understand my intention.

“Share it with your siblings and one of them’s got medicine for each of you.”

He may be a prisoner but let’s hope that he wasn’t stupid enough to eat all three and die from an overdose.

I filled three paper cups with water and turned, ready to leave.

“Ah… AH!”

Startled, I heard the chains loudly clang as it frantically scampered. Worried about getting caught, I quickly turned around and was about to tell him to stop doing that but before I could say anything.

A hand shot up and desperately clung to my clothes, the sudden force made me stumble back as I landed onto the cold grimed gravel. The white babydoll dress was stained with dirt, blood and tore a few holes as I saw how unbelievably sharp his nails were as it basically pierced the soft textile.

Great, another dress to burn.

“Yes?”

His eyes watered, feeling the trembling of his hand on my clothes. It was enough to say that this kid was pitiful. My earpiece picked up the sound of footsteps.

Shit!

“Who’s there!?” A gruff voice shouted.

“Oh shit,” I muttered as a flash of iridescent light illuminated my figure.

I was caught.