I climbed atop one of the boxes under the window when Penny abruptly grabbed my clothes.

“Yo, you’re not leaving alone, are you?”

“No, Penny. I told you, let’s get out together. But for that, I have to go out for a bit…”

“No, I want to go with you!”

When Penny yelled, other kids gathered around the boxes too.

“I want to go too! I don’t want to stay here anymore!”

“Why are you trying to go alone, why!”

The atmosphere turned chaotic. I hurriedly got down from the box.

“Everyone, be quiet…!”

I grew anxious. The guards outside hadn’t yet noticed that a child like me could escape through that window.

That’s why the boxes were still stacked here, beneath the window.

‘Can’t draw suspicion…!’

If they discover I was planning to escape, they’d remove the boxes, and worstcase scenario, tie all our hands and feet.

“There might be more people coming, so everyone, be quiet.”

“Then why are you leaving alone? I want to go too!”

“But we can’t right now. If we leave together, we’ll get caught easily…”

“Don’t lie! Another guy did the same before.”

‘A guy?’

A child called out in disbelief. I looked at the boxes stacked up to the window.

Now it was too well aligned to be a coincidence.

‘Someone escaped before.’

I didn’t think badly of the child who escaped alone. In such a situation, anyone would be desperate just to save themselves.

They couldn’t possibly think of taking these little kids with them.

‘The atmosphere isn’t trusting.’

Perhaps because they felt betrayed once before, the kids were now blocking the boxes with both hands.

Tears the size of chickpeas fell from their eyes. Due to my earlier warning, they held back their cries in fear someone might hear.

‘What to do.’

I bit my lip. If I stayed here, our fate was sealed; sold at auction.

Even if I did what the kids wanted and took them through the window, it would still be a problem.

‘Too many of us, we’ll get caught right away.’

I couldn’t think of any solution. Just then, a shadow appeared at the window. All eyes were drawn to it instantly.

“Bro!”

“It’s big bro!”

“Shh.”
Through the window, a boy squeezed his body in. Ignoring the piled boxes, he landed directly on the floor.

I couldn’t help but be surprised at the sight.

‘Did he just jump in through that window?’

It was an unbelievably high window.

‘He doesn’t even seem to have any magic…’

My questions had to be momentarily set aside.

Because I noticed a cage behind the boy that I hadn’t seen before.

“Brother!”

As soon as the boy landed, children swarmed in.

Among the kids in the warehouse, he appeared to be the oldest.

He was a bit shorter than Clements, around 7 years old, maybe.

His eyes were deep golden, but his hair was a contrasting dull brown.

The boy wiped the tears from each crying child’s eyes as he spoke.

“I told you to wait. Why are you crying? …Don’t worry. I’ll make sure we get out.”

As he was comforting them one by one, the boy looked up. Our eyes met immediately.

“Who’s that kid?”

“He just came in. His name is Lill.”

Answering for me was Penny, who stopped crying the moment she saw the boy. The boy rose and walked over to me.

“You came in here?”

“Yeah, the scary man outside let me in.”

As Penny explained, the boy’s gaze narrowed as he scrutinized me.

“You…”

It was then that I approached the cage I’d just noticed.

The empty cage was securely locked.

Naturally, there was no need to lock an empty cage. It was clear that something had been confined in it.

But even upon closer inspection, nothing was visible inside. Anyone else would think the snake inside had escaped.

I peered intently into it. A faint silver shimmer was visible.

‘It’s a silver snake.’

Relief escaped me in a sigh. I reached my hand into the cage.

However, my hand was pulled back before it could touch the cage.

“Ah!”

“Follow me.”

The hand that grabbed me belonged to the brownhaired boy who had carried the cage.

He distanced me from the children and led me to a corner of the warehouse.

“Let, let go!”

“What are you?”

The boy asked in a low, small voice.

The way he addressed the other kids and how he addressed me were clearly different.

His eyes, filled with suspicion as he looked down at me, were hostile to anyone who saw.

“How did you get in here?”

The boy glanced at the hood I was wearing. It was a deep navy, not flashy.

The reason the other staff mistook me as a runaway slave was also because of this outfit. It looked like a readymade product anyone could buy.

But this outfit, made to appear that way, was actually very expensive, custommade by Madam Basile from the shop that made my last dress.

“What’s someone like you doing here?”

From just the hood, the boy figured it out. What my status was.

Then, he coldly spat out his words.

“You’re not someone who should be captured here.”