“I recognized it immediately.”

Upon seeing my clothes, he had figured it out right away. Unconsciously, I clenched the collar of my coat.

“Why? Is what I said wrong?”

The boy gestured to the clothes I was wearing.

Naturally, a pricey dress made of expensive fabric was hidden under the tightly wrapped hood.

If I had shown this outfit to the staff earlier, there would have been no reason for me to enter this warehouse.

There was no way they would dress the children they were keeping as goods in such expensive clothes.

I lowered my head and clenched the collar of my outer garment.

“Why would a kid like you come all the way here? To look at these children?”

“No way! I just heard crying from outside…!”

“Oh, really? You didn’t come in to check if the value of the ‘goods’ would drop?”

I was too shocked by his biting words to speak.

It wasn’t just caution; his attitude was filled with disdain. I had no choice but to be taken aback.

“That’s not it, I didn’t even know this was such a place.”

“It doesn’t seem like something someone who came here as a guest should say.”

“I was surprised when I got here too; I really didn’t know. I only came this far for different goods.”

“Do you think the people who came with you would say the same?”

I closed my mouth. I had no more arguments. After all, it was something I had been contemplating myself.

‘Did the Duke know about this?’

Philen had also opposed my coming here, worried about me. Could the Duke really not have known?

“See, you’re no different from them.”

The boy sighed as if he were tired of it all.

“If you’re done looking, leave. Don’t meddle in other people’s affairs.”

However, I couldn’t leave now. Not after confirming that Silver Serpent was here.

If I left Silver Serpent as is, I wouldn’t know when the concealment would wear off. Plus, something was off.

‘It’s not moving.’

Normally, Silver Serpent would be griping about how a lowly creature like me dared to follow him, or complaining about how I had gotten him into this mess.

But now, Silver Serpent just stayed still, even as I touched its scales.

As if it were in a deep sleep.

‘Divine Beasts don’t sleep.’

For the sake of finding out about Silver Serpent’s condition, I had to stay.

“I’ll help you.”

“What?”

“You said earlier you’d help all of them get out, do you have a plan? You can’t do it alone.”

“…That’s not your concern.”

“It is my concern. You’re the one giving them false hope, promising to help them get out when they can’t.”

The boy opened his mouth, then shut it again. He looked like he’d been stabbed.

“I can get out, that’s why I checked outside.”

“Well, if you checked, you’d know how many people are coming and going.”

“It was just for a moment, there weren’t that many people earlier.”

“So you plan to wait until the crowd thins? When you don’t even know if it will?”

The boy was speechless. Soon, he furrowed his brows.

“But how old are you?”

That question made me realize I had slipped up. Now it was my turn to keep quiet. A low blow, attacking with age.

“You look around Penny’s age.”

“…”

“If you got misunderstood because of the hood and came in, didn’t you have any guards? You didn’t shake them off, did you?”

“…”

I suddenly thought of Yan. I felt uneasy thinking about how worried Yan must be.

‘Sorry, Yan…’

I apologized in my heart once more to Yan, who couldn’t hear me.

“Speak up; you’re suspicious in more ways than one.”

As silence settled, a round brown head popped up from beside me.

I almost screamed in surprise.

I hadn’t noticed that the other kids were approaching, as I was focused on the conversation.

“Are you two fighting?”

Penny approached and quietly asked. I quickly grabbed one of her hands and spoke innocently.
“Penny, let’s go over there! This guy said he’ll find a way for us to get out!”

“Mmhm!”

Excited, Penny grabbed my hand and pulled me along.

As I followed Penny, I glanced back. The boy was making a face of disbelief.

Around the same time, Aguil, who had fainted, suddenly woke up.

“Uh, uhuh!”

His mouth was gagged, and his body was tightly bound to a chair with sturdy rope.

Aguil rolled his eyes around to survey his surroundings.

“Oh, my Lord! You’re awake!”

“Uh! Uh!”

“Huh? Ah, where is this? This is the VIP room, V, I, P, room!”

“Thank goodness you’re awake. If you hadn’t woken up, it would have been quite troublesome for me…”

“Hey, like I said earlier, it was just a slight bump to the head.”

“Next time, avoid giving bumps. If memory issues arise, it will be a headache to explain later.”

Aguil looked around. One unfamiliar man and one large man. On closer inspection, the latter was actually a big rookie.

“Uh, uh!”

“What is he saying now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Didn’t you understand him earlier?”

“I guessed.”

Philen stared coldly at Bart. Bart shrugged once and then removed the gag from Aguil’s mouth.

“Pl, please save me! Save me! I know nothing! I’ve done nothing!”

“No, no, Lieutenant, you can’t say that. My Lord here hates liars the most.”

“It, it’s not a lie! Really!”