There was a roof to shield from the harsh sun, and the open surroundings made it just right to enjoy the garden, so I often visited this spot.

Enjoying the fresh scenery and taking a comfortable rest, I felt my troubled mind calming down due to the magic stone.

“Hmm, nice fragrance.”

After taking a sip of the mild black tea that even children could drink, I reached for a cookie.

Then, a rustling sound came from a nearby bush.

(This is the time divider.)

The first night at Rose Castle.

Lying in bed, Raven couldn’t fall asleep until late at night.

‘Giving me a room instead of a prison, what exactly is their intention……?’

Raven, who was locked in an underground dungeon just a few hours ago, couldn’t understand this situation at all.

Even when he was suddenly dragged into a dazzling banquet hall, he was not as perplexed as now.

He didn’t know why he was thrown in front of the nobles as a spectacle, but he was confident that he would not lose his pride.

But right after the little girl handed over the newbie, something went wrong.

Raven was brought here not in a prison carriage with iron bars but in a regular carriage and was even given a private room with a soft bed and clean furniture.

But the surprise didn’t end there.

Despite the late hour, the people here served him warm soup and bread and prepared bathwater and new clothes.

Moreover, after a woman named Shione healed him with magic, his body completely recovered to its condition before the injuries.

Only the restraint remained, probably put on to control the hidden power of the Benian.

‘If it weren’t for this, I would have tried to escape earlier…….’

Benians, unable to wield magic, gain immense physical strength as they grow, incomparable to ordinary humans.

The extremely few Benians who survive to adulthood can fend off evil hunters and survive, partly because of this strength.

Even if they didn’t learn to wield a sword, they could exert a threatening force with just a wooden stick or stone, making capturing them as difficult as plucking stars from the sky.

Even the young boy Raven could easily break logs, but he couldn’t use his strength because of the restraint.

“Sigh, this is frustrating.”
Raven heaved a deep sigh, looking down at his wrists and ankles filled with shackles.

Unlike common shackles, these were not connected by chains, and they were considerably light, causing no hindrance to movement, but it would be impossible to regain his former strength without unlocking them.

‘It’s fortunate that the situation is not as bad as I thought…….’

In fact, after leaving the prison, Raven had speculated that the laboratory would be the next destination.

He thought that he would be subjected to human experiments due to his rare species, or that some cruel act would be inflicted on him.

But what came back to Raven was the warm affection and care of the people of the Rose Palace.

There was no one to beat him or pour out vulgar words.

For Raven, who was more accustomed to malice or illwill, this was a very unfamiliar experience.

Looking back, all this was due to the order of a little girl he had just met.

“Tione, take care of that one. Remove the soldiers.”

“Give him a good room. Food, and medicine too. Understand?”

Was her name Bella?

At first glance, she was just a threeyearold little girl, but Raven immediately recognized that Bella was out of the ordinary.

A confident attitude that did not shrink before adults, upright posture, and assertive eyes.

Bella’s inherent dignity and majesty were not obscured by her young age.

‘She certainly said she was the third princess. Then is this one of the kingdoms of demons in the empire?’

There are numerous kingdoms in the vicinity of the empire.

Not just humans, but demons that have formed states are also included.

At first, he vaguely thought it was a human kingdom, but the moment he stepped into the ballroom from the prison, Raven realized that he had been imagining wrongly.

The breathtakingly beautiful appearance, colorful hair like painted colors, and unique eye colors like his own.

It was a clear characteristic specific only to demons.

‘I wish I could at least know the approximate location.’

Raven tried to recall the map he had seen as a child in a human village, using his excellent memory.

But even calculating distance and travel time, he couldn’t quite figure out where this was.

There were dozens of kingdoms near the empire.

‘I’ll have to ask directly tomorrow.’

I don’t know why they’re treating me so well with this kind of secret intention, but at least it doesn’t look like they’re going to harm me right now.

It would be best to cajole as much as possible and then extract the information necessary for escape.

With these thoughts, he fell asleep before he knew it.

Raven, who came to his senses only when the sun was high in the sky, jumped out of bed in surprise.

‘My goodness. I slept this long?’

Raven could not suppress his astonishment at the fact that he had fully enjoyed sleeping in a place no different from enemy territory.