Since he had only been repeatedly napping and waking up while tormented by the surrounding threats and fears, he couldn’t even guess when he last slept soundly.

‘Maybe…… That night was the last.’

Raven recalled the day just before he awakened as Benian.

A peaceful night lying side by side in a shabby bed that was tightly filled with two people, holding mother’s hand, and falling asleep while chatting about what food to cook tomorrow.

Since that day, Raven had not had a single day of peaceful sleep.

‘Have I completely let my guard down because I’m comfortable?’

Thinking so, he felt so pathetic.

Even for his mother, who lost her life trying to protect him until the end, he should not have been so careless.

As the guilt that had been hidden deep in his chest surged like smoke, Raven, feeling anxious, washed his face and pulled himself together.

“……First, let’s find my mother’s keepsake.”

The dagger he had was gone after being caught by Vlady.

It was only natural, as they couldn’t allow a prisoner to carry a knife.
But if his own body had been transferred to the Rose Palace, that is, to the little girl named Bella, he thought the dagger that had been his possession might have come along with it.

‘There’s no way she would hand it over just by asking. I might even give away a needless weak point.’

To Raven, the dagger was the only thing his father had left behind, and a keepsake of his mother.

If someone were to threaten him with it as a pretext, the boy would have no choice but to comply.

The dagger was so precious to Raven, he had to find it himself.

‘I might as well get used to the road while I’m at it.’

After making sure that no footsteps were heard beyond the wall, he cautiously twisted the door handle, and like magic, the door slid open.

Seeing the meal left alone at the door, Raven felt a sudden loss of energy.

‘Do these people have no sense of tension at all…?’

Even though he looked young and easygoing, he was a person from outside.

To leave someone like that alone in the palace where a princesslike little girl resides, walking around freely.

He couldn’t tell if the adults were in their right minds.

‘Why am I angry? This is an advantageous situation for me. It’s only natural to like it.’

Quite startled, Raven shook his head vigorously to regain his senses.

Sleeping in was one thing, and worrying about the little girl named Bella was another.

It had not been a full day since he arrived at the palace, and he already felt his mind going strange.

‘Alright, no one is around. Let’s start investigating slowly near the room.’

Raven moved forward carefully, making sure the shackles on his ankles did not clash with each other.

He saw people diligently cleaning the buildings all over the palace, but no one noticed the boy, as he was skilled at moving stealthily.

Thus, he walked around for about twenty minutes, drawing a map of Rose Palace in his head.

He had arrived at a small garden a little distance from the building and was taking a breath.

That’s when he witnessed a much younger child drinking tea and quickly hid himself in the bushes.

At that moment, the clear voice of a familiar girl rang out.

“Who’s there?”