Before even hearing any more of the conversation, Aeli quickly entered the room where the employee had run out and rapidly scanned the interior.

−…….

It really wasn’t visible anywhere.

The outer garment the child had taken off, and even the shoes they were just wearing, as if they had even measured the foot size, were neatly placed…

It was when Aeli’s body was trembling at the situation where the person had vanished without a trace.

“What? I was only out for a few minutes, and in that short time, the young master disappeared?!”

A roaring voice was heard from behind. At the angry voice of the clothing shop owner, the employee trembled and knelt down.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I turned around for a moment to organize the measurements, and when I looked back, the young master was nowhere to be seen…!”

“You call that an excuse?! Are you really crazy?!”

“The door… There was no other exit except the door that the madam opened and left through! I was keeping my eyes on that side, and the window was much higher than the young master’s height! I really didn’t, didn’t expect… So…!”

“Enough.”

Lutis, who raised his hand as if he had a headache, stopped the argument and entered the room where Aeli had first come in, scanning the interior.

Just as she had done, Lutis’s eyes lingered a little longer on the outer garment and shoes the child had left behind, and finally approached the half-open window to examine the frame.

Creak.

“Eek…!”

The next moment, the windowsill where Lutis had placed his hand crumpled unsightly.

Lutis opened his mouth in a calm voice, unlike his hand with bulging veins. He didn’t turn around.

“I haven’t taught him how to move without leaving traces or presence yet, so if the child left through the window, there should be evidence. But I don’t see any.”

“Th-Then…!”

“…You’re the owner and employee, so you should know best. Search the interior. I’ll look outside and come back.”

“Y-Yes… Yes! Understood!”

“The punishment for negligence will be dealt with after we find the child, so wait.”

As soon as Lutis finished speaking, those who nodded quickly had relief on their faces.

Although it was just a slight reprieve, they looked relieved not to be punished right away.

For Aeli, who knew that this reprieve was not for them but to search the surroundings before the child who had gone somewhere could go further, the current situation was only lamentable.

Lutis, who had directly witnessed the child using magic, surely knew that if they had floated out using magic, no traces would be left.

Crucially, recalling his face that had suddenly hardened when looking at the half-open window…

−…….

It was when Aeli, who had confirmed Lutis going out of the clothing shop, was gauging which direction to search first.

Lutis called the knights who were secretly guarding from afar, looking at the clothing shop.

When they finally approached.

Thwack!

“Ugh…!”

Lutis punched the knight in the face. Whether he maintained his rationality or didn’t have time to, he didn’t use aura.

Lutis spoke with a menacing aura, gritting his teeth.

“I told you to guard, yet you failed to notice even the child slipping out. At this rate, there’s no point in bringing guards along.”

“…!”

“Spread out and search. Likewise, disciplinary action will be given after we find the child.”

“Yes, understood.”

Only after the knights, who had bowed their heads as if ashamed, left their positions did Lutis look around.

Witnessing his hands trembling slightly, Aeli couldn’t hide her anxiety and rubbed her face dry.

Though outwardly calm, the person most flustered was Lutis.

It wasn’t normal that he was just staring blankly into space, as if rooted to the spot, when he should have moved immediately after giving the order.

−I should… I should go too.

Where should I go first? As Aeli’s gaze, trembling finely like Lutis in no small panic, turned towards an alley.

If the child had gone out through the window, it was right to examine the street behind the clothing shop first.

In the past, she would have fainted first in this situation, but now she had the illusion that her heart, which had long since stopped, was beating frantically. As worry reached its peak, she became rather calm.

Aeli turned her head to look at the empty space where Lutis had already gone somewhere while she was thinking, and moved her body.

The destination was anywhere.

It was where the child might be.

The time when they entered the clothing shop was originally just before returning to the mansion after enjoying everything.

As a result, by the time they were about to start searching, the sky was already red with the setting sun.

Knowing that it would be difficult to find traces of the child once it got dark, they couldn’t help but feel anxious.

It was when Aeli had just circled the alleys around the clothing shop a couple of times.

−…Huh?

In the most remote and spider web-like complex back alley among the paths she had searched so far, Aeli found something unexpected.

A light beige rabbit doll, the same as the one the child was holding.

If there was something unexpected, it was that the doll was being manipulated by the hands of some unfamiliar vagrants.

‘Magic? No, it’s not magic, but…’

Soon after, Aeli frowned as she noticed that the invisible force moving the doll was emanating from their waists.

That’s when it happened.

“Where did the wabbit go… I saw it going this way…”

That’s mommy and daddy’s gift, I shouldn’t lose it… The child muttered, entering the alley with drooping eyebrows, scanning the ground.

Only then did Aeli realize that the reason they had the doll was to lure the child here.

Although it was just a momentary soliloquy, the speed at which the young child entered the alley with small steps was faster than expected.

The sky, which had already turned deep blue as the sun had almost set, made the alley, which was originally poorly lit, even darker. It was when the child had entered halfway into the alley.

The child discovered the doll placed in the corner of the alley, smiled brightly, and ran over to hug it.

Aeli shouted with a pale face. She felt her throat closing up, her mouth completely dry.

−Adi, don’t come any further! Get out of the alley!

“Huh? Mo-”

…m. At Aeli’s torn cry, the child, who had been fixing their gaze on the ground, raised their eyes and met hers.

That’s when the child’s face hardened, sensing that something was wrong.

Realizing a moment late that there were shadows other than theirs behind the corner of the alley, the child quickly turned and ran.

“…Hey, that little sh*t is running away. Looks like they caught on?”

“What are you just looking at?! Catch them!”

Along with the vulgar curses, Aeli tried to grab those who rushed out to catch the child.

However, seeing them slip through her grasp effortlessly, Aeli was horrified by the fact that there was nothing she could do.

“What are you doing?!”

“Oh, we’re going to catch you.”

Aeli, enraged by their faces snickering among themselves, tried to embrace the child.

Due to the invisible force binding them, the child was unable to use magic.

Although she couldn’t catch them, she could reach the child, so wouldn’t it be enough to hold onto the child and endure here?

‘Just endure, just need to endure. It’s okay, even though this is a secluded place, it’s not that far from the clothing shop…’

Whether Lutis came or the knights came, they just needed to find the child.

With that thought, she embraced the child, but.

“Hey, it’s annoying that they’re struggling, let’s just knock them out.”

“Should we… It was hurting my ears with all the screaming, that would be better.”

She was helplessly pulled up along with them.

Although she had embraced the child, that was all she could do.

Aeli watched as the child lost consciousness, their nose and mouth covered by their grasp.

‘Why… Why can’t I do anything?’

Even when the child cried in pain, or when they saw her corpse in the basement.

There was nothing she could do. Even though she sensed it was a life-threatening danger or something close to it, there was nothing a ghost’s body could do except stomp its feet.

Really, to a nauseating degree, nothing was allowed.

This time too, all Aeli could do was watch as the unconscious child was roughly dragged away by unfamiliar men, at most memorizing the path they took.

−…….

She had thought it would be fine even if she was a ghost, as long as she could be by their side.

If it was just watching them suffer, wasn’t this actually a punishment?

‘Goddess…’

What sin did I commit?

Aeli just pulled the child closer into her embrace.

She could only hope that this moment wouldn’t remain as a frightening memory for the child.

The place where those who had knocked out the child headed was very complicated.

At the end of the maze-like alleys, in the most deserted area.

They entered a dilapidated building there and went down a spiral staircase connecting to the underground for a long time.

−…What is this?

As the stairs ended, a surprisingly spacious place appeared.

Those who laid the unconscious child in a place that looked like a shabby warehouse tied the child’s hands and feet.

As if that wasn’t enough, when they put something like handcuffs on the child’s wrists, Aeli realized for the first time in her life that she could look at others with vicious eyes.

In the room where she was left alone with the child after the door closed, Aeli quietly recalled the path she had passed through to get here.

And if there were a few things she learned…

‘This place, it seems to be a slave auction house.’

The information obtained from those who passed by outside the door not infrequently pointed clearly.

Orphans, women, the elderly, young men.

The ropes and restraints that each of them held in their hands as they snickered, classifying these people as ‘goods’.

As her thoughts reached that point, Aeli had to feel as if all the blood in her body was draining out.

And some time after that.

“Mmm…”

The child opened their eyes.