‘I can finally move freely around the cabin. The problem now is waiting for Edith to leave for a few cycles so we can head to the Kingdom.’

  Alhen looked at Catherine, who lay on the hard ground with a pensive expression on her face, and couldn’t help but shake his head in disapproval.

  ‘I need to do something about her. As soon as we reach the kingdom, I will notify Father Vincent of the situation, and because he is a Sol, even if Edith comes, she won’t be able to do much.’

  A slight smile made way to his face, thinking about all the ways he could escape.

  ‘If Edith thinks she can keep me here forever serving her daughter, then she is gravely mistaken.'

  Catherine started making sounds while on the ground, rolling her body in all directions. Alhen had started getting used to her antics after a few hours of being together.

  They had only stayed in the living room and hadn’t moved from there. Just like any home in this world, the lighting was sparse, with every corner feeling dark and oppressive.

  He sighed, thinking about how long he would have to wait to return to the kingdom.

  ‘As soon as I go back, I will dedicate my time to mastering my blessing’s second ability. The thing is that I will have to wait for quite some time before that happens.'

  'I wonder what Edith has planned for me in the meantime,’ he thought.

  “Sigh!” Catherine stood from the ground and told him, “Come with me, I want to show you my toys,” she said, ending her words with a smile.

  ‘She sure changes moods fast,’ Alhen thought.

  Catherine didn’t wait for him, walking to the stairs in the corner that he had missed because of the darkness.

  “Tak, tak, tak,” Catherine ascended, and Alhen followed after her.

  Her figure disappeared on the dark stairs, and he noticed that they spiraled up to the second floor.

  A hallway stood in front of him, reminding him of the time he was at Kalle’s mansion.

  Thankfully, there were no paintings this time, but Catherine seemed to have vanished out of existence.

  “Where are you?” Alhen called out, but received no response.

  He frowned and immediately thought where she could have gone. “Catherine, come out, it isn’t funny. Make a sound so I can find you,” he said.

  Again, no response. He was starting to grow irritated by now. At the end of the hallway, there was a small candle atop a table that revealed three doors on the walls.

  Thinking about it no longer, he approached the first door and tried to open it, but it was locked. He moved to the second one and repeated his action, only to find it locked.

  Going to the third door, he did the same thing; he tried to open it, but it was locked. By this point, Alhen looked all around him, trying to find something he had missed.

  ‘What is happening? Did Catherine get into one of these doors and lock herself in?" he clicked his tongue.

  "I guess it can’t be helped, I’m going downstairs and stay in that room until Edith arrives,’ he thought.

  He started moving, but before he could get far, he heard a faint sound coming from somewhere.

  His ears caught the sound not inside the doors, but inside the wall close to the exit.

  Locating the source of the sound, he took a look at the wall to his right and approached it, placing his ear against it.

  ‘Just as I thought, there is a sound coming from here. What could it be?’ he wondered.

  He touched the wall from all angles, trying to find a secret passage, but after a few minutes of trying, he had yet to find anything.

  ‘Is this really worth my time? Probably not, I should just give up and continue with what I was going to do,’ Alhen decided.

  He stopped, however, once he noticed a faint line on the wall.

  It was tiny, but touching the area around it, he felt a part of the wall that felt slightly different from the rest.

  He pressed on it, and the wall slightly opened outwards. The barely audible sound from before became stronger, and he could finally hear what it was.

  “Crunch! Crack!” Alhen furrowed his brows.

  ‘Could it be a coincidence, or am I hearing wrong? That sound reminds me of…’ Alhen opened the wall fully without a noise, seeing on the other side the faint outline of a room.

  The sound was coming from the front, and after hesitating for a second, he took a step forward.

  Nothing could be seen due to the darkness, so he walked slowly, careful not to bump into anything that might have been lying on the floor.

  With each step he took, the noise became louder and louder, and his heart couldn’t help but start beating faster.

  There was also a faint stench in the air, something that he found familiar, but he couldn’t remember what it was atop his head.

  When he walked all the way to the end of the room, the noise stopped just in front of him. He took a deep and slow breath to calm his nerves and felt a liquid staining his bare feet.

  He couldn’t focus on that, however, as there was something or someone in front of him, probably staring at him.

  In front of him lay the faint outline of two people, and one of them was staring right at him; he could barely see the person's eyes.

  “Catherine, is that you?” Alhen asked.

  There was a brief silence that was broken by the person, who said, “Yes.”

  Instead of being relieved by those words, he couldn’t help but take a few steps back as soon as he heard them.

  Something was wrong with that voice; he knew that it was hers, but it didn’t sound fully like Catherine.

  As he took a few steps back, Catherine stood, but the other person did as well.

  He went to run, but was stopped by someone behind him, grabbing his arm and not letting go for anything in the world.

  He thrashed and struggled to take the grip off his arm, but it was simply too strong.

  His strength amounted to that of a normal nine-year-old, and it was impossible to do anything against someone many times stronger than him.

  “Where are you going? It is me, Catherine. Why are you afraid?” she asked, sounding truly confused by his struggle.

  Alhen accepted his fate; he wouldn’t be able to escape. He turned around and faced Catherine, who, without a word, led him where she had been before.

  The second person was dragging himself on the floor, and he didn't seem interested in him, fixated on the floor instead.

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  “It must be hard to see for you," she began, "I like the darkness; however, I have a small candle in here; let me light it."

  Alhen didn’t respond, feeling her warm hands holding his wrist with strength.

  She pulled him closer and reached out for something on the ground, which he believed was the candle.

  She grabbed another thing from the ground, and while she was doing this, the other person seemed to be staring right at him without moving a muscle or even breathing.

  “Scratch!” The matchstick turned on, revealing a small flame which she used to light the candle.

  The flame grew larger and brighter, and Catherine placed it on the ground, where he was finally able to see what was happening.

  Beside Catherine on the ground lay a dead man, with his eyes open widely and an expression of shock and pain painting his face.

  That wasn’t all, however; its lower half was missing, and pieces of flesh were ripped out of his body.

  Alhen grimaced, looking at Catherine for an explanation.

  When he looked at her, he noticed her mouth, which was covered in blood, and her dirty hands, which were tainted as well.

  His body tensed, and he unconsciously glanced at the exit, planning to run if something happened.

  Catherine laughed a little to herself, watching his reaction. Alhen didn’t find it funny and kept his mouth closed, observing her movements.

  “This is my food, my toys are over there,” she pointed beside her.

  Alhen looked to where she had pointed and found three dead wihts beside each other, all with their organs out and wrapped around each other.

  Two had no eyes, and they appeared to be from the same species. Small, deformed bodies with twisted limbs and an expression of pain.

  Their dark skin, full of blood, made for quite a scene that he was sure not to forget.

  The nauseating smell was emanating from there, and he promised not to get close lest he vomited.

  Then, as he thought of something, his eyes widened, and he turned his head to look at her in less than a heartbeat.

  “Catherine, answer me just one question,” he said, dreading the moment the words would come out of his mouth.

  “What is it?” She asked innocently.

  “That soup that you gave me, from what animal was the meat?” He asked.

  “Animal? What do you mean? I fed you this guy over here. You should be thankful that I was willing to share with you,” she said as a matter of fact.

  “Fuck!” Alhen exclaimed, making Catherine slightly jump.

  “If you want to eat humans, then go ahead," he began, "but don’t feed me the same thing you eat!” Alhen shouted.

  He now understood that things were not so simple with this family.

  How could Edith allow Catherine to do this sort of thing? Where did she even get a hold of this body?

  Many questions were running through his mind, but the most notable one was, ‘Will she do the same to me?’

  Catherine seemed to sense this question in him, as the next second, she answered it.

  “My mother brings humans she hunts herself to eat; it has been like that my whole life. I would rather want them to be alive, but that is not possible.”

  “That is why I was so excited when I saw you, a live human, and quickly treated your wounds when you were about to die,” she commented.

  Alhen understood the gist of it, but why?

  “Catherine, why does your mother only bring dead humans for you to eat? Couldn’t she bring mutated animals from the forest?” he asked.

  Before she could answer, Alhen said, “I know that they are somewhat rare, but it doesn’t mean that they are not there; they just hide very well.”

  He remembered his experience traveling with the siblings and rarely seeing animals because they were hidden.

  The few times he had seen one were always at a glance, and they would scurry off.

  “Well,” Catherine began. “Since I was a child, humans were the only thing she brought me; I am still unaware of the reason.”

  “You didn’t think to ask your mother why she did that?” Alhen asked.

  “At one point, I did when I discovered that animals could be eaten as well. When I asked her about it, she said that it would limit my potential and kept bringing me dead humans to eat.”

  Alhen furrowed his brows, looking at the dead man on the floor in concentration.

  ‘I don’t believe for a second that her mother feeds her humans for no reason. Whatever the reason is, it shouldn’t concern me now; I should be more focused on my escape,’ he thought.

  As he finished thinking, the man on the ground came into view again. Knowing that he had eaten the lower half, he couldn’t help but feel unsettled.

  However, he preferred eating that human over whatever monstrosity Kalle had prepared for him; at least the cooked human meat didn’t taste bad and wouldn't give him nightmares.

  He lightly chuckled to himself, thinking about whether it were him in the past, he would definitely be puking his insides out.

  “What are you thinking about? I already told you, sorry for feeding you another human, I thought that you would not care,” Catherine said.

  Alhen shook his head slowly, “It’s in the past now. If this is what you were going to show me, then I saw it. I’m going to sleep now.”

  “Not at all, I was going to show you my toys over there,” she pointed at the bloodied wihts in the corner.

  “I already saw them. Is this all you do to relieve your boredom?” he asked.

  “Yes, there is nothing to do around here except think. As I was doing the same thing every cycle, I eventually started becoming crazy, very fidgety, and had great mood swings.”

  “Thankfully, my mother noticed and handed me dead wihts to have fun. She even took me hunting with her so I could become stronger and relieve my boredom,” she explained.

  'If I were in her situation… I can’t help but think of myself doing the same thing, but it's still kind of gross,' Alhen thought without responding.

  Catherine focused her attention back on the fallen man. “I was going to show you how I play with them, but now I am quite hungry; it will take me a while to eat.”

  “Alright, do you mind at least telling me where my thuls and artifact are? I already got my clothes back, I just need the other equipment I always carry,” he said.

  “What are thuls?” she asked.

  “The revolver and axe that I carried with me when you found me,” Alhen explained.

  “Oh, I know what you are talking about. I am sorry, but I cannot do that. I will hand them back to you when we are heading to the kingdom,” she said apologetically.

  “No problem then. I’m going to go downstairs and throw myself into bed. I want the time to pass already,” he said.

  “Very well, as your master, I agree on that request,” Catherine said with a slight smile, and Alhen rolled his eyes.

  He opened his lips to say something, but in the end shut them and left the room.

  He exhaled sharply as he descended the stairs and reached the room in the blink of an eye.

  The metal door was wide open, and it was at that moment that he wondered the purpose of such a door.

  Not thinking of anything, he shrugged his shoulders and flopped into bed.

  Closing his eyes, it took a few minutes for him to fall asleep, but once he did, it didn’t take long for him to be awoken by a loud sound coming from outside.

  “What was that?” Alhen lightly said to himself.

  He stood from the bed and stood still. There was no doubt, sounds were coming from outside, nearing the cabin.

  'Who is it? Don't tell me that it's a wiht. Should I lock myself here? It would be suicide if I have no way to escape,' he thought.

  Without thinking, he went into the living room, where he noticed the absence of anyone.

  “Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!” There were footsteps outside, and they were headed straight for the cabin.

  Without thinking, he hid close to the door in a dark corner.

  There was some kind of furniture that he moved without making a sound to block his body. Because of the darkness, he couldn’t see what it was, but he was sure that it did the trick.

  A few seconds passed, and the footsteps got closer until eventually, the door opened, and something came inside.

  The door closed, and then… silence. He heard no movement, no breathing, no shifts in the air.

  It was as if the person suddenly disappeared once the door closed.

  'It could be Edith, right?' he thought.

  Five seconds passed, and Alhen was trying his damned hardest not to breathe or make any sound, as he was sure that it would be audible in this silence.

  ‘Think, Alhen. It could either be Catherine, Edith, or a wiht; in the best of cases, it would be Alaran who is here to save you,’ he thought.

  This, however, proved not to be the case. He finally heard some breathing, with the problem being that it came from above him.

  He slowly looked up in the darkness and saw the faint outline of someone looking straight at him without moving a muscle.

  Alhen sharply breathed, and before he could make a move, the furniture he was hiding behind was thrown all the way across the cabin.

  “What are you doing here!? Where is my daughter!?” the person yelled.

  He understood immediately that it was Edith, but he didn’t have the answers to her question, so he remained quiet from the shock.

  Without thinking twice, she grabbed his neck and lifted him high into the air.

  Alhen struggled with his only hand, trying to let out his words of assurance, but she didn’t let him.

  She could have killed him the moment her hands touched him, but didn’t do it, suffocating him slowly instead.

  “Where is my daughter?” she repeated, this time with a more composed tone.

  Thankfully, salvation came down the stairs. “Mother! What are you doing? Let him go!” Catherine exclaimed.

  Seeing that her daughter was safe, she threw him to the ground like old laundry, rushing to his daughter.

  “Catherine! Why did you leave it alone and without supervision? It might not look like it, but even the most insignificant of creatures are cunning, and that in itself is dangerous. You know how many times I have told you that!” she scolded.

  “I am sorry, it will not happen again,” Catherine apologized.

  Alhen grabbed his neck and struggled to breathe, but he calmed down soon enough.

  He stood from the ground, and when he did, he noticed the stare of Edith, who called him from across the room.

  “You! I will finally understand what you are this cycle. Come with me without making a fuss. The sooner we end this, the sooner I can rest assured,” she said.

  “Discover what I am? I’m a human,” he repeated.

  Edith ignored him and told him to follow her outside. He looked at Catherine one last time before following after her.

  Before he left the cabin, he stopped. Edith looked at him with scorn, but soon understood why he did that.

  “You are still too weak to resist the influence of the moon, are you not? It does not surprise me; only those who are at the peak of power can do it.”

  Alhen opened his eyes widely. If you were strong enough, you could avoid the influence of the Nameless Lord?

  That was valuable information.

  Edith looked at her daughter and sent her a signal. She understood immediately and went up the stairs, returning with some glasses in her hand.

  She threw them at Alhen, and he noticed that they were his hunter glasses.

  Without missing a beat, Edith opened the door and left, and Alhen prepared himself mentally to find out if she was telling the truth about his real identity.