TCBD 5

<5>

The person was easy to notice.

She was sitting alone beside the door, separated from everyone else.

She was a woman with unusually broad shoulders and a strong, well-built body. Because she was sitting cross-legged, she also had a slightly masculine feeling about her.

Her long blonde hair was completely messy and covered most of her face, so Cecilia could not see it clearly.

She was wearing a black satin dress that covered her entire body, as if she never wanted to show any bare skin. This made her look even more strange and unusual.

Was she kidnapped from a party?

No… Maybe I hit my head and I’m seeing things.

“That person over there…”

When Cecilia pointed toward the woman near the door, the woman who had grabbed her wrist shook her head.

“I asked her several times if she was okay, but she never answered. I think she can’t hear.”

She can’t hear?

Worried, Cecilia looked carefully at the woman near the door.

For a moment, she thought their eyes met through the messy blonde hair.

But the woman quickly lowered her head, so Cecilia was not sure.

The other women were still huddled together in the corner, trembling with fear.

The cold sweat on Cecilia’s body had dried, and the cold coming from the floor now felt like sharp needles against her skin.

She wrapped both arms around herself and began walking around the room.

Then she started hitting the walls with her fists.

Bang! Bang!

“What are you doing?”

The oldest-looking woman quickly grabbed Cecilia’s wrist and tried to stop her.

Fear could be seen in her eyes as she glanced at the tightly closed door.

But Cecilia pulled her hand away and spoke firmly.

“We have to get out of here somehow. We can’t just let them sell us.”

I have to solve this myself.

No one is coming to save us.

Davion’s face appeared in her mind for a moment.

But Cecilia shook her head and pushed the thought away.

That man no longer existed in her life.

White-haired women were rare in the Lismere Kingdom.

Cecilia knew very well that her original appearance would make her valuable as a product.

That was exactly why she could not let her original appearance return.

She searched every part of the room more quickly.

It was an old building, so she thought there might be a crack or opening somewhere.

But every wall was completely sealed.

The wooden boards covering the window were also too strong to remove with her bare hands.

In the end, that meant there was only one way out.

The door.

Eventually, Cecilia started stomping her feet against the floor.

The women all screamed in fear.

“Don’t! Those men don’t hesitate to kill people. They might shoot you!”

It was the same woman who had grabbed Cecilia’s wrist earlier.

Cecilia looked up at the holes in the ceiling and silently disagreed.

No.

They won’t even have time to pull the trigger.

Two small lights were slowly approaching from above the ceiling, making a hissing sound.

“I-I don’t know! Do whatever you want!”

When fierce footsteps began pounding outside the door, the woman finally gave up trying to stop Cecilia and quickly hid in the darkness.

Cecilia urgently pressed her back against the wall beside the door.

She could feel the blonde woman sitting there looking up at her.

Surprisingly, she was not trembling at all.

She looked as if she were simply enjoying an interesting show.

Then—

With a horrible creaking sound, the door opened.

“Were you all good, my cute little puppies?”

A terrible smell filled the room.

It was a mixture of many disgusting smells.

Cecilia forgot that she was hiding and almost vomited.

The strange man was holding a gun and laughing.

Then he noticed that one of the women was missing.

His expression became cold.

“Wait. One of them is missing.”

He put the gun into his back pocket and took out a small knife.

He grabbed one of the women’s hair and roughly pulled her toward him.

Then he pressed the blade against her cheek.

“Where did the white-haired one go?”

When the woman screamed, Cecilia covered her mouth.

“I said, where did the white-haired one go?! Huh?!”

At that moment, a long shadow slowly dropped from the ceiling like a rope.

The man reached for his gun again.

Cecilia quickly kicked the door that was blocking her way.

Bang!

「Nagi.」

“What the?!”

The man was startled and quickly turned around.

Between Cecilia and the man, a viper was staring directly at him with bright yellow eyes.

「Bite him.」

Nagi opened her wide, torn-looking mouth and swallowed the man’s face.

His scream disappeared along with it.

Animals had several clear characteristics.

Except for dogs, animals generally did not like humans.

They were more likely to be cautious and afraid of humans.

Animals with babies especially tried their best to stay away from human eyes.

But once they trusted someone, they became loyal and loving toward that person until death.

Several years earlier, when Ruby was still a baby crow, Cecilia had climbed a tree and saved Ruby from being eaten by a snake.

Then what happened to the snake that Cecilia had thrown into the stream?

「Bad!」

On the night when Cecilia had saved the baby crow and gone to sleep, she suddenly woke up because of an unfamiliar voice.

A viper with white and black stripes was sitting on her chest and hissing.

The viper stared at the confused Cecilia, raised her fangs, and shouted.

「I’m hungry because of you! Look at this! I’m hurt! It hurts! I said it hurts!」

Animals become smarter and gain more knowledge the more they communicate with humans.

On the other hand, animals that have never talked to humans have weak language skills and cannot even speak long sentences.

This was especially true for animals that did not live in groups.

「It hurts!」

From the sound of her voice, Cecilia could tell that the snake was a young female.

She was probably only about four months old.

When Cecilia placed her elbow on the bed and raised her upper body, the viper showed her side.

Perhaps she had hit a rock when Cecilia threw her into the stream.

There was blood coming from a wound on her side.

Oh.

Cecilia became embarrassed and started sweating nervously.

「I’m sorry. I was thinking about saving the babies, so I… I’ll put some medicine on your wound, so don’t be angry, okay?」

「Give me food too. I’m hungry. Tomorrow, I’ll eat a human!」

「Th-That won’t do.」

Cecilia got up and walked down the stairs.

The viper followed her while making hissing sounds.

Cecilia arrived at the small kitchen and searched through the basket above the sink for a long time.

Then she carefully looked down at the viper.

「Um, do you eat fish?」

Unfortunately, Cecilia was a vegetarian who only ate eggs and fish.

So she had no meat that a snake might like.

Snake venom quickly spread through the tiny blood vessels.

The man’s body silently collapsed onto the wooden floor.

Nagi waited until he lost consciousness.

Then she slowly loosened her body from around his head.

「Good job, Nagi.」

「What about that crow you call Ruby?」

「She’s outside.」

Nagi listened to Ruby’s cries.

Then she made a slightly annoyed sound through her nose and smoothly slipped under Cecilia’s skirt.

She usually wrapped herself around Cecilia’s left leg and stayed hidden from people’s eyes.

Cecilia knew how powerful snake venom could be.

Only a few seconds earlier, the man’s body had been shaking occasionally.

Now it was completely still, like a dead body.

Cecilia did not want to check whether he was still breathing.

She knelt down where she was and stretched her arm as far as possible.

Then she picked up the gun lying on the floor.

The gun was loaded.

Someone really intended to shoot us…

After checking the gun, Cecilia raised her head.

The women huddled in the corner flinched and hugged each other tightly.

They looked at Cecilia as if she were some kind of terrifying monster.

Cecilia felt bitter.

Nagi poked her head out from under Cecilia’s skirt and snorted.

「Humans!」

「We need to get out right now. I need to find out how many people are outside.」

Just then, a sewer rat was hurriedly walking along the edge of the wall.

Cecilia touched around her waist and let out a frustrated sound.

The pocket where she had kept the bag of bread was completely empty.

Apparently, the kidnappers had taken all her belongings.

Then I have no choice…

She knew it was rude, but she could not think of another good way.

She stepped in front of the rat and blocked its path with her shoe.

Then Cecilia suddenly spoke to it.

Hey, little one. Do you know how many humans are inside this building?