“So you were hoping for a feast here?”
Revan, who saw Dorothea fiddling with the hard black bread, answered bluntly.
He was dumbfounded when he saw the girl with her shoulders drooping as if she was strangely disappointed.
'Even back then, I gave the bread I barely got to the rat.'
Fortunately or unfortunately, the young man remembered a long-time incident that was close to a bad relationship. This was because it was too much of a regret and resentment to just completely forget about it and move on.
'Because it was my first time in prison.'
Although he had been warned a few times before for stealing on the streets or causing trouble, he was able to get over the warning thanks to people who were at least generous to him.
He also maintained a certain 'line' to survive.
'But that bastard mercilessly handed me over to the police on the charge of trying to lure a girl with bread.'
The bread that was bestowed was eaten by a rat next to Dorothea, and the boy lost his precious bread and had to go to prison.
'Just thinking about that time makes me really angry...'
He was indeed trying to get Dorothea into his gang, but he wasn't trying to do anything very bad at that time.
Would it be a sin to assume that a young girl would end up in a similar situation as she was wandering the streets without a guardian?
'How could you possibly think that a kid dressed so poorly would have a great following?'
Even so, he never thought she was a girl from a noble family.
Revan, who was looking at the squirrel who had already chewed off half of the hard bread with a confused expression, turned his head and looked Dorothea up and down.
The blue sapphire earrings on her ears caught his eye.
It seemed clear that every single thing she wore all over her body was so expensive that it was difficult for him to imagine.
“So you’re saying you were the daughter of a Marquis?”
"That's right. And this is the Prince who put you in at that time.”
He knows that without saying it.
He lowered his head and sighed, avoiding the bloody eyes that he was afraid to face.
'I thought I would never get involved again.'
Why did she come all the way to where he was and act like a fool?
This was already the second time he had become involved with people he had never spoken to in his entire life.
An ominous feeling seized him that this meeting would not be as good as the first one, which was the worst.
“So why did you come to this squalid place? Let me be clear, we didn't do anything bad. All I can do is make a living by doing cheap performances.”
Although there were some very minor illegalities in the process. Those are things that most people do in their lives.
Whether or not he lowered his eyes as if stung, Luke only cared about one thing.
“Where is Fatima?”
Even though he had already heard the answer several times, Revan wrinkled his face in annoyance at the question as if confirming it.
Now, he had no hesitation in speaking without hesitation even in front of the Princenas if everything was as it should be.
"I do not know. How do you know where that girl went? Furthermore...”
Revan cursed softly.
“I didn’t even know that she was secretly wearing a different pocket. What a fucking bitch.”
Luke watched him grit his teeth and calmly continued his questioning.
“Have you heard anything else? She has a reason to earn money or even someone outside of her with whom she was in frequent contact.”
“How would I know that? There are dozens of kids here, and we can’t take care of them all.”
As questions continued to pour in, Revan, who had his hair a mess, answered curtly.
Then, as if he had done everything he could, he waved his hands and gave a warning to the uninvited guests who came here.
“How about you guys go now? There is a performance in just a few minutes.”
“It’s a performance. There won’t be a set time for street performances, right?”
“Because it’s not a street performance.”
Revan shrugged his shoulders.
“A rich old man rented the entire theater company today. From afternoon to night. On the condition that no outside audience is invited.”
“...”
“I know you think this is ridiculous. Because it was hard for me to believe it too. Some people spend all their time just to watch the performances of idiots like us.”
Revan shook his head as if he didn't understand, but then spoke lightly as if he was okay with it.
“Well, it doesn’t matter as long as we get the money. I already received half of it in advance, so I have to at least pretend to protect it.”
Dorothea, who had been listening to the conversation in silence, slowly raised her head.
The moment he met her navy blue eyes, Revan was caught up in a strangely strange feeling. It felt as if something invisible had entered his mind and shaken it up.
It was a feeling of displeasure that was different from the look in the Prince's eyes.
She glanced sideways at the door, which had suddenly become excessively quiet.
“Then this means that no one except members will come here today.”
"Yes?"
“Have the promised guests arrived?”
At her question, Revan closed his eyes with a dumb expression on his face.
Luke was the first to quickly leave.
Revan, who had been staring at him as he disappeared out the door, realized that the surroundings were too quiet.
Normally, the people who had finished their meal would have made a noise in the building.
He passed Dorothea sitting in front of him and opened the door to go to the dining room where the meal was to be served.
The long, narrow hallway was empty, without even a single rat.
He rushed to the restaurant and saw members lying dead in front of him.
No matter who was holding bread in their hands or dropping it on the floor, everyone was limp and motionless.
“I fell asleep. Someone used drugs.”
Upon hearing Luke's words, which he confirmed by placing his finger on their noses, Revan looked at the scene in front of him, speechless. It was a sight that was difficult for him to understand.
“Who prepared the meal?”
“Everyone takes turns. Excluding young children, it's mainly people who don't go out that day or don't perform well...”
“It’s performance.”
Revan's mouth closed again as if stung by the Prince's mumbling.
If it was a small, crude troupe made up of orphans, it was obvious what they were doing 'out there'.
Instead of asking about an unrelated matter, Luke pretended not to notice Revan, who was irritating.
He was busy muttering and pulling his hair with a very anxious face.
“I’m going to turn. I already received that much money, but when that customer comes...”
“Whoever paid money to rent this place will not enter the building.”
Dorothea's calm and low voice came from behind Revan.
Navy blue eyes beneath thick eyelashes scanned the fallen people with a cool gaze.
Revan cut off his words and asked Dorothea, who came in as if he couldn't understand.
“What do you mean by that?”
“What I’m saying is that it was probably a lie from the beginning that they would pay a lot of money to see the performance.”
At first, she just followed them because she thought there might be a clue to the identity of the dead people.
It was clear that the scale of the task was not as small as expected.
She had an ambiguous expression on her face, as if she was smiling or not, and she straightened her disheveled hair.
“What are you talking about?”
She remained silent despite Revan's cries, which seemed to be frustrating, and reached out her hand to find 'Mine' hiding in the corner of the restaurant.
The child could not resist in any way and was dragged out with a pale face.
“That kid is the one who drugged the food.”
After hearing Luke's words, Revan took long strides and raised his hand toward the child in Dorothea's arms.
"You!"
As the child, cowering at the thunderous cry, burrowed into Dorothea's arms, Freed, who was standing behind her without any presence, instantly pulled out his sword and held it to his neck.
“Step back.”
"That...”
Only after the distance between Revan and Dorothea, who hesitated to take a step back, had increased to a certain extent, Freed's sword slowly lowered.
“Isn’t that kid the cause of this?!”
Dorothea pretended not to hear Revan's words while awkwardly shifting her gaze elsewhere and asked quietly while stroking the child in her arms.
“This is what Fatima asked for, right?”
“...”
The girl's eyes seemed to understand the question, but she did not nod or shake her head.
She just desperately dug into Dorothea's arms with anxious and shaking eyes.
The silence continued as it was unclear how the medicine that could put so many people to sleep got into the child's hands or why she did this.
Eventually, Dorothea turned her head and stared at Luke with clear eyes.
The Prince read those eyes and immediately drew his sword.
“Why, why are you doing this?”
Whether Revan's frightened complexion turned pale or not, the Prince's eyes persistently stared at the building's entrance.
It looked as if it was waiting for someone to come in.
Soon, they heard a shadow leisurely passing through the entrance of the building, and the sound of footsteps getting louder as if they were slowly getting closer to this place.
Someone was walking down the hallway, humming.
Soon, a skinny man with yellow eyes glanced around the restaurant.
He didn't look surprised at all when he saw the people who had collapsed from the drug, but instead raised his eyebrows when he saw the people standing upright.
"What. Why are so many people awake?”
His bright yellow eyes were fixed on Mine, who was burying her face in Dorothea's arms.
The man narrowed his eyes, twisted the corners of his mouth, and spoke disapprovingly.
“Kid, you should have done your job properly. If you want to find your sister.”
Judging from the twitching of his small body, it was clear that the man had something to do with this.
“Are you the one with Fatima?”
"Hmm?"
His eyes then turned to Dorothea, who was hugging Mine.
The man, who took a close look at her outfit and realized that her social status must have been unusual, tilted his head with an interested look on his face.
“I’ve never heard of a noble lady frequenting a place like this.”
“Is Fatima with you?”
Ignoring his muttering, Dorothea asked him again and he nodded slightly in approval.
“She is with me. It will continue to be that way.”
Revan's face crumpled.
“I fed her and put her to sleep, but she and the guy got angry and left, right?”
The strange man's eyes widened at the angry voice and then he burst into laughter.
"Come out? She? No way."
“Or bring her here right away! No, how are you going to compensate for this in the first place? Why did you give them medicine?!”
“Why did I give them medicine?”
The man's eyes narrowed beautifully at Revan's words.
The smile on his face, which had always been smiling, became a little deeper. He was truly enjoying this situation.
“That way, you can eat your last supper and leave this world without any pain? I guess I could say it was my own consideration.”
Revan's eyes, who were wheezing at his words, widened.
Dorothea's expression became colder as she looked at the relaxed man's face.
“What a pity. If we had all shared a meal together, we could have happily left for the next world with them, asleep and unaware of anything.”
Eyes full of pity scanned the people as if they were regretful.
Unlike Revan, who froze, or Luke, who calmly observed the situation, Dorothea looked at him with a colder gaze.
Her calm voice crossed the space and reached the man.
“Do you eat this for dinner?”
"Hmm?"
In her hand was a piece of bread, half of which Phi Phi had bitten off.
The question without a hint of laughter was sincere.
"Why? Doesn’t it taste good?”
As the man chuckled, Dorothea threw the bread she was holding at him.
The hard bread grazed the man's face, hit the wall with a dull sound, and fell to the floor.
"What? I didn't put anything particularly bad in it. Because there is nothing else to it other than the ingredient that makes you fall asleep. The taste wouldn’t have changed that much.”
Dorothea, who was still glaring at the man who playfully shrugged his shoulders, retorted.
“It doesn’t seem like there’s enough sincerity to call it a dinner.”
The anger subtly seeping into her voice was focused on ‘Why did you give me this?’ rather than ‘Why did you take drugs?’
“...”
Revan, who had been quietly watching the two's battle, turned his head and looked at Luke.
“Didn’t you say that she definitely had a fairly high status among noble ladies?”
Although he was polite, this is what he ultimately meant.
'Why would a so-called nobleman risk her life by eating like that?'
Whether Revan's eyes glanced at her with suspicion or not, Dorothea continued to criticize him for the poor quality of the meal.
“To reduce the taste of the medicine, add some spices, or make it really delicious.”
Phi Phi, leaning against her, squeaked in agreement.
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