Chapter 02

Without a second thought, the man dashed the opposite direction of where the two were standing. But after a brief moment, he tripped, not knowing the reason why. He hurt his ankle really bad, maybe even twisted it, but the pain he felt was much different compared to a fracture. Despite the pain, he tried standing up and running away.

Only after a few steps, he fell on the ground. It was as if something pushed him from behind.

“I’m amazed. You were able to stand up even after your ankle was cut.” The Esia look-alike slowly creeped up from the dark forest and stood beside him.

From there, she pulled something from behind the man’s back. It was a knife that was lodged in so deep she had to twist and move it around to loosen it. The man screamed at the top of his lungs from the excruciating pain. His ankle cut and his back stabbed and a hole made.

“You’re too noisy. What if the guards hear you, mister Abram?” She now had an expressionless look as she grabbed Abram’s hair and lifted his head up.

“Help! Somebody, help me!” Abram continued screaming, ignoring the warning she had made. But that scream for help only turned into a deafening cry of pain.

The Esia look-alike dropped the knife and used it grab a hold of Abram’s chin and forcefully shutting it close. His teeth broke, mouth filled with blood, and he started choking on the pieces of broken teeth. Even if harmed to that extent, he let out moans of despair and crawled, pulling his body with his arms.

“You don’t learn, do you?” She picked the knife again and stabbed Abram’s hands not once, but a few times. “I’m pretty amazed at your tenacity. Is it because you’re a hunter?”

Without responding at all, Abram desperately tried to move his body, using his upper arms, shoulders, and elbows to wriggle his way out. Has his mind been broken due to the severe shock? Or does he think he still has a chance of escaping from the monster known as Esia.

She grabbed her knife and cut the first joint of Abram’s pinkie finger, where the nail is. Abram screamed so load, it could actually be heard from miles away in this dark and silent forest. Be that as it may, no one came even with all the fuss.

“You really are useless. Even after being cut and bruised, you still move.” She heaved a deep sigh and tightly grasped her knife. “Well, since you’re here, might as well make use of you before your retirement. I have too many assistants at the laboratory anyway.”

She lifted her knife and cut another joint of another finger. She continued cutting until Abram could no longer move. Abram couldn’t even let out a pained moa, let alone scream. He could no longer move his body as well. He is basically a living corpse.

“Tsk.” The Esia look-alike tsked in annoyance. “You can’t even last half an hour. Even mister Illar has more spirit than you. Well, it’s your early retirement. Rejoice.”

With the knife dyed in a thick red, she stabbed the back of the neck of Abram. He jolted and convulsed and choked on his own blood. He died a bit longer than a minute.

She was disappointed that whatever she has done didn’t last long as she’d hope. So, after heaving another deep sigh, she grabbed the hair of Abram’s corpse and dragged it along with her. And along the way, Illar has gotten quite far from where he originally was earlier. That brought Esia to a smile, a very big and bright smile.

“Mister Illar really is a great assistant!” She smiled and gleefully and cheerfully declared. “Ohhh mister Illa~ar! I need your assistance!”

As she walked on, she disappeared into the dark forest waving her bloodied knife and dragging along a corpse.

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The orphanage at the eastern district of Heom mainly houses non-humans and during its establishment and the first few years, not one day has passed where discrimination and harassment against them stopped. But recently, the orphanage has seen better days where people even donate things to the children. It has somewhat established its place in the eastern district.

Life goes on for the orphanage but sometimes, rumours about it appear one after the other.

The screams are becoming louder and louder and honestly, it’s becoming eerie that I find it difficult to sleep at night.

I think I saw people walking about the garden at night, but when I tried calling out to them, they disappeared.

Esia might actually be someone frightening and dangerous. But she seems to be caring and the kids look quite happy.

They are just rumours after all but there is still a part inside them that distrusts Esia.

“Madam Lecia, can I buy a bundle of these vegetables and some spices?” Esia popped out in front of three older women while holding an empty wooden basket.

“Oh, Esia!” Madam Lecia was slightly befuddled as the person they were gossiping about appeared in front of her. “Of course! And you don’t have to call me madam. Lecia is fine.”

“I couldn’t possibly disrespect you. After all, you were one of those few who helped me out when I took over the orphanage.”

“Oh, don’t stress. You cause no disrespect in doing so. And besides, your mother was a dear friend of mine.”

“I see…” Esia took a momentary pause from both speech and movement.

She recovered almost immediately and packed her wooden basket with vegetables of different kinds, then loading it up on her. She paid madam Lecia and waved goodbye to the women.

“I’ll have my idiot sons help you pull your carriage.” Madam Lecia insisted on lending a hand to Esia. After all, she was pulling a carriage filled with crates and baskets filled with food all by herself.

“It’s alright, madam Lecia. I’m strong.” She boldly declared and pulled her sleeves while flexing her almost non-existent muscles.

She didn’t give any time for the women to respond and started hauling her carriage towards the orphanage. Even the people around were astonished to see a frail looking woman pull a carriage by herself.

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Esia finally reached the entrance of the orphanage and went to the back of drop of her purchases. Frianne and the children were quite astonished when they saw the amount of food before them.

“Esia, why did you buy all these?” Frianne asked Esia with a perplexed face.

“A lot of merchants are selling fruits, vegetables, and meat for a very low price.” She excitedly answered Frianne, as if she just got a new toy.

“Where did you even get the money to purchase all these. Although the orphanage receives donations, we barely received any monetary ones.”

“Oh, no no. I didn’t buy anything at all except for those from madam Lecia’s. The rest were given by our clients, those who adopt the kids.”

“And why would they donate?”

“Don’t ask me. They just gave it to me.”

“Esia, don’t just accept things people give you even if they seem like a nice person.” Frianne had given up and gave out an exhausted sigh. She even warned Esia to be cautious.

“Frianne, we barely have any food, let alone for winter.” Esia looked around before whispering closely to Frianne, confirming the kids couldn’t hear what they were talking about.

“…”

Frianne couldn’t utter a single word and heaved another sigh. She couldn’t do anything at this point and returning what was given would be considered rude. And she’s happy that they were somehow able to acquire food that could last till spring.

Both they and the kids were sorting the gifts Esia received from clients and the townspeople, and emptying the carriage. But after sometime, Frianne had a solemn look on her face and asked something of Esia.

“Esia… have you heard of those rumours about the orphanage being haunted by ghosts or screams being heard?”

Esia was silent for a while but when Frianne glanced at her, all her worries disappeared. Esia was giving a dumbfounded expression, one that seemed like it wasn’t even aware of such rumours, let alone know if those rumours existed.

“Um, no. Rather, I didn’t even know rumours like that circulated.” Esia wore a confused look, thinking as hard as she could, trying to remember hearing any of those. “Well, rumours are rumours. And besides, I have never seen those ghosts or heard any screams.”

“But, it still bothers me because I sometimes hear screams-“ But just before Frianne was about to finish, Esia interrupted.

“Frianne! there’s no such thing, alright? Just…” Esia raised her voice slightly and forcefully cut in, declaring such.

Frianne was bewildered for but a moment but all her unease dissipated yet again. She saw Esia tremble. She was trembling in fear, slightly tearing up, and her hands cupping her ears.

Frianne just laughed at the sight of a quivering Esia, even patting her head despite being older than herself, reassuring Esia that everything really were just rumours and nonsensical.

It wasn’t long, but the night drew in. And after a hearty dinner, everyone was headed for bed. Frianne had also headed home. After checking up on the kids and making sure that everyone was asleep, Esia went away to settle other matters.

Footsteps echoed throughout corridor of the orphanage and someone ended up facing a blank wall. The person placed his palm on it and a faint light was emitted from hs hand. Not long after, the stone wall began to move and opened up a path and he began to walk inside it.

Not too far from him, a child was watching him. From walking along the dark corridor to the opening of the pathway and entry into a dark space. The child had single horn prop up from above his right brow along his forehead. His name is Veyrr, a child of a devil clan and also a resident of the orphanage.

He was curious about where the figure had gone, but he dared not to follow. He was slightly frightened so he just ran back towards his room and hid under his blanket. He was quivering at the thought that someone was walking in the orphanage, despite it being closed, and late night at that. He wanted to inform Esia, who was upstairs, but was too afraid to move. So, he decided to wait until the sun rises and informs her. With his body being small and young, his eyes eventually grew weary and heavy until finally falling asleep.

The halls and corridors of the orphanage was back to how it was, peaceful and quiet. The night passed along quite quickly and waited for the sun to rise above the horizon.