The Little Boy

Seeing Angel disappear down the stairs, Duru hesitated over whether to follow.

Just then, Duru felt a gust of icy wind blow in from outside the door, making him shudder.

"I'd better follow." Duru's teeth chattered. At least with Lord Pat, his safety should be guaranteed.

Keeping his head down, Duru followed Angel down as well.

The stairwell was pitch-black, yet surprisingly free of dust. However, a faint smell of medicinal solution hung in the air, making Duru deeply uncomfortable... He always felt that the heavy medicinal scent was concealing some other smell.

Tap, tap, tap—

They went down and down.

The fluorite gave off a ghostly green glow, illuminating the stairs whose end was still nowhere in sight. Duru felt as though he were walking down a staircase leading to hell. Every step made his heart tremble.

"My lord, why does this basement smell so strongly of medicine?" Duru looked at the straight-backed figure ahead of him.

"That's because..." Angel paused and turned around.

Not knowing why Angel had suddenly stopped, Duru continued, "Because of what?"

Angel narrowed his eyes and smiled faintly. "Because this used to be the orphanage's infirmary."

Duru curled his lip. He felt Angel was pulling his leg. What orphanage would build its infirmary underground?

The two continued downward for about a minute. Hugging his arms around himself, Duru shivered. "Why does it feel colder and colder? It's like wind is blowing in from every direction."

Angel replied casually, "Probably a draft."

He's pulling my leg again. Did a draft blow chaotically from every direction? Duru badly wanted to complain, but he was already freezing so badly that he did not want to lose any more body heat by talking.

And the farther down they went, the colder it became. Wasn't this supposed to be