Chapter 54
“S-Should I bring you some bread or something?”
I stepped back as a strange chill ran down my back.
I could only see Winter’s back, but I imagined the creepy look he must be making as he licked his lips.
“This seems like magic that increases desires. I suddenly remembered that I haven’t eaten in days.”
“Why—why would you skip meals?!”
I yelled, pressing my back against the wall.
Am I really going to die and go back in time again because Winter didn’t eat? He’s rich! Why is he starving himself?!
A low laugh came from him.
“No need to panic. This actually makes me feel more alive. It’s been a long time since I felt this way.”
“S-So I’m safe now, right?”
“Yes, you’re safe now.”
…So I wasn’t safe earlier?
A shiver ran down my spine, like a cold hand had slipped under my clothes.
At that moment, a sharp gust of wind blew through the storage room, and a broom flew through the air like it was trying to escape.
Winter caught it instantly, faster than my eyes could follow, and crushed it in one hand.
“Are you okay? I think the magic items in here were disturbed by that root, causing the magic inside to go wild.”
Just then, a broken necklace in the corner glowed red and shot toward Winter.
He easily dodged it with a tilt of his head.
“I think I’m fine. I didn’t step inside the room, after all.”
After closing the door with his bare hands, Winter stepped back, and Raglia started shaking again.
[Lala!]
“Be quiet, or I’ll toss you into that creepy root thing.”
Still hoping to get her gold, Raglia finally shut her mouth. I might’ve heard a sniffle, but I ignored it.
“Duke, can you break that magic?”
Winter nodded.
“Usually, if the desire is satisfied, the magic fades.”
“…So, should I really get you bread?”
“The desires affected by this magic go beyond just food.”
Winter walked past me as he spoke.
“I could force the magic off, but a little desire helps me stay sharp. So don’t worry—I actually feel better now.”
I was so glad that magic didn’t affect me.
If it had, I’d be craving everything—ramen, chicken, spicy noodles fried with garlic and green onion oil, white rice with kimchi…
Just thinking about it was dangerous. Here, all I ever got was goat cheese, goat milk, goat cream, goat jam…
Now I was hungry again. I shook my head hard.
“That root… it looked like it grew right above the room, didn’t it?”
“It seems that way…”
Winter started to move ahead, then looked back at me.
“If that really is a plant, we should hurry.”
Then he tucked me under his arm and jumped up an entire floor in one bound.
“Because roots never grow alone.”
Ah—something’s in my eye!
I rubbed my eyes and realized it was a small piece of grit.
Looking up, I saw the purple ceiling starting to crack and felt the faint tremor beneath my feet.
The air had turned damp and cold. We had reached the underground prison.
It smelled awful—like sweat and mold. The place looked like a cave full of stalactites.
“It’s strange. I’ve seen moss here before, but never anything that could grow such massive roots.”
We looked all around the prison, but there was no green plant to be found.
Just purple mold, gross puddles, and some floating algae.
But then—
“Duke, over here! I found something… it looks like a ginseng root!”
In one corner of the prison, the ground looked soft. A thin white thread was poking out—it looked like hair.
Up close, it was a super thin plant stem, ending in a tiny heart-shaped leaf.
Could that small thing really have grown those huge roots?
“It doesn’t seem magical, which makes it even more dangerous to touch carelessly.”
“The prisoners here all died after hearing a scream. Maybe they touched this without thinking and triggered something…”
We hesitated, trying to figure out what to do. The ground was starting to shake more and more.
We thought about burning it, but that might trigger the scream again.
We couldn’t pull it out either. What were we supposed to do?
***
[That’s just a poor child.]
…A child?
If it can scream, maybe it can also listen?
I crouched down and bit my lip.
“Hey there, little one. Can you hear me?”
The leaf didn’t move.
Well… of course not. That would’ve been too easy.
“The ancient magic said it was a child,” Winter said, kneeling next to me and staring at the thin stem.
“Maybe it’s asleep.”
He placed his hand on the soft ground and closed his eyes.
“I can hear breathing and a heartbeat. I don’t know exactly what this is… but it might be something like us.”
A plant… with a heartbeat?
I had no idea what it could be, but I decided to just accept it for now.
“If it’s a sleeping baby, and we wake it up… it might start crying. Maybe what I heard before wasn’t a scream, but crying.”
I had no idea how to handle a baby—past or present.
“What do you do to wake a baby without making it cry?”
“Give them food. That usually works.”
Food… that actually sounded like a good idea.
But what do we feed it?
If it’s a person, maybe milk or soup. If it’s a plant, then water.
We rushed to the kitchen and came back with milk, orange juice, and water—arms full.
“Let’s treat it like a plant for now, since we don’t see a mouth.”
We decided to try water first.
I carefully tilted the water jug, slowly, so the baby wouldn’t get scared and start “screaming.”
After a moment—
“…Gulp.”
A quiet, but clear gulping sound came from underground. Then a strange humming, like baby babbling.
I couldn’t say anything. I just looked at Winter.
I must’ve been grinning like a fool.
“Gulp. Gulp. Gulp…”
Whatever it was, it drank happily. One full jug of water later, we noticed the tremors in the ground had stopped.
“I was worried giving it water might make it grow more, but it seems to have calmed down instead.”
Now what?
Suddenly, the thin stem tilted to one side.
Then it tilted to the other.
Then it stood straight, and then it started spinning in circles.
“Is it… asking to be pulled out?”
I slowly reached out my hand.
I gently stroked the stem first—like petting a sleepy baby.
It started moving more excitedly.
“It looks happy,” Winter said.
Is this… is happiness?
I wasn’t sure, but I decided to trust him. I grabbed the stem and started to pull gently.
To my surprise, it came out easily.
If it was really the root that grew so massive under the storage room, I thought it would be stuck—but no. It slid out like butter.
And then…
When I finally saw what it was—
I almost screamed on the spot.
