"Ahhhh! Please stop! My Lord, please, please let my child go and take me away in his place, I beg you."

    "Hehehe, and why do you think I am only going to take your child away, not you as well? You low-born really think too highly of yourself. It''s all Duke Bois'' fault; he treats you too well, which makes you arrogant. So much so that now you even dare to talk to me while looking directly into my eyes."

    Myne, hidden in the crowd, wearing tattered clothes to disguise himself which he borrowed from a kind soul, observed the unfolding drama with a calm expression, showing no interest in poking his head into other people''s business.

    The protagonist of this spectacle was a handsome man clad in a luxurious black, slim-fit tuxedo suit, a bloody red cape, and matching shoes. He had short black hair, pale skin, bright red eyes, and two suspiciously long teeth protruding from the corners of his mouth. An arrogant look was etched on his face as if the entire world owed him a debt. In his arms, he held an unconscious twelve-year-old boy, and by his side, a frail, thin middle-aged woman who looked as if she hadn''t eaten in months, and might blow away with a gush of strong wind.

    After his nonsensical rant, the man in the cape''s feet slowly left the ground. Under the woman''s horrific screams, he flew toward the under-construction castle on a hill some distance away from the town.

    "Poor Rosalinda," A passerby muttered while sighing heavily, shaking his head. "Just a week ago, she lost her husband, and now, her child and she are also destined to become food for those monsters. I warned her to stay indoors, but nowadays, no one listens to reason."

    "Reason, my ass," Another, more cynical voice retorted. "If she stays cooped up at home, what will she and her child eat? Dirt? We men can earn a living on construction sites, but what about a woman with a child to raise? Don''t forget, if she doesn''t eat, she won''t be able to provide the three litres of blood demanded weekly. To survive, she must work, and to work, she must eat. Otherwise, she''ll become food for those monsters." With a deep sigh, the man turned and left.

    "Let''s go. There''s nothing more to see here. You all have work to do in a few hours," A burly man announced, and the crowd stopped blocking the road and quickly dispersed.

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    However, what Myne didn''t notice was that over fifty bats were perched in various high places on the castle and tree in the garden, watching him coldly. Due to a specific bat''s command, no one approached him, leading him to the beautiful misunderstanding that the old men were working hard with full honesty and diligently.

    "F*ck! The door is locked," Myne cursed as he tried to push the iron door, but it was locked. He looked around for any opening, but unfortunately, all the windows at the front of the castle were also locked. There didn''t seem to be any other passage as well, which made him curse the castle''s designer. After all, what kind of castle doesn''t have more than one entrance? Not everyone can use the main gate. For servants and transporting goods, there should always be a few extra entrances in the castle. But sadly, this one had none.

    While avoiding the suspicious glances of the gardeners, Myne walked to the back of the castle, hoping to find any opening. In such a large castle, he couldn''t believe there wouldn''t be any other way in.

    "Who are you, and why are you wandering around the castle instead of doing your work?" A feminine voice suddenly cut through the air, startling Myne. He hurriedly turned around and saw a beautiful woman with a bombshell figure and D-cup-sized breasts. She had long, waterfall-like flowing red hair and stood behind him with ten not-so-friendly-looking men dressed in black.

    "I... I was looking for a way in?" Myne stammered awkwardly under the intense gaze of the beautiful woman and her guards. As the guards started approaching him, he quickly adjusted his story. "I mean, I''m new here, and I was appointed as a servant in the castle''s kitchen. But I couldn''t open the main door, and there were no guards around, so I was just wandering around hoping to find a back entrance."

    "Oh, a kitchen servant, huh? But as far as I remember, we don''t have a kitchen in this castle. So where did this kitchen servant position come from?" The red-haired woman smiled forcedly as she crossed her arms under her chest. The guards surrounded Myne, ready to act on her command.

    "What? How can your castle not have a kitchen? Then where do you prepare food?" Myne, who had limited information about this strange place that he learned from passersby, couldn''t believe his ears and unconsciously asked.

    "We don''t need to go through the trouble of preparing food like humans. Our food is always ready—we just have to grab it and suck it until our stomachs are full. Enough! Catch him and bring him to the basement. Lock him there. I''ll interrogate him properly later," The red-haired lady commanded impatiently. The guards immediately acted, tying his hands behind his back with some kind of red energy rope. The rope looked like solidified liquid as they pulled it from their pockets, and they pushed him toward the entrance door.

    "Weird... this went a bit too smoothly. Doesn''t this guy know space magic? Why didn''t he try to escape? Could getting caught be part of his strategy?" The red-haired woman muttered with a deadly serious expression. Sensing that the matter seemed more serious than expected, she decided to inform Lord Duke about it. Without wasting time, she transformed back into a small bat and flew toward the top of the castle.