The cell fell silent except for the distant dripping of water somewhere in the darkness.
Cold seeped through the stone floor as she sat against the wall, staring blankly ahead.
Her tests.
Her home.
Everything she had known seemed impossibly far away.
She ran her fingers through her hair in frustration.
There were enough problems for her already.
It wasn’t like she was back home with her door open, inviting trouble in.
‘It will be a big problem for me if the hospital stops giving them their medications.’
Some time passed.
Or maybe a lot.
She was too distracted to notice.
There was no way to tell the time, either.
Footsteps echoed through the corridor again.
Slower this time.
Only one set.
The cell door opened.
Eryndor stood in the doorway, still dressed only in the loose robe he had worn earlier, his black hair falling freely around his shoulders.
He took in her appearance with his green eyes.
She looked small against the cold stone wall, her face still wet with tears.
“Your tears will not change your circumstances.”
He stepped into the cell.
He watched her without speaking.
Not exactly her.
His attention was more focused on what she was wearing.
The style was strange…
But the way the clothes were sewn?
A flawless line of microscopic stitches ran across the fabric with precision no human hand could achieve.
No visible knots, no loose threads, and not a single stitch was out of place.
It was a level of perfection as if the thread had not been sewn by a needle but woven into existence by pure magic.
‘I didn’t think much of it before, but now it feels more suspicious.
To get clothes sewn like this…
Either a very high-ranking noble from a foreign kingdom or perhaps even someone from a royal family’
“But I require answers before I decide what is to be done with you.”
He stopped several steps away.
“Tell me everything you remember about where you came from.”
His voice was calm.
“If you lie to me, I will know.”
“I told you, I don’t think I’m from here.” Her voice trembled as she struggled to make him understand.
“The place I come from is full of humans.
There are no kingdoms.
We choose our president by voting.
It’s more modern than this place, and there are no other species there.
You’re the first elf I’ve ever seen.”
The words caught in her throat then tears gathered in her eyes.
“I have a test today.
And I need to pay the hospital for my family’s medicine.
They’re very sick.
If I don’t pay for their treatment, the hospital will stop giving them their medicine…
and they’ll die.”
‘President.
Voting.
Hospital.
Medicine.
Modern.’
‘None of these words make any sense.’
Suspicion hardened his expression.
His hand shot forward, gripping her chin and forcing her to look at him.
“You speak gibberish again.” His voice was cold and sharp.
“There is no such thing as a world inhabited by humans alone.”
His grip tightened.
“And you claim your family will die without these…
medicines?” His expression turned cold.
“What kind of sorcery is that?”
He released her and rose, pacing across the small cell.
His shadow stretched over the straw-covered floor before he turned back toward her.
“You’re either enchanted or insane.”
He paused.
“Perhaps both.”
He reached the door and rested one hand against the frame.
“But you don’t smell of magic.”
His gaze settled on her again.
“You simply smell…
human.”
‘Not like the humans here either.’
His eyes narrowed.
“I’ll give you one day to prove your usefulness.
If you fail, you’ll remain here until I decide otherwise.”
He turned to leave.
“There is no such thing as uselessness in my palace.”
The door began to close.
“Wait!”
Her voice cracked.
The guards were about to shut the door when she spoke again, desperate to make him understand.
“Hospital…” she said quickly, her voice breaking as the door began to close.
“It’s a place where sick people go to be treated.”
The door stopped.
“They have people there who treat the sick.
They give them things…
like herbs.”
“Herbs?”
Eryndor’s voice came from the other side of the door.
The door opened again, and he stepped inside.
“We have healers who use herbs to treat the sick.”
She nodded quickly.
“Yes.
Like that.”
She wiped her tears, struggling to find words he would understand.
“But we don’t have magic.”
Eryndor’s eyes narrowed.
“No magic?”
She shook her head.
“So…
the things they use to make sick people better…” She hesitated.
“The herbs…
or whatever they use…
they aren’t always available.”
She drew a breath, trying to steady herself.
“If someone needs them, they have to pay.”
Eryndor stared at her.
“Pay?”
“Yes.”
Her voice became smaller.
“If you don’t pay, they won’t give you the medicine.”
He remained silent.
She quickly added, afraid he still didn’t understand.
“They won’t treat you anymore.
They won’t give you what you need to get better.”
Her hands trembled as her shoulders sank.
“My family is very sick.
They need those medicines.”
She swallowed.
“If I don’t pay the hospital…”
Her voice broke.
“They’ll stop giving them the medicine.”
Eryndor’s expression hardened.
“So they possess what your family needs to survive…”
He looked at her as though the very idea was absurd.
“…and refuse to give it to them unless you pay?”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
A long silence followed.
In Eryndor’s kingdom, a healer did not simply refuse the sick because they lacked payment.
If someone was ill, they were treated.
The idea of withholding something that could save a life simply because someone couldn’t pay some coins was difficult to comprehend.
His gaze returned to her tear-streaked face.
‘No magic.’
‘And yet they have ways of treating illness that require payment.’
He slowly released his grip on her shoulder.
“How strange your kingdom is.”
He turned toward the door.
He stopped.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then he looked back at her.
‘She describes healers…
but with strange words.’
His expression hardened.
“How very human.”
He walked toward the door.
“Even in war, we do not simply abandon our wounded.”
He stopped and turned his attention to her.
“But none of this changes your situation.”
His green eyes fixed on hers.
“You’re still human.”
A faint look of disgust crossed his face.
“You’re still in my kingdom.”
He opened the door.
“And your family’s fate is not my concern.”
His gaze lingered on her for one final moment.
“Prove yourself useful here…
or you may never see them again.”
The door slammed shut behind him.
She stared at it for a moment, then started wiping her face as her tears slowly faded.
“Tch.”
“So, sympathy isn’t going to work on him.”