Chapter 3: Gentle Haven

“Whether it is worth it or not is not for you to decide, it’s for me to decide.” He stood up and brushed the dust off his hands. “Alright, now that your wounds are healed, go take a bath. The sky is almost dark, don’t you want to eat yet?”

Eat?

The word seemed to have magic, instantly making the children forget their previous shock and dread.

Only then did they remember that from yesterday until now, they had only nibbled on half a loaf of moldy bread. Their stomachs had long since stuck to their backs from hunger.

“Is… is there food to eat?” The little boy who had just been healed, named Pippin, looked up and asked cautiously.

“Nonsense,” Ryan glanced at him. “I brought you all back here, am I supposed to let you watch me eat?”

His tone was still so impatient, even a bit fierce, but the children weren’t afraid at all anymore. They looked at each other, their eyes shining.

This strange noble lord, although his mouth was very mean, but it seemed… he would really give them food to eat.

And he even used such a precious magic potion!

Treya stood frozen, listening to her companions’ quiet cheers, but her mind only grew more confused.

She couldn’t figure it out.

She completely couldn’t figure it out.

In the survival laws of the Lower District, there was never such a thing as kindness for no reason. Every mouthful of food, every piece of ragged clothing, came with a price tag attached to it.

This man named Ryan, what was he after?

Was he after them for labor? She had indeed heard that some orphanages were actually exploiting child labor, shackling and chaining the orphans to use as slaves. If they worked themselves to death, they were simply buried in a random spot, and no one cared at all.

But what black-hearted boss who exploited child labor would waste a healing potion before they even started working? They couldn’t afford one even if they did hard labor for a whole month.

Or was he after… something else? Treya’s heart sank. She thought of those even filthier rumors, about the unspeakable preferences of certain nobles.

“What are you still standing there for?” Ryan’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Treya, you all arrange the use of the bathroom yourselves. The kitchen is over there, dinner is on the dining table, go get it yourselves. Also, I don’t like anyone entering my room. You can use any other place freely.”

After speaking, he ignored the group of children and went into the main building on his own, heading up to the second floor.

The children exchanged glances.

“Boss, we…”

Treya took a deep breath, suppressing the various conjectures in her heart.

“He’s right, we’ll bathe first.” Her voice had returned to its usual calmness. “No matter what he wants, we have no other choice right now. At least, let’s fill our stomachs first.”

The well in the backyard became lively again. This time, the children’s movements in drawing water and scrubbing themselves were much more efficient.

They entered the bathroom one by one, using the old cloth Ryan had given them to scrub away layers of grime that had accumulated for who knows how many years, revealing the original color of their skin. Although they were still thin, at least they looked like human beings now.

Changing into the old clothes Ryan had found, although they were wide and ill-fitting, the feeling of the clean, soft fabric against their skin made the little ones so comfortable they almost hummed with pleasure.

Current Contact: Treya

Worth: 0 silver coins

Reason: Performed body cleaning, appearance looks much better.

Points Gained: 10

Current Contact: Pippin

Worth: 0 silver coins

*****

Once everything was properly cleaned up, Treya led her five “younger brothers and sisters” into the main hall of the building, walking stiffly.

A rich aroma of food wafted toward them.

On the long wooden table in the center of the hall, several plates were laid out. The plates did not contain the black bread and swill soup they had imagined, but… roasted meat piled up like a small mountain! The golden-brown skin was still sizzling with oil. Beside it was a large plate of white bread, so soft it could be squeezed until water came out, and a pot of steaming-hot thick soup stewed with vegetables of unknown kind.

Gulp.

No one knew who swallowed first, but then a series of gulps echoed one after another in the quiet hall.

“Can… we eat it?” The youngest girl, Amy, tugged at the corner of Treya’s clothes, her voice as thin as a mosquito’s buzz.

They had never seen such a lavish meal. In their world, food was hard, sour black bread, rotten vegetable leaves picked up from the market, and the leftover scraps poured from other people’s tables. What lay before them was simply like a king’s feast from a storybook.

Treya’s heart was also pounding wildly. Although she couldn’t see the delicious food on the table, the aroma lingering on the tip of her nose alone told her that this meal was no ordinary one.

What exactly did he want to do?

Feed them, a bunch of street urchins, such lavish food? Had he given up on his own life?

“What are you looking at? Eat.”

Ryan’s voice came from the stairs. He had already changed into a set of clean casual clothes, and with a book in his hand, he slowly walked down, sat on the single-person sofa by the fireplace, and began to flip through it on his own, as if he hadn’t noticed the commotion over here at all.

Having received permission, the children could no longer hold back.

The boy named Pippin was the first to rush forward, grab a piece of roasted meat, and stuff it into his mouth.

“Mmm! Delicious!” He huffed and puffed from the heat, but was unwilling to spit it out, shouting unclearly.

With the first one gone, there was a second. The other children also swarmed forward, like a pack of little wolves that had been hungry for days, clumsily grabbing food with their hands, stuffing their stomachs ravenously. They ate too fast, and some choked, quickly gulping down a mouthful of thick soup to wash it down. Some were burned by the meat, but they only shook their hands and continued eating.

No one spoke. The entire hall was filled only with the sounds of chewing, swallowing, and satisfied moans.

Treya didn’t move.

She couldn’t see, but she could hear. She could hear Pippin’s joyful sobs as he ate the meat, and Amy’s happy sighs as she nibbled on the white bread in small bites. She could smell the aroma of meat that made every cell in her body scream.

“Aren’t you eating?” Ryan’s voice sounded again, flat and without a ripple of emotion.

Treya’s body stiffened.

“Eat,” Ryan turned a page of his book without looking up. “You need to be full to have the strength to figure out what to do tomorrow.”

These words were like a key, unlocking the last line of defense in Treya’s heart.

Yeah, what’s the use of thinking so much? With an empty stomach, you can’t do anything. Even if what lies ahead is a trap, a hell, you still have to die a full ghost first.

She fumbled her way to the table, reached out, and touched a piece of warm, greasy roasted meat. She learned from the others, grabbed the meat, and slowly brought it to her lips.

The moment the salty and fragrant meat juice burst in her mouth, Treya’s eyes instantly turned red.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten meat. Perhaps it was years ago, when she had scavenged a bone picked clean from a trash can behind a tavern. She and another stray dog had fought over it for a long time before she managed to lick a few remaining traces of meat.

And now, she held a whole piece—a whole, hot, fragrant piece of roasted meat.

She took small bites, chewing slowly, unwilling to swallow too quickly. Each mouthful was like tasting an unreachable dream.

In the upstairs room, Ryan watched the busy little figures in the backyard through the window, a faint, almost imperceptible smile curving his lips.

They need to eat well… Once they’re fed fat and plump, they’ll surely fetch a good price.