The little demon boy scurried towards the Sumainese boy who opened his arms to catch him.
"Bud!" The little demon boy called happily.
"Heyyy Dee." The Sumainese boy said as he patted the little demon boy's head.
"Wait." I interrupted their reunion. "Who are you? Do you know him? Can you understand him?"
The Sumainese boy scratched the back of his head while the demon boy clung onto his body.
"My name is Dumakulem, a guardian of the mountains." The tiny four year old boy introduced himself. "As for your other question, Dee was found the day after I was taken away from the mountains. I can understand him to an extent but he cannot speak well or understand quickly."
Dumakulem spoke with a smile and his jolly eyes looked tenderly at the little demon boy.
"By the way, may I know who you are miss?" He asked politely.
"I am Melody, eldest daughter of House Castellan." I also introduced myself.
"Lady Castellan, thank you for saving us today." Dumakulem smiled sincerely. "If you did not save us now, we would have been moved somewhere else."
"I wanted to ask, is Dee his name?" I questioned and patted the bed, inviting him to sit beside me. "Why does he call you Bud?"
Dumakulem smiled and walked towards me to sit on the bed. He looked up to me after sitting, his smile never left his face. The little demon boy was still clinging to him like a child clings to its mother.
"Dee is not his real name, I just call him Dee as short for demon. He calls me 'Bud' because he could not say 'Blood' properly yet. He call me because the first thing he noticed when he woke up was my hair." Dumakulem explained as he put his arm around the little demon boy.
"Then, he does not have a name?" I asked and looked at the little boy pitifully.
"Sadly, he doesn't." Dumakulem replied.
I sighed and stared at the two kids.
"For now, we'll just call him 'Dee'." I said. "Can you stay with Dee until you are both cleared from any dangerous thing Karciel injected on you? I can insure that you will not be treated badly here and you will be given food and clothes. I just don't want to risk infecting others with what Karciel was experimenting on."
"Okay. I can do that." Dumakulem nodded with a smile. "We have been together before anyways."
I smiled at him.
"When you are both cleared and healthier, you can come to me and we'll talk about what you want to do after." I said ad patted his head. "If you want to go back to the mountains, I will find a way to send you back. I promise."
Dumakulem's face lit up when he heard me.
"You'll let me go back home? Really?" He asked excitedly.
"Yes." I affirmed. "So make sure to be healthy and well. Okay?"
"I will! I promise I'll do my best and I'll take care of Dee too, Lady Castellan." He smiled cheerfully.
"Okay." I nodded just in time the dinner for them was served.
I saw the boys' face lit up with happiness when they saw their food which was porridge with vegetables and a banana. I should really commend Elaheh's brother for his cooking skills. It was just porridge but it looked delicious.
"First, you two should eat." I smiled at them as the maids placed the plated on the table beside the bed. "I'll come back again to check on you. Okay?"
"Okay, Lady Castellan." Dumakulem answered though his eyes were stuck on the food.
"Owki." Dee repeated, his eyes also on the food.
I ordered someone to put another bed in the room for Dumakulem and left them to eat in peace.
I checked on the other patients and stayed to talk for a bit before going out of the dungeon. There were quite a number of patients and mostly were from other kingdoms. It puzzled me how they could illegally bring these many people into the kingdom. Was there someone inside the kingdom who secretly helps Karciel? I would understand with the auction items since the owners were different with every item but this was human trafficking. How could they slip past the guards and the knights at the gates of the kingdom?
My mind was still full of questions that I did not notice Uriel approach me.
"Yow sis!" She shouted loudly that I was startled. "You hear me?"
I glared at her.
"I'm not deaf." I said coldly.
"Then what did I say?" She asked and crossed her arms over her chest.
"I don't know." I frowned at her. "I was not listening to you."
Uriel rolled her eyes.
"I said dinner's ready and asked what pissed Athy off that she's giving mama and papa an attitude." She repeated.
"Oh." I forgot Athy was mad earlier. "It's her weapon."
"What's wrong with her weapon?" Uriel asked confusedly.
"I'll tell you on the way." I said and started walking back to the castle.