Voice:
"Mom, Mom, he woke up, he finally woke up."
Theodore's eyes started to open slowly. The light was very bright when he opened his eyes, and he saw a young girl in front of him, smiling and looking into his eyes.
The vision was blurry. He couldn't see the girl clearly. He looked at her, and she started moving her mouth.
He knew she was talking, but his mind was blurry, and so were his eyes.
His vision became better, and his hearing as well.
Suddenly, he tried to get up fiercely. The girl quickly stepped back.
Theodore looked at his hands and found they were tied to the bed. He couldn't move.
The girl started talking. "You shouldn't move; you will open your wounds."
Theodore stopped and looked at her. "What do you want from me? I will not go back to the family."
The girl looked at him in confusion and said, "What is a family? What are you talking about?"
Theodore realized what had happened. He remembered the fight with Hanzo and the cliff.
"My dad found you on the riverbanks. You were in very bad condition."
Theodore continued to look down without saying anything. The door opened, and a tall man with a woman entered the room.
"So, you finally woke up?" The man said as he came closer to Theodore's bed.
"Hey, you, say something. At least give me your name."
"Theodore..."
"Okay, Theodore, you must answer my questions, alright?"
Theodore looked at the man with a fierce and scary look in his eyes.
"Do you have a family?"
"No, I don't..."
"Okay, so how did you fall into the river, and what caused your injuries?"
"That's none of your business."
"Huh? None of my business? I saved your life, kid. You didn't even say thanks to me?"
"I didn't want you to save me."
"Well, I think you don't deserve my words." The man wanted to hit Theodore, but the girl and the woman stopped him.
"Hey, Dad, stop. He is injured."
"I don't fucking care. Let me crack his head."
The woman and the girl held the father back.
"Huh, whatever. I will go hunting. You deal with the boy."
The man took his bow and went outside.
"Sorry, my dad is a little nervous." The girl sat on a wooden chair beside the bed, she looked at him with soft eyes. Her voice was calm, and she continued, "You know, you're right. It's really none of our business to know who you are. We just want to help."
Theodore's gaze dropped to the floor, his voice barely a whisper, "Can you leave me alone?"
The girl tilted her head slightly, as if she understood the weight of his request. "Sure, as you wish, but don't try to cut the ropes," she said with a knowing smile, "because you won't be able to. They're enchanted."
With that, the girl and the woman quietly left the room. Silence filled the air. Theodore looked around the small, dimly lit room. It was simple, like something from a quiet village, with rough wooden walls and a small window that let in beams of sunlight, casting soft shadows on the floor.
He turned his attention to his hands, which were bound by thick ropes. Not ordinary ones—anti-magic ropes. He tried to summon fire, to burn them off, but nothing happened. The magic inside him felt blocked, like a dam holding back a river. He let out a sigh of defeat and sank back into the bed, the pain from his wounds pulsing through his body with every movement.
"Did I succeed in escaping? Am I free now?" he thought to himself.
After 20 minutes suddenly, there was a knock on the door, breaking the silence.
The same girl entered, carrying a pot in her hands. The smell of warm, hearty stew filled the room. "You must eat well to recover quickly," she said kindly, placing the pot in Theodore's lap. He hesitated, looking at her with a mix of suspicion and confusion. Her smile didn't waver. It was as if she saw something in him that even he couldn't see.
"Why are you doing this for me?" Theodore's voice was rough, barely masking the turmoil inside him. "I'm a stranger. You don't know who I am. I could be a killer, a bad person."
The girl sat back down, folding her hands in her lap. "We don't care if you're a bad person," she said softly. "When someone needs help, you help them. That's just how it should be. Despite his sins."
Her words hung in the air, and Theodore was silent for a moment. His family had never taught him anything like that. In his world, failure meant death. Mercy was a foreign concept.
"And actually," the girl added with a gentle smile, "you don't seem like a bad person to me."
Theodore stared at her, not knowing how to respond. What did she mean by that? How could she be so certain? His mind was a jumble of thoughts, but he said nothing. Instead, he started eating the food in front of him, shoveling it into his mouth as if he hadn't eaten in days.
"The food won't run away," she teased gently, watching him eat. "You can take your time."
But Theodore didn't slow down. His hunger was overwhelming, and he ate with the desperation of someone who had been starved not just of food, but of comfort, warmth, and care.
Because before they only gave him fifteen minutes to eat.
When he finished, the girl took the empty pot from him and placed it on the small wooden table beside the bed. She noticed his eyes flicker to the ropes that bound his wrists.
"What would you do if I untied you?" she asked suddenly, her tone curious but cautious. "Would you run? Would you try to kill me? Or would you do nothing at all?"
Theodore looked at her, surprised by the question. He wasn't sure how to answer. His whole life had been about survival and following orders. Now, he was free from the family, but he didn't know what that freedom meant. "I don't know," he finally said. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course," the girl replied, leaning forward slightly.
"Where am I now?"
"Well,you are in the Kingdom of Frostel," she said simply.
Theodore's eyes widened in shock. His voice rose with disbelief. "Wait, what? How did the river bring me here? Does the Novalia family have eyes here?"
The girl frowned slightly, shaking her head. "We've never seen any of their soldiers here. The Kingdom of Frostel is far from their main castle. It's a peaceful place,and very cold place.
Hope flickered in Theodore's chest, a small but growing light. Could it be possible? Could he have truly escaped the family's reach?
"Why are you asking about the Novalia family anyway?" the girl asked, her voice full of curiosity.
Theodore hesitated. He wasn't sure if he could trust her with the truth, but something inside him told him that he had nothing left to lose. "I ran away from them..."
The girl's eyes widened. "So you were a soldier?"
"No... not a soldier. A human weapon."
Her confusion deepened. "Wait, what? What's a human weapon? Is it some kind of special team?"
"Something like that," Theodore said quietly. "I was trained to kill. To be used against the family's enemies."
The girl's face softened with shock and sympathy. "So you're an assassin?"
"Yeah," he said, his voice empty. "That was my job... killing people. It's all I know."
The girl looked at him with a mix of sadness and surprise. "I didn't expect that. You're just a kid. How old are you?"
"Fourteen."
She gasped, her eyes widening again. "Fourteen? Oh my god, you're really just a kid." She paused, then asked softly, "Will you tell me the whole story? Maybe we can help you."
Theodore hesitated again, but there was something in her voice, something that made him believe she truly wanted to help. So, he began to tell her everything. From the day the family took him, to how they used him as a tool for their bloody work, right up to the fight with Hanzo and his escape.
When he finished, the girl was silent for a long time. Finally, she spoke, her voice filled with sorrow. "That's so sad... your whole childhood, you've been killing people. You've never known real feelings, real emotions."
She suddenly leaned forward and hugged him tightly, surprising Theodore. It was the first hug he had ever received in his life. He stiffened at first, unfamiliar with the warmth and care that came with it. But slowly, a strange, unfamiliar feeling spread through him, like something was melting inside.
"Don't worry," she whispered. "You are safe here!.