Coming to in a daze, Leticia felt her head spinning and her vision going dark, just like what happened when she pushed her body past its limits after intense exercise.

Come to think of it, that was exactly what she’d just been doing...

So... was this a normal reaction?

Heh...

Then why was she hanging upside down?!

Mmm...

Her body still ached terribly. One rest clearly wasn’t enough to recover. Now, even the slightest movement made her feel like needles were scraping across her whole body. It was excruciating.

All right, that was a bit of an exaggeration. It wasn’t as if she’d actually been scraped with needles.

If she had, she’d probably have dropped dead on the spot...

Maybe it was the blood rushing to her head, but Leticia’s thoughts were noticeably sluggish—stagflation, really (and the pun actually works pretty well). She’d blacked out several times in a row without getting around to the most important question.

Namely, who had hung her upside down...

Mmm...

She struggled as hard as she could, but all she managed was a slight sway in midair. She couldn’t move at all.

Oh? You’re awake already?

A strange voice suddenly sounded beside her. Leticia listened in a daze, then spent a long while thinking.

She was actually trying to figure out whose voice it was.

Well, after Stano had put her through the wringer (in the literal sense), then left her hanging upside down for who knew how long, it had clearly taken quite a toll on the little girl.

You see, when Leticia had transmigrated, she’d discovered that her body had been badly affected by the serious illness Uncle John had mentioned. Add in her poor living conditions, and she wasn’t just naturally frail—she was practically on the verge of becoming useless. Put her through anything too rough, and she really might drop dead.

It was just one disaster after another.

Her vision kept going black. Leticia tried everything she could think of, but she still couldn’t make out her surroundings.

If this kept up, was she going to go blind?

A faint panic stirred in Leticia’s heart. She could only take as deep a breath as possible before asking, “W-who are you?”

Who am I?

The voice sounded hoarse and sinister, like a crow perched in a dead tree—grating and unpleasant. “Hehehe... Now that’s an interesting question...”

What do you mean, interesting? Wasn’t that the first thing you were supposed to ask when you met a stranger?

Leticia was a little puzzled. Judging by how she felt, she was probably hanging somewhere indoors or underground. Her eyes were practically blind, but they could still sense a little light, and there was no wind around her.

Of course, she couldn’t rule out being somewhere sheltered from the wind—or that it was nighttime.

That was about all the information Leticia could piece together in her woozy state.

A coarse rope bound her ankles together, chafing them until they burned. She couldn’t tell if the skin had broken.

She tried to imagine the rough rope rubbing through her skin, its coarse fibers scraping her tender flesh until blood spurted out, the pale flesh beneath exposed—and shuddered.

Th-that...

Leticia asked timidly, “Could you let me down first?”

How could anyone bear to torment a harmless, adorable little girl like her?!

Let you down? Let you down? Hahahaha—hehehehe...

The stranger’s laughter was truly awful—worse than hundreds of ducks quacking right beside her ear. Leticia couldn’t help wanting to shut the woman up.

All right.

Ah!

Who would’ve guessed? After that crazed laughter, the rope around her ankles suddenly came loose. Caught completely off guard, Leticia plunged headfirst to the ground.

There was no soft cushion to break her fall. Judging by the feel of it, the ground was covered in rotten branches, and they dug painfully into her.

Ow, ow, ow...

Tiny glimmers of tears shone in her eyes. It wasn’t because Leticia was weak-willed; they were just tears of pain. Her body really was at its limit.

Hehehehehe...

The hoarse-voiced woman cackled shrilly, seeming delighted by Leticia’s reaction. “What’s a little girl who hasn’t even lost her baby teeth doing all alone in a place like this?”

I...

Leticia rubbed her eyes hard. The scene before her seemed to spin around several times before slowly settling back into place.

I-I got lost here...

It was both true and a lie. She was leaving out the important parts, so she wouldn’t give anything away while talking to a stranger.

At last, she could see the person who’d hung her up. It was a woman, wrapped in a loose black robe that covered her whole body. She wore a black hat with an absurdly wide brim, and the lower half of her face was veiled. From a distance, her head looked like a mushroom growing out of her neck. It was quite horrifying.

The woman’s eyes were emerald green. Her thick lashes and naturally curved eyes seemed almost to speak for themselves, and they held a powerful allure that made you want to look twice.

You’re lying.

Her words were even more frightening than her appearance. Leticia froze.

H-huh?

The woman in black narrowed her eyes slightly and reached out from beneath her robe. A slip of paper was pinched between her fingertips.

It was something Stano’s uncle had given him. Leticia hadn’t understood a word of it. She’d glanced at it a few times, put it away, and sat down to rest.

Now that she’d been captured, the slip of paper had naturally ended up in the woman’s hands too.

You’ve got some nerve, lying to me.

The woman’s hoarse voice was completely at odds with her youthful appearance. Her skin was pale, yet her voice was so unpleasant. It really made you wonder what she looked like beneath her veil.

The black-clad woman’s talon-like fingers clamped tightly around Leticia’s chin, forcing her to look her in the eyes.

Her strength was unbelievable. Leticia felt as if her jaw were about to crack.

What was she supposed to do?!

Leticia was genuinely afraid the woman might suddenly go mad and squeeze her to death. But she was also afraid that saying too much would earn her even more suffering, so all she could do was stare in terror with wide eyes.

She was truly helpless. Leticia.

She mocked herself like this, feeling like a lamb waiting for the slaughter. Then the person holding her fate in their hands suddenly said:

So I’ve decided not to kill you.

Huh?