Werewolf

Adelaide quickly scanned the inside of the wardrobe while waiting for the boy's response. No special devices were found.

When her eyes rested on the pretty boy once more, he nodded his head. It was a small nod. His bright eyes were fixated on her; they were pure.

Adelaide climbed into the wardrobe quickly without further words. After settling herself next to the little boy, she leaned her body forward and used her small hands to close the doors. She did not close it completely, leaving a small gap. The wardrobe was placed in one of the corners that would not draw attention from people. It was dark, but Adelaide's vision was that of an elf, so she would still be able to observe the room.

Click.

Almost immediately after Adelaide was done, she heard the sound of doors being unlocked. Then, the huge figure of Baron James came in.

Keyword: huge.

Adelaide's eyes opened wide at the change. Baron James in the "recordings" when he visited her room was that of a slightly slender man, not this massive collection of muscles.

'Was the man from back then really him then? It makes sense if it was his aide or an imposter. I didn't have the map skill when he visited…'

"That's the Baron once a month." As if knew she was confused, the boy, who was sitting obediently next to her, opened his mouth and spoke. Adelaide was startled even though his voice was small. Even the smallest sound could be amplified in a quiet room.

She immediately turned to face him and put her index finger against her lips. To Adelaide's surprise, the little boy just smiled and showed her the small pendant on his necklace. It was not simply a decorative pendant – she could tell from the various runes, details, and the small aie stone in the middle that it was a tiny device.

The aie stone was rotating slowly, which meant the device was in effect.

"This one can block all sounds around me." The little boy briefly explained. His voice was soft and clear.

While Adelaide nodded in relief, she was also feeling a bit alarmed deep down. Why would a boy that looked even younger than her possess this kind of mobile tool? What was he planning? What was even the use of such a sound-blocking device?

Or…would he use that against her, since she could not pinpoint where he was even with her map skill?

Adelaide knew suspecting the boy was meaningless to the point of being excessive, and normal people would definitely judge her if they knew.

Logically, there was no reason for him to do so. He looked scared and was hiding from something – a typical kid reaction. No matter how smart one is, a kid is still a kid. Only Adelaide was different since she had the soul of an adult. Besides, she was the one getting in the closet voluntarily.

'I became too reliant on the freaking map master skill. What if those entities are messing with me just for fun?'

Adelaide smiled in return and point towards the Baron outside, which meant they should continue watching. The boy nodded obediently after looking into her eyes.

'So if what he said was true, then the one that visited me was probably also the real one.'

During the two children's short interaction, the now muscular Baron had reached his big table with long strides. His two big hands tried to open one of the table's drawers.

His hands were visibly shaking.

With her good vision, Adelaide saw the Baron get even bigger in size. Gray fur started to cover his skin, while his two ears disappeared. Two dog-like ears grew from his head instead.

'A werewolf?'

As an ex-modern citizen, it was fascinating for Adelaide to witness a real werewolf transformation, something that was only available in movies with the help of special effects.

The furry Baron looked too big for his robe that Adelaide thought it might be torn at any moment. He was shaking more intensely as if trying to remain sane.

As the Baron tried getting something out from his drawer, the moonlight shone on his huge body. Adelaide saw the light reflected on his gray fur, as well as madness slowly forming in his eyes.

She saw him muttering something. Adelaide's hearing was only slightly better than normal humans, so she could not fathom what he said.

"He said, 'I'm late, I'm late". The boy next to her said in a whisper. He was trying not to shake from fear, but his voice was still as clear as ever. To Adelaide, it looked like the child received some kind of trauma from Baron James.

'What a dedicated and just vessel. Performed illegal experiments on his lord's daughter to the point of death, then abused a kid.'

Adelaide did not know for sure about the kid's situation, but since this Baron colluded with that incompetent new father of hers and was the main culprit of the pain she endured these past days, she decided to push all the blame on him.

'If only Duke Charles was half as wise as my father.' Adelaide signed in disappointment. If it were her actual father of the modern world, she would not have to suffer this much.

Baron James finally succeeded in taking out a metal box from one of his drawers. The box had various lines engraved on it. It lit up and opened when Baron James' blood fell on the top of the box.

Smoke flew up from the box, and a line of various red liquid tubes was pushed up. Some were empty, while some were still full. The duke then hurriedly took out one of the tubes and gulped down all the liquid.

"The smell of blood…" the little kid's face was all scrunched up while Adelaide nodded her head lightly in agreement. Even she could recognize the faint smell. Her expression became even more serious after looking closely at the tubes.

A small "#00" tag was glued on every tube. It was her blood.

'So that's where my blood went. They took one tube every day, and it ended up here as some kind of restraint drug every full moon?'

'Am I a fucking blood bank?'

As if to prove her thoughts, Baron James' hands stopped shaking. He took a deep breath in relief as full clarity returned to his eyes.

The Baron, still in his wolf state, slowly walked out of the room. Adelaide could not confirm whether he had gone far from the office or not, since she couldn't use her map skill and get his live location while sitting in the closet. The training video said she must touch the structure directly.

And so, Adelaide leaned back and let her thoughts run wild. She knew the boy was looking curiously at her white dress and the two zeros imprinted on it, but she did not mind. Her eyes only regained focus when the boy started talking to her.

'He looked cute trying to muster up his confidence.'

"Um…excuse me, are you #00?"

"Yeah."

"Was that…um…"

"My blood, yes. I think so. I mean, they took a tube every time, so I guess I know where they went now." Adelaide smiled as she turned her head towards the boy. She was not a full-fletched extrovert in her past life but having no one to talk to for weeks and becoming a lab rat was uncomfortable. She was not able to collect any additional useful information from the outside world. The records in the study hall were not sufficient either.

Besides, the little guy was adorable. Her guts told her he was also not a normal human being, and he also looked like he wanted a conversation.

"Let's just introduce ourselves. How old are you?"

"I'm four."

"I'm six. My name's Adelaide, and you?"

"… Adelaide is a noble name." The boy paused for a moment before answering in a low voice. "I'm Ed… I mean, Edel."

Adelaide did not know this, but Edel was also a noble name. The boy thought he should answer honestly now that she told him what her real name was. He suspected she would know if he had lied since the clothes he wore were not what commoners would wear.

'It is? There's a fucking name hierarchy? And here I thought it is not a big deal. Well, it's normal for people's names to clash, even among nobles, so I guess I shouldn't worry.'

'Actually, it doesn't matter if words got leaked out. But it's better to leak when Alfred turned 17 and became an adult. He would be able to inherit the title then.'

She smiled in return. People had always loved scandalous events, especially ones from famous people.

Edel's eyes were still fixated on her while they talked; he looked like he was hesitating. Then he reached out his tiny hand and touched her arm lightly as if to confirm something.

Both of them flinched. Adelaide was startled that the boy touched her with his hand as cold as ice. The boy, on the other hand, was genuinely surprised. His purple eyes that lit up in delight were like two precious shining gems.

'How pretty.'

"Um, lady Adelaide, are you really still alive?"