Chapter 1 - Prologue

The cold air permeating every cell of the body left a slight shiver all over the body. The thin fabric covering the body could not cope with the cold, at least it retained a small trace of heat emanating from the boy's skinny body.

Walking with his short legs on the snowy road, the little boy carried two wooden buckets in his pale, cracked from the cold hands.

Due to the fact that the handles were made of a thin iron alloy, the boy's hands suffered from constant increasing pain from the strong friction of his palms on cold thin steel.

With difficulty shuffling his feet, walking through the streets strewn with snow, he finally reached the majestic stone wall surrounding the entire city, near which there was a small lonely well.

The boy's gaze only briefly ran towards the high walls, after which he put one bucket on the snow, and tied the other to a small hook.

Slowly moving the handle, he began to lower the bucket in order to fill it with water.

Quickly filling the bucket, he began to move the handle again. This time he had to put a lot more effort because of the large weight.

The iron handle from the well was covered with rust, was covered with a thin layer of ice, which caused the boy's hands to constantly shake due to the intense cold in his hands, but the look in his black eyes remained unchanged.

Not a single ripple…

Complete absence of any signs of change in soulless eyes…

Despite the insane fatigue and pain that he is experiencing right now.

When he finished pulling out the bucket, his gaze slid over the water, which was slightly muddy, from which the boy raised his hand and began to gnaw his nail, tearing off part of the skin from where a thin trickle of blood poured out, but this did not stop him from his actions.

"Did the pipe leak again?. The guards have already said that there will be problems with water lately..."

"Will Sister Clara be angry again if I bring this water?"

Instead of thinking, the boy turned away and quickly began to fill another bucket again.

It was getting colder and colder with the evening. Despite the high walls surrounding this small kingdom called Cardonis, it did not help to get rid of the strong wind due to the climate and location on which the kingdom was located.

Dragging two buckets on his skinny body, which the boy hung on his small shoulders, he slowly moved back to the orphanage.

With every step, his body made a painful crackling sound.

Each breath was accompanied by a stream of warm steam from his lips, which were white from the cold.

Passing by dilapidated residential houses, where a bunch of beggars in torn clothes were hanging out here and there, barely hiding their skinny bodies covered with bones, the boy noticed a brick house with a dilapidated outbuilding strewn with snow.

When he was already at the door, he noticed a small head peeking out of the crack.

"Sarah?" the boy asked, glancing at the face of the girl who slowly opened the wooden door with a creak.

Looking back as if in search of something, Sarah beckoned him with her hand and with panicked eyes spoke in a low voice: - "Faster! Sister Clara is already looking for you everywhere!" opening the door so that the boy could easily enter with two buckets on his shoulders.

Gathering the remnants of his strength, the boy headed for the entrance.

As soon as he heard the sound of the door closing. He ignored the pain all over his body and headed down the corridor towards the kitchen.

The little girl who had closed the door behind them also followed the boy at a brisk pace.

Stopping at a large barrel that was near the clay stove, the boy quickly opened the lid and pushing the bucket of water with his whole body, quickly poured out all the contents.

As he was getting ready to take the second bucket of water, he felt someone take him by the sleeve and the hand holding him was shaking violently, either from cold or from fear..

Turning his head, his gaze ran over the small hand and rising up until it stopped on the face of the girl who was looking away with an expression of horror.

A sigh escaped from his cracked lips and he looked where Sarah was.

In the doorway, there was a tall, hunched figure of a woman in a black dress.

A huge hooked nose, which is covered with strange blisters, a sagging wrinkled face at the sight of which people reflexively felt disgust and sunken eye sockets from which green eyes filled with poison could be seen.

Her venomous gaze looked into the soulless eyes of the boy, when a raspy voice came out of her twisted, vile smile filled with rotten teeth, making your ears bleed.

"SAMUEL... MY DEAR SAMUEL..."

The woman's gaze slid over the boy's body, examining every detail and every little thing in his small body, sometimes stopping at the wounds that were visible in his torn rags that he used as clothes.

When her gaze stopped on his legs, she raised her eyes again and again stared at Samuel with an expression of anger and again her same raspy voice was issued.

"It's not enough that you're late… So you also brought this dirty water here. How many times have I told you not to bring this slop into my house!" the woman said, approaching a bucket of muddy water standing at the feet of a trembling girl who is about to faint from fear.

Out of anger, she forcefully threw a bucket with her foot, which flew towards the boy and crashed into his knee, from which Samuel lost his balance and collapsed to the floor with pain in his leg.

"Ugh... ha..."

Trying to get up, he felt someone grab his black hair covered with a thin layer of dirt and pull it up, forcing him to look up and meet the ugly face of a woman who expressed madness.

"AND YET SISTER CLARA WILL HAVE TO PUNISH YOU... SAMUEL?!"