Sudden footsteps echoed from the empty passage, and Luka stepped inside.
His breathing was a bit heavy, as if he had returned carrying the weight of a great secret from outside.
"I'm back," Luka said, his voice ringing like a note of hope in the silent room.
But seeing the scene in the cell, Luka froze.
Lane was sitting on the floor, and Yuki was still paralyzed on his knees.
The moment Lane saw Luka, he forgot all his distress and rushed toward him.
"Luka!" His voice held that same familiar innocence.
Luka immediately supported Lane and asked, peering into his eyes, "Lane? Why were you sitting on the floor like that? What happened?"
Lane thought for a moment, his small face filling with confusion.
"I... I don't know. Maybe I just fell," he replied with utter simplicity.
As if those terrifying black eyes and the icy voice from minutes ago had never existed.
Luka's gaze now fixed on Yuki, who was still frozen like a statue.
*
"Yuki? Why are you sitting like that?"
At the sound of Luka's voice, Yuki felt as if he had woken from a deep sleep.
He scrambled to compose himself and tried to stand up.
"I... I was just..." The words died in Yuki's throat.
His mind was screaming to tell Luka—'Luka, run! This child isn't human! He just threatened to kill me!'
But as Yuki looked into Luka's eyes, he stopped.
The way Luka was dusting off Lane's clothes and the genuine worry in his gaze made Yuki realize that Luka felt the pain of even a single scratch on Lane.
The bond between Luka and Lane was so deep that speaking the truth would be like stabbing Luka in the heart.
Yuki took a deep, bitter breath.
Hiding his tremors, he lied, "I... I was just helping Lane get up. But he managed it on his own."
There was a strange pain in Yuki's eyes now.
He knew that from now on, he would have to carry this terrifying secret alone.
For he couldn't find the courage to shatter Luka's world.
Lane was now clinging tightly to Luka, as if Luka were his safe fortress.
There was a strange curiosity in his eyes.
He gently tugged at Luka's hand and whispered, "So... what was there? Did you see it?"
The glint of awe and terror from the sight outside still lingered in Luka's eyes.
He took a long breath and, keeping his voice low, said.
"When I reached that white railing... the scene there was completely different. There was so much movement."
Luka clenched his fists.
"I didn't go too close to that railing because I was afraid someone might see me."
"But even from a distance, it was clear there was a stampede."
"Guards and people were running around in utter chaos."
Yuki, who had been drowned in his own fear until now, was startled by Luka's words.
"A stampede? But why?"
"I don't know," Luka said gravely.
"But there was something strange in the air. It felt as if something very bad had happened there."
"The way those people were running frantically and shouting... it wasn't a small thing."
"There was so much panic, as if something had spiralled out of their control."
Silence fell over the cell once more.
Yuki looked at Lane for a moment, then back at Luka.
He couldn't decide if the darkness inside the cell was more terrifying or the destruction unfolding beyond that white railing.
Luka's words made it clear that something was happening in the world outside.
And the moment the news reached them, everything would change.
Yuki was still caught between Luka's words and Lane's terrifying transformation when Lane suddenly grabbed Luka's hand firmly.
"Luka, come on, sit down now!" Lane chirped, pulling Luka toward their spot.
As they walked, Luka's eyes instinctively fell on Lane's feet.
He remembered that when he left, Lane was limping; that red wound was fresh and deep.
But now... Lane was walking perfectly fine, as if he had never been hurt at all.
Reaching their spot, Luka sat Lane down on the wooden plank and knelt before him.
"Lane, tell me one thing..." Luka's voice held a mix of wonder and suspicion.
"The deep injury you had—it's not visible at all now. How did it heal so fast?"
Lane himself leaned down to look at his leg.
He touched the spot with his tiny hands where there had been blood and a wound before.
But now the skin was perfectly clear and smooth.
Lane's eyes sparkled with excitement.
He lifted his leg slightly in the air and said happily, "Luka! Look, my wound is healed! Now we can go out, right? To play?"
Luka held Lane's shoulders to calm him, his face becoming even more serious.
"But answer me first, Lane. How did your wound heal so quickly?"
"When I left, it was a deep gash... and I haven't even been gone that long."
The smile on Lane's face dimmed slightly.
He strained his little mind, his brows knitting together as if trying to recall something.
After a moment of silence, he looked into Luka's eyes with innocence and said softly.
"I... I really don't know, Luka. I don't remember how my wound got better."
Yuki watched all this from a distance.
He remembered the stranger's words—'His energy is greater than any vampire'.
Yuki's heart began to race.
He realized that Lane's body was not that of an ordinary human.
Yuki felt as if he were suffocating.
He slowly turned his neck and looked toward that dark corner.
The strange boy was still there.
He had his arms folded across his chest and was leaning against the wall, watching everything in silence.
There was a glint in his eyes as if he had known all along that this would happen.
The moment Yuki's eyes met his, a bitter and deep smile surfaced on the boy's dry lips.
There was no noise in the cell, only the low whispers of Lane and Luka, but the boy moved his lips.
He didn't make a sound. Not a single word echoed from his throat.
Yet, Yuki felt as if those words had pierced directly into his ears like a cold needle.
Those moving lips very clearly repeated exactly what he had said before:
"I told you so..."
Yuki's skin crawled.
The boy was communicating with Yuki's fear without even speaking.
His eyes were taunting Yuki, as if asking, "Now that you've seen it with your own eyes, will you still call him 'innocent'?"
Yuki quickly looked away.
He felt that Lane's 'miracle' and the 'stampede' outside were two pieces of the same terrifying reality.
Luka was still stroking Lane's leg, but Yuki now saw in that small child a web that was about to swallow them all.