And so Kalani was escorted back to his cage. This time, he walked with the black-amored guards and was not blindfolded.
As he walked along the seemingly never-ending sidewalk, he noticed a group of kids playing within a huge, glass greenhouse.
Surrounded by lush plants and toys of all kinds and shapes, the older kids calmly read their books as they sat around a table.
Meanwhile, the young kids were either squealing in delight or running around all over the place, their feet making small pitter patters on the flat stone floor. One of the young kids then looked up at Kalani. Her blond hair bounced against her cheeks. She then flinched.
Kalani squinted his eyes and grimaced.
'It's the same girl from this morning. Is this a nursery for the crowd's children? How disgusting… they brought their kids to a slaughterhouse.'
Quickly, the girl looked down, not daring to meet his gaze again. And neither was he interested in her anymore.
He kept moving onward until his back disappeared behind blooming bushes with the guards right beside him.
Meanwhile, the girl shivered. She had once again seen the scary eyes from this morning in that dilapidated cabin. While she still felt creeped out however, the feeling was mixed because of how young and thin the boy was. He looked like one of the older kids here.
'What did he do to become a criminal?' she thought, still pale from earlier, 'Must have been something terrible, like… like those disappearances Dad reads in the newspapers!'
Just as quickly though, a small commotion near her distracted her thoughts.
A boy had pushed a smaller boy down, managing to snatch the carriage toy the smaller boy was playing with in the meantime. The bully donned a crooked smirk.
She– Lady Adelaide– lets no injustice go unanswered.
Thus, she approached and grabbed onto the toy before the wide-eyed bully. However, the toy wasn't going anywhere and was stuck firmly in the bully's hands. The bully flared his nostrils, clearly upset that she had her hands on his toy. But before anything happened…
"SLAP!" the crisp sound of hand hitting cheek rang out. A woman in a peach-colored skirt then rushed out from afar, carrying a young child in her arms.
Except the woman though, everyone had their jaws open. The small boy behind Adelaide then covered his gaping mouth with both of his hands, clearly trying to regain composure.
"Adelaide!" the woman gasped as she finally arrived at the trio. But before she could speak more, the bully burst into hot tears and then buried his face into the woman's skirt.
"SHE HIT ME!" the bully screamed, his voice muffled by the layers of the now-crumpled skirt.
For a moment, Adelaide was speechless. When the bully looked like he was going to push her, her fear made her lash out instead, which resulted in the sobbing boy before her and her clearly annoyed caretaker…
The caretaker then breathed out a long sigh. Pulling the distraught boy into her arms, she hugged and patted his back until the boy calmed down. However, the boy still hiccupped from time to time.
She then turned to Adelaide, who was fidgeting anxiously.
"Adelaide, explain to me the reason why you hurt your friend," she spoke coldly but calmly.
The bully tried to speak in between hiccups, but all it took was a hard stare from the caretaker to shut him up. For Adelaide, this was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because everyone respected and loved this kind caretaker for her warm energy, and a curse because she was equally stifled by the woman's coldness, which was something she had never experienced before.
She hadn't felt this fear from anyone but her parents, who were currently attending the ball. Finally, Adelaide gathered up her courage.
"Ma'm, he pushed this boy and took away his toy without asking."
Now it was the caretaker's turn to be quiet. Then she solemnly turned to the bully in her arms.
"William, did you hurt your friend too?"
William turned his face away from hers, not daring to look at her and staying silent. Then the caretaker turned to look at the small boy, who was still frozen on the floor behind Adelaide.
"Ansel, did William hurt you?" this time her question was directed at that small boy.
Taking a small but fearful glance at William, Ansel then slowly nodded.
The lady sighed heavily and then pulled Adelaide and William into her arms before standing up, cradling a child in each arm. Strangely, she had picked them both up with incredible ease and maintained a beautiful posture, but the children didn't seem to understand– or everyone there oddly ignored that detail. Even the guards stationed nearby didn't bat an eye at her upper body strength.
"Children, I'll be back. Please behave yourselves," she said before carrying both Adelaide and WIlliam off to a separate room. A while later, both Willaim and Adelaide exited the room, both red in the eyes but with warm smiles on their faces.
William then apologized to Ansel, and things returned to their peaceful atmosphere.
No one realized another older child had joined them in the greenhouse. Blending with the others, the young teenage girl read her book quietly.
Well, almost no one… because the roaming gaze of the caretaker soon landed on the girl, and then the lady looked away. A sharp glint flowed through the caretaker's eyes.