After what seemed like an eternity, Misella finished giving her blood and stood up.

She was feeling weak and dizzy. Her legs were also shaking. Her condition was even worse than Atlas’s condition, as she couldn’t even stand without the support of the bed.

Noticing Misella like this, Atlas forced his frail body up and ran to Misella in haste. As he ran, he tried to make sure that he didn’t fall due to his weakness himself. He couldn’t show weakness before her.

Even the doctor was slightly surprised, watching Atlas run even in this condition. He couldn’t understand why this kid was pushing his body so much.

“Are you fine?” Atlas reached Misella and wrapped his arms around her weak shoulders to support her.

“Y-yeah. I’m just a little weak.” Misella pretended to be strong, flashing a fake smile even now.

‘You idiot!’ Atlas couldn’t help but scold Misella in his thoughts. He didn’t dare to speak his thoughts out loud. He could feel the trembling of Misella. She was so weak that she could fall without the support.

It was clear from seeing her hand as well. She hadn’t moved her left hand even a little since the start. She was receiving support from her hand, which was resting on the bed.

Atlas didn’t let Misella know that he noticed how hurt she was. This was their life… This was their good life, where he had to pretend to be happy to keep things optimistic.

“That’s good. You are so strong.” He flashed a smile and patted Misella’s head.

Misella liked it whenever Atlas did that. When Atlas did, it was the only time he could see a genuine smile on her face.

‘That’s right! That’s the smile I want to protect! That’s the smile I want to protect forever, no matter what!’

Supporting his weak sister, he took her out of the hall filled with blood and painful memories.

Atlas left the hall with Misella and Jason and ended up in a hallway. The hallway looked like it really needed some painting and renovations. The walls were in really bad condition. There was dampness in the walls, and the paint had almost entirely faded.

Then again, they were underground. No Vampire ever came here, nor did any guest. So who was going to bother about the walls? There were, however, two guards in the hallways that kept an eye on everyone.

The path on the left led to the stairs, while the right path led to the cafeteria where they could get something to eat after their Blood ‘Donation’ that they were forced to go through.

Not far from the cafeteria was their cell, where they were kept imprisoned until it was time for their work.

“Hey, did you really leave me behind? I’m coming with you too.” Just as Atlas was leaving with Misella, he heard Jason’s voice from behind.

Atlas turned around.

‘This guy… He is not going to leave me alone, is he? What does he even want?’

It wasn’t as if Jason hadn’t talked to Atlas before, but he never acted this close which was why Atlas was slightly suspicious of him.

As he couldn’t just accuse Jason for no reason, he let him come with them. In any case, he knew he had nothing anyone could steal. None of them had anything precious with them here! All he had was his bond with his sister, and he knew that Jason couldn’t take it from him.

The three of them entered the cafeteria, which was right beside.

The cafeteria was inside a vast hall which was even bigger than the blood collection room. There were over fifty tables spread throughout the room. Each table had around four chairs. There was another section in the hall where the food was served.

The tables in the cafeteria were made purely of wood. Some of the tables had already started cracking as they had been in use for a really long time, but no one bothered to change them.

Atlas was happy even with that. At least they didn’t ask them to sit on the ground here, which wouldn’t have been shocking for him after looking at the way they were treated.

He didn’t know why they treated them like humans in the cafeteria only. Maybe because they wanted them to eat well so they could have enough blood to be taken daily? He didn’t care much about it. Thinking about it wasn’t going to change anything for him.

Most of the seats were already filled since almost all of the kids had finished giving blood and were here to eat. Atlas, Jason, and Misella were in the last batch.

They went to the lady on the counter and collected some steel plates before moving to the place where they were served food.

Unsurprisingly, they were given more food today. It was also something he had expected at the start. He was slightly surprised how many of his guesses were coming true. The food they received was directly proportional to the blood they gave. Since they gave more today, they received more food as well.

Along with the food, each of them also received one full glass of beetroot juice. Even though Atlas hated this place, if there was one thing he hated more than staying in this place was the beetroot juice that they were forced to drink daily. On the contrary, Misella liked the juice the most, so Atlas also pretended to like it.

The three of them found an empty table and sat around it, placing their plates on the table.

Chrr~

As soon as Atlas sat on the wooden chair, it made a strange notice which prompted Jason to stare at his chair.

“Your chair looks weak. You should switch it with another chair. It might break.”

“It’s alright. I don’t think it’ll break today at least,” Atlas responded nonchalantly.

“As you say.” Jason shrugged.

The three of them started eating. Misella saved the juice for the end since she wanted to savor it.

On the other hand, Atlas drank it at the start in first gulp since he wanted to drown the awful taste it left on his tongue with the food he was going to eat later. He didn’t want to drink it in the end and have that taste stay in his mouth all day.

“Man, why do they give us this thing? I don’t like the taste at all. If only they could give me something else, I would’ve been so happy.” Even Jason started complaining about the juice, which was surprising for Atlas. He didn’t know there were others who felt the same way about it. He thought he was the only one.

“They said that it’s great for blood. That’s why it’s compulsory for us to drink every day,” Misella answered Jason before turning to Atlas. “Moreover, it’s not that bad. I like it, and so does my brother. Right?”

Atlas could only flash a weak smile in response. She really thought he liked it. He could only lie through his teeth. “That’s right. The taste is pretty good.”

They already knew about the uses and why they were given this juice. It wasn’t as if Jason didn’t know. They didn’t hate the benefits of this juice; they just hated the taste these benefits came with.

“We are here for the Vampires, and that is all, so the blood they are served is good. It’s not entirely for our health. Our survival is just a convenient side effect,” Atlas commented, letting out a lazy sigh.

“You brother and sister really like it? Man, you guys have some weird taste buds. I hate it to my core.” Shaking his head, Jason started eating to bury the taste of the juice as well.

Everyone was in the middle of dinner when Jason further opened his mouth. “I remember that we didn’t talk much before today. We have been here for so long, yet we barely know each other except for the basic things. Let’s change that. How did you two end up here?”

‘This question… Did he really need to ask that question?’ Atlas frowned. He noticed the hands of Misella had started trembling at the question.

Her face was already pale because of weakness, but he could feel that it was even paler now because of this question. All because of the memories that were brought forth by this question

He held Misella’s trembling hands to remind her that he was still here and that he was always going to be here for his sister, no matter what happened.

“D-did I say something wrong? You don’t have to answer in that case. I apologize.” Jason could sense the awkward atmosphere following his questions. He instantly apologized, realizing that he might’ve asked the wrong question.

Atlas had already come to terms with what had happened in the past, but it was different for Misella. She was young, and she was the most affected by what had happened in the past.

“I-i am fine.” Misella nodded, taking a deep breath.

She didn’t want to talk about it, and Atlas wasn’t going to talk about it either. It wasn’t something that was worth sharing either because it was related to the person they both wanted to forget if possible. Moreover, that person was none other than their own father.

‘That bastard, for what he tried to do, I would kill him a thousand times if I get an opportunity. I hope he never stands before me,’ Atlas thought, gazing at his clenched fist.

“Don’t mind it, but yeah. We aren’t comfortable talking about it. How about you tell us how you ended up here?” Atlas asked to change the topic. Since Jason wanted to know about them, he decided to fire back the same question.

“I? My story is pretty awful. But if you want to hear, I’ll tell you. It’s not like it’s a huge secret,” Jason responded with a smile.

“I grew up without a mother. She died while giving birth to me. Despite all that, my father never hated me. We lived together in a small town in the south.”

“Unfortunately, due to circumstances, my father had to take a loan. Until then, things were still fine, but the day he lost his job, he was unable to pay back the loan on time. As he wasn’t able to pay the loan back…”

“He sold you to get the money for the loan?” Atlas asked, finishing the sentence. That seemed the most plausible action for him.

“Hahaha, not at all. My father loved me too much to do that. Why would he sell me? Instead, he made a different plan. And the plan was just to run. It was to leave the town and leave the debt behind so we could go so far where no one could find us!” Jason replied.

“So you decided to run? Were you caught?” Atlas was really curious about the story, and he could see it being the same case for Misella.

“Yeah, we decided to run away in the middle of the night from the town. We left the town successfully. We even reached the neighboring town, but my father felt it still wasn’t safe since people from our town could find us there, so he decided to go even farther.”

“That was the one mistake we made. If only we had stayed in that town, everything might’ve been fine.” Jason sighed.

“What happened after you left?”

“As we left the second town, we ended up running into the bandits on the way to the third town. The bandits surrounded us and asked my father for money. My father had none, so he said so. That was the end.”

“The bandits decided to collect money by taking me as a slave to sell. As for my father, he was killed right before my eyes. Since only young slaves have value nowadays, they decided to get rid of my father as if he was a burden.”

” I didn’t know why young people were so in demand in the slave market, but now I can see why. Young people can feed the Vampires, so obviously value increases.”

“You can guess the rest. The bandits sold me in the bigger market, and I was bought by someone. I ended up in this place with you all.” Jason finished his story. “Anyway, that’s all there is to it. Fortunately, I will soon be a free man. Only a few years more now!”

Still thinking about the story of Jason, Atlas finished the food. It was as if everyone who was here had a story of their own.

All of them were sent back to the cells after they finished, prepared to sleep. Not everyone was going to get to sleep though. That night is where it all started… the end of their time together and the start of what was to become a defining moment in Atlas’s life…