"Why don't we go look for Mother while Linlin hasn't woken up yet?"
As the eldest brother, Jace took the initiative to propose.
"That works."
Reno nodded in agreement, then added a reminder:
"You guys go look in the other directions. I didn't see Mother on my way back."
"I won't go with you. If Linlin wakes up and finds no one here, she'll be anxious."
"Mother knows today is Linlin's birthday. She said she wanted to give Linlin a surprise. I believe she will rush back."
"Don't worry, Reno. We understand."
The children formed teams and went into the forest in groups of two or three.
After everyone had left, Reno frowned and looked at a boy wearing a black trench coat.
Everyone else had gone to look for Carmel; only he remained.
Reno didn't have a deep impression of this boy, knowing only that his name was Black Shadow (Kurokage).
He didn't know if it was a name or a nickname, but everyone called him that.
Over the past three months, Reno got along well with the other children, except for this Black Shadow.
He was usually reticent and cherished his words like gold.
Reno hadn't spoken more than three sentences to him.
Even in front of Mother Carmel, he maintained an extremely cold demeanor.
"Why didn't you go look for Mother??"
Out of curiosity, Reno asked.
At Reno's question, Black Shadow slowly raised his head, staring at Reno with a pair of somewhat narrow eyes.
Black Shadow's strange behavior made Reno frown. That gaze made him extremely uncomfortable.
Seeing that he didn't speak, Reno lost interest and prepared to go into the room to find Linlin.
Just as he was about to reach out and open the door, Black Shadow's voice rang out eerily behind him.
"Did... Did something happen to Mother??"
Black Shadow's voice wasn't loud, but that simple sentence exploded like a muffled thunderclap in Reno's ears.
In just one second, Reno considered many possibilities.
Did he see what happened just now??
Absolutely impossible!!
His Observation Haki could now cover a radius of several hundred meters. If Black Shadow had been there just now, there was no reason he wouldn't have detected him.
After ruling out that possibility, Reno suppressed his surprise, turned around, and asked:
"Black Shadow, why do you say that?"
"Did you see something??"
Black Shadow shook his head, and Reno breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.
"Alright, don't overthink it. Mother must have been delayed by something, that's why she hasn't come back."
"She might come back with Jace and the others later."
Reno patted Black Shadow, who was about the same age as him, like a little adult, smiling and comforting him.
However, Black Shadow's next sentence wiped the smile right off Reno's face.
"Reno, you have the smell of blood on you."
Black Shadow stared straight at Reno, pronouncing each word clearly.
His words made Reno pause slightly. He gave Black Shadow a meaningful look, re-evaluating this boy whom he had never paid attention to since arriving at the House of Lambs.
This boy, who had zero presence from beginning to end.
"What else do you know??"
Now that things had come to this, Reno stopped hiding and asked in a low voice.
Of course, no matter what Black Shadow knew, Reno wouldn't hurt him.
After all, he was just another child deceived by Carmel.
"I don't mean anything else by it."
"After Linlin's birthday, you guys are leaving, right??"
"I want to go to sea with you!"
"Hmm?!"
Black Shadow's words surprised Reno once again.
"I thought you were going to ask me about Mother Carmel."
"Mother??"
Seeming to recall something, Black Shadow's expression became somewhat melancholic.
He didn't look at Reno again but muttered to himself, "Mother... Mother is a very contradictory person. I once secretly saw the way she looked at Jace and the others. That look was scary, terrifying, ferocious... I... I feel Mother isn't as good as she seems."
Black Shadow spoke haltingly, a trace of pain appearing on his face.
Reno stared closely at Black Shadow. He could feel that Black Shadow was speaking from genuine emotion, without any pretense.
"Tell me, how did you smell the scent on me??"
"And how did you discover the truth about Carmel??"
"There are so many children here. Why couldn't they smell it? Why didn't they notice? Why only you??"
Reno pressed for answers. Before coming here, he had deliberately cleaned up all traces on his body. Reasonably speaking, there shouldn't have been any clues.
"My sense of smell is naturally sensitive. I can smell things others can't."
"As for Mother..."
At this point, Black Shadow's face showed a hint of pain, as if recalling bad memories.
After a while, he continued:
"My father was an assassin. He started training me when I was eight, determined to make me the deadliest assassin on the sea. But when I was ten, my father was killed. That was when I was adopted by Mother."
"My observational skills exceed those of ordinary people. Plus, I don't usually like playing games with the others, and Mother doesn't pay attention to me."
Black Shadow's backstory made Reno take another look at him.
He hadn't expected the boy before him to be a trained assassin with five years of training under his belt.
"I don't know what happened during the time you left with Mother. I just want to leave this place."
"Take me away from here."
Black Shadow grabbed Reno's arm, pleading bitterly.
Looking at the expectant face of Black Shadow, Reno's expression was complex.
There seemed to be an exceptional number of surprises today.
First Streusen's appearance, and now Black Shadow's anomaly.
"Alright! I promise you."
"But once we're out, you have to follow my arrangements."
Reno said calmly.
"And about Carmel..."
"Don't worry. I don't know anything."
Black Shadow nodded very sensibly.
"You go look for her too. At least put on an act and come back with the others."
"Okay!"
After speaking, Black Shadow also walked into the forest.