Villainess X Villain: They are obsessed with each other!-Chapter 16 -: 15 Pink hair, Pink eyes.

Julius walked behind the man. Alfred followed two steps back.

They moved down a narrow corridor. On both sides were prison cells.

Inside the cells were young people, girls and boys, all between 15 and 25 years old.

Their bodies looked thin and weak from hunger.

Some lay on the dirty ground, too tired to move.

Others pressed their faces against the bars, staring out with empty eyes.

A few just sat quietly in the corners, heads down, as if they had already given up.

Despair hung heavy in the air. Every face showed the same deep sadness and fear.

Julius kept his expression calm as he walked.

In his mind, he thought: ’Slave trade is banned across all three floating continents. Yet here it is, happening openly, without fear.’

His eyes moved from one prisoner to the next.

The man spoke without turning. "Would you like any of them?"

Julius shook his head. "No."

The man gave a low chuckle. "These are just the basic ones. If you want higher quality, cleaner, stronger, prettier, we have better—"

"I said no," Julius cut in. His voice stayed level and firm. "Just take me where I need to go."

The man shrugged and fell silent.

They walked on for a few more minutes. Then the man stopped in front of a heavy door.

"Here," he said. "This is what you came for."

The cells here were smaller and darker.

They were filled with very young children.

Some clung to their mothers. Others sat completely alone on the cold stone floor.

All of them looked painfully thin. Their arms and legs were like sticks.

Their faces were pale and hollow. Big, frightened eyes stared out from every corner.

The man stopped and pointed ahead.

"This is what you asked for," he said casually. "Ages one to five."

Julius followed in silence.

The young children didn’t understand what was happening.

They simply watched him pass with wide, curious eyes.

The mothers were different.

Every mother who still had strength left gripped her child tighter and looked at Julius with raw terror.

They knew exactly what kind of man might walk through this place.

Julius kept his face blank.

’How pitiful.’ Julius let out a heavy breath, he wasn’t a saint.

Far from it. But even he felt some pity looking at these small, helpless bodies.

As he walked slowly down the row, he studied each child carefully, especially the ones who were alone, without a mother to hold them.

’Pink hair. Pink eyes.’

That was the only description of her in TST.

:I don’t know her face yet, but those colors are unmistakable.’

’According to the novel, that trash would find her when she turned six.’

’Right now she should be three... maybe four at most.’

Julius moved from cell to cell, eyes sharp and focused.

He searched quietly, scanning every tiny head for even a hint of pink.

Not long after, Julius reached the end of the hallway.

The last cells were empty of what he was looking for. No pink hair. No pink eyes.

He had checked every child. She wasn’t here.

The man stopped too. He turned slightly, watching Julius with narrowed eyes.

"Something catch your eye?" the man asked. His voice was oily. A wicked smile twisted his ugly face.

Julius shook his head slowly. His face stayed calm, almost bored.

Inside, his mind raced. ’She isn’t here... yet.’

In the TST, the hero only found her years later, after he burned this place to the ground.

One tiny girl had clung to him, crying, refusing to let go. That was how she was adopted.

’So maybe she hasn’t been brought here. Not yet.’

Julius stood still for a moment, thinking. Then he looked straight at the man.

"Are there others?" he asked quietly. "Apart from these."

The man’s grin stretched wider. It looked wrong, greedy and cruel, on his ugly, pockmarked face.

"Oh, we have more," he said. "Special ones. But they cost three times as much."

He leaned in a little, eyes glittering.

"Worth every coin, I promise."

Julius didn’t answer right away. He let the silence hang.

The children behind the bars watched them both, some with fear, some with nothing left in their eyes.

"Alright," Julius said. "Lead the way."

The man chuckled. "Hehe. Follow me."

He walked straight toward the blank stone wall and stopped.

His large, rough hand pressed hard against it.

Creak!

A hidden door groaned open. A dark passage appeared beyond it, cold air rushing out.

The man stepped inside without looking back. Julius followed. Alfred came right behind, silent and watchful.

They walked down the narrow tunnel. Then it opened into a wider prison hall.

This place looked different. Cleaner cells. Better light.

The people inside, children, teenagers, even some adults, were not as broken as the ones before.

They were thin but not starving.

Their skin was cleaner. Their eyes still held some life, though fear lingered underneath.

"These are the higher-quality ones," the man said, waving a hand at the rows of cells.

"Three times the price. Sometimes more, depending on their grade. Take your time. Look around."

Julius gave a short nod. He walked forward slowly, eyes scanning each face.

The man stayed back.

He watched Julius and Alfred move deeper into the hall.

A slow, ugly grin spread across his scarred face.

’This customer is too handsome,’ he thought. ’Those lustful noblewomen would pay a fortune for a face like that.’

He grinned, ’and those old men would also pay for this face...hehe.’

Greed lit up his eyes. He murmured to himself, "Should I capture him? He’d sell for a hefty price if I auction him."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small slip of paper. Holding it with both hands, he tore it in half.

The paper flared bright for a second, then turned to ash and scattered on the floor.

"Everyone," he whispered, voice low and eager. "Come to Grade A section. Block off the exits."

"There is one big treasure here.." His grin twisted even uglier.

Meanwhile, Julius and Alfred kept moving down the row. They checked cell after cell.

No pink hair. No pink eyes.

Alfred didn’t ask why they were really here. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

He never did.

But his sharp eyes flicked backward. He caught the man lingering too far behind.

He stepped closer to Julius and spoke quietly.

"Young master," Alfred said. "Have you found what you were looking for?"

Julius passed another cell without stopping.

"No," he answered, voice calm.

Julius didn’t stop. He kept walking slowly down the row, eyes scanning every small face behind the bars.

He checked again. And again.

Still nothing. No pink hair. No pink eyes.

A bitter feeling twisted in his chest. ’Is she not here either?’

According to the novel, she should have been in this place by now.

The hero had found her among the rescued children after the raid.

But every child here was wrong, wrong hair, wrong eyes, wrong age. Not one matched.

He passed another cell. Inside, a small boy sat on the floor, playing quietly with a lump of dried mud.

The child looked up at Julius with big, innocent eyes and gave a tiny, shy smile.

Julius smiled in return as he continued his search.

Step, step, step, step.

Footsteps approached from behind.

"Did you find anything?" the man asked.

He had walked up close now, grinning wide.

Julius looked at him with an annoyed face. ’I don’t know what is annoying right now, his face or the fact that I’m unable to find her.’

’If there was a contest for the most ugly face in the world, this man would win without anyone else even trying.’

Julius let out a quiet sigh as he held back his thoughts.

"What am I even thinking..." he murmured under his breath.

Then, louder: "No. I haven’t. It seems—"

He didn’t get to finish when—

A small, childish voice suddenly cut through the heavy air.

"Ron... I told you tho finshh eat..."

The words were clumsy, half-mumbled, full of a toddler’s stubbornness.

They came from somewhere deeper in the Grade A section, behind a cell door Julius hadn’t reached yet.

Julius froze.

His head turned slowly toward the sound.