I turned my head toward the direction Vanilla and Victor were staring, but no matter how hard I looked, there was nothing visible.

What is this? Why are they acting so creepy?

"Miss Cherry, careful. It drops off here," Ethan said, grabbing my arm as I unconsciously tried to move forward.

Startled, I glanced down and saw a steep incline beneath my feet.@@novelbin@@

Ethan hesitated for a moment before subtly taking my hand. The unexpected touch made me flinch, and I stared at him in surprise.

"We don’t know what’s ahead. It’s dangerous, so hold on tight," he said, his voice calm but betraying an effort to appear composed. He didn’t even meet my eyes, instead awkwardly scanning the surroundings.

"What an enormous place," Theodore remarked, inspecting the area with Nikolai.

Hearing them, I turned my gaze back to the surroundings. Past the steep, dirt slope, I slowly scanned the expansive, plaza-like area. The dirt walls encircling the space were covered in vine-like growths, though they were shriveled and dry, tangled into a brittle mesh.

The walls stretched endlessly upward, merging into a ceiling so high it was barely visible. When I craned my neck to follow the walls, I noticed a round hole at the top, revealing a starry night sky.

It felt as though we were inside a hollowed-out mountain, with an opening at the summit offering a view of the heavens.

The dry, sunken ground beneath us looked like it might once have been a lake, but now it was nothing but cracked earth.

"Is this the spring? Looks like it’s completely dried up," Theodore murmured. His words stirred a memory from the novel.

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