Silence stretched long and thick through the alleyway, settling like a suffocating fog.
Not a whisper stirred, not even the breath of wind that had been winding through the stone paths just moments before.
Jenny and her two companions—girls feared not just for their noble blood but for their cruelty—stood frozen in disbelief. T
heir eyes, wide and disoriented, remained locked on the boy who had dared to interrupt them.
He hadn't shouted. He hadn't drawn a weapon. He had simply stood there, hands buried casually in his pockets, as though he owned the alley they ruled with iron heels.
And yet… somehow, that simple posture shook them more than any blade might have.
Rapunzel lay on the cold stone ground, arms curled tightly around her bruised sides. H
er breath trembled in her chest, her chin tucked low, eyes shut as she waited for the next kick or slap. She'd been expecting it. Bracing for it. But it never came.
The violence... stopped.
A second passed. Then another.
