TRCR 140

It had been nearly ten years since Charlotte was dragged to this place. Even her parents’ voices had grown faint and hazy.

At first, Zeppelin simply kept the hostages confined in one area.

But as their numbers grew, the cost of managing them became astronomical.

So he built massive sugarcane plantations on the island and began using the hostages as cheap labor.

He seemed to have amassed considerable capital that way. With the money, Zeppelin constructed a grand hot-spring resort on the island that held them captive.

When the resort first opened, Charlotte harbored faint hope.

It would surely swarm with wealthy nobles, and if she could reach just one and plead her case, the island’s true nature could be revealed.

A vast jungle lay like a boundary between the sugarcane fields and the resort.

Charlotte had tried escaping through it to reach the resort.

But guards lurked everywhere in…