#saede

I can see young Shuichi and Kaede being held in separate rooms by their kidnappers. And as one kidnapper gets rough with Kaede, Shuichi can clearly hear her screams as she struggles to break free and the slaps that ensue when the kidnappers strike her across the face to be silent. It ends with her frantic, bitter sobs as they chain her to a bed after the old lady dressed her in a cheap gown. As for Shuichi, if they even looked at him a certain way, he would cry with anticipation of the horrors they would do to him. The kidnappers kept remarking that he was a sniveling, cowardly weakling and often grabbed him by the hair, forcing him to look at them before tossing him around for fun.

But my, it's quite a feat to be able to kidnap both Kaede and Shuichi from their homes and be able to hide them long enough, away from the prying magical eyes of the soldiers dispatched to find them. That "sweet" old lady who had helped with the kidnapping was a confectioner who often treated the two, as well as Tenko, with small treats just to see the children smile. Yet, the treats she gave Kaede and Shuichi were laced with web magic that helped the kidbappers track the children down in their entourage and defeat the knights who guarded them. Frightened, the children were grabbed by the fanatical kidnappers, blinding with a cloth over their eyes and gagged when the stronger kidnappers kept a piece of cloth over their mouths and carried them away. The next thing they knew, they were shoved into simple yet empty rooms, decorated with only basic furniture. It was a scary and cold place for them, and they wished so strongly for the warmth of their family, to be hugged by a trusted servant or family member.

The old lady also makes her rounds on Shuichi, disrobing him and dressing him in cheap yet proper clothes. She had wished to attempt brainwashing these kids to become her very own grandchildren and live somewhere far away from the castle in the middle of the woods, but the kidnappers had other plans as they had their eyes on money and money only.