"Is it just me, or do you think this place is strange?" Leonardo whispered to Cora once the innkeeper disappeared down the hall.
There had been something unsettling about the man from the moment they stepped inside. When Leonardo mentioned they needed a room, the innkeeper had been silent for too long. It felt as though he wasn't physically present with them at that moment, only for him to suddenly respond with a strained smile that didn't exactly reach his eyes.
His skin had an unhealthy pallor, almost gray under the dim candlelight, and his cheeks were sunken as though he hadn't eaten properly in weeks, maybe even months.
The hollowness in his eyes reminded Leonardo of a man who hadn't truly slept in years. It was all so disturbingly strange.
The environment itself didn't help. The corridors were narrow and smelled faintly of damp wood and mildew, and the air carried a kind of heavy silence that made one instinctively lower their voice.
