I Tamed the Slave Male Lead – Chapter 11

Author: isuzuuy

***

“Oh, what should I do… Our poor lady, what are we going to do?”

While Yusiliph laid Arabella down on the bed, Becky fretted anxiously, sniffling back tears.

He scoffed.

‘Anyone listening would think she’s an incredibly loyal servant. When this woman was being berated by that uncle or whatever he was earlier, she just stood there watching and keeping her head down like a frightened mouse.’

Of course, it was only natural that a maid could not recklessly intrude on a conversation between nobles, but there was something distinctly uncomfortable about this maid’s attitude.

‘She exchanged glances with that uncle several times.’

More precisely, Yusiliph had witnessed Greham glaring at the maid, only for her to shrink her neck like a turtle and look apologetic each time.

Just from that, it was easy enough to tell that her true master was that man.

Haa, haa—

Yusiliph’s expression remained impassive as he looked down at the woman struggling to breathe, her breathing becoming increasingly ragged.

‘Was she making a fuss about saving someone else’s life when she’s barely more than the unwanted child of her own family?’

Arabella at the Maiona mansion looked lonely and unfortunate, like an island floating all by itself. Yusiliph did not like that at all.

There was something contradictory about it—the fact that this villainess, who had recklessly toyed with his life, was actually just as much an isolated person with nowhere to turn as he was.

The family physician the butler had said he was calling still had not arrived, and she was left alone in her room, suffering without even receiving proper treatment.

The swelling on her face was even worse than before, to the point that her features were almost buried beneath it, and her entire body was burning hot like a furnace.

‘She said she was poisoned at the Crown Princess selection ceremony.’

What Yusiliph could not understand was why she had gone all the way to the gladiatorial arena in that condition just to help him.

If she had wanted to take him back from Princess Regita, she could have done so on any other day.

While Yusiliph stood beside her, lost in thought, Becky busied herself rushing about the room.

In desperation, she tried to give Arabella some fever-reducing herb meant for the servants, but Arabella could not even swallow the medicine and vomited it all back up.

Yusiliph stared indifferently at the woman groaning in agony, her face flushed red like an overripe tomato, before muttering,

“Even as the daughter of a count, you’re not much different from a slave.”

Whether Becky heard his mutter or not, she immediately snapped at him.

“Don’t you dare speak so rudely when you’re nothing but a slave! If my lady hadn’t pushed herself so hard to bring you back, she wouldn’t have gotten this sick!”

Who asked you to bring me back?

Yusiliph snorted.

Becky glared at him for quite some time, huffing angrily, before leaving the room with a warning.

“You! Don’t lay a finger on my lady!”

Click.

Yet the moment the door closed, Yusiliph approached the bed as naturally as though he had been waiting for her to leave.

Haa, haa—

A shadow as beautiful as a statue descended over the woman’s distorted face as she breathed in fragile, labored gasps.

“I wonder if you even have the slightest idea how badly I wanted to kill you.”

Yusiliph’s pale, chapped lips moved, and a cold, low voice flowed from them.

He stood beside the bed like a statue for a moment before drawing the sword from his waist.

Shing.

A self-mocking smile appeared at the corner of his lips as he looked down at the blade glinting in the candlelight.

He licked his lips and remained lost in thought for a moment, then, with a resolute expression, swung the sword without hesitation.

Swish—

With a vicious sound, a thin red line appeared across the skin where the blade had passed.

A thick drop of blood formed on the wound before trickling down.

He stared absently at the injury on his arm, his face thoughtful. When the blood reached his fingers, he brought them over Arabella’s face.

Forcing her mouth open with his fingers, he felt the hot mucous membrane inside her fever-swollen lips.

An absurd thought crossed his mind—that his finger might be sucked into that scorching mouth and melt away.

Then he slowly let his blood drip, one drop at a time, onto her bright red tongue.

Drip. Drip.

The crimson drops slowly ran along her tongue and down her throat.

Perhaps unaccustomed to the taste of blood, she frowned and tried to turn her head away.

“Shh.”

Yusiliph whispered into her ear.

“If you want to live, you’d better swallow it obediently. It’s not like I’m sharing it with you because I particularly want to.”

As though she understood his words even in her unconscious state, she gradually swallowed his blood down her throat.

Gulp.

Every time her throat moved, her tongue and lips wriggled, stimulating his finger.

Just as he was thinking that the moist warmth and friction of her soft mucous membrane were not as unpleasant as he had expected—

Gulp. Mmm.

He noticed that she was swallowing much more easily now.

Like someone wandering through a desert who had finally found water, she was now greedily drinking his blood as though it were the sweetest thing in the world.

At the same time, her complexion began to improve visibly.

“It works rather well.”

Smack.

The wound he had made on himself had already healed, and the bleeding had stopped completely. He immediately tried to pull his finger away.

But unexpectedly, she lightly bit down on his index finger, then secured it with her tongue and began sucking on it like a child.

Slurp, slurp.

The sensation of her delicate mucous membrane clinging to and sucking on his finger was surprisingly stimulating.

At the sensation of her soft yet slightly rough tongue wrapping around his finger and licking downward, a strange tingle shot through his stomach, and his lower body instinctively grew heavy.

Flustered, Yusiliph forcibly pulled his finger out and snapped,

“Hey. Don’t tell me you’re pretending to be asleep right now?”

Smack. Lick.

But she continued to keep her eyes closed, merely moving her small, pert lips and smacking them regretfully.

Whenever she licked her moist lips, her small red tongue could be seen inside her mouth.

The finger that remembered the warmth of that tongue twitched involuntarily, and at that moment, she mumbled in her sleep.

“…It’s here.”

Could she really be saying it tastes good?

Yusiliph stared incredulously at her peaceful face.

But shortly afterward, she began snoring outright and fell into a deep sleep.

Haaah—

For a moment, he focused on the astonishing change that had come over her face.

Only a few minutes after consuming his blood, the severe swelling had almost completely subsided, and even her fever had gone down, restoring her original complexion.

With her smooth, porcelain-white skin restored, Arabella’s face looked as gentle and peaceful as a baby’s.

Imagining the blue eyes that must be resting beneath her black eyelashes, still moist as though she had been crying, he whispered dryly,

“Just so you know, don’t get the wrong idea. I only did this because I don’t want you to think you can hold a debt over me.”

It was true that the emergency medicine and food Arabella had brought him, along with her advice regarding Jack the Butcher, had saved Yusiliph today.

He neither wanted to owe this woman anything nor wanted to be bound to her. He had things he needed to do.

‘…But she said she’d help me rescue Alin, so it would be better to pretend to cooperate and stay by her side until then.’

Thinking of his sister, who must still be trapped in the Magic Tower, he returned to where he had been standing and leaned against the wall like a painting.

Almost the moment his back touched the wall, the door flew open and Becky entered the room.

“You didn’t lay a hand on my lady, did you?”

A man who appeared to be the family physician followed behind Becky, who was growling at him like a hunting dog.

As Becky led the physician toward Arabella’s bedside, she suddenly looked at her face and cried out in surprise.

“Oh my! What happened? She’s suddenly gotten better! This doesn’t make any sense! Just a moment ago, she could barely even breathe…!”

As Yusiliph watched the physician examine her with a puzzled expression, he quietly lowered his eyes.

***

I was dreaming.

I was in a space submerged in pitch-black darkness on all sides. It was vast like outer space, and there wasn’t even anywhere to set foot.

“I’m cold.”

I thought while curling myself up.

Where on earth is this? Why am I here? And… who exactly was ‘I’?

No matter how hard I racked my brain, I could remember nothing.

After a while, I gave up and simply floated aimlessly through the space.

Then, at some point, I suddenly felt my field of vision beginning to turn bright red.

“What is this?”

I rubbed my eyes and waved my arms in front of me, but I could neither grasp nor see anything.

I could only feel my vision slowly brightening and warmth beginning to fill the space around me.

“It’s warm.”

Before I knew it, I had spread my arms and was freely swimming through the red surroundings.

My body felt strangely light and free.

An inexplicable confidence that I could accomplish anything, along with an unknown longing and a sense of relief, washed over me and made my heart swell.

Then, suddenly, an unfamiliar voice spoke.

It was unmistakably human language, yet the voice was devoid of emotion to a chilling degree.

The moment I heard it, the warm emotions vanished without a trace, replaced by a terrifying sense of dread.

“What did you say?”

I mustered my courage and shouted.

But there was no answer.

Before I knew it, my field of vision had begun turning dark again.

“No! Why is this happening?”

Give me back that warm red color. Without it, I’ll be cold and lonely again.

The voice commanded.

At the same time, I lost consciousness.