I Tamed the Slave Male Lead Chapter 14

Click, click.

“What? Why is the door unlocked? Did I forget to lock it?”

The suspicious muttering voice clearly belonged to Greham.

Clatter.

A moment later, the door opened, and he stepped inside with the bright light of a lamp.

‘What do I do if we get caught? What excuse could I possibly make?’

Perhaps because I was startled by the sudden situation, my heart was pounding so loudly that I could hear it in my ears.

“Honestly, what am I supposed to do when they send me documents for approval in such a rush? Tsk.”

Fortunately, Greham seemed too preoccupied with the work he needed to handle immediately to pay any attention to the open door.

“And where did they put the footstool this time? Just what does that butler think he’s doing?”

Rattle, clack.

After his irritated muttering came the sound of something being opened and closed.

Braving my nervousness, I slowly raised my head and peeked my eyes over the desk.

What I saw was Greham standing on tiptoe, struggling to pull down a box placed on the very top of the study bookshelf.

And what he took out of that box was none other than the seal we had been looking for.

‘Got it!’

I was so happy that I almost shouted out loud.

But did I somehow make a noise without realizing it?

Greham, who had been about to take out the seal and stamp the documents, suddenly froze and turned his gaze toward where we were hiding.

‘Gasp!’

But I quickly ducked my head just in time.

Of course, those beast-like reflexes weren’t mine.

They belonged to Yusiliph.

He forcibly pushed my head down and glared at me as though he were about to devour me with his dark-red eyes.

 

***

 

“Were you seriously planning to get us caught in broad daylight?”

Fortunately, Greham failed to notice our presence and left the room, but that was when Yusiliph’s scolding truly began.

“Apparently you think it doesn’t matter because I’ll be the only one punished if we get caught.”

“…I was just trying to see where the seal was hidden. Give it a rest.”

“I knew something was wrong when you confidently suggested that we go get the seal.”

“Either way, we weren’t caught.”

“With caution like that, how did you ever think you were going to sneak into the Imperial Palace?”

Yusiliph spoke as though he couldn’t believe his ears.

That was right.

The reason we had stolen the seal of House Maiona was because it was one of the keys to sneaking into the Imperial Palace’s secret archives.

“So, you don’t want to go? Are you going to just give up on the Imperial Family’s secret swordsmanship manual?”

“……”

At my words, Yusiliph firmly shut his mouth.

Of course he would.

A secret swordsmanship manual passed down exclusively within the Imperial Family.

For anyone who wielded a sword, it was the ultimate secret art, something they would dream of seeing at least once, even in their dreams.

That manual was none other than the sole swordsmanship book written by Angelton Silly, an unparalleled genius of swordsmanship who had been the master of two Swordmasters: Arabella’s father, Roderick, and Crown Prince Sota.

“Are you certain that Silly’s swordsmanship manual is in the Imperial secret archives? I heard rumors that it was already lost more than a decade ago.”

“Of course. I heard it directly from my father. You know that my father is Sir Roderick Maiona, a Swordmaster and Sir Silly’s disciple, right?”

I answered with a perfectly composed face.

But that was a lie.

The reason I knew about Silly’s swordsmanship manual was because, in the original story, Dorothea stole it from the Imperial secret archives for Yusiliph.

The Imperial secret archives were a strictly forbidden place accessible only to direct members of the Imperial Family.

That was why Dorothea had no choice but to obtain the manual by seducing Sota and using him to gain access to the archives.

‘And she almost got eaten by Sota in the process.’

But I couldn’t use the same method Dorothea had.

There was no way Sota would fall for my seduction, and I had no desire whatsoever to go anywhere near him either.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to.

Whether by coincidence or fate, there was another way for me, possessing Arabella’s body, to gain access to the Imperial Palace archives.

“How could the seal of House Maiona be one of the keys to entering the Imperial secret archives? The count’s family isn’t even related to the Imperial Family by blood.”

As we walked side by side after leaving the study, Yusiliph voiced the obvious question.

“…I don’t really know either. Perhaps because the first Count Maiona was one of the founding heroes of the Empire, the Emperor granted it to him?”

I brushed it off with a vaguely plausible excuse, but Yusiliph didn’t look convinced.

In truth, I had learned that the count’s seal was a key to the Imperial secret archives thanks to the memories left behind by the real Arabella.

She had entered the secret archives using this very key before.

But explaining all of that in detail to Yusiliph was impossible.

Because—

‘The real Arabella was actually Crown Prince Sota’s lackey all along…. I can’t exactly tell Yusiliph that.’

The moment I picked up the seal in the study, I remembered.

Arabella had secretly met with the Crown Prince in the archives several times and carried out various tasks he had ordered her to do.

Even finding and purchasing Yusiliph at the slave market had actually been on Sota’s orders.

‘Your Highness the Crown Prince. But why do you want to purchase that slave through me? And why are you telling me to buy him and give him as a gift to the Princess instead of keeping him for yourself…?’

‘Arabella.’

‘…Yes?’

‘Have I ever told you? The empress I need isn’t someone who is merely pleasing to the eye or beautiful. I need someone trustworthy, someone I can keep by my side and rely on.’

‘Ah….’

‘I need someone who will believe in and follow the things I am pursuing without requiring complicated explanations.’

‘…Yes, Your Highness.’

‘If you handle this task well, it will help me place my trust in you. But as I have always said, if you do not wish to do it, you don’t have to.’

‘I’ll do it. I promise, Your Highness. Please trust me.’

Arabella’s trembling voice from that moment sounded so vivid in my ears, as though it were truly my own.

So did the desperation and anxiety she had felt at the time.

She had been so earnest about becoming a member of the Imperial Family that she was willing to carry out even the suspicious tasks the Crown Prince ordered.

‘And that bastard Sota made good use of Arabella, only to discard her without a second thought.’

The emotionless eyes that had looked at me during the selection ceremony were still vivid in my mind.

There had been something chilling about that merciless gaze, as though he were merely looking at an annoying nuisance.

Lost in thought, I soon found myself standing at the entrance to the Imperial Palace.

It was already past midnight and the early hours of morning had begun.

The streets were quiet, with only the occasional drunkard passing by, while the guards yawned now and then with sleepy faces.

“This way. I know a little secret entrance.”

I confidently led Yusiliph to a secluded spot beneath the palace wall.

‘Two hundred steps west from the main gate of the Imperial Palace, beneath a metasequoia tree whose branches extend beyond the wall.’

Recalling the information I had read in the original story, I carefully took my two-hundredth step.

“Eh?”

The metasequoia branches stretching over the towering wall were exactly where they were supposed to be.

But the secret entrance that was supposed to be there was nowhere to be seen.

More precisely, there were only construction materials scattered around, as though someone had started repairing the wall and then abandoned the work halfway through.

‘Wait. Come to think of it, Dorothea sneaks into the palace through this entrance several months from now.’

In other words, someone would only create this secret entrance several months in the future.

‘Ah… what do I do?’

As my former confidence gave way to panic, Yusiliph, who had been silently following me, casually muttered in an exasperated tone,

“Don’t tell me that’s the secret entrance you were talking about.”

“The thing is, an unexpected variable came up that I hadn’t considered. What should I do?”

As he watched me clutch my head and stomp my feet in frustration, Yusiliph shrugged after a moment.

“When there’s a variable, you have no choice but to overcome it with another variable.”

“Hm? What did you—ugh!”

I barely managed to cover my scream with both hands.

At some point, Yusiliph had hoisted me over his shoulder like a piece of luggage and was speaking as calmly as ever.

“Don’t make a sound. Just stay still.”

He carried me like that and ran straight through the alley.

It was astonishing that, despite the absolute silence surrounding us, he didn’t make so much as a footstep.

Whoosh. Swish. Tap. Thud.

Had barely enough time passed for me to take a few sips of tea?

Before I knew it, he had effortlessly vaulted over the Imperial Palace wall and set me down in the eerily silent inner courtyard.

‘Gasp. So when he said he would overcome a variable with another variable… he literally meant jumping over it?’

I staggered from the dizziness, then barely managed to straighten myself and gave him a silent round of applause.

“Wow. That was amazing, Yusiliph.”

He looked slightly pleased by my reaction, but answered as though it were nothing special.

“I’ve already jumped over that wall hundreds of times in my head. Actually doing it is quite satisfying.”

As he said that, he lifted his head and looked up at the towering wall.

His beautiful face, illuminated by moonlight, remained impassive, yet somehow he also looked troubled.

‘Well, I suppose he must have imagined escaping from this place hundreds of times.’

If Yusiliph was this prickly even with me, how many times must he have clashed with and been tormented by Regita?

And the chain that had kept him from running away despite everything must have been Alin.

The thing binding him to my side now was probably the same.

“Let’s go.”

I hurriedly urged him onward.

I absolutely had to earn his trust while I had this opportunity.

For now, I was keeping him tied to my side by using Alin as leverage, but would he really stay with me even after he rescued her?

I needed him.

Not only to prevent the end of the world, but even more so because he was the only treatment capable of temporarily stopping the attacks caused by my incurable disease.

‘I have to smile if I want to survive. I need to make him feel as close to me as possible….’

Thinking that, I led him along with the gentlest expression I could manage.

“This way, Yusiliph.”

“That way is faster.”

Yet he said that with the coldest expression imaginable and strode ahead of me.

Apparently, after spending so much time in the Imperial Palace, he had become more familiar with the palace grounds than I was.

‘…As expected, winning the protagonist’s heart isn’t easy.’

Discouraged, I quietly followed behind him.

By the time I was gasping for breath, we finally reached the Imperial Palace library where the secret archives were located.

The library was, of course, locked.

But Yusiliph found an open window, easily lifted me up and pushed me inside, then climbed in after me.

“…It’s really quiet.”

The library in the early hours of morning was eerily silent.

The books filling every corner seemed to weigh down on me with some unknowable heaviness.

“So, which way are the secret archives?”

“This way.”

I guided him by searching through Arabella’s memories.

After passing through an unpopular section of books covered in thick layers of dust, we came upon a rusty door that appeared to lead to a storage room.

“Right here.”

I whispered as I took the seal from inside my clothes.

Then, with an extremely confident gesture, I pressed the seal against the doorknob.

But why?

No matter how many times I tried, the door showed no reaction whatsoever.