I Tamed the Slave Male Lead Chapter 19

His body was filled with muscles that had become swollen from training all day long. Strangely enough, simply clinging to that firm, solid body brought me comfort.

The deep scent of sweat wafted from his body, but even that didn’t bother me in the slightest.

‘So please hate me a little less. Even if Dorothea appears, I’ll never get in the way of the two of you, so please.’

Thinking that, I barely managed to suppress the urge to burrow into his arms like a child.

“What should we do, My lady? You keep collapsing like this. I think the intervals between your attacks are getting shorter… Should I call the physician?”

Becky followed us, flustered and unsure of what to do. The moment the word ‘attacks’ left her mouth, I felt the muscles in Yusiliph’s neck, which I was holding onto, tense slightly.

“Cough, cough!”

I coughed exaggeratedly to divert Yusiliph’s attention.

It wasn’t time to tell him that I was living on borrowed time yet. I had to hold out a little longer. Until I could earn a little more of his trust and make him certain that he needed me, too.

Rustle.

The touch of Yusiliph’s hand as he laid me down on the bed was unexpectedly gentle. When his arms, which had been holding me firmly, finally pulled away, I was honestly a little disappointed.

“I’m fine. Could you bring me some of the medicine the physician gave me last time?”

When I spoke weakly, Becky hurried to bring me the medicine and some water. After taking the medicine with her help, my dizziness subsided somewhat.

I caught my breath for a moment before telling her to bring me the silk box I had taken out of the dressing room earlier.

“Wow….”

The moment I opened the box, Becky’s eyes went wide.

Inside the silk box were all the valuables Arabella had inherited from her grandparents.

Raw sapphires and emeralds, pearl necklaces and tiaras, various gold and silver ornaments, and so on. I had already used up a third of them to make up for my meager allowance little by little, but fortunately, the most valuable pieces were still untouched.

‘To die without ever getting to use all of this… If it were me, I’d be too upset to even close my eyes.’

With that silly thought, I took out a gold ring that gleamed with a heavy luster and placed it in Becky’s hand.

“Here.”

“Th-this… Why are you giving this to me?”

“I haven’t paid back the salary I borrowed from you last time.”

“What? My lady, this is about a hundred times more valuable than that salary! You can pay me back later, so please just put it away.”

As if feeling sorry for a young lady who knew nothing about the ways of the world, Becky frantically waved her hands and pushed mine away.

“No, take it. It’s yours.”

I could feel Yusiliph quietly watching me and Becky from where he leaned against a corner of the room. Trying not to pay attention to his gaze, I scolded Becky.

“If you haven’t been paid back the salary you lent me, you should have pressed me to pay you sooner. Why did you just sit around and do nothing? This is the money I borrowed, plus interest.”

“But, My lady. Even so, this is far too much.”

“Of course it is. I’m also giving it to you so that you won’t accept money from my uncle anymore.”

As I said that, I placed the gold ring in Becky’s palm and folded her fingers over it one by one. Her face instantly went pale.

“M-My lady….”

Looking at her face, I calmly continued.

“So stop reporting my every move to my uncle from now on.”

“My lady. I’m sorry, please spare me!”

Becky dropped to her knees in front of me.

“Please, don’t throw me out. If I get kicked out of here, my younger siblings will be out on the streets immediately!”

I helped the trembling Becky back to her feet.

“Now, now. A woman shouldn’t be so quick to get down on her knees.”

I scolded her in a leisurely tone.

“And why would you be kicked out? Continue serving by my side and keep working at this estate. Instead, from now on, don’t be my uncle’s spy. Be my spy.”

“…Pardon?”

“Starting tomorrow, you can follow me around just like before. But when you report to my uncle, only tell him what I instruct you to tell him. In other words, I want you to deceive him for my sake.”

Becky’s face repeatedly flushed and paled as she processed my words.

“B-but, My lady. If I get caught, I’ll die. I-I don’t care if I die, but Master Greham… He threatened that if I ever had other thoughts, he would kill my siblings without anyone knowing, so I had no choice… Sob.”

In the end, Becky confessed everything to me through tears and a runny nose.

It was only natural that Becky had succumbed to threats against her precious siblings. To her, the threat of the man who currently held the most power in this estate must have felt like a death sentence.

“I’m sorry, My lady…. I knew perfectly well how lonely and difficult things were for you, yet I kept spying on you…. I’m truly sorry. I deserve to die.”

Becky prostrated herself before me and begged for forgiveness. Rubbing her swollen, red hands together as she pleaded was utterly pitiful.

Looking down at her, I continued firmly.

“Becky, the choice is yours. You can continue being threatened by my uncle, receiving a pittance for your work while reporting my every move to him, or you can take this gold ring, find a new home, move your siblings there, and follow my orders from now on.”

“…Move?”

Becky stared back at me with tear-filled eyes.

Becky was a good maid. She simply hadn’t had any other choice until now. If that was the case, then all I had to do was create a new choice for her as her kind and wise mistress.

“Yes. Do you really think my uncle is monitoring your siblings’ every move, too? He probably won’t notice for quite some time even if you move. So don’t worry and join my side. Even if a dangerous situation arises later, I’ll help you. And of course, I’ll protect your siblings, too.”

“Do you really mean that, My lady?”

“Of course. I never make empty promises. And just so you know, the salary I’ll give you will be much more generous than what my uncle gives you. So think carefully before you decide. If you’re going to be a spy, you should at least get paid handsomely for it.”

“My lady….”

Perhaps overwhelmed by the certainty in my voice, Becky simply clasped her hands and nodded blankly.

My dizziness had subsided by then, so I grinned and added one more thing.

“Oh, and for now, keep accepting my uncle’s money, too. He’ll get suspicious if you don’t. If you collect money from both sides, you should have quite a nice sum, right? You can use that to help with the move.”

“What?”

As if this were something she had never expected, Becky gaped at me. Behind her, I could see Yusiliph staring at me crookedly with his arms crossed.

 

***

 

“You certainly have a knack for winning people over.”

Clatter, clatter.

Yusiliph sarcastically spoke to me as I sat there pale from motion sickness.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

When I complained with a frown, he crossed his arms and glanced toward Becky with the tip of his chin.

This was the entrance to the gladiatorial arena, which we had returned to after ten days. Today was the final match of the gladiatorial competition commemorating the Emperor’s birthday.

“We’ve arrived!”

The coachman announced our arrival, and Becky immediately jumped out of the carriage as if spring-loaded, looking around warily.

“My lady! You can come out now!”

As she helped me out of the carriage, her sharp gaze swept over the surroundings. Her expression was so serious that it was almost solemn.

“…I think she misunderstood what I meant by ‘become my spy.’”

I muttered that while scratching my nose, and Yusiliph, who had followed me out of the carriage, raised one corner of his mouth.

“Either way, you gained the maid’s loyalty, so haven’t you accomplished your goal?”

“Gained her loyalty?”

“Yes. Just as you offered me three things in exchange, your goal was to buy that maid’s loyalty with money as the price.”

His sarcastic expression was quite irritating, but I deliberately answered nonchalantly.

“You’re not wrong. But in order to redefine any relationship, you need a certain catalyst. All I did was create that catalyst.”

“Hmm.”

“But even if there was such a catalyst, where the relationship goes afterward depends on each person’s own will.”

“And what exactly does that mean?”

He furrowed his brow.

“I’m different from before, Yusiliph. It’s true that the old me was selfish and only cared about myself, but from now on, I intend to live differently.”

“……”

“So I want you to put aside your prejudice and just watch me for now. And… I’d also like you to consider, at least once, whether there might be a chance for our relationship to change, too.”

Maybe because I spoke from the heart, my voice trembled slightly, much to my embarrassment.

And now that I’d actually said it out loud, didn’t it sound almost like a confession?

‘I’m definitely going to be kicking my blankets all night over this.’

However, there was still not a trace of emotion in Yusiliph’s indifferent eyes as he looked down at me, sweating nervously.

Just then, a group of gamblers entering behind us spotted Yusiliph and began shouting noisily.

“It’s the slave swordsman!”

“Hey! Come over here! Let’s get a look at that pretty face of yours!”

“Haha! That slick face of yours won’t be getting out of this one unscathed today, either! You know who your opponent is, don’t you? You think some guy who only waits on the princess in her bedroom can handle him? Today’s the day to put your money down and watch it roll! Heh heh.”

I glared fiercely at the men who had interrupted such an important moment and shouted at them.

“Silence! How dare you make such a commotion in front of a noble! Do you want to die for insulting a noble?”

Oh. That line really made me sound like an utterly rude noble young lady. It came out surprisingly naturally.