I Tamed the Slave Male Lead Chapter 20

The gamblers whispered among themselves, keeping an eye on me.

“What? Is that woman the princess?”

“She is pretty, but wasn’t the princess supposed to have blonde hair? Isn’t she some kind of maid?”

“Maids are nobles, too. We might get ourselves executed if we mess with her for no reason.”

They immediately changed their attitudes, grinning obsequiously as they bowed to me.

“We’re sorry, miss. We ain’t got much education.”

“We were wrong. Please let it slide just this once.”

It annoyed me that they never even apologized to Yusiliph, but there was nothing I could do about it for now. In this world, slaves were practically no different from livestock.

I clenched my fist angrily at them before turning toward Yusiliph, who had been standing there with an indifferent expression as though none of this had anything to do with him.

“Go inside now. And this.”

I took out the handkerchief I had tucked into my pocket and handed it to Yusiliph. It was a soft, white silk handkerchief that I had asked Becky to wash thoroughly the day before and personally ironed that morning.

“Good luck, Yusiliph.”

Yusiliph stared blankly at the handkerchief I held out for a while before reluctantly taking it. The moment he did, I rose onto my tiptoes and whispered something into his ear.

“Hah.”

Yusiliph frowned for a moment after hearing my words, then turned around without saying a word and strode into the waiting room.

Despite his cold reaction, I stayed where I was until his tall figure disappeared into the darkness.

 

***

 

“Participants, show the entire continent the might of His Great Majesty the Emperor! Pay your respects to His Majesty the Emperor!”

The cheers of the spectators boiled over into the muggy air of early summer.

Amid the deafening noise, Yusiliph bowed toward the Emperor.

A moment later, when he raised his head, his eyes briefly met those of the Emperor, who was looking down at him indifferently from the royal box at the center of the arena.

A slave had no right to meet the Emperor’s eyes, so he immediately lowered his gaze. However, the afterimage of those bored red eyes lingered on his retinas for a moment.

‘For someone who has killed countless lives, he has an excessively peaceful expression.’

On top of that, his appearance was remarkably youthful and handsome for a middle-aged man.

‘Is that also the effect of that medicine called an elixir?’

After destroying so many lives, these people were using such things to keep their faces smooth and flawless.

Yusiliph forcibly turned his head away so he wouldn’t glare at the Imperial Family seated beneath the golden canopy. For now, he had to focus on the match.

His opponent in the finals was certain to be no pushover.

‘Can I win this time, too?’

Yusiliph asked himself.

He had always won the smaller matches, but this was his first time making it all the way to the finals of such a major competition.

Arabella hadn’t told him that he absolutely had to win. She had only wished him good luck.

In fact, she had looked as though the outcome didn’t matter much to her.

Ironically, her attitude made him want to win all the more.

He felt his palms grow sweaty. As he unconsciously moved to wipe the sweat on his clothes, his hand brushed against the handkerchief carelessly tucked into his waistband.

“……”

He pulled out the handkerchief, wiped away the sweat, then wrapped it tightly around the hilt of his sword.

It wasn’t particularly meaningful. He was simply trying to prevent his hand from slipping because of sweat.

“Participant, take your position!”

The announcer’s shout rang out.

Yusiliph walked toward the center of the arena. Whenever the wind blew, the white handkerchief fluttered from his waist.

Meanwhile, Arabella deliberately covered her face and sat among the ordinary spectators. She wanted to avoid running into Regita or Sota and ending up in a troublesome situation.

Beside her, Becky, burning with determination to protect her, kept growling at the people around them like a little hunting dog.

“Hey! Why do you keep kicking the chair?”

“Did you come here to eat? You’re getting food all over our Little lady, so eat properly!”

“Becky, Becky.”

I gently tugged on Becky’s sleeve.

“If you keep doing that, won’t it be more troublesome if people find out I’m a noble young lady?”

“Ah! Is that so? I’m sorry, Little lady!”

With Becky finally quiet beside me, I focused my attention on the arena.

“First finalist! The slave swordsman, Yusiliph!”

The spectators erupted into a frenzy at the announcer’s introduction.

“Slave swordsman! Today is your funeral!”

“Nine out of ten gamblers bet on your opponent! Don’t get cocky!”

As the uproar showed no sign of dying down, the announcer slammed the flag he was holding against the arena floor with a loud thud.

“And the final finalist! The Sword Demon of Tanaroth, Gustav Garion!”

“Waaaah!! Gustav!!!”

“Sword Demon! Sword Demon! Sword Demon! Sword Demon!”

An enormous roar shook the arena.

A giant of a man over two meters tall responded to the cheers by viciously swinging a greatsword that was more than half his height.

Gustav was a swordsman from Tanaroth, a place famous for producing countless master swordsmen.

He had won the Emperor’s Birthday Gladiatorial Tournament two years in a row, both the year before last and last year. He was also famous for entering only competitions with substantial prize money.

Naturally, everyone was certain of his victory.

“Gustav can use sword aura, for starters! How often do you see a swordsman who can use sword aura these days?”

“True. The slave swordsman is incredibly skilled with a sword, but he can’t compete with sword aura.”

Hearing their conversation, I grinned and whispered to Becky.

“Becky. You did what I asked earlier, right?”

“Of course, my lady. But are you really sure this is okay? Betting all the money from selling your jewelry on gambling… My heart is still pounding.”

I calmly replied to Becky, who asked with an anxious expression.

“Just wait and see. We’re going to be rich today.”

Ka-gang!

Right after my confident declaration, the arena rang with a vicious metallic clash.

And five minutes later.

Drip, drip.

As crimson blood splattered across the sandy floor of the gladiatorial arena, the tall man slowly crumpled to the ground.

“…What happened?”

Silence filled the arena.

Yusiliph raised his silver sword triumphantly toward the spectators staring down at the arena in disbelief. Only then did the crowd finally erupt when they saw the milky-white radiance coating the bloodstained blade.

Waaaaaaaah!!

“He used a sword aura! The slave swordsman took down Gustav with sword aura!”

“How did this happen? Does that mean he knew how to use the sword aura all along and was hiding it?”

“Damn it! My mooooney!!”

A new champion had been born.

The spectators, worked into a frenzy by joy, awe, and disappointment, shouted toward Yusiliph. Flowers, coins, and handkerchiefs rained down from the stands.

But there were also people who couldn’t smile.

Crown Prince Sota and Princess Regita were two of them.

“My goodness, he won….”

Regita clenched her fists and bit her lips until they bled in frustration.

How wonderful it would have been if Yusiliph were still her slave. If that had been the case, her standing would have risen considerably, and she would have been the envy of everyone in high society.

‘And the prize money is enormous, too….’

Since Yusiliph was a slave, naturally, the prize money belonged to his owner as well. Of course, money wasn’t something a princess lacked, but having extra money she could spend freely beyond the allowance assigned to her princess’s palace was always welcome.

‘But since when could Yusiliph use sword aura? Could it be that Brother Sota knew about it and that’s why he wanted to take him into the labyrinth?’

Only now realizing how valuable the slave she had lost actually was, she was so furious that she ground her teeth.

‘But why on earth can’t I see that sly little Arabella anywhere?! I need to drag her out and teach her a lesson right now….’

Thinking that, Regita glanced at Sota.

Then she flinched and quickly looked away.

‘S-Scary… This is the first time I’ve ever seen Brother make such an angry face!’

Sota, too, could feel his facial muscles twisting into a grimace.

Following his master’s teachings that the strong should remain indifferent, he had become accustomed to feigning indifference in almost every situation. But today, he couldn’t prevent that familiar mask from being torn away.

‘Why can I see traces of my master in that bastard’s sword?’

There was only one person he called his master: the Sword Demon, Angelton Silly.

Although he had studied under him for only three years, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Silly’s teachings constituted everything Sota knew about swordsmanship.

After the man, who had taught Sota at the Emperor’s request, suddenly disappeared without a trace, the secret sword manual he had left behind continued to serve as Sota’s one and only master.

At times, high-ranking nobles and Sota’s close associates within the Golden Eagle Knights would bring all sorts of rare treasures and beg him to let them look at the manual just once. Yet he had never once allowed the manual to see the light of day.

Because he knew just how powerful its teachings were, the thought of someone other than himself practicing them made his stomach churn.

‘But how did you…?’

How was Yusiliph, who had appeared at the gladiatorial arena after ten days, imitating his master’s swordsmanship?

And on top of that, he had managed to manifest sword aura during that time. Such rapid progress was impossible by any reasonable standard.

‘Could it be…?’

Sota, lost in thought with his face twisted in anger, abruptly rose from his seat.

And before anyone could stop him, he quickly left the arena.

He had no idea that, far away in the stands, there was a woman watching his every move and pondering deeply.

 

***

 

“This way, Yusiliph!”

Yusiliph, who had exited through the side gate of the arena, spotted a woman peeking her head out from around a corner in the distance.

Seeing her disguised with even Becky’s headscarf pulled over her head, he shook his head.

“Did you really have to go this far?”

As he slowly approached, he asked, and Arabella clicked her tongue as if he were saying something ridiculous.

“Do you not know that Regita is searching for us with her eyes practically on fire? If we’re not careful, we might get dragged back to the Imperial Palace.”

Even as she chattered away, she kept looking around.

“Did anyone follow you?”

“What are you talking about? I waited until all the spectators had left, just as we agreed, before coming out.”

“Phew, thank goodness.”

Arabella clasped her hands over her chest and sighed in relief, and the headscarf covering her head fluttered loose and fell to the ground.

“Can a noble really be this careless?”

Though he scolded her as he said it, for some reason Yusiliph naturally bent down to pick up the headscarf.

That was when it happened.

A small, pale hand was gently placed on top of his head as he bent over.