I Tamed the Slave Male Lead Chapter 22

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Neighhh.

I woke with a start at the sound of a horse neighing.

“Are we here? Yaaawn.”

Apparently, I had fallen into a deep sleep on the way home from the slave market. Well, considering I had spent practically the entire day running around outside, it was almost surprising that my frail body had held out this long.

‘For a light nap in the carriage, I feel surprisingly refreshed.’

However, Becky’s gaze as she looked at me stretching sleepily was distinctly displeased. No, more accurately, perhaps I should say her gaze was directed at the person beside me.

“…?”

I turned my head and let out a gasp, immediately sitting upright.

Yusiliph, the owner of the shoulder I had been resting my head on and sleeping soundly against just moments ago, merely glanced at me before getting out of the carriage as calmly as if nothing had happened.

When I noticed that his broad shoulder even had a round mark from my drool on it, I was startled and stiffened.

‘Why isn’t he saying anything? Normally, he would have made me feel mortified by now.’

I followed him with suspicious eyes, only to become even more flustered the next moment.

Yusiliph, who had stopped in front of me as I was getting out of the carriage, held out his hand.

“…?”

“Are you not getting down?”

I blinked blankly for a moment before belatedly realizing that he was offering to help me down. I awkwardly took his hand.

Becky, who had been deprived of her job, glared at him, but he calmly supported me without even changing his expression.

The moment I stepped down from the carriage, a familiar wave of dizziness came over me, and I squeezed my eyes shut. Perhaps my body had not had time to adjust because I had moved too quickly after waking up.

However, his hand firmly caught my staggering body. Thanks to him, I was able to avoid making a pathetic spectacle of myself.

He waited silently until I regained my balance. Even when my fingernails dug deeply into the back of his hand because I was practically clinging to him from the dizziness, he did not say a word.

As soon as the dizziness subsided, I let go of his hand and looked at him suspiciously.

“Yusiliph. What’s gotten into you all of a sudden? You’re so different from usual.”

“Work is work. I’m simply acting like a bodyguard.”

He answered in such a matter-of-fact tone, even using polite speech, then turned around and walked toward the entrance with steady footsteps.

‘Just because he became my bodyguard, did his attitude and way of speaking suddenly have to change too? Somehow, it feels like he’s treating me better than when he was my slave and I was his master. It feels strange.’

I shrugged as I thought that.

In any case, it was a good thing that Yusiliph had voluntarily decided to remain by my side and had even softened his attitude toward me.

My mood improved even more when I saw Yusiliph waiting for me after opening the front door. Being waited on by a handsome bodyguard finally made me feel a little like I had truly transmigrated into the body of a noble young lady.

However, that pleasant feeling plummeted the moment I saw the people waiting for me in the drawing room.

“Ah, there you are at last, Lady Maiona.”

“…Crown Prince Sota?”

I doubted my own eyes.

Why was Crown Prince Sota sitting on the sofa in the Maiona residence?

The setting sun streamed through the wide windows, bathing the entire drawing room in crimson light.

Sitting comfortably in the middle of the sofa as though he were in his own home, Sota looked terrifying as he was dyed in the bloody glow of the sunset, a frightening smile spread across his face.

“Why have you only just arrived! His Highness the Crown Prince has been waiting for you for so long!”

The one badgering me as I stood there mute as a fish was Greham.

“Hurry over and sit down! His Highness has come all this way because he has something to discuss with you.”

While Greham continued urging me on, Sota stared at me with his characteristic emotionless eyes.

It was a chilling gaze, like that of a predator waiting for its prey to willingly walk into its jaws.

‘He’s already come all the way here. I can’t exactly avoid him now.’

I let out a long sigh and reluctantly walked forward.

The fact that Yusiliph was following behind me like a shadow was at least somewhat comforting.

Meanwhile, as Sota watched Yusiliph and me moving together as though we were one body, the smile on his face gradually faded.

“What brings Your Highness to such a humble place despite your busy schedule?”

I lightly bent my knees while holding the hem of my dress, and Sota accepted my greeting with a slight nod of his chin.

“Sit down first.”

Anyone watching would think this was his own house.

Though I snorted inwardly at his arrogant attitude, I obediently took a seat opposite him.

After silently studying my face, Sota finally spoke.

“Your complexion has improved considerably. Your recovery is astonishingly fast.”

As he said that, his brown eyes swept over every inch of my face and the bare skin exposed above my dress.

Come to think of it, this was the first time he had seen me since the day I collapsed at the selection ceremony in such a hideous state.

Now, not only had the swelling gone down and the rash disappeared, my skin was actually much smoother and more radiant than the original Arabella’s had been before I transmigrated.

It was probably the regenerative power of Yusiliph’s blood.

‘Wait. Come to think of it, Sota already knows that Yusiliph has regenerative powers.’

Sota’s order for Arabella to purchase Yusiliph as a slave had been thoroughly deliberate.

He had known about Yusiliph’s ability from the very beginning and had orchestrated everything with the intention of exploiting him to the fullest.

‘So it’s not like he’s asking because he doesn’t know that Yusiliph’s power was what healed me.’

Feeling Sota’s dark, calculating gaze on me made cold sweat trickle down my back, but I forced myself to answer calmly.

“It’s thanks to Your Highness’s concern.”

“That’s a relief. I was genuinely worried that day.”

As Sota said that, the corners of his eyes stretched into a smile.

I was puzzled by the sudden, out-of-place smile from someone who was always expressionless. Just as I was wondering why he was smiling at a moment like this, Greham hurriedly inserted himself between us.

“My niece was raised rather freely, having grown up apart from her parents… When I think of how this thoughtless child caused trouble for the Imperial Family, I can only apologize, Your Highness.”

“It’s all right. Anyone can become nervous at a major event.”

Sota answered magnanimously, and without letting his smile fade, continued.

“But, you see, occupying property belonging to the Imperial Family without permission is a different matter, wouldn’t you say?”

Here it is at last.

I lightly clenched the fabric of my skirt on my lap, tensing up.

I had expected this from the moment he appeared without warning.

He had come here to take Yusiliph back.

But for now, I pretended not to know and asked,

“Property belonging to the Imperial Family, Your Highness?”

Perhaps my wordplay displeased him, because Sota crooked up the corner of his mouth.

“The Imperial slave whom you took away, Young Lady. The one standing right over there.”

Only then did Sota turn his gaze toward Yusiliph.

His eyes were devoid of emotion, careless and indifferent, as though he were looking at an object rather than a living human being.

However, sitting between the two of them, I could sense a murderous tension spreading through the air, as if sparks were flying between them.

It certainly wasn’t just my imagination.

I could clearly feel a fierce, razor-sharp aura radiating from Yusiliph’s body behind me.

“There seems to be a misunderstanding, Your Highness.”

I raised my voice slightly, trying to ease the tense atmosphere.

“A misunderstanding?”

“Yes, Your Highness. He was a slave whom I personally paid for and purchased at the slave market. I already explained this to Her Highness the Princess, but if you wish, I can also show you the payment records and contract from the time of the transaction.”

Hmm.

But Sota didn’t even pretend to listen to me.

He lifted his teacup and took a leisurely sip, slurp, as though he were bored.

Of course, he already knew exactly what I was saying.

Arabella’s discovery and purchase of Yusiliph in the first place had all been carried out on his orders.

“I see.”

After taking his time and pretending to savor the tea, Sota finally broke the silence.

The smile stretching across his eyes and lips was chilling precisely because there was not the slightest hint of laughter in his eyes.

“This is unfortunate. Very unfortunate indeed.”

As he murmured those words, he suddenly shot Greham a sharp look.

“Isn’t that right, Lord Maiona?”

“Th-that… Your Highness the Crown Prince! I’ll speak with my niece separately and straighten everything out, so if you could just give me a little time…”

Greham broke into a cold sweat as he struggled to meet Sota’s eyes.

Seeing him like that gave me a bad feeling.

‘There’s something else.’

As if to confirm my suspicion, Sota leisurely opened his mouth.

“What shall we do? If Lady Arabella returned that slave, I was planning to postpone Lord Maiona’s repayment of the eighty thousand gold he owes the Imperial Family for a few months.”

He paused.

“But now, that has become rather difficult.”

I felt a headache coming on as I glared at Greham.

Eighty thousand gold?

That was enough money to purchase an entire average-sized rural estate and still have plenty left over.

“A debt? Uncle, is this true?”

In response to my question, Sota answered in Greham’s place.

“It is. It is money Lord Maiona has borrowed from the Imperial Family little by little over the past several months.”

“What on earth did you spend such an enormous amount of money on? Does Mother know about this as well?”

As I pressed my temple and asked, Greham instead flew into a rage, as though I were the one at fault.

“It was money needed to repay the military expenses your father used while he was alive! What would a child like you, who has done nothing but stay at home, know to meddle in this?”

“That’s exactly what I’m asking! Did you discuss this debt with Mother?”

“I am the one currently responsible for handling all the affairs of this household! Your mother can barely even function properly because of the grief of losing her husband, so what exactly was I supposed to discuss with her?!”

As I listened to Greham’s unreasonable retort, I stared pointedly at Sota.

This time, he gave me a rather natural smile.

It was the smile of a predator, his entire body cloaked in relaxed boredom—as though inviting me to struggle all I wanted.