I Tamed the Slave Male Lead Chapter 23

Suddenly, an overwhelming sense of exhaustion brought on a headache along with a wave of nausea. I steadied my increasingly ragged breathing and calmly opened my mouth.

“This is… quite a difficult situation.”

“Yes! Since things have come to this, hurry up and return that slave to His Highness the Crown Prince. I should have put my foot down the moment you brought that suspicious man in here as your bodyguard. How dare you look your uncle straight in the eye and keep making up lies, you insolent girl!”

Greham immediately began scolding me, but I cut him off without mercy.

“Unfortunately, as of today, there is no point in discussing ownership of Yusiliph anymore.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Sota raised one eyebrow, showing interest. I gave him a polite smile before holding out my hand toward Yusiliph standing behind me.

“Yusiliph, that.”

Even without specifying what ‘that’ was, he immediately understood.

I felt him silently take the slave contract out from inside his clothes and place it in my hand. For a brief moment, his hand brushed against mine, and I felt the warm, solid energy within it seep through my skin.

“What is that?”

Sota didn’t even bother picking up the contract I held out. He simply asked with his mouth.

“Yusiliph is no longer a slave as of today. I had his slave document voided.”

“…What?”

For the first time, Sota’s expression wavered as though he couldn’t believe what I had just said.

“You heard me, Your Highness. I went to the slave merchant today and had his slave document voided. Yusiliph is now a free man. So there is no longer any point in discussing ownership of him.”

I pressed my temple again to emphasize my point.

Perhaps I had used up all my strength for the day, because a chill and aching fatigue was beginning to spread through my body.

“Arabella! What on earth are you talking about?! Who gave you the right to recklessly void the slave contract?!”

Greham was even more furious than Sota, but I barely looked at him as I gave him a simple answer.

“Of course I did. The contract was written in my name in the first place.”

“You little brat! Ever since last time, you’ve been talking back to your uncle at every turn, acting like you know everything and getting cocky!”

Huffing angrily, Greham suddenly shot to his feet and strode toward me.

“Come with me right now and have it reversed! If I tell the slave merchant that you did it because you didn’t know any better, he’ll take care of it himself. Bring that slave and follow me immediately!”

“I told you Yusiliph isn’t a slave anymore!”

“Then why the hell is that bastard glued to your back? You said he isn’t a slave anymore!”

“That’s because he’s my bodyguard. He entered into an employment contract with me as a free man.”

“What kind of employment contract could you possibly have with a mere slave…! Stop talking nonsense and come with me right now!”

The moment Greham shouted that and grabbed my arm, an arm shot out from behind me and seized his wrist in a powerful grip.

“Wh-what the!”

Greham cried out in surprise. He tried to wrench himself free, but the more he struggled, the more the veins bulged on Yusiliph’s arm, and the greater the force gripping his wrist became.

In the end, Greham couldn’t move at all and could only scream.

“Aaagh! You, you! How dare you, a mere slave! You dare lay a hand on a noble!”

Yusiliph effortlessly subdued the thrashing Greham with one hand before speaking in a low, heavy voice.

“It seems my young lady’s uncle is rather lacking in comprehension.”

“What, what did you say?!”

“You keep making your young lady repeat herself.”

“Th-this damn bastard…!”

“My young lady has told you several times already. I’m no longer a slave. If you don’t believe it, you could simply check the document, so why do you keep stubbornly insisting on this like an imbecile?”

“A-Arabella! Are you just going to stand there and watch?! This slave… No, your bodyguard is insulting your uncle! Are you just going to stand there and watch?! Ouch!”

Whether he was exaggerating or genuinely in pain, I could see Greham’s face growing paler and paler.

Even in the middle of all that, it was amusing to see that he was apparently frightened by the strength in Yusiliph’s arm, because he cautiously corrected himself whenever he was about to call him a ‘slave.’

“Yusiliph, let him go. My head hurts from all the noise.”

At my words, Yusiliph raised one eyebrow but obediently released him.

“How dare you lay a hand on a noble! I will not let this go!”

“I won’t let anyone who lays a hand on my employer off either, Lord Maiona.”

Between Greham, clutching his aching arm and shrieking, and Yusiliph, replying in a calm, lowered voice, Yusiliph was, if anything, the one who looked far more like a noble.

Come to think of it, it was rather surprising.

He casually called me ‘young lady,’ and he had just said, ‘I won’t let anyone who lays a hand on my employer off.’

They were things I never would have imagined hearing from him even ten days ago.

‘Was Yusiliph always this serious about an employer-employee relationship?’

As I wondered about it, I suddenly felt a cold gaze touch the back of my neck and swallowed hard.

I turned toward the direction of the gaze and met Sota’s eyes head-on. It seemed he had been watching me all along.

He was no longer smiling.

But there was clearly some intense emotion burning in his emotionless eyes.

Anger? Irritation?

Whatever it was, it was too complicated to describe with a single word. Yet one thing was unmistakable from the emotions blazing in his eyes: his mood had been thoroughly twisted out of shape.

‘I guess he’s pretty unhappy that the woman he’s always treated like a dog finally bit him in the back.’

Not wanting to be cowed by his presence, I forced myself to put on a calm smile.

“As you can see, things have turned out this way, so it seems Yusiliph will have to continue staying at my residence.”

“…That is unfortunate.”

Sota looked at me with his smile completely gone and continued.

“I had always considered you a ‘person I could trust,’ you see.”

He deliberately emphasized the words ‘person I could trust,’ clearly intending to remind me of the conversation Arabella and he had shared in that secret room.

Unfortunately for him, however, the person standing here was not Arabella, but me—a woman who had not even the slightest lingering attachment to Sota.

“Is that so? I’m sorry as well, Your Highness. I regret disappointing you.”

I answered sweetly, my face showing not the slightest trace of regret.

Seeing my expression, he asked coldly,

“Lady Maiona. Do you truly not think you’ll regret what you did today?”

“Regret? Whatever could you mean?”

I feigned innocence with a composed expression.

“Ah, if you’re referring to the debt my uncle incurred, I’ll discuss it with the elders of the family and make sure it’s resolved properly.”

“Resolve it? What could you possibly resolve? You’ve gotten some ridiculous ideas in your head and—”

Just as Greham raised his voice to scold me, the front door creaked open.

Becky entered together with the coachman, struggling as they carried in a large sack.

“That stupid maid girl… Just what kind of rag is she dragging into a room where His Highness the Crown Prince is present?!”

Startled by Greham’s shout, Becky dropped the sack to the floor in surprise.

Clang!

At the heavy sound of metal striking against metal, Greham’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“What is that?”

Becky glanced nervously at Greham before hesitantly bowing her head.

“That… is the money the young lady earned today.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

Greham’s eyes widened as he shouted, then he rushed toward the sack.

When he opened the mouth of the sack and looked inside, he let out a gasp of astonishment.

“It’s real…! They’re all gold coins!”

“That’s right. A total of 105,500 gold. I made that money betting on the gladiatorial match today.”

At my words, Greham’s mouth fell open grotesquely.

“Y-you…? You made this much money from gambling?”

“Yes. But I suppose the saying that easy money disappears easily is true. It looks like I’m going to have to hand it all straight back to the Imperial Family without even getting to spend any of it.”

At my pointed remark, Greham cleared his throat and looked away, but he couldn’t quite hide the pleased expression spreading across his face.

‘You have nothing to be happy about. I have absolutely no intention of shoving this money straight into your greedy hands for free.’

I wanted to snap those words at him right then, but my strength was already completely drained, and I didn’t even have the energy for that anymore.

All I wanted was to return to my room and collapse into bed.

“Then I’ll assume our conversation is concluded, and I’ll take my leave. Please return safely, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Just as I struggled to rise from my seat, Sota spoke in a sharp voice.

“…The Crown Princess selection process isn’t over yet, Lady Maiona. So I’d rather you didn’t act as though you’ve already given up on everything.”

“Pardon?”

“You still have a chance, Young Lady. Don’t give up. Who knows? Perhaps you really will become the Crown Princess.”

As Sota said that, he once again stretched his lips into a long smile.

That supremely confident smile, as though he knew that with just those words I would crawl right back into his net, reignited the fighting spirit that had been utterly exhausted.

“Ah… I was actually going to bring that matter up next time, Your Highness.”

I straightened my back and declared, putting weight into every single word.

“I’m sorry, but I would like to voluntarily withdraw from consideration as a Crown Princess candidate.”

“…What?”

“She’s spouting nonsense again without knowing her place!”

Sota repeated himself as though he couldn’t believe his ears, followed by Greham’s shocked reprimand.

But I didn’t back down. Maintaining my upright posture, I continued.

“It isn’t nonsense. Wasn’t it something everyone here already knew from the beginning? That I could never become the Crown Princess.”

“What exactly are you talking about?”

Sota asked, furrowing his brow. I could also see Greham glaring at me from the corner of my vision.

Perhaps because I was sick and exhausted, suddenly everything felt so tiring.

The whole situation, where everyone treated Arabella like a fool, and Sota’s infuriating behavior of deceiving and using me right to the very end.

All of it.

I gave them a bitter smile and shot back sharply.

“What else could I possibly mean? I’m a terminally ill patient with less than a year left to live. Which means that no matter what happens—even if the heavens themselves come crashing down—I will never become the Crown Princess.”