I Tamed the Slave Male Lead Chapter 25

As I watched Yusiliph begin to get pushed back, I nervously stamped my feet. From a little distance away, Greham muttered in a horrified voice,

“He’s blocking a Swordmaster’s sword aura…? That bastard is doing something even most high-ranking knights can’t manage….”

Looking closely, I realized Greham wasn’t the only one caught off guard.

Despite his relaxed expression, I could see Sota’s facial muscles had stiffened ever so slightly as well.

‘It seems Yusiliph is doing much better than expected.’

There should have been an overwhelming difference in ability between the two of them, a gap far too vast to bridge.

‘Wait. If that’s the case…’

I suddenly tensed.

Sota was a narcissist who believed himself to be the sole ruler under heaven and earth, accustomed to crushing everything in the world beneath his feet.

When he encountered a mere insect daring to raise its head from beneath his feet, how would he react?

‘He’ll try to crush it without a moment’s hesitation.’

At that moment, the sword aura clashing with Yusiliph’s wavered slightly before unexpectedly beginning to retreat.

Yusiliph did not miss the opportunity and pushed his sword forward with all his strength.

At a glance, it looked as though the situation had been reversed.

But the moment I saw the look in Sota’s eyes, an alarm went off in my head.

The next instant, Sota abruptly withdrew his attack all at once without warning.

Yusiliph had no choice but to withdraw his sword as well, causing him to lose his balance and stagger.

After all, just because the Crown Prince had stopped attacking didn’t mean Yusiliph could attack him.

“No!”

Without even having time to think, I rushed out from behind Yusiliph.

I intended to stand in front of him.

No matter how deranged Sota was, he couldn’t possibly murder a noble young lady inside her own home.

But I was already too late.

Whoosh!

Pretending to withdraw his attack, Sota had quietly manifested sword aura and scattered it toward Yusiliph.

Zzt!

“Yusiliph!”

It happened in an instant.

A translucent blade of sword aura flew through the air and sliced straight through Yusiliph’s left arm.

More than half of his upper arm had been severed, spraying a stream of blood.

I stared in horror and shouted,

“What on earth are you doing, Your Highness the Crown Prince?!”

Sota answered with an expression that looked rather pleased.

“What do you mean, what am I doing? Your words are rather harsh, Lady Maiona.”

“Your Highness!”

“Your bodyguard seemed rather lacking in instruction, so I thought I’d give him a little lesson. As for his injury… Well, it’s unfortunate. If you hadn’t suddenly rushed forward, hmm.”

He deliberately stopped there.

As though telling me to imagine for myself what would have happened if I hadn’t intervened.

“In any case, I’ve kept you here longer than expected. I’ll be taking my leave now.”

Shing.

He sheathed his sword and spoke in a leisurely tone, prompting Greham to step forward as though he had been waiting for the moment.

“Yes, of course, Your Highness. I’ll escort you.”

“Take good care of yourself, then. Even a lowly body like yours may prove useful someday.”

Sota casually walked past us, tossing out that mocking remark.

But I didn’t even have the time to pay attention to it as I supported Yusiliph.

“Yusiliph! Are you all right?”

He had his head lowered, pressing his left arm with his right hand.

His sleeve was soaked through with the blood pouring from the wound, and there was already a pool of blood forming on the floor.

The heavy scent of blood made me feel as though I might faint, but I forced myself to stay conscious.

“I’ll get a doctor. Just wait a moment.”

“Didn’t I tell you to stay back? It’s dangerous.”

He pushed my arm away and answered coldly.

What was he talking about?

I stared at him in confusion.

The whites around his eyes were bloodshot from burst blood vessels, turning them completely red.

“Yusiliph.”

“If you hired a bodyguard, then use him as one. Why did you step in front of me?”

Riiip.

He spoke bluntly as he struggled to tear down the sleeve of his shirt with his teeth.

It seemed he intended to wrap up his injured arm.

“H-here! Use this.”

I hurriedly looked around before untying the handkerchief from the hilt of his sword.

It was the handkerchief I had given him.

He silently watched as I tried to tie it around his blood-covered arm.

“I’m going to call a doctor, so j-just wait a moment.”

“Forget it.”

“Yusiliph.”

“Have you forgotten? That I’m a monster.”

As he said that, he ripped his sleeve apart.

His muscular arm, now exposed to view, was astonishingly already beginning to heal around the severed edge.

“If I let a doctor see this, they’ll immediately say I’m a monster and demand that I be taken away.”

“……”

“The bone was severed, so it’ll take about two days to reattach, but considering I was up against a Swordmaster, this is a fairly good outcome. It’s a relief that my arm wasn’t completely severed.”

Despite still dripping blood, he spoke as calmly as if nothing had happened.

But I couldn’t properly answer him because I was too busy clutching my pounding heart.

‘His left arm. It’s the exact same place where it was served in the original story.’

In other words, this was the arm he was supposed to lose today, during the gladiatorial finals.

Although it hadn’t been completely severed like in the original story, what would have happened if I hadn’t stepped in front of him at that exact moment?

Thump.

“Hey. Come to your senses.”

My legs gave out, and I collapsed.

Yusiliph immediately scooped me up with his unharmed right arm.

“Yusiliph.”

Without realizing it, I buried myself in his arms and hugged his body tightly.

My precious protagonist. After everything I went through to save you.

The thought of Yusiliph in the original story, broken after losing his arm, sent another shiver down my spine.

Like a child clinging desperately to a parent they had almost lost, I gripped his clothes with all my strength and buried my face against his chest.

I felt him stop when he had been about to push me away.

‘Sota really isn’t someone I can afford to take lightly. From now on, I need to be more careful to avoid crossing paths with him.’

As I thought that and desperately tried to calm my ragged breathing, Yusiliph’s sigh settled over the top of my head.

 

***

 

Where am I?

That was my first thought the moment I opened my eyes.

Everything before me was pitch-black.

I was floating naked in the darkness.

Why did this feel so familiar despite being in such a strange situation?

As though I already knew that struggling would be useless, I simply relaxed my body and waited.

For something whose identity I did not know.

And before long, it really did come.

A warm, intense red light.

It gradually dyed my field of vision, enveloped my body, and soon seeped deep inside me.

I relaxed my entire body and allowed it to invade me.

A strangely perfect invasion, seeping not only through my nose, mouth, and ears, but even through the pores of my skin.

Before long, it raced along the blood vessels and meridians throughout my body, knocking against the broken parts and repairing or strengthening them, ruthlessly breaking through every blocked passage.

I shuddered at a pleasure I had never experienced before in my life.

Then, when that intense sensation struck deep inside my lower abdomen, I couldn’t help but let out a moan.

“Ahh….”

Thump, thump. Thump, thump.

The powerful energy pounded against and awakened the weakened organs I had even forgotten existed, breathing life force into them.

Before I knew it, a tingling, dull, heated sensation began to fill my stomach in soft waves.

It soon spread throughout my body along my nerves, awakening a sensation so unfamiliar that it felt impossibly distant.

Desire.

A yearning to rub my body against someone else’s and share their warmth.

A beastlike urge to devour and draw in everything belonging to the other person, making them feel the same pleasure I was experiencing.

Submerged in a massive red membrane, I moaned and writhed for a long time.

Eventually, I even had the strange illusion that the enormous energy was caressing my feverishly sensitive body.

‘Why am I like this? What on earth is happening to my body?’

Amid my confusion, a voice that was not entirely unfamiliar suddenly reached my ears.

<Why are you so worried?>

At the strange voice, devoid of any discernible emotion, all the heat throughout my body vanished, and my mind snapped sharply back to reality.

“Who are you? Where are you watching me from?!”

The sharp accusation, tinged with embarrassment, caused the space around me to suddenly tremble.

What the hell? Is that bastard laughing?

<Don’t worry. Once you wake up, you won’t remember anything anyway. Just like last time.>

Fwoosh.

A pale flash pierced through my entire body and stabbed into my vision.

The next moment, my mind went completely dark.

“Ahh.”

Yusiliph looked down at Arabella, who was moaning while drenched in cold sweat, his eyes lowered and somber.

A bedroom in the dead of night, with no one else around.

He had entered his employer’s room without permission and was holding the finger he had deliberately wounded in her mouth.

Slurp.

“Mmng.”

Arabella let out a moan and writhed, her face flushed red.

Every time she did, the warm mucous membrane wrapped around and sucked at his finger with even greater force.

His gaze as he stared at her had grown dark and heavy.

What on earth was he doing here?