I Tamed the Slave Male Lead – Chapter 34

Author: isuzuuy

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But I didn’t return to the mansion right away. Since I was already at the Academy, I suddenly thought of something I wanted to investigate.

“The Academy library is the largest in the Empire. There’s something I’ve been researching lately, so I thought I’d look for some relevant materials while I’m here.”

Yusiliph didn’t particularly object when I said I wanted to stop by the library.

“I’ll come with you.”

“I’d like that too, but… access to the library is very strictly controlled within the Academy. They absolutely won’t let you in unless you’re a current student or graduate.”

In the end, Yusiliph decided to wait for me in front of the library. But just before I went inside, he asked in a meaningful tone,

“If I ask what you’re investigating, will you tell me?”

“Hmm….”

I could have lied if I wanted to, but I decided to answer honestly.

“I’m going to investigate the ‘Saint’s Staff.’”

“The Saint’s Staff.”

Yusiliph had overheard Sota and Regita’s conversation with me when we sneaked into the secret chamber of the Imperial Palace library, so he immediately understood what I meant.

“The one your father may have been murdered while searching for.”

“Yeah. Judging from Sota and Regita’s attitudes back then, there’s definitely something shady hidden between the Imperial Family and House Maiona. And besides that….”

As my voice trailed off, Yusiliph quietly picked up where I left off.

“I’m sure there are more than one or two suspicious things besides that. What they said about how you and I must never be allowed to stay together was particularly suspicious as well.”

Apparently, Yusiliph hadn’t forgotten a single word he’d overheard back then. I shrugged and replied,

“Exactly. Right now, I have absolutely no idea why. But I have a feeling that all of those things might actually be connected.”

“I think so too.”

“So, since I’m here anyway, I’m going to stop by the library and find out more about the ‘Saint’s Staff.’”

Yusiliph stared at me for a moment before nodding.

“Then I’ll wait here.”

I left him behind and hurried up the library stairs.

“The library’s closing soon anyway, so I won’t be long. See you in a bit!”

After passing through the library entrance, I headed straight for the second floor, where the theology books were kept.

‘I don’t have much time, so let’s skim through the important books first. If it’s called the ‘Saint’s Staff,’ it must have something to do with a famous saint.’

Drawing on Arabella’s memories of practically living in the library during her Academy days, I climbed the stairs.

But as I went up, I suddenly felt something strange.

‘Why… am I not tired?’

Normally, Arabella’s body—meaning mine—boasted such shockingly poor stamina that my legs would start trembling and I would become short of breath after climbing only three or four steps.

‘But I’ve already climbed thirty steps, and I’m not tired at all.’

I realized it was thanks to the blood I’d just received from Yusiliph, and I marveled at the effect.

‘So it really is more effective when the bodily fluids are mixed directly….’

For the first time in ages, I climbed the stairs lightly, as though I had returned to the body I had before being possessed.

‘But the lighting isn’t very good.’

Perhaps because the second floor was reserved for less popular books, only a few lamps were scattered around.

I was relying on the dim light when I turned around a dark corner.

Between the rows of bookshelves, I suddenly spotted two pale figures tangled together and writhing.

I nearly swallowed my scream in shock.

“Eek!”

Just as I managed to keep my heart from falling out of my chest, the tangled figures quickly separated from each other.

“Ah!”

“Oh my, we have a visitor here as well.”

As I watched the man and woman hurriedly straighten their clothes and move apart, my brows naturally furrowed.

There were bound to be cockroach-like couples who made full use of every possible location as a place for their amorous activities.

But at the very least, they should avoid public places that other people had to use.

‘If I’d been so startled that my heart stopped, would you two take responsibility?!’

In reality, my ridiculously fragile heart was pounding violently from the shock and still hadn’t returned to a normal rhythm.

The man, who had finished fixing his clothes first, spoke to me as I stood there clutching my chest.

“Oh dear, I’m sorry for startling you. I hope I haven’t wounded the heart of such a delicate lady… Heh heh.”

Because of the dim lighting, I couldn’t see his face clearly. But judging from the way he casually swept back his hair and his sly tone of voice, he was undoubtedly some pathetic womanizer.

In the end, I couldn’t hold myself back.

“Just get a room. Get a room.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Stop subjecting everyone in this public place to visual and auditory assault. If you want to fool around, get a room and do it somewhere out of sight. Seriously? I’m already busy enough as it is, so what are you doing blocking the way?”

Tsk, tsk.

I clicked my tongue and waved irritably at them.

“Shoo, shoo. Come on, if you understand, move. There’s a book over there that I need to find.”

“How outrageous! We were here first, you were the one who came over here!”

The woman who had been hiding behind the man finally showed her face and shamelessly turned the blame on me.

But I didn’t have time to waste on them.

I sternly furrowed my brows and waved my hand impatiently. Only then did the man, who had been standing squarely in my way, finally step aside.

Swish.

I brushed past him without even looking at his face, and a strong scent of perfume washed over me.

‘That’s way too much.’

Yusiliph smelled good without wearing anything like that.

The thought came to me before I could stop it, and I awkwardly cleared my throat before continuing forward.

As luck would have it, the theology books were shelved only a few meters away from the couple.

Relying on the dim light, I scanned the titles one by one when I heard the woman whispering.

“Wait, isn’t that Arabella Maiona, Michion?”

“Oh, you mean that young lady from House Maiona?”

“My goodness, she’s shameless. I suppose she’s already forgotten the disgraceful spectacle she made at the Crown Princess selection ceremony not long ago.”

“Hmm. She looks… quite different from back then. No, she looks different from how she usually does, too. Is she really that young lady? I’m usually quite good at recognizing women.”

“Oh, Michion!”

“Haha. I’m only joking.”

I paid no attention to their malicious gossip, clearly meant for me to hear.

What caught my attention was the name the woman had called him.

‘Michion.’

‘Could that man be Michion Karin?’

It seemed unlikely that there would be two noblemen with such a distinctive name.

Before I knew it, I turned around.

The woman had already leaned against the man’s chest again, acting coyly. But the man called Michion was looking in my direction, so our eyes met directly.

“So, who are you bringing as your partner to the ball tomorrow? You’re going with me, right, Michion? Hm?”

“Hmm. Who knows?”

“Oh, don’t tease me like that.”

Even as he placated the woman clinging to his shirt collar and making a nasal, whining sound, the man gave me a faint smile.

I quickly looked away.

‘Well, I suppose he’s not someone I particularly need to make an enemy of….’

Michion Karin.

He was the second son of House Karin, one of the Empire’s most prestigious ducal families.

With a handsome face, polished manners, and a free-spirited yet subtly boundary-conscious way of conducting himself, he had risen to become the darling of high society.

The reason this man, who had no particular connection to me, was important was something else entirely.

‘He’s the older brother of Dorothea, the heroine of the original story.’

Dorothea Karin.

Yusiliph’s destined partner and the heroine of the original story was currently secluded in a monastery under lockdown.

In a few months, she would awaken her holy power there and return to the capital in triumph, performing miracles both great and small before being recognized as a saint.

‘House Karin is already an ancient and prestigious family, but from then on, they’ll use Dorothea’s fame to become unquestionably the greatest family in the Empire.’

Michion Karin was the black sheep of the Karin family.

Backed by the prestige of the noble ducal house that had produced a saint, he was a man who threw himself wholeheartedly into luxury, indulgence, and pleasure.

Toward the latter part of the original story, he would make a name for himself as the owner of the capital’s most notorious pleasure district, eventually falling out with House Karin and being disowned.

‘Even if he’s the heroine’s older brother, I don’t particularly need to get along with someone like that.’

Just as I reached that conclusion, the book I’d been looking for appeared before my eyes.

‘Oh, this is it.’

Swish.

Without thinking, I pulled the unusually enormous book from the shelf.

Then I suddenly had a bad feeling.

‘Why… is this so heavy?’

Surely a book could only be so heavy, I thought confidently as I took hold of it.

But its weight was far beyond anything I’d imagined.

‘This is bad.’

I hurriedly struggled to support the book as it toppled toward me like a gigantic log.

But my feeble arms immediately began trembling violently, crying out in protest.