I Tamed the Slave Male Lead Chapter 4

“Fight! Kill!”

Even though the gladiatorial match had yet to properly begin, the crowd was already in a savage frenzy, as if someone had stirred up a hornet’s nest.

‘They’re no different from beasts in heat.’

Yusiliph let out a derisive laugh from his mangled body.

He was lying collapsed inside a dark, cramped room barely one meter across on all sides, no bigger than a coffin.

It had already been three months since he began the slave life he had never imagined for himself. When he thought about his miserable state—unable to escape from that damned princess and now locked up in a place like this—he could only laugh at the absurdity of it all.

‘Who the hell do you think you are to dare act so expensive? You’re nothing but a slave bastard with a pretty face and nothing else to your name.’

These days, Regita had taken to holding herself up in her palace and enjoying being waited on by handsome attendants. Yusiliph was one of the slaves she had received as a gift for that very purpose.

The princess, who was extremely taken with Yusiliph’s appearance, had ordered him to attend to her in her bedchamber from the very first day he arrived.

But not only was this Yusiliph’s first experience as a slave, he had absolutely no intention of becoming the arrogant princess’s plaything.

That night, Regita had stripped naked and waited for Yusiliph in bed, but when he ultimately refused to enter the bedchamber, she flew into a rage and ran around stark naked in a fit of fury.

She ordered them to behead him immediately, but at the last moment, she changed her mind. Apparently, when it came down to it, she thought his excessively handsome face was too good to waste.

Instead, she came up with the idea of sending him into the gladiatorial matches that had recently become wildly popular in the capital.

She thought that after being thoroughly beaten into submission among rough gladiators, even someone as stubborn as him would become obedient.

But the result was unexpected. Not only did Yusiliph defeat his opponent in just a few exchanges during his very first match, he went on to rack up victory after victory, becoming the gladiatorial arena’s newest star.

Combined with the halo effect of his uncommon looks, he quickly became a celebrity. To make matters even more unexpected, his fame also elevated the standing of his owner, Princess Regita.

Regita was secretly pleased by this, but at the same time, she still found Yusiliph’s utterly insolent attitude displeasing.

In the end, three days before the semifinals, she had him locked up here.

‘A beast that doesn’t know how to obey should be locked in a cage and starved until it learns its place, don’t you think? Try enduring it. Once you learn how to behave, I’ll dote on you again.’

This room, barely a meter wide, had originally been a waiting area where gladiators stayed briefly before entering the arena.

It was a space without so much as a sliver of light, no different from being shut inside a coffin.

Apparently determined to tame him this time, the princess had him locked up for three whole days and ordered that nothing but water be given to him.

There was not even enough room to lie down, so for three days straight, he had slept in short stretches while curled up.

But more unbearable than the discomfort was the hunger. It was only today, right before the match, that he was finally given a bowl of soup for breakfast.

He devoured the entire bowl in one gulp as though possessed by a starving ghost, but naturally, that did nothing to ease his hunger. If anything, perhaps because he had eaten too quickly, he seemed to have upset his stomach and spent the entire morning vomiting repeatedly.

Already suffering from malnutrition, he was completely exhausted as a result.

‘If I go into the match in this condition, it’ll damage the princess’s reputation as well. What on earth is she thinking?’

How many times had he lost consciousness while staring into the darkness and trying to pull together his fading mind?

Tap, tap.

Mixed in with the familiar dragging footsteps of the guard, he heard the small, light footsteps of someone else approaching.

Soon, the voice of a young woman, seemingly out of breath, could be heard as well.

“Could you hurry up? The match is about to start. I already paid you extra, so don’t tell me you’re slacking off?”

“My goodness, you’re already gasping for breath. Quit rushing me. We’re right here.”

Yusiliph tilted his head in confusion.

‘That voice sounds strangely familiar. Who is it?’

Yusiliph was exceptionally perceptive and rarely forgot anything he had once seen or heard. And yet, although this woman’s voice was unmistakably familiar, he could not immediately remember who it belonged to.

Click, click.

Yusiliph’s eyes narrowed when he heard the lock on the door of the tiny room he was trapped inside begin to rattle.

‘Is the match starting already? It’s earlier than usual. And that woman…?’

Just as a fine crease formed between his elegant brows, he heard the sound of a key being inserted into the lock and turned with a click.

Then the door swung wide open.

Flinch.

Accustomed to the darkness, Yusiliph reflexively squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head away.

“Ah, Yusiliph. Your condition is… much worse than I thought. Oh, dear.”

Hearing the woman’s voice, tinged with pity, Yusiliph was suddenly seized by an eerie feeling.

The woman stood in the faint light spilling in from outside the door.

Her face was certainly not unfamiliar. No, impossible to forget would have been more accurate.

For this woman was none other than Arabella Maiona—the person responsible for pushing his already miserable life into an even more horrific abyss.

Three months ago, Yusiliph had been caught up in an unexpected incident and sold to a slave trader along with his younger sister, Alin. On the day they were put up for auction at the slave market, he had smeared dirt all over his and his sister’s faces and hair.

He knew all too well that slaves with beautiful appearances were usually bought by the worst kinds of masters.

‘I’ll take that one. And the woman beside him, too.’

But Arabella Maiona—the woman—picked them out with a single gesture, as though all their efforts had been meaningless. It was almost as if she had come there specifically looking for them.

He could still vividly remember those expressionless, pale-blue eyes as they calmly scanned him from head to toe.

‘Please let me stay with my sister. I’ll do anything you ask.’

‘How amusing. A slave who talks as though doing what he’s told is some sort of favor.’

Her pale, expressionless face, speaking irritably. The way she had turned her head away indifferently, as though she had no time to deal with a slave. She had been like a porcelain doll devoid of emotion.

She had even used her private soldiers to beat Alin in order to subdue the defiant Yusiliph. In the end, he had no choice but to give up resisting for the sake of his sister’s safety.

Afterward, she sent Yusiliph to Princess Regita, while Alin was sent to Duke Ameshika, the master of the Magic Tower.

‘Alin must be being treated even worse than I am.’

The thought of what might be happening to his quiet, upright sister in the Magic Tower made his insides burn with anxiety.

He glared at the woman before him with a furious gaze. She was a woman who boasted a flamboyant beauty befitting a villainess.

Smooth black hair that gleamed like stained glass, skin as white as flawless jade, a delicate frame clad in a torn dress… Wait, a torn dress?

At the growing sense of incongruity, Yusiliph narrowed his eyes.

The silk dress embroidered with silver thread was the same kind of luxurious finery Arabella normally wore, but the hem and area around her knees were covered in dirt and grime, while the lace down the front had been pulled apart as though someone had clawed at it.

But the most bewildering thing was her face.

‘…What? Is she really Lady Maiona?’

Her originally refined, delicate features were nowhere to be seen. Her face was horribly swollen, with red rashes scattered across it.

She looked so dreadful that even Yusiliph, who had endured every kind of hardship imaginable, flinched.

‘Am I hallucinating because I’m exhausted?’

Then Arabella opened her mouth and asked a question he never could have expected.

“Have you never thought about escaping?”

“…What?”

“With your abilities, you could break out of here and run away.”

At her troubled muttering, Yusiliph’s brows twisted into a menacing frown.

‘Did this woman come all the way here just to mock me?’

Then Arabella gave a bitter smile, as though answering her own question.

“But you wouldn’t do that.”

“…?”

“Because if you escaped, your sister might become even more endangered.”

“……”

“Foolish, but noble.”

After muttering something so utterly out of place, she suddenly stared straight into his eyes.

For some reason, Yusiliph found himself at a loss for words. It felt as though those pale-blue eyes visible between her ridiculously swollen eyelids were persistently searching him.

“Well, even if it’s not because of that… you’re definitely more suited for that position than Sota. He’s a real piece of trash.”

Yusiliph doubted his own ears. Had that woman just said Sota? Why on earth was the name of the Crown Prince—the man who would inherit the Empire—coming up here?

“What on earth are you talking ab—”

Yusiliph finally could not hold back and opened his mouth, but Arabella did not even listen. As though she had made some grand decision, she declared,

“So, I’m going to save you, Yusiliph Nathael Mohan. Never forget it. I’m the one saving you from this place right now.”

“……”

It was so absurd that he could not immediately think of a reply. Only after a few seconds did he slowly rise to his feet.

When he stood, his head nearly reached the ceiling. He was far taller and more powerfully built than most men. It was by no means a coincidence that, in just three months, he had become a star of the gladiatorial arena where the Empire’s strongest men gathered.

In contrast, the woman standing before him barely reached his chest. Yet despite being so small, like a rabbit before a predator, she showed not the slightest sign of fear.

He gazed down at Arabella.

There were only a few dozen centimeters between them. If he merely reached out his hand, twisting this delicate woman’s neck would be no difficult task. If he did that, that arrogant mouth spouting such nonsense would never be able to move again.

Driven by the urge to crush the noblewoman who had ruined his life in an instant, his fingers twitched slightly, almost as if in a spasm.