I Tamed the Slave Male Lead Chapter 46

“Ririen, come to your senses!”

I shouted as I swung my dagger blindly.

“Please! Don’t do something you’ll regret!”

“GRAAH!”

But just then, I felt something sharp pierce my thigh.

“AAH! Ririen, please!”

I thrashed wildly, trying to pry Ririen off my thigh.

“Stop it! Please, just come to your senses! Ngh…!”

A moment later, I could vividly feel the blood being sucked out through the two holes in my thigh.

It was a truly bizarre kind of pain. It had definitely hurt when her fangs pierced my skin, but as she sucked out my blood, my consciousness grew hazy as though I were drunk, and the pain began to fade.

Did vampires release some kind of anesthetic when they sucked blood?

‘Ah, I don’t know anymore.’

My rational mind was urging me to snap out of it, but my exhausted body was tempting me to give up and accept the situation.

There’s nothing you can do anyway. You’re not going to die just because you lose a little blood. Even if you become a vampire, you know how to cure it, so what’s the problem?

‘…I guess that makes sense.’

Gulp, gulp.

‘Wait. But she’s sucking my blood… way too fast. Is this really okay? And I’m not even an ordinary person. I’m terminally ill!’

An alarm suddenly went off in my head. I hurriedly tried to sit up, but whether it was because of the anesthetic in my body or the blood I had lost, I was too dizzy and weak to move.

My vision still hadn’t returned, either. I felt utterly helpless.

Even as I lay there, I could hear Ririen greedily sucking my blood, while what little strength I had drained away from my body with every passing moment.

‘This is bad. What do I do?’

There was only one way out of this situation: Yusiliph had to come and save me.

‘Has the battle ended? Yusiliph is definitely stronger than he was in the original novel, but the bloodsucking monster is no easy opponent…’

My reluctance to interfere with his battle clashed with my desperate wish for him to come to my aid.

I gritted my teeth, feeling like I was about to cry, and a faint moan escaped my lips.

“Yusi…liph.”

That was when it happened.

Thud! Thwack!

“AAH!”

Along with the loud noises, the hazy sensation spreading from my thigh and the sharp pain vanished all at once.

‘Did Ririen stop sucking my blood?’

Her scream confirmed my guess.

“Kyaaaah!”

Thud. Thump.

“Come to your senses right now. Otherwise, I might just kill you myself.”

What followed was Yusiliph’s chillingly cold warning.

‘Ah, Yusiliph came for me.’

Tears welled up in my eyes with relief. I struggled to stay conscious and focused on the sounds around me.

“Ugh… Ngh!”

It sounded as though Yusiliph had grabbed Ririen by the collar. I heard her stifled groans and the sound of her grinding her teeth.

“Y-Yusiliph.”

I reached blindly into the air and called out to him.

“What about the bloodsucking monster? Did you defeat it?”

Thwack!

Another vicious noise rang out, and then Yusiliph answered in a somewhat calmer voice.

“I stabbed its core, and it died immediately. I drove off the imps, too, so we’re safe for now. More importantly, are you all right?”

“Yeah… Ah, thank goodness…”

Feeling the tension drain from my body like air escaping a balloon, I blinked my still-sightless eyes.

Come to think of it, everything around me was quiet. I could no longer hear the bloodsucking monster’s shrieks or the imps’ flapping wings.

“I can’t see. So listen carefully and do exactly as I say.”

“You said you can’t see?”

“It’s only temporary, so don’t worry. You see the leather pouch attached to my trousers? I collected some fermented bloodsucking plant fruit and put it inside. Crush it and feed it to Ririen. Right now.”

Rustle.

I felt Yusiliph carefully lay me down and remove the leather pouch. All the while, Ririen continued to growl, though her aggression seemed to have subsided considerably now that the boss monster had been eliminated.

Crunch.

A moment later, I heard the fruit being crushed, and its strong, sour, fermented smell filled the air. Then Yusiliph spoke in a harsh, threatening voice to Ririen.

“You’d better eat it willingly. If I force it into your mouth and you choke to death, I won’t take responsibility.”

“Be a little gentler, Yusiliph. Ririen is under the labyrinth’s influence right now. She’s not in her right mind.”

“You still feel like taking this woman’s side when she’s done this to you?”

His frighteningly angry tone made me flinch and fall silent. Instead, I tried to reason with Ririen.

“Ririen. You recognize my voice, don’t you? You know who I am. You’re sick right now, and that’s why we came here. To cure you.”

“……”

“Trust me and eat that. It’s the only way you’ll get better. Then you’ll be able to see your father again. You remember your father, don’t you?”

“……”

“You don’t want to live here, do you? Your home is outside the labyrinth. Come back there with me. Go back to your father, Ririen. Please?”

Crunch. Crack.

After a while, I heard Ririen chewing the fruit.

“……”

We waited quietly until Ririen had chewed and swallowed all of it.

During that time, the wind gradually died down, and the labyrinth’s characteristic ominous air and sticky humidity began to gather around us. I could also hear the abandoned bloodsucking flowers rustling as they began devouring one another.

Not long afterward, Ririen began to sob.

“I-I’m sorry… Arabella…”

‘Ah, she’s back.’

Overwhelmed with relief, I finally allowed myself to lose consciousness.

 

***

 

“Ahh… Ah.”

Arabella writhed, letting out breathless, feverish moans. Yusiliph cradled the back of her head with one hand to keep her wound from touching the ground, holding her struggling little body tightly in his arms.

“She’s burning up. What should we do?”

Ririen turned deathly pale after feeling Arabella’s forehead.

“This is going to become serious. We have to get her out of the labyrinth immediately.”

“In her current condition, she won’t even be able to stay on my back until we get out.”

Yusiliph replied calmly as he wiped the sweat soaking Arabella’s forehead.

“Then what are we supposed to do? We can’t just leave her like this!”

Ririen had been pacing anxiously, but Yusiliph’s sharp rebuke made her wilt.

“I’m sorry… To both you and Arabella. For secretly following you here, and for hurting Arabella. I’m sorry for all of it.”

“……”

“I’m truly pathetic. I followed you because I wanted to help, but… I was conscious at least until we crossed the suspension bridge. After that, I can’t remember anything that happened.”

Yusiliph ignored her. He laid Arabella’s head on his thigh and wiped away her sweat once more.

Watching him anxiously, Ririen opened her mouth again.

“Um, but we can’t leave her like this. We should at least make a stretcher and carry Arabella out. I’ll go make one.”

“Leave the labyrinth first.”

“What?”

Ririen asked in confusion at Yusiliph’s firm tone.

“Go back and ask your father to postpone closing the labyrinth by one more day. I’ll stay here, wait until my employer recovers, and then take her out.”

“But how are you going to treat her here? We need to have a doctor examine her first.”

“You’re being frustratingly obtuse. What are you going to tell the doctor? That she was bitten by a vampire? That you were the one who did this to her?”

“……”

Ririen lowered her head, her face pale. In her current situation, she wouldn’t have had anything to say even if she had ten mouths.

Meanwhile, Yusiliph was clenching his fists, struggling to calm himself down.

In truth, he had been on the verge of losing his mind ever since he saw Arabella lying unconscious.

The moment he saw her bleeding from the head, her thigh bitten by a vampire, and her eyes searching helplessly through the air, his heart had dropped, and his blood had boiled with rage.

He couldn’t bear the anger he felt—not only toward Ririen, who had done this to her, but also toward himself for leaving such a frail woman alone.

At the same time, he was so afraid that he could barely breathe. He couldn’t bear the thought that something might happen to her.

‘Get a hold of yourself. Now isn’t the time to lose control.’

He barely managed to suppress the turmoil raging inside him.

“I have a way to treat her. But I can’t perform the treatment in front of you.”

“Huh? Have you studied medicine?”

“……”

“If not, then how could you possibly…?”

Yusiliph didn’t answer her. He simply concentrated on wrapping Arabella’s head with a handkerchief he had taken from his pocket.

“Haah…”

After watching the two of them and thinking for a moment, Ririen cautiously spoke again.

“Are you really certain you can cure her?”

Yusiliph nodded.

“Can you swear on your honor?”

Yusiliph stared at Ririen, who was pressing him for an answer, then muttered something that might have been meant for himself.

“Asking someone who was a slave until recently to stake his honor on it. What an absurd thing to say.”

“Ah…”

“I don’t know anything about honor, but I can swear this: I will bring her back alive. No matter what.”