I Tamed the Slave Male Lead Chapter 8

Regita swallowed hard and barely managed to force a coquettish smile onto her face.

“Brother… that’s not what I—”

“I don’t think what I wanted to see was a mutant slave swaggering around so full of himself.”

Sota was the one who had tipped Regita off about Yusiliph being a mutant quarter-elf.

He had expressed his desire to immediately send Yusiliph into the labyrinth and use him as a human shield, but Regita was reluctant to hand over a rarely useful slave to him right away. Yusiliph was the prettiest and most interesting toy she had acquired recently.

So she had planned to create a more dramatic event, enjoy the title of being the owner of a mutant slave to her heart’s content, and then hand him over. But the carefully prepared plan had gone completely awry.

More importantly, the real problem was that she had ruined not only her own plan but Sota’s as well.

Regita knew all too well how savage Sota could become once he was angry, despite his usual indifference. Her face instantly went pale.

“B-Brother—please, listen to me.”

“Regita. It seems you simply aren’t capable of properly handling that slave. I’ll send someone over later, so send him to my palace. I’ll take him with me on the sealed labyrinth expedition team leaving tomorrow.”

With that, Sota rose from his seat without even waiting to hear Regita’s answer.

“Brother!”

Regita hurriedly called after him, but then felt the gazes around her converging on her and hurriedly composed her expression.

‘Damn it… How the hell did this happen?! Did those worthless guards not do their jobs properly? Just wait until Yusiliph gets back to the Imperial Palace today! I’ll grind him into the dirt!’

Regita hurriedly left the Imperial Family’s designated seating area, maintaining an elegant smile.

That was when—

“Just a moment, Your Highness. I have something to say to you.”

Someone boldly stepped in front of her.

Already in a foul mood, Regita sharply furrowed her brows and glared at the person, only to flinch.

“…?! Arabella?”

“Did you enjoy the match, Your Highness?”

Seeing Arabella blocking her path with a ghostly appearance, Regita instinctively took a step back.

With her swollen face, blotchy red skin, and disheveled clothes… Even a beggar off the street would probably have looked better.

‘Come to think of it, was she the one who suddenly stood up in the middle of the match and cheered for Yusiliph? Could she have completely lost her mind when she collapsed earlier?’

Thinking that, Regita openly made a disgusted face. Having spent her entire life surrounded by beautiful things, the sight of Arabella in her current state was excessively harmful to her eyes.

“Move. You’re in the way.”

“Yes, but before that, please spare me just a moment. I have something to say to Your Highness.”

“What is it? My brother is waiting, so make it quick.”

Regita spoke with an arrogant expression.

She’ll move aside now. Arabella Maiona was a convenient and easy mark who would grovel flat on her face whenever Crown Prince Sota was mentioned.

But contrary to her expectations, Arabella didn’t even change her expression. She simply stared at Regita and suddenly said something utterly absurd.

“It’s a very simple matter, so please don’t worry, Your Highness. I would simply like to ask that you return my property that Your Highness is currently keeping.”

“What? Return your property? Are you saying I stole something from you?”

Regita was so dumbfounded that she narrowed her eyes into a vicious glare, but Arabella shamelessly smiled and said something even more outrageous.

“Of course not, Your Highness. I merely wish to have my slave, Yusiliph, whom I have been ‘lending’ to Your Highness all this time, returned to me.”

“…What? Are you insane?”

Regita involuntarily shrieked.

“Your slave? Why is Yusiliph your slave? You were the one who brought him to me yourself, Arabella! What do you mean, lending him?!”

She lowered her voice when she noticed the surrounding gazes gathering, but it was difficult to hide the deep furrow between her brows.

‘Oh, damn it. I’m going to get wrinkles between my brows. What the hell is wrong with Arabella? Did she eat something bad? Why is she suddenly spouting this nonsense?’

Everyone in noble society knew that Arabella Maiona was so obsessed with becoming Crown Princess that she had practically lost her mind.

Despite being as frail as a cheap porcelain doll, that girl had always been crawling before Regita with her pride nowhere to be seen, all because her ambitions were so ridiculously high. So why was she looking at Regita with such insolent eyes now?

She wanted nothing more than to hurl insults and ridicule at Arabella until she reduced the girl to tears and snot, but there were far too many eyes watching.

‘As if today wasn’t already the worst day ever. Now every pathetic pest is crawling out of the woodwork.’

Unaware of Regita’s inner turmoil, Arabella continued speaking without a hint of tact.

“I don’t understand what you mean, Your Highness. Yusiliph is merely a slave I temporarily lent you so that you could play with him for a few days.”

“What? Temporarily?”

Regita bristled.

Of course, it had recently become fashionable among the noble young ladies to trade male slaves around and play with them, but who the hell dared take back something they had given to her?

Regita had never given up something once it had fallen into her hands. She might throw something away after losing interest in it or finding it boring, but she never returned it.

‘…Is Arabella seriously trying to get revenge because I humiliated her at the selection ceremony earlier? Or did she actually lose her mind when she collapsed? If not, then why the hell is she suddenly acting like this?’

Regita had no idea what had happened to the pushover Arabella, but she had not the slightest intention of returning Yusiliph to her.

Yusiliph was a splendid toy worth far more than a mere slave gladiator. A handsome face, overwhelming popularity, exceptional swordsmanship, and even a bizarre supernatural ability. He was like a pumpkin that had rolled right into her lap—and not just any pumpkin, but a golden one. Why in the world would she hand him back?

Besides, if Arabella took Yusiliph away and Regita returned to the Imperial Palace empty-handed, there was no doubt Sota would make her pay for it.

“Hey, Arabella! On what grounds are you claiming that Yusiliph belongs to you? Yusiliph is unquestionably my slave!”

Knowing Arabella would not back down easily, Regita changed her approach and deliberately raised her voice so that everyone nearby could hear their conversation.

Sure enough, the nobles, who had already been dying to know what they were arguing about, pricked up their ears and began whispering.

“My goodness. Is Lady Maiona trying to take the Princess’s slave gladiator for herself?”

“I thought something was strange when she started walking around looking like that. She must have lost her mind.”

“Perhaps she took a liking to him after watching him win the match just now? At least she has an eye for men…”

As always, naturally, everyone around them was on Regita’s side.

Only then did she regain her composure. She smiled sweetly and snapped open her fan.

“Yusiliph has been my slave for quite some time now. Everyone here has seen him staying at the Imperial Palace and attending to me.”

“……”

“How dare you make such an absurd claim against me? If my brother or Their Majesties were to hear about this, you would be severely punished. But I suppose this is simply a lingering effect of the accident that occurred earlier, so I’ll overlook it just this once. Now, move out of the way and—”

Rustle.

But Arabella didn’t even pretend to listen to Regita. She rummaged inside her clothing, then pulled something out and dramatically unfolded it right in front of Regita’s eyes.

It was the very document she had sent her maid Becky back to the estate to retrieve earlier.

“Here is the evidence.”

“…What? Evidence?”

“The payment receipt for when I purchased Yusiliph from the slave market, along with the sales contract.”

“……”

“Surely this is enough evidence to prove that Yusiliph belongs to me, don’t you think?”

With a sly grin, Arabella even extended her arms to either side, deliberately displaying the documents so that the nobles gathered around them could see them clearly.

“If Your Highness also wishes to claim ownership of Yusiliph, then please show me valid legal evidence, just as I have. And with that evidence, we can appeal to His Majesty the Emperor and ask him to determine the truth.”

“What? His Majesty the Emperor?”

Regita let out a disbelieving laugh, but inwardly, she was already on edge.

If the Emperor learned that she had gotten into a dispute with a noble lady who had been a candidate for Crown Princess simply because she didn’t want to give up a handsome slave gladiator, His Majesty, who placed great importance on his dignity, would undoubtedly be furious.

On top of that, marriage proposals had recently been pouring in from princes of neighboring countries. If rumors spread that Regita’s hobby was being waited on by handsome male slaves, she would be the one put in a difficult position.

‘But… What kind of law is this?! How can someone give something away and then take it back?! That slave was clearly given to me to keep! You brought him to me yourself, you bitch!’

Regita glared at Arabella with eyes simmering with rage.

But Arabella calmly met her gaze and continued speaking.

“What will you do, Your Highness? Shall we go to the Imperial Palace right now and request an audience with His Majesty the Emperor?”

As the words ‘His Majesty the Emperor’ were repeated over and over, the murmuring around them grew louder and louder.

The newspaper reporters were also visible, their eyes gleaming like hyenas as they scribbled something into their notebooks.

In the end, Regita could only grit her teeth and say,

“Fine… Do whatever you want. A slave like that? My palace is overflowing with them anyway.”

At her words, Arabella’s face brightened, and she smiled broadly.

“Are you sure? I truly wouldn’t mind stopping by the Imperial Palace, but if Your Highness insists, I’ll simply take Yusiliph home with me right away.”

Arabella bowed at the knees in a polite curtsy and turned to leave.

Regita pretended to return the gesture, lowering her head slightly as she gritted her teeth and whispered,

“Hey, you’re not going to regret this? If you take that boy away now, Brother Sota is going to be furious.”

Swish.

Arabella lifted her head and met Regita’s gaze head-on.

“Regret it, Your Highness? If that happens, I’ll only have you to thank.”

A sly grin spread across her face. Her swollen eyelids narrowed, revealing blue-green eyes that emitted a strange, eerie gleam.

Regita instinctively took a step backward.