Without time to ask what he meant, Deus, who had lifted me up, moved his steps toward the brothers. My dazed mind returned at the sight of Deus rapidly distancing. By the time I thought ‘oh no,’ Deus had already disappeared mixed into the crowd. I felt all the blood in my body chill.
‘Don’t tell me he went after the twins?’
Just when I thought he was staying well-behaved. I sighed and touched my forehead. An uneasy feeling assailed me. If Deus killed the twins, that would be a big problem in its own way. Word would spread that the Crown Prince’s Madness, which had seemed to show improvement, had become serious again. I tightly clenched my trembling hands.
‘What should I do?’
Regret washed over me. Feeling sorry for Deus who had been confined only inside the Detached Palace was the fatal mistake. If Deus ran wild here, I couldn’t even imagine how many people would die. Children’s laughter and people’s conversation sounds mixed chaotically. My vision spun.
‘What should I do……’
Just as I was pushing through the crowd, a large hand suddenly shot out from an alley and covered my mouth. Just as I struggled in surprise, the moment I confirmed the face of the person who grabbed me, my heart sank. They were clearly built like people who wouldn’t do legal work.
A man with one side of his face completely disfigured pulled back my robe as if annoyed. Then he spoke in an indifferent voice.
“Is this the escaped human slave?”
“Yes, the appearance is similar to what that man said. Judging by the smell, seems to be human too.”
“Anyway…… Hey, human. Do you know how much we suffered all day because of you? Where did you steal this expensive robe to change into?”
My eyes widened at the man’s words. What the brothers had said flashed through my mind.
<Haha, even if you didn’t say that, I was planning to go. I heard premium information that a slave ship is coming near the dock today.>
In this worldview, humans were treated no different from livestock. Unhealthy humans were sold as premium ingredients for noble lords, and at least humans with intact bodies were sold as slaves.
Ash too was only treated as a young master because he was adopted into an aristocratic family. In the eyes of ordinary beastmen, he would clearly look like livestock that could be treated however. I shouted toward the men who seemed thoroughly mistaken.
“Who’s a slave? You got the wrong person. I’m not a slave, I’m……”
Pow!
Before I could finish speaking, my face turned to the side. Thick drops of blood fell on the floor. My nose seemed to have burst. I’d thought I’d built up some resistance to violence thanks to Deus. But after receiving a sincere punch, I newly realized how much affection was in that violence.
I spat out the blood pooled in my mouth. The man who gripped my chin roughly turned my face to make me look at him.
“Hey you bastard…… Didn’t I tell you earlier? I’m in a fucking mood because I suffered all day because of you?”
“……”
“Know that if you say one more word, I’ll cut off your tongue. Among our regulars, there are many gentlemen who actually prefer those without tongues.”
In the original work, Ash also suffered similar misunderstandings. The vulgar misunderstanding that Lucius adopted Ash with other intentions.
I read the disgust embedded in the men’s eyes and lowered my gaze. Then I obediently held out both hands toward the man. The man, who chuckled at the docile attitude, bound my wrists.
“Don’t think too badly of it. Who knows, right? If you’re lucky, you might become some noble’s mistress.”
* * *
I frowned while touching the wobbling molar with my tongue. The sack the men pulled over my head smelled of the musty scent characteristic of grain. It seemed to have originally been a sack for grain. How long had we walked? I swallowed dry saliva at the faintly felt ocean scent. Judging by the swaying underfoot, this was probably inside the slave ship the men operated. The men who were dragging me down stairs said.
“Come to think of it, did the human we brought last time die? He was ailing for days.”
“Don’t even mention it. Because all the humans who shared the same room got sick because of that bastard, Matthew got pissed and buried him alive in the sea.”
“Well, humans with infectious diseases can’t be used as food or slaves.”
A conversation that would make modern human rights lawyers horrified. Just as I was secretly eavesdropping on the men’s conversation, I heard the sound of an iron door opening with a creak. At the same time as the sack I’d been wearing was removed, my back was pushed. The men who giggled closed the thick iron door saying.
“Don’t run away this time and stay put. Killing humans who escape more than twice is our ship’s law.”
With a bang, pitch-black darkness descended. I felt stinging gazes from behind.
Slowly turning my head, people with shackles on their ankles were looking at me with fear-stained expressions. Unlike Ash wearing nice clothes, they were all wearing old, worn-out clothes. Among them were people missing one of their limbs.
I sighed and lowered my head.
‘So this is the treatment Ash would have originally received?’
In the complicated situation, a face suddenly came to mind. It was Kiss.
‘Kiss is probably peacefully dating his fiancée right now.’
When I received the proposal to go to the festival together, honestly I’d also been a bit expectant. The expectation that maybe Kiss was making room by his side. I knew that Kiss, more rational than anyone in the work, wouldn’t think of Ash specially. Even knowing that……
‘They say there’s muscle memory. Maybe Ash’s feelings of liking and admiring Kiss still remain somewhere in the body.’
Then someone from the huddled group burst into tears. The moment I heard that crying, my mood somehow sank. I closed my eyes while leaning my head against the wall. My stomach churned as if I’d vomit.
‘Ah, should I just give up? There doesn’t seem to be a way out of here anyway.’
How should I put it. I felt like I’d barely surfaced above water after struggling hard. Kiss absolutely wouldn’t make room by his side, Deus absolutely couldn’t be trusted. For no reason I came out saying I’d show Deus the outside and ended up like this. My molar kept wobbling. I felt like crying.
Clang!
The iron door that had been tightly locked for a while only opened after quite a long time had passed. It seemed like half a day had passed subjectively. The man who forcibly lifted me huddled in the corner let out a fishy smile and said.
“Fortunately there’s someone who fits the conditions perfectly.”
“……”
“Just follow quietly.”
With a ‘whatever happens, happens’ feeling, I obediently let myself be dragged by the man’s hand. Where would Ash be sold? Actually, as long as it wasn’t the crazy bastard raising beetle larvae to use for kinky play, anyone would probably be fine.
The man who reached the guest room after passing guards standing in the corridor with hands behind their backs knocked on the door. Before long, a languid voice echoed from inside.
“Come in.”
The door opened, and my eyes met a man arrogantly sitting in the seat of honor smoking a cigar. Liquor bottles sprawled on the table and bloodstains splattered on the wall came into view. The moment I confirmed the face of the person obediently kneeling beside the man, I felt dizzy.
Theo and Tian, who had been threatening Ash perfectly fine just a few hours ago, were trembling while practically in rags.
The moment the brothers who noticed my presence tried to raise their deeply bowed heads, Deus, who had stubbed out his cigar on the sofa armrest, spoke cheerfully.
“If you raise your heads, I’ll gouge out all four eyeballs.”
The brothers, who sucked in an empty breath with a gasp, fixed their gazes on the floor again. Whether this was a Crown Prince or a gangster. Without time to demand what on earth he’d done, my body was pushed forward. Deus, who looked down at me sitting collapsed on the floor with an expression dying of amusement, stuck a cigar in my mouth.
“Suck on it.”
I stared at Deus quietly then took a puff of the cigar. At the same time as acrid smoke passed my throat, a cough reflexively came out. Deus, who looked fondly at me coughing, tilted his head.
“Your face full of worry is cute and pleasing. I’ll take this one.”
“A wise choice, this human’s price is……”
“No, the person should set their own price. How much will you sell yourself to me for?”
I hesitated at Deus’s question. Golden eyes I couldn’t read sparkled and shone. Just as I couldn’t answer easily, Deus, who grabbed the arm of me sitting collapsed, made me sit on his lap. Then he rubbed his nose bridge against mine and said.
“Don’t worry. These considerate gentlemen here said they’d pay the full price. As an apology or something. Right?”
At Deus’s words, the brothers who had been deeply bowing their heads nodded vigorously.
“Absolutely right! Of course we should pay the price!”
“I-if you’ll just spare us, we’ll pay any amount of money.”
I finally noticed what Deus’s opaque intention had been. Since just beating them wasn’t satisfying enough, he was passing the opportunity for judgment to me.
I turned my gaze toward the brothers. When did they threaten Ash so spiritedly? Now they were trembling while servilely bowing their heads. Suppressing the laughter about to burst out, I answered in a slightly modulated voice.
“3,000.”
The twin brothers’ mouths fell open.
