A Slave Of Rubelfast – R15 - Chapter 31

“Ellier.”

 

He knocked harder on the door, calling her name, but there was still no response.

 

Slarhan, convinced that something was wrong, grabbed the doorknob. He had to take out his knife and break the lock, but the door opened surprisingly easily.

 

‘She’s sleeping without even locking the door…?’

 

The door opening somehow felt ominous.

 

“Nyaaang!”

 

The black cat brought by Ellier ran out and meowed as it wrapped its tail around Slarhan’s leg.

 

Then, after taking a few steps forward, it looked back and beckoned as if telling him to come in quickly.

 

“Ellier, are you sleeping?”

 

He heard a very faint groan when he stepped into the dark room and closed the door.

 

“Uhhh… huh…”

 

“Ellier?”

 

Slarhan found an oil lamp on a small table and hurriedly lit it.

 

As the small light slowly dispelled the darkness, Slarhan could see Ellier groaning on the bed.

 

She even wore the same clothes she wore yesterday.

 

“Ellier! Ellier!!”

 

And, belatedly, he saw blood stains on her white shirt.

 

The trajectory drawn by the bloodstains was undoubtedly the traces of the whip.

 

“Who would do this to this…!”

 

Slarhan hurriedly placed his hand on Ellier’s forehead.

 

Sure enough, her beaten body was hot like a fireball.

 

Having collapsed after returning to this state yesterday, which meant that she was still sick and hadn’t eaten a piece of bread.

 

At that time, feeling someone’s hand on her, Ellier opened her cracked lips and murmured softly.

 

“Le…han…”

 

“Ellie! Are you out of your mind? Who did this? What happened?”

 

“Ah… hurts…”

 

“Why the hell do you always get hurt?!”

 

Slarhan burst into anger.

 

Then, without even thinking about it, he took out his pocket knife, slightly cut his hand, and brought it to Ellier’s lips.

 

“Suck it. Before the swelling gets too bad on your back. Hurry!”

 

His blood could have saved a dying life as long as there was breath, but the severely injured body could not be restored due to long excess wounds.

 

If a day had passed since her flesh was torn by the whipping, it might already have been late, so he was in a hurry.

 

However, the feverish Ellier couldn’t swallow the blood flowing from his hands.

 

Her lips were so hot when they touched his hand, he could only confirm once again that her body temperature was very high.

 

As Ellier continued to lose consciousness, Slarhan briefly considered collecting blood in a small bowl to feed it to her but looking around him, there were no bowls other than the water bottle on the side.

 

“D*mn it!”

 

Sharhan was afraid of leaving terrible scars would appear on the back of the still budding young girl.

 

“If someone sees this, they might think we’re torturing sl*ves in Ventiark.”

 

At this point, it was no different from abuse.

 

If his father were still alive, this could never have happened. It also meant he did not yet have the entire family in command.

 

If his father were to see this, how much would he sigh?

 

Slarhan couldn’t leave Ellier alone like this.

 

‘It’s in order not to tarnish my father’s name, who always cared for the ones below him.’

 

Thinking that the source of his fear was family honour, he clenched his fists and squeezed more blood into Ellier’s mouth.

 

Then, he took the water from a nearby bottle and brought his lips to it, and bringing his lips near Ellier’s.

 

Ellier winced and swallowed the water mixed with his blood. This movement couldn’t have been more relieving.

 

“Ellier, wake up.”

 

“Huh…”

 

Ellier, who drank the water as her throat burned, moved her head slightly and opened her eyes.

 

“Ellier, if you don’t want to be in pain, swallow my blood.”

 

He dripped some of his own blood into Ellier’s mouth, then pressed his lips against Ellier’s and fed her with water.

 

Ellier seemed to have come to her senses a bit, and more urgently than before, she accepted and swallowed the blood and water he offered.

 

“Ugh, ugh…”

 

Slarhan, who had unknowingly been gently biting Ellier’s lips, suddenly snapped back to reality at the moan that echoed from her throat.

 

The water he held in his mouth had already passed, and he couldn’t quite remember how long his lips touched hers.

 

‘This is crazy…’

 

Slarhan was taken aback by the fact that he was engaging in an ’emergency medical act,’ but at that moment, Ellier flinched again.

 

He quickly wiped her wet lips and patted Ellier on the cheek.

 

“Ellier… Ellier…?”

 

“Le…Han…”

 

Slarhan’s heart thumped.

 

“…You are a cheeky sl*ve. Calling your Master’s name recklessly.”

 

“Lehan…”

 

A faint voice called his nickname as if it were familiar.

 

It was definitely something to be scolded for, but as if someone had put a hand in and stirred it, his chest was pounding, and his heart was about to jump out of his mouth.

 

And above all, hearing his name in Ellier’s voice was quite…

 

“Ah…! Master…!”

 

Ellier, who came to her senses, was startled and struggled with her body. However, she could not free herself from the arms of Slarhan, who held her tight.

 

Ellier was taken aback, but Slarhan asked while holding Ellier’s body tighter.

 

“Do you still have any pain?”

 

“What? Ah…”

 

It was then that Ellier realised that she no longer felt the burning pain.

 

“No. Uhh? Seriously, did you feed me your blood again?”

 

“If you don’t like it, just don’t get hurt next time.”

 

“It’s not that…”

 

“What the hell happened yesterday?”

 

“Yesterday… Ah!”

 

At Slarhan’s question, Ellier raised her body as if she had suddenly come to her senses and hurriedly fumbled around her chest.

 

“What are you doing…!”

 

“It is here!”

 

Ellier didn’t pretend to see Slarhan’s puzzled face but thrust her hand into her shirt and pulled something out of her chest.

 

It was a white bag.

 

“This! Take it.”

 

Slarhan furrowed his brow at the bag that Ellier gave out.

 

“What is this again?”

 

From the bag that was still warm from her body temperature emanated Ellier’s scent.

 

Perhaps because of the guilt that he had just slightly deviated from the ‘emergency medical act,’ he felt somewhat embarrassed about even her body temperature and scent transmitted through an object.

 

However, Ellier did not notice his embarrassment and urged him to open the bag with a look of great anticipation.

 

It was absurd to see the child, who seemed about to die just a moment ago, get so excited without even thinking about complaining about her situation. To the point where Slarhan felt pathetic about himself for feeling strange feelings toward such a child.

 

Slarhan let out a small sigh and opened the small bag under the light of the oil lamp.

 

And he couldn’t help but hold his breath.

 

“This…!”

 

“This is what Master was looking for, right?”

 

“Where did you… No, how did you…!”

 

Seeing Slarhan at a loss for words, not knowing what to ask, Ellier grinned.

 

“I found it at the Imperial Palace, well. It was good that I even found the belongings of the elders of the Ventiark family, but I got caught by the guards. I was really scared at the time…”

 

At that, Slarhan, who had been examining the items in the bag for a while, raised his head.

 

“Did the Imperial guards whip you?”

 

“Oh, no. It looked like the guards would make a fuss, so the knight who came to pick me up was trying to stop things from escalating… Actually, I sneaked deep into the palace to find this.”

 

“What part of the palace did you go into?”

 

“…The slaves’ quarters.”

 

“You mean he beat you like this just because you entered the slaves’ quarters…?”

 

Slarhan’s voice lowered a tone. Knowing that was the way he was angry, Ellierg grabbed his sleeves to calm him down.

 

“No! The knight did a great job. Because of his anger, angrier than the guards, the guards couldn’t search my body or report to their superiors. It turned out well.”

 

“Great job? What the hell are you so happy about?”

 

“Ahh… Because I was able to take away the belongings of your father…”

 

“Ellier. Did I make you do this?”

 

Slarhan became more bewildered and angry. Despite his cold tone, Ellier continued to speak without backing down.

 

“But if you go a little further, you know that there is something your master was desperately looking for, so how could you stay still?”

 

“You always have acted on your own, right from the start till the end. How the hell did you know it was there in the first place?”

 

“Well, you see, it appeared in a dream! The night before last, I dreamt that I went to the palace. Someone who resembled your father led me to the door of that sl*ve’s room. The person had silvery hair like Master, and they looked very sophisticated… I thought it might be… the former Duke Ventiark.”

 

Slarhan’s eyes widened.

 

“My father…appeared in your dream and informed you…?”

 

“I might not have known otherwise, but since I already knew, how could I pretend not to? Moreover, considering that His Grace appeared in my dream, it’s as good as him asking me to find it… And this, it’s a really important item for Master, isn’t it?”

 

Irdel had never appeared in Slarhan’s dreams since hearing about his father’s death.

 

It was not easy to understand that he had appeared in the dream of this powerless and despised child and told her where his belongings were.

 

But again, such superstitious matters were not easily understood within the realm of reality.