Tamed A Blackened Slave Man - Chapter 23: I’ve Become Interested In You

“Milady.”

A low-pitched voice quietly resonated through the area.

Damian’s elegant fingers started to move. He reached out and tightly grasped the iron bars.

“How are you so certain that I am not the culprit? And one more thing.”

The eyes that held green irises narrowed like a snake.

“May I ask why Milady came to visit me in this prison?”

As he said that, Damian scanned me from head to toe. The way he stared at me with narrowed eyes seemed like he was assessing whether I would be of any use to him.

“What do you think is the reason I’ve come all the way here, Your Grace?”

Returning Damian’s gaze back to him, I then questioned him in return. Seeing that, Damian tilted his head and opened his mouth.

“I assume it’s not to play word games like such.”

Damian took his hand off the iron bars and pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket. He wiped the hand that had touched the bars as if it had been dirtied, as he added.

“Am I wrong?”

A corner of his mouth curled up slightly as his gaze continued to stay fixed on me.

“How wise you are. What you have said is all correct, Your Grace.”

As I smiled at him, I stepped into an area within Damian’s reach. With every step I took closer to him, it seemed like the metallic scent of blood was becoming stronger.

When I reached the iron bars of the cell where Damian was confined, I gripped the cold bars just as he had done a moment ago.

‘For just this moment, I’m a woman in love with Damian.’

Since I had already fallen in love at first sight with the man in front of me in the past, it wasn’t difficult to play the role of a foolish woman in love.

My dear, arrogant Damian. The devil with a beautiful shell, who killed the one that cured his heart disease.

“Your Grace.”

I folded my eyes into crescents as I opened my mouth.

“It’s no wonder I fell in love at first sight.”

In response, Damian paused from wiping his hands and snickered. There was a mixture of mockery in his expression as he stared at me. His face said that he didn’t believe me.

“I see. Milady. You’ve fallen in love with me at first sight, so why did you come to this prison?”

“Don’t you believe what I’m saying, Your Grace?”

“Wouldn’t anyone in this situation think so?”

“…I can’t believe this. I came here despite the danger in order to get you out of prison. How could you…”

I trailed off and dropped my head so that Damian couldn’t see my face.

“…Milady?”

I heard Damian’s slightly bewildered voice come from above my head. I slowly raised my lowered head at the sound of his call.

The reflection of myself in Damian’s eyes was a sight to behold. How sorrowful I appeared, trembling as I bit down on my lower lip.

I looked like a person shivering pitifully in the pouring rain.

Maybe it was because I had actually been heartbroken in both a literal and figurative way that such a natural expression appeared on my face. It seemed as though Damian was also quite stunned by what he saw.

I then mustered up a strained smile towards him, not forgetting to also let my shoulders droop.

“I’ve barely made it here by talking to the Crown Prince.”

“…”

“If I knew this was what I would hear from Your Grace, then I would have never come here in the first place.”

Damian’s lips slowly descended as he listened to me. His smile was completely gone, and Damian stared at me with narrowed eyes once more.

“…have you really fallen for me at first sight?”

“Of course I did! What kind of madman would bother to come to a prison like this otherwise?”

I grasped both hands that had been gripping the iron bars onto my chest as I shouted. Damian grimaced, having not expected me to raise my voice.

Regardless of whatever he did, I continued with what I had to say.

“I didn’t believe in love at first sight. Before I met Your Grace, that is.”

Damian gestured with his chin as if telling me to go on with my excuses, and even Cassadin was silently staring at me from the side. The glowing purple eyes past the helmet seemed unusually colder than usual.

I pretended not to notice that Cassadin’s gaze mimicked the exact expression Ively wore when she saw Cassadin. The mask I put on was that of a shy girl who was flustered in front of her first crush.

‘Part your lips slightly and make your cheeks blush.’

Making an expression I had when I once truly loved Damian, I began to speak.

“Hair as dark as the night sky, emerald eyes that must be stared at and picked straight out of the heavens. A sleek jawline with even a calming, tranquil voice that resonates like a cave.”

“…Hah.”

Damian laughed in disbelief, but I just continued to say what I had planned.

You might think I am foolish, and that I am the most idiotic fool in the world. So that when you believe you have everything, that would be the moment you would lose everything.

May your curiosity about me take priority over finding out the culprit of the Crown Prince’s poisoning attempt.

For my purpose, I could endure mere humiliation like this in infinite amounts. To Damian, it was better to be treated as a foolish young girl who seemed to have a lot of openings rather than show a true small opening.

“Do you know the heartache I suffered when I witnessed you suddenly being dragged away by the Imperial Knights before we could hold a proper conversation? It’s to rescue Your Grace from this unjust imprisonment that I persuaded the Crown Prince to come all the way here.”

The chilling gaze that had been coming from Cassadin continued to grow colder with each word I uttered. His clear eyes, which had once been calm like a still lake, had now sunken down deep into the abyss.

“Given that ‘the’ Crown Prince not only permitted, but personally escorted you to the tower entrance, it seems you are quite close with His Highness?”

I bit down on my lower lip and nodded my head.

“Of course. It was even His Highness who had personally assigned this palace knight to me. If you can’t believe me, then you can ask His Highness.”

Seeing how I stood tall as I confidently answered him, Damian seemed to pause in thought for a moment.

In Damian’s green eyes, I could see a vivid reflection of my determined self. Just look at how stupid I look.

‘He’s probably calculating in his head whether I’m worth using or not.’

Damian and the Crown Prince were not on good terms, even in my past life. If anything, they were closer to being on bad terms. Damian had always seemed to be trying to approach the Crown Prince in a strategic manner, but the Prince had always broken his appointments with him.

Did he unconsciously know that Damian had an eye on the throne? Or maybe similar kinds of people hate one another.

Maybe that was why Damian was more interested in the fact that I was close with the Crown Prince than when I confessed my love to him.

But there was nothing without a price in the world. I would prefer to have only one experience of life with unconditional giving.

“Your Grace, may I ask why you were late to His Highness’s birthday party?”

“…Why do you ask?”

“I need to know exactly what you did that day to persuade His Highness and prove that you are not guilty.”

“Prove I’m not guilty, you say…”

Damian muttered softly to himself, then moved to the crimson-colored bed in the cell. Sitting down on the bed, he picked up the book he had been reading before I came.

“Then let’s do this.”

“?”

“If you tell me what kind of person Milady is, I will also tell you what I did on the day of His Highness’s birthday party.”

With his long legs crossed and turning a page of the book, Damian added, looking straight into my eyes, past the iron bars.

“I’ve become interested in you as well.”

As if. Though he said that, it was clear that he was going to suck me clean of the information I knew and discard me like trash once I was useless. Witnessing how he was attempting to take the lead in a calculating and deliberate manner, I almost laughed out loud.

He never does anything that puts him at risk. Now or then, Damian had always been selfish to the bone.

‘Then how about this.’

I shook my head from side to side towards Damian, who was leisurely turning the pages as he awaited my answer.

“Due to the remarks you just made, all my good feelings towards Your Grace have completely vanished.”

Damian’s hand froze mid-page turn.

“…What do you mean?”

“Your Grace, I hold an extreme dislike toward calculating people. I didn’t know the person I fell in love with was such a person. Trying to manipulate my pure love in such a way.”

I turned away without hesitation. As soon as I took a step, I heard Damian’s flustered voice come from behind.

“Milady?”

“How dare you use my pure heart. Thank you. Thanks to this, I was able to know how Your Grace truly is.”

Clicking my tongue, I continued to move my legs. I had only taken a couple more steps when I felt Damian get up from the bed and come to the iron bars.

When I stopped walking away for a moment, I heard Damian’s voice hastily reach out to me.

“I’ve been incredibly rude to Milady. I apologize for not considering Milady’s perspective properly.”

“…”

“I will tell you why I was late, so I beg that you don’t go, Milady. It would make me incredibly troubled if you left like this.”

A small smile drew onto my face as I listened to the voice behind me. Who knew Damian would voluntarily say such things? It was clear that he judged that losing me, who had a close relationship with the Crown Prince, would be too big of a loss.

When I stopped walking away and turned my head, Damian interpreted it as a positive sign and continued.

“Truthfully, I had been preparing a special gift for His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Surely, there must have been enough time to prepare a gift before His Majesty’s birthday.”

“The gift was so hard to handle that it took quite a bit of time just to bring the gift to the duchy.”

“What exactly is the gift?”

Instead of answering my question, Damian stared at Cassadin, who was standing next to me. Realizing the intention of his gaze, I turned to Cassadin with a smile and said to him.

“Sir, would you mind stepping outside for a moment?”

“…”

“Sir?”

Ignoring my request, Cassadin folded his arms and plopped down on the ground. Damian, who was watching everything from behind the bars, unconsciously frowned.

“Such immature attitude coming from an Imperial Knight.”

“Ah, what to do? It seems that the knight is especially loyal, since His Highness personally assigned him to me.”

“… Can he be trusted?”

Instead of answering verbally, Cassadin simply nodded his head.

“Well, it would be better for me if His Highness heard about this, so I will tell you, Milady.”

His tone implied that it didn’t matter if he listened. On the contrary, it seemed like Damian wanted the Crown Prince to be notified that he had prepared a gift for the Prince.

If it really had been that important, Damian wouldn’t have said a word.

“The gift I have prepared is.”

“Yes.”

“A slave with extraordinary physical abilities.”

“A slave?”

“Yes, it’s a slave that had been brought in from a distant foreign land.”