Tamed A Blackened Slave Man - Chapter 46: That Woman Is Dangerous

[One of the Most Popular Nobles in the Empire! Son of an Earl Praised to have the Beauty of Gods Revealed as Gladiator Slave]

Reading the title of the article, Damian was very pleased. He was bothered by the phrase ‘Praised to have the Beauty of Gods,’ but that was fine.

Kindel had done an extraordinary job. It had only been a few days since he told the man to spread a rumor about Cassadin, and it was already on the front page of the paper.

Just as he expected from the only person he kept close to him, the old butler was a useful man.

It was incredibly easy to give orders to people. He had all of his work done for him. It was the same case for controlling the crowd’s opinion.

Humans were a foolish bunch. With either a little appeal to the emotions or a slight exaggeration of the truth, their eyes sparkled, listening enthusiastically.

Wasn’t it a natural thing for such innately foolish beings to be fated as consumable tools?

He couldn’t find a person fitting for a person like him, who easily manipulated others and was proficient at calculations, wherever he looked. So it made his stomach churn to see such incompetent humans holding the crown out of pure luck.

Only he deserved to be in the highest position above all.

‘What can be gained from an acquaintance differs by person, but isn’t there only one thing a greedy man, who constantly wishes to own everything, would want?’

If it hadn’t been the truth, he wouldn’t have been angered by the woman’s claims.

‘Such as a higher position than what they already have.’

But Aren had seen through his deepest intentions.

And that made him angry. Because it felt like his darkest thoughts were revealed by a woman he barely knew.

Damian had always maintained a clear mind that was sharp like a knife.

Maybe that was why his heart condition didn’t act up while he was imprisoned. As long as he wasn’t under extreme stress or felt overwhelming emotions, it was uncommon for his heart condition to reveal itself.

Although he was well capable of controlling his emotions, Damian didn’t attend any events aside from the swordsmanship competition.

But his heart condition had ultimately been triggered at the palace’s banquet hall. And it had been because he failed to control his emotions.

“If only it weren’t for this damned heart disease…”

If there was just one flaw in his perfect self, it was his darned heart condition.

Right after the end of the conquest of the Hyran Kingdom, this heart disease suddenly appeared out of nowhere. And not long after he was afflicted by this disease, his father died. He was the only other man who understood him.

‘You are my one and only bloodline. I have failed, but you must claim the throne. As you are the only one in the world who is fit for that role.’

That was his father’s dying wish.

Even if it hadn’t been his dying wish, he planned to do so anyway. Because he was, in fact, the only person fitting for the shining crown.

“But if I don’t do something about this damned heart before that…”

Damian wanted to rip his heart out of his body, had it been possible. Yet even the most well-known doctors were unable to heal his heart disease.

‘Those useless pieces of garbage.’

Because the news that he had a heart disease couldn’t be revealed to the public, Damian hired others to assassinate the doctors without anyone knowing.

Concealment was his specialty. To him, framing his crimes against another person or removing those who were an obstacle to his plans was child’s play.

But his condition was now known to the entire world, rendering his past efforts useless. Though the news he spread about Cassadin had been put in the newspaper, news about his heart disease was also quite widespread.

He tried to fix it afterward, but there had been too many witnesses. From the nobles to even the Crown Prince, they all discovered that he had a heart condition.

It was when Damian had fallen into deep thought while looking at the news article…

Knock knock.

“Master.”

A medium tone with a pleasing ring to it. It was Kindel’s voice, one that Damian knew very well. Kindel didn’t knock on his office door for insignificant matters. There was something important.

“Come in.”

At his master’s command, Kindel bowed and entered the office. The monocle in the old butler’s eye glinted from the reflection of the moonlight.

“What is it?”

Kindel readily answered Damian’s question.

“We’ve acquired more blood.”

Blood.

That word had a clear meaning for him.

“Have you gotten healthy ones this time?”

“Yes. We sent out a notice that the duchy is looking for more servants, so we’ve chosen only the healthiest.”

Damian nodded.

“Good. The truth that I’m drinking blood to lessen the pain of the heart condition must never be leaked to the public, so make sure you don’t leave a single speck of their remains.”

Kindel raised his arm to his chest and bowed in acknowledgment of his master’s orders.

He thought that the old butler would leave after completing his report, but for some reason, he remained in the office, looking at Damian as if there was something more he wanted to say.

When he nodded his head to give him permission, Kindel opened his mouth,

“…Master, there is actually a strange rumor circulating recently.”

“Rumor? Are you reporting a rumor that hasn’t been confirmed yet to me?”

Damian crumpled his face, seemingly displeased that he was reported a mere rumor.

When his sharp green eyes glimmered dangerously, it felt as though the light from the lamp on the desk shrank for a moment.

“It was that there is a person in the empire who can cure any disease, even the uncurable.”

Hearing that, Damian placed the newspaper in his hand down on the desk and spoke,

“Tell me more.”

“It hadn’t been long since the rumors had started, but their contents were strange enough that I’m reporting it to Master. It’s a rumor that there is someone in the empire who is able to regenerate a severed tongue.”

“…Regenerate a severed tongue?”

Wouldn’t that be the ability of the Gods? How could such a person exist in this world?

“So it is indeed fal–”

Just when Damian was about to announce Kindel’s report as false, a single person suddenly popped up in Damian’s mind.

The slave, whom he ordered to have his tongue cut out by Kindel, since he was concerned that he might attempt to end his life because of the continuous torture.

The tan slave with the incredible physique.

“That reminds me, what happened to the slave that I gave to Lady Serkia?”

“…”

“It was fed all sorts of poisonous herbs and was even given that tranquilizer, so it wouldn’t be strange for it to be already dead.”

He had given that slave to Aren in the first place because it was to be discarded anyway. Though he had planned to give it to the Crown Prince as a gift, such a powerful slave shouldn’t be kept at the Prince’s side for long, so he had kindly taken it on his behalf to ruin the slave’s health.

“The slave is still alive.”

“It’s alive?”

“Yes, Master. Not just that, but I have heard that Lady Serkia even lent it a spare room in their mansion.”

“She gave a room to a mere slave? She’s completely insane.”

Damian laughed in disbelief. He did think it was strange when she claimed to have fallen in love with him at first sight, but the woman was even stranger than he expected.

“In what world does a noble lend a room to a slave? They’re usually sent out to the barn to sleep with the livestock.”

Damian laughed at Aren’s foolishness but suddenly stopped.

“But why is a slave that should have died long ago still alive?”

“That is also what I am wondering.”

Expressing agreement with Damian’s question, Kindel started to report another matter he had been researching to his master.

“Apparently, the Serkia Family and the imperial family seem to have quite a long relationship. Lady Serkia especially seems to have visited the palace often, starting from her youth.”

“Visit the palace often?”

“Yes. She also seems to be quite close with the Emperor. It wasn’t just an irrational rumor that assumed her to be the potential Crown Princess.”

“Just what reason is there for a mere Earl’s daughter to visit the palace?”

It became stranger the more he thought about it.

“Not only does she have close relations to the imperial family, but the slave I had given her is still alive.”

“She is incredibly suspicious.”

With narrowed eyes, Kindel carefully added on,

“Master, I believe it will be wise to no longer meddle with that woman.”

“…What?”

The old butler shrank at Damian’s furious tone, but he determinedly continued.

“It’s the intuition of an old man. That woman is dangerous.”

“Kindel.”

His voice as he called his faithful butler’s name was dry like the desert.

“To think you’re relying on illogical intuition, I’m incredibly disappointed.”

“…”

“You just have to do what you are ordered.”

“…Yes, Master.”

He couldn’t object to his master’s command.

There was an inexplicable feeling of uneasiness rising within Kindel’s mind, but shaking it off as just a feeling, he bowed his head.

After Cassadin told me to expel him, I purposely avoided meeting him. I even locked my door to prevent him from coming in at night.

It felt harder to deal with Cassadin than Damian.

Because Cassadin was adopted into our family, he was supposed to be my younger brother, at least in public.

But Cassadin’s confession had crossed that line.

I couldn’t accept his feelings as they were, nor could I accept his request to expel him.

‘From the moment we first met, the moment I met eyes with you, I’ve wanted you.’

From what I have seen of Cassadin until now, I can say I know him to a certain extent. But there hadn’t been a single time before that Cassadin’s eyes displayed such sincerity.

That was how truthful he had been. In a low voice that could have well come from the depths of the abyss, he confessed his true feelings to me.

It would be a lie to say that I didn’t waver from that confession.

For the past few months, there wasn’t a single moment where I wasn’t with Cassadin. I had also gained affection for him.

But was that affection for a sibling? Just like how he hadn’t seen me as a sister, had I ever considered him my actual younger brother?

‘Just what are we?’

I spent days contemplating where it went wrong. But it was all pointless.

“What do I do?”

I muttered to myself, but that didn’t give me an answer.

Anyway, since the matter with Cassadin wasn’t going to solve itself from thinking, I decided to move on with my original plan for now.

‘I’ll need to tell Father that we should keep Tuule with us for the time being.’

The next morning.

As soon as the sun rose, I carefully suggested to Father that it would be a good idea to keep Tuule with us.

“No!”

Father yelled out as soon as he heard me. He expressed an extreme dislike to my suggestion, to the point that his fists trembled.

“Do you really intend to bring that bastard into the family as well?!”

“No. That’s never going to happen, Father.”

“Aren, you promised me. That we’ll send him out after a few weeks. It’s been past those promised weeks, and you still haven’t sent him away. Why are you still keeping him?”

Father grasped my hands and spoke to me desperately. He was a warm-hearted person, and I was determined to persuade him.

“He has nowhere else to go. Not to mention he lost his memory.”

“…So?”

“We’re healers, Father. Their social status shouldn’t affect whether they should be saved or not. It had always torn my heart trying to ignore all of the people I could have saved because of our promise with the imperial family.”

“……”

Father did not respond to me. The wrinkles on his forehead seemed especially deep right now.

“I don’t mean that we should accept him into our family like Cassadin. Just let him stay at our mansion.”

“…Will you really not register him?”

Father’s eyes shone brightly at my promise not to accept him into the family. And to reaffirm this, I nodded repeatedly to him.

“Yes. Of course.”

“And you won’t appoint him as your personal guard?”

“Yes.”

“So you won’t register him into the family like Cassadin, nor appoint him as your personal guard, and will keep him at our mansion just as a ‘slave,’ correct?”

Father had his eyes wide open as he repeated his conditions. When I continued to nod at him in confirmation, he eventually let out a deep sigh of relief and said,

“…Then it’s alright.”

I also let out a sigh of relief after hearing Father’s consent. He must have actually thought I wanted to register Tuule into the family, as cold sweat was rolling down his forehead.

Wiping away the sweat with his handkerchief, Father added on,

“I thought you were going to register that slave again, like Cassadin…”

“Did you really think I would do that again after worrying you so much the first time?”

“It’s the first time that’s always the hardest, not the second. Do you know just how nervous I was when you asked me to keep watch on that man for weeks? Aren.”

Father smiled bitterly as he patted my shoulder.

“Though our first impressions were terrible, Cassadin seems to be a great man. He writes well, and has etiquette embedded in him. He doesn’t seem like your average slave.”

“……”

“Don’t tell me he’s some noble from a fallen kingdom, is he? It’s impossible for a normal slave to have such elegance ingrained into his body.”

It seems like Father also realized that Cassadin wasn’t ordinary. And it felt like the secret I had been hiding from him had been exposed.