Chapter : 08
When Lete saw the man trapped behind the iron bars,
she finally thought she had gone insane.
Unkempt black hair, clothes made of rough, worn-out fabric, iron chains connecting his hands and neck.
There was nothing about the man that could possibly be associated with Alben Abihi.
Alben had been born a nobleman. He loved elegance, despised anything vulgar, and possessed an overwhelming pride that seemed to reach the heavens.
He would never allow himself to be confined in a place like that, nor would he ever put himself in a situation where he could be imprisoned.
And yet, despite how utterly absurd the situation was, her instincts were screaming at her.
That man, crammed into that narrow iron cage—
was Alben.
The very rival she had fought against for ten exhausting years.
“Advisor, how much money do we have?”
If Alben had known that an illegal slave auction was being held here and had deliberately turned a blind eye to it—
Crunch.
Her teeth clenched.
“I’m buying that slave.”
She would make sure someone took responsibility for this.
“That young lady, do you really have to take that swallow-like fellow with you?”
Jean whispered after paying the price and taking possession of the slave.
“Is there some law saying I can’t do that in my own palace?”
“There are ways to release him discreetly…!”
Judging by how desperately he was trying to dissuade her, Jean must have been terribly afraid of Alben Abihi.
Indeed, if that slave had not been Alben, Jean would probably have been in serious trouble, exactly as he feared.
From a third party’s perspective, it would look as though Jean had given the queen a slave.
“I have no hobby of releasing what belongs to me whenever I please.”
Of course, that was Jean’s problem. It was none of her concern.
Lete walked past Jean and approached Alben, who was dressed like a slave.
When she touched his hair herself, it seemed to be an intricately made wig.
The man neither spoke nor moved while she carefully examined him.
He merely watched her actions closely.
If he intended to disguise himself as a slave, he should have changed that creepy gaze first.
Then, perhaps—
she might not have recognized him.
“What’s your name?”
“……”
There was no answer.
Slap!
She slapped the man across the cheek without hesitation.
“Gasp!”
Jean inhaled sharply behind her.
“I don’t like repeating myself. Your name.”
“……”
The man calmly straightened his head, which had been turned aside by the blow.
Alben’s lips remained firmly sealed.
She raised her hand again.
“Oh, you poor thing! It seems he can’t speak!”
Unable to bear watching any longer, Jean intervened.
Rather than worrying about the slave, he seemed more concerned about Lete’s hand, which was already swollen red from striking him.
“Please stop now and return to the palace. All right? Please stop tormenting that poor slave.”
Jean subtly pushed Lete into the carriage.
Once he had successfully gotten Lete inside, Jean looked at the slave standing there blankly.
“You can ride over there, on the coachman’s seat…”
“Put him in here.”
At Lete’s words, Jean jumped.
“A slave riding inside the carriage with you is out of the question. It goes against proper etiquette!”
“Where is this etiquette you speak of? I am the etiquette.”
“You sound like some kind of tyrant.”
“If you don’t want to see me behave like a tyrant toward the man you insist is mute, you’d better put him in here while I’m asking nicely.”
She deliberately waved her swollen red hand at him, and Jean had no choice but to bring the man over.
“I’m really not going to die a natural death. I’m not.”
Jean had just put Alben inside and was about to climb in himself when—
“You stay here.”
“Pardon?”
“There’s something you need to do for me.”
She beckoned him closer, and Jean leaned his ear toward her.
“Later, I’ll need you to retrieve the ledger, so memorize the interior layout of the auction house as thoroughly as possible.”
“I can’t leave Your Majesty alone with that slave.”
“If you complete this order, I’ll quietly cover up everything you’ve done with the duke until now.”
“I will complete Your Majesty’s command with my life on the line.”
Jean’s attitude changed instantly, and he bowed deeply to Lete.
In the end, the carriage carrying only the two of them slowly departed.
During the journey, Lete made no particular effort to speak to Alben.
She merely observed him carefully.
Just as Alben had always done to her,
this time, she was the one observing Alben.
Thanks to the coachman having received the Hosikov family’s seal in advance, the carriage entered the palace without difficulty.
Lete took Alben with her and headed straight for the palace where she resided.
After all, the layout of this small royal palace was probably already completely memorized in his head.
“Make sure no one comes near until I give the order.”
Everyone stared in bewilderment as the two disappeared into the bedchamber.
It was shocking enough that the queen, whom they had thought was asleep, had suddenly returned from outside. But she had also brought some unknown man with her.
“Your, Your Majesty?”
Lill’s bewildered voice knocked against the door, but it could no longer reach them through the closed door.
The moment the door shut, Lete began bombarding him with questions.
“Now, how about opening your mouth? There’s no one watching anymore.”
“……”
“What is your purpose? Why were you there? Did you know that place was a slave auction house? No, before that—shouldn’t you be in the Valtar Empire? How are you in Arve?”
“……”
He remained completely silent.
Lete irritably swept her hair back.
At this point, she was becoming stubbornly determined to make him open his mouth.
She strode over, grabbed the collar around his neck, and yanked him toward her.
The man’s body staggered for an instant, and the distance between them rapidly closed.
“Answer me. Before I cut out that useless tongue of yours.”
A strange battle of nerves passed between Alben and Lete.
Surprisingly, Alben was the first to make a move.
He took the hand that was gripping his collar and kissed the back of it.
Just as a servant might kiss his master’s hand.
“Hah.”
Lete let out a hollow laugh at the sight.
What was the point of refusing to speak?
That relaxed expression, those subtly upturned lips, and that gaze that continued to scrutinize her from head to toe—
He might not be speaking, but every other part of his face was practically shouting that he was Alben Abihi.
“I don’t know what your purpose is, but there’s nothing wrong with you remaining a slave like this.”
Lete pulled her hand free from Alben’s grasp.
She had no way of discovering Alben’s purpose right now.
So what else could she do?
“As your master, surely I can show a little mercy to my poor slave.”
She had no choice but to find out through action.
“But remember this.”
If she kept him close and watched him, she would eventually find out.
She would discover why the great Alben Abihi had willingly taken on the status of a slave.
“The moment you speak, this ridiculous little play is over.”
And she would discover why he had changed from the man he used to be.
Before even a day had passed, the rumor spread rapidly that the queen had brought a male slave into the palace.
The slave’s name was Ram.
Lete had given him the name temporarily because she could not call him Alben.
Immediately after entering the palace, Jean heard the slave’s name and confronted her with a stunned expression.
“You named a person after a swallow?”
“You said he looked like a swallow.”
“That was a metaphor.”
“Forget that. What happened with what I told you yesterday?”
Jean’s face instantly turned pale.
“……I completed it. Thanks to that, my financial situation is now absolutely miserable.”
Jean wiped at the moisture gathering around his eyes and placed the ledger on her desk.
It was the ledger from the slave auction the previous night.
Lete looked at Jean with mild surprise.
“How on earth did you get this? Didn’t I originally order you to investigate the interior layout of the auction house?”
She had given him the order, but she had not expected much from Jean. He seemed far too incompetent for her to expect him to accomplish anything.
She had been prepared to consider even a rough map resembling a child’s drawing a success.
“Didn’t you say the purpose was to obtain the ledger in the first place?”
“So you simply brought me the ledger? How?”
“Obviously, I bought it. Of all the ways to conceal my identity, that was the fastest.”
“Did you bribe the business owner?”
“Oh, please, don’t say something so dangerous. If I had done that, Your Majesty would have my head cut off, and then I’d be dragged out of the grave and have it cut off a second time by Duke Abihi.”
Jean shuddered as though the thought were horrifying before continuing.
“Libora Street is an area that patrol officers try to avoid. But they can’t simply stop patrolling altogether, can they? So what do you think they do?”
“They pass the responsibility around.”
“Exactly. Eventually, the people who have neither money nor influence end up becoming the officers assigned exclusively to patrol Libora District. Then the businesses in Libora Street bribe the guards, and the guards conveniently turn a blind eye. You could say they’ve formed a perfect symbiotic relationship.”
Jean pointed a finger toward the ceiling.
“The higher-ups probably shared in the bribes as well. If they had any sense, they wouldn’t have swallowed the bribes all by themselves when it was obvious they’d be in trouble if their superiors found out.”
“Then it wouldn’t have been easy to get those higher-ups involved.”
“That’s when you need a lie.”
He playfully tapped his lips with a finger.
“You simply have to make the lower-ranking men so infuriating that their superiors can’t stand it anymore.”
He whispered as though sharing a secret.
“There’s nothing that irritates a superior more than being disrespected by someone beneath them.”
The rest was easy enough to predict.
They had probably demanded the ledger while the higher-ups were already furious.
And they had done so while putting an irresistible amount of money into their hands.
Besides, the guards had only turned the place upside down at the one establishment Jean had pointed out, so even if the other businesses became suspicious, they probably chose not to interfere.
“You’re more useful than I thought.”
Lete was genuinely surprised that Jean possessed that level of reasoning ability.
