Chapter 52

Sometimes, Knoxus seems to be really not concerned about keeping his life.

Fortunately, instead of being angry in vain, Cardan smiled.

“Hey, I’m still the Emperor of this empire.”

“It’s much safer and more effective for His Majesty, a Swordmaster, to infiltrate.”

Knoxus still seemed to have not given up.

I shook my throbbing head.

“No, Knoxus. I can’t make the emperor of the country a slave…….”

Of course, I wanted to do that, but a dream is only a dream.

But then Cardan opened his mouth.

“Your concubine is right.”

Huh?

Cardan grinned as my eyes widened and looked up at him.

It was a very unpleasant smile somehow.

“If I do it, it would be the most effective way to infiltrate. And….”

He pressed my forehead hard.

“How can this be an elf with silver hair and sky blue eyes?”

I stumbled backwards.

“It seems to me that you have a higher chance of being caught.”

I was angry, but I couldn’t resist.

The Duke of Baloa had a pretty face, but Cardan was a beauty that transcended human beings.

Plus, he looks strong, so he’s perfect as a slave.

“Then no one has any objections, right?”

When Cardan asked, Knoxus nodded quickly.

“Nothing at all.”

Even if things went wrong, they were going completely wrong.

“No, wait!”

I cut in between the Knoxus and Cardan.

“I’m not done talking yet!”

Knoxus held me by the arm and stopped me, and Cardan poked his ears as if he had nothing to hear, but I shouted repeatedly.

“Poison!”

I shook off the hands of Knoxus and folded my arms.

“How do you determine the poisonous weeds that the slaves ate? Without an antidote, all captured slaves will die even if we attack the base.”

I stared at Cardan with a little irreverent eyes.

“I would know because I’ve eaten a lot of poison, but do you know much about poisonous plants? Enough to immediately identify what kind of poison it is and find out the antidote?”

There was a heavy silence.

I smiled half-heartedly.

“Look, I’ve counted all the cases.”

And I swallowed the last word.

How dare him flirt with Duke Baloa?

“Ha.”

Cardan breathed out as if he was in high spirits.

“You seem proud to have eaten a lot of poison.”

“…….”

“Okay. Instead, if the situation becomes even a little dangerous, send a signal immediately. Whether you found the antidote or not.”

Cardan swept the back of my neck lightly.

“Your life is not your own, remember?”

☆*: .。.  .。.:*☆

I slipped into the mansion right away.

Not only did I read the herbology books that I had already memorized, but I regularly sprinkled a lot of pipora pollen on my whole body, hair, and clothes, and practiced how to make a fire with limited tools.

But the most important thing remains.

“I think you should do it  moderately next to my eye or my chin. I’m asking you, Your Majesty. ”

Cardan looked down at me with puzzled eyes.

“Are you asking me to hit you?”

“Yes.”

I didn’t know why he was so surprised by the obvious, but I calmly continued my explanation.

” At this rate, Viscount Geoffrey will be able to buy me right away. If I get black, dark bruises at least in my face he’ll let me stay at the base for the meantime.”

Cardan covered his face with one hand, seemingly finding what I said as absurd.

“Huh …. So, you mean you want me to beat you?”

“If it’s not Your Majesty, who else can I ask? If I’m in pain, Knoxus will be heartbroken so I can’t ask him…”

I smiled broadly.

“It’s good for Your Majesty, too. You always wanted to hit me. Now is the time to fulfill your wish.”

“Who are you looking at as a rascal?”

As he said so, Cardan clenched his fist.

He’s looking forward to it.

I pointed to my right arm.

“Last time, I saw how strong you were and my wrist was bruised immediately. There is no one more appropriate than Your Majesty.”

Cardan had no answer to my claim, which boasted perfect logic.

While Cardan was thinking about giving up and hitting my face on the wall, a low voice tickled my ears.

“At the time… …I was at fault.”

I doubted my ears.

‘I was at fault’? What?

He was going to pull my arm a little, but sprained it instead?

But I realized he meant it when Cardan looked straight at me.

His lips opened up as if he had drawn it with a brush.

“I apologize.”

Cardan formally apologized to me.

I couldn’t speak properly for a moment.

“Ah……. No….….”

I was used to bowing down my waist to apologize.

“Your Majesty must have had a good reason.”

From Cardan’s point of view, it would be nice to take his unconscious mother who was taken hostage then rip and kill the Duke of Baloa, who threatened him.

I truly thought so.

However, when he straightened his back, Cardan’s eyes looked up with a complex look.

I clapped my hands to break the awkward silence.

“Then will you be cooperating?”

And pointed to my eyes.

“A black eye.”

Cardan sighed.

And in a blink of an eye, I counted my fingers up to three.

“Ouch.”

I frowned at the surprise attack.

However, there was no terrible dull pain that I was prepared for, except for a sharp sensation.

“It’ll be bruised enough in the evening. Now go away.”

Cardan waved his hand as if he didn’t want to see me anymore.

“You suddenly invaded someone else’s office, so what kind of violence is this?”

Unlike the mild pain, I bent down again, smoothing my eye that began to swell quickly.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

At last, everything is ready for infiltration.

☆*: .。.  .。.:*☆

Long after Erina left, Cardan clenched his fist and repeatedly unfolded it.

He still felt a bad touch on his fingertips.

Erina’s bright smile holding her one eye kept distracting his mind.

“She must have lost her memory and lost her mind.”

He couldn’t believe it even though it was a day before the infiltration of the slave house.

The Duke of Baloa is so desperate to free the slaves.

In the past, he would have been sure that she was doing something behind the scenes, but these days, his head was all complicated.

“Kah.”

A crow sitting on a tree outside the window flew into the office.

“Kkak! Kkak!”

Cardan grinned, scratching the crow’s head with one finger, insisting that the Duke of Baloa had become really nice.

“You, who believe that the Duke has changed because she started to give pigeon snacks well, or me who is worried about being treated like that by the Duke.”

Cardan threw a dried snack at the crow.

“Keep a close eye on Erina. If you see any signs of danger, let me know immediately.”

“Kah!”

The crow flapped its wings to tell him to trust himself, but he couldn’t relax.

Cardan tried to repeat to himself.

This anxiety, which began to accumulate deep in his stomach, was only caused by concern for Eleanor’s life.

☆*: .。.  .。.:*☆

“Get out of the way! I was first!”

Puck. The beggar pushed me in and cut in line.

“Ugh.”

I snatched my nose and stepped back quietly.

The slave house was literally in chaos.

There were a lot of people rushing into the line to get bread as soon as possible, and there were people who were aiming at those who had already received the bread.

I waited slowly for my turn, keeping as low profile as I could.

When I got to the front of the line, I took off my old hood.

“P, please give me bread.”

Messy gray hair with a lot of dirt poured out, the eyes of a poverty-stricken employee who was handing out bread opened wide.

I purposely opened my eyes wide and held out my trembling hand.

“B, bread…”

The staff offered me a piece of bread.

“Dear, do you want to come inside and eat?”

The employee naturally treated me as if he were talking to a child who was not an adult in her mid-20s, as if I had acted quite realistically.

I nodded my head in a hurry.

If I stay outside, I am likely to lose my bread, so anyone will immediately say yes if they have a chance to go inside.

“Come this way.”

While cherishing the bread, I followed the instructions of the staff into the building.

The staff led me to a tall-looking woman.

“Madam, there’s a new kid in.”

The director, who picked up my chin, looked carefully at my face.

“W, why are you here…!”

I struggled weakly as if I was scared.

“D, did it hurt?”

The director let go of my chin and smiled with an artificial feeling.

“You can eat bread freely here.”

“T, thank you.”

I crouched down and began to eat bread in a hurry.

“Dear, how did a pretty girl like you come here?”

“Oh, Father left behind a debt and died. Our house is passed over, and all the money is taken away by the debtors.”

I sobbed, squeezing out tears.

“Oh, that’s too bad…….”

The director gave me another piece of bread.

“What about your mother or relatives?”

I shook my head.

“I don’t have any.”

“Why don’t you have one? You must have at least one.”

“No, I don’t.”

“There isn’t any?”

“No, there isn’t.”

When the director kept asking, a slightly uneven voice came out, but the director nodded as if he was satisfied.

“I’ll take this one.”

The staff immediately grabbed me by the arm and raised me.

“Follow me quietly.”

I will be in trouble if I try to rebel and faint.

So instead of rebelling, I tried to look as stupid as I could.

“Are you giving me more bread?”

The staff laughed quietly.

“Yes. I’ll take you to a place with a lot of bread.”

I followed the staff with a big smile.

A shabby carriage stood in front of the back door of the building.

“If you ride that, you will never get hungry again. If you’re lucky, you can wear a lot of pretty clothes and live like a lady.”