CH 3

Author: arnlian

I quickly shook my shoulders with a shocked expression.

“Ho, how did he look?”

“I don’t know. He was wearing a mask. He was quite tall and had black hair.”

Seth obviously had silver hair. For a moment, I thought it was a different person, but there was a possibility that he changed his hair color. If he wears a mask, it means he is hiding his identity.

If I say ‘Oh, right, he’s my lover. Let’s go! It would be dangerous. A finely grown noble lady never says something like that.

I pretended to burst into tears and covered my face.

“How did he come here… Please ask him to go back. I can’t show him how miserable I am right now.”

The merchant who fell for my acting stopped having suspicious eyes and got angry instead.

“Crap, it was real!”

He tried to torment me into finding out about Seth. I closed my mouth tightly and shook my head. In fact, I didn’t know anything even if I wanted to tell him.

Eventually, the merchant who gave up the questioning, took me out of the cage.

My legs, which had been starved for three days, trembled like a newborn giraffe. I collapsed without trying to hold on.

“Ouch, I’m so hungry, I don’t have any energy left.”

“This, this wench?”

I lay on the floor like a sloth. The abusive merchant eventually ran outside and brought a soup.

“We don’t have much time, hurry up and eat!”

I was starving, as I smelled the soup, my eyes were going mad.

I wanted to hold the bowl and drink it immediately but I tried hard to hold it in then grab the spoon and scoop it slowly.

“If I just give it to you, you will drink it holus-bolus then you’ll get sick.”

This is not because Seth’s words are bothering me. It is because my body is precious, so I have to protect it.

I ate the tasteless soup, unbothered by someone who kept stomping his foot next to my side. I don’t know whether my stomach has shrunk but I am full with just a half bowl of soup. 

“If you’re done eating, wash up, hurry!”

Standing up, wobbly, I headed to where the merchant pointed. The dirty tub contained water that did not look very clean.

I dipped one finger, it was very cold and slippery. It looked like the water had sea water mixed in.

“What are you stalling about without washing up!”

The merchant seemed to want to throw me a bucket of water right away.

But there is no way, in the situation where there was an aristocrat who came to see me. I spoke with confidence.

“The water is cold.”

“What?”

“The water is cold.”

I liked to wash with warm water even in the middle of summer.

The angry merchant gritted his teeth and glared at me. But it wasn’t me who was in a hurry.

After waiting for a while, warm water in the bathtub was prepared. Thanks to it, I could enjoy a very satisfying bath.

I was washed clean and changed into new clothes and taken to another place. Unlike the warehouse where I was trapped, it was a luxurious decorated guest room. 

“It’s later than I thought.”

A husky voice greeted me.

Instead the voice owner, the one who came into my eyes was the four men dressed in black. I couldn’t see their faces because of the hood, but the force was amazing.

The merchant also brought two men, but compared to that side, it was just like a porter.

With the men standing behind, Seth was leaning on the sofa. As the merchant said, he wore a silver half-mask with black hair.

The body-fitting black clothes matched the overbearing atmosphere perfectly. The clothes design, which extremely excluded luxurious fabrics and decorations, seemed to show his noble identity.

The gentle lips under the mask smiled.

“There must be a reason why you kept me waiting, right?”

The contemplated slave trader dropped his knees.

“I am, am sorry. Because it is a sudden thing, the preparation is…”

As I was thinking of filming a romance with a man who came to save his lover, my face hardened. How can he bring the boss of the mafia genre all of sudden. I can’t match it.

Then, Seth’s eyes returned to me. I shouted at the thought of getting through the situation somehow.

“Honey!”

I could see the men behind Seth, flinched. I signaled with an urgent look.

‘I heard you said you were my lover. Hurry up, match with me.’

Seth’s response was quick. He stood up and opened his arms as if he just found me.

“Eve, come here.”

What’s with Eve, I don’t even have time to complain. I tried to run to his arms, to play the happy lovers who are reunited.

However, the merchant who was lying on the floor pulled the chain connected to my ankle.

“Argh!”

I fell down with my knee on the floor. It hurts to the point of tears.

The merchant grinned despicably.

“This woman is still my slave. You have to pay a fair price to take her.”

“How much do you want?”

Seth’s voice fell even lower. Even the listener’s back was chilled, but the merchant held in neatly.

“You have to give me 2.000 gold. I will get more if it is auctioned off, but I gave you a special concession.”

It was an excessive price. He is the one who wouldn’t have spent 20 silver even when I asked him to buy me.

“I’ll give you 5.000 gold. Get the slave documents now.”

Seth’s words startled me. The Gran family’s annual cost of living is less than 500 gold. I can’t believe my ransom is worth 5.000 gold.

Unlike me, who was shocked, the merchant smiled and took the slave document out of his arms.

“Here you are.”

Seth beckoned to his subordinate standing behind him. A man who steps forward receives the document and crosses a small pouch.

“There are 50 platinum coins. Check it out.”

“Tha, thank you.”

The merchant received the pouch and checked inside.

I glared at him with anger bubbling inside me.

Then, a shadow fell overhead. When I noticed someone approaching, Seth was already leaning in front of me.

The big hands were ripping the chain that was choking my ankle. The broken shackles rolled over the floor.

“Huh?”

Wasn’t that iron? Looking blankly at the pieces that scattered on the ground, a gloved hand comes forward. Surprised, as I looked up, Seth was smiling.

“Here, hurry.”

I held his hand and stood up.

Stumbled because of high-heeled shoes, his arms supported my waist. He whispers with a low voice. 

“Are you hurt somewhere, when you fall?”

“It’s, it’s all right.”

“That’s a relief. This is a gift.”

Seth extended a parchment paper. It was my slave document.

Not knowing how to respond, I blinked my eyes. And then Seth was placing it in my hands.

“It’s not poisoned.”

I clenched the parchment. My eyes were teary and my throat heated up for no reason. If I let my guard down even a little, I thought I might cry uglily. So, I took a deep breath and held out the parchment back to him.

“I will leave it to you for a moment. I feel bad if I receive it without doing anything.”

Seth, who was wondering, smiled and received it. I asked while breaking my knuckles.

“So, who has the information?”

It was the slave merchant the one that Seth pointed out is. Such a deep connection!

I walked up lightly to him. The merchant, who was counting money excitedly, raised his head with a questioning face.

“God bless us, long live our country, you punk!”

I hit him between his legs with all my might. The high heels shoes that he forced me to wear boomed. 

The merchant collapsed to his side without screaming. I shouted and kicked him so hard.

“No, that mad wench!”

The merchant’s men rushed in with indignation.

But Seth glared at them then said ‘stop’, and they stopped.

“Do you have any complaints about her hitting him?”

“No, it’s…”

“How painful it must have been to be dragged here. I hope you understand.”

He asked them to understand, but it was actually an order.

The man hesitated for a moment, stepped back quietly then kneeling. Taking a glance, his colleagues acted the same way.

In the meantime, when I was exhausted from beating the merchant hard. I said to Seth’s men, pretending to be pitiful.

“Excuse me, would you mind beating him up together?”

The man who was pointed at by me looked at Seth in dismay. Seth nodded and he had no choice but to come up and kick the merchant.

A wail came out of the merchant’s mouth, who was rolling around like a ball. I was satisfied only after the merchant was beaten perfectly.

“That’s enough. Thank you.”

The man who was looking at me like a rare animal, stepped back.

I untied the string around my waist and tied the merchant’s limbs tightly. The merchant could not wriggle but could only make a pain sound.

Seth, who was watching what I was doing, asked.

“Do you have to hit someone like that every time to get information?”

“No, it’s just revenge. He starved me for three days.”

You must know how important rice is. Never ever starve an ex-Korean.

“… For your information.”

Seth, who was staring at me, nodded.