I Tamed the Male Lead Who Was a Slave — Episode 19: Hiring Loyalty

His body was all dense, swollen muscle from a full day of relentless training. Simply clinging to that firm, compact frame brought me a strange, soothing comfort.

Though the deep, musky scent of sweat rose from his skin, even that stirred no revulsion in me whatsoever.

So please, just hate me a little less. Even when Dorothea shows up, I won't stand between the two of you — I swear it, so please.

With that thought, I barely managed to suppress the urge to burrow into his chest like a child.

"What are we going to do with you, my lady? You keep fainting like this, and the intervals between your seizures seem to be getting shorter... Should I call the physician?"

Becky fidgeted helplessly as she trailed after us. The moment the word seizure left her mouth, I felt the muscles of Eusilif's neck — where I was still holding on — go ever so slightly rigid.

"Cough, cough!"

I coughed with exaggerated drama to divert his attention.

Now was not the time to let him know I was living on borrowed time. I had to hold out a little longer — until I'd earned more of his trust, until I could give him the certainty that he needed me too.

Rustle.

Unexpectedly careful were Eusilif's hands as he laid me down on the bed. And when the arms that had held me so firmly fell away, I was honestly a little sorry to see them go.

"I'm fine. Could you bring me the medicine I got from the physician last time?"

At my weary request, Becky hurried off and returned with the medicine and water. Once I swallowed it down with her help, the dizziness dulled somewhat.

After taking a moment to steady my breath, I asked her to bring me the silk box I'd retrieved from the dressing room earlier.

"Whoa..."

The instant I opened the box, Becky's eyes went round as saucers.

Inside lay all of the heirlooms Arabella had inherited from her grandparents — raw sapphires and emeralds, a pearl necklace and tiara, ornaments of gold and silver of every kind. I'd already spent a third of it patching up my perpetually short allowance, but thankfully, the most valuable pieces were still there.

To die without ever getting to use any of this? If it were me, I couldn't have closed my eyes for how much I'd regret it.

With that frivolous thought, I drew out a gold ring that gleamed with a heavy brilliance and pressed it into Becky's palm.

"Here."

"Wh... why are you giving me this?"

"You still haven't paid back the wages you borrowed from me, have you?"

"What? My lady, this is worth a hundred times that wage! You can pay me back later, so please just put it away."

As though lamenting how sheltered and naive her mistress was, Becky flapped her hands in frantic refusal and pushed mine away.

"No, take it. It's yours."

I could feel Eusilif watching quietly from where he leaned against a corner of the room, observing my tug-of-war with Becky. Trying not to be conscious of his gaze, I scolded her.

"If someone doesn't return the wages they borrowed, you're supposed to chase them down and demand payment. Why are you just sitting there? This is the borrowed amount, plus interest."

"But, my lady, even so, this is far too much!"

"Of course it's excessive. It's also meant to tell you that you're not to take a single coin from my uncle from now on."

Saying so, I placed the gold ring on Becky's palm and folded her fingers over it one by one, wrapping them around it. In an instant, her face drained white.

"M... my lady..."

I looked her in the face and spoke calmly.

"So from now on, stop reporting my every move to my uncle."

"My lady! I was wrong, please spare me!"

Becky dropped to her knees and collapsed in front of me.

"Please, don't throw me out! If I'm cast out of here, my little brothers and sister will be out on the streets by nightfall!"

I pulled the trembling girl back to her feet.

"Goodness. A young woman shouldn't go dropping to her knees so easily."

I chided her in a languid drawl.

"And who said anything about throwing you out? Keep serving at my side and keep working in this manor. In exchange — from now on, you'll be my spy instead of my uncle's."

"...Pardon?"

"Starting tomorrow, you can shadow me as you always did. But when you report to my uncle, you'll tell him exactly, and only, what I instruct you to. What I'm asking is for you to deceive him — for my sake."

As the words sank in, Becky's face flushed red, then went pale, then flushed again.

"B... but my lady, if we're caught, I'll die. I... it doesn't matter if I die, but Master Graham... h... he's threatened that if I ever show the slightest change of heart, he'll have my siblings quietly killed... huhuhk."

Becky finally broke down, tears and snot streaming, and confessed everything to me.

That she had bowed to the threat of her precious siblings being killed was only natural. To her, the intimidation of the man who currently held supreme power in this manor must have felt like a death sentence.

"I'm so sorry, my lady... I knew full well how lonely and hard things were for you, and still I did nothing but play spy the whole time... I'm truly sorry. I've committed a sin worthy of death."

Becky groveled flat before me, begging forgiveness — rubbing together her hands, red and swollen — and the sight was pitiable beyond words.

I looked down at her and pressed on, my voice firm.

"Becky, the choice is yours. Either you go on being threatened by my uncle, scraping by on a pittance while confessing my every movement to him — or you take this gold ring, find a new home, move your siblings there, and follow my orders from now on."

"...Move?"

Becky echoed the word, eyes wide and wet with tears.

Becky was a good maid. It was only that, until now, she'd had no other choice. And if that was the case, then it fell to me — a kind and wise mistress — to create a new option for her.

"That's right. Do you really think my uncle has the resources to monitor your siblings' every waking move? Even if you relocate, it'll take him ages to notice. So don't worry — side with me. And if some dangerous situation does arise, I'll help you then. Of course, I'll protect your siblings without fail, too."

"Do you truly mean that, my lady?"

"Of course. I never make empty promises. And by the way, the wages I pay will be far plumper than anything my uncle offers. So think it over carefully and decide. If you're going to play spy, you should at least charge a proper price for yourself."

"My lady..."

Overwhelmed by the conviction in my voice, Becky nodded slowly, hands folded, in a daze.

By then the dizziness had settled completely, so I flashed her a grin and added one more thing.

"Oh, and keep taking my uncle's money for now. If you refuse, he'll get suspicious. Collecting from both sides would leave you rather well padded, no? You can put it toward the move."

"What?"

Becky's mouth hung open, as if she'd never imagined such a thing. And behind her, I could see Eusilif, arms crossed, regarding me with a crooked smirk.

"You certainly have a talent for poaching people."

Jolt, jolt.

Eusilif sniped at me, pale and green as I was from the carriage's swaying.

"What's that supposed to mean now?"

When I complained with a scrunched-up face, he tipped his chin ever so slightly toward Becky, arms still crossed.

This was the entrance to the Imperial Gladiatorial Arena, my first time back in ten days. Today was the day of the final match of the gladiatorial tournament held in honor of the Emperor's birthday.

"We've arrived!"

The moment the coachman announced our arrival, Becky sprang out of the carriage like a released spring and began surveying our surroundings.

"My lady! You may come out now!"

Her sharp eyes swept every direction as she helped me down — a look that went past serious and into the outright heroic.

"...I'm starting to think she may have misinterpreted my request for her to become a spy."

As I muttered that, scratching my nose, Eusilif stepped down from the carriage behind me, one corner of his mouth curving upward.

"Either way, you've bought that maid's loyalty, so you've accomplished your goal, haven't you?"

"Bought her loyalty?"

"Yes. Just as you offered me three forms of payment, your purpose with that maid is to purchase her loyalty with money. Isn't it?"

His mocking face was thoroughly infuriating, but I deliberately replied with perfect composure.

"You're not wrong. But every relationship, if it's to be redefined, requires some kind of catalyst. All I did was create that catalyst."

"Hmm."

"But even with a catalyst, where that relationship goes afterward depends on each person's own will. Wouldn't you say?"

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

His brow furrowed.

"I've changed from who I was, Eusilif. It's true that the old me was selfish, caring about no one but myself. But from now on, I truly intend to live differently."

"......"

"So I'd like you to set aside your prejudices and just watch me for a while. And... if there's any chance that things between us might change too, I'd like you to consider that at least once."

Perhaps it was because I spoke with such sincerity that, embarrassingly, my voice trembled slightly.

And once the words were out — didn't what I'd just said sound exactly like a confession?

I'm going to be kicking my blanket over this all night long.

Yet in the indifferent eyes of Eusilif, who looked down at me as I broke into a cold sweat, I could still read no emotion at all.

Just then, a crowd of gamblers entering behind us caught sight of Eusilif and began jeering loudly.

"It's the slave swordsman!"

"Hey! Get over here — let's get a good look at that smug face of yours!"

"Haha! That pretty face of yours won't be safe today either! You know who you're up against, don't you? You think some lapdog who waits on the princess's bedchamber can handle him? Today's the day money throws money down and money picks it back up! Heh heh."

I glared savagely at the men who had ruined a crucial moment and barked at them.

"Silence! How dare you cause a commotion before a noble? Do you wish to die for the crime of insulting nobility?"

Oh. That line just now was exactly like a proper discourteous noble lady — and it came out so naturally, too.