This was absurd.

If it was her previous life, they wouldn’t be found in the same room. To be more accurate, Slarhan, not Ellier, would have gotten up and left…

‘If her previous life’s Slarhan witnessed the current situation, he would’ve fainted from shock. He had even spent money to save the woman he hated the most.’

Of course, she had never heard a word that violated etiquette from Slarhan. But those piercing eyes that seemed to want to stab her to death remained vividly in her memory.

When she lived as ‘Princess Lilliette’, she would smile even brighter to irritate him even further, but right now, how should she react? 

‘Although getting out of Rubelfast is a good thing, why do I have to be a slave to this guy? D*mn it.’

She once again blamed God. In any case, she had preserved her life, but it was unclear whether she could walk out of this situation alive. 

‘And in order to live, I must satisfy that b*stard.’

As such, although she was reluctant, she limped out of bed and knelt before him. This is because no matter what, a slave couldn’t lie comfortably in front of her master. 

“What are you doing?” 

At his detached question, Ellier moved hurriedly. She still felt pain all over her body, but she had no choice if she wanted to live.

The feeling of her bowing on the floor with difficulty was more subservient than she thought, which made her mood drop.  

‘Are you satisfied with this?’

She lowered her head to the floor to prevent her pouting lips from being exposed. But words that fell over her head were unexpected.

“I’m asking you once again. What are you doing?”

Ellier was caught unaware by his question. 

‘What am I doing? Is this his first time seeing a person lying on the floor? What kind of answer do you want?! Or… is it that you don’t like it when I look too subservient…?’

As she rolled her eyes, she slowly raised her torso and stayed on her knees obediently. 

But Slarhan didn’t seem satisfied with that either.

“This fellow, do you not understand words? Are you deaf or something?” 

“Oh, no. She had just answered my question earlier…”

“Then why is she doing this?”

The hairs on the back of her neck raised at the sound of his voice gradually turning chilly. While the pain in her body had barely subsided enough for her to live, she didn’t want to be beaten to death again. 

She hesitated for a while, before replying, “Master… I heard that a slave cannot lie before its master, cannot make eye contact with its master, and have to lower its body until the master gives an order. You are the person who bought me… right?”

Then, Slarhan raised an eyebrow and shot her a look of surprise. 

“From the slave trader’s perspective, your personality is unusual, but it doesn’t seem like anything special.”

When Slarhan reached for the ashtray on the table, Mrs. Adler walked up to him and asked him about something, before leaving the room.

Ellier became even more nervous when the only person she’s somewhat familiar with left. 

“Name.”

“…It’s Ellier.”

At the sound of her name, he looked down at her uninterestedly, before taking out a cigarette and lighted it. Upon seeing the white smoke, Ellier’s eyes became clouded. 

‘Ah, if I only could take one drag…’

Perhaps it was due to her nervousness, she desperately needed a drag of smoke.

In her previous life, she was also a smoker. Unlike the other noblewomen that used flashy pipes, she liked to smoke with a cigarette between her fingers like men, and received a lot of malicious talk for that. 

But then her temperament was not the type to cave in, so she did not change her smoking habit even at the very end.

Ever since she first started smoking at nineteen, the tobacco she had enjoyed the most was the toxic cigars distributed by caravans. Although the taste was strong, it’s scent was appealing.

The scent of the tobacco from caravans was strong enough to make her forget about the imaginary scent of blood, and thanks to that, she happily dragged the poison in the cigarette into her body without noticing it.

And… From one day onwards, her body was unable to move.

When her thoughts reached here, the tobacco that she had been yearning for to the point of salivating, suddenly looked unappealing. 

‘This b*stard also started smoking from an early age. Hey, quit smoking if you don’t want to die from coughing out blood due to lung disease. Or, I don’t know, die from tobacco poisoning like me.’ 

Unaware of Ellier’s thoughts, Slarhan observed her silently while smoking away half of his cigarette. After exhaling a long drag of smoke, he opened his mouth.

“Did you ask me to kill you?”

As she had already made up her mind to continue living, she didn’t expect such a question.

Although she was a little flustered, she still had her pride, and couldn’t stop what she had started.

Ellier nodded her head slightly, pretending to be expressionless even though cold sweat was actually forming. 

“Do you still want to die?”

Fortunately, Slarkhan didn’t seem to want to kill Ellier either. Ellier carefully shook her head again.

“Then I don’t recommend running away. No matter how far you go, I’ll know where you are.”

“What?”

“I can also kill you easily.”

“How?” 

“I fed you my blood.”

“What?”

Ellier raised her head up unknowingly and asked. What he was saying was entirely unreal, and not like him at all.

‘What kind of person is he? Are you a wizard? Would it be possible to do that by just feeding me blood? Was he pulling my leg because I look young and naive?’

Perhaps it was because she looked like she didn’t believe what he had said, Slarhan asked with a mocking voice. 

“Why? Are you thinking of running away?”

“Ah, no… It’s not that… It’s just that, it doesn’t make sense.”

“Sense…? It’s common sense…”

Ellier shook her head, not knowing why he kept emphasizing that it was ‘common sense’.

“You might have thoughts of running away if you don’t believe what I’ve said, so how about I give you a little warning?”

While Ellier frowned and was indulging in the wildest fantasy she could think of, Slarkhan looked at her quietly. His eyes shone with a golden light.

At the same time, Ellier’s heart was squeezed to the point where she could not breathe. 

“Heuk!”

When her vision had almost turned yellow, she fell onto the floor all of the sudden, wriggling like an earthworm under the scorching sun.

She couldn’t breathe, her chest hurt to the point that it felt like it was about to burst, her eyeballs seemed to fall out, and the back of her head was being pulled upon. Physiological tears leaked out, clouding her vision.

But in the next moment, the pain disappeared instantly. 

“Huet, huet, heut!”

“You only have one life, so don’t think about testing this, and don’t make clamour about this to others.”

“Ugh, ah, I see….”

While she answered while breathing harshly, within Ellier’s heart she hurled all kinds of curses.

‘Did you really have to display it in such an ignorant way? Are you that happy to see me wriggling? Oh, my pride hurts. Of course, you don’t know who I am, but even so! In my previous life, I was the Emperor, not you!’

But apart from being sick, irritable and her hurting pride, she didn’t feel that surprised by his abilities. The moment she felt pain from her heart, she recalled that his mother was from the Sabi tribe and that the medicine she had taken before tasted like blood.

The blood of the Sabi tribe, who are often oppressed as followers of darkness and a magical tribe, had special powers.

Because the tribe was veiled in secrecy, there wasn’t a way to know any details, but at least two things have become clear today.

They held the breath of those that swallowed their blood, and that their blood was a remarkable curative. 

“There won’t be a problem as long as you don’t run away. When your body gets healthier, you can do as I ask. Do you have any questions?”

Ellier forcibly straightened her trembling body.

“Master’s name, no, may I know your esteemed name?”

“Slarhan Ventiark.”

She didn’t think the fact that he was Slarhan Ventiark would change, but she had to ask once not to rouse suspicions.

“Then, where are we at?”

“We are at Ventiark, the Northeastern territory of Paldinas Empire, and within the Castle of the Lord of Ventiark, Rege Castle.” 

At the fact that they weren’t in the capital, Ellier couldn’t help but feel relieved. 

If they were in the capital, it would have been difficult to stay composed at the fact that her ex-husband, who was no different from an enemy, was just a short distance away.

She would probably run over and kill him right away…

“Are there any more questions?”

Slarhan asked as he stood slowly. However, to Ellier, there was nothing she was curious about, as she knew, not only about Slarhan, but also the many things that would happen in the future. 

However, there was something that she needed to say, as favours and grudges must be remembered ever since ancient times. 

“Thank you… for saving me from hell.”

“Well. It’s still too early to thank me. How would you know if I’ll send you into a scarier hell?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

Ellier remembered the knights of Ventiark that were exceptionally loyal to Slarhan. Since he was a master that was capable of eliciting such allegiance from those under him, he probably wouldn’t have the thought of returning her to Rubelfast. 

Ellier’s answer seemed to be surprising, as he looked at her quietly while exhaling dense smoke. But as the tension eased slightly, Ellier’ reason gradually became dazed, so she did not pay attention to his gaze.

Through that, she remembered the scent of tobacco that Slarhan was smoking.

“…Are you smoking the cigar that Avalon distributes?”

“How did you know that?”

“Avalon’s medicinal cigars have calming effects on the mind, but long-term usage will increase the intensity of headaches. Rather than that, Fidelo’s cigars will be better. Even if the effect is slightly reduced, there aren’t any side effects.”

She enjoyed the cigars distributed by caravans the most, but burning various types of tobacco was her hobby, so she gave out the advice with the feeling of ‘Thank me and listen to me carefully.’

However, contrary to Ellier’s expectations, his eyes dimmed eerily.

“How interesting.”

For a moment, Ellier thought that she heard wrongly. She didn’t say anything interesting, so what was so funny?

“Well, the world of nicotine is really… It’s vast and interesting. But, Master… I’m a little… dizzy…”

Just then, Ellier’s stamina was depleted completely. She thought that it was lucky and fainted while feeling at ease.

Slarhan did not feel alarmed, even though the slave girl that had been talking to him up until recently collapsed all of a sudden. It was nothing strange considering her physical condition.

What was odd was the words that the slave girl had just said.

“How would you know if I’ll send you into a scarier hell?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

Her reply, which seemed to declare that there couldn’t have been a hell worse than Rubelfast in this world, echoed in his ear. 

It wasn’t an answer that could be made from an ignorant child who had experiences that were narrowed.

Boredom and fatigue of a person that has experienced all kinds of trouble could be seen. It’s hard to say that it was the eyes of a child who is only 15 years old…

‘Indeed, it wouldn’t be easy to provide an experience that’s richer than Rubelfast’s.’

Those guys from Rubelfast seemed to be unafraid of anything, and chewed on that little girl from head to toe.

Not only that, her malnutrition was also serious, and also the filthy living conditions caused the litany of wounds to fester with a foul smell.

Even if she hadn’t held on to him and provoked him to kill her, she would have died not long after.

He had no choice but to draw his blood as it seemed as though it  would be hard for her to survive it without doing so. As she didn’t have a slave’s engraving on her, he didn’t have the thought of leashing her originally. 

He could only check Ellier’s appearance properly after such treatment.

Her black hair was cut short, with pale, bloodless skin and dry lips, limbs that were skin and bones elongating her body, making Ellier’s gender ambiguous.

When the doctor checked her eyes by flipping her eyelids open, her eyes were gray, as if her soul had escaped from her body.

However, as the girl started talking about her ridiculous story, the eyes that were empty were slowly filled with vitality, and shone like the light of a dawning sky. 

Slarhan was about to take another drag of the tobacco again, before stopping, and extinguishing it in the ashtray.

“A slave that speaks aristocratic words, and is capable of identifying the kind of tobacco that even nobles were hard pressed to purchase and smoke…”