Tamed A Blackened Slave Man

Cassadin hugged me as tightly as he could. Within his embrace, I slid my hands onto his back.

“Maybe coming back to the past was all part of the journey to meet you.”

It would be nice to marry you and live happily ever after once all this is over.

If only I hadn’t given priority to my revenge after coming back, could I have lived peacefully without Damian’s interference?

The time I’m spending with you is so precious to me.

But in that moment, as I entered Cassadin’s embrace, I felt someone watching us.

The gaze originated from the direction of the terrace doors leading to the banquet hall, where the black curtains billowed in the wind. When I turned my head to look at the door, the gaze vanished as if it had never existed.

If my sight hadn’t deceived me, I thought I saw a sort of black shadow.

After holding me for several more minutes, Cassadin slowly released me.

“Can you wait here for a moment? I’ll be back soon.”

“……Alright.”

The guests wore masks, and the dark skies were only illuminated by the crescent moon. Not to mention, the terrace was on the second floor, a place with few occupants.

“Don’t follow anyone, no matter how enticing they may seem.”

“Don’t treat me like a child.”

“……I’m just worried.”

I gave a bright smile to the man, who looked down at me with concern.

“I’ll be waiting right here, so hurry back.”

Cassadin paused as he was about to nod and removed the dress coat he was wearing to place it over my shoulders.

“I told you I’m fine.”

“I’ll take it back when I return.”

With those final words, Cassadin hurried off toward the banquet hall as if pressed for time.

I watched as Cassadin vanished behind the black curtains, then turned to lean on the terrace balustrade with my arms and gazed up at the moon.

As I stared up at the moon, I felt a gaze watching me return. It was persistent and clingy.

‘So it wasn’t just my imagination.’

I pretended to look up at the moon while tilting my head in the direction of the gaze.

“Who is it?”

A silhouette of a person emerged from behind the curtains in response. With each step they took toward me, the silhouette grew clearer.

…….The person who approached me on the terrace was a nobleman I did not recognize.

He wore a brown owl half-mask and swayed as he continued to hiccup. Clearly, he had drunk quite a bit, as his scent was heavy with wine.

“Heh, hic-! Feeling a little tipsy here.”

The swaying man smirked as soon as our eyes met.

“Gee, gotta say that banquets in palaces are indeed different. Hic! I’ve met all the beautiful women I could want in my life in just one night. Or did I? Am I just seeing things? Hic! No. Someone told me there would be a beauty up here.”

Apparently not in full control of his faculties, the man mumbled to himself amid his hiccups.

Judging by his attitude and demeanor, the man seemed to be a noble in name only.

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‘So even mediocrities like this are at the banquet. They should have allowed only those with invitations to enter, foolish Emperor.’

I cursed the Emperor silently and clicked my tongue in annoyance.

“Why are you out here alone on this cold night? Hic! Why not dance with me instead?”

I returned the man’s gaze with cold eyes.

“I’m afraid I have to decline your offer.”

Ignoring my refusal, the man chuckled and grabbed my arm. He was indeed terribly disrespectful.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“Aw, don’t act so cold now. Hic! Some woman told me that I’d meet my true partner if I came over here! Hic-!”

I struggled to pull my hand away, but the man was stronger than I had anticipated.

But as I glared at the man in irritation, his words from a moment ago suddenly resurfaced in my mind.

‘…A woman told him to come here to meet his true partner?’

This rude man had entered the terrace coincidentally when Cassadin left, as if he had been waiting.

Summoning the calmest voice I could, I asked the drunk man,

“Do you, perhaps, remember who it was that told you this?”

“You think I would remember something like that? I don’t know. I got this drunk in the first place because that woman kept giving me wine! Hic-!”

The woman this man referred to was definitely not Ively. She lacked the cunning to manipulate others to her will. Quite the opposite, in fact.

‘…It’s Lillian.’

To think she would stoop so low as to cause trouble for me at a banquet held for Cassadin.

‘It should be difficult to recognize me with this mask, so how did she know it was me?’

Perhaps Lillian was fated to torment me. Seeing me squint in disapproval, the man tightened his grip on my wrist.

“Aren’t you being a little too obvious with your dislike?”

“…I’m sorry, but I have little interest in dealing with garbage.”

“What?”

The man’s face twisted in anger as he gripped my wrist even tighter.

Just then, a figure materialized out of nowhere and seized the man’s hand that was wrapped around my wrist. A loud crack followed, and the man’s hand started to shake.

“Aaghh!”

The nobleman, slow to react, writhed in pain and backed away. As if shielding me, the man in the black uniform stood before me and drew his sword.

With a chilling sound, the blade gleamed menacingly in the moonlight.

The nobleman trembled from head to toe, then scurried back into the banquet hall without daring to look back.

I looked up at the man who had appeared before me unexpectedly.

The man, whom I naturally assumed was Cassadin due to the black uniform, wore a black half-mask instead of the white one Cassadin had on.

Not only that, but since Cassadin had given me his coat before leaving, this man couldn’t be Cassadin.

The man’s hair was as dark as the mask he wore, and beneath that black hair were two sharp emerald-green eyes.

“……Your Grace.”

Damian’s eyes softened when he heard my voice, and he sheathed his sword.

“Having such measly flies attracted to you must be quite a pain, Milady.”

“……”

“Where is this Sir Cassadin, leaving his lover to fend off such troubles alone?”

Damian clicked his tongue disapprovingly. I glared at him and responded.

“Do not speak of Cassadin in such a manner.”

“You still take his side, even now? I was the one who saved you from that peril, yet you still look towards him.”

“Why did Your Grace come to the banquet hall with a sword in the first place?”

My gaze dropped to the sword hanging from Damian’s belt. He was neither an imperial knight nor a knight commander, yet he had the audacity to enter the banquet armed.

Even if Damian is the Grand Duke, isn’t this too reckless?

“Why? Are you worried that I might, perhaps, harm your lover with this sword?”

Damian smiled ominously.

“It seems Your Grace has completely recovered from that heart disease, given the way you are speaking so carelessly.”

“…….Of course not. My heart is still in quite a bit of pain.”

Damian clasped his hand over mine and placed it on his chest, over his heart.

As he had claimed, the heart disease was still present. But.

‘Why is his heart beating so fast? It doesn’t seem like a symptom of the heart condition.’

While I cocked my head in confusion, Damian rummaged through his coat and produced something. It was a white silk handkerchief.

Damian rubbed my wrist repeatedly with that handkerchief, the same wrist now red from the drunkard’s hard grip.

“What are you doing right now?”

“…….Isn’t it obvious? I’m wiping away the filth.”

“……”

I was so surprised that I couldn’t even speak. Damian’s gaze moved from my awestruck face to my neck.

Although the cape and coat I wore should have hidden the marks Cassadin left, his eyes clung to me as if he could see through the fabric.

His eyes were still fixed on my neck, and he slowly parted his lips.

“It is a shame, but it seems I cannot wipe away the filth on your collarbone and neck.”

I was convinced that part of Damian’s brain was severely malfunctioning at the moment. I pulled my hand from him, and he continued to rub my wrist.

For a second, Damian’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t try to recapture my hand and instead released it. Holding my wrist with my other hand, I looked up at Damian, wondering if he had indeed suffered some head injury.

“Like Your Grace is aware, Cassadin and I are lovers. So, please refrain from approaching or speaking to me like this in the future.”

“……So I cannot approach or talk to you?”

“Yes. Just yesterday, Your Grace caused me trouble by declaring that we were lovers. To be honest, I am uncomfortable with Your Grace’s apparent intentions.”

Damian tucked the handkerchief away and let out a soft, amused sigh.

“Hadn’t it been Milady who first approached me?”

“……”

“You approached me while I was imprisoned, visited my residence, unsettled me as you pleased, and now you claim to be uncomfortable.”

Tilting his head to the side, Damian leaned in closer to me. His angled eyes glimmered in the moonlight.

As he leaned in close enough to be just a hand’s distance from me, I reflexively took a step back. But with every step I took, Damian advanced.

Damian pursued me until my back pressed against the balcony railing.

I attempted to sidestep him, but Damian halted my escape by placing both arms on the stone railing.

A shiver rippled through my body as I faced Damian in such proximity. Beneath his black mask, he wore a strange expression I had never seen before.

“Aren.”

Damian’s deep voice called out to me.

It irked me to the point that I pushed against Damian with both hands. However, he seized the hands I used to shove him.

With my wrists firmly in his grasp, Damian offered a gentle smile. Yet, despite his smiling lips, his eyes seemed to plunge deeper than the abyss itself.

Unable to mask my revulsion, I glared at Damian intensely.

“Let me go, Your Grace.”

“Don’t you think those eyes are a bit too challenging for a request?”

“Should I be thanking Your Grace instead? It all seems too coincidental that Your Grace has arrived precisely when Cassadin is not with me.”

Damian’s smirk returned.

“How accusatory, Milady.”

“…….”

“I’m afraid I must inform you that Cassadin is currently with another woman.”

“If the intention was to separate us, it was a poor choice, Your Grace. I fail to see how any of this benefits you.”

I couldn’t fathom why he was so intent on troubling Cassadin and me. Turning my head aside, I let out a sigh.

“If it’s about the heart condition, I will heal it. Though it will take time to fully cure the disease.”

“……”

“So I ask Your Grace to cease these forms of harassment.”

“……What if this has nothing to do with the heart condition?”

What is this nonsense now?

I narrowed my eyes further and shot a look at Damian.

Damian’s sharp gaze seemed to sharpen under the glow of the crescent moon.

Leaning into my ear, Damian whispered calmly,

“If I told you that I was trying to separate the two of you because I truly do have feelings for you, how would you reply?”

Leaning back, Damian gazed at my face, searching for a reaction while waiting for my response.

“If I’m being honest, it upsets and discomforts me whenever Your Grace does this.”

“……Upset and uncomfortable.”

“Yes,”

Hearing my firm response, Damian’s voice grew cold.

“No matter how much I make you uncomfortable, even if you are lovers with that damned Cassadin, it doesn’t matter to me one bit.”

With the eyes of a voracious beast, Damian added,

“Because I must have everything I want.”