Rohan took out the merchant guild badge he had been carrying. Due to the large investment and the fact that it originated from the Marquis family, the merchant guild badge was quite shiny. As if to show that money can do anything.

Seeing that, the man’s eyes lit up sharply.

“Ahem. That, it’s true. You have a guild badge there… I understand.”

Eventually, the gatekeeper hesitated and stepped aside. It was an expected reaction.

There was an unspoken relationship between the merchant guild and slave traders. They looked out for each other’s convenience, you could say. On top of that, the merchant guild that revealed its name probably wouldn’t have a negative impact on them, so he was quite friendly.

“If you’re here to buy slaves, just keep walking straight ahead.”

‘Damn it.’

Just because of having a merchant guild badge, they let him through so easily. How much must they have been in cahoots behind the scenes? He wanted to overturn everything.

But it wasn’t time yet. He couldn’t repeat past mistakes. The mistake of letting them slip away right before his eyes. Anyway, the slave traders would still be doing this here in a few years.

‘It’s not like I’m some apostle of justice.’

But he felt there must be a reason he returned to this time, and this was probably one of those reasons.

The biggest role in her returning to this time was the family curse, and it was thanks to this slave market that she learned about that curse.

“Aren’t you going in?”

“I should. Thank you.”

With those final words, the three of them entered through the long corridor. A long, long corridor. A place with numerous rooms. But where there should have been doors, they were all torn off and replaced with iron bars. People were imprisoned there.

A place where everyone was powerlessly confined. There were very young children, and elderly people who seemed to have difficulty moving.

Sesenia’s heart sank heavily. It was a place she had only received reports about. Even when working for the Marquis family, and as Empress, she couldn’t move around easily, and had only heard that such places existed. She had actually come here only once.

There, she met ‘that person’ and learned about the Marquis family’s curse. And she promised that person. That she would surely get rid of this place. That even if she couldn’t save everyone, she would ensure no one would go through this again.

For her, who had only given orders to eliminate these places while sitting at a desk, this situation was not easy to adapt to. Seeing those who had made humans less than human, Sesenia could only bite her lips.

‘Be patient. Be patient. What’s the point of having sympathy for these people when I have nothing?’

Rather, looking at them, Sesenia only felt how worthless a human she was.

Just then. A man from inside hurriedly approached her.

“It’s surprising to see such a young person come to a place like this. What are you looking for?”

Sesenia, who had been unable to control her expression while walking through this place, belatedly nodded. As if she were someone without any emotion.

“A man to play with. I’d like someone around my age.”

“Men around your age are quite rare…”

“Is there really none?”

“Actually, there is one… but he has some flaws, so I’m not sure if I should offer him.”

The slave trader who had suddenly attached himself looked at Sesenia hesitantly. He seemed to be a much higher-ranking person than the gatekeeper. Probably the owner of this place.

His eyes, scanning Sesenia up and down, clearly expressed his intention. He seemed to be assessing how much money she had, whether she could afford what he was offering. Fortunately, it seemed she passed his assessment as the merchant’s eyebrows twitched.

“Flaws?”

“Yes. He doesn’t listen well, you see. So we’ve put magical restraints on him… but ah, it’s not a big problem.”

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, yes.”

At that moment, a wide smile spread across Sesenia’s face.

There is only one man of Sesenia’s age in this slave market. The man she is looking for.

Originally, men don’t often come out to the slave market.

Even young men, though they want to use them for labor, it’s cheaper to just use lower-class people, and they’re hard to manage, and the slave traders disliked them because they act recklessly due to their youth.

Knowing this, she had mentioned someone her age, and sure enough, her prediction was correct.

As if to match the mention of flaws, the prison where that man was confined required going very deep inside to reach.

“Miss… it’s suspicious to go in so deep!”

Lizbeth, who had been walking while trembling the whole time, grabbed Sesenia’s arm tightly, seeming scared.

“It’s okay. We have Rohan, don’t we?”

“…That untrustworthy brother?”

“Yes. But his swordsmanship is excellent. Let’s trust him.”

“…That brother will surely only save you if something happens…”

“If something happens, I’ll save Lizbeth, so don’t worry.”

Sesenia patted her hand and followed behind the merchant, on and on. And finally, we stopped in front of a man with black hair and golden eyes.

‘Black hair…’

The hair of the man she had been thinking of should have been golden. But the man’s hair was black, just like her own.

‘Could it be someone else?’

But the golden eyes that shone even in the darkness told her that this man was the one she was looking for. A man utterly out of place here. Even if covered in ashes, his nobility hadn’t gone anywhere.

Even if scars filled his body more than dignity, he was indeed the person she was looking for. Hair could be changed in any number of ways. She didn’t know who had changed his hair like that, but at this moment she was certain.

In fact, Sesenia, who had seen him in the past, smiled.

‘I found you correctly.’

She had briefly encountered him in the past. And Sesenia, who was the Empress then, had spoken to him. It was nothing special, but it was indeed the same man from then. Unlike then, his appearance was barely human and his hair color was different, which confused her, but it was definitely him.

At that moment, the slave trader opened his mouth as if he had been waiting.

“This is the one.”

“I like him.”

Sesenia grinned as soon as she saw the man. He was the person she had been looking for. There was no room for hesitation.

“How much?”

“Huh? Ah. Yes. The price of the restraints is a bit…”

“Discuss the price with Rohan. Rohan. You know?”

“Yes, Miss.”

Rohan, straightening his shoulders, stepped back with the merchant. Meanwhile, Sesenia looked at the man behind the iron bars.

The man didn’t even give Sesenia a glance. Sesenia tapped the iron bars with her hand, as if calling a puppy.

“You.”

“You won’t be able to tame me.”

As if to show why they said he doesn’t listen, the man, despite being a slave, glared at Sesenia. She nodded, looking at the man without being intimidated at all.

“I like that rebellious attitude.”

“…”

“By the way, are you good at doing laundry?”

“…Laundry…?”

The arrogant voice from just before suddenly disappeared.

“I want to entrust you with some laundry.”

What is she saying? The man looked at Sesenia with a dumbfounded expression.

“Well, even if you can’t do it, I’ll still take you.”

“…Are you telling me to beat someone?”

“No. I want you to beat some cotton.”

“Is that person’s name Cotton? No. Is it cotton?”

Being inherently kind, the man was alternating between informal and polite speech. He instinctively used polite speech, then quickly tried to pretend to be speaking informally. It was cute enough to make Sesenia chuckle before her expression hardened.

She was trying to speak brightly like the original Sesenia, like 20-year-old Sesenia, but every now and then, memories of what she had been through surfaced.

So even her expressions were not under control. Though her voice and manner of speaking were like a 20-year-old, though she acted like a noble young lady with little social experience who knew nothing, even that was an act.

As if noticing this, the man’s expression, which had been one of incomprehension, darkened. As if an animal instinctively distinguishing between friend and foe. As if knowing before whom to bow, raise its bottom, and wag its tail.

Or as if his instincts had noticed some other reason… he changed.

“No. Cotton.”

But Sesenia was being sincere.

To beat the cotton.

She meant to beat the Hephria cotton she had just bought.

Hephria cotton needed to be beaten with a stick at regular intervals. This allowed air to enter between the cotton fibers, making it fluff up, and only when it fluffed up did its value increase.

Moreover, if left in a place that wasn’t warm, it easily grew mold. That’s why Hephria cotton had no value in the empire. It was hard to manage and there was no demand.

That’s why she wanted to take him along for this purpose, but the man was still just tilting his head in confusion.

‘Because I know who this man is, it would be a plausible reason, but this man probably can’t trust my existence.’

Even so, she couldn’t reveal this man’s identity right away after taking him. He had to realize who he was on his own. So she planned to hire him as an employee of Iar Trading Company as a side job.

He didn’t seem like he would listen well, but he was probably the only prince not under Elzere’s clutches.

‘Because you are the lost prince that even the current emperor doesn’t know about. The prince that his mother cursed terribly… The existence that was hidden because his mother hated the emperor’s seed to death.’

Sesenia looked at the man quietly and smiled.

‘And you wanted to overthrow all those damn royals.’

Sesenia vaguely remembered the past. As the Empress, she had sought out this man on her husband the Emperor’s orders. Although she had enough headaches with her own affairs, she was sincere when dealing with this man.

‘If there’s anything you want, I’ll make it happen. In return, leave the imperial family. That would be best for you.’

It was just carrying out her husband’s orders, with the hope that he wouldn’t become a puppet trapped in the imperial family like herself. But at that time, this man refused without any hesitation.

Whether he had been influenced by someone or knew how he had grown up and why he had been abandoned, he was full of wounds and said he had to become emperor somehow. It was a dream he had harbored since learning of his existence.

‘In the end, you wanted to become emperor, and I’m going to grant that. I’ll grant that terrible hatred in your eyes. I’ll make that hatred real.’

Meanwhile, Rohan seemed to have finished negotiating the price, as he approached Sesenia and Lizbeth with a victorious expression.

“It’s all done. I prevented them from jacking up the price and bought him at a fair price.”

“About the price we expected?”

“No, I got it for half. Looking at him, he seems to have a lot of problems. If he needs magical restraints, he must be quite dangerous, and looking at how skinny he is from not eating well, and with all the scars on his body… He probably doesn’t have a sound mind either.”

Rohan was wary of the man in the iron cage. For some reason… it didn’t seem like he was being cautious because the man was dangerous, but rather for some other reason.

“Oh? He has scars too?”

Sesenia only now noticed this fact that she had missed while examining the man, after hearing Rohan’s words. Indeed, his body was covered in wounds everywhere. They seemed to have already turned into scars, having been made some time ago.

“Yes.”

“Rohan must have done well. Good job.”

It was then. As if deeply dissatisfied with this transaction, the merchant man hurriedly approached Sesenia and voiced his complaints.

“Ah, this is really a losing business!”

“Hm?”

“Do you know how much money it cost just to keep this slave…!”

Thinking he couldn’t communicate with Rohan, he came to Sesenia’s side and started grumbling. She responded enthusiastically to the man’s words.

“Ah, it cost a lot of money? Why?”

“Because he’s an adult, he eats a lot, so it costs a lot of money. He’s been here for a long time, so the costs keep increasing… and no one buys him. So, miss, if you could pay a little more…”

“I thought you would grumble about the expensive price of the magical restraint on his neck, but you don’t even mention that… I guess it didn’t cost much money. Or maybe the magical restraint is fake, so feeding him actually cost more.”