Rather Than Be Taken, I Will Take - Chapter 59

It was late at night when Jieselgrante returned to Duke Amaterasu’s mansion.

“My lady. Who is that person?”

Lindsey looked at the young man standing next to Jieselgrante with wide eyes.

“Shh.”

Jieselgrante put her index finger to her lips.

Lindsey quickly covered her mouth and nodded.

“Let’s go to the bedroom for now.”

“Yes…”

Jieselgrante headed to the bedroom with the slave youth.

‘What should I say to Duke Amaterasu and Mikhail……’

While thinking that in her head, her mouth steadily spoke different words.

“Could you bring something suitable for him to wear?”

There was less exposed skin than when they first met.

Before leaving Baron Cypress’s establishment and boarding the carriage, she had draped the shawl she was wearing around his shoulders.

It was quite a large shawl for her, but it was insufficient to cover his sturdy body.

So the slave youth’s appearance was still quite provocative.

Lindsey nodded without a word.

It must have been extremely rare for Lindsey, like Jieselgrante, to see a man not properly dressed.

“Ah… Yes! Leave it to me.”

Jieselgrante watched Lindsey’s retreating figure as she left the bedroom for the hallway, then glanced at the slave youth.

He was standing blankly, looking around the interior of the bedroom.

“It seems my mistress has an even more impressive family background than I expected.”

Hesitating for a moment on what to say, Jieselgrante belatedly realized she hadn’t introduced herself to him.

“I am Jieselgrante.”

The slave youth, who had been looking at Jieselgrante while blinking slowly, soon opened his mouth.

“It’s enough if you call me by whatever name you wish, mistress. You could call me by the name of a pet dog, or even the name of a man you like.”

She didn’t have a pet dog.

But the moment she heard “name of a man you like,” the face of a man with black hair and red eyes came to mind unbidden.

‘Right. This is because I’ve been going around saying I love Duke Kardia like a habit.’

When she thought that, the slave youth smiled and opened his mouth again.

“It seems you already have a man you like. May I hear his name?”

Jieselgrante shook her head firmly. But he didn’t seem to believe her.

At that moment, the sound of footsteps was heard from beyond the hallway.

“My lady. I don’t think there’s anyone among the mansion staff who would fit his build. I found some of Young Master Mikhail’s clothes in the laundry room, so I brought them… Is that alright?”

Lindsey showed Mikhail’s clothes with an anxious expression.

Unexpectedly, Mikhail had quite a good sense of fashion and didn’t wear the same clothes multiple times.

Unfortunately, the clothes Lindsey was now showing were ones she had seen Mikhail wear several times.

Jieselgrante pondered for a moment whether it would be alright to dress a slave in the young duke’s clothes, then made her decision.

‘Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him wear these recently.’

She soon judged that these clothes were set aside to be discarded.

Moreover, no mansion employee with a similar build to the slave youth came to mind.

Another alternative was Duke Amaterasu.

‘This would be better than wearing the head of the family’s clothes.’

Deciding to buy new clothes for Mikhail, Jieselgrante said to the youth.

“Change into these.”

The slave youth, taking Mikhail’s clothes offered by Lindsey, removed the shawl he was wearing as if he felt not a shred of embarrassment in front of Lindsey and her.

Soon, as his naked body was revealed wearing nothing, Lindsey startled and covered her eyes.

‘If she does that, she’ll see everything through the gaps in her fingers.’

Looking at the gaps between Lindsey’s fingers that weren’t tightly closed, Jieselgrante turned towards the hallway and said.

“…I’ll step out for a moment.”

The slave youth nodded and put his arms through the shirt sleeves.

Thanks to that, the area of exposed skin was significantly reduced, and just as she was starting to find some peace of mind.

The slave youth, without hesitation, moved his hands to his waistband.

“…!”

Jieselgrante hurriedly left the bedroom with Lindsey.

“My lady, what on earth is going on?”

“I’ll explain later.”

Lindsey reluctantly nodded. But her worried expression remained.

Neither Duke Amaterasu nor Mikhail were the type to interfere with what she did outside.

But bringing a half-naked youth to the mansion was somewhat problematic.

“…”

Just as an awkward atmosphere began to flow between Jieselgrante and Lindsey, the door opened.

“…Wow, clothes really do make the man.”

Lindsey exclaimed in admiration at the sight of him wearing Mikhail’s clothes.

Indeed, even to her eyes, the youth’s beauty was further accentuated to the point of looking quite handsome.

Meanwhile, Cabelased, who had been fixated on his documents, soon raised his head to look at Count Preston.

“You’re saying the Duke Amaterasu’s daughter went to a slave market?”

It was shocking enough that slave markets still existed, but it was equally shocking that Jieselgrante had purchased a slave there.

“Yes, it was one operated by Baron Cypress.”

“And she bought a slave there…”

“That’s correct. But I heard the slave’s appearance was strikingly similar to a Soljakai.”

At Count Preston’s following words, a snicker escaped through Cabelased’s teeth.

“Ha…”

Soljakai was a kingdom in the southeastern part of the Feisis Empire that was once part of the empire’s territory, but had long since been recognized as an independent nation.

“…I heard there’s been constant noise over the royal succession dispute, did they perhaps get caught after flowing into Feisis Empire territory taking advantage of the chaos?”

“It seems highly likely. Given that his appearance was said to be extraordinary, it appears they intended to sell a young man for the amusement of noble ladies.”

Cabelased’s thoughts aligned with Count Preston’s. If it were simply for labor purposes, there would be no need to bring in a slave of exceptional appearance.

“His appearance was extraordinary…”

For a moment, the third prince of Soljakai who had recently gone missing came to mind.

When he heard the news that the third prince had disappeared during the royal succession dispute, Cabelased had already assumed he had been eliminated.

He hadn’t thought they would go as far as selling him as a slave to another country.

Since receiving information from Jieselgrante, Cabelased had been keeping a close watch on who Count Frederick was meeting and interacting with.

He believed that by following his trail, he would naturally obtain clues related to Princess Trinity’s death.

Though it was just a hunch for now, he thought the Empress was closely connected to Princess Trinity’s death.

So he judged that if he found suitable evidence, he could bring down the Empress who currently wielded absolute power.

As he had been under Princess Trinity, Count Frederick seemed to still be investigating the matter.

There were a few nobles with whom Count Frederick had recently begun interacting, and Baron Cypress was among them.

Cabelased immediately put surveillance on Baron Cypress as well.

Then recently, a problem arose in Count Frederick’s domain, and he left for his territory to resolve it.

While tracking the whereabouts of Count Frederick’s subordinates left in the imperial capital, they discovered a suspicious villa operated by Baron Cypress, and Jieselgrante appeared there.

“…We’ve placed people around Baron Cypress’s establishment. I was wondering if we should also assess the situation at Duke Amaterasu’s mansion, what are your thoughts, Your Grace?”

After pondering Count Preston’s question for a moment, Cabelased rose from his seat.

“I’ll look into Duke Amaterasu’s daughter’s side personally.”

With that, Cabelased quickly finished his morning work and headed to Duke Amaterasu’s mansion.

Despite there being no prior notice of his visit, the butler and staff of the Amaterasu family welcomed Cabelased familiarly.

“Cabel, what brings you here? Coming to see me without an appointment.”

Instead of bluntly telling the delighted Mikhail that he hadn’t come to see him, Cabelased dealt with Mikhail for a while.

Only then did he get to the main point.

“Are you alone in the mansion?”

Mikhail, who had been busy watching the staff diligently sweeping and cleaning the corridor beyond the reception room, suddenly opened his mouth wide.

“Don’t tell me! Did you come to see Jiesel today? Really? Is that it?”

Mikhail stared at Cabelased with a face unable to hide his surprise.

‘I wonder what he’s thinking on his own…’

Despite Mikhail’s gaze full of emotion, Cabelased maintained an unresponsive attitude.

“She didn’t go out today and should be in the mansion. I’ll go quickly and call Jiesel.”

Mikhail tried to get up from his seat quite fussily. Cabelased shook his head and said.

“I think it would be better if I go find her myself.”

“…Is that so? Alright.”

Mikhail, who was trying hard to control his twitching lips, soon spoke to a nearby maid.

Saying that Duke Kardia wanted to meet Jieselgrante.

“Isn’t this what you wanted from me?”

Jieselgrante froze in place, inhaling sharply.

‘Why, just… why?’

The next day.

The slave youth who entered Jieselgrante’s reception room to talk was in a half-naked state, just like when they first met.

‘Did he just dislike wearing clothes?’

By this point, her thoughts naturally went in that direction.

But trying her best not to show how flustered she was, she said.

“Let’s… talk again after you put something on.”

Jieselgrante picked up Mikhail’s shirt lying on the sofa and handed it to the slave youth.

“I thought you might prefer this, mistress?”

The slave youth, who quickly put on the shirt, smiled brightly.

Jieselgrante rubbed her forehead.

She was at a loss for where to start correcting him.

“I think it would be better to start by changing how you address me…”