Tamed A Blackened Slave Man

“I knew that you weren’t a normal slave, but who would have expected you to be Prince of a fallen kingdom?”

Damian’s eyes narrowed into a smile. The way his lips curled up into an inverted arch could remind one of a sharp iron skewer.

“It took me several months to figure out your identity. Considering that you’re a mere filthy slave, it seems you did quite a decent job at hiding the fact that you were a Prince.”

Damian was smiling, but it was clear that he was faking it. Lit under the moonlight, one could see that Damian’s face was full of hostility.

“Though they hadn’t been able to find the corpse at the time, they were sure that he was dead. The Crown Prince had merely been ten after all.”

“……”

“Who knew that the child who once stood in the dignified position of Crown Prince would have survived by rolling around in filth? Since I was around the same age as you when I participated in the conquest of the Hyran Kingdom, that should have been about eight years ago. No, nine years now.”

But Cassadin didn’t have a hint of expression on his face in response to Damian’s taunts. There was neither anger nor pain.

Normally, this would have been more than enough for people to become hostile to him, but Cassadin remained completely calm.

He almost looked peaceful, actually. It was as if he were listening to someone else’s story right now.

And that expression ticked Damian off.

“I’m not sure I understand.”

Cassadin tilted his head slightly as he answered. The look on his face, even after Damian revealed to him that he knew everything, made him almost suspect that Cassadin didn’t know anything.

Damian realized that his threat did not work even a little bit on Cassadin. So his next decision was to mention Aren, who was not there at the moment.

Cassadin’s one and only weakness.

“I heard that His Majesty told you to come to the banquet with Aren.”

The moment Aren’s name came out of Damian’s mouth, Cassadin’s face crumpled violently. He responded in a cold voice.

“Didn’t I tell you at the fighting tournament?”

Cassadin did not hide the malice in his voice.

“Do not mention that name with your mouth.”

Damian leisurely admired Cassadin’s aggressive attitude.

“No matter how many times you engrave your dirty marks on snow, the purity of snow is something that you cannot taint.”

Cassadin smirked as Damian blabbered on nonsense. He saw that threats would not work on him, so he was now attempting to separate him and Aren.

It bothered Cassadin to see Damian try so hard to bother them, even more than the Emperor.

Skilled in manipulating human psychology, Damian knew very well that Cassadin’s affection for Aren wasn’t ordinary, but one that contained obsession and possessiveness that was considered far beyond normal.

“No matter how much you take, your thirst will remain unquenched. Hadn’t you been uneasy even as you embraced her? A bit anxious? It is because of your thirst and strange compulsions that you left those marks all over her pale body, no?”

Turning away from Cassadin as if he had accomplished his objective, Damian then added a final warning.

“Ultimately, the time will come when you will put the woman you love in danger with your own hands.”

Damian’s pitch-black hair fluttered carelessly in the air in unison with its owner’s footsteps.

If Aren ever fell into danger because of him, he just had to remove the one who would potentially bring about that danger.

To Cassadin, anyone who dared to test his relationship with Aren or anyone who tried to block their way was just an annoying obstacle.

He did not need anyone else other than Aren.

She had been the single ray of light at the end of his long wandering through the darkness.

There was no way Cassadin would give up that light.

It had been long since Cassadin’s objective had changed.

Cassadin no longer wanted revenge against this Empire.

The only thing he longed for was Aren.

Just Aren.

The winter’s crescent moon shone upon the fallen kingdom’s Crown Prince as it slowly fell to the ground.

Looking up at such a moon that resembled Aren, Cassadin smiled wordlessly.

---

The next morning arose.

As soon as morning broke, Cassadin came to escort Aren. Aren wore a thick cape over the sky-blue winter dress she was wearing in order to cover her shoulders and neck.

Truthfully, Aren’s entire body had been sore throughout the morning because of the ordeals of yesterday. In the place where immense pleasure had passed came immense pain.

But Aren smiled, pretending to be alright.

Cassadin obviously noticed Aren’s behavior. Dressed in light blue, Cassadin looked down worriedly at Aren as he accompanied her.

“Are you alright?”

Aren folded her eyes pleasantly toward Cassadin and nodded. How was he able to look so extravagant no matter what he wore?

Looking at the man who had come to escort her, Aren picked up her dress to bow.

“We’ll need to start speaking formally when we arrive at the banquet hall. A pleasure to have you here, My Lord.”

Cassadin also smiled back at Aren with a loving expression. He leaned down close to Aren and whispered quietly into her ear.

“Next time, I will try not to make it hurt for you.”

Aren’s cheeks reddened instantly at his unbelievably indecent words. Aren slapped Cassadin’s back scoldingly, but it was only her hand that hurt against his muscular back.

After conversing for a while, the two rode the carriage together to the palace.

When they arrived at the palace, they were greeted with the sight of countless people.

Perhaps it was because the banquet was being held over the course of three days, but many people were beginning to make introductions among one another at just the banquet hall entrance.

“I thought there wouldn’t be many people that could come to the banquet according to what the rumors said…… But there are so many.”

Cassadin answered Aren’s mumbling.

“It seems that His Majesty put earnest work into this banquet.”

When the nobles that had been talking amongst each other found that Cassadin had come, their mouths all fell agape, and they began to act friendly with him.

“Oh, my, Your Lordship!”

“I knew Your Lordship would come, but do you have the slightest idea how worried I was yesterday after realizing your absence?”

“Ahh, how is it possible for one man to be this handsome?”

Starting from noblewomen to young ladies who had just had their coming-of-age ceremony, all of the women blushed as they stared at Cassadin.

There wasn’t a single person in the Seville Empire who did not know Cassadin had previously been a gladiator slave after the Emperor publicly revealed the fact that he had been a slave at the fighting tournament.

However, regardless of whether he was a slave or not in the past, Cassadin is currently not just a Marquess, but also a Knight Commander. Not to mention Lumen, the Commander of the 1st Order of Knights, was openly supporting this man.

But above all, look at his handsome face.

Even the sun would envy the man’s face, which shone brighter than the sun itself. The moon would be ashamed to even dare shine on him.

When Aren and Cassadin finally entered the banquet hall, there were even more people awaiting them than they had seen outside.

A massive chandelier was hanging on the ceiling, glittering about its presence. On the large circular staircase behind that stood people standing around, talking amongst each other.

On top of the large rectangular table placed in the center of the banquet room was an assortment of precious dishes—enough to feed everyone in the room and still have plenty left over.

When the people who had been conversing saw Cassadin, they all stopped and stared at him as if hypnotized. The gazes directed at Cassadin glittered with greed.

The original number one spot for ideal husband material had been Damian. But the trend was always bound to change.

The current number one is Cassadin.

All of the noble ladies practically pushed each other out of the way as they approached Cassadin and spoke to him.

“Hello, Your Lordship.”

“I’ve heard the news about how Your Lordship defeated those Elsia troops that dared to invade the Empire.”

“How is it even possible for Your Lordship to be this perfect? The rumors barely capture the essence of your beauty. My eyes are blinded just looking at you.”

It came to the point that some even appealed to Cassadin by openly revealing their cleavage. Giving a false smile to the woman whose objectives were too obvious, Cassadin spoke up.

“Thank you for all of the compliments, but I would like to spend this banquet together with my sister.”

Though they were no longer family or siblings, he called Aren his sister so that she would not be put in a difficult situation.

Only then did they realize Aren’s existence next to Cassadin. The ladies all stepped back, disappointed.

“……I see.”

“It seems that the two of you are as close as the rumors say, seeing how you came to the banquet hall together.”

“I’m quite envious, I should say.”

There was also no one in this banquet hall who was unaware of Cassadin and Aren’s previous relationship as siblings.

But that was a matter of the past. They did not know what could happen now that they were not family. Not to mention, rumors stated that the two of them had practically been together every single day.

The ladies who had their eyes on Cassadin were wary of Aren. They considered her a competitor.

Aren was not one who could not notice such gazes. Smiling towards the wary noblewomen, Aren spoke to them.

“His Majesty had ordered me to come to this banquet together with His Lordship. It was his kind consideration that he invited me, since we were once family after all.”

“……Ahhh.”

Only after hearing Aren’s explanation did the ladies seem to be at ease, as they swept down their chests in relief. But there was still a sharp spike in their eyes when they looked at Aren.

One of the ladies threw a question at Aren and pried for her feelings.

“Though you two had once been family, that is not the case anymore, correct? Then, is it possible that Milady sees His Lordship as a man……?”

Aren laughed quietly at the obvious question and responded.

“It is true that my younger brother is handsome enough for us to have gotten such misunderstandings when we had been family.”

Younger brother and sister.

The two were no longer family, but they still continued to refer to each other as family.

Putting aside status and all that was in between, the bond between Aren and Cassadin was remarkable. There was no room for anyone to dare squeeze between the two.

Those who had a quick wit bit their lips in disappointment and left the spot without much objection.

But there were also those in the world with the strange belief that it was possible for them to make a space for themselves in between them if they tried.

The space that was made by one noblewoman leaving was soon filled with another.

Seeming to have been well maintained, the woman’s silky orange hair shone. Her pink eyes were not gazing at Cassadin, but were directed straight at Aren instead.

Feeling someone’s gaze on her, Aren turned to face the woman. As soon as she did so, the woman’s red lips curled up happily.

The woman was wearing a dress that openly showed her neckline, one that was unsuited for the current cold season. She was no longer wearing a cheap navy dress but an expensive pink one.

The woman who had suddenly appeared in front of them was someone Aren also knew well. And it was also someone who should not be at this banquet.

Because those who were invited to this banquet were only the nobles.

“It’s been a while, Lady Serkia.”

Lillian smiled brightly at Aren.