ill chapter 5

It was a familiar sight: Ignati choosing to buy a slave who looked utterly unsellable. This particular slave, however, was uniquely hideous among all the others he had chosen, so much so that she was repulsive. The servant resisted the urge to intervene and simply averted his eyes.

“My lord, are you certain you wish to purchase this one?”

Meanwhile, the slaver was in a panic.

“Why? Is she sick?” Ignati asked.

“No! Not at all! It’s just… her appearance…”

Even though his most defective piece of merchandise was finally about to sell, the merchant was more suspicious than pleased. And for good reason. His customer was the young lord of House Aurel, the rulers of this entire region. He was the only boy around who was wrapped from head to toe in bandages, leaving only his hair and eyes visible, and who traveled with a personal attendant.

The rumors the slaver had heard while approaching Aurel territory claimed the young lord suffered an illness that made him exceedingly irritable and sensitive. But that wasn’t all.

They say he’s killed enough people to build a hill with their corpses.

The rumors were so terrifying that the slaver had seriously considered bypassing the region entirely. But his determination to offload the ugly slave had conquered his fear, and so here he was. He’d put her on display with a mix of hope and resignation, and now…

To think he actually chose her.

Seeing the foreign slave who had been such a thorn in his side finally get picked, the slaver felt his stomach churn with anxiety.

Can I really go through with this?

After all, this ugly girl was a slave everyone else had shunned. Could she possibly satisfy the young lord? The merchant thought not. If the precious noble had a whim and changed his mind, the fallout would land squarely on him. The slave’s fate didn’t matter, but he couldn’t afford to be dragged into it.

No, I can’t risk it.

He might regret this later, but the merchant chose regret over danger.

“I have many other slaves I haven’t shown you yet. Healthier and prettier ones than this, right over here—”

“One thousand gold.”

Ignati cut him off. At those two words, the slaver, Nayul, and everyone within earshot stared in shock.

“P-Pardon me? One thousand gold…?”

Even the most expensive slaves sold at auction only fetched a few hundred. But to offer a price several times that amount? For his most unsellable piece of stock? Forgetting the deference a commoner owed a noble, the slaver gaped, his eyes darting between Ignati and Nayul. He was that stunned.

For a commoner to gawk at a noble like that was a grave insult. But Ignati decided to be patient, to grant the foolish man his mercy just this once. He wanted to buy the slave and be done with his outing. The moment he’d seen the ugly woman behind the iron bars, he knew no other would satisfy him. He liked her hideous appearance and the unique air that marked her as a foreigner, but the deciding factor was her eyes. Anyone else would have been repulsed by his bandaged form, but she showed no such reaction. Her indifferent gaze, as if she couldn’t care less who her master was, pleased him immensely.

“Sir, perhaps if you’d just reconsider—”

Ignati tore his gaze from his chosen slave and scowled at the merchant, his displeasure unconcealed. “Are you refusing to sell?”

“N-Not at all! My apologies! We will complete the transaction immediately!”

Faced with such a fortune, the slaver’s earlier anxieties evaporated. And just like that, ownership of Ha Nayul passed to Ignati Aurel.

Nayul was transported by cargo wagon to Valmur Castle. It was less a beautiful palace and more a rugged fortress, an ancient stronghold the House of Aurel had defended for generations. She had no time to take in her surroundings before she was brought before a middle-aged woman. The woman looked her up and down with clear disapproval before gesturing.