In The Basement Of Duke Ivanstein's Mansion - Chapter 9

“If I say yes, will you be more scared?”

‘So he is a noble after all.’

Mel quickly assessed the situation and promptly knelt down, pressing her head to the ground.

“Thank you for saving me. I will never forget your kindness, so please spare my life.”

The fact that she didn’t feel any pain meant that the boy had taken all the impact by catching her as she fell. Even if the beautifully smiling boy in front of her suddenly decided to kill her, she would have nothing to say.

“Why would I kill you after helping you? Come on, get up.”

The boy pulled on Mel’s shoulder. Watching Mel get up awkwardly, the boy laughed softly and asked while dusting off her clothes.

“Why were you leaning out of the window? It’s dangerous, you know.”

“Well, there’s a hole in that tree……”

Mel started to answer unconsciously, then mumbled and firmly closed her mouth. It was related to the passage she had worked in today. The job required considerable security, especially for a task given to a slave. She couldn’t carelessly talk about it.

Just as Mel was about to become troubled, not knowing how to explain,

“Mel!”

Her mother’s voice calling for her came from inside the cabin. Not knowing that Mel was safe, her mother was banging on the cabin door and shouting.

The cabin had been locked by the ducal family’s manager. It was to prevent slaves from escaping and running away. The door probably wouldn’t open until morning when someone from the ducal family came back to open it.

“Oh no.”

Mel’s face turned pale instantly as she realized her situation.

“I need to get back inside the cabin!”

Mel hurriedly ran towards the cabin door.

For a slave to leave their assigned lodgings without permission was a capital offense. Those who employed slaves dealt harshly with slaves trying to escape. They wouldn’t care that Mel was a child, or that she had unintentionally fallen from the cabin window. They might even kill her immediately to make an example.

“Mother! I’m here!”

“Oh, my child! Are you alright? Oh God, thank you.”

From inside the door, her mother’s sobbing voice was heard, and the dull sound stopped. Listening to her mother’s sobbing with relief, Mel looked at the cabin door with desperate eyes. The door had thick chains, thicker than Mel’s wrist, wrapped around both handles, and heavy padlocks at both ends of the chains.

The padlock wasn’t the type that opened with a key, but one that required turning something round in various directions to open. Mel had seen a locking mechanism like this on her former master’s safe.

“Mel, you need to come inside quickly. Can you do it?”

“I’ll think of something, Mother! Don’t worry too much!”

Unlike her reassuring voice to her mother, Mel’s face was on the verge of tears. She needed to get back inside the cabin before morning, but there was no way.

“Want some help?”

The boy’s voice came from behind Mel. Surprised, she quickly turned around to find the boy standing there with a calm face. He must have followed when Mel ran in surprise. The boy seemed to know how Mel could get back into the cabin.

“If you could, I would be really, really grateful, but……”

Mel carefully nodded and watched his reaction.

Sometimes people felt ashamed just by the fact that a slave asked them for help. They thought that a mere slave daring to speak to them, let alone asking for something, meant that they appeared weak to the slave. So Mel had to be careful.

“Do you know I’m a slave and that’s why you’re offering help?”

“Oh?”

The boy’s expression didn’t change even after Mel revealed she was a slave. He just shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t know.

“How did you end up here?”

“……My previous master sold me and my mother to settle his gambling debts.”

“Oh my.”

The boy clicked his tongue for a moment and looked at Mel. She felt her face heating up without realizing it. She suddenly felt ashamed of her status as a slave.

“A cute child like you could have fetched a better price if sold to a bad character. Seeing that they sold you quietly, it seems you had a good master.”

The boy’s voice sounded ambiguous as he spoke as if pitying her. It sounded like he was sympathizing with Mel’s situation, but on the other hand, it also sounded like he found it pathetic that her previous master didn’t make much profit. But his face smiling gently at Mel was so harmlessly beautiful that such suspicions melted away instantly.

“So how long have you been here?”

“It’s only been a day.”

“Is that so?”

He replied calmly to Mel’s words and knelt in front of her.

“Here, step on my shoulder.”

“What?”

Mel was so surprised that she unconsciously took a step back. As she hesitated, blinking her eyes, he smiled as if it was okay and urged her.

“Come on. Then you’ll be able to get back in through that window.”

“……”

Is it really okay to do this? All sorts of thoughts ran through Mel’s mind. Is this a new way to torment slaves? Do the nobles here enjoy this kind of amusement? It seemed like pure kindness, but Mel wasn’t used to kindness from others.

Perhaps noticing the wariness in her eyes, the boy spoke in a gentle voice.

“Don’t worry. I’m doing this because I have something I want to ask you too.”

“……Me?”

At his words, the tension in Mel’s hunched shoulders eased slightly.

“Yes. I think you might be able to help me.”

Could someone who was merely a slave like herself be of help to him? Mel shook her head without realizing it.

“But I’m just a slave. How could I……”

“That doesn’t matter.”

Come on, he urged, reaching out his hand to Mel. To take his hand and step on his shoulder.

His purple eyes sparkled beautifully in the moonlight. Staring blankly at that mysterious sparkle, Mel reached out her hand. His long, slender fingers tickled Mel’s palm before grasping it firmly and pulling.

“……!”

“Step up here and climb.”

The boy patted his bent knee with his other hand. Mel followed his lead, stepping on his knee and then onto his shoulder. As he effortlessly stood up, Mel’s view suddenly rose high.

“Whoa!”

“Careful.”

The boy stood close to the wall, allowing Mel to lean her body against it. As Mel’s hand suddenly appeared outside the window, her mother inside the cabin approached, seemingly startled.

“Mel!”

“Mother!”

“Oh my, child. Can you grab my hand?”

“Yes!”

Her mother began to pull, firmly grasping both of Mel’s hands. As she did so, Mel’s feet left the boy’s shoulders. He now supported the soles of Mel’s feet with both hands. Mel was able to sit on the windowsill with the help of her mother and the boy.

“How on earth did you get up here?”

“Well, down there……”

At Mel’s words, her mother craned her neck to look out the window. But the boy right below the window was not visible to her mother. He would have to move away from the window a bit for her mother to see him, but he didn’t seem inclined to do so.

The boy put his index finger to his lips, meeting Mel’s eyes.

“……”

It meant not to tell her mother about his presence.

See you tomorrow.

After mouthing these words to Mel, the boy disappeared around the corner of the cabin wall.

Mel kept looking at where he had disappeared, then fully entered the cabin at her mother’s urging.

‘Will he really come here tomorrow?’

As she listened to her mother’s voice demanding to know what had happened outside and how she had managed to climb up here, Mel covered her mouth with her hand. Her heart was beating so hard it felt like it might jump out of her mouth.

* * *

What was Mel’s expression like then?

“You really came!”

The child’s eyes widened, her cheeks turning pink as she smiled. As if she hadn’t believed he would really come back.

What did I answer to such a Mel?

“Were you waiting for me?”

I think I probably asked back like that. To that, Mel, that child……

“My lord, my lord!”

“If you say this is just sleeping, who would believe it when he won’t wake up no matter how much we try!”

The surroundings were noisy. He could vaguely hear voices frantically calling him, someone scolding, and trembling voices making excuses. Genoa felt as if the voices of his subordinates shouting beside him were slowly pushing into his mind. That sensation felt very unfamiliar.

“Gasp, he opened his eyes!”

At the subordinate’s cry that was almost a scream, Genoa finally lifted his heavy eyelids. His vision was blurry.

“Are you alright?”

“He’s, he’s awake!”

In his gradually returning vision, he could see the backs of the knights, pale-faced and with swords drawn. They were on guard surrounding Genoa as if in the middle of a battlefield.

“What are you all doing?”

At Genoa’s cold voice, the tense atmosphere faltered for a moment. The knights began to sheathe their drawn swords one by one. Pushing through these knights, Bane approached.

“……My lord.”

Seeing Bane standing before him with a stiff face, Genoa’s lips set in a frightening line.

“I’m sure I told you to chase the tail of the King of Reibritton.”

Bane had been left behind to deal with the unfinished business in Reibritton. The fact that Bane was now in front of Genoa, who was heading towards the Raon Empire, meant he had disobeyed orders.

Since Bane was a person who would face even death at Genoa’s command, it was more plausible to assume that a situation had arisen where he couldn’t carry out the order, rather than that he had disobeyed.

Genoa looked around for a moment to assess the situation. Then he frowned at the unfamiliar environment that had suddenly changed.