That night, rain poured down like a torrential downpour. The Duchess of Felontes arrived at the County in desperate haste, like someone being pursued, and entrusted a man to Rihana. 

The Duchess said she needed Rihana to look after the man’s safety until she returned.

‘No one must discover that he’s my slave. So could you let him stay at the County under the pretense that the Count purchased him from the black market?’

Only then did Rihana look up at the large man standing behind the Duchess. Though he wore a black hood, the dazzling bright golden hair and jewel-like blue eyes that glimpsed through couldn’t be easily hidden. His languid yet sharp appearance, combined with an somehow noble and cold atmosphere, made it impossible to imagine him being a slave.

Rihana took on the slave despite her slight hesitation. She had no choice but to grant the Duchess’s request.

The Duchess was a longtime friend of her deceased mother and father, a mentor who had taught Rihana social etiquette in place of her mother, and the only adult she could rely on besides her father. 

Even after Rihana became the young head of the family and a member of the Imperial Knight Order following her father’s sudden death in the subjugation campaign, she had received tremendous help from the Duchess.

So even knowing that the Duchess was the leader of nobles who had banded together to bring down the tyrant Emperor Kadelai, who only pursued l*st, and even knowing that she was plotting rebellion in alliance with the neighboring Kingdom of Tarecus, Rihana had no choice but to turn a blind eye. 

The same reasoning applied to why she couldn’t immediately arrest the Duchess, who was trying to flee to the Kingdom of Tarecus after entrusting her cherished slave to Rihana.

Thus, the Duchess left the slave named Raiden with Rihana and fled to the Kingdom of Tarecus, while Rihana disguised the Duchess’s slave as one she had purchased herself and let him stay at the County.

Since the Duchess had called him her most cherished person despite being a slave, Rihana couldn’t treat him like other servants, so she kept him like her bedroom slave. This was only in name, however, since the servants of the County knew their master was the most faithful person in the world, so they never thought the slave would actually serve her at night.

The same went for her only friend, Letia Mardea. Though the suddenly appeared incredibly handsome male slave greatly stimulated her curiosity, she never imagined that he and Rihana would become intimate. 

Rather, Letia herself wanted to try something with Raiden and would flirt with him whenever she saw him.

* * *

“You want me to use you as my escort…?”

Rihana’s eyes widened at Raiden’s unexpected request as they ate breakfast early in the morning before entering the palace.

It wasn’t unusual for Empire ladies to dine with their bedroom slaves, so Raiden and Rihana sitting at the same table for meals wasn’t strange.

Occasionally, male servants would mutter loud enough for Raiden to hear, “A slave who sells his body for favor,” their jealousy flaring even though they knew their master wasn’t that type of person. But Raiden never bothered to refute their words. No, it seemed more accurate to say he paid them no attention at all.

Though he felt incredibly arrogant, no servants directly harassed him. Despite being a slave, Raiden was upright, somehow noble, and possessed an untouchable aura.

“Exactly what I said. Please assign me as Lady Rihana’s escort.”

“…I don’t need an escort. No, more than that, for me, the Emperor’s Sword, to go around with an escort would be…”

“It would just be a superficial formality.”

“…”

“There’s also a reason why the Duchess Felontes left me here specifically.”

When Rihana seemed to be considering it, Raiden said this. At his mention of a specific reason the Duchess had left him, Rihana’s black eyes trembled slightly. 

She had been thinking since taking him on that there must be a separate reason why the Duchess had entrusted Raiden to her. If it were only for the slave’s safety, it wouldn’t necessarily have to be at her estate.

The reason she hadn’t asked despite knowing was because she knew the Duchess was the leader of the rebellion the nobles would stage, and because she couldn’t speak of the Duchess’s rebellion with her own mouth. 

There was also guilt that she couldn’t readily step forward and participate in the Duchess’s cause, given her family’s long service to the Imperial Knight Order and her current position as the Emperor’s Sword.

Even if the Emperor was corrupt to his bones, he was still the sun of the Empire that her family had protected all this time. So all she could do was turn a blind eye. Raiden asking for this kind of help from her was becoming a little… no, very uncomfortable.

Yes, uncomfortable. If she had to define Raiden in one word, he was an uncomfortable man. Apart from not being able to treat him carelessly because he was the Duchess’s precious person, spending 24 hours with him was bad for her in every sense. 

Actually, even sitting together for daily meals like this was uncomfortable, but she couldn’t make the Duchess’s precious person eat with the servants or alone, so she endured it.

She had no immunity to men. Especially not to such superior looks compared to her long-time crush, her fiancé. Before seeing this man, she had thought no one in the world could match the appearance of Casian, called the Empire’s most beautiful man. Casian’s looks were that remarkable. Remarkable enough that even the Empire’s only princess had fallen for him.

“You don’t need to think deeply about it. Just take me wherever Lady Rihana goes.”

His tone was closer to an order than a request. Rihana’s pitch-black eyes stared at Raiden.

“Raiden.”

“Rai.”

Raiden corrected his name. The day after the Duchess had entrusted Raiden to her, when she had asked for his name, he had requested to be called Rai instead of Raiden. 

Well, it was more like a command than a request, but thinking there must be a reason, she had agreed, though she had momentarily forgotten since she rarely had occasion to call his name.

“Right, Rai. Can you tell me why I should do that?”

Whatever reason came from his mouth, she would have to pretend she hadn’t heard it, but somehow she wanted to know. 

Why was this radiant beauty making such a request at her side after leaving his master’s embrace? No, was he really the Duchess’s slave to begin with? Had he ever warmed her bedroom or served her at night?

In the end, all her curiosity came down to one thing.

What was this man’s true identity?

“I can tell you if you wish to hear it, but…”

Raiden’s blue eyes, more sparkling than jewels, stared directly at Rihana. Rihana felt the back of her neck grow hot under his gaze. She remembered feeling this way once when her fiancé had smiled at her. 

Despite being a completely different situation, a completely different expression, and completely different emotions, her neck grew hot like that time, and she swallowed dryly.

“It would be better if you didn’t hear it.”

“…Why?”

Rihana stubbornly asked, looking up at Raiden intently. Instead of answering, Raiden silently met her eyes. Their gazes locked hotly. Just as the entangled stares were becoming uncomfortable, Raiden’s thin, neat lips slowly parted.

“Because Lady Rihana is the ‘Emperor’s Sword’?”

The Emperor’s Sword.

With those words alone, she had no choice but to accept the entire situation.

The undercurrent of rebellion stirring among the nobles. The Duchess who had suddenly abandoned everything and disappeared. And the slave of unknown identity that the Duchess had left in her sole care.

What this man intended to do was connected to what the Duchess and the rebel forces wanted to accomplish. Could she help him? A rather light, insignificant small fear suddenly struck her.

The Ariella family and she, its head, belonged to the Emperor. If she helped this man, what would happen to her family’s honor and her position? Wouldn’t the deceased heads of the family beat their chests in their graves? Wouldn’t her father and mother shed tears that their only daughter had gone down the wrong path?

Her mind grew increasingly complicated. But soon, her small head nodded weakly once. Since she was already helping the Duchess by taking care of her precious man, there was no reason to worry about such unanswerable concerns now. The water had already been spilled, and pouring a little more water onto the spilled water wouldn’t change anything.

“Fine. Let’s do that.”

At Rihana’s permission, the corners of Raiden’s mouth stretched long. At his smile, Rihana’s eyes suddenly widened. Her heart seemed to drop to the floor with a thump, then immediately began beating violently.

Truly, it was a smile that couldn’t help but make her heart flutter.