Countless stalls lined the road leading to the auction house, and whenever Yvette spotted something unusual, she immediately picked it up.

In the end, Felix’s eyes narrowed to slits as he found himself burdened with an armful of purchases.

“You already have these handkerchiefs in every color!”

“The material is different, the material! This one is silk, while the ones at the palace are velvet! I’m going to give these to all the maids there, and then—”

“A scrap of cloth is still a scrap of cloth!”

“…If you keep this up, I’ll only go out with Edwin from now on.”

“Do you think I came because I wanted to accompany you?”

Every time Felix let out a sigh, Yvette shot him a mischievous glare.

And even amid their bickering, there was a peculiar sense of familiarity and ease between them.

Yvette’s biological older brother, Daniel, the heir to the grand duchy, was too busy with work to look after his younger sister, so he had entrusted her to Felix, the deputy captain of the guard.

Unlike the visibly excited Yvette, Felix yawned and stuck out his lower lip.

“Today is the day we interview the new guards. Why did you have to choose today of all days?”

“The auction isn’t held on any other day. Father outlawed it, so even getting a look at one is becoming difficult now.”

“…Ahem!”

“Lena, the head maid, told me that rare goods from the New Continent are being auctioned today. I need to choose gifts for the head housemaid and the rest of the household staff, and this auction house is perfect.”

“There probably won’t be anything special.”

Felix replied curtly.

The reason so many people had gathered was not because of the goods from the New Continent that this innocent young lady had in mind, but because of the sl*ve auction.

Felix did not want Yvette, who had been raised like a flower in a greenhouse, to witness such a horrific sight. He tried to divert her attention.

Yvette turned toward Felix, who was doing his best to stop her, and planted her hands on her hips.

“If you don’t like this, then let me watch the guards’ infantry training.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t sacrifice my men just to give you something pleasant to look at, Lady Yvette.”

Overcome with frustration, Felix thumped his chest several times before frowning at the innocent Yvette.

Apparently suffocated by the restrictions of living almost entirely within the grand ducal palace, Yvette pulled her hood down more deeply over her head.

“By the way, when is Eddie getting here? This is exactly when I need him!”

No sooner had Yvette finished speaking than a man in a frock coat fastened with golden buttons drew the attention of the crowd.

His uniform was immaculate, a sword hung at his waist, and his boots gleamed. Above all, silver hair—the hallmark of House Howard—shimmered in the wind.

Edwin Howard, heir to the Duchy of Howard and chief aide to Daniel, heir to the Grand Duchy.

Smiling with dimples in his cheeks, Edwin lightly patted both of his closest friends on the shoulders.

“Well then, shall we go grant our young lady’s wish?”

“Don’t call her our young lady. Isn’t she this spoiled because you indulge her every whim?”

As Felix’s lower lip jutted out even farther, the little troublemaker in the purple hood was already pointing toward the marketplace.

“Felix, Edwin, hurry! It’s just starting!”

Yvette’s bright eyes curved into crescents as she tapped her small feet against the ground.

The green star of the Grand Duchy of Conrad.

With honey-blond hair, emerald-green eyes, and skin as white as midwinter snow, Yvette was the pride of Conrad.

The Grand Princess, who knew nothing of the ever-shifting political situation among the three kingdoms, was destined to have her fate completely transformed by the auction that day.

* * *

Crack.

“Next, we have a black-haired sl*ve with bronze skin, standing one hundred and eighty-five centimeters tall.”

It was a horrific scene where human beings were bought and sold.

The sl*ve trader brought his whip down across the exposed torso of the man on display.

The sl*ve was nearly n*ked, with only his most intimate area barely covered.

It was nothing like the auctions Yvette had merely read about in books or heard discussed in the secret newsletters sold at general stores.

The eyes of those watching the sl*ves gleamed with greed and l*st.

Yvette’s honest green eyes filled with guilt and shame.

“They’re buying and selling people? Why are they whipping him… Eddie, is what I’m seeing really…?”

Yvette grabbed Edwin by the shoulder and shook him.

Felix and Edwin looked at one another, then avoided her gaze.

Meanwhile, the sl*ve trader clapped his hands and shouted loudly.

“Next in line! A black-haired sl*ve with blue eyes. A very young and fresh man who was only just pulled from the water!”

“Ohhh…!”

Excited exclamations erupted throughout the crowd when the sturdy young man appeared, his upper body bare and his wrists bound with rope.

Amid the long black hair that fell to his waist, a golden lion had been tattooed across one shoulder.

Blue eyes and a golden lion tattoo.

‘Could a sl*ve possess eyes like those?’

Felix, who had always opposed slavery, arched an eyebrow. Edwin tilted his head as well.

‘Even if he was captured on another continent, something about this is strange.’

‘As far as I know, only an heir to the throne of Conwell can possess the royal family’s blue eyes.’

And blue eyes meant—

There is a legend that if a blue-eyed heir is born among the descendants of Conwell’s royal family, he will bring prosperity to Conwell.

It was something Edwin had heard from his history teacher while studying the Ailpesas Continent.

As Edwin tilted his head in thought, Yvette’s green eyes shimmered beneath her purple hood.

Cobalt-blue eyes that evoked the depths of the sea.

While the crowd was captivated by the black-haired sl*ve’s powerful body and strikingly handsome appearance, Yvette’s gaze remained trapped in those vivid blue eyes.

There was nothing lowly or servile about his cool, defiant gaze or firmly pressed lips.

Though his hands and feet were bound, innate elegance and dignity radiated from his entire body.

His blue eyes turned toward Yvette’s flushed cheeks.

Yvette found it difficult to breathe, as though she had been engulfed in flames.

‘Is this how it feels to be completely captivated by someone?’

The crowd entered the bidding, raising placards marked with increasingly high prices.

Unlike the uninterested Felix and the anxious Edwin, Yvette clenched her fists and lifted her head.

The leather whip struck the sl*ve’s body once more.

Even as blood carved red lines across his skin, the blue-eyed sl*ve did not so much as flinch, unlike the others.

‘Where did you come from?’

‘Who are you, to leave someone so utterly unable to move?’

‘How can your eyes be as blue as the sea?’

As though bewitched, Yvette followed those blue eyes.

The lively excitement she had shown only moments ago faded, and she raised one hand, pointing at him.

“That one.”

“…Pardon?”

“I want him. Buy him at the auction and bring him to me.”

Felix’s mouth fell open in shock at Yvette’s words, while a crease formed between Edwin’s brows.

It was hardly unusual for the Grand Duke’s daughter to purchase a servant, but there was something different about the clear, unwavering resolve in Yvette’s eyes.

What troubled Edwin was that the sl*ve had blue eyes.

‘And he is far too elegant for a sl*ve.’

‘Is he truly a sl*ve?’

The sl*ves struck with leather whips either screamed at the top of their lungs or rolled across the floor, clasping their hands together and begging to be spared.

But the black-haired, blue-eyed sl*ve was different.

He did not move. Even when the whip sliced across his body, drawing blood and tearing his skin, he remained perfectly calm.

It would have been difficult to remain that still even with a mere insect crawling over one’s body.

Endurance.

A terrifying tenacity that seemed to know no limits.

And blue eyes, something almost impossible to find in a sl*ve.

Edwin wanted to stop her.

But this was Yvette.

She might look like a mischievous girl raised like a flower in a greenhouse, but she was also the daughter of the Grand Duke, Edwin’s lord.

If he openly refused Yvette’s command, she might hold it against him for quite some time.

Perhaps it would be better to purchase the blue-eyed sl*ve and observe him at close range.

He needed to discover how a sl*ve with such eyes had ended up all the way in Conrad.

And whether this was truly nothing more than coincidence.

Still wary, Edwin crooked a finger, and the auction attendant immediately came running.

Felix, whose mouth still had not closed, grabbed Edwin by the shoulders and turned him around.

“You’re really going to buy that sl*ve? I have a bad feeling about him. That man is…”

“I know. A blue-eyed sl*ve.”

“That’s exactly the problem. What kind of sl*ve has blue eyes? You don’t even see eyes like that among the nobility.”

Felix’s voice rose.

Meanwhile, Yvette, oblivious to everything, was already approaching the sl*ve.

The two men watching her could only exchange uneasy, apprehensive looks.

* * *

Before even half a day had passed, every servant in Erined Palace had heard that the Grand Princess had returned after purchasing a blue-eyed sl*ve.

While he bathed in hot water and had his wounds treated, the blue-eyed sl*ve’s long hair was cut.

“The sl*ve has arrived, Lady Yvette.”

At the attendant’s announcement, Yvette, who had been pacing back and forth across her bedroom while repeatedly smoothing back her hair, clenched her fists.

He wore nothing more than a vest, long black trousers, and a belt around his waist, yet an aloof, dignified air still surrounded him.

With the long hair that had concealed his face now gone, the deep blue sea of an abyss was fully revealed within his eyes.

Clear and transparent eyes.

Yvette had been captivated by those mysterious eyes from the very moment he was first brought out at the sl*ve market.

She rubbed her wrist several times.

“What is your name?”

“…I don’t have one.”

His words in the common tongue were short and awkward.

Damon closed his eyes, then opened them again, his fierce gaze fixed on Yvette.

Even though he must have known she was the Grand Princess, the fire in his eyes did not diminish.

Thinking that she would have to teach him to read and write if he was to become fluent in the Vendels language, Yvette folded her arms and slowly approached him.

Each time she moved, waves of honey-blond hair swayed around her.

Ticklish and soft.

Damon clenched his fists.

As Yvette met his piercing gaze, she swallowed along with her breath, and a startled gasp escaped her.

“From now on, you’re not a sl*ve. And I’ll give you a name.”

“……”

“Theodore. It was the name of my late maternal grandfather—the person I respected most.”

“…!”

“Theo. From today onward, you’re Theo.”