IJRM 09

#Chapter: 09

 Slave (1)

Those who praised Elzer’s beauty began to praise him even more once he made a dazzling entrance into the central social scene. Thanks to that, even the royal family started to pay considerable attention to the Marquis family. However, the Marquis did not reveal who was behind these actions.

Rather, people began to speculate that the official heir of the Marquis family, Elzer, must have been responsible, and they even praised her sharp mind.

‘I wonder how things will turn out this time. Will the Marquis family… really survive?’

Recalling the events of the past, Sesenia chuckled softly and lay down on her bed.

**

Perhaps because she had done it once before, Sesenia’s preparations for her business went quite smoothly.

The money delivered by the butler was about the same amount Sesenia had used in the past to buy all of Hephria’s cotton.

If Elzer had known in advance, he would never have given it. But it seemed the Marquis had set aside the money separately for her. Fortunately, in the past, she had needed the Marquis’s permission for every little step, but now she could act according to her own plans.

Previously, because the business was conducted on behalf of the Marquis, the butler had done most of the work, but this time it was not the butler but Lizbeth who took charge.

To be precise, it was Lizbeth’s brother, and the eldest son of the nurse, Rohan.

Rohan was the nurse’s favored child.

So Sesenia hired him directly.

‘The nurse had to lose two of her children around the same time in the past.’

As a child, Sesenia had met Rohan several times while following the nurse. He had been mischievous and playful. But from around the age of ten, Rohan no longer came to the Marquis household. She learned why after Sesenia became Empress.

Lizbeth had scarcely spoken about her brother at the time, so Sesenia did not know. Lizbeth seemed as if talking about her brother was forbidden.

Rohan, in fact, was not the nurse’s biological son. He had been a child abandoned at an orphanage, whom the nurse had taken in. A particularly frail child, he had been brought into the orphanage where the nurse volunteered.

Though she had no intention of adopting a child, the nurse seemed drawn to him and decided to take him in.

When Rohan turned ten, he learned he was not the nurse’s biological son.

Moreover, he was the illegitimate child of the Azwick Count family, renowned for swordsmanship. The Azwick Count had no son to inherit the family, so he tracked down Rohan, born to some unknown woman, and took him into his household.

Thanks to that, Rohan learned swordsmanship and became a knight at a young age, but his life was filled with misery.

At the time of the adoption, the Count had no sons, so he treated Rohan well. But once the Count’s wife gave birth to a son, Rohan became an eyesore.

This happened when Rohan was only thirteen. For more than seven years until he reached adulthood, he suffered hatred. Simultaneously, he feared for his life. Afraid that Rohan, a swordsmanship prodigy, might threaten the Count’s youngest son, the Count plotted to kill him.

‘Once Rohan became a sword prodigy and even a palace knight, the Count’s anxiety only grew.’

He tried poisoning him, sending him into dangerous situations. Nevertheless, Rohan survived every time, and by the age of twenty, he returned to the nurse without revealing what he had endured.

However, the Azwick Count still considered him a threat and sent assassins to kill him. When the nurse herself became endangered, Rohan risked his life to protect her.

‘Lizbeth told me while crying… all the things Rohan endured—things that neither the nurse nor Lizbeth knew, the harrowing life Rohan had led.’

So Sesenia immediately sought out twenty-year-old Rohan and brought him here. She wasn’t sure if she could truly protect him, but now, with things different from the past, perhaps he could survive a little.

The Azwick Count’s rash actions had started only after Rohan became a palace knight. This time, Sesenia reasoned, if she didn’t make him a palace knight, the danger would be minimized.

Perhaps because of all these events, when Sesenia met Rohan again, not a trace of his past self remained.

‘It’s really unfortunate that someone with such natural talent in swordsmanship had to give up the blade… but… it’s unavoidable for the sake of everything. Still, he handled the trading company quite perfectly.’

With the help of Rohan and Lizbeth, Sesenia launched the company.

It was named “Iar Trading Company,” after her mother, who had been the Marquise. Sesenia became the representative, and Rohan was the manager. Lizbeth, being tied to the Marquis family, could not be included. Sesenia immediately began business operations.

She spent half of the money provided by the Marquis to buy Hephria cotton and secured a well-ventilated, sunlit warehouse. This time, she didn’t buy firewood; instead, she headed to the slave market.

‘For my future.’

In this life, she would eventually break her engagement with the Crown Prince. But at present, she couldn’t recklessly do so, nor did she want to.

Sesenia intended to give hope to the Crown Prince, who desired to become Emperor and refused to break their engagement, only to crush him afterward.

Someone else would ascend the throne.

Prince Ian, who had been her friend along with the Crown Prince. To ruin both of them, she needed someone new to become Emperor. So she decided to raise the future Emperor.

Sesenia planned to bring in someone unknown, not the Crown Prince destined to become Emperor, nor her friend Prince Ian who would betray her, but the Emperor’s son whom no one knew existed.

**

It had been exactly a week since she started the business. After the weekly family meal, Sesenia headed straight to the slave market.

Though she had freedom of movement since starting her business, she didn’t want anyone to know she was going to the slave market. She walked there secretly with Rohan and Lizbeth, all of them covering their heads with hoods.

“Miss, why are we suddenly going to the slave market?”

“Let’s say… for recruitment.”

“No… but buying slaves is a bit…”

“Right? Isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Lizbeth nodded firmly.

“But what I’m buying isn’t a slave.”

“You’re saying that going to the slave market doesn’t mean you’re buying a slave?”

“Lizbeth, the lady has her reasons.”

Rohan stayed close to his sister, keeping her from worrying too much.

“Brother, aren’t you worried about the lady?”

“I am worried, that’s why I’m saying nothing.”

“…What is he saying? Seriously, he’s acting weird these days.”

Lizbeth shook her head, disgusted, but Rohan’s face showed only determination. It was as if he wanted to fully trust Sesenia, no matter what she did.

Yet Sesenia still couldn’t fully trust anyone, because Prince Ian, whom she had trusted, had betrayed her. She disliked people. Still, she felt comfortable being with the two of them.

Perhaps that’s why Sesenia walked ahead, smiling more comfortably than ever. She seemed unaware of it; only Lizbeth noticed and smiled at the change.

The capital of the Empire. Within it existed the slave market.

The slave market was technically both legal and illegal. Selling war captives as slaves was legal, but selling citizens was illegal.

During the height of the war, citizens were not sold in the slave market. But now, with the war over, there were no legal slaves. Those who sold themselves for money or became slaves for other reasons often ended up in the market.

Sometimes children from orphanages, whose parents didn’t claim them, were secretly put up for sale as well.

Since they had no official status, they could be called “war slaves,” and the authorities had no way to prevent it. Slaves had no human rights.

Even war slaves resembled citizens closely, so they could not defend themselves.

Sesenia came today to buy a slave who would not be sold.

“This is not a place for young ladies to visit.”

The slave market lay down narrow alleys, and only certain people were allowed in, in case of illegal activity. The shady gatekeeper shook his head.

Even when she had been Empress, Sesenia had disliked the slave market. She had come several times to uncover illegal activities and overthrow it, but always ended up unable to act, seeing only the pitiful slaves.

She had asked her husband, the Emperor, to intervene, and he had eventually raided the place by imperial order, but by then, the slave traders had already vanished without a trace.

“It’s a shame you can’t distinguish between a guest and a visitor here.”

“Heh, I don’t know what you heard, but this isn’t a place just anyone can enter.”

“Anyone? I’m a merchant too.”

“Interesting words, young lady. You run a trading company?”

It was unheard of for a noble young lady to run a trading company. The gatekeeper’s judgment was correct. But Rohan could not stay silent.

“This is Sesenia of Iar Trading Company.”

Although the company was founded to buy and sell goods, it had never truly distinguished itself, so the man guarding the gate just shook his head.

“These days, young ladies make companies for fun? How amusing. Playhouse games should be done at parties.”