TCML 09

Chapter : 09

This time, I’ll change the male lead.

“Gasp.”

Aile, who was watching the video globe in real-time, dropped her pen with a thud.

“Y-Your Highness… The young lady has accepted the proposal.”

“……”

Leon, who was watching the video globe together, also looked intrigued.

‘The Veritas Princess, abandoned by Marquis Carl after a mysterious conflict.’

Wasn’t that the rumor that had stirred the entire empire for some time?

Not only had she suffered from disgraceful scandals, but now, with the Crown Prince’s public proposal, all eyes were on Kaela.

In such cases, most would hide or avoid the public until the commotion died down…

“I’ve never seen anyone so confident in front of so many reporters.”

Aile couldn’t hide her astonishment as she watched Kaela facing the journalists with a bright, radiant smile.

It felt as if sparks were flickering all around her.

“Rumor has it she’s very shy and her family doesn’t even let her appear in public. How surprising.”

“She is unusual, after all.”

Even after all the fuss and tantrums, her master—who usually wouldn’t flinch at anything—had suddenly announced an engagement and was even smiling like that.

Aile was speechless, unable to believe what she was seeing.

“As expected…”

But Leon, resting his chin on his hand as he watched the video globe, just smiled slyly.

“Seems I chose my wife well.”

“How can someone be this beautiful?”

Emma laughed softly as she looked at my face plastered across every news outlet.

“They say there aren’t even any video globes of your interviews, so they can’t even sell them.”

“Really…?”

Sigh. Now there’s no way to avoid it. I buried my face in my hands and collapsed onto the bed.

I had no choice but to accept the proposal to put Carl in his place, but worry kept flooding in.

‘Now there’s no going back.’

Besides, no one in the royal court would be on my side…

Given the circumstances, I had better start looking out for my own survival as soon as possible.

“By the way, young lady, the market at Helion Square opens today.”

Emma whispered, lowering her voice.

“They said the slave auction is opening too, right?”

“Slave auction?”

“Yes. You said I should let you know as soon as it opens.”

I jumped to my feet.

“So it’s today!”

The slave auction was illegal, so it was held very secretly and discreetly.

No matter how rigid the social hierarchy was, there was no way human trafficking could be legal in Ignis, under the protection of the gods.

Occasionally, such events were only known by rumor, but it seemed one was happening today.

“But why are you going to the slave auction yourself? The servants of the marquis house should be enough.”

Emma tilted her head in confusion.

Of course, the servants at the marquis estate alone were plenty. Including those in the main mansion and the territory’s estate, the number was overwhelming.

“Emma, what time was my appointment with His Highness, the Crown Prince, today?”

“At exactly three o’clock. The carriage will arrive from the palace.”

The reply to the letter I sent to the Crown Prince’s palace yesterday arrived only today.

‘Three o’clock.’

I calculated the time in my head. That gave me about four hours left, more than enough to attend the slave auction.

“Prepare for me to go out. Let’s say it’s just a trip to the salon, just in case.”

“What? But you have to enter the palace this afternoon.”

Emma asked, looking worried.

“It will be held deep in a dark alley, so it’s dangerous for you to go. Why not ask the butler or the knights to go instead?”

I understood Emma’s concern—it was definitely dangerous—but I shook my head firmly.

“No. I have to go myself.”

The boy who would later be called the Wolf of the Messenger and Carl’s Sword, Messis.

I had to intercept that slave, who would bear all the sins of the protagonists with his own hands.

Even leaving revenge against Carl aside…

“I can never let him slip away.”

I had to survive first, before anything else.

Perhaps because of the clear weather, the square was already crowded.

“My lady… look at this! It’s so beautiful.”

Emma, out on the street for the first time in a while, kept marveling.

“Next here, then here…”

But my mind was entirely focused on the soon-to-open slave auction.

Following the coded letters on the shop doorknobs, I found myself deep inside an alley.

“Be careful! It’s dangerous to go this far!”

I used a hat and fan to hide my identity, but Emma had followed me without difficulty.

Being the head of the household seemed pointless if she insisted on coming along.

“When does it start? Did you read today’s newspaper?”

“Newspaper? Ah, the news that the Veritas Princess is to become Crown Princess? The entire empire is in chaos.”

I turned toward the crowd at the sound of my name.

Everyone had their faces hidden with masks or hats—it was clear that the slave auction was happening here.

“Then what about Saint Phoebe and Lady Lutas? They’ll be completely out of luck.”

“Saint Phoebe has spent her life beside His Highness. She must feel utterly helpless.”

“The Lutas Marquis family was rejected openly three times. They should feel far more humiliated.”

“What’s the point? His Highness personally sent a proposal to the Veritas family.”

“What kind of charm could have captured the Crown Prince’s heart?”

Ugh… I had no one to vent my frustration to.

Resigned, I took a corner, and Emma whispered:

“What kind of slave auction lets people come with blank checks?”

“I think he’ll be very popular.”

In truth, I had no idea how much the slave—Messis—would fetch.

But since he was such a popular character in the original story, I imagined his real-life presence would be even more striking.

“All right, thank you for waiting.”

Clang! The iron gate opened, and a man wearing a mask stepped out.

“Hurry up, move!”

Behind him, shabby-looking people were climbing onto the auction stands one by one.

“My goodness, they starve them and even beat them? This is too cruel.”

As Emma had said, they were treated purely as ‘slaves,’ and my forehead creased in disgust.

“The third woman over there! Fifty lots!”

“I’m bidding on the fourth child! Thirty lots!”

Even though the last slot wasn’t filled, the auction had begun.

“Can’t walk straight, huh? You little brat!”

“……”

I was still the only one keeping my eyes glued to the stand.

“What a brazen kid.”

The boy wouldn’t flinch even while being whipped.

“No more bids? Then the fourth goes for thirty lots.”

“Hey, didn’t I call thirty-five?”

Nobody cared if the boy’s skin was cut and bleeding.

In this world, where buying and selling people seemed entirely normal, a wave of revulsion washed over me.

If I hadn’t come here myself to find Messis, I wouldn’t have realized this hellish place existed, no matter how long I had lived here.

“Get up there immediately!”

“……”

I narrowed my eyes and watched the boy carefully.

Though he had a striking presence, the mask hid his face.

But…

“Raise your head!”

As the boy’s head was forcibly lifted by his hair…

‘Black eyes.’

I knew instinctively.

That boy was Messis.

“I’ll bid a thousand lots at the end.”

Before I could even speak, a voice shouted from somewhere.

Everyone had their faces hidden with hats or masks, so I couldn’t tell who it was.

Probably one of Carl’s subordinates, judging by the original story.

“What? A thousand lots? For a single slave?”

“Look at those eyes—can he even be treated like a slave?”

“Even with a mask, you can see he’s handsome. But those black eyes are unlucky for him.”

“And didn’t he have blood-red hair too? Just thinking about it is terrifying.”

Whispers of contempt and fear spread everywhere.

As they said, through the old mask, the eyes were clearly black.

‘Blood-red hair and eyes like darkness…’

Yes. That was definitely a trait of the Ratan tribe.

So it really was Messis.