Chapter 24
“Eclipse.”
I said. Our eyes met when I called his name. His sparkled dangerously. I could plainly see his desire to kill me the instant the pain dissipated. There was no way I could bring him to the mansion if he was going to act like that. I bit my lower lip, deep in thought, and then removed the mask from my face with my free hand.
“Look at me, Eclipse.”
I instructed. I couldn’t think of any other way to get him in line but this. I could only hope that he would respond positively
“Look at the face of your owner, who bought you with 100 million gold coins.”
I said, my face revealed. His gray eyes grew wide. I could only assume it was because he was taken aback by Penelope’s breathtaking beauty and alluring face which stood out in stark contrast to this ugly place. I looked at him with unwavering eyes.
“I didn’t buy you because I had money to burn. No noble, no matter how crazy they were, would spend 100 million gold on a slave from some conquered country, you know?”
It was true. No single slave sold for more than 10 million gold during the entire auction.
“Let’s say you rebel and escape. What can you do after that? You don’t have a country to go back to.”
I continued. Eclipse clenched his teeth; I had touched a nerve. He struggled to get loose from my grip, but that only made me apply more pressure. Lifting his face towards mine again, I stared down at him and continued.
“I really hate stupid people who don’t know their place. I saw potential in you and willingly paid the necessary price to get you. That is all there is between you and I.”
I didn’t just spend a huge sum of gold on him; I had experienced a lot just to get to that point.
“Therefore, you have to prove to me that you were worth it, that the 100 million gold I spent on you wasn’t a wasted.”
He stared at me in silence. I continued,
“If you don’t, I’ll just ruthlessly send you back here. You got that?”
I asked, my eyes shining dangerously. Honestly, I didn’t expect I would go that far. It must have come from my desperation to survive that insane game.
I realized the only way to make him calm down was to coldly make him accept the reality of his situation, that he was no longer a noble in his own country but a mere slave to be sold. His eyes wavered. He seemed to understand that I didn’t buy him just to toy around with him for pleasure.
“Nod your head if you understand. I need to hurry back home.”
I instructed. We stayed like that for a moment when he nodded his head slightly. just barely enough for me to notice. I was glad to see there were no changes to his favorability bar. It was more than enough for me.
“M-Miss! Are you hurt anywhere?!”
The auctioneer walked up to me hesitantly while I stood and replaced the mask on my face. He was terrified and held a whip in his hand.
“Hey.”
I called to the auctioneer.
“Y-Yes! D-Do you have something you’d like to say?”
He asked.
“Undo the cuffs.”
I motioned my head towards Eclise who tottered and stood up.
“Wh-What?”
he asked, incredulously.
“Take off the cuffs.”
I repeated.
“B-But miss! This slave is…”
He hesitated.
“Get rid of everything restricting him except for the choker on his neck and the handcuffs. I’m going to take him home myself.”
The slaver, having no other choice, gave one of the workers a signal with the nod of his head. Eclipse was freed from all restraints except for his neck and hands. The workers backed away from him as soon as he was released, though Eclipse didn’t do anything but stand there.
“And you.”
I pointed at the worker who whipped Eclipse the most fervently.
“M-Me?”
“Strip.”
“H-Huh?!”
“Take off everything you’re wearing now, except for your underwear, and hand them all over to him.”
I threw small money pouch with some coins at him. It landed with a soft clang.
“Do it quickly.”
I ordered. The once half-naked slave was soon appropriate to wander around outside.
It was nearly midnight when I finally left the shabby building. I was exhausted from keeping my guard up all evening.
“Hah…”
I sighed deeply while looking up at the sky. I had gone through a lot to get there, but I had no idea how I would get back.
“Just follow me.”
I said, glimpsing at Eclipse who stood behind me. He didn’t say anything back to acknowledge my command, an impertinent action for a slave, but I didn’t have the energy to correct him. I led Eclipse away from the shabby building towards a nearby alley. I wanted to make my way to a larger street. I figured I could ask directions from a passerby.
“Over there! Look! They came out!”
I heard as I turned the corner to the alley. A group of people were standing in the distance. They came rushing towards us, blocking the small path of the alley.
“Well, hello.”
A strange man approached me from the crowd. He was short and fat.
“Who are you?”
I was on high guard.
“You don’t know who I am? Ha!”
The man smirked and let out a fake laugh.
“How am I supposed to know who you are?”
I asked.
“I’m that person who all people call their hope, Clurie-!”
“M-Master!”
A servant came rushing out and stopped the fat man from revealing his identity. The fat man cleared his throat with a single cough then spoke.
“I’ve been waiting for you to come out. Hand that slave over to me.”
He eyed Eclipse who still stood behind me. It finally dawned on me who this man was. It was the fat man from the auction who competed with the old woman for Eclipse until the very end.
“Eclipse, back up a few steps.”
I blocked Eclipse protectively from the man with eyes that overflowed with greed.
For your information, there’s an old saying that a master should know how to protect their subordinates. I was now Eclipse’s master, so I decided I ought to handle this situation directly. Actually, that was just an excuse. I actually had a different motivation.
I’ll earn some of Eclipse’s favor doing this, so why not?
The pig man’s subordinates scared me a little. But what could possibly go wrong? I was the one and only Young Mistress of the Eckart family. I mentally reassured myself with that fact, and held my head up high and mighty.
“Have you forgotten that he was sold for 100 million gold pieces?”
I asked.
“Th-That’s…!”
His face went red. He continued,
“I don’t have that much right now. But I’ll give you 10 million today and give you the rest by next week, so…”
“10 billion.”
I said.
“Wh-What?”
“It always my bid ten times the price of the last bidder, no matter what the final bid was.”
“W-Well…!”
“Had you happened to call out 100 million during the auction then I would’ve bid 10 billion and still would have won him. Therefore, the total worth of this slave is 10 billion gold.
“That’s an absurd demand!”
The pig shouted.
“I hardly think I’m the one being unreasonable here.”
The pig man’s face became so red I thought it might explode. He couldn’t hide his anger. He probably thought I would be an easy match.
“Y-You should just hand him over when I say so! Do you even know who I am?!”
“I would ask the same of you. Do you even know who I am?”
I was planning on removing my mask if something happened. Otherwise, I didn’t have anything on me to prove my identity since I gave away Derrick’s gold button to the slaver. But deep fuchsia pink hair and turquoise eyes should be more than enough for him to confirm who I was. Just as I was about to remove my mask the pig took action.
“Y-You impertinent bitch!”
The fat man swung his arm to slap me. Just as I was about to dodge a hand came out from behind me.
“Ack-!”
The pig’s arm was twisted before my eyes.
I’m sure his hands were cuffed, though?
“A-Ahh! Jack, Jack! Th-These bastards! Kill them all-!”
The pig screamed when Eclipse dropped his hand.
“Back away.”
Eclipse gently pushed me aside. What followed was a continuation of the hyena show from earlier during the auction. Kicks flew. The quiet of the evening was punctuated by loud cracks, cries of pain, and gasps. Their numbers were no match for Eclipse who took down the pig’s subordinates one at a time.
“Ehhh.”
I stepped back from the scene. It was completely different from watching him fight from the grandstand. I was standing there in the middle of the slaughter then; torn skin and blood splatter were everywhere. I found myself having difficulty breathing from the sight of it. It was a suffocating feeling that reminded me how I felt during the royal banquet when the Crown Prince decapitated the attempted assassin. It was a shock I felt once before alongside the fishy scent of blood.
I’m scared…
I realized. I clung to the wall and trembled as I watched Eclise move like an efficient murdering machine. The scene quickly came to an end. The pig was sitting stiffly on the ground surrounded by blood and his men. His eyes had as much shock in them as my own. He wet his pants, a puddle of urine forming around where he sat. I was so shocked I wasn’t even able to feel disgusted by the pig.
I jumped when Eclipse turned towards me. He walked towards me, a broken cuff dangled from his wrists with blood dripping down.
“Hic.”
I cried out in fear as the gray-haired man emotionlessly approached me.
How did I ever manage to threaten a guy this scary?
I was glad I still had my mask on, otherwise Eclipse would have seen just how terrified I was.
“…Master.”
Eclipse knelt in front of me and said,
“I have defeated them all.”
I didn’t even have the time to be surprised. Eclipse’s gray eyes looked into mine with earnest sincerity. He reached out and took one of my hands with both of his and lifted it to his cheek.
“Compliment me, Master.”
He rubbed my cold hand on his cheek like a puppy acting cute, warming it.
At that time I didn’t notice that the hand he held to his cheek was the one with the ruby ring. I could only stare down blankly at the favorability bar above his head.
[Favorability 18%]
My decision, by no means did it fail me.
Please let me know if there’s anything inconsistent or that needs further editing/corrections!!
-emrld
Scarlett Shoujo 