Inside the office, I recalled the contents of the novel from the very beginning.
‘Lucas tried to escape, so I beat and tortured him. When he provoked me by saying I was wrong to think this would break him, I raped him. Right.’
I tried to recall it in more detail, but that was the limit.
The parts I had read myself in the dream could be remembered as vividly as if I had actually read the book, but other than that, I could only remember the general plot as if someone had summarized it for me.
‘If I have this dream one more time, I must read it from the beginning.’
The flow of the novel had changed, but I couldn’t figure out the cause.
Why didn’t Lucas attempt to escape, and why was he trying to seduce me instead?
Was it because it had only been a day since he arrived here?
‘Or is asking him to serve me at night the problem?’
I only wanted him to live comfortably, but did that make him confident he could seduce me?
No matter how much I thought about it, that was the only possible reason.
I sighed.
I should have just handed him over to the knights.
Since Tayros said he was confident he could win, I should have told him to use Lucas fully while preventing him from escaping.
What was the point of regretting it now?
It was already spilled milk.
Since the plot of the novel had changed, the information after that wasn’t very helpful.
I could only recall how Lucas tried to escape and the bizarre torture methods one after another.
Thinking about it again, it was the first time I realized I was such a creative person.
‘Pouring salt right into the wound… ugh.’
I shuddered and decided to stop thinking about it.
It wasn’t good for my mental health.
“Butler. Call Tayros for me.”
“Understood.”
After a moment, Tayros came to the office.
“Did you call for me?”
“Why are you using polite speech? It doesn’t suit you.”
“I’m here.”
“Yeah. Sit down.”
The butler was with us, but since Tayros and I had grown up together like brothers since childhood, this was more comfortable.
The butler served tea without saying much.
“You asked for Lucas, right? You can use him in the knights starting today.”
“Just like that?”
“Never treat him harshly and don’t hurt him on purpose. Getting hurt during sparring can’t be helped, but always remember that he is a gift from His Majesty.”
It is common sense that slaves are treated as objects, not humans.
I do not follow that common sense, but I warned him strictly just in case some people might act according to that logic.
Tayros looked reluctant.
“I don’t know much about this, but is a gift originally supposed to be treated so preciously? Other households sell them off dearly first when their finances decline.”
Since Tayros was right, I kept quiet for a moment.
I was just using that excuse to protect Lucas; in reality, others used them as they pleased after showing them off properly.
I found a suitable excuse and spoke.
“…It’s the first gift our family has received. I want to show him to Brother, too.”
“Ah, right. Brother would like it if he saw him. Yeah.”
‘Brother, I’m sorry.’
I sold out my brother for my own safety.
Actually, I didn’t even know what my brother would think.
It was true that it was the first gift, though.
But to think that first gift would be a slave.
“By the way, that slave is with Leon right now, is that okay? Isn’t it dangerous?”
“He’s wearing the magic tool.”
“Did you tell Leon the activation word, too?”
“Of course I tol… told… him?”
I jumped up from my seat.
I was the pathetic uncle who let a slave meet his nephew without even telling him the magic tool’s activation word.
“If you have nothing else to say, go.”
“Yeah. Then I’m leaving. Don’t worry too much, you can just go to the garden. They were playing well together.”
I just nodded and hurried to the garden.
In my mind, a scene unfolded where he took Leon hostage and attempted to escape.
I had to stop that at all costs.
It wasn’t an absurd thought.
In the novel from my dream, Lucas had once attempted to escape by taking Leon hostage.
Of course, the escape failed, and he received a harsh punishment for daring to take the heir hostage.
‘I branded his body with an indelible mark.’
When I tried to brand his face too, Lucas begged and begged, so I held back.
Thank goodness I held back. If I hadn’t, I would have been branded on my face too.
‘…Why was I so cruel?’
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t understand that part.
I couldn’t figure out why the me in the novel acted so harshly.
It felt like watching something someone else did.
Hyacinth treated Lucas as if he were a sworn enemy.
‘Could it be… that Hyacinth in the novel isn’t me?’
I only arrived at the garden when I was completely out of breath.
Leon, Lucas, and the knights were together in the garden.
Dejected, I stopped in my tracks and caught my breath first.
‘If the knights are together, you should have told me they were together…’
Then again, if they were alone, Tayros wouldn’t have stayed quiet in the first place.
I was being short-sighted.
Leon was talking to Lucas while smiling the entire time, looking incredibly happy.
Lucas was answering his questions with a smile on his face, as if treating a younger brother.
“Are you a knight, Hyung?”
“Yes, I was a knight.”
“Then how strong were you?”
“I am not sure about that. I have never lost.”
“Wow!”
A laugh escaped me.
It was just cute that Leon called Lucas ‘Hyung’ like a child who didn’t really know what a slave was, and that Lucas subtly bragged that he was a strong knight who had never lost.
“I want to feel Hyung’s muscles. Can I touch them?”
“You may.”
Lucas held out his right arm.
Leon admired it repeatedly while touching his arm.
Being next to Leon, it was visible at a glance that Lucas had thick arms and broad shoulders.
“Would you like to hang on?”
“Can I?”
Lucas held out his right arm like a horizontal bar.
When Leon hung on with both arms, Lucas lifted him right up.
There was no sign of struggle.
Leon liked it and laughed out loud, finding it fascinating.
I laughed out loud too.
The two of them turned their heads and looked at me.
“Were you guys having fun?”
“Yeah!”
Leon landed on the ground and ran to me.
“Uncle! I want to have Hyung. Give him to me!”
I couldn’t laugh at the shocking statement that followed.
Didn’t you not know what a slave was…?
