The Slave Is Too Handsome - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A slave who’s far too handsome!
020.
George froze mid-gape, looking every bit as stunned as Lucian felt.
“Didn’t you hear? Apologize to Lucian at once!”
Eloise pressed him, shoving Lucian forward. The collision made George flinch and recoil.
“I, I should apologize to a commoner?! The one who should apologize is this wretch——!”
“What did Father say would happen if you laid hands on the servants even once more?”
……
George’s face drained of color, his nostrils flaring.
“He said it wouldn’t end with mere confinement. He’d strip away every penny you have left——”
“And what about you?! You dare bring not three, not four, but four lowborn commoners into the Duke’s Residence?! What will Father say when he finds out? Well?”
Cornered rats bite cats, as they say — George made one final desperate lunge. Eloise said nothing.
“You should be under confinement at minimum.”
George laughed bitterly.
Lucian turned quickly, whispering urgently. “My lady, I’m fine. Perhaps we should——”
“Silence.”
“What?”
Eloise pushed him aside and advanced on George, who instinctively retreated.
Confinement? I’d rather welcome it.”
He spoke without turning back.
“This is pure arrogance!”
“I’m not sure how the Marquis Family’s recommendation for recruiting knights becomes grounds for confinement.”
“……What?”
George’s small eyes went wide.
‘Even I almost believed that.’
Lucian’s tongue slipped out at such a casual lie. He’d nearly swallowed it himself — there was no way George would see through it.
George’s defeat was absolute. His narrow shoulders sagged.
A metallic scrape. He jammed his pocket watch carelessly into his pocket and prepared to flee.
The crisis seemed to be over. The moment Lucian drew breath, Eloise rekindled the flames.
“Your birthday party.”
At that simple phrase, George stopped dead. Mary gasped and rushed forward, sensing Eloise’s intention.
“Miss! Not that!”
“Apologize properly, and I’ll permit your birthday party.”
What on earth was so crucial about a birthday party?! Lucian found this household utterly bewildering.
More surprising still — George, who’d been fleeing, turned back with a serious expression.
“This chance won’t come often. You know how it is — without my permission, you’ll never have another birthday party.”
“……Wait. You mean I can make it as grand and lively as I want?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, what do I do——”
George seized his own hair with both hands and cried out.
“I’m, I’m sorry!!!”
“Properly.”
Eloise approached and pressed his back down firmly.
“Erk!”
“Again.”
“I……I apologize. For striking you.”
George bowed his waist in apology to Lucian.
He likely didn’t mean a word of it, but Lucian had never experienced such a thing before — his mind reeled. A nobleman apologizing to a servant? The world would have to split in two.
“And the others.”
Eloise gave George a tap. He turned toward the remaining three and shouted.
“I apologize!”
The matter was thus concluded.
***
“Miss! Please hear me out!”
The chaos continued into the afternoon. The Knight Order’s Vice Commander burst into Eloise’s office.
Lucian, his wounds treated by a maid, was in the midst of receiving instruction in medieval history when the intrusion occurred.
“This is most unjust! I cannot be dismissed like this!”
After hearing the full account of what had befallen Finn, Ned, and Gabe, Eloise promptly ordered the Vice Commander’s dismissal.
The Vice Commander must have rushed here upon hearing the news.
“Enough!”
Frederick, who followed him in, stopped the Vice Commander short.
“Ugh!”
Frederick forced him to his knees on the ground with sheer strength. Eloise set down her book and walked slowly before him.
“Have you anything left to say?”
“I did my duty as Vice Commander! The morale of the knights has suffered because of that wretch——!”
The Vice Commander glared at Lucian with the eyes of a beast.
“You chose the wrong method. I dislike stupid people.”
Eloise waved her hand to dismiss him without another word. Frederick seized the Vice Commander’s collar.
“Miss! Miss!!!”
The Vice Commander was finally dragged out ignominiously by his own men.
“Shall we rest for ten minutes?”
Eloise pressed her brow and sat beside Lucian. Now aware of the full extent of George’s transgressions, Lucian ventured carefully.
“I’ve heard this whole affair stemmed from me. Laying all responsibility at the Vice Commander’s feet seems……harsh.”
The root cause had been that day when, sold as a slave, he’d wandered into the young lady’s bedroom unbidden.
It felt excessive to dismiss the Vice Commander on those grounds.
Eloise shot him a sharp look, and he trailed off.
“You think I’m too lenient, so you fancy yourself important?”
Eloise seized his collar easily. Their faces drew near enough to touch.
“……I’ve never thought such a thing.”
“You’re my slave. My most expensive slave. Don’t overstep your place.”
Eloise’s gaze was utterly devoid of emotion.
‘I’ve fallen from human to slave, haven’t I.’
“Don’t cheapen your own worth so easily.”
……
“Answer me.”
Eloise shook his collar.
“Yes, my lady.”
Only then did her small hand release him.
“I shall be mindful.”
Eloise resumed the lesson as though nothing had happened.
As the lesson concluded, the three slaves arrived, now properly dressed.
They’d been tasked with watching Lucian outside the office at Eloise’s command.
“Keep watch carefully.”
Eloise spoke more gently than usual — a stark contrast to her cold treatment of Lucian.
‘Well, only natural.’
Lucian was nothing more or less than a tool for Eloise to use.
“Dinner.”
Mary set a tray with the evening meal on the desk. Lucian, who’d been studying alone in the reception room, finally looked up. It was just bread, soup, and a darkened lump of meat.
‘The portions have grown meager.’
Eloise’s attitude — that she saw him only as a slave — reflected even in the meals.
‘I should be grateful for this much.’
Lucian reached for the bread, then glanced at Mary.
“Um…… Listen.”
“What.”
“I’m curious about something.”
“About what.”
“George…… the young master’s birthday party. Is it really such a big affair?”
Mary, who’d been wiping her hands on her apron, stopped abruptly.
“You needn’t know. You, who dared betray our young lady.”
Mary, Eloise’s personal maid and loyal confidante, was taciturn. She fixed Lucian with a frightening stare, much like her mistress.
‘Right. I’ll just eat.’
What business had a slave brooding? Lucian laughed at himself and tore into his bread — when the door locked with a click.
“Besides, there’s what you helped with earlier……and I’m telling you this for the young lady’s sake.”
Mary glanced around once more. The spacious reception room held only the two of them.
“That day is the young lady’s mother’s death anniversary.”
“……What?”
Lucian nearly dropped his spoon. His pupils trembled faintly.
“You mean she died giving birth to George?”
Bang!
Mary’s fist struck the table, and Lucian’s body jumped. Truly, like mistress, like maid.
“Can’t you tell just by looking? The two of them have different mothers!”
……
“You really didn’t know?”
Mary’s tongue clicked disapprovingly. Lucian clapped a hand over his mouth in surprise. The puzzle pieces clicked into place.
“Our young lady is the daughter of the late Duchess. George is the Duke’s illegitimate child.”
……
“As it happens, they were born the same year. The young lady and her mother were cast aside.”
Mary’s explanation continued. It was, in truth, an ordinary tale.
The Duke’s infidelity, his bastard child, the first wife displaced, the first wife’s daughter — all the familiar wretchedness. Mary finished with the story of the first wife’s death, the mistress seizing control of the Duke’s house, and the mistress’s son. Her voice was thick with bitterness.
“Until now, the young master’s birthday has been observed quietly, by tacit agreement — a bare minimum of consideration for the young lady. The Duke, the young master, and his mother held a small, aristocratic party in the Main Building.”
“And the young lady on that day?”
Instead of answering, Mary released a sigh so heavy the earth itself seemed to crack beneath it.
“That day alone, the young lady cancels all appointments and remains alone in the Separate Building.”
Lucian imagined Eloise sitting solitary in her bedroom. A lonely Eloise — the phrase seemed wholly out of place.
“So don’t go poking your nose into the young lady’s affairs. Understand?”
“Thank you for telling me.”
Mary’s face flushed crimson in an instant.
“I told you? I did this for the young lady, not for you. And don’t tell anyone I told you!”
Mary made him swear several times over before she left.
After hearing the tale, this Separate Building where Eloise lived alone seemed to Lucian like a place of exile.
He imagined the three of them in the Main Building — laughing, making merry without her.
‘What was she thinking, bringing up a birthday party?’
For the first time, Lucian found himself curious about Eloise’s heart. It was absurd. When had he last thought of escape — and now here he was, suddenly wanting to understand who she was.
***
Uneventful days followed. Awake, he took lessons from Eloise; when she was busy, he was watched by the three of them.
He still slept in a room like a warehouse, not the Knight Quarters, but even that had become familiar quickly.
He even thought that Brick, confined somewhere, must be safe enough.
“Sob——”
Deep in the night, half-asleep, Lucian’s eyes snapped open at someone’s muffled crying.
The sound coming through the wall was unmistakably a woman’s weeping.
‘Eloise?’
Click. The door was locked, as expected. The knight standing guard outside would never open it.
As Lucian turned away, his eye caught something — a solitary doorknob on the wall at an odd angle.
‘Why didn’t I notice this before?’
Lucian turned the knob on impulse.
“As I thought.”
What he’d taken for a wall swung open — and Eloise’s bedroom lay before him.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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