The Place Where I Was Sold as a Slave Was the Imperial Palace

Chapter 57

＜ After spring, winter is just around the corner, you have to leave here ＞

* * *

My body was wrapped around the giant squid. I can’t stand it. The squid’s soft legs crawled up to his face and covered his mouth.

can’t breathe

Rudy, unable to move, groaned and opened his eyes.

It was still a dark night.

It was so dark that I couldn’t even tell where my nose was.

Rudy blinked several times as he stood still.

I can’t see anything. It was too dark.

Without the eyes, a person loses his senses. It’s strange, but often even the memories are fuzzy.

I didn’t know for a moment whether I was still dreaming, waking up from a nightmare and now at home on Earth, or being held captive by a slave trader and behind bars.

I don’t know which moment I’m living in right now. It was the feeling of losing one’s place.

‘Calmly… calmly…’

Rudy calmed down and realized why he had woken up.

Something was pressing against his face, making it difficult to breathe.

soft.

Soft, soft flesh covered the entire face.

‘ah···.’

The moment I realized that the soft thing was human skin, I knew what it was.

This is Princess Lilitha.

The thing covering her face seemed to be the belly of a princess who had gotten plump these days.

Thinking so, there was something small hanging down the edge of his face.

‘This is a foot.’

It seems that the princess was rolling around and riding on Rudy’s face.

The princess has a bad sleeping habit.

I wonder if it was unfair when I was tied up and couldn’t move.

Princess Lilitha carefully lowered herself so as not to wake her, and this time a small hand jumped up and hugged Rudy’s face.

I thought she might have broken it, but the princess stopped moving and sighed… and sighed… opening her mouth and breathing.

White flames sprang up in the air and slowly descended towards his face like feathers flying.

It is a hidden fire bird.

As if the flickering of fireflies, the place where the firebird was faintly lit up.

Rudy lowered the princess and pulled the blanket over her.

I got up quietly and went to the window and pulled back the curtains a little. A faint light seeped into the darkness.

The firebird quietly landed on his shoulder. the shoulders are warm

The stars were still twinkling in the night sky, and the bright moon shone softly.

It was still far from waking up. Still, I didn’t feel like falling asleep again.

Rudy quietly closed the curtains and turned around. As he went out toward the food storage, a goat saw him and approached him crying.

Even if you don’t tie it with a string, the goat won’t run away anymore.

So was the chicken.

It is thanks to the knowledge that humans give themselves something delicious.

Under the dim light of the phoenix, Rudy gave the goats some corn feed, which is used as a special meal.

These are the stalks of corn that Mari, a slave, told me that commoners have started growing these days.

It is said that they have been raising a lot of corn lately because they have not paid taxes to the lord yet.

As soon as I heard the story, I asked Buradov to bring in some corn. I started cultivating it for the first time last year, and it grew well without any special touch.

But there are a lot of bugs.

At first, I thought that was a disadvantage, but later it turned out that all the bugs from other places went to the corn.

Insect damage to other crops was less, which was rather beneficial.

At harvest time, the stems are dried and used as feed for goats.

In Rudy’s eyes, this or that seems to be the same grass, but strangely, the goat likes it.

Several times, after transferring the corn feed to the goat feed bin, I sprinkled some grain on the floor for the chickens.

Wings flapping, chickens rushed in and lowered their long heads to the ground, pounding the ground.

In this mansion where there are only women, Rudy’s work is increasing day by day.

Even more so when Marie starts chopping firewood.

Lately, there have been more cases of trees coming for firewood arriving whole, uncut, or frogs in bags of flour.

That’s why Marie started chopping firewood.

The nanny was indignant that the bullying had started again when Buradov had stopped paying attention.

Without Marie, the people here would starve to death. I couldn’t lift my head.

Originally, Marie, a slave, was in the lowest position, but the nanny treated her as an ordinary commoner, whether it was because she lived alone for a long time or because of the fact that she was able to make a living thanks to Marie.

Of course, it’s still the bottom, but it’s rare for a noble to treat a slave like that.

These days, Marie has become a necessity in caring for the princess, and her relationship with the nanny has improved.

This mansion is peaceful because Bhimama is my way, and I don’t care who comes.

After feeding the other livestock, go to the bucket containing the laundry and turn the washing function of the water magic tool back on. Marie secretly stole the laundry she was going to send to the laundry department.

The fact that he can use magic formulas is a secret, so Marie still doesn’t know that there is a washing machine.

Originally, it is a rule that the laundry maid of the concubine collects the clothes and brings them back after washing.

Of course, that principle doesn’t apply here, so most of them were washing by hand.

Laundry that was too large was sent to the washing department when the maid rarely came, but it was left to chance whether the laundry would come back properly. Sometimes they return after a month, and sometimes they go missing altogether.

So sometimes Rudy hides the important laundry in a bin so that the maid doesn’t notice when she picks it up. And when I was alone, I washed it.

It’s not uncommon for laundry to be returned wet or left in a crumpled state, so if you time it right, you can’t go unnoticed.

When I came back after doing a little other work, the laundry was all done.

Rudy put the fire tool in to dry it, then moved the laundry to different bins one by one.

If you do, Marie thinks the laundry has returned and cleans it up on its own. “Why are you leaving me alone like this!” while getting angry.

Recalling that incident, Rudy smiled slightly.

Inside the mansion, lights and heating made from cheap slave necklaces are used, but Marie, who is not familiar with magic tools, doesn’t know what’s strange about magic tools made from slave necklaces.

The nanny knows it’s strange, but she thinks it’s the chief chamberlain’s plot, so she’s keeping it a secret.

To be honest, I feel like I’m on a tightrope. At first, I was very worried about when this secret would be revealed.

It was because I had seen with my own eyes how they would be treated if they were found out or sent back to the Kingdom of Cania.

But now that I know a little bit about how the world works, I feel somewhat at ease.

Watoringu and Correa’s lineage would not go unnoticed because there was no crest, and if it was revealed that they possessed magical powers, at best they would be degenerated into a child-bearing machine for the royal family or aristocrats.

Happiness may be impossible to hope for, but the fate of disappearing into the dew of the death penalty is gone anyway.

I thought about what it would be like to run away, but I can’t go out into the world as a child. No matter how much magic you have, it will be difficult to live in a world like this.

‘No matter how bad it is, it should be around thirteen or four years old.’

An adult in this country is defined as a 15-year-old.

Of course, even so, the meaning is very different from that of modern adults.

At a young age, he entered under a merchant or craftsman to learn work, and then became a person who barely played a part. After that, it takes a long time to eat and live alone.

Rudy shrugged.

In this world, everything is inmaek, bloodmaek.

In order for a farmer’s son to become a merchant or artisan, he had to follow his personal connections first and become a disciple under him.

Most people drop out of there first. Connections and bloodlines themselves are power.

In such a society, there would be no way for Rudy, who doesn’t know anyone, to live alone in the world.

You can’t live with magic power alone.

Unless you become a thief, you have to work to make a living, but there was no way for a child like this to come up with such a way.

No one will give a stranger a job.

At most, could he enter a farmer’s house and become a serf who feeds cows and pigs?

Or maybe I could become a servant who wanders around in my father-in-law’s house.

Artisan’s disciple? There’s no way.

Who will pay the money to do the job? Of course not. No matter how young a child appeals, “I can work,” it is still a child.

If they offer to work for you, they are human traffickers. They must be planning to sell the pretty smart guy to a pervert somewhere.

‘ha.’

Rudy sighed and straightened his back.

Come to think of it, I was really lucky that I came to the imperial palace without being sold to a strange place from a slave trader.

Bowing to the slave trader would not be enough.

If you buy another cheap slave necklace later, pay generously.

Now it’s time to step out. Rudy wiped himself with a wet towel.

Today I have to go to the training ground, change my clothes, and go to the emperor. Levin stays at the training ground with Boris. Only Rudy was invited to the meeting with the duke’s heir.

The last time he just stood there like an ornament, so this is actually his first job as a golden slave.

He is said to be in charge of drinking water for His Majesty the Emperor.

Yesterday afternoon, Buradov, who came to tell me about this, told me roughly what he was doing.

In fact, all the other servants do the work.

Rudy’s job was, simply put, a living cup girl holding a drink.

He was holding the cup when the Emperor was drinking something and was about to put it down. And when you want to eat again, just place the cup in a comfortable position for your hand.

There is not always a starter who does such a job, and the child who is the best at the job among the attendants who came to work at a young age sometimes takes on the job.

Normally, such a child would later become an attendant exclusively for the emperor, so it was a kind of special treatment.

I heard that there is no need to be nervous because it serves as both a little reward and praise, so even if you make a mistake, you will laugh and move on.

Buradov said that it was the first step to adapting to being a golden slave, and that he would often serve the emperor like that in the future.

‘ha.’

let’s work hard.

I finally found a safe place to live. Don’t take this for granted. It was much more likely to be in a worse position.

“…”

Be nice to the emperor too.

Thanks to being here, I can prepare for things that I couldn’t have done if I had been outside.

Thanks to the possession of My Ink, I was able to create demon creatures and study how to handle magic tools.

He also met a master named Boris and learned how to handle weapons.

At this rate, he would be able to make a living as a mercenary later on.

Not only that, money comes out if you stay in this imperial palace.

The money from Mama Nadia at the imperial palace was received in kind and was stored one after another.

Some were buried all over the backyard floor of the mansion, and some were prepared for Marie, who would leave this place one day.

Others were buried a little far from the mansion for their own use. Even if they leave this place at the age of 7, they can dig it out for some reason.

Although permission has not yet been granted, I have also applied for an interview with the slave trader.

Besides the purpose of buying the slave necklace, he was thinking of arranging a place outside for Marie and himself through a slave dealer.

Later, when you have a chance, you have to take the money out little by little. There is no way he can go outside yet, and he has no way to transfer money, but he may have a chance one day.

Suddenly looking back at the mansion, Rudy let out a long sigh.

I am preparing myself step by step, but…

When he turns 7, Rudy has to leave this place. It wasn’t far. It seems like it was just yesterday that I came here, but the sun has already changed twice. After spring, winter will be just around the corner.

After he leaves this place, what will happen to the people here?

Can I get in touch with Marie? Even if he arranges a house and money for her outside, wouldn’t he fall into a situation where he can’t enjoy it?

what about the princess? What is Bhimama? What about the nanny?

‘Actually, I’m most worried about the princess and Bhimama.’

My heart felt stuffy when I thought of the Emperor and Empress changing their situation with one heart.

Rudy shook his head to clear his thoughts.

Let’s focus on the work in front of us for now.

As I changed my clothes and left the door, Marie came down rubbing her eyes.

“Are you leaving now?”

“yes.”

“Be careful and go, Rudy-sama.”

“Marie works hard today too.”