Chapter 45.1

“i have the plague!”

my urgent cry made the slave trader hesitate. i couldn’t miss the moment when he flustered, and i opened my eyes fiercely.

“so, if you don’t want to die, you’d better take your hands off of me.”

“well, what is the plague?! do you think i don’t know why you’re trying to scare me?”

the slave trader snorted and shook my hair, but i noticed that his voice shook slightly.

“mallor. haven’t you heard of it?”

, which i’m now stuck in, was a different game from that i played before, but it still shared the same worldview.

“it’s a disease that causes rashes all over the body and causes hives to spread to the brain and die. there is no cure, and there’s no other choice but to soothe it, so the imperialists call the disease mallor.”

recalling the episode where i was loved by the people who had been cured of the contagious disease with the power of a saint, i scared the slave trader by mentioning specific symptoms.

“a big plague?”

surprised with what i said, the slave trader trembled and his face twisted. his grip on my hair eventually loosened.

“lies. you think i’ve never heard of mallor? i know it’s a disease where the brain melts in a hideous way due to high fever!”

he hesitated and took a step back, frowning as he insisted that he knew of the disease.

“you don’t have any rash, let alone blisters, right?”

i loosened the corset that fastened my dress as the slave trader’s gaze scrutinized through my fine skin.

“it’s the incubation period. there are no blisters, but the spots are already there,” i lied.

the slave trader’s pupils shook violently when i showed him my purple stained sides and stomach because he’d caressed me everywhere.

“if you keep touching it, you’ll get infected, but if you want to shorten your life, then be my guest.”

if the light in the basement had been any brighter, one would’ve noticed that the mottled marks were not traces of the disease. fortunately, the only light source now was a lamp brought by the slave trader.

“i don’t think that will do! you’re going to have to hide that spot. if you don’t, i won’t get a high selling price, and you’ll have to pay the difference,” he stammered back, frowning grimly. “anyway, the promised midnight has passed. i’ll sell you as soon as it’s light, so you just know.”

* * *

i was about to fall asleep after kicking out the slave trader and staring at the ventilation hole which was the size of my palm.

“it’s about time the medicine kicks in, but it’s weird.”

at the strange voice coming from the entrance, i overcame my drowsiness and got up from my seat.

“who is it?”

“oh, you must have been surprised. it’s me. i gave you water earlier.”

the man who approached me while spinning a bundle of keys was a store employee who handed me a water bottle before the slave trader came in.

“well… don’t you feel a bit strange or something?”

when my forehead wrinkled at the employee’s question, he grinned and put his arm through the bars and gently stroked my shoulder.

“is your body hot or itchy?” he asked.

“did you put something in the water?”

“yes. have you never heard of not drinking anything given by strangers?”

of course, i did. but i just pretended to drink it.

i fiercely shook off his hand that was thin but had a similar impression to his employer.

“you didn’t hear that i had an infectious disease, did you?”

“oh! of course, i heard,” he answered.

he laughed and opened the door of the cell where i was trapped, despite the words i said.

squeak. squeak.

the iron door opened with a creepy sound.

“still, i don’t think it would be that bad to die after trying it with a woman like you at least once.”

the man slowly approached me, who was already as close to the wall, with a hazy face as if he’d taken drugs.

“how come you look like this? i’d believe we’d caught the fairy of the silver mountains!”

as soon as the employee’s long tongue touched my trembling cheek…

kwachak!

with a dull sound of crushing bones, the person’s figure clinging to me disappeared in an instant. soon, red blood stained my vision.

“hello, master.”

a man standing with a corpse torn apart greeted me. i recognized his eyes bent like a crescent moon at once.

the runaway slave is back.