The Exiled Slave Becomes the Master

“Father, please buy me a slave. A young girl, if possible.”

The Duke’s face frowned slightly after hearing me.

“Try to hold back until you turn 15 and become an adult.”

The Duke, with an expression as if looking at someone with a ‘lewd’ attribute, admonished me in a somewhat stern voice.

“No, that’s not it. I need a maid exclusively for me. The existing maids are somewhat unreliable, aren’t they? Like what happened this morning.”

“That’s true… but do you really have no impure intentions?”

Even if 15 is considered an adult, it’s still a crime by my standards.

The little child inside me whispered that it’s absolutely forbidden before turning 20.

“I am not someone who lusts after children.”

The Duke nodded, seemingly recalling that I wasn’t ordinary when he was about to say ‘but you’re a child too.’

“Then you’re saying you want to raise someone from the beginning who won’t betray you.”

“Yes, most of the servants already in the mansion would be reluctant to serve me, so we need to bring in someone new.”

“Well, a slave would find it almost impossible to betray their master even if they wanted to, so that’s reasonable. However, I’ll only allow one.”

“Thank you, Father.”

“We’ll go to purchase a slave in a few days, so wait until then.”

Of course, not everything will be resolved by getting one slave, so I need to get along well with the existing people in the mansion to avoid being isolated.

Tania and Serena still won’t like me, but if we keep interacting, they might develop some affection for me eventually, so as the adult, I should continue to tolerate their tantrums.

As for the Duchess, the mother…

She clearly doesn’t like me, but she hasn’t tried anything against me yet.

I’m not sure if it’s because she’s magnanimous, or if she’s secretly preparing something.

For several days, I learned the etiquette and letters of nobility.

The letters had many similarities to English, so I just needed to memorize the words, making it easier to learn than I expected.

It just took a little time to memorize words, but the teacher who taught me writing was surprised at how quickly I learned grammar.

Thank you, Duolingo.

“That’s all for today’s lesson.”

As the teacher who finished the lesson left the room, Alfred entered shortly after.

“Young master, the Duke has called for you.”

“I’ll go right away.”

“This time, he’s planning to go out, not to his office, so he asked you to prepare for an outing and come to the entrance.”

“I understand.”

After preparing for the outing, I arrived at the entrance where the carriage I had seen before was ready.

“Have you come?”

“Yes.”

“We’ll be going to buy the slave you mentioned earlier.”

After boarding the carriage with the Duke and traveling for quite a long time, the carriage stopped in front of a somewhat luxurious-looking building.

A guard waiting at the entrance approached, bowed to the Duke and me, and guided us to the entrance, where masked women came and offered masks that covered our entire faces.

“Is this an illegal facility?”

“No, while buying slaves for common tasks or physical labor is as easy as buying an object, when buying slaves for special purposes, there are cases where it’s not so honorable, hence this practice.”

I had a rough idea of what “special purposes” meant, so I silently nodded.

“This slave will be constantly by your side in the future, so we can’t just buy any slave. And to match the conditions you mentioned, we need to buy from this place.”

“I see.”

There would be those who purchase female slaves around my age for obscene purposes, and even if not, it could lead to misunderstandings, so wearing masks makes sense.

After putting on the mask and following the guide, we arrived at a corridor lined with clean rooms.

The rooms were tightly packed in a long row, and without walls or windows, only iron bars separated the corridor from the rooms.

“Are there any slaves you desire?”

“I need a girl in her teens.”

“…We have several options, please follow me.”

While following the guide, I turned my head to look inside the iron bars and saw quite a few beautifully dressed women.

Judging by the occasional handsome men, noble ladies must also frequent this place.

The slaves we were looking for must be deep inside, as we descended several more flights of stairs.

Soon we arrived at a corridor where girls and boys were confined.

“Currently, the youngest child is 10 years old. If you’re looking for a younger child…”

So they do have them.

“No, that’s fine.”

Children under 10 are too young to be made to work as maids anyway.

“Please take your pick.”

“You choose, it will only have meaning if you select directly.”

“Yes.”

I moved slowly, looking inside the iron bars.

Inside the bars, children were looking at me with expectant eyes, hoping to be chosen.

They probably think being chosen by me would be much better than being sold to old perverted men.

“Hmm…”

Honestly, since I didn’t have clear criteria for choosing, I decided to just look around.

As I passed by, they all visibly showed disappointment.

Ignoring their gazes, I thoroughly looked around everywhere, and eventually arrived at the last iron bar.

“I apologize, sir, that child has only been here a short time and hasn’t been fully trained yet.”

Inside the iron bars, a blonde girl was sobbing with her face buried in her knees.

Seeing the girl suddenly reminded me of the past.

The day my mother packed up belongings and money from home and left, my enraged father, drunk, was looking for me and my younger sister while smashing what little furniture we had.

‘Where are you! Come out, you brats! Let’s all die today!’

Crash! Shatter!

‘B-Brother…’

‘Shh…!’

‘Where the hell did these bastards go! Did you run away following your dirty mother?’

Boom!

My sister, who was in elementary school at the time, and I, a middle schooler, had escaped through the window to avoid our drunk and excited father, and were listening to the sound of furniture being smashed.

Without even pocket money, I couldn’t earn money without my parents’ permission as a middle schooler, and without even a few ten thousand won, I couldn’t take my sobbing sister to a motel on that cold winter day.

All I could do was hold my sister, who was hugging her knees and sobbing on the cold floor, and I too shed tears, angry at how powerless I was.

After raging, throwing and breaking things for a long time, the man called father seemed to get drowsy and went to his room, where he fell asleep snoring.

With nowhere to go, we shivered in the cold for a long time before quietly entering the house so as not to wake our sleeping father, and fell asleep holding each other behind closed doors.

That night, we slept under the blanket, afraid to make even the slightest sound in case father woke up…

“How unpleasant…”

“I apologize, we will educate that child separately and thoroughly later.”

“Hik…!”

When the guide responded to my “unpleasant” comment by glaring at the girl and speaking in a harsh voice, the sobbing girl began to tremble in fear.

“No, I want to buy that child.”

“…Are you sure? She doesn’t yet properly realize that she’s a slave.”

“It doesn’t matter, and it has to be her.”

“Understood. Then I’ll guide you to prepare the contract.”

I nodded to the guide and spoke to the girl who was looking up at me with tear-stained purple eyes.

“…Wait here.”

“…”

This time, I won’t just stand by powerlessly and watch.

I arrived at a luxurious-looking room following the guide with the Duke.

“Who will be the contracting party?”

“This child.”

“Understood. I have prepared the contract and contract seal. Do you need an explanation?”

“This is the first time this child is buying a slave, so please explain.”

“Yes. First, the slave contract is a document that transfers the ownership of our slave and the contract seal to the new master, and certifies the slave’s status.”

“What about the contract seal?”

“The contract seal is a magical seal engraved on the slave for the master’s safety and convenience. A slave with a contract seal can be forced to follow any command of the master through the seal.”

“Is it a type of mind control?”

“No, it merely forces action, so it doesn’t handle thoughts or feelings. Such things would be illegal in the first place.”

If one truly treated slaves as objects rather than people, the contract seal would be convenient, but it still feels repugnant.

“Do I have to engrave that contract seal?”

“Most customers do, but only the contract is mandatory, not the contract seal. There are occasionally customers who engrave the seal and then erase it later.”

“Then I won’t engrave the contract seal.”

“Understood. However, please note that we won’t be responsible for any problems that arise from not engraving the contract seal.”

“I understand.”

“Then I’ll help you with the contract. First, the slave’s name is Alice, age 13, gender female…”

“…so the price comes to 23 pounds.”

‘The price is quite high, probably because she’s a premium slave.’

Following the guide in charge of the contract, I listened to the explanation, filled out the contract, and signed it.

After completing the contract, the guide provided additional precautions and handed over the contract.

“All procedures are complete. Please wait a moment, and we will prepare and bring the slave.”

“Okay.”

After the guide left, only the Duke and I remained in the room.

“You seemed a bit emotional and rushed. Did you know that child?”

“No, it was the first time I saw her.”

“Hmm?”

“She just reminded me of someone I know.”

“Well, since you don’t seem to want to talk about it, I won’t ask further. But you must manage her properly.”

“Yes, of course. I have things to prioritize over my emotions.”

“As long as you understand.”