Chapter 9: A Bright Morning
When I woke up, I felt an unpleasant crispy feeling on my body. It was probably due to the fluids that stuck and dried up from last night.
Sighing, I activated a magic to open the curtains. And then, the morning sunlight shined into the room. Gazing at the window while feeling groggy from waking up, I suddenly heard someone knocking the door. I answered to let the person know that I was awake, but only a voice came back.
「Wilk-sama. Your bath has been prepared.」
The timing was perfect.
I left the room in a good mood and headed towards the bath.
「Tesh, well done from this early in the morning. I just thought of wanting to take a bath when I woke up. Thanks to you, I'm able to start the day feeling great.」
「I'm very glad.」
After finishing my morning bath, I took the breakfast served by Tesh.
Eve was apparently taking a bath using my leftover bath water. A slave like her would never eat in the same table as me in the first place.
「Before going back to the castle, I'm thinking of writing a letter. I'm sending it to the slave trader yesterday.」
「As I expected, Young Master didn't like that girl?」
「No, she was quite good.」
「Then?」
「That girl has a mother. She's probably being sold as a slave too. Considering that her daughter is so beautiful, there's no doubt the mother should be quite a beauty herself. If her separated mother was together with her, she'll probably become more obedient to me.」
Long story short, I wanted to have both mother and daughter. Of course, I wouldn't say that aloud.
When I explained it to Tesh, he asked in a lowered voice while wearing a doubtful look.
「About that, does that girl know about it?」
「No, I didn't tell her. That's my idea. Why do I have to tell it to her?」
Perhaps feeling relieved from hearing my answer, Tesh's expression relaxed.
「It's exactly as Young Master said, there's no need to let her know about it.」
「Then, why did you ask?」
I could somehow guess the answer, but I still asked him. As expected, Tesh's expression became unclear, and then he apologized first before speaking of the reason.
「It's not that rare for men to have a feeling with the woman that they've had sex with. This is especially the case for their first time partners. I was just checking whether Young Master was holding sympathy towards that girl. It wouldn't have been good if Young Master pitied her as far as even giving a promise to let her meet with her mother. Please forgive my rash judgment for causing Young Master to feel displeased.」
「There's no need for you to worry. You have a point. I forgive you.」
Tesh deeply lowered his head. Then, according to Tesh, the slave trader Doran was apparently staying at an inn inside the city last night. I had a servant write a letter on my behalf and sent the servant to deliver it.
「What kind of treatment shall we give Eve? I think it will be good to let her do her job as a slave and just let her be without assigning any other work.」
Eve was originally a village girl. Leaving behind a person who did not have any knowledge about the proper etiquette of nobles near you would cause the other nobles look down on you for not being able to employ a better person. Face is important for nobles, so I couldn't leave her beside me.
「Hm. It would be problematic if her beautiful hands turned rough from doing difficult jobs.」
Taking that into account, why was her hand so soft and beautiful despite living in a village? Villagers usually took agricultural works. Well, there were probably many elves that could use a healing magic, and they might've raised her with great care. She'd been raised with so much care, but in the end she became a slave. Life sure doesn't always turn the way people want it to.
「She's a girl with a beautiful appearance, so I suggest avoiding places with men. Although she is Young Master's slave, it doesn't change the fact that she's a slave. There's no knowing what might happen.」
「Your right.」
I could easily tear a commoner apart if they were to touch my belongings, but even magic wouldn't be able to reverse something that had already happened. I didn't have any intention of placing her in a place filled with men. Still, I felt like it was a waste letting a slave just dally around.
「That reminds me, does Eve know how to read and write?」
The common language in the Levios Kingdom was called Elluo, and it was a common language within the continent. Incidentally, the continent where Levios Kingdom was located in was called Elluo Continent. The name of the language was basically the same as the continent's name.
I heard that the literacy wasn't very high, and only about thirty percent of the ordinary people could read and write.
It was unknown whether Eve was literate since she lived in a village.
「I heard she could read and write. That was what that slave trader said.」
So he mentioned about it. Honestly, I was only looking at the face and chest of the slaves, so I ignored what they talked about for the most part. But if she could read and write, then there was just the right job for her.
「In that case, her job should be copying. If her writing is not clear, let her practice with some minor documents, and when she has gotten used to it let her copy the books that I'm interested in.」
Apparently, Quordentz family was a house with a nearly three hundred years of history. There were many documents in the castle's warehouse. These documents included the records about the wars, the diaries of the previous family heads, and information regarding the nearby territories.
There weren't many amusements in this world, and reading those records was one of the hobbies that I'd found. However, these records were valuable so they couldn't be taken out of the warehouse. Whenever I wanted to read, I'd have to stay at the warehouse. Obviously, I couldn't just stay there all the time, so I sometimes had a servant copy the records that I was interested in, and then reading them before sleeping became my habit. If I assign this job to Eve, I wouldn't need to find another servant to do the job anymore.
「Understood. I'll make the adjustments.」
「Right. And, one more thing. Its about Eve.」
Seeing me lower my voice, Tesh moved his face closer. It was something I didn't want to say aloud.
「Eve will be often in contact with the servants from now on. So, there's one thing I'd like you to take note about.」
「Please say it.」
「As much as possible, treat her coldly.」
「May I ask the reason? If Young Master doesn't want to say it, that is also fine. But, knowing the reason will allow me to better perform the task.」
Well, he was right. I had no intention of hiding it from him anyway.
「I intend to treat Eve gently during the night. If I were to keep doing it by force, it wouldn't be good later on once I get a wife.」
「Your exactly right, Young Master.」
「However, at this rate, she'll never be obedient to me. That's why I need to make her understand. As she spends every day being treated coldy by the servants, without ever being needed by anyone, and without anyone being nice to her, she'll then eventually realise it. That she's only needed when sleeping with me. That she's only treated nicely when sleeping with me. And sleeping with me is exactly her happiness.」
Tesh looked like he understood my intention and he slowly nodded his head.
「I don't want to force her to be obedient. What I want is for her to be the one to become obedient to me. That's my objective.」
「Young Master's intention, I've certainly understood it. Please leave it to your servant.」
Tesh would be able to properly use the servants to thoroughly corner Eve.
My only job was to embrace her.
Finishing my breakfast, I returned to the castle in high spirits.