The Price of Freedom
The evaluation of Pons, that merchant with dreams bigger than his means, went something like this: the man didn’t particularly enjoy buying and selling slaves. Of course, if he were a decent person to begin with, he wouldn’t be in this shady business at all. Still, Pons had a plan in mind. It was only ever a plan, though—he never achieved any great success that would have let him help Sophia. Whether that was a setting error or not, I couldn’t say. Anyway.
“I see. Will this amount be sufficient?”
I hadn’t expected the fifty million I’d prepared after checking the original story to work so smoothly. Then again, if some villainess showed up at a slave market with that kind of money and no guards, even I would be curious.
I handed the pouch of coins to Pons with a light smile.
“Yes, I’ve received it. Still, carrying such a large sum without any guards… that was quite dangerous.”
“I enjoy gambling, you see.”
“Oh? And have you ever lost?”
“Why do you think I’m a commoner?”
I grinned broadly. Anyone with half a brain would understand what I meant. I had been thoroughly beaten by my half-sister. Defeated in the battle for the prince. Pons studied me in silence before tilting his head with a sly smile.
“Heh heh. A crushing defeat, then. But you seem rather free.”
“Do I?”
“You do. At that level, one tends to have an eye for people. You don’t seem the least bit saddened or bitter about your loss.”
“Perhaps not.”
Of course not. The real problem had been my punishment. If it had come before that, I would have tried to escape that household by any means necessary. After all, the Holpert family was nothing more than a prison to Milene. Being hated by the family meant there was no helping it. In the end, I would have left anyway, and I might have been living somewhere else by now. Probably with all the money I could siphon out already tucked away.
“Then taking these slaves is also a kind of gamble?”
“I suppose so.”
When I nodded, Pons rose from his seat and rummaged through a nearby safe before returning with something in hand. The way his eyes gleamed with interest made me uncomfortable.
“You’re quite something. Here—this is the device that controls the slaves. And this is the contract. Sign here, and by slave contract, all ten of them will belong to you, my lady.”
“You prepared this quickly.”
I clicked my tongue at the contract that had already been drawn up. Had he anticipated this deal, or was this another marvel of magic?
“It’s a magical contract, so all I need to do is transfer their imprints.”
Ah, right. In this world, magic really was king. I skimmed the contract; it was just page after page declaring that ownership of these slaves was being transferred to me. I signed it. After hearing the explanations about the slaves, I became their master.
“Perhaps we’ll meet again someday.”
“Then I’ll see you next time.”
Somehow, this had gone smoothly. I led the slaves out of the slums to an empty lot on the outskirts. I intended to make my famous slave-liberation declaration in this shabby place. Freeing just these slaves and ruining Sophia’s plans would be enough.
“W-what do you plan to do with us?”
The children stared at me, trembling with fear.
“Do with you?”
“Well, since you bought us as slaves, you must have some use in mind…”
What would a girl my age want with slaves? Ah, so that made it even more suspicious.
“What do you want?”
“Huh? How could we possibly—”
“I’m asking if you want freedom, or if you’d rather just stay as my slaves.”
The former would be better for me, of course.
“That’s obvious. We didn’t become slaves because we wanted to! Most of us are here because of debt!”
Why was he shouting so angrily? Well, I supposed I was the one who had bought them. I didn’t care what happened to these slaves afterward. Whether they became slaves again somewhere else or not, what did it matter to me? I had my own livelihood to worry about. Using slaves or worrying about how they’d live from now on wasn’t my concern either. Sophia hadn’t done this out of any sense of justice, after all. She’d only done it to score points. The funny thing was, the title made it sound like some wronged villainess overcoming trials, when the real protagonist was that bitch Sophia and the victim, Milene, ended up dying twice. So I had every right to cause chaos. Once again, I was stealing Sophia’s role.
“Then I’ll set you free.”
“What?”
I smiled brightly and waved the slave contract in front of them. I could tear it up right here and now.
“From now on, do whatever you want. You can even go home.”
“You’re just… letting us go?”
Why were they so shocked?
“Yeah. I don’t have any particular plans for you. Besides, I don’t have enough money to feed ten slaves anyway.”
“Then why…?”
“Well, if I had to give a reason, it’s just because it bothered me.”
Better to free them quickly before Sophia could. In the original story, she freed them and deliberately spread rumors to raise her own name and value. Here, things would be different. She was probably still struggling at the palace right now, and it was obvious she’d try to free the slaves later to make a grand exit. But if the slaves were already gone by then, that would be the end of it. Aside from that, I had no further business with them.
“If you want, I’ll tear up all these slave contracts.”
With this, I had burned through half my fortune. Since I’d spent so much at once, it would be best to keep the remaining half untouched. I’d never spent this much money in one go even in my previous life, and I couldn’t afford to throw money around when my workspace was only being supported by the publisher. Of course, no girl my age would normally have this kind of money. But if I wanted to try various things later, I needed to save what I had left.
Yet the atmosphere felt strangely unsettled.
“J-just a moment. Um, over there…”
One girl raised her hand.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know about the others, but… I’ll just stay as a slave.”
“Why?”
“Well, even without the debt, I have no family or home. Since I have nothing anyway, being a slave is better.”
“It’s freedom, you know?”
“If it’s not too presumptuous, I’d like to serve you, my lady.”
In other words: I have nowhere to go, and since I’ve already fallen to being a slave, I might as well leech off you. Wasn’t that it? But I didn’t need slaves.
“Th-then me too. I was sold by my family in the first place, so…”
What had Sophia done? Had she just freed them all without a second thought? Told them to go wherever they wanted? Ah, that made sense. That part hadn’t been detailed in the original story, but if it were her, she would have drawn a clear line after freeing them. These former slaves wouldn’t have been able to beg her to take them back as slaves after she’d already freed them. Ah, maybe I should have done the same. Why did they have so many problems?
“Actually, we weren’t exactly sold either, but going home would be… complicated.”
“Dysfunctional family, I take it.”
Hmm. Even so, this was a problem. Well, there was no helping it. In times like these, the best approach was to be direct.
“No, I’m telling you, you’re free. I felt sorry for you, so I used the money I needed to survive to free you all. So enjoy your freedom. Why would you want to be slaves again?”
In short: I could barely feed myself, so I couldn’t take care of them. They should leave while they still had the chance. Did these kids want to drag me down with them or something?
#
Rion hadn’t been in a good mood lately. Why? Because there had been no news of Milene. Normally, he wouldn’t care about such a villainess, but she had disappeared without a trace. Even the prince had tried to keep it quiet, but word was that the king had already released her.
‘Releasing that young lady in secret… Why?’
Why had the king and queen freed her? And both the prince and Lady Sophia seemed to be hiding something, though he couldn’t figure out what. Was something really going on?
‘What exactly are they hiding? Huh?’
Then, on one of the capital’s streets, he encountered a familiar face. It was Milene, whose whereabouts he had been wondering about. Why was she here, when she had been punished by the prince and Lady Sophia and even expelled from her family?
“My lady? Lady Milene is here?”
He didn’t know why, but when he happened to see her situation, she was holding a slave contract in one hand. And in front of her were boys and girls who were clearly filthy slaves. Surely not—were those slaves? How could an expelled woman have the money to keep so many slaves? Or had she hidden money away in advance for this kind of situation? If so, the duke should have known. But that wasn’t it either. No, what was certain was that she clearly had a slave contract in her possession right now. So that was it. Even after leaving, she had continued her evil deeds.
“Someone like you, my lady—we wouldn’t mind being slaves!”
“My father sold me. But since you saved me, please… let me serve you!”
“Yes! Please give us the chance to serve you!”
Were his ears working properly? “Someone like you, my lady”? Why were they saying such things after living as slaves? And to serve that villainess? For a moment, his head went blank. Did that make any sense? To that villainess? Had that villainess tried to free the slaves? Or had she planned this all along, knowing he would come? No, even so, that couldn’t be it.
“Well, I don’t need slaves. I just felt sorry for you and used money I didn’t have to free you. So don’t think of it as owing me anything—just fly free.”
And why was that villainess acting like this? This wasn’t the villainess he knew. What on earth was going on? The fact that she wasn’t wearing her usual noble dress could be chalked up to becoming a commoner, but how could her expression and way of speaking change so easily? There was no trace of noble dignity left. She even stomped her feet in frustration, which was nothing like the villainess he knew.
“Please let us repay your kindness!”
Even now, half of those dozen or so people were clamoring to serve her. The other five were tempted by the promise of freedom, but seeing several others insist on following the villainess, they could only exchange glances. That villainess wouldn’t be playing her usual arrogant noble games in this situation, so what exactly was happening here?
—Even if I say I’m innocent, would anyone listen? No. Everything was already over the moment Sophia took everything. She had definitely said something like that before. At the time, he hadn’t understood what she meant, but did that mean the villainess was actually innocent? That couldn’t be. The woman who had tormented Lady Sophia couldn’t possibly be innocent. Wasn’t she already famous as a villainess at the academy? So no. It couldn’t be. And yet—
—I happen to be short on attendants. Would you like to come along?
The memory of that villainess—before she was called that—taking him in surfaced. Yes. That was right. She had been truly kind back then. Kind enough that he would have given her anything. If only she hadn’t committed all those evil deeds. If only she hadn’t become a woman blinded by jealousy, he would have taken her side even if it meant falling out of favor with the head of the house.
‘Wait. Did I ever actually take her side? Why did that thought suddenly occur to me? Had I ever once tried to listen to Lady Milene’s story? Hadn’t I only ever listened to Lady Sophia’s?’
That had been natural, of course. Lady Sophia had been especially good to him, so it was only natural that he leaned toward her. But then a chilling thought struck him. What if—just what if—the charges against that villainess were false? What if Lady Sophia had been the one lying? What if the head of the house’s choice had been wrong?
‘No. It can’t be.’
It couldn’t be. Because if it were true, then he would be nothing more than trash who had stabbed his savior in the back. Rion’s footsteps grew heavy as he turned away.