I’ve Become a S*ave Bride - Chapter 39
“What are you doing?!”
Was the scene of self-harm shockingly surprising? The physician, who had been dazed from Tariak, scrambled backward in terror.
Lenette stepped closer to him and swung the club down again. This time, it struck his forearm instead of his thigh.
“Get away!”
Thud.
“Don’t come near…!”
Thud.
Having struck his limbs without hesitation, Lenette seemed to think it was enough and threw the club down in front of the physician.
Then, suddenly, she collapsed to the floor and screamed.
“Please, save me!!”
At the same moment as her cry, the door swung open wide.
“Lady Leneta!”
Five warriors rushed in. The sight of them made the physician cower and shrink into a corner.
The physician’s pitifully frightened appearance went unnoticed by the warriors.
“……!”
What caught their attention was only Lenette, lying on the floor.
“Lady Leneta!!”
Hosanta shouted loudly enough to shake the house and rushed over to pick her up.
“Lady Leneta! Please, regain your senses!”
At that, Lenette struggled to open her eyes and looked up at him.
“H-Hosanta….”
She softly called his name, but it seemed even that was difficult for her, as she soon closed her eyes again and leaned her head against his body.
And at that moment,
“Move aside.”
Kazen entered the house without a sound. He pushed Hosanta away, who was trying to lift Lenette, and took her limp body into his arms.
“So, what this means is—”
Hosanta tried to explain the situation.
But Kazen, showing no interest, glanced at the red marks on Lenette’s body and the club lying in front of the physician.
He then shouted irritably at the warriors.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to catch that bastard?”
“Y-Yes! Understood!”
The warriors simultaneously charged toward the physician.
“Yikes…! I-I didn’t do anything…!”
Being faced with a single muscular man was frightening enough, but with five charging at him, the physician finally broke down in tears.
“I swear I didn’t do anything…!”
Unfortunately for him, there was no time for his testimony to continue.
“Shut up, you bastard! How dare you hit Lady Leneta?!”
Thud!
Hosanta’s heavy fist struck the physician’s head. With just one punch, the physician collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
Kazen called for Nazan.
“Seal off the area. Lock that physician up in the dungeon beneath the palace.”
“Understood. Lady Leneta, I will—”
“That’s enough. I’ll carry her, so find that brown whatever that Leneta asked for. Don’t leave a single one behind.”
“Yes, understood.”
* * *
When they arrived at a place far from the physician’s house, Kazen stopped walking and looked down at Lenette, who was being carried in his arms.
“Are you going to get up now?”
At his words, her white limbs, which had been drooping, twitched slightly.
“I know you’re not really unconscious, so get up.”
Only then did Lenette clear her throat and open her eyes.
“You have to let me down for me to get up.”
Kazen chuckled lightly.
“You’re quite assertive.”
“…I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Kazen tossed his bride down to the ground as if she were a piece of luggage.
Lenette almost fell but managed to steady herself by bracing her hands on the floor. Squatting down, she glared at him with a frown.
Kazen pressed her brow with his finger and said,
“If you keep scowling like that, you’ll get wrinkles.”
“How can I not scowl when you throw me like that? Can’t you let me down more gently?”
Kazen pointed with his chin at her feet.
“You have good balance, though. Even when I toss you around, you manage to stand up well.”
After giving him one last glare, Lenette brushed herself off and stood up.
“Did you know from the beginning?”
“What? That you were acting?”
“Yes.”
“No. I realized it while carrying you.”
“Then you’re saying my acting in that scene earlier wasn’t awkward?”
At Lenette’s question, he stood with a slight slouch.
“You’re not even trying to hide it.”
“I don’t need to hide it from you.”
His eyes, which had been scanning Lenette, suddenly paused. He stared into her eyes for a moment before asking,
“Are you trying to seduce me?”
Upon hearing that, her face flushed.
“Why is the conversation going in that direction?”
“Because you do it often these days.”
“What do you mean?”
“You talk as if I’m someone special.”
“…That’s because you’re the only one I can trust and rely on.”
As Lenette murmured while avoiding his gaze, he took a step closer and stood in front of her.
“You’re quite clever.”
“What else?”
“You come up with convincing excuses well.”
“……”
Since his observation was correct, Lenette couldn’t come up with a proper response.
Kazen reached out and grabbed Lenette’s wrist.
“You’ll bruise.”
He clicked his tongue and crouched down to examine the area around her knee.
“……!”
Startled by her skirt being lifted, Lenette tried to push him away.
“Don’t worry, there’s no one around.”
“That’s not the only problem…!”
But before she could lift him up, Kazen’s inspection was complete.
“Self-harm. If you hit yourself hard enough to bruise, it must hurt quite a bit, yet you didn’t make a sound while doing it.”
“How did you know that?”
It seemed he had figured out from Lenette’s injuries that it was something she had done to herself and not something inflicted by the physician.
“The marks show that you hit yourself.”
“How do you know that…?”
“So, why did you put on this act?”
“…Because they wouldn’t follow my orders.”
“Who wouldn’t?”
“The warriors and Nazan.”
Kazen frowned slightly.
“Did they ignore you?”
“No, not like that.”
“Then?”
“No matter how much they respect and consider me, they aren’t my subordinates. So, even if I order them to capture the physician, do you think they’ll listen?”
Once her explanation was finished, Kazen raised an eyebrow in a skeptical manner.
“So you pretended to be hurt?”
Lenette looked up at him with a serious expression.
“It was that important and serious of a situation.”
Kazen pulled a bundle of cloth from his pocket. It was the tariak that Lenette had given to Nazan.
“This brown lump is that dangerous?”
“Tariak. That’s the name of that brown herb.”
“An unfamiliar name.”
“Has it never spread in Tazetra?”
“This is the first time I’ve seen it.”
Lenette lightly licked her lips with the tip of her tongue and avoided eye contact.
“The King of Ecaron?”
There was no answer.
However, thinking logically, the only one who could recklessly kill that many soldiers was their master, the ‘king.’
“It’s a dangerous substance. We need to take measures to prevent it from spreading in this area.”
* * *
Kazen did not take Lenette’s words lightly.
He immediately organized the situation to ensure that people would not pay any attention to ‘tariak.’
“Upon investigation, I found that there is only one physician trading with the Sarman merchant group.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. And the reason the physician where Tariak was found went missing is that they quietly spread it under a suitable pretext.”
“Then only the warriors and Mahat who were present at that time know about the existence of tariak?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Thank you.”
“However, I don’t know if Sarman will believe that rumor.”
“Sarman won’t suspect anything anyway. It’s common for those addicted to tariak to go missing.”
So they would probably just assume the physician’s disappearance was natural.
“Understood.”
“Where is Kazen now?”
“He’s underground.”
“Is he in the middle of an interrogation?”
“Yes.”
There probably wouldn’t be any significant results.
‘If we’re going to raid, we should raid Sarman.’
But from what Lenette understood, Kazen lacked both the power and ability to corner the Sarman merchant group.
Just looking at the warriors, including Hosanta, who were currently pursuing her, it was clear they were not Kazen’s ‘subordinates.’
In terms of the underwater temple, meaning the warriors sent by Kal, they were not part of Kazen’s force.
Only Nazan, right in front of her, was Kazen’s person.
Lenette stood up from her seat.
“Where are you going?”
“To Kazen.”
“Are you saying you want to participate in the interrogation?”
“Yes.”
