I’ve Become a S*ave Bride - Chapter 8

“I wasn’t the eighth—I was the ninth, you idiots.”

Calling a human sacrifice a ‘bride,’… How vile could they get?

“He seemed to eat all kinds of raw meat just fine yesterday.”

Then why go out of his way to eat a young woman—one with a decent face and who could even speak the Tazetra language?

Lenette tried to make sense of it for a moment but gave up.

‘That’s not what matters.’

What matters is staying alive—surviving to see her father and brother again, to rise up once more. That was the only truth, the only goal that mattered to her.

Which meant… she had to escape this place no matter what.

The resolve that had wavered after seeing that man yesterday was now firmly back in place.

“Get it together. The only one who can save me… is me.”

She muttered in her native tongue and moved with care—stepping lightly, but not so sneakily that anyone watching would be suspicious.

She stopped when she reached the stairs.

“……”

One set led up to the surface. The other led down into the black panther’s den.

One path held faint hope. The other, a dark unknown… and a wounded man who might be eaten in her place.

“Hoo…”

After a moment of hesitation, she let out a long breath and stepped forward.

In the end, the path she chose was the one that led downward.

☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

Kazen returned from his hideout to his room just as the moon disappeared behind the clouds and darkness settled over everything.

When he lit the candles gathered in the center of the room, a warm glow filled the once pitch-black space.

“Good work today.”

He stroked Kus’s head, and the panther responded with a small display of affection before trying to lie down on the floor.

But maybe the candlelight was too bright for him—after fidgeting in place and adjusting his angle, Kus eventually headed for his territory: the eastern balcony.

Now finally alone, Kazen shrugged off his top in one smooth motion.

“I could really use a bath.”

Because of the wound on his stomach, he hadn’t been able to bathe properly in days.

He stared down at the injury; the bleeding had now barely stopped. No matter how he looked at it, soaking in water was still out of the question. And at this hour, there was no attendant around to heat water for him anyway.

“No helping it.”

Kazen walked over to a dresser and pulled out a clean cloth. He planned to soak it with water from his private washroom and wipe himself down.

Just as he started to move, trying to ignore the stickiness clinging to his skin—

“Is anyone inside?”

A soft voice called from the other side of the door.

“…?”

At first, he thought he was hearing things.

It made sense—only two people were ever allowed on the third floor where he stayed: the male attendant who had long cared for the abandoned palace and that attendant’s elderly mother.

Those two were the only ones Kazen trusted. The rest—guards or servants—weren’t even allowed near the stairs.

He paused, brushing it off as an echo of that woman’s nonsense from yesterday still ringing in his ears.

But he was wrong.

“If you’re inside, would you mind opening the door?”

That full sentence was far too clear to be dismissed as a hallucination.

“……”

Kazen slowly turned around, now frozen in place, staring intently at the door where the woman’s voice had come from.

“…Is he asleep…?”

Her low mumble drifted in. Kazen’s face twisted in irritation.

She had definitely been warned not to come up to this floor.

And yet, here she was.

Which meant last night’s encounter was the reason she’d come looking for him now.

“What a pain,” Kazen muttered under his breath.

Maybe because it was still early morning and deathly quiet, his voice carried clearly through the wooden door.

The woman responded right away.

“You are in there, aren’t you?”

Just then, Kus wandered into the room, drawn by the noise. His yellow eyes glinted with a strange mix of curiosity and fondness.

Was it because of her beautiful face? Or maybe he still remembered the meat she’d given him yesterday?

Maybe it was both.

Kazen let out a dry chuckle.

“You can’t be so easily swayed.”

Seriously, whose panther are you?

There was no more sound from the other side of the door, but Kazen could feel it—she was still standing there, waiting.

With an exasperated sigh, he walked over and cracked the door open, just enough to show half his face.

“What is it?”

Perhaps she hadn’t anticipated this question, her mouth slightly agape, a contrast to her bold demeanor. Her thick eyelashes fluttered repeatedly.

“I asked what you wanted.”

Only when he repeated himself did she finally come to her senses.

“Ah… Are you okay?”

Kazen frowned instinctively at the question. ‘What kind of question is that?’

Perhaps sensing his irritation, she added,

“Your wound… it looked pretty bad.”

When Kazen tilted his head without answering, the woman fell silent again. An awkward and uncomfortable standoff stretched on.

He looked down at her with detached eyes, clearly uninterested.

Maybe sensing his irritation, she finally let out a sigh and muttered under her breath,

“Why am I even worrying about him…”

It wasn’t in the Tazetra language, but he understood it just fine.

‘Worried?’

Kazen raised one eyebrow, staring at her as if trying to see straight through her.

Was she really saying she climbed up here, breaking the rules, just because she was ‘worried’ about him?

‘She still thinks I’m Kus’s prey, huh?’

Ridiculous. Mistaking Kus for a groom was bad enough, but what kind of thought process did this woman have?

Deciding she wasn’t worth replying to or dealing with, Kazen started to close the door.

But before it could fully shut, the woman quickly held something out—wrapped in cloth.

“Take this. It’ll help your wound heal.”

The closing door froze in place.

“…What?”

As he opened the door a bit wider and asked again, a flash of irritation crossed her pale face.

“Is speaking informally standard etiquette in this country or something? Seriously…”

She muttered that last part in Ecaron. Kazen understood it but pretended not to and instead asked again about the bundle.

“What is this that’s supposed to help my wound?”

“You’ll know once you open it.”

“Not much of an explanation.”

He took the bundle with a skeptical tilt of his head. She glanced around nervously, clearly in a hurry.

“I need to head back before the black panther comes. Just check what’s inside yourself—I included instructions.”

“……”

“Then I’ll be going now.”

Despite her slender frame, the way she turned and strode away was surprisingly bold.

Once her silhouette disappeared, Kazen immediately opened the bundle.

Inside were several pieces of clean white cloth for bandaging, medicinal herbs, a paper that looked like instructions, and a flat tin of ointment.

Kazen laid everything out on the bed and ran a hand along his mouth as he looked them over.

“…No way.”

He unfolded the instruction sheet. It listed the ointment’s exact effects, how to use it, and even how to ingest the herbs.

“Did she really make this?”

☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

Two days after using the ointment the woman had given him, Kazen was healing faster than expected—and had a physician brought in.

“You’ve taken care of the aftercare exceptionally well.”

The physician was examining him in the reception room on the third floor, not his usual bedroom.

“There’s no pus, and the wound is closing up quickly.”

Kazen slowly ran his fingers over the raised scar tissue.

“…I see.”

Honestly, even without a physician, he could tell the woman’s treatment had been effective.

But now that a professional confirmed it, it was harder to keep thinking of her as just a “useless bride.”

“However, the mixture of herbs you showed me is quite… unusual.”

Kazen looked at the physician as if to say, “Go on.”

“From the scent, I believe this ointment contains gaemalcho. But gaemalcho isn’t usually used in wound ointments.”

“And what is it used for?”

“It’s usually brewed like tea—for people who have trouble sleeping.”

The physician adjusted his glasses and finished his explanation.

“And the method used to make the ointment seems different as well. Normally, you’d mix palm oil or animal fat to make it thick, then add powdered herbs so it’s easy to apply… but this one is much more solid in form.”

“I see.”

Kazen toyed with the small container of ointment in his hand.

“Maybe I should keep her alive.”

“…Excuse me?”

Startled by his muttering, the physician flinched. Kazen casually waved his hand.

“You can go.”

“Ah… Understood.”

Once the physician was gone, Kazen rose from his seat and stepped out onto the balcony.

Normally, he would’ve returned to his hideout by this time of day—but he’d stayed behind to see the physician.

Because he was curious about the usefulness of his ninth bride.

“A bride who knows medicine…”

As he murmured, his gaze happened to land on the white figure wandering around the first floor. She probably thought she was being subtle, but it was clear to anyone she was scouting for an escape route.

Kazen watched her pointless wandering for a moment, then let out a small laugh and looked back down at the ointment tin in his hand.

“Good thing she ended up in the abandoned palace.”

With those words, Kazen set the ointment down—and leapt straight over the railing.