You Were My Sl*ve - Chapter 77

The underground prison was cold and damp. Kazan sat quietly against the wall, his wrists and ankles bound with cold iron chains. As the only prisoner in the dungeon, he stared down at the dark, grimy floor in silence.

Tomorrow, at dawn, he would be executed.

‘Will Elona be there? Will she see me die?’

He didn’t want her to see it. Kazan buried his face in his knees. How much would she grieve? How much despair would she feel? Elona often hesitated when making decisions, and he was sure she was regretting everything now.

“How can I ever trust you? You’re just a slave!”

The cruel words she had hurled at him the night before. They couldn’t have been sincere.

Tomorrow, as he climbed the gallows and saw her face, perhaps he would know. Whether her words were the truth—or a lie.

As he sat, consumed by his dark thoughts of Elona, a voice suddenly broke through the silence.

“Kazan!”

Startled, Kazan lifted his head. The voice—husky and unmistakably feminine—was Samira’s.

“Samira? How are you… how did you get here…?”

“Shh. Look at this.”

She pulled a jangling set of keys from her skirt pocket and held them up. Kazan scrambled toward the bars, his chains rattling.

“How did you get those? Where’s the guard?”

“I managed to get them somehow. As for the guard, well… Parsion guards are lazy as usual.”

“What…?” Kazan stared at her in disbelief. It was hard to imagine what she could have done to acquire the keys. His skeptical expression seemed to irritate her.

“What’s with that look? I came here to save you, and you’re not even grateful?”

“I am. If you actually free me.”

Samira snorted at his dry response and began sorting through the keys, searching for the one that matched his cell. As the jangling sound filled the air, she muttered, almost offhandedly,

“Oh, by the way. About Princess Elona.”

At the mention of her name, Kazan’s ears perked up. His gaze sharpened. Seeing this, Samira let out a sarcastic sigh.

“She’s been punished. After the trial, they locked her in her room. One month of house arrest.”

“What? Why?”

“Why do you think? Do you even know why you were sentenced to death?”

Samira paused her search and raised her head, her green eyes meeting his. Seeing the blank confusion on his face, she frowned, incredulous.

“Princess Elona sold you out, Kazan. She pinned everything on you. That’s why you’re in this mess—because she betrayed you.”

“What… what are you talking about?”

The chains binding Kazan’s wrists scraped harshly against the bars as he gripped them tightly. His voice echoed through the empty dungeon, filled with disbelief and anger.

“Stop lying, Samira! Tell me the truth! Elona wouldn’t say anything like that—”

“You don’t know anything!”

Samira snapped, her frustration boiling over. Her beautiful green eyes reflected the despair on Kazan’s face as he teetered on the edge of devastation. She could push him into the abyss—or pull him back.

“Do you want to know what she said? When asked for the truth, Elona testified that you, a mere slave, dared to seduce her. That you tried to force yourself on her. She demanded that you be severely punished!”

Samira watched as sorrow and anguish clouded Kazan’s crimson eyes. Yes, he needed to feel this despair. Only then would he give up on the princess.

But Kazan shook his head firmly, as if rejecting reality itself.

“No. Elona would never do that. That testimony was a lie. Elona loves me.”

His desperate conviction drove Samira to the brink of madness. Why did she care for a man like this? She fumbled with the keys, unable to focus, and snapped at him.

“Stop dreaming and think about escaping! You’re coming back to Ashatra with me, Prince Kazan. The House of Omar will support you. You can become king.”

She spoke passionately, but her words fell on deaf ears. Kazan didn’t cry, didn’t falter. He didn’t even seem to hear her.

Samira’s hope shattered as she saw how steadfast he was—how unshakable his belief in her. His lover. His master.

She couldn’t take it anymore.

“How long are you going to cling to such a foolish dream?!”

Throwing the keys aside, Samira stormed toward the bars, reaching through to grab his face. She held his cheeks tightly in her hands, forcing him to look at her.

“Wake up! The princess is going to marry Prince Bahalen! Don’t you get it yet? You’ve been abandoned! She’s the one who condemned you to die!”

Her final words stung so deeply that Kazan furrowed his brow in pain. But even then, he refused to accept what Samira said.

“You misunderstood. Elona would never do that. I… trust her.”

His crimson eyes held unwavering conviction. Not a single trace of doubt flickered in them.

That was the breaking point for Samira. Her patience finally ran out.

“…Fine. Do whatever you want. Go ahead—believe her until the day you die.”

She released his face and turned away. The ring of keys lay far out of reach, deliberately tossed beyond his grasp. Samira let out a frustrated sigh before climbing the stairs and disappearing from the dungeon without another word.

Left alone, Kazan stared at the keys lying just beyond the bars. If he could only reach them, freedom would be his.

But they were far, far beyond his reach.

*

“Samira came to see me in the dungeon that night.”

As Sir Xerox remained lost in thought for too long, Kazan decided to answer for him. Only then did Sir Xerox let out a weary sigh.

“Ah… I see. So it did happen after all.”

“Did happen? What do you mean by that?”

“Because I met her. That night.”

“When that night?”

“Before I came to see you in the dungeon,” Sir Xerox replied, his blue eyes darkening with melancholy. His voice grew heavy as he continued his story.

*

“That night, Prince Antonio summoned five elite knights from the royal order. I had the dubious honor of being among them… but it was neither an honorable nor a noble duty for a knight—or even a human being.”

“Tonight, we’ll be hunting,” the prince declared. “Our prey is the Ashatra slave boy raised by the princess—and that slave girl, Samira.”

The unexpected order left me and the other knights in stunned silence. One of us cautiously asked,

“Your Highness, isn’t that man, Kazan, already locked up in the dungeon? He’ll be hanged tomorrow morning. Why would we need to hunt him?”

“Good question.”

Prince Antonio grinned, clearly enjoying himself.

“Because tonight, he’s going to escape. I’ve already set the bait. The slave girl took the bait and broke him out of the dungeon. I had the guards removed in advance, so by now, they’re probably breathing the fresh night air together.”

That’s when it all clicked for me—the reason why the prince had summoned Samira earlier that day. He had manipulated her into helping Kazan escape… all so he could hunt them down himself.

He planned to hunt them both—personally.

“Of course, I’ll be the star of the hunt,” the prince continued. “You lot will act as my hounds. When you find them, drag them to me alive. Killing them is my privilege.”

Why…? I thought. Why is he doing something so wicked? His command revolted me, but I had no right to refuse.

And so, as we scattered into the woods according to the prince’s orders, nearly an hour passed.

Then, in the western hunting grounds—near the path leading to Ashatra—Samira was caught. It was the very place where we had set up an ambush. But she was alone.

“Why are you alone?” the prince demanded. “Where’s Kazan?”

Samira’s expression was somber as she replied,

“…He’s still in the dungeon.”

“What?! You had the keys, yet you left him behind? Damn it!”