Chapter 6. The Masterless Beast (2)
Arslan Taya Shan.
The heir and last surviving member of the Blue Mountain Tribe, which had been annihilated by the Second Prince, Owen.
He was a man who had abandoned even his own name and devoted his life to avenging his family and tribe.
And it wasn’t just empty words—he had truly thrown away his life for that purpose.
‘Though, considering all that, his results were rather underwhelming.’
Time and again, he had tried to kill the Second Prince.
Twice, he had come within a hair’s breadth of succeeding—but no further.
The First Prince and the king had ultimately been poisoned, while the Second Prince—the one Rashan most wanted dead—had destroyed himself.
In the end, the only royal Rashan personally beheaded was the First Princess, Olina.
‘I wonder… what was my “sister” thinking when Rashan came to kill her?’
Before Ariana’s return to the past, Olina had fallen in love with Rashan the moment she saw him here in this Gray Corridor and made him her slave warrior.
Olina loved handsome men as much as she loved luxury and pleasure.
To her, Rashan—with his striking face and wild, untamed aura—must have surpassed even her ideal type.
Possessive by nature, she flaunted him everywhere after making him her slave, proudly showing off what belonged to her.
Rashan had resisted, so she had never managed to drag him into her bed…
But had she succeeded, she would probably have paraded him before her followers as a spectacle, boasting even more shamelessly.
‘How vulgar.’
It was vulgar entertainment in the truest sense.
Yet no one possessed enough courage to pry into the secret amusements of a princess.
Of course, the fact that Olina was the twin sister of the Second Prince—who was locked in a bitter succession struggle with the First Prince—also played a significant role.
‘But this time will be different.’
It had to be.
Otherwise, she would never reach an ending different from the past.
‘Of course… you’ll still be the same, won’t you?’
As Ariana smiled beautifully while watching Rashan stand proudly in the center of the arena amidst the crowd’s almost fanatical cheers—
Their eyes met.
The distance between them was great, but there was no mistake.
His cold, pitch-black eyes, as dark as the night itself, were staring directly at her.
Just like that day…
The day their gazes had met across the execution platform.
The only difference was that, back then, Ariana had been the one standing on the boundary between life and death.
Now…
That boundary belonged to Rashan.
‘I died standing on that line… but you won’t, will you?’
Without breaking eye contact, Ariana lightly waved a hand toward him.
Her lips moved ever so slightly.
“We’ll meet soon.”
His expression tightened, as though he had read her lips.
Perhaps she was imagining it.
It didn’t matter.
Simply having another reminder that she had truly returned to the past filled her with delight.
“That is Rashan, the Champion of the Corridor.”
Seeing the graceful curve of Ariana’s crimson lips, Ruben stepped beside her and spoke.
“He remains undefeated. Not once has he ever lost a match. An exceptional slave.”
While Ruben was speaking, Rashan finally looked away from Ariana and disappeared through the arena gate.
Watching him until he vanished, Ariana slowly spoke.
“I’d like to meet him.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s very expensive.
Extraordinarily expensive.”
Watching Ruben answer with obvious discomfort, Ariana nodded inwardly.
She knew exactly why he was refusing.
‘He’s trying to make sure nothing interferes with his plan to introduce Rashan to Olina.’
Before Ariana’s return, Rashan had become Olina’s slave warrior entirely because of Ruben’s help.
She still didn’t know why Ruben aided Rashan and the other “avengers.”
She could only assume there was some benefit in it for him.
Which meant there was only one thing Ariana needed to do now.
She had to convince him that she, not Olina, could offer him greater profit.
‘The problem is… I don’t actually have much to bargain with right now…’
Realizing once again that she was a princess with practically nothing to her name, Ariana let out a quiet chuckle.
Adding earning money to her growing list of priorities, she looked at Ruben.
“No matter how expensive he is, a slave is still a slave.”
“Princess…”
“Call me Arina.”
“…Lady Arina.”
After a brief hesitation, Ruben corrected himself.
“That slave is truly priceless. If he suffers even the slightest injury, the losses I’ll incur will be enormous.”
Looking at the man who genuinely seemed troubled, Ariana thought calmly,
If I have nothing to negotiate with… then I’ll simply threaten him.
“If something like that happens, Father will compensate you.”
“…”
“But tell me—
Will that really help if your head gets chopped off after you’ve been paid for damaging such an expensive slave?”
…
The threat seemed highly effective against a man running an illegal arena.
Ruben’s face turned expressionless almost instantly.
Seeing that, Ariana burst into laughter.
Her clear, cheerful laugh sounded strangely out of place in this underground arena.
Ruben frowned slightly.
“Your method of… persuading me… is remarkably aggressive.”
“So?
What’s your answer?”
“…I’ll arrange the meeting.”
He sighed.
“But you’ll need to be careful.
He’s an extremely ferocious slave.”
Apparently her threat had offended him more than she expected.
Even as he tried to intimidate her with his sharp warning, Ariana simply smiled.
Then she turned her head.
She had sensed Maia, who had been silently observing everything until now, stepping closer.
“Lady Arina.”
“What is it?”
“It’s dangerous.”
“No.
It isn’t.”
“But…”
“The owner of this place knows perfectly well that I must not be harmed.
Isn’t that right?”
She looked directly at Ruben.
His face twisted unpleasantly.
“So you do understand.”
She smiled.
“Maia, what do you think?”
Everyone knew Ariana was the daughter most beloved by the king.
After all, he had declared from the day she was born that he would raise her into the Flower of Molvian.
If Ariana were injured here…
At the very least, Molvian’s entire commercial foundation might be destroyed.
Some might think that wasn’t such a serious consequence.
But for a merchant, losing the business empire built over a lifetime could be even worse than losing one’s life.
Especially for a merchant who still had important business to conduct in Molvian.
That was why Ariana was confident she would remain perfectly safe.
Meeting her confident gaze, Ruben let out a long sigh before bowing his head.
“I cannot give you much time.”
“That’s for me to decide.”
“…I never imagined the youngest princess would be this unreasonable.”
“For something as small as this?”
Ariana smiled—a smile that would undoubtedly have made the king praise her once again.
After summoning a servant and ordering them to escort Ariana to the reception room, Ruben watched her slowly disappear down the corridor before clicking his tongue.
When he’d heard it was the Second Princess coming instead of the First Princess, he’d assumed another wealthy fool had wandered into his establishment.
“So the rumors were wrong.”
The sheltered flower raised within the royal gardens.
That was how society viewed Ariana.
It was also the conclusion he’d reached after gathering every piece of information he could.
Yet the princess who had smiled sweetly while threatening him into giving her exactly what she wanted…
She was nothing like the woman he’d expected.
“I’ll need to plant more people inside the royal palace.”
The youngest princess had never occupied an important place in his plans, so he had paid her little attention.
But after today’s encounter…
His opinion had changed.
Perhaps, in the future, the youngest princess might become the greatest obstacle to everything he intended to accomplish.
“If an obstacle can’t be removed…
…the best solution is to make it your own.”
He brushed back the gray hair that had fallen over his forehead.
“But…”
Considering his ultimate objective…
That option was impossible.
“What should I do?”
He muttered to himself.
“WAAAAAH!”
A new match began, and the deafening cheers of the spectators naturally drew his gaze back toward the arena.
The tribal slaves whom both the Kingdom of Molvian and the Darsen Empire scorned as savages.
Gathering them one by one was only a single part of the grand design he had spent years constructing.
But it was also where everything began.
Which meant he had to proceed carefully.
“First…
I should let him know.”
Thinking of Rashan, who was likely resting in the waiting room by now, Ruben started walking.
Since Rashan had been the one who designed the broad framework of this operation, it was only natural to hear his opinion first.
“WAAAAAH!”
“Kill him!”
“Kill him!”
As the spectators’ cries grew louder and louder, darkness slowly filled the empty space Ruben had left behind.
