Catherine put on the last pieces of her new outfit and felt incredibly happy. The gentle touch of soft fabric on her body was something she had forgotten. She clasped the metal buckle on her comfortable shoes and straightened. Even without a mirror to look at herself, she felt great. Her collar wasn't as heavy as usual and that put her in a very good mood. She took a few test steps and fixed a few things but it seemed that Mr. Benjamin knew his craft extremely well. He had introduced himself as Benjamin Alabaster, but... No... It must have been some coincidence or just another Benjamin Alabaster. Catherine shook her head with a smile. She crossed her hands on her belly in the stance she remembered many maids used as they followed their masters around the slave markets where she had been waiting to be sold. Now, she had to convince her new Master to follow up with her plan. Once Catherine decided she was ready, she proudly walked towards where she expected him to be waiting.

  "My Master." She curtsied with a happy smile she couldn't contain.

  "You look good in this outfit, Miss Catherine." He smiled but there was some discomfort in his voice.

  "No, no! You mustn't call me Miss! It would be acceptable to call me by my name but you shouldn't use any title when you address me, Master!" She protested with growing panic. If he addressed her like that in public, it would be disastrous for her plans. "I prepared a plan that should help you avoid any problems but it does have a few risky parts, my Master. So if you want my help, I want you to try to follow it."

  He looked at her, completely surprised, before he started laughing which, unexpectedly, made her blush.

  "All right. I'm all ears." He said once he calmed down.

  "So the most important part of the plan is a certain lie we must stick to no matter what, Master." She started and he raised his hand to stop her.

  "What kind of lie?" He simply asked, still amused.

  "That you are a foreign noble travelling through the Kingdom of Saftia on his way home. To make it a less outrageous lie, we could pretend that you are a knight on a knightly errand or something like that." She proposed, expecting him to protest. Impersonating a noble was a serious crime in every society so she knew they would be risking their lives. "I'm aware how dangerous it is and we could even be executed if someone proves we lied, but it's unlikely, Master..."

  She held her breath in anticipation of his decision. She was afraid that his chivalrous and gentle nature would make him decline her idea, or he might even be outraged by her proposition and rebuke her, but he just smiled.

  "For all intents and purposes, an Imperial Inquisitor at the rank of Captain holds the authority of the Arcadian Count, Catherine. So we won't be lying at all." He shrugged.

  She opened and closed her mouth in a vain attempt to contain her shock.

  "You are a noble, my Master?! A real noble?!" She finally decided to ask her question just to push air out of her chest.

  "Yes and no." He smiled wryly, clearly in a joyous mood.

  "With all due respect, Master, but you can't be and not be a noble at the same time." She knew that she pouted but she couldn't help it.

  "And yet, here we are." He laughed. "I am, and also am not, a noble."

  "I... I don't understand." She fumed.

  "So... Let me explain it to you using your very example." He smiled charmingly and approached her.

  Very closely. Catherine held her breath as his eyes locked with hers.

  "Are you a slave?" He asked as he raised his hand and fixed her hair. She trembled under his touch and closed her eyes.

  "I am, Mas-" She began answering with a hushed voice, enjoying his touch, but suddenly she felt that he, once again, opened her collar.

  "Master!" She quickly snapped it shut and made sure his hand touched the runestone.

  "So, are you really a slave if I'm so persistent at setting you free?" He asked with a playful smile as he stepped back.

  "I... For everyone else, I'm your slave, my Master." She grumbled. It was the second time he made her put that collar back on herself.

  "Precisely! For everyone else, I'm a Count of the Empire of Arcadia." He chuckled. "If you need it, I even have documents to use in emergency situations if I was forced to work with foreign officials. Including an official document with the Emperor's seal naming me a Count in person. While this wasn't the situation anyone could have foreseen when the Emperor gave me these documents, it sure as hell falls under the description of an emergency."

  "I can't believe it..." She straightened in shock and felt that she was sweating nervously, even her ears trembled.

  "Don't make a big fuss about it when we are alone. One day, I will tell you about Arcadia and, hopefully, you will understand." He waved his hand dismissively and signalled her to follow him. "There are a lot of things I haven't told you yet. But just be patient, I simply don't have enough time."

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  "All right, my Master." She nodded numbly.

  "Do you really have to call me your master in nearly every sentence?" He asked with a sigh.

  "No." She smiled. "But, as I said earlier, this Slave Collar demands that I use honorifics when I address you, Lord Ives."

  "Yes. That is much more acceptable. You can also use Sir." He picked up the water flask and turned back towards the toppled cart. "Can't you just be my maid instead of a slave?"

  He filled the empty bottle with his water magic and even added a few pieces of ice to it. He then offered it to her. She took a deep breath.

  "In Saftian culture, women can't attend to a man unless she is his wife or daughter, Lord Ives," Catherine explained very slowly, awaiting his snarky remark. She drank the water without commenting. It was cold and tasty.

  "You are neither." He blinked in confusion. "I mean, I'm not as lucky as Emperor Theon to marry a beautiful woman just like that..."

  He didn't... Did he just call her beautiful? Catherine used all the force of her will not to turn red. She was sure that she failed considering that even her ears started to move on their own, betraying her. The usually expressive ears of her race had been unmoving since the day she was declared a slave. They were making up for the lost time now.

  "Slaves are not considered people, my Lord." She explained and saw his cheerful expression vanish.

  "I see." He said and covered his face with his hands. He took a deep breath and looked at her. "What would you say about playing my wife instead of a slave?"

  "I..." She hesitated. For various reasons that was a very appealing offer... But. "No, my Lord. There are some rules we would have to follow and things we will be expected to do. If you are as wealthy as I think you are, someone might even try to kidnap me and use me against you."

  "Oh, I sincerely wish them luck. One day I'll show you why." He said with a strange seriousness in his voice. "Anyway... So you are saying that as a free person, you would have to follow some rules you wouldn't have to as a slave? Even if you pretend to be my wife?"

  "Yes. The most important thing is that as your slave I will have an excuse to always be at your side, my Lord. Even in a situation when you are meeting with other nobles. As your wife, I would be expected to talk with the lady of the house." She said and saw his expression soften.

  "If I guess correctly, will you be able to even offer me advice during such a meeting as my slave?"

  "Yes, Lord Ives. It's a common practice for nobles to use their 'advisor slaves' as scapegoats." She shuddered. "But, as a foreign noble, you could use any excuse to ask me anything and that wouldn't raise any suspicion. If anything, some nobles might be even impressed by your consideration to buy a slave for such a purpose."

  "Catherine... I will be painfully honest with you." He said with a flat and suddenly very, very tired voice. "I can't treat you as my slave and I won't do it. Neither when we are alone nor in public. The culture of this land is so alien to me, I can't fathom it. Various forms of slavery are spread across the world so I would lie if I told you that it's something rare. Hell, just a year ago, slavery was rampant in the land that became Arcadia. But I'm an Imperial Inquisitor, Catherine. It's against everything I believe and hold dear. It's against the laws I have sworn to protect. It's against my training and conditioning. Do you have any idea what would happen with this country... What WILL happen to this country once my Lord reads my report?"

  "I'm under the impression that your Lord wouldn't like it..." She smiled and her ears twitched to the sides in amusement.

  "That's an understatement... I'm more than certain that he will simply order his Navy to invade Saftia on a free afternoon. I can promise you this. He won't tolerate something as outrageous as this to continue." His voice was dead serious and his eyes were dimmed by anger.

  "The Kingdom of Saftia has hundreds of thousands of soldiers and mages. They have dozens of airships at their disposal, my Lord." She whispered.

  "In the face of the might commanded by my Lord, the power you fear is like an insignificant grain of sand cast against the merciless ocean." He sighed with a smile that somehow cheered her up, but also intrigued her. "So you will be playing my slave and I will be a travelling noble."

  "Yes, Sir." She nodded and happily explained more details.

  He listened carefully and simply nodded once she finished.

  "That plan needs adjustments." He said after a moment.

  "What kind of adjustments, Lord Ives?"

  "I expect that we will run out of funds sooner rather than later. We will need money to resupply, cover accommodation expenses and, most probably, hire some people at some point." He pointed out. "I don't mind doing some side work like monster hunting but would that be acceptable? Or even an option?"

  "Oh..." He was right. She hadn't thought that far. "I suppose that monster hunting could work. I heard that some high-ranking nobles are sometimes requested to hunt monsters, Lord Ives."

  "Do you have any kind of Adventurer guild or something like that where I could find such quests?"

  "Of course, my Lord! But you would have to register and I don't know how low profile you want to be..." She furrowed her brows.

  "Honestly, some kind of fame might work in our favour." He answered thoughtfully after a moment.

  "Our fame, Sir?" She asked nervously.

  "Indeed. You will accompany me during the hunts. If you consider the possibility that someone might kidnap you if you played my wife, what would stop them from taking away my slave?"

  "But... I don't have any class, my Lord! I will be only a burden! Besides, who would kidnap a slave? You could just buy a new one."

  He looked at her in silence for a very long moment. His eyes narrowed dangerously but he stayed silent. Once he spoke, however, his voice was cold as ice.

  "I would never-"

  "But everyone would assume you would, Sir!" She interrupted him.

  The very idea that someone could take her away from Arthur scared Catherine. He was probably the only person in the entire world who even remotely cared about her. But this was simply a grim reality: the world was an uncaring place. Against all reason and common sense, she was attached to him.

  "I promise I will protect you, Catherine." He said calmly. "I always will."

  "While I believe that, I will slow you down during your hunts. I'm classless, my Lord." She said with a lowered head. "Please, leave it for now. We have to safely leave Howthorns first."

  "Agree." He agreed smoothly with a mysterious smile. "What about that man... Griss Vul?"

  "I don't know if he was involved in killing my father but if he was..." She clenched her fists and shook her head. "It doesn't matter..."

  "If he crosses my path and I learn that he was responsible for killing your father, I will execute him." Arthur said in a voice so emotionless that scared her. It wasn't a threat or a heart-lifting promise he made so she could feel better. He simply stated a fact. "Just leave it to me."

  Thank you all for reading.

  I wish you all a great day and as always I wait for your comments.

  A big thanks to and who edited the chapter!