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He frowned, scratching his chest. “I ran into the owner of the fun house that day. The men I worked with insulted her behind her back. So, I threw a punch, and it escalated from there.”

“You stood up for the woman who exploited you?”

“Yes. But she was also the one who took me in from the cold when no one else would. She gave me a job that helped me survive until something better came along.”

Something betterwas the slave contract.

“So, you call becoming a slave your lucky strike?”

He nodded firmly. “The meaning of either luck or misfortune is different for everyone. You know what they say? For some, a hardship means their tears are too big, for others it’s when their diamonds are too small. In my situation at least, becoming a slave was an improvement. Unlike in a fun house, I don’t have to touch or be touched by anyone. I do my work through the day, and I’m left alone at night. My bed is my own even if it’s just a bunk with a straw mattress.”

What he must’ve felt when I had the guards drag him to my bedroom, especially after being put through all that invasive grooming and being locked in chains by Gem too.

Guilt gripped me.

“Salas, I...” I got off the couch, clutching my hands together. “I’m so sorry for everything you had to go through because of me. I let others handle our arrangement when I should’ve just found a way to talk to you first.”

He shook his head at that.

“You know as well as I do that there is no chance for a princess and a slave to simply get together and talk.” His features softened as he gazed at me. “Unless the slave climbs the wall up to the princess’s bedroom.”

I kept wringing my hands in front of me, racking my brain about how to right so many wrongs. Where could I even begin? And how could I avoid possibly making it even worse?

“Please, tell me how I can help? What can I do to make it better?”

“For me?” He shook his head. “Don’t worry about me, Princess. I’ve lived a life, and I’ve made what I have with it. I’m content with what it is now. Hard work has been both my retribution and my salvation. But if you really want to make a difference, don’t just free one slave, make changes that would improve life for all. You can do so much more than I ever could. Look outside of the palace and even outside of the Egami City.You are our future queen. Just think about all the good you could do.”

“But how? Where do I begin?”

He gazed at me kindly.

“You’re the crown princess. I believe you have the brains to figure it out.”

Silence stretched between us as I pondered his words. He remained by the door, waiting.

“Forget what I said about the unfinished business, Salas. There is no contract between us anymore. You owe me nothing. You don’t have to be here—”

“But what if I want to?”

“Why? After everything that you’ve been through.” I gripped my hands tighter. “You said you don’t like being touched, which I can understand completely.”

“Not all touch is the same.” His voice dipped with a velvety note running through it. It stroked my hearing, sending a warm shiver down my body. “You have nothing to apologize to me for, Princess. With you, the choice has always been mine. From the very first night.”

I released my hands, only for my fingers to immediately clutch my skirts. “Why did you agree to come here that first night?”

“The first time? I just wanted to see if I was right.”

“About what?”

“About what I saw in your eyes when you looked at me for the very first time. I was on the scaffold, being whipped. And you arrived on your white horse, wearing your shiny crown—every bit the princess that you are.”

I glanced aside, my hand mechanically going up to the crown on my head.

“Except that when our eyes connected,” he continued, “I didn’t see a princess, or even a woman. I saw someone whonoticed the person in me for the first time in many years.” His gaze drifted past me, a frown creasing his forehead as he recalled his punishment. “I didn’t care about the two lashes that you spared me from that day. Two or twenty—at some point of torture, the number just becomes irrelevant. What shocked me was that you cared enough to intervene. That first night, I came here to make sure I simply imagined things that didn’t exist. I had to make sure you were what I always thought you had been—a spoiled little princess, cherished by the queen and worshiped by the entire queendom for coming from another world to save us all.”

“You really think that’s who I am?”

“That’s what many think you are.” He moved a hand before resting it on his forearm again with his arms folded across his chest. “I hadn’t touched a woman in seven years. I thought I was done with it. I even looked forward to telling it to your face. Such is the freedom of a slave who has nothing to lose. I was going to refuse the princess, consequences be damned. But I couldn’t do it outright. Spending time with you proved too enjoyable to end it too quickly. And then, it was too late. I realized it hadn’t been just my imagination. You’re not just some miracle dropped into the lap of luxury. You’re a real person, hiding pain of your own and making it through life the best you can. For a princess and a slave, as it turned out, we have a lot in common.”