The Dialectic of Master and Slave - Chapter 129

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Eventually, even mages were mobilized. After that, Jaha stopped resisting. She realized starving herself to death wasn’t feasible. Skipping one or two meals wouldn’t do it—she’d have to hold out for days, and there was no chance the maids would let her.

More than anything, she never wanted to relive the experience of being immobilized by magic and force-fed like livestock.

At some point, it struck her that she hadn’t seen the Emperor in days.

It was strange, considering how persistently he had clung to her side before suddenly vanishing. But Jaha didn’t dwell on it.

Whether he stayed away out of shame or simply lost interest, it didn’t matter.

Frankly, she hoped it was the latter.

That way, even these overbearing attendants would disappear soon.

The days dragged on—alive, yet unable to die.

For Jaha, an ordinary college student now bound and under strict surveillance, ending her own life was practically impossible. Paralyzed and helpless, she withered away day by day.

There was nothing to do, so she drifted in and out of sleep. Then, a presence. She didn’t need to look to know it was the Emperor.

She didn’t want to know. But like it or not, she had grown attuned to the sound of his footsteps, his gestures, the weight of his existence.

The Emperor perched silently on the edge of her bed, careful not to disturb her. He pulled the blanket up to her chin, smoothed her disheveled hair, then simply sat there, doing nothing, before vanishing as quietly as he came.

Idiot…

The thought flickered in her drowsy mind before dissolving into darkness.

After that, the Emperor returned a few more times—always like a thief, always only when she slept. Never when she was awake.

It was around then that Jaha began sensing a strange tension in the air.

She knew nothing of the world outside. No one would bother teaching such things to a slave, and being locked away, she had no way to gauge the mood beyond these walls.

The only information she could gather came from the hushed conversations of the maids assigned to watch her. Lately, they wore uneasy expressions, exchanging whispers that felt heavier than usual.

“If things keep going like this, something terrible might—”

“Shh, watch your tongue.”

“But look at how things have been lately. It’s been months already… We should quit now and leave the palace…”

The worried sighs of the knights:

“What in the world is His Majesty thinking?”

“If this goes on, something terrible will really…”

Jaha listened blankly to their words. So something is happening after all.

Come to think of it—how long had she been like this?

How much longer would she have to endure?

Jaha didn’t know how much time had passed since she was forced to keep living. With no clock or calendar, and the same routine repeating endlessly, her sense of time had long since disappeared.

One thing was certain—it hadn’t been short.

At least a month had definitely passed. Maybe several months?

Or had it already been over a year?

Jaha looked down at her hair. It had once reached her waist, but after she’d tried to twist it into a noose and was caught, it had been cut short. Now, it had grown noticeably long again. For the first time in a while, the passage of time felt real.

…I might really have been living this half-dead existence for over a year.

What did the Emperor even want from her?

The fact that he still came to see her—only while she slept—suggested he hadn’t discarded her. But since he no longer clung to her side like before, perhaps his obsession had cooled.

Then, one day, when the air in the palace felt particularly uneasy, Jaha woke up far earlier than usual.

Perhaps having spent more than half of each day sleeping, even slumber had become tiresome.

Sitting motionless in the pitch-black room, she pressed a palm to her chest. Her heart was pounding unnaturally fast, a cold sweat pricking her skin like needles.

It wasn’t long before the silence of the night was shattered.

Hurried footsteps, frantic movements, voices trembling with fear.

So it begins.

There was likely no place more physically secure than the imperial palace. If even those within its walls were desperate to flee, there could only be one reason.

Rebellion.

Either traitors had already stormed the palace with an army, or they were advancing—and the defenders had no confidence in stopping them.

Though she didn’t know the details, it seemed the Emperor had lost considerable favor.