186 – Angela – 4
“Are you going to report this to the Knights?”
“Yes!”
At Angela’s bold answer, the man started giggling to himself, wondering what was so funny.
“I was wondering what you could believe and come out so loudly… This is it.”
Even when I told him I would report it, he didn’t even move an eye. Rather, his expression was full of composure.
“Angela, aren’t you too naive? How are you going to live in this harsh world with that kind of mentality?”
“What?!”
Angela was shocked at the sight of her acting in a provocative manner.
Are you not afraid of the Knights?
Where on earth does that leisure come from?
I thought that if I reported it, they would threaten me or at least avoid the place.
But her expectations were spectacularly wrong, and as she showed a completely different attitude, Angela began to feel a little uneasy.
“Did you think that just because you reported it, you would get arrested?”
The man must have read her psychology and opened his mouth.
“That can’t be possible. The first thing to do is find out the truth about whether something like that really happened.”
The man knew the Knights’ procedures in quite detail. As if I had experienced it myself.
“Well, what does that have to do with anything? He just revealed it all with his own mouth!”
He said with a laughable expression on her face.
“How are you going to prove that? Even if you tell the knights the truth, will they really believe you?”
“Of course…!”
“You have to know the subject. Have you forgotten who you are?”
Angela had no choice but to keep her mouth shut as the man continued.
“I’m sure you know very well that slaves like you, who are freed after paying money, make so many false reports that people start to get suspicious if the victim is a slave, right?”
“….”
It’s frustrating, but everything he said was true.
In the past, she often threatened her master, saying that she would report her if he did not free any of her redeemable slaves.
In fact, there has been a case where an owner who was unfairly captured was imprisoned, so if the person reporting is a slave, the knights act cautiously.
And it was obvious that it would work against her. First, you will have to prove that your claims are true.
“Well, if it’s what the manager says, I’ll believe it!”
“Manager? Are you really talking about the owner of this bar?”
“He knows that if he gets involved, it will be a pain in the ass, so he will definitely take my side!”
He is not a very trustworthy person, but in severe cases, suspension of business may be considered.
‘If you are a miser, you will give strength to my argument even if you don’t want to lose money.’
“He’s the store manager…”
A man lost in thought for a moment.
“Pugh!”
He suddenly burst into laughter.
“Ahahahaha! The best I could think of was him! Ah, I shouldn’t laugh at this.”
I was having trouble calming down so I let go of the wrist I was holding and started touching the corner of my mouth with a twisted smile.
The man, who had regained his breathing to some extent, turned his head to look toward the counter and then opened his mouth.
“Hey, I know what you’re hearing there, so why don’t you come out now?”
-Squeak.
After a while. The door behind the counter opened and someone walked out, grumbling.
“…Did you really need to call me?”
Then Angela’s expression distorted as she looked at his face.
“Manager…?”
She was shocked by the fact that she knew all this time and was pretending not to know.
“What is that face? Did she really not know?”
The man who checked Angela’s expression sarcastically said.
“If the slaves brought money from somewhere and were all set free, did the store manager not notice?”
‘I knew he would dress up in unscrupulous clothes and reveal money to the point of soliciting customers, but I never thought he would trick me….’
The man seemed to like her reaction and brought her face close to his ear and whispered.
“That guy is also an accomplice. I persistently convinced him that if he showed the slave a taste of money, everyone would come and get their money’s worth.”
I didn’t want to hear it.
No, I didn’t want to believe it.
If that is true, it means that there is no one here who will listen to their side anymore.
Contrary to her wishes, the man’s mouth did not stop.
She proudly said that people who got used to a life of spending money like nothing would never go back.
In addition, since they came voluntarily and sold their bodies, even if they are caught by the Templars later, they can just catch them.
“You can’t believe you take advantage of people’s earnestness like that…!”
Angela glared at the man as if he were going to kill him.
Not only did she seduce people who had struggled and lived under others with money and manipulate them as she pleased, but it also ruined her life.
That was absolutely not something a person would do.
“When you say it like that, it makes me feel like I’m a bad guy.”
After claiming his innocence, saying he had done nothing wrong, the man turned to the employees and asked.
“What does everyone think?”
Then, comments appearing to defend him popped up here and there.
“Well, as long as you give him a lot of money, he’s a good person.”
“If I have to be honest, the face is a bit bad.”
“It’s small so it’s easy to deal with?”
“What is that? It’s so funny.”
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There was a hint of ridicule, but there was no resentment mixed in at all.
“Did you hear? They escape from their miserable status and enjoy wealth they don’t have. People just pay money to buy pleasure. What’s the problem?”
The man’s words sounded plausible on the surface, but his method was extremely vicious.
In the first place, you approach a person who is in a corner, propose such a request, and then say something like that.
If there is a devil wearing a human mask, it might be this one.
“Okay, well, let’s say I paid off my debt like you said. Then, what are you going to do for a living from now on?”
When she barely gave in, he began to pressure her with realistic issues.
“No matter how hard it is, it’s better than being hugged by that person…!”
“Well, it’s good if you can get a job like that. I don’t know if anyone would want to hire someone with the stigma of a slave.”
Her remarks were so easily interrupted by the man’s rebuttal.
“Besides, it would cost a lot of money to erase it. Where are you going to get the money?”
In the end, it was money.
Because she had no place to raise money right now.
“…I still don’t like it.”
When he refused to the end, he spoke one word at a time as if the other employees were listening.
“We’re all trying to survive, but isn’t it disgusting that you’re the only one pretending to be clean?”
“You think a prince on a white horse will come and save you.”
“She’s only got a big body, but there’s nothing like a girl about her.”
“Don’t say too much. I don’t think my body is that big.”
In her past, her colleagues, who had hugged each other and slept under her same roof, belittled her and laughed.
“So now I can do it with Angela if I pay?”
“I haven’t been very good lately because everything has been loose.”
“That guy will eat the virgin again. Envious guy.”
Not only that, but other people also looked at her with her greed and her young gaze.
To them, she is just seen as a plaything.
“Ugh….”
Angela’s eyes watered as she despaired that no one was on her side.
Although she lived a courageous life, it was very difficult for her to endure those gazes alone.
At that time, her vision became blurry, her breathing became shaky, and it seemed like she might collapse at any moment.
“Stop it.”
A tone I had heard before came from right next to me.
Subtle yet deep bass.
I don’t know if it was because she stepped up for me, but she had a voice that made me want to rely on her for some reason.
Without realizing it, I raised my head and looked towards the place where the sound came from.
Her man with brown hair and gray eyes was blocking the man who was harassing her.
***
“Hyung, if you came here to drink, just have a nice drink. Why are you meddling in other people’s business?”
A man who shows his dissatisfaction with himself with a disapproving expression.
He was openly expressing his displeasure by pointing his large body in a threatening manner.
But Keias spoke without blinking.
“I owe something to the woman over here.”
“Debt?”
When the man looked at Angela with a look in his eyes asking if it was true, she hid her body behind the wide back of the caias.
It was an instinctive action because I was uncomfortable with that gaze.
“Yes, it’s true.”
Her back Feeling a faint presence behind her, I answered for her.
“Rather than that, I understand that buying and selling s*x is illegal under imperial law.”
Keas continued looking around her.
“The same goes for those who stand by.”
Some people flinched at those words and quietly got up and tried to leave the store.
“Block the door.”
As soon as the man finished speaking, large men stood up from among those sitting and blocked his entrance.
“What are we going to do now? Get out of the way!”
One of the people trying to leave tried to squeeze through them.
“Whoops…!”
The man who was hit in the stomach grabbed his stomach and fell down on the spot.
Kaias’s eyebrows furrowed when he saw that.
“Are you trying to threaten me now?”
“What about threats? These days, people are annoying me by saying it’s the law or something.”
The man held Keas’ hand and placed something on it.
“Now, with this, you are now an accomplice. If you report it, you will also be arrested.”
There were several silver coins in his hands.
“For your information, you are all accomplices.”
The man turned to the people and threatened them, telling them not to report it, and the people who were trying to leave shouted as if they were being wronged.
“Don’t be ridiculous! We were trying to get out!”
“Then you can just leave. Why are you still here?”
“That’s because you blocked the road…!”
“Whatever the reason, the fact that I didn’t go out is important.”
“Where in the world is this kind of force?”
Kaias could not help but sigh inwardly as the situation unfolded.
‘Indeed. ‘Have you been avoiding crackdowns like this until now?’
I decided to admit that the cleanup was not perfect in the process of building an empire.
Even now, Voltaire’s stains were still lurking in the corners.
Keias turned his head and looked at his friend who was watching calmly.
“Gilbert. You were right. It’s true that you have to see it, hear it, and feel it with your own skin.”
“Well, I had no idea it would be like this either.”
With an excited look on his face, Gilbert lifted the bottle of alcohol he had found from somewhere to his mouth and tilted it.
“Ugh! I don’t need any snacks for this!”
Kias left his friend, who seemed somehow happy, and looked at the man again.
Sigh.
He stretched out his right hand.
“Let’s shake hands? Unlike his appearance, he was a fast talker!”
The man, who took this to mean that he would turn a blind eye to his actions, willingly took his hand.
“Now, wait a minute!”
Angela pulls Keias’s clothes and asks him what he is doing.
“Are you just going to give it up for a few pennies in silver?!”
Then the man said as if he wanted to see something.
“Angela, that’s what people are all about. A few silver coins are more reassuring than meeting someone for the first time today.”
“That can’t be possible…”
A time when hope faded from Angela’s eyes due to the betrayal of someone she trusted.
-Clink.
Something fell to the floor with a clear sound.
It was a silver coin that had been rolled into one and formed a perfect sphere.
“…Are you crazy? You made a silver coin with the emperor’s face engraved on it like this…”
The man’s expression immediately hardened when he saw that.
In no kingdom was there a case where currency with the king’s face on it was damaged and passed on.
Because it was a serious crime equivalent to treason.
However, Keas still responded in a calm tone.
“At least I’m a person who can do that.”
“What? What is that…”
-Thud.
When Keas grabbed his hand, the hand of the man he was holding was shattered and white bones broke through the skin.