The Masked prince
Chapter 80: The Slave Trade

Chapter 80: The Slave Trade

Cold winds were blowing in Mazic these days.

Hannah, Miri, and Ami were taking care of Evelyn. Dan didn’t favor Evelyn going outside the chambers for the next few days as the shoulder on her wound had become grave and hence should be protected from the winds.

Hence the three girls just had to look for some games and other things with which they could keep busy.

However, as time passed, Hannah, Miri, and Ami seemed to realize that Evelyn could see what they were trying to do...especially when she confessed one fine morning.

"You don’t need to do so much for me."

Evelyn said to Ami who was feeding her. The three girls had paused when they heard her words.

When Evelyn saw them so silent, she sighed and said

"I know what you are trying to do but I am fine."

Or if she isn’t then she will be. She just needed some time...thought Evelyn.

It is just that the events inside the Royal Palace reminded her of some gruesome memories and before she lost consciousness she was indeed very scared.

That’s why she lost her composure when she woke up. But after some time she realized that now she was safe.

The prince had saved her.

Evelyn was very grateful. However, the prince then never showed his face to her. Though Ami, Hannah, and Miri were accompanying her she could see their attempts in keeping her busy.

How could she not understand why they were doing this! Perhaps after her behavior, they were afraid that she would harm herself. However, she was not that weak, and should be said that she can’t fall weak.

One promise that she had given to someone had always stopped her from ending her life regardless of how difficult it had been to live.

There have been only a few people in her life who had cared for her and that person was perhaps the first and last such person before she was brought to Alfaros. How could she break the promise she made to him!

Miri, Hannah, and Ami however felt sad when they saw Evelyn so lost in her thoughts as they thought that she was thinking about whatever she went through in Royal Palace.

Regardless of what Evelyn said they continued to stay beside her. That’s what friends did and they knew it very well.

Evelyn might say that she didn’t need anyone but she did need people who cared for her around herself ...at least at such time.

And... somewhere they were right.

.

.

.

Regan however didn’t go to see Evelyn at all. Almost a week passed but he kept himself busy tightening the security in Mazic.

The attack made him and Rex realize that the people they have were still very less. They needed a lot to protect the borders as well as the castle.

Fortunately, Rex and Elias had brought fifty soldiers while returning from the border. These soldiers worked for Regan directly even when he was on the border so Regan could trust them.

The task at hand got easier because these soldiers could be assigned to train more people unlike before when Regan, Rex, and Elias were the only people who could train new men.

Hence, in only a week, the huge ground of Mazic’s castle was starting to fill with men who came to practice every day.

On this day, the two guards who Regan had sent to Alfaros also returned.

When Regan got this news, he asked Elias to train the men at his place and went to Rex chambers with those men.

"What did you find?"

One of the guard stepped forward and gave a paper to Regan. Regan opened the folded paper and looked at it while the guard spoke.

"Your Highness, we went to the Royal City. In the Royal City there is only one shop where slaves are traded. From there, we found that the black band on the slaves’ wrist can only be opened through a key. This key is different from different bands. In other words, a single key can’t be used for all the bands."

Regan frowned when he heard this and asked immediately.

"Who has all the keys?"

The guard shook his head as he said

"It depends, Your Highness. It depends on where a person was sold to become a slave. The key can only be found with that slave trader."

Hearing this, Regan’s frown deepened.

He looked at the information written on the paper and as he read, he couldn’t help but feel stunned at the fact of how strict and closed this slave trade was.

From what it looked like, for a slave to get freed was almost impossible. When a person was sold, a contract was signed. There were always two copies of this contract.

One copy of the contract resided with the slave trader who bought him first and the other copy of the contract resided with the slave owner whosoever bought it from the slave trader. It was this copy that was passed from one owner to the next.

To get the key, a huge sum of money to both, slave owner, as well as slave trader, was required. But how could a slave get so much money when he or she was never paid a salary?

It was simply impossible for a slave to get rid of this stigma of slavery for his or her whole life.

Regan remembered that the merchant from whom he had bought Evelyn had also sent to him a contract through a Royal guard. However, at that time, he didn’t have any thought of keeping her by his side and tore it away.

Evelyn was actually never his slave. But she still had that black band on her wrist which could only be opened with that key.

In other words, he would need to go to the shop where Evelyn was sold to become a slave. Only then he would be able to get out of this slavery.

However, he didn’t know the place where she was sold