The Freed Slaves Are Obsessed

“The treatment is complete. Please check if everything moves well and if there’s anything unusual, let me know.” 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

In response to a message from the Meister, a high-ranking priest dispatched from the Holy Kingdom arrived at Torvar’s house.

The arm, torn off by a shark and frozen by Ashies’s magic, had been regenerated and seamlessly reattached through divine blessings.

I cautiously moved the newly restored arm. It felt a little awkward having something back that had been missing, but there was no significant discomfort.

There wasn’t even much of a scar—just faint traces left behind. To the untrained eye, it would seem as though only the arm had been spared from a tan, it looked so natural.

“No issues. Thank you.”

Truly, divine power was something else.

In games like Taosul, clerics held an unshakable role as healers. No one could surpass them in recovery or buffing abilities.

And this was a high-ranking priest.

Even with money, receiving treatment from someone of their caliber wasn’t easy. This was all thanks to a request from the Meister Wulbram, effectively Doomheim’s leader.

‘This is why people should live virtuously.’

If you live a good life, blessings find their way to you.

As soon as the treatment ended, Ashies approached and grabbed my right hand as if she’d been holding back her anxiety the entire time.

“It’s not warm...”

“Well, it was frozen for a while. It’ll return to normal after some time.”

“Okay...”

Ashies couldn’t hide her downcast expression, seemingly still blaming herself for the arm’s loss.

Seeing her like that sparked a playful idea. A way to alleviate her guilt came to mind.

“If you massage it, it might recover faster.”

Immediately, Ashies began to knead my hand earnestly.

“Is... is this okay?”

It didn’t make much of a difference, really.

The curse was gone, but Ashies’s body temperature was still lower than average.

“It still feels lacking. Maybe if you blew on it, it’d warm up faster?”

Without hesitation, Ashies cupped my hand with hers and blew on it. Her lukewarm breath brushed against my skin.

The breath of the most beautiful Snow White in the world, officially certified by the Magic Mirror. # Nоvеlight # I secretly inhaled deeply in that moment—not that I’d ever admit it.

“Better now?”

“Hmm... Still feels like it’s not enough. Maybe if you recited a magical chant and kissed my hand, it’d heal completely?”

This was pure mischief now, a joke with no real purpose other than my own amusement. I was sure Ashies would comply without a second thought, even if others would outright refuse.

“No... no kissing.”

Surprisingly, Ashies firmly rejected the idea.

“Really?”

“Kissing is... um...”

Her cheeks turned red, and she let out an unintelligible murmur.

“You’re all just making a fuss. Quit messing around in my house. When are you leaving?”

“Excuse me? Mr. Karami is leaving?”

Torvar crossed his arms and shot me a dissatisfied glare, while Ferca looked at me with wide-eyed surprise.

For someone who had been so oblivious about his daughter, Torvar was surprisingly perceptive about everything else. It almost made me want to question him about it.

“I’ve wrapped up my business here, and my arm is healed. I’ll be leaving soon.”

“Where are you heading?”

I glanced briefly at the priest before answering.

“I plan to go to Kassilon.”

“Oh, I see.”

The priest reacted immediately.

Of course he would—he was from Kassilon.

The Holy Kingdom of Kassilon.

The place where the last slave resided.

“What business takes you to Kassilon?”

“There’s someone I absolutely need to meet.”

“I see. I’ll be returning to the Holy Kingdom as well. Would you like to travel together?”

Traveling to Kassilon with a high-ranking priest.

It wasn’t a bad idea. Especially since Kassilon was notoriously harsh on slave traders like me.

“Sure. There’s one matter I need to deal with before that, though. Once I’ve taken care of it, we can leave together.”

As I spoke, my gaze drifted toward Ashies.

Ashies blinked at me, as she often did, failing to grasp the meaning behind my look.

*****

We stood at the exit of Doomheim.

A group of familiar dwarves had gathered to see us off.

“Leaving already? You could stay a bit longer, you know.”

“I’d love to, truly, but unfortunately, I’m pressed for time.”

Wulbram seemed genuinely disappointed.

“Well, I can’t hold back a busy man. But do stop by again when you have the time. We’ll share a drink together.”

“Yeah, you twig! Next time, I won’t lose to you!”

“Take care. You’ve been a great help to us. Now, Hargran, it’s your turn to say goodbye.”

“Goodbye? Who needs that nonsense? Just get out of my sight, you scrawny brat. Sniff.”

Roxar, Urgdar, and Hargran each bid farewell in their own way.

“Miss Ferca, I see you’re not insisting on coming along this time. In the past, you would’ve thrown a fit and refused to leave.”

“I’m still tempted to... but I’ve found something I want to do here.”

“Well, that’s a relief. I was worried you might throw a tantrum. Not that I’d take you with me anyway.”

If I were to completely free Ferca, I’d overhaul her tomboyish way of speaking and dressing. It’s a shame I can’t.

Strangely enough, her goals seem unchanged from what they were when she dreamed of full freedom.

“Mr. Karami, don’t do anything strange to my sister.”

“I always give my best to my slaves—especially when it’s to set them free.”

“And that so-called freedom of yours is suspicious.”

“Freedom is freedom, though.”

Is it really so hard to understand?

It seems Ferca could use some extra lessons in language comprehension.

I didn’t exchange any words with Torvar directly.

Ashies waved to the dwarves as we finished our goodbyes and left Doomheim behind.

“Rami, where... we go? Holy Kingdom?”

“We’re headed there, yes.”

Doomheim wasn’t a place suitable for humans to stay for long. The priest who treated my arm was currently in a nearby city.

Once my business was finished, I planned to reunite with him and head to Kassilon.

But first.

‘I need to escort the princess back to her castle.’

*****

The two of them arrived at the Kingdom of Priscian in the same way as before—by carriage.

Though Ashies’s ice-forged flying creature would have been much faster, Karami chose not to use it.

It was a mode of transportation that could only be used when Ashies was present.

Inside the moving carriage, Ashies casually rested her head on Karami’s thigh. While the cushions were soft enough, his leg was somehow more comfortable.

She gazed up at him from below, tapping his face lightly with her fingers.

Since defeating Skadia, Ashies had become much more expressive. Most of it involved her acting childishly toward Karami, demanding his attention.

“Why are you doing that?”

“Because it’s fun...”

“You find my face amusing?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Even just looking at him made her smile internally.

In Ashies’s way of thinking, that was the same as finding him entertaining.

Eventually, the carriage reached the kingdom.

The Priscian Kingdom they returned to was unrecognizable from before. When Skadia died, the curse had been lifted. The ice that had blanketed the kingdom like a second skin had vanished.

Houses returned to their original states, rivers flowed freely through the kingdom, and the trees swayed gently in the breeze.

The frozen masses scattered across the kingdom had also disappeared. However, those whose bodies and souls had worn away over the long years of the curse could not return.

Just as spring leaves no trace of winter.

As they walked toward the castle, they took in the transformed city, strolling along the main boulevard like last time.

The first thing to greet them was the garden.

No longer a frozen wasteland, it was a living, breathing garden. Green grass, colorful flowers, red roses—all in full bloom.

“The flowers are beautiful,” Karami said.

“Mm.”

“They’re here because of you, Ashies.”

“......”

Ashies gently touched a flower.

It didn’t freeze under her hand.

It didn’t shatter.

Instead, it released a deep fragrance, preserved within the melted ice.

The scent of spring.

The two entered the castle.

Walking on the soft red carpet, passing paintings lining the corridor, they eventually stood side by side on a balcony overlooking the kingdom.

The kingdom was no longer a monochrome world of blue and white but was painted in a variety of vibrant hues. The breeze was no longer chilling but refreshingly cool, with a hint of warmth.

Ashies closed her eyes and felt the wind.

*****

It had been winter.

The doll’s interior was silent and cold.

An eternal world of ice, unreachable.

A lonely castle no one dared enter.

The echo within the doll asked,

What is warmth?

His answer wasn’t words but a touch.

The ice didn’t melt.

The sunlight didn’t spread.

But wherever his touch landed, there was a faint stirring.

A sensation that spread through the body and heart like a gentle ripple.

For the first time in her long winter, something that wasn’t cold brushed against the doll.

The doll didn’t realize it yet.

That small and delicate flowers were blooming on the ice where he had walked.

That the pure white snowfield was now filled with his footprints.

That this was seeping into her heart as well.

It wasn’t that spring had come.

These were flowers that had bloomed in the midst of winter.

But the flowers told the doll something.

That warmth doesn’t deny the cold.

It simply creates new life within it.

And only then did the doll understand.

Warmth is like a small flower blooming on a snowy field,

A tiny promise of spring that endures the cold and waits for the long winter to end.

Ashies opened her eyes.

The magic was gone.

She was no longer the doll who knew nothing.

She understood her heart now.

She understood what she felt for him.

She turned her head.

Looking at the man standing right beside her, Ashies opened her mouth to speak—

“Shall we wrap things up here?”

But before she could finish, Karami spoke first.