"You knew?"
"…"
"Now, now, Don't go silent after speaking halfway."
"…"
"Hmm. Alright then. Have it the hard way." The princess waved her hand and a contract appeared in her hand. She cut her thumb using the sword of a nearby guard and pressed it onto the empty space in the contract.
'Shit!' Yu exclaimed in his mind as he immediately understood what was going on. Based on the things written in the contract, he assumed the contract itself had some sort of magical powers to enact the clauses written on it, which were rather strict, mainly for him.
"Rachel Santok," she said while calmly staring at Yu, whose expression warped under the mask as he asked Kai to use the system and recall exactly what was written on it.
==========
Person A: Yu
Person B: Rachel Santok
1) A Will be the slave of B until B dies
2) A cannot aim to kill or harm B unless ordered directly by B
3) A must listen to every direct order by B
4) A cannot lie to B
5) A is now the property of B
==========
Of course, the real contract had a lot of flowery language in between making it about triple the size of this recollection, however, this was what the contract truly meant for Yu, and he did not like it at all.
As soon as the princess said those words, the yellow contract immediately floated into the air for a few seconds, during which Yu tried his best to struggle free from the hold of the two guards to no avail. The contract magically floating into the air meant that it definitely had something to do with Magi, and this was essentially confirming Yu's greatest fear.
The contract was not a legally binding one, but a magically binding one, so it should be harder to get rid of, based on Yu's knowledge of the fantasy genre from Earth.
All of a sudden, the contract burst into flames and vanished as a dazzling orb brilliance was revealed which split into two and headed towards the struggling Yu and Rachel; the princess before entering their bodies.
Immediately, Yu felt something entering his soul, a foreign object yet his soul did not reject it, and instead embraced it like a long-lost brother. However, instead of just that, the moment his soul embraced it, it immediately fused with his soul.
Yu's mind trembled for a few seconds as he lost consciousness before regaining his senses and realised that barely a second had passed since the contract had burnt up.
"Good. So now tell me. What did you know?"
"This is meant to be a princess' palace or something. Yet There was only a single guard in this entire ground. Meaning that the royal family was either stupid, or someone had planned this. Of course, it could be some political enemy of yours, but it was more likely to be the princess' scheme to gain something from either me or the red-eyes slave. That was why as soon as I saw you I decided to leave."
As soon as Yu finished speaking his expression under the mask warped greatly as he realised he had just spoken a great deal without having the intention of doing so.
'Wtf! Is this how magical contracts work? I thought they would just be contracts which lead to some sort of punishment on breaking them, like having the heavens bring down lightening on you or having your soul eaten by devils or something.'
'But this is none of that. It is straight-up mind control!' Yu exasperatedly concluded in his mind as he turned his gaze towards the princess named Rachel.
"Oh? They were right. You are smart. Too smart. Tell me, who are you?"
"Yu." Yu struggled greatly to control his spirit from making him say anything more. He was not going against any of the rules in the contract, it was just that he was fighting the mind control which made him passively give in to Rachel.
"Tell me more. About your family. Where you are from. Your home. Friends. Go on" The Princess realised what Yu was doing so she immediately became more direct with her questions to force him to answer.
Yu's body began to tremble ever so slightly as he answered through gritted teeth, trying his best to disguise the information about Kai and Pops.
"I have no living family left in this world. My house was burned down not too long ago. I was escaping the area when I came across a friend and we were travelling in the snow but he fainted along the way due to the cold…"
"However, we were not too far from a nearby village, so I continued the journey while dragging him, and when we took up rest for the night, some people kidnapped us… I'm not sure if he is even alive… Then, I found myself being sold at an auction, where the silent lady and the crazy lady bought me for a measly 2 gold. In the carriage, the crazy lady even tried to break my arms. Sigh…"
"As for where I am from… the Hepis Dynasty was what it was called I think. Since I have said so much, how about you give me some information. Which country is this, and how far are we from the Hepis Dynasty."
The entire garden fell silent as only the sound of ebbing water could be heard from the lake nearby.
Just a few seconds later, Rachel was the first to recover from her stupor upon listening to Yu's story as she waved her hand and the guards around her all retreated from view.
"I see. You seem to have gone through a lot. Why don't you go and take a rest for now? We will talk afterwards. Just don't leave the manor grounds"
As she finished speaking, the two guards who were holding onto Yu's arms placed him on the ground gently before also retreating, leaving Yu completely free. Only, he was no longer free, but a slave to another human being.
Sighing again, Yu reached out his arms, showing the handcuffs and padlock around his neck.
"Of course. Someone unto the restraints for him and the girl. Get them a room to stay and clothes. But first, give them a bath and food. They will both be my new attendants from henceforth." Rachel declared as she turned her attention away from the elegant pagoda and slowly walked towards the palace where she stayed.
…
Yu and the Red-eyed slave were both taken to a smaller building right next to the large palace, where clearly all the servants stayed. There, they were led to the area for bathing and were allowed to bathe in peace.
Now that both of their magical contracts had been completed and were in effect, neither of them could disobey Rachel, so there was no risk of them running away.
Yu, who had not taken a bath since being born, took his time to clean his body, especially the wounds around his mask, which sting intensely as he did so. Thankfully, they had already healed a bit, and at least were no longer bleeding.
After that, Yu left the bathroom and ran into the Red-eyed slave who was also leaving at the same time.