The villain's way to tame the protagonist

“…” Marina sighed silently, then touched her sister’s hair with some amusement and stood in front of the stall.

"One hundred thousand gold coins?" she asked gently and calmly.

“…Yes, that’s right.”

The stall owner who had just been so confident and well-reasoned suddenly became a little more inexplicably weak under Marina's gaze: "Forget it if you don't want it. There will always be someone who knows the value of it."

“I just know what’s good.”

Marina took out a black bag embroidered with flying birds, and elegantly picked up two imperial gold coins with a face value of one hundred with her fingertips, as if giving alms to a beggar, and let the two gold coins fall from her fingertips onto the table.

"Well made, worth the price."

The snow-haired girl wearing a bird-beak mask still spoke in a gentle voice, but the way she slightly raised her chin already had a sense of irresistible oppression: "Do you want it, or not?"

The stall owner was stunned for several seconds, then he put away the gold coins with a wry smile, stuffed the so-called "Deep Blue Tear" into the hands of the even more stupid Sitana, and nodded and said: "Thank you for your generosity, I wish you a happy day, Miss!"

Anser couldn't help but smile and patted Xitana's shoulder: "Let's go, Xier. Or do you want to buy something else?"

The girl finally woke up from her dream, tightly grasped the "gem" in her hand, and screamed in disbelief:

“Is this fake!?”

Her shouting attracted the attention of most passers-by and vendors. The inexplicable looks made Hitana even more angry. Just as she was about to find the stall owner to ask for an explanation, Marina grabbed her wrist.

"Don't mess around, Xier." Marina shook her head slightly, "Let's go, follow the master."

Feeling extremely aggrieved, Hitana wanted to hold the gem tightly, but was afraid of crushing the stone that cost her two hundred gold coins. The thought made her angrier again. She glared at the stall owner fiercely, and was then dragged by Marina to catch up with Anser.

"Lina!"

After walking a distance, Xitana couldn't help but ask, "Why did you stop me? He was selling me fake goods... and he dared to sell them for 100,000! I should break that guy's legs!"

"Ms. Xi'er, if the black market has the same rules as a normal market, how can it be called a black market?" Lawrence crossed his arms and said, "What goods can be sold and what bargains can be found are all up to the sellers and buyers. If you can't see the problem... then you will be ripped off."

"How can you do business like this!" Xitana was furious. "How can a market like this continue to operate?"

When she thought about how stupid she was to use 100,000 gold coins to buy a fake item worth 200 gold coins...Shitana wanted to hang that guy on the city wall.

"The foundation of the black market is built on all kinds of stolen goods that come from illegal sources and the shady dealers who sell them."

Anser glanced at the items sold in the shops and stalls, and explained to Marina: "Savage tribes decide everything by force, and civilized society restrains all beings with rules... But whether it is force or rules, they are all a kind of order."

At this point, he looked at Marina and smiled gently, "So... Marina, what do you think order is?"

"It is a code that is suitable for the current environment and accepted by most groups tacitly, Master."

Marina responded softly, "Many goods on the black market have unknown origins, and most of the dealers have ulterior motives. The only rules that are suitable for a chaotic place are those that are also chaotic. The order under the light is not suitable for this place."

She took over from Anser and lectured Xitana: "Xier, you should know that you can't survive in a big city with the way you live in the village, right?"

"……All right."

Xitana said gloomily: "I think I understand, but I just can't get over it."

"Then you can go back and beat him up." Anser said suddenly.

"……what?"

"I brought you out here to relax and unwind."

The young Hydra smiled and said, "We are following the rules now so that we can relax better. If we are in a bad mood because of following the rules, wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse?"

He gently pinched Xitana's cheek: "You never have to follow the rules, Xier."

This intimate name made Hitana's heart skip a beat. Although it was just a change of name to avoid revealing her identity, the girl's heart was still filled with sweetness and joy.

"That's what I said..."

The anger and resentment in her heart were immediately thrown away by Xitana. She moved closer to Anser and chuckled, "But I'm not that unreasonable...ah, I'm not saying An...Master, you're unreasonable, you just think it's unnecessary. Anyway, it's my own fault that I can't tell the difference between the real and the fake, so just forgive him."

As she said this, she looked at Marina with great admiration: "Lina is really amazing. She can tell the real thing from the fake at a glance... Why does it feel like it hasn't been that long, but Lina seems to have become a different person."

"Just like Xi'er, you practice every day, I also study every day."

Marina smiled and said, "Isn't Xi'er so amazing that I can't even imagine it?"

"Then I don't really practice every day... hehehehe."

The girl, with her snow-white hair falling to her waist, looked at her giggling sister quietly. She no longer had any dark emotions in her mind. She just smiled helplessly and kept the sigh in her heart.

Even though she had reached this position, as an ordinary person who was trusted and employed by Ansir, Marina still hardly had any extra time to rest.

Political affairs, economics, extraordinary knowledge, and even various etiquette and rules learned in order to maintain Anser's dignity and dignity, as well as a lot of flashy but "valuable" things in the eyes of the nobles...

"For nobles, gemstones are a must-talk topic," the girl said with a brisk smile, "so I learned some knowledge about gemstone appreciation... The real Deep Blue Tears are not like that. They become crystal clear under the sunlight, and the inside looks like a small glacier. And its meaning is not loyalty or love... It actually has no meaning at all."

"So that guy is just lying because he thinks I'm easy to fool."

Xitana gritted her teeth and said, "It's... damn it! I almost got fooled. Fortunately, I don't have any money!"

"Why does Xier want to buy it?" Marina asked curiously, "You are not interested in gems."

"Because...because..."

The girl hesitated for a while, then said in a low voice: "Because the stone immediately reminded me of the master's eyes, they are just as beautiful... No, the master's eyes are more beautiful."

After saying this, Xitana and Marina looked into Anser's eyes almost at the same time.

The masked faces of the two girls were reflected in Ansel's sea-blue eyes. The girl wearing the wolf-head mask turned her head away the moment her eyes met his, while the girl wearing the bird-beak mask looked at him tenderly for a while, then bent her knees slightly and gracefully withdrew her gaze.

Lawrence squatted on Marina's shoulder and couldn't help but sigh - He is worthy of being the young master! Just looking at him can make the two ladies so happy... If the eldest brother had half the power of the young master, he wouldn't be suppressed so badly by the eldest sister, really... Hmm? Where is the young master going?

Ansher suddenly stopped in front of a shop that looked quite stylishly decorated. He looked up at the shop sign, thought for a while, then pushed the door and walked in. Marina and Sitana, who looked a little confused, followed closely behind him.

The shop sells commonplace items, including antiques, jewelry, and a host of oddities.

The middle-aged man sitting behind the counter was lying on a recliner reading a newspaper. He didn't even greet the customers who came in and seemed to care nothing about his business.

Anser walked straight to the counter and tapped the table lightly:

"Boss, do you have any goods?"

The boss spread the newspaper forward, lowered his head slightly, letting his glasses slide down his nose a little, and just stared at Anser.

"Looks like a young master." He suddenly laughed, "Wearing this kind of mask, why come to my shop instead of looking at the high-end goods?"

"I'm just asking you, do you have any?"

"..." The man stared at Anser for a while, then put down the newspaper, took out a cigarette, lit it, and said leisurely, "What do you want? Sugar? Water? Or something stronger?"

Young Hydra smiled and said, "I want sheep."

The boss's hand shook and he almost dropped the cigarette onto his leg.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

He coughed forcefully a few times, then stood up immediately, taking a few steps back cautiously. "Whose servant are you? Hyena? Evil Vulture? Or the Rat King?"

"Hmm?" Anser's voice rose. "What does this mean? Don't you have any sheep in your store?"

"…Do you really not know or are you pretending not to know?"

The shop owner put his hands behind his back, and his eyes became a little cold: "This is Lan Zhu's place, I advise you to think carefully, my friend."

"But I really only came to buy sheep."

Anser spread his hands innocently: "I sailed to the Tiantu Mountains three years ago and just came back yesterday. What happened? Who is Lan Zhu? Isn't this shop owned by Fire Snake?"

Hearing the name Fire Snake, the shop owner's expression relaxed a little: "... Fire Snake died three years ago, and Colorful Spider took over his business... Are you really back from the Tiantu Mountains? This is rare."

As soon as he finished speaking, the young man in front of him took out a bottle of potion containing a sticky black liquid.

He smiled and swung it under the shop owner's shocked eyes, "You seem to be a connoisseur of goods. Can you recognize what this is?"

"Water of salvation!"

The man's throat rolled, and he looked at Anser with disbelief: "Is it genuine?"

"Who knows." Anser shrugged. "I got it from a dying priest. It was boring to stay in Tiantu Mountains for a long time, so I came back. This is the most valuable thing I have. I wanted to ask Victor to contact Fire Snake and ask him to help me sell it... But I didn't expect that the owner of this shop changed, so I planned to buy two sheep first. By the way, how is Victor?"

"It died together with the fire snake and was chopped into a pool of meat sauce." The shop owner said in amazement, "Anyway, it's miserable enough, my friend, ahem..."

The man's attitude towards Anser suddenly became warm and familiar. He licked his lips and moved slightly closer to the counter: "Let me tell you, our boss Colorful Spider is more reliable than Fire Snake. If you give her the Water of Redemption, she will charge you no more than 20%!"

"Forget it, is there anyone trustworthy here?" Anser laughed dumbly, "Do you think this is my first time here? I wanted to do business with Fire Snake because I have done so much and I can trust it... As for your boss, forget it. I am here to buy sheep, now you believe it, right?"

Seeing that Anser had no intention of giving in, the shop owner could only sigh. He rubbed his temple and said helplessly, "Friend, it's not that I don't want to give you the goods... It was three years ago, when you left. This place was washed up. The sheep sellers either stopped or died. Fire Snake and Victor disappeared at that time."

"Now, there are no farms selling sheep in the entire empire, let alone the capital."

"Is there such a thing?"

The buyer who came back from the other side of the Tiantu Mountains was quite surprised: "The sheep market is so big, who can just sell them out?"

"Tsk, who else could it be besides those two?"

"Your Majesty? She doesn't seem like someone who would care about such things."

"So of course it wasn't your Majesty, it was Hydra... to be exact, the younger one."

The man sighed and shook his head in fear, saying, "He slaughtered all the shops that dared to sell sheep openly on the black street. The smell of blood could drift all the way to the upper city... Damn it, at that time I was still a thug who was waiting to die for the subordinates of the subordinates of the subordinates of the Fire Snake. I didn't even dare to sleep when I went back after that scene."

"This is really... interesting."

The noble boy in front of him tutted his tongue: "Did any of you offend him?"

"Who knows! And it doesn't matter if someone provokes him or not... Is it okay for Hydra's son to want to kill people?" The shopkeeper sighed, "It seems that he hates selling sheep this way, and then His Majesty ordered that sheep cannot be sold. Anyway, no one dares to do it openly now."

"You don't dare to do it openly? The underworld is not open and honest to begin with, what are you afraid of?"

"Come on, you are buying sheep, you must not be afraid. If you are not afraid, then I am."

The shop owner looked at him like he was crazy: "I don't dare to bet that he will have nothing to do one day, go to the black streets to hang out, and then kill all those who secretly sell sheep."

"You can't do business in the black streets if you're timid...Okay, then do you know any other stores that sell sheep?"

"This..." The man hesitated. "It's hard for me to say. After all, the two Hydras are in the imperial capital now. I guess even if there are sheep sellers, they dare not show up at this time."

"Okay, I'll look for it myself then."

Ansher nodded, turned around and prepared to leave without saying anything more.

"……and many more!"

The shop owner suddenly called Anser. He looked at the boy's empty palm and gritted his teeth. "Well, you give the Water of Redemption to my boss and I'll tell you a place that is likely to still sell sheep. You need a recommendation and a certificate. You can't get in without either. I can help you. The goods in there are all top-quality, no worse than the two beside you."

The young nobleman who stopped walking raised his lips slightly, but when he turned around, his tone was still nonchalant: "For two sheep, I gave such a valuable thing to someone I don't even know... Friend, do I look like such a fool?"

"If you really don't believe it, go outside and ask about the reputation of Colorful Spider." With the tempting bait of the Water of Redemption, the shop owner really couldn't care less. "Also, let me tell you, I don't sell sheep here, not only because I'm afraid, but also because Colorful Spider was born a sheep. If she knew that I introduced you to a shop that sells sheep, I'd be fucking dead! This is my sincerity... When the time comes, just mention to her that I was the one who recommended you to give her the Water of Redemption!"

"Um……"

Anser stroked his chin. "If your boss is as reliable as you say, then it's not impossible. I'll go out and find out about the Colorful Spider's reputation. When I get the result, I'll come back to you."

"Okay, okay, my friend, don't forget me! I promise to find the best sheep shop for you!"

Amid the boss's ecstatic words, Ansher waved his hand and left the store with Hitana and the others.

Having endured for a long time and not understanding what Anser and the boss were talking about, Xitana asked immediately after she left the house: "An... Master, what is a sheep?"

"...They are people." Marina replied in a low voice with a complicated expression, "They are worse than the poor and the untouchables... slaves."

The slave trade...is actually quite chaotic in the empire.

Throughout thousands of years of history, the slave trade was often restarted and banned, back and forth no less than ten times. Sometimes it was because the contemporary emperor wanted to highlight his kindness and wisdom, and sometimes it was because a certain generation of emperors did not care at all, or even forgot the relevant laws, and did not regulate the trafficking of people, thus allowing the slave trade to rise again.

"Slaves, slaves?" Xitana was stunned for a moment, then said with disgust, "So slaves are sold in this black market? How disgusting!"

"So..." She whispered into Anser's ear and said excitedly, "Anser, you destroyed all the slave shops in the black market before?"

The girl hugged Anser tightly and rubbed him with great joy: "I knew Anser was not that bad. If it weren't for fate... humph, if it weren't for that damn thing, Anser must be a super good person!"

"A good person..."

Anser stroked Xitana's head and sighed softly:

"What I did was not done out of kindness or morality, Sitana."

"I just feel uncomfortable because of this absurdity."

In that world, slavery brought about an important change in the mode of production and a leap in productivity. Looking at the human history of that world, the existence of slavery in that period of history was undoubtedly an important link in the forward development of the entire society.

But here, in this era...slaves exist for another purpose.

As extraordinary people who are superior to ordinary people, some people in society who have certain resources but do not have extraordinary abilities will feel great humiliation and oppression.