The Dialectic of Master and Slave

The criminal’s private property was established to be transferred to the imperial family. In this world, slaves were not considered people but rather closer to objects owned by their masters, and Jaha too, like other private property of Baron Palga, was now of the imperial family.

Thanks to being able to read and do calculations, Jaha fortunately avoided hard labor and was assigned to the library of Langjev Palace.

Perhaps because of watching people she knew being massacred overnight, at first she couldn’t even sleep properly.

Although after coming to this world, being caught by slave traders and spending days that could hardly be called smooth in many ways, the summary execution without even a trial gave Jaha a different level of shock.

She felt to her bones just how frightening a world where democracy hadn’t arrived could be.

The fact that she had to live as an imperial palace slave from now on was frightening. If she were unlucky enough to fall out of favor with a high-ranking figure or get caught up in palace intrigue, her head would fly off overnight. In historical dramas, don’t they always make subordinates do dangerous tasks and then frame them with crimes to have them killed? Once one set foot in the palace, there was no guarantee such things wouldn’t happen to Jaha either.

For the first month, except when absolutely necessary, she lived like a dead person without even making eye contact with others. When nobles appeared in the library, she seriously contemplated how to remain as unnoticeable as possible. However, as time passed, not even the shadow of a noble, let alone actual nobles, appeared.

“This place is the most comfortable, I’m telling you. Since it’s a palace without an owner, there’s no need to be mindful of anyone.”

Only after hearing a librarian bragging to a colleague assigned to other duties did Jaha realize. Langjev Palace was a space for the emperor’s consort. And currently, the emperor had no consort. All that worry about the librarian had been for nothing.

After knowing the truth, Jaha became extremely comfortable in mind. Since it was a palace without an owner, naturally there would be no visitors. The absence of distinguished people coming and going was synonymous with a lower probability of problems occurring for those beneath them. Of course, the emperor wouldn’t live without a consort forever, but at least until that day came, safety was guaranteed.

There’s no law saying people should just die.

Jaha felt strange about her situation, which seemed unfortunate yet she always managed to avoid the worst scenarios.

After cleaning the library and returning to the quarters, Jaha lay down to sleep. Though tired from physical labor all day, it wasn’t unbearable.

Yes. This much is fine.

I can endure this.

As soon as closing her eyes, Jaha fell into a deep sleep.

The first thing Jaha challenged after regaining stability was making soap.

Soap appeared early in human history but had long enjoyed the status of a luxury item. It existed since ancient Babylonian times, about 3,800 years BC, but only became commercialized after industrialization, meaning for over 5,000 years it remained a luxury item that the general public dared not obtain.

Naturally, in this world too, soap was the exclusive property of the privileged class. When even commoners couldn’t see it, there was no way it would be distributed to slaves. Slaves just washed with water alone, or washed their bodies with water infused with the extract of unnamed plants. To Jaha, a modern person, this was an appalling concept of hygiene.

Since falling into this world, Jaha paid special attention to cleanliness. The Black Death that swept through medieval Europe drove 1/3 of the population to death. Other epidemics too, once they broke out, frequently led to mass deaths of people on a city-wide scale, which was due to poor personal hygiene management. Just washing hands well with soap exponentially reduces the possibility of disease infection. For survival, soap wasn’t a choice but a necessity.

Although never having made it personally, Jaha knew that mixing alkaline substances with oil and solidifying it makes soap. But there was no way to find potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide solution here. At times like this, the most easily obtainable alkaline substance is urine, but Jaha decided to use another method despite the inconvenience, for the sake of her mental health. She decided to use lye water.

For oil, she decided to obtain it by crushing fruits from trees near the library that looked similar to olive trees. Of course, in principle, a slave touching the fruits would be a serious offense, but Jaha secretly diverted them while pretending to clean up fruits that had fallen to the ground.

Though the ingredients were gathered this way, without knowing the exact ratios and methods, there was no way to succeed in soap making overnight. After dozens of trials and errors, Jaha was finally able to create a lump that could be called soap, with great difficulty.