The woman was shackled to the wall, unaware that her fate was almost turned.

She gazed intently at the departing bottle of wine and the slave trader, regretfully puckering her lips.

The slave trader knelt in place, dispirited and dejected.

He listened as the footsteps of the young master and slave faded away, growing increasingly distant until they completely disappeared. He then gasped for breath and struggled to get up.

It took a while before his eyes came back into focus.

He looked at the woman shackled to the wall, his forehead blue with veins throbbing. Suddenly, he tore off his round hat and pounded it on the ground with force, yanking on his beard and hair with all his might.

"It's all over! Everything has been destroyed by you!"

He roared at the woman with a tinge of crying, "Stupid savage woman, can't even lie properly? Just say one sentence 'a virgin' and that's it!"

The slave trader with tanned-red skin is named Anan-diyebu.

Anan-diyebu's grandfather was a nobleman of the Akkadian people. His family was said to be directly related to the king of all kings of Akkad, Sargon, and had their tribe and vast mountain pasture.

Anan-diyebu's fate was originally to be a prince or lord, but since the Assyrian Empire destroyed his family's tribe, cut off the heads of his grandfather and great-grandfather, and hung them on tree branches, he is no longer. His father became a prisoner of war of the Assyrians and then a slave before he turned ten. He was born into slavery, just like his father.

Anan-diyebu struggled for forty years and, through his intelligence and bravery, finally inherited the master's household and became an Assyrian in the registry of the capital. After that, he had six wives and a small business as a slave trader accompanying the army.

However, forty years of slavery life made Anan-diyebu forever lose a sense of security. Until now, he still has nightmares from time to time. He dreamed that one day if he accidentally angered the powerful, he would be degraded back to slavery.

Now, the slave trader Anan-diyebu is horrified to think that this nightmare seems to be about to become a reality.

To avoid this kind of thing from happening, Anandiebunu worked hard to climb up and grab onto any thigh he could grab. For example, the prestigious Tengo family, the young star of the empire, and the Ashur family of the Ereler family.

Anandiebunu, the active slave trader, gave up a large amount of war loot and cheap slaves and personally escorted the northern woman back to the capital.

What does a small profit matter? As long as he can use this woman to get into the Ereler family, he can achieve social mobility.

Anandiebunu's calculations were good. As soon as he arrived in the capital, he immediately sought credit from the Ereler family and then he was tragic.

He only realized that he and the deputy had made a mistake. Ashur lied about the woman to save face, and the enemy of the Ereler family who knew the inside story exposed Ashur.

At the critical moment, when he brought the woman to the capital, he not only failed to appease Ashur and the Ereler family but instead greatly offended them.

Anndyeb was almost beaten to death. Furthermore, the Enlier family also sent people to kill half of his family members: three wives and two children, who were killed in their sleep by having their throats cut.

Anndyeb woke up early and found the bodies of his loved ones lying beside him. He was devastated and could only swallow his tears and humiliation, using all means to prove his loyalty to the Enlier family.

He sent the woman to the death arena. To ensure that the disaster star could die tragically in front of everyone, he did not provide food and water to her and even made her fight with lions while wearing shackles, following A-Shuler's orders.

However, the woman survived the death match and returned with honors, becoming the "silver-white mother lion". This caused A-Shuler to lose even more face.

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This pushed Anndyeb to the brink of despair.

He lacked the courage to ally himself with the enemies of the Enriel family, and so he had no choice but to have his entire family killed by assassins in their sleep.

The only option was to ally himself with Ansel's fiancé, Cynthia of the Minies family, who was from a prominent family equal to the Enriels and was a generations-long in-law of the Enriels.

If he could gain the protection of the Minies family and reach a reconciliation with Ansel, the Enriel family might take him into consideration as a small player and even recognize his worth, making him a useful pawn.

Slave trader Annediye was filled with despair.

Just as he was about to achieve great success, this disaster only took one sentence to make his entire plan go down the drain and the lives of his entire family might also go down the drain.

The woman shackled to the wall strangely watched the slave trader give a beast-like roar while desperately pulling at his own hair.

His fierce determination almost made his whole scalp come off.

The bodyguards probably heard the strange noise and stood outside the living room to look inside.

At this moment, Annandibubu took a long breath and regained his composure.

He threw the two clumps of hair he was holding, bent down to pick up his cylinder hat, dusted it off, and put it back on his head.

"Go get Lucius," the slave trader said wearily.

The contract craftsman took a chunk of clay the size of a head from the rack and put it with a "bang" on the stove.

He picked up a round piece of wood the size of an arm and pressed it down on the clay. The round wood rolled back and forth from one end to the other, then turned direction and rolled back. After rolling a few times, the clay expanded into a large brown cake.

Then he pulled out a small knife and cut off the edge of the cake.

A square piece of soft clay appeared in front of everyone.

Lucius showed a friendly smile with a hint of excitement, even raising his arm to wipe his eyes. The slave trader beside him had lost the initial humility, with a dark complexion, standing with his back turned, thinking about something.

The contract artisan pulled out a sharp reed pen from the pen holder and began to deftly write one beautiful wedge-shaped letter after another on the soft mud board.

This is a property transfer contract.

The contract proves that the slave trader Anandiyebu has evaluated his property, priced at three percent, and sold it to the Schwartzenger family's Lucius. Lucius must pay cash to Anandiyebu within one day. From the moment the book is written, the crude arena, slave prison, and the remaining beasts and slaves in the prison, including the "silver-white mother lion," are all changed to a new owner.

Lucius held his breath and watched the mud board being written with an intense gaze. He couldn't help but rub his hands.

The contract artisan finished the clay tablet and turned around to sternly survey the parties to the contract.

"You can still back out now," he said, "once the tablet hardens and is deposited in the library for safekeeping, there will be no more opportunity to change your mind."

Lucius and Anandiyebub looked at each other.

"No regrets," Lucius said.

He reached out first and left his palm prints on the blank space on the tablet.

"It's your turn, dear Akkadian."

"I am Assyrian."

The slave trader Anandiyebub grunted and also followed Lucius' example, leaving his palm prints on the tablet.

The contract artisan checked the clarity of the palm prints of the two men again and nodded.

"Agreed."

The contractor said, took out his flint, and lit a fire under the stove with quick movements. The stove was already filled with coal.

As the heat radiated from the stove, the room gradually filled with a strange odor. It was the smell of decaying mud being heated by high temperatures.

The only thing left was to wait for the tablet to dry and harden.

The contractor knocked his back, limped to the next stove, and hastened to prepare the next tablet for two other parties.

Taking advantage of the moment when no one was around, Lucius asked the slave trader, "What are your plans next? Have you sold all your property? Are you planning to escape from Niniveh?"

The slave trader glanced at Lucius. This impassive man was clearly asking with full knowledge.

"Although the capital of the empire is good, the air here is not good for my health."

The slave trader said unhappily, "I will travel, to Babylon to try my luck, or to Kish, to Uruk, even to the Dead Sea's Sodom or Gomorrah. It's said that slave trading is better there."

Lucius smiled: "Then you take care, the journey is long and very difficult."

The slave trader looked at Lucius with cold eyes, and the young man was no longer trying to hide the smile on his face.

He was well aware of Lucius' calculations:

A gamble, putting fate on that female disaster, to win the gladiatorial contest of the birthday of Lady Xenia before being expelled, using the champion's right to petition the Menes City Lord, lifting the ban on the Schlesinger family.

"Take care of yourself, banished Lucius."

The slave trader sneered.

"Don't think your actions are seamless... When did the Schwarzenegger family receive a banishment order and be stripped of their noble title? When did rumors about Lord Ashur spread throughout the city? There are plenty of cunning people, but no one has yet connected these threads.

"Because no one would have thought that a young scion from a declining family, who is about to be banished, would be so crazy as to dare to reach out to two behemoths, Ernil and Menis, for a tiny profit!

Lucius turned to the slave trader.

The fire in the stove lit up the young man's handsome other half of his face, while the other half, facing Anandibub, was in the shadow and cruel like a ghost.

The slave trader swallowed hard and a sudden realization hit him.

Lucius calmly said, "I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're saying."

"What I mean is, for those who have chosen to stay, I hope you will take care of your health too, young and promising Lucius."

The slave trader Anandiebus chuckled coldly.

"Nimwee, this great city is like the open jaws of a lion. Too many people fail to see their fate and are devoured."