Chapter 004
<Episode 4>
Louisa Mecenat—no, I—had a list of lovers even during my engagement.
They weren’t exactly ideal. Most were low-quality thugs, but they did have one thing in common.
‘They were beautiful.’
Paintings of Louisa often featured these men, elegant and impeccably styled, always surrounding her like curated accessories.
Each of them handpicked by Louisa herself.
The most stunning men in the empire.
She clothed them in luxury, flaunted them like fashion statements, and discarded them when she grew bored.
I never really spoke to any of them.
Except one.
There was one man whose ending with Louisa wasn’t a complete disaster.
Rudy Garko.
Owner of “Rudy’s Night Bar”—part gambling house, part exhibition, all trouble.
He and Louisa were two sides of the same coin.
While Louisa played her games with other men, Rudy was charming half the women of the empire.
His type? Elegant ladies who loved fine wine, pretty faces, and dangerous flirtations.
And he kept them coming.
Rudy collected beauty like art—filling his bar with rare artifacts and even rarer men, all arranged to attract the most dazzling women of the capital.
Louisa had been one of them.
‘You’re the most exquisite piece I’ve ever laid eyes on.’
Even when she left him cruelly, Rudy still stared at her face with admiration.
‘Beauty like that doesn’t show up often.’
Villainous beauties are a dime a dozen in plays and stories, but in real life, they’re hard to find.
‘Rudy’s got a collector’s eye, no doubt.’
I caught my own reflection in the window and glanced toward a man walking past.
“Quite lovely,” I muttered.
The lips drooped slightly, but the eyes had that devoted supporting-actor feel.
I only meant it in passing, but Rudy appeared with a drink just then.
“You want him?”
Want? That’s a strange way to refer to a person.
He’s not normal either.
“I’m past that phase.”
That guy’s not my Romeo.
“Then… you’re still after me, aren’t you?”
Rudy grinned, gesturing to his own face.
Golden blond hair and a smile sharp enough to slice through Alfredo’s soul.
“Still no man like me out there, right?”
Honestly? He had a point.
Rudy was undoubtedly the most handsome man I’d seen in this place.
Fair skin, cutting jawline, piercing eyes.
At first glance, he seemed intimidating. But once he smiled, he turned into someone easy to like.
‘Still a flirt, though.’
He looked like a soap-opera chaebol’s youngest son—cocky and perfect.
In modern-day terms, he’d be a breakout star after a few daily dramas.
And honestly? He could play Romeo in some contemporary adaptation.
After all, Romeo wasn’t just some pure-hearted youth.
He started off in love with Rosaline, and fell for Juliet the moment he saw her.
In that light, Romeo was quite the romantic wanderer.
But—
‘Not my Romeo.’
I stared at Rudy, just a bit disappointed.
“Were you always like this?”
The illustrations had depicted him more innocent, softer around the edges.
In reality, he was far more practiced.
Proving again that you can’t cast someone off a concept sketch.
“What? Is my skin getting weird lately? I’ve been taking care of it, you know. Doesn’t it look better?”
Rudy pouted.
And just as I was zoning out at his whining voice, I nearly missed how cold Arno could be.
That man might have actually been a more logical choice for Romeo.
But he lacked the youthful energy—and let’s be honest, if I asked him to act, he’d probably hijack the entire production and toss me out.
I sighed at Louisa’s miserable taste.
“But Louisa,” Rudy said, elbow propped up, watching me closely,
“You seem… different.”
With a furrowed brow, he plucked a quill from my hair.
“Didn’t you used to be softer? Your tone now feels… colder.”
“Colder?”
“You always had that aloof edge, but now it’s like there’s a wall behind your eyes.”
Of course he noticed. His entire life revolved around noticing.
Quickly, I shifted the conversation.
“Be honest. This place isn’t what it used to be. Pickings are slim.”
Rudy gave me a crooked grin.
“Still calling men ‘pickings’? Guess some things never change.”
“…….”
“But you know how it works. Over there, things are better managed. That guy won’t be easy to reach either. I’d love to open the door for Louisa’s sake, but the crowd won’t like it….”
‘That place.’
The real auction.
A place behind Rudy’s public bar, cloaked in shadows and secrets.
It’s where the empire’s most dangerous artifacts went on sale to the highest bidder.
Louisa had adored it.
Even sold off her own family treasures for the thrill of it.
The things Rudy displayed were priceless and perilous—just the way she liked it.
‘She even gave up her inheritance for one item… and died for it.’
That item?
The male lead of this world.
The first prince.
Missing, hidden from the public, now reduced to a product in Rudy’s collection.
He was twenty. Beautiful. Regal.
And Louisa had met him here.
She’d wanted to buy him.
‘That boy—what’s he doing here? I’ll take him.’
‘He showed up on the list last year. Guests asked about him, so I bought him back. No matter how you look at it, he’s too exquisite to sell. Now, he’s mine.’
Rudy had refused.
Not that Louisa could’ve afforded him at the time anyway.
She barely had coins to her name.
Besides, slavery was illegal in the empire.
But Rudy? He didn’t care about laws.
To him, beautiful men were investments.
If they brought in beautiful women, the business thrived.
That was his twisted logic.
‘This lunatic’s obsession helped kill Louisa in the end.’
Because that boy?
He wasn’t just a slave.
He was the next emperor.
I passed Rudy a hefty pouch of coins while he rambled.
“Alfredo will wear a mask,” I said. “Most people here wear masks, right? For him—”
I pointed at Alfredo, who looked like he was silently screaming the entire time.
“Give him a rat mask. It suits him.”
A proper little city rat.
Jumpy, judgmental, and far too loyal for his own good.
Alfredo’s face crumpled even more.
***
The rat and the cat descended into the underbelly of the building.
The scent was thick—incense and secrets—and the room was divided by heavy blackout curtains.
Candles flickered low, casting golden veins of light through the dark.
Alfredo grunted but stuck close, his unease hanging around his shoulders like a fog.
“She’s here. The princess. That Louisa Mecenat.”
Someone whispered it behind us.
The mask didn’t help. I was still recognized.
Alfredo moved closer.
Was he… worried?
“If you so much as flirt with another man in front of me, I’m telling the Count!”
He was panicking.
I laughed softly under my breath.
“No need. Even behind a mask, I’m recognizable. Anything I do here will be talked about across the empire by morning.”
“…Bite you? What if the princess bites someone…?”
That’s when the murmurs started.
Everyone saw where I was being led—straight down to the center of the room.
To the front row of the stage.
“She hasn’t shown her face in ages. Must’ve made something from the last auction.”
“Just using the auction money for another auction. How pathetic.”
“Seriously, how much can a fallen noble have left? Spoiled brat with a tragic past.”
I meant to sit in a quiet corner, but somehow ended up at the very heart of the room.
Fine.
If they were going to whisper anyway, I might as well have a perfect view.
I needed to see his face under proper lighting.
Stage lights lie less than candlelight.
I settled into the velvet sofa without hesitation, watching the crowd.
Alfredo, meanwhile, looked like he was planning a duel.
“No shame, dragging someone’s past like that…” he muttered.
“Ladies and gentlemen!”
A booming voice interrupted him.
“The item you’ve all been waiting for… is next!”
A dwarf—clearly tonight’s host—appeared onstage, grinning ear to ear.
“You really do know how to make an entrance, sweetheart.”
Rudy slipped into the seat beside me.
With a teasing smirk, he placed a cherry between my lips.
“Oh, those lips… still perfect.”
I glared at him, catching the glint in his masked eyes.
The way he looked at people—like they were objects.
I slapped his hand away.
“And now, we bring out… Item No. 1!”
A massive cage was wheeled onto the stage.
The room fell into hushed excitement.
Candles spotlighted the iron bars.
The emcee reached forward, tearing off the silk covering the cage.
Gasps.
Cheers.
There he was.
A man, shackled and battered, standing alone in the center.
Covered in cuts and dried blood.
He slowly raised his head.
And those eyes—
Golden.
Shining.
Exactly what I was searching for.
The male lead.
The future emperor.
The man who would someday drag me through fire and ruin.
“Gorgeous, isn’t he? Do you want him?”
Rudy whispered beside me.
Around us, people let out pleased sighs as they admired the boy’s face.
“How much do you think she’ll offer?”
“Maybe half a million? That’s probably all she has left.”
“She’s definitely going to beg for a discount.”
Laughter trickled in.
They expected a performance.
The princess who always asked without paying.
The joke of a ruined principality.
“Word is she barely scraped together a win at the last auction. Bet she’s broke again.”
Rudy leaned in closer, his voice sugar-coated.
“You must be tight on cash. Didn’t you make a little at the last auction? But still… that’s a lot, right?”
“…….”
“I could lend you some. A million derks, maybe?”
“Fifty million.”
“…What?”
The entire room gasped.
‘Forty million derks.’
That’s what Rudy paid for this man in the original story.
So I came with fifty.
My first income.
The amount I earned from hours spent buried in ledgers.
The rest of my savings after clearing petty debts.
The exact value of my grandfather’s sword, sold in secret.
“Any higher bids?”
No one spoke.
No one could.
Fifty million derks wasn’t pocket change.
Especially not for someone with a crumbling name.
Even Rudy was frozen.
I stood, removed another gold pouch, and tossed it at him.
“Settle the bill. Now.”
“……?”
He caught the pouch against his cheek and opened it slowly, stunned.
I pointed to the boy in the cage.
“Put him in my carriage.”
Because that wasn’t a purchase.
That was an investment.
That boy’s worth exceeded 50 million derks.
He was worth the price of my entire life.
