Chapter 64
Still treating her like a beloved, but truly ambiguously, he himself remained unaware.
Hoping he wouldn’t realize before their contract ended, Riina finally nodded.
“Alright. I’ll gladly accept.”
At her permission, Einar smiled, his eyes crinkling, and whispered,
“There’s conveniently a dress at number eight on the list.”
Riina shook her head at this, and Einar gestured to the manager with a satisfied smile.
“Yes, yes!”
The manager, tense with excitement at the enormous sum about to appear before him, quickly approached.
“I’ll take everything.”
Einar didn’t even ask how much was needed.
And the auction house manager didn’t say anything either.
He just hurriedly ran out with the ‘Second Prince’ token he received from Einar.
Less than an hour later, the auction house announced its closure, instantly stunning all those who had attended.
“What? Ending before it even starts?”
“We apologize.”
“What on earth! Did something happen?”
“No. We apologize.”
The auction house staff were busy apologizing, and while most people frowned, they more or less accepted it and left.
This was because someone asked in a booming voice,
“Don’t tell me someone bought all the auction items at once?”
“Due to regulations, we cannot say.”
Since the auction house gave such an answer, everyone assumed that must be the case.
Buying all items without even going through the auction process…
Even though this was a minor auction without particularly remarkable items, it would be beyond ordinary wealth.
And someone with such wealth must be from one of the top families among those with blue blood.
And the auction house wouldn’t readily accept such behavior that closed down the entire auction just because someone had money.
“It’s a shame, but nothing can be done. Let’s go.”
“Well, I’ll have to find something else.”
And among those gathered at the auction house, no one wanted to antagonize someone with such wealth and power by causing a disturbance.
But there are always exceptions.
“What? No way! You said you’d hold it! Why won’t you open! Why!”
“Sir, I’m sorry but the auction has already ended…”
“How can it end before it starts! Are you joking? Are you playing games here!”
A big commotion broke out in one corner of the auction house where commoners had gathered.
When one servant couldn’t handle it, several more quickly joined.
“Sir, please calm down first.”
The servants trying to somehow calm the rampaging man were left speechless at his next words.
“Calm? What calm? Will the auction open again if I calm down?”
As silence fell, the man glared and shouted again.
“See! This is nonsense! If you said there would be an auction, there should be one!”
Though clearly unreasonable, his strangely persuasive argument that didn’t seem unreasonable left the servants at a loss, and the man looked around huffing and puffing.
“Look here, if the organizers say it’s over, it’s over. If the seller doesn’t want to sell, what can you do?”
Another guest who couldn’t stand watching anymore threw in a comment, but seeing the veins bulging over the man’s muscles, he raised both hands to his chest and backed away.
-Bang!
“I absolutely cannot back down! There’s something I desperately need!”
“Sir, we truly apologize, but…”
As the large man sat back down, pounding the table as if determined to stay, a servant reached out with a troubled expression but.
“Get away!”
-Crash!
“Ahhh!”
Just a light swing of the big man’s arm sent the servant flying backward, crumpling as he landed hard.
“Oh my.”
“Tsk tsk, what a scene.”
Even the nobles in the distance began to frown one by one, and as the huge man continued to rampage, the auction house staff stopped bowing their heads.
“Please calm down. If not, we’ll have to make you calm down.”
The auction house guards, though smaller but looking solid, swarmed in.
But the big man, Hans, didn’t back down.
He couldn’t back down.
There was a part he absolutely needed to make a tool for Jane’s revenge.
The blacksmith he had commissioned for the tool’s design had said:
‘I can make the other parts, but this is impossible. Where did you even see something like this?’
Hans scratched his head as he looked at the part the blacksmith pointed to.
‘Where was it…’
At that ambiguous answer, the blacksmith shook his head as if he had expected as much.
‘It doesn’t matter where you saw it. Anyway, I can’t make this.’
Hans didn’t bother asking why.
If a blacksmith counted among the top in the empire declared he couldn’t make it, it must be unmakeable.
‘Only blacksmiths with generationally inherited techniques can make this. More artists than blacksmiths.’
‘Then what should I do?’
To the crestfallen Hans, the blacksmith sighed and informed him.
‘I looked around and found out. You’re lucky. Apparently, this part is coming up as an item in this auction.’
And this was precisely the auction mentioned on the invitation the blacksmith had handed him.
The blacksmith had added as Hans carefully clutched the invitation:
‘That part will be hard to get anywhere else. It’s not something that can be mass-produced, and while you could place an order, considering shipping time, it would take very long.’
So Hans absolutely couldn’t back down until he got that part.
He rose, bracing himself against the table while glaring with his round eyes.
“Make me? Oh yeah! Go ahead and try! I absolutely won’t leave quietly! I’m telling you I absolutely need something!”
Soon chairs were flying and clubs were cutting through the air.
And in a space far from there,
Riina paused as she glanced toward the commotion.
“That big man…”
She narrowed her eyes and carefully observed the large man who was crashing about recklessly while raging.
Einar’s eyes followed her gaze.
“Someone you know?”
“No. Not exactly, but.”
Riina tilted her head for a moment and asked,
“With that size, he’d stand out anywhere, wouldn’t he?”
“He would.”
“Would someone that size be common?”
“Not common, but not rare either. Around the knights’ quarters, you’d trip over them there are so many.”
Despite Einar’s answer, Riina’s brow remained furrowed.
As her gaze remained fixed on the commotion, the auction house manager beside them fidgeted anxiously, sweating.
“We apologize. We’ll resolve this quickly, so please come this way.”
But Riina raised a hand to stop the manager’s words and asked Einar again.
“What if we limit it to commoners?”
“His size?”
“Yes.”
Einar lightly stroked his chin while observing the man causing the disturbance and shook his head.
“Not common.”
“I see.”
Seeing Riina lost in thought, Einar turned his gaze to the man and asked again.
“You really do know him?”
“No. But he might be someone I know through others.”
Yes, there was that possibility.
Of course she couldn’t be certain, but somehow Riina couldn’t shake the feeling that this big man was the same person who had threatened Becky.
Though Becky had said she no longer worried about her threatener and was even grateful…
Riina’s reason for keeping the large man in the corner of her eye wasn’t simply because of Becky.
Becky, the threatener, the hunting competition.
And Jane.
Though she had let it pass until now, perhaps she should check with Father.
Whether Jane’s appearance at the hunting competition was by Father’s order or not.
Riina soon gestured to a nearby servant.
“Find out what item that man wants.”
The servant who quickly ran over approached one of the guards confronting Hans.
The guard nodded at the servant’s whisper.
“Argh. You bastards, I’ll kill you all!”
Toward Hans, who was shouting at the top of his lungs in great excitement, the guard called out.
“What exactly do you want!”
As if by magic, Hans’s movement stopped abruptly the moment the guard’s shout ended.
Hans, who had been swinging a broken chair leg, let out a heavy breath and spat out bloody saliva.
“The part. The only part among the auction items, so no further explanation should be needed.”
At his answer, question marks appeared uniformly on the faces of those watching the commotion.
They exchanged glances.
“A part…”
“And here I thought it must be the most valuable necklace to cause such a scene.”
The servant returned even faster than he had gone, cutting through the murmuring crowd.
“A part?”
“Yes.”
At Riina’s gesture, the manager hurriedly handed over the list, and she found the part located a few spaces up from the bottom.
“What kind of part is this?”
“It has enough value to be auctioned, but it’s not precious enough to have special value in itself like diamonds or other jewels.”
The manager added while continuously wiping away his streaming sweat,
“Though it is a part that only a few craftsmen on the continent can make…”
As his words trailed off, Riina nodded.
“You mean it has no particular value to those who don’t need it.”
“Yes. I can’t say it has artistic value.”
Riina tapped the list and commanded.
“Bring the part.”
“What? Yes. Yes!”
While the servant ran like a rolling ball to fetch the part at the manager’s gesture.
“Are you thinking of giving it to him?”
