"I BID 1 MILLION CREDITS!!"

Mr. Lapui raised a hand.

"Enough!" he called. "Let us not get too caught up. There are greater treasures ahead."

A man from the third floor had already bid a million credits, shocking almost all of the people present here.

Out of all the thoughts everyone were having, it could be said to be a collected thought that whoever has bid 1 million credits for an A grade armour could be nothing but stupid.

It was obvious that no one was going to try to outbid it, and that–is the storybof how an armour worth 400,000 credits at Max was sold for a million credits instead.

The orb descended into Mr. lapui's hand, who crushed the ball into notes of black, surprising the girl next to me.

Smiling at her reaction, I explained to the girl that all these orbs are just holographic reflections of the items and the exchange would take place in the private chambers for safety reasons.

No matter how much Damien nagged at me from the behind to ignore the girl and treat her as a threat, just the fact that my heart beat the way it did was hard to ignore.

I could not grasp how someone like her would be hell bent on killing me.

If anything, the fact that we are family friends and they are people connected to me, who I have memories with along with my dead parents...it made it hard for me to even entertain the thoughts that Damien was trying to implant in my mind.

Plus, it had been a long time since I realised that Damien was not an all powerful, perfect being himself.

He made mistakes too, and after how I almost lost myself because of him the last time, I find it more and more difficult to just blindly trust him.

And just like that, the second item was about to be unveiled.

I felt a strange chill crawl down my spine, even as the crowd buzzed louder than ever.

Whatever was coming next…it wasn't just going to be rare.

Some nobles were still murmuring, probably trying to make sense of the absurdity they'd just witnessed—a full million credits dropped like loose change on an armor that barely deserved half that.

Mr. Lapui stood calm at the centre, one hand behind his back, the other raised with practiced elegance.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, voice smooth, "the next item up for auction is among the rarer ones."

The lights dimmed again, more dramatically this time. The crowd quieted as if on cue, even the arrogant lot on the third floor.

A new orb rose from the central platform, bathed in an eerie purple light. It didn't shimmer like the first; instead, it glowed almost darkly.

A slow, faint thudding echoed through the space—like a heartbeat.

Lapui turned to the floating orb. "Item two—The Crimson Relic of Mindlock.

A Class-A enchanted talisman from the ancient mentalist sect of the Western Isles. Usable only once per month.

It grants the wearer complete immunity to all illusion-type and psychic attacks for a full hour."

A low gasp swept through the crowd.

I leaned forward slightly, almost instinctively. A full immunity? That was no joke. Especially not in a world where mind tampering, hexes, and fear constructs were starting to show up more frequently.

My mind could not help but go to Seraphina.

"Minimum bid starts at 200,000 coins," Mr. Lapui exclaimed.

This one didn't take long to heat up.

"250,000!"

"300,000!"

"350,000!"

"400,000!"

I looked over.

Seraphina was sitting upright now, finally interested, her fingers tapping her chin thoughtfully. Erza whistled low, impressed.

"That's not just rare," Erza muttered. "That's a life-saver in a fight."

"Or a throne-snatcher's tool," Aurelia added softly, dark amusement in her tone.

Dario just scoffed. "I could've used that last year during the Bloodfall Arena trial."

I turned to Sia.

She hadn't spoken a word yet, but her eyes were locked on the orb, lips slightly parted. That cold, aloof look she always wore had cracked a little. She wasn't pretending anymore; she seemed genuinely interested in the item.

I couldn't help myself as I leaned over slightly.

"You thinking of bidding?" I asked the audaciously hot girl.

Her gaze flicked to me. "No."

"Really?" I asked, surprised.

She gave a slight smile. "If I need to rely on an accessory like that, I don't deserve to win in the first place."

I blinked. That...was the first real sentence she'd said to me today. No sarcasm, no chill, just honesty. Her voice wasn't flat or condescending—it was calm?

And for some reason, it made my chest tighten. I realised how different I was compared to her.

The bidding had now already passed 500,000.

The man from the third floor who'd bought the armour earlier was out. Smart move. He'd already been labelled an idiot once.b

Then a new voice cut through the air.

"600,000 credits," came a drawl from the second floor.

A woman this time—sounded young, but the way she said it had the weight of someone used to command.

Mr. Lapui looked up, smiling. "Ah. Our dear Marchioness of Windrose joins the fray."

Marchioness? Windrose? That was the border country between the human and semi-vampiric provinces, wasn't it?

I swallowed.

That wasn't some casual noble. That was a woman known to have massacre-level spells in her back pocket.

She didn't even flinch as Lapui announced her name to the crowd.

Nobody raised the bid after that.

Not because they couldn't—but because everyone knew.

You didn't compete with someone like her unless you had death wishes or death immunity.

What surprised me, however, was the sound of someone bidding just beside me.

"700,000"

Even grandpa Venus and King Philip turned to our figures from behind us at the sofa.

They had no interest in these small trinklets, it seemed.

The person who had tried to bid higher than this Marchioness was none other than Sera.

The whole crowd downstairs were surprised that someone from the royalty would be joining the bids so early into the event. I could even see the lady from the semi-vampiric province scoff, instantly raising the bid to 750,000 credits.

None of us understood what had taken over Seraphina as lines began forming on her head.

She looked at Erza sympathetically as she said,

"I'm cashing out the favor, girlypop-"

***