“This Young Lady is with you, Mut ?”
The staff member asked, clearly caught off guard. But I was even more flustered, no, more baffled.
However, the man called Mut was shameless, speaking even more brazenly, “Mind your own business about what’s ‘mine’.”
“Oh, I apologize for my rudeness. Shall I guide you back to your room to rest?”
“Just continue with the auction.”
“Yes, sir.”
The staff member seemed terrified of Mut.
‘It’s common for sellers to bribe the auction house for a good slot.’
This implied that Mut was an important figure here. Regardless of his importance, I just wanted to get away from him.
“You, let go of me…”
“Shh.”
Moot covered my mouth and dragged me somewhere without any explanation. I wanted to use magic, but I instinctively felt he was no ordinary person.
‘Using magic recklessly might escalate things into a fight.’
Mut shoved me into a room while I was still looking for an opening. I pushed him away with all my strength.
Surprisingly, he let go of me easily.
Now facing him, I could finally see his appearance. He wore a black hat and a thick black veil, completely hiding his identity. His body was also wrapped in a cloak, making it impossible to discern his figure.
As I looked up at him warily, Moot let out a cold laugh.
“You can’t recognize me?”
“Should I be able to?”
At my provocative question, he flinched slightly and then removed his necklace.
“My disguise must be perfect. I even altered my voice with a magical device, so it’s understandable.”
I couldn’t believe my ears for a moment. This voice was all too familiar to me.
“Brantley?”
“Yes, it’s me… Ugh!”
I immediately lunged and tore off his veil. And the familiar, handsome face emerged.
Feeling a mix of relief and bewilderment, I asked, “You’ve been secretly working as a seller here all this time? How?”
“Well… it’s complicated.”
Brantley still didn’t give a clear answer.
I placed my hands on my hips and glared at him, “If you weren’t going to tell me the truth, why did you reveal yourself?”
“If I didn’t, you’d scour the entire auction house looking for me again. That would be…”
“That would be?”
“That would be too dangerous. And tedious.”
Tedious? I stared at him. Brantley suddenly averted his gaze.
My confidence surged, and I pressed on, “If you need money, just say so! You don’t have to do this…”
“It’s not about the money.”
Brantley spoke firmly.
I tilted my head in confusion, “If it’s not about money, why did you get into this speculative business?”
Especially as a seller, not just an investor, which meant he had thoroughly prepared.
‘He must have even enlisted the help of mercenaries to do it quickly.’
Those mercenaries! As I inwardly cursed them, Brantley spoke, “I don’t care about money. I need something else.”
“What is it?”
“…”
“If it’s something I can give you…”
“You…”
Brantley, who had been answering absentmindedly, suddenly covered his mouth with his hand. It seemed he had almost said something he shouldn’t have.
I watched him closely. At that moment, Brantley lifted his wandering silver eyes. Our gazes met in mid-air. His moon-like silver eyes felt unusually intense today.
“What I want is…”
Brantley began in a low voice. For some reason, my throat felt dry, and I swallowed hard. Brantley slowly began to speak, “What I want is… influence.”
***
“What? Brantley said that?” My dad, who was listening to my story, asked incredulously. He looked at me with his head tilted.
He was still in the posture of reading a book, looking like a sculpture.
I nodded vigorously. “Yes! What do you think that meant?”
I said while swinging lightly on the swing hanging from a large tree. Dad, who was sitting on the bench next to it, closed his book and looked baffled.
“Does he want to take over the Glory business or something? Duke Eisen has the stronghold there.”
I stopped the swing at my dad’s words. “Could it be because of Duke Eisen? Maybe he wants to interfere with what he’s doing.”
“But he didn’t seem like someone interested in revenge or restoring his status,” Dad said. His tone was one of surprise, yet there was a hint of goodwill.
‘Did Dad dislike Brantley because he thought he had no ambition?’ I wondered. Then maybe this isn’t all bad. ‘Dad might see Brantley in a new light!’
But Dad soon muttered in displeasure, “I thought he would leave with the mercenary group.”
“Oh, that! The mercenary group likes the capital.”
“What?”
“They said they plan to stay longer and make plans. They might even look for work here. Maybe you could help…”
“They’re useless.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind. I’ll have Philip keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t cause any trouble.”
Dad clearly didn’t trust Brantley at all.
Trying to change the subject, I blurted out something random. “But you know what’s funny? Brantley introduced me to the auction house staff as ‘mine.'”
“What…?”
Dad’s voice trembled. I should have stopped talking there. But I made a blunder.
“Thinking about it now, it’s really absurd. Even if he was trying to save me, calling me his? I need to confront him about this…”
“That crazy #$%…!”
Bang!
Dad jumped up from the bench, causing it to fall backward. His usually fair skin was flushed with anger, and thick veins stood out on his neck.
‘He’s showing a murderous aura…!’ I quickly jumped off the swing and grabbed Dad’s hand.
“O- On second thought, I think he said ‘m- my friend’ instead of ‘m-mine.’ Ha ha…”
Dad looked at me in disbelief. Holding his large hand with both of mine, I smiled awkwardly, “There’s no way Brantley would call me his, right?”
“Yes, he better not. He shouldn’t say such things, not even think about it.”
“Right. I must have misheard.”
When I flashed a smile, Dad seemed relieved and smiled back.
“Good. If it were true, Brantley would never see the light of day again,” he said in a cold voice.
“Y- Yeah…”
Dad, oblivious to my frozen state, gently patted my head.
“Anyway, it seems Brantley did something odd that troubled my daughter.”
“Hehe.. It’s not much of a bother…”
“Hanelope, if Brantley ever gives you a hard time, make sure to tell me. I’ll handle it swiftly.”
“…”
Dad spoke with a very gentle expression. But his words were frightening.
‘I couldn’t continue saying more.’
As I stood there awkwardly, Dad put me back on the swing. He gently pushed me from behind, as if the swing and I were delicate glass that could shatter at the slightest touch. It felt like I had gone back to my childhood.
The soft breeze carried Dad’s gentle voice to me.
“Honestly, it would be fine if we lived like this forever.”
“Me too!” I said playfully, kicking my feet.
But Dad was serious, “You don’t have to go out into society, you don’t need to work as a professor, and most importantly, you don’t have to get married.”
Dad often told me that I didn’t need to attend the tiresome and troublesome social gatherings. He also worried about me working hard as a professor.
‘But suddenly mentioning marriage?’
It wasn’t entirely out of the blue, though. ‘There was that incident when Gallota proposed an alliance marriage to me.’ But that was already over, wasn’t it?
I was puzzled. But Dad was dead serious, “All that I have is yours, too. I’d like for us to live here together forever.”
***
Duke Eisen once again threw the morning report at the butler’s face. Despite bribing newspapers for favorable media coverage, the results were unsatisfactory. The value of the flowers didn’t increase.
‘Is it because the price has gone up too much for anyone to buy? No. The price of the flowers will keep rising! Even if they buy it now at a high price, they can sell it for even more later.’
The Temple had been spreading rare variants, and Duke Eisen had been maintaining the flow by purchasing them at exorbitant prices. Of course, Duke Eisen always made a profit exceeding his investment. But at this rate, the return on investment would drop.
‘This won’t do. I need to come up with a plan.’
The Great Temple didn’t realize the severity of the situation. But Duke Eisen was frustrated. On top of that, he was still on edge from the recent nightmare involving Brantley.
Ultimately, Duke Eisen decided to address the issue through a ‘scientific and analytical approach’.
‘Investments should be made through rational calculations.’
Soon, the butler informed him that the ‘expert’ Duke Eisen had called for had arrived. The most renowned expert in the region sat before Duke Eisen.
“I called you because I need advice on my investments.”
“A wise decision.”
“Then, show me the divination at once.”
