Chapter 19. Auction House (1)

“Prince Allen Bledin, the third prince, is still staying in the secondary palace.”

Allen? At the mention of a familiar name, she quickly turned her head and saw him still with his eyes closed. When Iella didn’t respond, he slowly opened his firmly shut eyelids.

Meeting her gaze, he continued speaking with an expressionless face.

“You acted as if you wouldn’t abandon him when you kept him by your side for so long after he was sent as a hostage, but recently, it doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.”

Aster recalled the prince with the purple eyes he had encountered by chance on a dark night. He thought the prince was still being played by Ailexia’s crude hobbies, but according to what Robert said, rumors were quietly spreading that he would be abandoned due to the decreasing frequency of her visits.

“Whatever it is, I don’t care. Just don’t draw attention to yourself this time.”

A brief look of contempt appeared in his silver eyes before disappearing.

“I mean, don’t look for someone to warm your bed after the third prince tonight.”

As he firmly issued this warning, the carriage, which had been running diligently, came to a stop.

“We’ve arrived.”

The coachman’s voice came from beyond the wall, and Aster, who had been glaring sharply, turned his head and put on the black mask he had brought. As the carriage door swung open wide, the fresh outside air rushed in, waking Iella up.

At that moment, the hazy mist that had been covering an important part cleared, and a piece of information about the male protagonist became clear.

Allen Bledin, the illegitimate third prince of the Bledin Kingdom, sent as a hostage to the empire.

Now, everything fits perfectly.

When she first met him, his strong and noble demeanor, despite being bound and restrained, was naturally ingrained in him as a royal.

His contempt and defiance towards Ailexia were a reaction to being treated this way as royalty.

And in the end, the reason he couldn’t go against Ailexia’s will and had to submit was because he was sent as a hostage.

‘…Wait, something’s not right.’

However, Iella soon found a mismatched piece in the puzzle that had been fitting together perfectly. It hadn’t seemed strange before, but now, after obtaining information about Allen Bledin, one thing felt odd.

‘How does it turn into love and hate?’

There was no reason for Allen Bledin to feel ‘affection’ towards Ailexia.

It couldn’t be that her memory was wrong, as it was one of the few things she had remembered from the start. The narrative between them was definitely one of love and hate.

“Lady Ailexia.”

But Iella wasn’t given time to resolve her questions. Aster, who had gotten off the carriage first, was staring at her with cold eyes, as if wondering why she hadn’t gotten off yet. Iella hurriedly put on her red mask and got off the carriage.

Unexpectedly, Aster extended his hand to escort her directly, following the etiquette for a lady. Iella took his hand without refusing and got off. The cool breeze brushing her cheeks and the building in front of her brought her mind back to reality.

‘Don’t think too deeply about it. After all, he’ll soon become someone unrelated to me.’

She erased the man with the purple eyes from her mind and focused her determined gaze on her current goal with her deep pink eyes.

“Invitation confirmed. Please enjoy your time.”

The burly guard at the door checked the invitation Iella handed over and opened the entrance with a polite attitude.

The dazzling light streamed out from inside, welcoming their visit.

As they entered, someone who appeared to be a staff member appeared from somewhere and guided them.

The building, which didn’t seem large from the outside, had a surprisingly spacious interior with a short hallway lined with numerous doors on both sides. The staff member passed all of them and stopped in front of a room at the very end, up a short flight of stairs. They then personally guided them inside and firmly closed the door behind them.

Aster turned his head towards the room they had entered after confirming that the footsteps had completely disappeared.

The room, assigned according to the number of people, was just large enough for two people to rest, with only a sofa and a table. He even pulled back the curtains and knocked on the walls, but there was nothing unusual.

“Is this really the auction house?”

Eventually, he frowned and asked, sounding accusatory.

Though he had never participated in it, he had heard rumors that the level and scale of illegal auctions surpassed even the imperial charity auctions. This meant that the amounts exchanged were not trivial, so it didn’t make sense to provide such a room for people like them.

It was a room that would be embarrassing to call a waiting room, even at best.

‘The building didn’t seem large enough to have an auction house.’

While the interior was more spacious than it appeared from the outside, if all the rooms in the hallway were like this, it was no different from an inn. And since there were no stairs leading down, it meant there was no basement.

‘The location itself being near the city center doesn’t make sense. It’s an environment where they could easily get caught.’

The more he thought about it, the more the circumstances didn’t add up, and suspicion darkened Aster’s face.

However, Iella calmly countered his distrustful gaze as she stood in front of the door they had entered through.

“No matter how much of a Duke you are, I told you it wouldn’t be easy to get in.”

There was one important fact she hadn’t told him.

Even if he had obtained the invitation by force or by other means, he wouldn’t have been able to get near the auction house.

The same would have applied to her as well. If she hadn’t found the very first invitation among the many invitations Ailexia had received.

“Syphrezenc.”

As she attached the invitation to the door and muttered, the invitation glowed slightly in response. Once the light subsided, Iella took the invitation and boldly opened the firmly closed door.

Then, a different scene unfolded before their eyes.

In the overall dim atmosphere, candles hung at regular intervals on the marble walls, softly illuminating the path. The wide hallway, which could accommodate six people walking side by side, was lined with a luxurious dark red carpet.

It looked like a noble’s villa.

“What’s this….”

Aster, who approached her side without her noticing, stared at the scene outside the door in disbelief. Iella, also seeing it for the first time, looked at the changed place with a surprised heart.

Then, coming to her senses, she glanced up at his profile. Fortunately, his gaze remained fixed on the scene in front of him. Iella turned her gaze forward and stepped out the door first.

“This must be why the Duke couldn’t easily obtain the invitation.”

“……”

“The location, time, and necessary items, as well as the magic activation code, are different every month. And they don’t overlap for each recipient.”

When she first saw the invitation, the most puzzling thing was the single word stuck in the middle. Every invitation Ailexia had contained a different word each time, so she couldn’t figure out its purpose.

She only discovered its true use and method when she found the first invitation with the oldest date. Inside, besides the invitation, there was a small note explaining the true purpose and usage of the word.

‘If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have been able to make a deal with Aster regarding the auction.’

Iella looked back at him, who was still standing inside the room. Just as he had urged her to get off the carriage, she now signaled him to come out.

He seemed to understand her meaning, and with a short, exasperated sigh, he immediately stepped forward. Closing the distance in an instant with his long legs, he approached close enough to escort her and extended his hand.

“So that’s why you were so confident.”

“It’s a relief you figured it out now.”

Placing her hand on his gloved one, Iella met his gaze.

“So I hope you achieve your goal perfectly today, Duke. There won’t be another chance.”

Please don’t pay attention to me, Aster.

Iella swallowed the hidden meaning behind those words and smiled haughtily like Ailexia.

***

As they walked down the hallway, they met another staff member waiting for them at the stairs. The staff member went through the process of checking the invitation again and finally began guiding them to the main purpose, the auction house.

After climbing another flight of stairs, an even more lavishly decorated hallway appeared. On one side of the hallway wall, a few doors were spaced widely apart. The staff member led them to one of these doors. Inside was a private seat on the second floor with a clear view of the large hall below.

Unlike the rows of chairs lined up in front of the stage below, the seats here were cushioned and had a table with various high-end drinks and fruits, clearly meant for VIPs.

Only then did Iella realize that the reason the staff had rechecked the invitation was to determine whether they were VIPs.

‘This will make it easier to slip away.’

For Iella, who planned to act alone just before the auction started, this was perfect. Trying to leave through a crowd would inevitably draw attention, no matter how much she tried to stay low.

Iella turned from looking down over the railing and sat in the chair. Seeing people still freely moving between the chairs below, it seemed the auction was still some time away.

Aster, apparently making the same judgment, stopped scanning below and sat in the chair next to her, with the table between them.

Contrary to the noise filling the hall, a calm silence settled in the second-floor seats.

Fortunately, it wasn’t as uncomfortable as in the carriage this time. It seemed to be because the space wasn’t entirely enclosed.

However, on the other hand, the situation of feeling uncomfortable with him just because she was in another person’s body left her feeling bitter.

If she had been in her original body with Aster, even a cramped and narrow space would have felt comfortable, and their conversation would have flowed endlessly.

‘That’s why I need to return as soon as possible.’

Iella comforted herself by recalling her always comfortable meetings with him.

At that moment, Aster broke the silence and suddenly asked.

“How long have you been attending auctions?”

Turning her eyes, she saw Aster staring intently in the direction of the stage, elbows on his knees and leaning forward.

“You seem quite familiar with using the code and being guided to such a seat, so I presume it has been a long time…”

He continued speaking alone for a while, then paused and spoke again.