Chapter 11

“Miss D’Vialis.”

Ashton tapped Sabina’s hand. She turned her head to look at him, almost mechanically.

“Is your seat alright?”

Sabina sent a look as if asking how he knew she was uncomfortable. Ashton swallowed the words ‘I know you well’ and didn’t say them.

Sabina whispered,

“No. Not alright. Move me.”

Sabina was light enough to move with one arm. He deftly seated the small lady in another chair, then sat right in front of her.

Sabina was small, Ashton was fairly large, so Sabina was completely hidden behind Ashton’s back.

Ashton casually linked arms with Sabina and crossed his legs. Then he tilted his head and looked at Reyes. He lifted his mask, revealing his face, and winked at Reyes. Reyes, showing his displeasure, poured his drink onto the floor and moved seats.

“Wow, what a temper…”

Muttering about Reyes, Ashton leaned in and whispered in Sabina’s ear.

“This is an auction, right?”

“It looks like a ballroom now… Yes, it’s an auction. Tonight is auction night.”

Ashton hesitated, then asked,

“What are you here to buy?”

Sabina answered dryly,

“People. I’m not interested in other items. I’m here to buy a person.”

* * *

People called this place Carnival.

Carnival was luxurious, decadent, and every part of it was illegal.

Everything traded here was either cursed or banned by Brinita’s national law.

But no one cared.

Even the King himself sometimes appeared here in a mask.

At the appointed time, the clown became the dealer. In the hall where people danced and drank, forbidden items were brought out.

“Here is the Red Diamond Necklace, which has strangled twenty-four v*rgins to death!”

“You’ve never seen anything like this. It’s a human-faced bird. It sings with a beautiful voice. All it needs is rotten beef for food.”

“In this coffin—look, as you see!—is a mummified mermaid. Mermaids are creatures of temptation. It will help you win the object of your desire.”

Between lively violin quartets, the bidding heated up.

“Ten million rium!”

“Number 31, ten million! Any higher?”

“Eleven million!”

“Ah, number 5! Eleven million! Don’t hesitate, items like this are rare!”

Sabina and Ashton quietly sipped champagne. Sabina was so focused, she didn’t notice Ashton’s unusual silence.

At last, the moment Sabina had been waiting for arrived.

The music stopped, and the auction hall fell silent. The clown walked across the room.

“The next item.”

Sabina clenched her fist.

“A very, very, very beautiful boy.”

‘Here it is.’

The clown dragged out a boy on a leash, like a dog. It looked like they’d deliberately broken his legs so he couldn’t walk. The boy had to crawl on all fours to avoid being dragged. The clown yanked his leash so the boy lifted his head.

“Ugh…!”

Spotlights poured down on the boy’s head.

Under the intense light, the boy’s face was as beautiful as the clown claimed. His eyes, set in a face twisted by pain and humiliation, burned with unyielding fire. Brilliant golden hair spilled over his shoulders and down his back.

“This item is offered with much regret by our Don Slafdi. He’s only fourteen. A good age for training.”

The clown introduced the ‘item,’ but the crowd’s reaction was lukewarm. Having been excited by cursed, bizarre, and forbidden things, ordinary humans couldn’t satisfy them. The boy was certainly beautiful, but… keeping a slave as a plaything was no longer in vogue.

“Let the bidding begin!”

Sabina had won that boy in the original story.

Both times, Reyes was at her side. Reyes, who had shown Sabina the location of the auction and brought her to Carnival, had urged her to buy something. He’d assured her it was neither scary nor creepy, that even the King frequented Carnival…

While Reyes whispered sweetly in Sabina’s ear, she only watched the boy, even in her first life, knowing nothing about him.

「Sabina, my name is Helio.」

He looked just like the boy who had jumped out of her window at dawn when she was six.

She knew it couldn’t be the same person. That boy was definitely human, and the ghost boy had disappeared from her room sixteen years ago. If it was the same person, he would be an adult by now.

But Sabina had felt compelled to buy the boy that day.

Reyes never understood why Sabina bought the boy, just enjoyed that she had purchased something at Carnival.

Even in the original, the mood was indifferent. Thanks to that, Sabina had easily won the boy.

She intended to buy him again this time.

Now, it wasn’t about a childhood dream. That boy, in both her first and second lives, had cried for her and leaped into danger.

She couldn’t ignore him.

Moreover, that boy…

“Starting at one million rium!”

The room was quiet. No one wanted to bid.

Sabina didn’t raise her paddle right away; she was careful. If she seemed impatient, people who had no intention to buy might join in, raising the price just to make the winner spend more, or to make it harder to bid on the next item.

She waited until the room was quiet, then raised her paddle.

“…One million five hundred thousand.”

She remembered that in both previous times, she’d won the boy for less than three million.

“Number 2, one million five hundred thousand! Any higher? It’s a fine item…”

The clown chattered endlessly, but people were uninterested. Those who bid one million six hundred or one million eight hundred stopped when Sabina called two million.

Then—

“Five million.”

A smooth, clear voice rang out from across the room. Sabina didn’t look, but she knew whose voice it was. She gripped her cane.

‘Reyes Brinita…!’

In the original, Reyes had no interest in the boy. He’d only encouraged Sabina. Now, his bid of five million was just to torment her.

“Seven million.”

Sabina raised the number aggressively. Reyes stroked his ruby ring and smiled, as if to say, ‘Is that all?’

“Ten million.”

“Twelve million!”

Unexpectedly, the price soared. People, initially stunned, began to get excited by the competition. The interest wasn’t in the boy, but in the two people bidding aggressively for him.

“Fifty million.”

Reyes crossed his legs and spoke with a relaxed tone, tilting his head. Sabina paused, catching her breath. How much did he intend to spend? It wasn’t that she lacked money. Sabina’s available assets far exceeded what the prince could personally access. She could call any number she wished.

But…

‘Disgusting.’

If Sabina rashly called a very high number, she might win the auction.

But Reyes would delight in her ‘wasting’ so much money. Just the thought made her shudder.

Yet she couldn’t stop bidding. If she gave up here, she didn’t know what fate would await the boy if Reyes won.

Sabina gripped her cane until her knuckles turned white.

‘I can’t give up on that child…’

Just as she was about to speak—

“One hundred million.”

A cheerful, clear voice echoed through the hall.

Sabina turned to see Ashton smiling beneath his mask. He leaned against the back of her chair, whispering in her ear,

“You want him, right? Then he’s yours.”

Carnival’s masks were meaningless. Everyone knew that the ones bidding for the ordinary slave boy were Sabina D’Vialis and Prince Reyes. That was what made this contest so entertaining.

Anyone could see that Reyes Brinita was just trying to provoke. The auction would end with Sabina’s victory, but only after she’d been wounded.

But now a third party had entered the fray.

A strange voice.

In a place where everyone knew everyone, that unfamiliar voice stood out.

Reyes, who had been teasing Sabina, bit his lips behind his mask. He forced himself to sound calm as he called the next number.

“One hundred and twenty million.”

Before the dealer could declare, Ashton raised his paddle.

“Two hundred forty million.”

“…!”

All eyes turned to Ashton.

“Two hundred seventy mil.”

“Five hundred forty million.”

Ashton jumped in before Reyes finished speaking, without a hint of hesitation.

He didn’t lower his paddle, adding,

“No matter how much number 17 calls, I’ll bid exactly double. Until 17 gives up.”

“Ashton.”

A small hand grabbed his sleeve. Ashton gently covered her hand and removed it.

He still looked completely composed. Even though, if Reyes bid even one rium more, Ashton would have to pay nearly one billion. 

People began to stir.

No one had ever bid a billion for a slave.

No one had ever seen ‘Sabina’s man’ throw out so much money.

A man with that much wealth and nerve wouldn’t need to pick Sabina. And ‘so,’ he’d never pick her.

“Who is he?”

Someone couldn’t help but mutter.

“Sounds like a Retona native.”

“Isn’t he… the one number 2 brought?”

Ashton, as if he didn’t hear the commotion, smiled at the dealer.

Reyes sat with a clenched jaw. Right now, the southern man was buying not just the boy, but everyone’s curiosity and the image of boldness.

He really would keep doubling.

The higher the numbers, the more people would admire this outsider.

It was a losing battle.