Her softly curved shoulders heaved intermittently, and even that gesture was as elegant as flower petals.

‘They say excessively beautiful women surely possess wicked hearts.’

The attendant meddled unnecessarily, worrying about the future of the man who would possess her.

As Ajean’s shoulders heaved repeatedly as if out of breath, a man shouted loudly in sympathy for her.

“At this rate we’ll make Her Highness cry. Let’s just start the auction quickly.”

Allen, who arrived late at the auction house, snapped contemptuously in the man’s ear.

“Cry? The great Ajean? She’s holding back anger, you idiot.”

These people who knew nothing about Ajean offering cheap sympathy… Allen trembled with unbearable fury. He had to get Ajean out of this filthy space quickly.

Allen barely succeeded in converting all the family’s fiefdom into cash and fortunately arrived before the auction ended. He decided to engage in a battle of wills with Federik while watching for a betting opportunity.

The funds he had were limited and the opportunity would come only once, so he had to be careful. Thick beads of sweat ran down Allen’s nape.

In the very back row of the auction house, Kaiden sat in a hard chair observing this absurd auction with an impassive expression. He muttered slowly, apparently bored of enduring any longer.

“……It’s a witch hunt in all but name. These f*cking idiots.”

Meaningless insults overflowed and betting had lost all meaning. Also, pathetically, not a single threatening opponent could be found in this auction house, so Kaiden even felt boredom. An arrogant voice flowed from his mouth without restraint.

“Exclusive cotton trade rights with Decan. I bid for the princess.”

As Kaiden crossed his legs, the blond hair above his forehead swayed gracefully in time.

The blue uniform that appeared to be from another country evoked a strange sense of discord and matched his arrogant attitude perfectly.

For a moment the men fell silent. An unplanned stillness settled over the auction house.

Kaiden swept over the men with a cruel gaze. It was the attitude of a predator openly displaying contempt and disgust. Federik, whose eyes met his, flinched unconsciously and averted his gaze. And he felt strong revulsion at his own servility.

‘Jokes should have limits—how dare he casually mention trade rights with Decan.’

The attendant, who had been narrowing his eyes, discovered Kaiden’s golden pupils and covered his mouth while making a sound like his breath was stopping.

Kaiden pulled out Decan’s seal with a bored expression. Simultaneously, the attendant’s mouth opened wide.

“Th……this is really Decan’s! ……Decan’s!”

The identity of Kaiden, Crown Prince of Decan called the mad dog of the battlefield, was clearly revealed. The god of war and evil spirit who had killed countless enemies and was said to even drink human blood.

Kaiden von Vilteraus wanted Ajean.

The attendant, so shocked he even stuttered, judged this wasn’t a matter for him to decide and barely squeezed out his voice.

“We will temporarily re…… recess the auction.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the attendant hurriedly disappeared behind the stage. An unimagined big shot had appeared, so the flow of the auction had to be completely revised.

“This crazy bastard! This is different from what we agreed!”

For Federik, who had been predetermined as the winning bidder, this was news no different from a bolt from the blue. He spat out curses and chased after the attendant.

Tension flowed through the auction house such that even the sound of swallowing spit seemed loud.

While everyone glanced at Kaiden, Allen approached with large strides and spoke in a voice mixed with anger and anxiety.

“……You cannot take Ajean.”

With his voice trembling faintly, Allen had already sensed his defeat. Tears crossed his clear green eyes, but Kaiden asked without emotion.

“Are you saying you’ll wage war against Decan? Aisha, which put a princess up for auction to fill its treasury…… you dare?”

He was right. Even offering all the money he’d prepared, there was no way to beat the Crown Prince of Decan.

Allen knelt without hesitation. The dignity of the Montezo ducal family didn’t matter at all.

“……Please, I beg you. Not Ajean. You cannot take her from me.”

At this tremendous scene that gossipmongers would go crazy over, the men swallowed dryly. The entrance fee to the auction house, which had cost an enormous price, didn’t feel wasted at all. It had diverse spectacles.

“Are you the princess’s lover?”

At Kaiden’s second question, Allen answered with silence.

His eyes glistened as he bowed his head, and hot tears beaded on his slender chin and fell—patter patter. Allen’s world was collapsing miserably.

He had worshipped Ajean and sworn countless times to obey her. He had composed poems praising her and written music, suppressing the boiling longing and l*st.

But everything had become meaningless.

Rustle.

A breeze that entered through the window stirred the hem of Ajean’s dress.

※※※

At the same time, the tremendous hand of “exclusive cotton trade rights with Decan” was thrown before the Emperor.

The Emperor had been anxiously monitoring the situation from the waiting room next to the auction house, fearing that Ajean, who had a harsh temperament, might commit s*icide.

Just as he was hoping for smooth proceedings, exclusive cotton trade rights with Decan? What sudden windfall was this!

Greed flashed in the Emperor’s murky eyes. The attendant cautiously asked while reading the room.

“……There’s already a predetermined winning bidder. What should we do about the mine we agreed to receive?”

The Toilfranche family was destroyed by the previous Emperor.

Federik, who survived alone, recovered all the family’s wealth in just over ten years. It was thanks to the “drug manufacturing method,” the reason for their destruction, being passed down to Federik, the eldest son.

Federik held out a mine before the current Emperor’s eyes and demanded Ajean’s ruin.

—She’s an abandoned princess anyway, isn’t she? If you exchange her for a mine, it won’t be a losing deal. Just put her on the auction stage. I must tear her soul apart to resolve my family’s grudge. I’ll humiliate her and let her wither to death in agony.

Getting rid of his niece Ajean, who was like a thorn in his eye, while simultaneously obtaining a mine.

There was no reason whatsoever to refuse, and the Emperor had accepted Federik’s proposal immediately.

But now the situation had completely changed. This wasn’t even worth putting on a scale. Exclusive trade with Decan—how could it compare to some mine! The thoroughly excited Emperor roared loudly.

“Accept it immediately, you dull fool! I’d give up not just a niece but even a biological daughter.”

At the moment he was enjoying his delight, the attendant’s dazed appearance, standing there blankly, spoiled the Emperor’s mood.

Bang!

The Emperor threw a vase, and it grazed the attendant’s face before hitting the wall with a dull bursting sound. The shattered fragments rolled around at the attendant’s feet.

“What are you doing not going immediately! If things go wrong, know that your limbs will be torn apart.”

The poor attendant ran toward the auction house without even managing to answer. If the Crown Prince of Decan changes his mind, my neck is gone. Eerie goosebumps rose on his nape.

Shortly after, the attendant returned to the auction house in a rush. He gasped for breath repeatedly, having run so urgently. His clothes soaked with sweat represented the life-or-death moment he faced.

“Huff…… I declare that ownership of Princess Ajean is attributed to His Highness the Crown Prince of Decan.”

Bang bang bang!

With the sound of striking the gavel, the adjournment was declared, and simultaneously Federik struggled.

“This is different from the contract! The princess is mine, you bastards! Do you know how much money I’ve spent all this time?”

The attendant, who had barely caught his breath, was grabbed by the collar by Federik. Guards held his limbs, but he didn’t stop his rampage. It was a situation where the revenge he’d planned for over ten years was going up in smoke.

Swoosh.

Regardless of the commotion, the velvet curtain on stage closed.

Finally left alone, Ajean staggered and raised her body. She put strength into her neck and waist to avoid swaying, and her entire body ached stiffly.

Clank.

A guard who had been hesitating nearby lightly pulled the chain connected to her restraints. Because the princess’s public nickname was “Witch of Aisha,” he had been afraid of the princess all along. But having witnessed with his eyes what happened at the auction house, he somehow pitied her and she also seemed somewhat manageable. Even if her nickname was witch, she was nothing but an insignificant small woman.

The guard decided to test his pitiful courage by daring to exchange words.

“Ahem, Your Highness. So will you be going to Decan now?”

Ajean gazed at him with cold eyes. The voice flowing between her red lips was even colder.

“Well…… I never thought you could ask me questions.”

Ajean received the restraint key from the dumbfounded guard, then locked herself in a small room in one corner of the auction house.

It was a small room without even a window.

Ajean was on the verge of fainting from the successive incidents. Murmuring leaked between her trembling lips.

“……O God. I prayed for you to send a devil or Satan, yet why have you sent the mad dog of the battlefield?”

Ajean grasped the table edge and calmly gathered clues. The moment had come to bring out her most excellent ability.

That was her unparalleled level of deductive reasoning.

If given a few small clues, she revealed the causal relationships of cases within half a day, reaching a level of exposing people’s true nature that got her accused of “mind reading.”

Therefore, there was some logic to Ajean’s nickname being “Witch of Aisha.” The five affairs and three murders of the Aisha imperial family that she uncovered were absolutely impossible for an ordinary person to deduce, so it could only be attributed to borrowing an evil witch’s power.

“Crown Prince of Decan, an auction without amusement, cotton trade rights…… why me?”

Ajean slowly recited the clues she’d collected at the auction house while feeling the burning desire for revenge. Lush black hair flowed over her shoulders. She bit her lower lip and traced back Decan’s politics and history……

“……Could it be?”

She trembled while uttering a brief realization. She didn’t even know herself whether it was excitement at glimpsing hope or fear at facing a poisoned chalice.