Chapter 12

Chapter 12

“Th-th-three hundred million! Three hundred million lark! Customer Number 1 has called three hundred million lark! That is, well, since the desired winning bid has leapt into the hundred-millions, anyone wishing to bid must call four hundred million!”

“…”

“Four hundred million! Four hundred million! Is there no one?”

As if there would be.

It was a thought that even Leonard, the one who had put up the sword, had. Probably everyone in the room was thinking the same.

“The glorious sword to which the Great Emperor himself lent a portion of his name! A historic relic that stood beside the very beginning of the empire! Raise Messer! Four hundred million! Is there no one?”

Even in his dazed state, the auctioneer cried out as smoothly as flowing water.

While Leonard, impressed by his professionalism, found himself applauding without meaning to, the auctioneer raised the gavel in his hand.

“Then Raise Messer goes to Customer Number 1 for three hundred million lark. Three, two, one…”

“Wait!”

Once again, the auctioneer could not bring the gavel down, because Lloyd had leapt to his feet with a shriek.

Yet despite the interruption, the auctioneer’s face was nothing but radiant. It was because of the paddle in the hand Lloyd was jabbing toward Customer Number 1.

“Three hundred million for a sword like that, are you out of your…”

“Customer Number 32 has raised a paddle! Four hundred million! Customer Number 32 has called four hundred million!”

“What! No! I never raised a paddle!”

Trembling all over as if struck by a bolt from the blue, Lloyd waved his hand and insisted that he had only pointed at Customer Number 1 with the hand holding the paddle, and had never lifted it.

Considering what he had done a moment ago, he was right, but the problem was that in the process of reenacting it, he had really raised the paddle.

“He raised it.”

“He did.”

“Matthias, my good man, you really did raise the paddle just now.”

“You lot, honestly…! I said I didn’t!”

If he admitted to raising the paddle, the amount he would have to pay was a full four hundred million lark.

So it was only natural, if natural was the word, that Lloyd raged. It was by no means a wise thing to do.

“So you were all in cahoots! A pack of swindlers bent on driving up the price! What is this, some hole-in-the-wall shop in the sticks? There’s a limit to forcing a sale on a customer…”

“The precautions for handling the paddle are clearly stated on the first page of the catalog, sir.”

The auctioneer smiled calmly at Lloyd. Having seen the one troublemaker who always turned up at some point in an auction, he seemed to have cooled off from his excitement.

“Surely you are not about to tell me that you lack the means to pay the winning bid you called?”

The face that recited the auction house’s rules was composed to the point of being chilling. It was no wonder Lloyd flinched.

“…W-who said that?”

“Of course! I thought as much! In the history of this Roelle Auction House, which proudly boasts forty-eight years, not once has a customer who took part in an auction belatedly claimed to have no money and tried to cancel a winning bid, such an unseemly thing!”

Behind the auctioneer’s theatrically exaggerated voice, a clear laugh followed.

“What a needless worry! This is ‘the’ Matthias, after all. Would the future Count commit such a dishonorable act?”

“Ha ha, quite right, madam. Then shall we resume the auction that was briefly interrupted? Those wishing to purchase Raise Messer, please raise your paddle. The next bid is five hundred million. Five hundred million!”

“Well, that is, I…”

With his hand held at an awkward height as if to call the auctioneer, Lloyd could only open and close his mouth helplessly.

If this went on, he would have to buy that worn-out sword for four hundred million. But there was no way he could raise such an enormous sum!

He quickly looked around for someone to help him. But the Second Prince turned his eyes away.

Struck on the foot by the very axe he had trusted, Lloyd looked at Customer Number 1 with the desperation of a man clutching at straws.

Whether or not she knew about Lloyd, who gazed at her with trembling eyes as if begging for salvation, she let out a troubled voice.

“Oh my. Someone really did call four hundred million? Five hundred million, then. What on earth should I do…”

“…”

His eyes were anguished, but that was all.

He still can’t let go of his pride, even now.

If Leonard had been in that position, he would have gone on his knees and begged to cancel the bid.

But Lloyd’s precious knees seemed to have been carved out of gold, for he could not even plead, and merely trembled his lips.

The sight was truly pathetic, yet watching him flail like a dog with its tail on fire, Leonard felt as if a ten-year-old knot in his stomach had loosened.

As if she knew exactly how Leonard felt, Customer Number 1 let Lloyd stew to her heart’s content, and then, before the auctioneer could bring down the gavel, raised her paddle.

“I am rather curious whether Young Master Matthias actually has the means to pay four hundred million… But unfortunately, it can’t be helped. That is an item I can never yield.”

“Five hundred million! Customer Number 1 has called five hundred million! Since the price has been renewed three times in hundred-million units, the next bid must rise by two hundred million, to seven hundred million! Does anyone wish to purchase?”

This time, there truly was no one.

Among people who could scarcely breathe for fear of making a mistake like Lloyd’s, the auctioneer, with a regretful face, dragged out the time before finally striking the gavel.

“Raise Messer! This resplendent and honored sword, touched by the breath of the Great Emperor, has been won by Customer Number 1! With this, today’s auction comes to a close!”

Five hundred million. At the staggering winning bid, someone began to clap, and the sound gradually grew louder until someone even whistled.

Then Customer Number 1 stood, answered with an elegant gesture of the hand, and took off the mask she’d been wearing to reveal her face.

As expected, she was Marchioness Blair.

“So it was you, Marchioness! Who else but Marchioness Blair is wealthy enough to call out five hundred million lark?”

“I was already certain the moment you sat down in seat number 1. Why on earth did you wear a mask?”

“Otherwise it would be obvious. That I came to win my fiancé’s item.”

Though they were far apart, Irenea’s voice reached Leonard’s ears clearly.

‘Could she have come on purpose because of me? So that I couldn’t turn down her proposal?’

Perhaps that was truly the case. After all, the only thing she had won at today’s auction was Raise Messer.

But that left one question.

‘Why on earth did she call three hundred million?’

The money he needed was thirty million lark. Calling exactly that much would have been enough.

Had she somehow known Leonard’s question? Someone came stomping toward Marchioness Blair, who was surrounded by people. It was Lloyd, who had nearly been saddled with the staggering burden of four hundred million.

“Marchioness Blair! Are you mad? Why did you call three hundred million for that worn-out sword that couldn’t cut a single twig?”

“Oh my, why ask me that? You called four hundred million yourself, Young Master.”

At Irenea’s innocent counter, a small laugh escaped Leonard’s lips.

He was not the only one who laughed, so Lloyd, suddenly a laughingstock, turned bright red.

“That, that was…”

“You surely didn’t do something as green as accidentally raising the wrong paddle.”

“…”

The one who helped Lloyd, who couldn’t have spoken even with ten mouths, was, unexpectedly, a man Leonard had half anticipated.

“No, I’m curious about that reason too. So go on and answer, Marchioness.”

“I pay my respects to Your Highness the Second Prince.”

Irenea curtsied elegantly, but the Second Prince lightly waved his hand to say the greeting was unnecessary.

“I’ve long known well enough how remarkable Blair’s achievements are. But I never imagined you had amassed wealth so far beyond your station that you would throw it away on a prank like this.”

“A prank… Hehe, Your Highness. If it wouldn’t be rude, might I put a question to you before I answer?”

“What is it?”

“Why is it that you, Your Highness, made no effort to win Raise Messer?”

At that question, the Second Prince’s shoulders twitched, and Leonard was probably not the only one who saw it.

Yet only Leonard would have guessed what lay behind the Second Prince’s expression. After all, he himself was shaken as well.

‘Could she even know about the deal between me and the Second Prince?’

Had the Second Prince thought the same? His reply to Irenea came out rather sharp.

“That’s an odd thing to say, Marchioness. Why should I take any interest in that worn-out sword?”

“Because it is a worn-out sword.”

“What?”

“It is one of the few relics from the time of the founding whose existence was clearly recorded by the palace scribes, and one to which the Great Emperor himself lent a portion of his name, is it not?”

As if seeking agreement, Irenea swept her gaze across the people around her.

“To be honest, I was terribly anxious when I saw Your Highness here today. Ah, of course I should have expected the imperial family to want Raise Messer as well! I worried that my childish choice might send the Elpiers family’s heirloom into the imperial treasury.”

“Childish choice?”

“Weren’t you all curious? Why my fiancé had put that most precious sword of the Great Emperor up for auction?”

Through Irenea’s skillful phrasing, Raise Messer had become, before anyone noticed, not the Elpiers family’s heirloom but the first Emperor’s sword.

The new value bestowed by the one who had won it for the enormous sum of five hundred million made the sword more precious still, even though it looked as worn as ever.

“Come to think of it, I’ve been wondering all along…”

“Why did Count Elpiers put that sword up for auction?”

The people nearby, who had been listening to the two of them pretending not to, quietly added a word each.

Amid a clamor in which everyone wanted an answer at once, a member of the auction house staff brought Raise Messer, prettily wrapped, to Irenea. It was because she had expressed a wish to receive it on the spot.

Holding out a hand to Kiri, who stood behind her, Irenea took the checkbook and signed away the enormous sum of five hundred million without hesitation.

After confirming the check, the staff member immediately handed her the sword. Irenea took the wrapped sword and held it to her chest with great care.

And she smiled. With a face that looked at once like a girl in love and a warrior who had seized victory after a fierce battle.

“I begged him. I wanted to boast across the whole empire of how deep our love is.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“The five hundred million lark I paid… ah, since the auction house’s commission is ten percent, that makes it four hundred fifty million lark. The four hundred fifty million lark is my dowry to the Elpiers.”

“Good heavens…!”

A dowry of four hundred fifty million lark!

In the auction house, plunged into a crucible of shock and astonishment, Leonard, too, realized belatedly.

The winning bid she had called, five hundred million lark.

Just as she’d said, four hundred fifty million lark, minus the commission, was now falling into his hands.

A vast fortune, enough that more than four hundred million would remain even after paying off every last debt!