The Duke's Unwanted Wife

The location of the highly anticipated auction was the very first theater built in Polivia’s capital. It was structured to hold as many dignitaries, making it convenient to have guests hide their faces and make anonymous bids. That was the first attraction of the auction and it sold well with the guests.    

    

“Did Berinda have a Princess named Denitra? She has quite the entourage too,” Alana exclaimed, reading the guest list. Natalia placed the last pin in her hair and looked at it in the mirror. Satisfied that it suited her, she turned to Alana and took the guest list from her hand, glaring at her.    

    

“It’s not our business to care about our guests. You’ll be hosting the auction so go get your mask ready.”    

    

“Oh come on. I want to be able to do my job well. I want to see how crazy they will go over the items we have here today. We have quite the haul.”    

    

“I don't care. Go get ready, your highness. We begin at exactly noon and I don’t want a single thing to go wrong.”    

    

“Yes, ma’am.”    

    

They left the room together, heading to the carriage waiting for them. Natalia wore a silver gown with her hair pinned into a bun by several glowing Adamantine jewel pins. She wore an amethyst necklace and a sapphire ring. Marvis was waiting in the carriage, wearing a tailcoat that was tailored to fit his body. He wasn’t the only one in the carriage, sitting beside Sebastian who always looked elegant in his tailcoat and Adelie, wearing a silver gown with a white veil.    

    

The second carriage contained Princess Temara, Princess Alana, Fredrich and Duchess Everon. The carriages set off, arriving at the theater. They were ushered in through a different entrance, going through a remote teleportation portal that would take them to their booths. This teleportation portal was created by Natalia for the high nobility and royalty to use.    

    

The auction started at exactly noon. The spotlight shone on the center of the stage where an elegant lady stood, wearing a long red dress that teased her bust and a long slit that exposed her leg at intervals. She wore a black lace mask, a Mythril necklace with a Ruby jewel and an Adamantine ring. Her red hair was put up in a bun and pinned like Natalia’s hair.    

    

“Good day honorable guests. I am your host and you can call me Willow. I know everyone here is excited for this auction and I won’t lie, I am excited as well. The items we would display here would certainly catch your attention and surely you won’t come to an auction without expecting to spend a lot of money, would you? Hmm, how delightful! I can’t wait!”    

    

From their booth, they watched Alana charm the crowd with her demure yet flirty demeanor. Fredrich snorted, mimicking her.    

    

“It’s funny how our shy and withdrawn princess has grown into such a temptress,” Sebastian remarked. They agreed with him and continued watching the proceedings.    

    

“The first item on sale is the golden bust of the last Emperor of the Berden Empire…” as she introduced the item, four men wearing only short pants walked out carrying the item on their shoulders. Their toned and oiled chests drew gasps from the women all around. Natalia rested in her seat and smirked. She had prepared eye candy for both the men and the women.    

    

The eye candy she prepared for the women soon sparked outrage with the men. Alana smiled and raised her voice again.    

    

“Since this is supposed to be a peaceful auction, our organizers would like to ask you to be peaceful. We sent the rules with the invitation and by coming here, you agree to those rules. If those rules are broken, not only would that person be banned from trading with the Merchant Association, they would be escorted out of the auction by our Semi-transcendental guards. If you have a problem with these rules, you can take it up with the organizers.”    

    

The ruckus quickly quietened but everyone in her booth turned to look at Natalia. She shrugged.    

    

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”    

    

“No one complained when Alana was flirting with the crowd but just four shirtless men was enough to get your emotions in a bunch. Isn’t that hypocritical? Polivia is a kingdom ruled by women and I served my hosts. Do you have a problem with that?”    

    

There was no comeback for her response. She ignored them and turned back to Alana who was getting ready to start the bid.    

    

“The starting price of this item is 15,000 gold with an increment of 50 gold allowed. You can begin bidding now!”    

    

“50,000!”    

    

“60,000!”    

    

“100,000!”    

    

“100,050!”    

    

“150,000!”    

    

The bidding continued loudly until it peaked at 250,000 gold coins. It was sold at that price and it became their first sale of the auction. The items brought out for the auction were all items that provoked people to bid and it became clear that if they kept bidding, they wouldn’t be able to buy the items they wanted. Unlike the people at the lower floors, the special guests had access to the catalogue and bided their time until the items they wanted were out for sale.    

    

“Is there anything you want to purchase? You have the catalog.”    

    

“Not exactly. But I am curious about why you put the sarcophagus on display. You’re not planning to sell it, are you?” Marvis asked.    

    

“No, I’m not planning to sell it. The one on sale is a copy. I’m curious about the person who would recognize the symbols and buy it. They might have some connections to a certain organization I’m curious about.”    

    

“You mean the organization that’s constantly trying to kill you?” Sebastian corrected, rolling his eyes.    

    

“They keep trying and I’m curious to know why they keep trying to kill me even though they have never succeeded. It’ll go up for bid soon so we will finally have a clue.”    

    

They took a break and Alana could finally rest behind the stage. Standing the whole time, maintaining a fake smile even though she felt several lecherous gazes on her body and dishing out flirty jokes took a toll on her mind, rather than her body.    

    

“Tired?”    

    

“Exhausted! You weren’t lying when you said the job would be harder than I expected. Is my replacement coming?”    

    

“Your replacement is here. I’ll be taking over from here to prevent anything from happening to our valuable items.”    

    

“Are you sure you can go out there? It’s really not the best and your temper isn’t exactly the greatest…”    

    

“Just go and rest, you cheeky thing. I know more than a few ways to deal with a crowd. I’ll finish up here.”    

    

“If you say so,” Alana said, walking to the booth Natalia had just left. Natalia walked through those curtains and the suction restarted. Unlike Alana’s soft yet loud voice, Natalia’s was clear and magnetic, drawing the listener to intoxication.    

    

“The next item on sale is a special item that was given to me by someone special to me. It’s the sarcophagus of an original god found in a cave in the famous Field of Death. It is indestructible and unopened. Legend is, if you obtain the coffin, you could possess the treasures of the original god. However, if you have immeasurable greed, it will request your blood. The starting bid is 50,000 with only an increment of 1,000 gold coins. You may begin the bid.”    

    

A heated bid commenced. The price however plateaued at 670,000 gold coins. She spied the booth that bought the sarcophagus, surprised to find it was the representatives from Berinda. They bid the fiercest, raising the price every single time. Satisfied, Natalia continued the bid. The highest price an item was sold for was 4.5 million gold coins which was a book collection of spells from the current leader of the magician society. Nobody knew it was the person herself selling the item.    

    

The auction came to an end for the first day and the items were distributed to the people who bought them. The money was collected and distributed to those who put up their items for auction. The next day was actually for the exchange of items in a Salon that had been prepared beforehand. The auction was peaceful the entire time, except for when people were yelling out their bids.    

    

“Won’t there be a problem with you selling a fake sarcophagus to the Berinda royal family?” Marvis asked as they were returning to the mansion in the carriage.    

    

“I didn't give it to them. They are waiting to collect the item at the end of the auction. I will monitor them till the end and try to see if I can exchange the sarcophagus for my potions.”    

    

“And if they refuse to exchange?”    

    

“Then, without a doubt, they must be connected to the organization that’s constantly trying to kill me.”