The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 161

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Forsaken Prince’s Ghost Bride
Side Story 11. Kaiser’s Ties (3)

There stood a perfect creation—skin as translucent and white as jade, hair black as midnight, eyes like black pearls set in porcelain, thick double eyelids, and a nose both delicate and perfectly defined. Every feature harmonized into breathtaking beauty.
Every living creature in the Auction House gaped at her in stunned silence.
She was beautiful enough to take one’s breath away.
“That’s…”
The moment Kaiser murmured, the frozen Auction House erupted back to life in an instant.
“500 Gold!”
“700!”
“1,000!”
The bids soared to 1,000 Gold in seconds before the auctioneer even announced a starting price.
Kaiser snapped to attention. Looking out the window, he saw hunger and greed churning below—men and women alike coveting her.
He watched the humans’ ugly displays of desire, then turned back to study the woman. She stood motionless, her expression unreadable.
That very inscrutability only stoked their lust further. Both men and women, young and old, were caught up in the bidding frenzy.
“Ha! Now this is entertaining.”
A glimmer of amusement flickered across Kaiser’s eyes.
-We’re at 1,500 Gold! Ah! Bidder 35 offers 1,700 Gold! Bidder 101 bids 2,000 Gold! Does anyone wish to raise further?
The woman’s price had already soared far beyond what the Dragon Bone had fetched.
A thick smile spread across the auctioneer’s lips. Moments later, he received word from the VIP booth.
Upon hearing the new bid, the auctioneer faltered.
-From Bidder 8! 4,000 Gold!
The man who’d claimed the Dragon Bone was now offering an astronomical sum.
It was far too much to spend on a whim, and the eager bidders hesitated.
But some Aristocrats, unwilling to abandon their desire for her, cursed under their breath and raised their paddles.
-Bidder 35! 4,200 Gold!
The auction, which had stalled for a moment, ignited again with Bidder 35’s renewed offer.
The price shot up to 4,700 Gold in moments.
“So it goes like this, does it?”
Kaiser smirked and raised his paddle.
-Bidder 8! 6,000 Gold!
“Damn it all! 6,500 Gold!”
-Yes, Bidder 35! 6,500! Bidder 8, do you wish to counter?
Now it was a duel between Kaiser and Bidder 35 alone.
Kaiser looked out the window at his rival. A corpulent pig of a man, bloated with excess.
“Hmm, what to do?”
It wasn’t a matter of his finances—he could afford it. But he didn’t particularly covet her enough to spend such a fortune. Still, someone like her shouldn’t be here, yet she stood so meekly. Something was amiss.
“This is… unpleasant.”
The thought of her falling into that old pig’s hands filled him with sudden revulsion.
“Oh, to hell with it.”
Kaiser decided to simply bid without restraint.
-Bidder 8! 10,000 Gold!
He threw out a figure so staggering that further bidding seemed impossible. He was tired of the eye-contact games and wanted this over.
Ten thousand Gold was roughly equivalent to three years of a minor lord’s annual budget.
Bidder 35 trembled violently, having no further funds to offer, and fixed Kaiser’s VIP booth with a look of pure murderous intent.
Kaiser responded by sticking out his tongue, further needling the man.
The moment the auction closed, a staff member entered with Pol.
“Thank you for your purchase, sir. We will have the item prepared beautifully for you, and you may inspect the Dragon Bone now. However, we must first settle the balance. How would you like to proceed?”
“I’ll settle the balance right now.”
“Very good, sir. If you have a preferred bank—”
“No. I’ll pay here on the spot.”
“…I beg your pardon?”
Before the staff member could wonder how one paid such an enormous sum, Kaiser’s hand plunged into a Subspace pocket.
“Does it have to be currency?”
“…If you wish to settle with merchandise, we would need to have it appraised.”
“I owe 12,000 Gold total, correct? Then these three items should suffice.”
Kaiser swept aside the staff member’s barely-veiled threat with ease, producing three objects.
“First is a sword forged by the leader of the Magma Clan Dwarves. It can be enchanted with up to five different magics—so depending on the situation, it could pass for the work of a Mage Knight. It should easily fetch 3,000 Gold.”
“…D-Dwarves?”
“This is a Tiara that belonged to Princess Uriana when she vanished two hundred years ago—the princess whose beauty was so legendary it sparked wars. Any collector would pay 3,000 Gold for such a relic.”
As two priceless artifacts emerged one after another, the staff member’s jaw went slack.
“And finally, a Dragon’s Tear.”
“A Dragon’s Tear, you say?”
“Yes. You sold Dragon Bone—why are you so shocked?”
“Well, it’s just… how are we to verify that this is genuinely a Dragon’s Tear?”
“By that logic, how should I know your Dragon Bone is genuine?”
It was a fair point, and the staff member fell silent.
“If you’re truly doubtful, have a mage use just one drop to brew a potion. That will show its properties.”
The staff member examined the liquid in the palm-sized vial with a troubled expression, then grudgingly accepted and left with the three items.
The moment the staff member was gone, Pol couldn’t hide his amazement.
“You’re truly wealthy, sir. I’ve never seen anyone spend over 10,000 Gold in one go.”
“And how exactly did you capture that woman?”
“Her? Apparently, she’s a traveler who came here sightseeing. Because of her extraordinary beauty, the Inn keeper and his associate kidnapped her in a scheme.”
“Remarkably sloppy and bold of them.”
“This is the Khelis Kingdom, after all. Stay passive here and they’ll strip the undergarments off your back.”
Watching Pol treat the matter so casually, Kaiser’s eyes narrowed.
‘I’ll need to tell Lucia and Lia to leave this country immediately.’
This place is too dangerous for them. And both are possessed of striking beauty. If either were kidnapped like this woman…
“But why did she just accept it? Why didn’t she resist?”
“Sir?”
Knock-knock.
Before Pol could respond to Kaiser’s cryptic question, the staff member who’d gone to verify the items returned with the Auction House director.
“Thank you for purchasing from our establishment, sir. We have verified all items you provided as payment, and they are all authenticated as genuine. In particular, this Dragon’s Tear—might we inquire how you came to possess something so rare?”
“Why would I tell you?”
“Haha… when we place it in future auctions, potential buyers will want a credible account of its provenance. At present, there are few people capable of verifying a genuine Dragon’s Tear.”
“…I only know that one of my ancestors received it as a precious gift from a Dragon.”
“I see. Might we know your ancestor’s name, then—?”
“That’s all you’re getting. I’m tired of you prying into my affairs. If you keep questioning me, I’ll simply take it back as payment.”
“Ah! My sincerest apologies! I was presumptuous. This explanation suffices—the balance is settled.”
The moment Kaiser reached for the Dragon’s Tear, the director retreated hastily.
The director gave an awkward smile under Kaiser’s fixed, menacing stare.
“Haha… Ah! Your purchase has arrived. Shall we present it?”
The door opened. Several porters carried in a massive Box, and beside it stood a woman in elaborate dress. One peculiar detail: she wore a blindfold.
Kaiser stared at her intently, then let out a dry laugh.
“The Dragon Bone and the woman. Her name is Beatrice.”
“Everyone out. Now.”
“Haha, impatient, are we? We’ll ensure no one disturbs you. Please, do enjoy your time together.”
The director smiled unpleasantly and led all the staff, including Pol, from the room.
Soon only Kaiser, Beatrice, and the massive Box remained.
Kaiser rose from his seat at once.
Click-click.
At the sound of his footsteps, the woman’s shoulders trembled. As the footsteps drew nearer—
“…?”
The sound of footsteps abruptly turned away and moved elsewhere.
The woman looked confused, glancing about uncertainly.
“Ha. So that’s how it is.”
Kaiser gave a hollow laugh and burned the Box lid away with flame.
“It’s a fake.”
Relief and irritation mingled in his chest.
The Dragon Bone they’d brought was not dragon bone at all. True dragon bone would retain even a trace of dragon Mana.
But this had no lingering echo at all. In other words—a forgery.
“Um… um…”
A voice like a nightingale reached his ears. Only then did Kaiser turn to face Beatrice.
“…What is to become of me now?”
Her trembling form only heightened her beauty. Any human who saw her would surely kneel and offer her stars or moon itself.
But what stood before him was a Dragon with not a trace of interest in humans.
“Why not drop the act?”
“I… I beg your pardon?”
“Stop it, Beatrice. You really do make your games unnecessarily elaborate. Say, are you a pervert?”
Kaiser’s tone was as casual and familiar as if speaking to an old acquaintance.
The woman’s trembling stilled at his words.
“This voice… Kaiser the Sarcastic?”
The woman ripped off her blindfold, her eyes wide as a rabbit’s.
Upon confirming his face, she gasped even louder.
“Sarcastic, my ass. Compared to you, I’m a perfect Aristocrat.”
“You, you, you…! What are you doing here?!”
“That’s my line. Did you know your grandmother has been searching for you recently?”
“If you tell grandmother where I am, I’ll kill you!”
“The Dragon Elder of Black Dragon is far scarier than you.”
The beautiful woman he’d paid 10,000 Gold to acquire—Beatrice.
Her true name was Beatrice, and she was a Black Dragon fifty years Kaiser’s elder.
“Well, well. Don’t you remember crying and losing to me when we were young? Little red lizard.”
“And who was it that got thrashed by a hundred-year-old after that? A fifty-year-old dragon?”
“Ugh! I’m livid! Why did it have to be you, of all dragons?!”
Years ago, when Kaiser was fifty and Beatrice was a hundred, the two dragons had dueled.
Kaiser had consistently lost to Beatrice, but after receiving advice from Lia, he’d even begun winning.
“The only time you beat me was back then. Have you no shame, losing to a dragon fifty years your junior? I wouldn’t be able to show my face if I were you.”
“You really have a big mouth on you! Let’s settle it right now—who’s stronger?”
Crackle-crackle-crackle.
Black scales erupted across Beatrice’s white skin, her sclera consumed by obsidian pupils as she unleashed her Dragon Fear, and the Auction House began to tremble slightly.
Kaiser tapped her forehead with a single finger and spoke.
“If you keep that up, you’ll revert to your true form.”
“…Tch.”
Beatrice glared daggers at Kaiser with a growl, but soon collected her power.
‘…When did he become so much stronger?’
Even if he was being groomed as the next clan leader, suppressing another dragon’s Fear was no simple matter.
Yet Kaiser had done it with ease.
Beatrice’s stare bore into him as her fists clenched.
‘When did he grow so powerful?’
It had been sixty years since she took up her carefree life. The moment she achieved her Adult Dragon form, she’d left the clan to live freely among humans, indulging in unrestricted play.
So it had been nearly sixty to seventy years since she last saw Kaiser.
Back then, Kaiser was still a Hatchling—even when using Polymorph into adult human form, he’d looked juvenile.
‘Now he seems like a full Adult Dragon.’
The aura radiating from him, the power she could sense—it all exceeded her expectations.
She’d once thought they were comparable, but now…
“What are you staring at?”
“…You little punk.”
As she sank into thought, his single remark snapped her back to attention.
‘That figures. There’s no way someone like Kaiser would ever grow up.’
Beatrice puffed out her cheeks and glowered at Kaiser with all her might.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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