The Lady Only Deals With the Real Ones - Chapter 22

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

It was chaos.

When commotion broke out in the observation deck, Customer 81 seemed to sense something and threw down his auction paddle, trying to rush out.

But he couldn’t manage it.

“Where do you think you’re going.”

“Ugh, ahhh!”

Because the black-masked man caught him and threw him down.

The man who ripped off Customer 81’s mask as he rolled into the wall and threw it far away lifted his ear with great indifference.

“There really is something there.”

“Urgh, ugh…”

“Choose. Either it gets driven into your eardrum, or you take out the magical device in your ear with your own hands.”

The man’s tone carried a threatening presence that suggested he would really do it.

Customer 81 trembled as he offered up both the magical device that had been plugged in his ear and all the connected equipment.

It was when the black-masked man, Tesagh, who had handed over the magical device and Customer 81 to the guards, turned around to return to his original seat.

“My goodness… I really never thought I’d fall for a shill bidder. And to think it was collusion between the seller and bidder, this is…”

80 was standing in front of him.

She appeared to be quite timid. She wore glasses over her mask, seeming like a desk worker, and cold sweat dripped below them from how shocked she was.

He was about to brush past her and leave when her words caught Tesagh’s ankle.

“I heard a book I wanted was coming up in today’s auction, so I rushed in without thinking, but I never expected something like this to happen.”

“You knew about the auction items in advance?”

“Yes. An invitation came addressed to me. It said 《The Interpretation of Power》 would be featured in tonight’s evening auction. Since this was my first time at an auction, I thought word must have gotten out that I like books, so I came excitedly.”

No. While private service daytime auctions might be one thing, evening auctions don’t have an invitation system.

Someone had definitely targeted 80 intentionally.

He had a feeling that the man now being dragged away after being caught with a transmitter hidden in his shoe hadn’t acted alone.

“Anyway, thank you so much. You saw from the observation deck, right? If you hadn’t helped, I would have lost a lot of money. Auctions can’t be canceled, after all.”

“You don’t need to thank me. There’s someone else who helped you.”

“Oh my, who?”

“Over there…”

Tesagh discovered the completely empty pawnshop owner’s seat and lost his words.

***

“If you find out who helped me, please contact me. I’d like to thank them personally. I’m counting on you.”

Tesagh rubbed his face wearily as he turned over the business card with [Hanna Diego] written on it.

The reason he had come to the auction house today, despite being busy with investigations, was singular. It was because of a telegram saying the woman from the pawnshop had come to the auction house.

‘I thought she might have come to sell Rugenote. But…’

She hadn’t.

Though the ruby clip had glimmered faintly in front of the woman, if she had really brought Rugenote with her, it wouldn’t have ended with just a single glimmer.

Though she didn’t tell him why she came until the end, she seemed to have come simply to auction.

Selling pawnshop items, studying auction goods, and.

‘How can you pretend not to know when you already know.’

Discovering and stopping a scammer.

These were truly words and actions that didn’t suit being Eivor’s accomplice.

A certain thought began to creep up.

Perhaps, just perhaps, that woman might be innocent.

Tesagh shook his head. No. That couldn’t be.

‘Eivor also worked diligently for months, earning people’s favor.’

No one thought he would steal the treasured sword.

So he couldn’t readily trust that woman based on a few words and actions.

‘Besides, her reaction to the forest painting was also strange. I need to observe her more.’

Moreover, wasn’t the clip still glimmering?

Even if that woman hadn’t directly hidden or touched Rugenote, she was definitely connected to it somehow.

‘It’s fortunate that it was a place where masks were worn.’

Though magical device use was prohibited inside the auction house, he wasn’t particularly worried. Because he had prepared.

He had covered the places where scars should be with a mask and hidden the places where tattoos should be with a shirt that covered up to his neck.

One concern was the color of his eyes that couldn’t be hidden by the mask,

‘But I solved that with gray lenses, not magical devices.’

They were items made by the Duchy’s technicians. Though he couldn’t wear them for long.

But even so, when the woman stared at him several times, he felt strangely uneasy.

Even though there was no way he could be discovered.

“How much to rent a customer for an hour?”

Who asks for help in such a way?

Pushing aside the thought that it might partly be his fault, Tesagh unconsciously chuckled before straightening his expression.

‘I’m just flustered because she keeps saying such strange things.’

In Tesagh’s hand was a telescopic baton.

When he retrieved his entrusted magical device, a guard said ‘Here are your companion’s belongings’ and handed it to him, which he accepted reflexively.

Looking at the heavy telescopic baton, he suddenly became a little curious.

‘She said she’d handle the transmitter herself. How did she do it?’

Was there something in that large bag?

Tesagh immediately recognized her standing on the night street.

She was the only person at the auction house who carried a bag as big as her torso without entrusting it to anyone else.

But he didn’t know why her back looked a little drooped.

Or why her eyes had been particularly red.

‘I’m not being concerned. I’m observing because it could be a clue.’

Returning, Tesagh faced his waiting aide Milton.

Though he had always been somewhat restless, today he looked particularly at a loss.

“I didn’t find any particular anomalies at the auction house. But why are you like this? Is there new information?”

“No, there’s no news from Moro.”

“Then?”

“Well, didn’t you leave a business card-type magical device at the pawnshop? There had been no received sounds until now, but when I checked today,”

「Sob, hic… What am I supposed to do about this, huu…」

“Based on the time, it was this morning, and the pawnshop owner was crying like this…”

Over the sobbing sounds, the image of her crouched under the counter, crying, overlapped.

“Only crying sounds like that came through before it cut off completely. Something seems to have happened, but I can’t guess what.”

Milton, who had been speaking cautiously, brightened up.

“Ah! Didn’t you see that woman today? Could there be something strange or some change in her circumstances?”

Tesagh couldn’t answer.

Because among the countless questions he had asked her, there wasn’t a single one about her well-being.

Tesagh roughly ran his hand through his hair.

“I don’t know.”

Why was it?

The edges of his heart stung.

***

Late dawn.

Carlos, who had been released after signing the permanent access ban, stepped back when he saw the carriage decorated with roses.

But it was already too late. He was thrown into the carriage like a piece of luggage.

“Cough, urgh…”

“I heard about the commotion you caused.”

A cold voice.

Carlos, half sprawled on the floor, looked up trembling.

He could see Hugo, Count, huddled in the corner. The moment he tried to look at Rosaline, Viscountess, sitting on the opposite side, her shoe trampled on his back.

“I thought Hugo alone was enough to disappoint me, but now even you have returned after ruining such a simple task. Do you know how much damage you’ve caused me?”

“I’m, I’m sorry, Viscountess! It was truly an unexpected accident!”

“Are you planning to cover up your mistake with the word ‘accident’?”

“It’s true! How could I have known that the magic device would suddenly malfunction! And I absolutely never mentioned your name!”

Carlos cried like a child.

It felt unfair. Why did the magic device have to malfunction at that exact timing!

Carlos began blaming others incoherently.

Customer 81 was also at fault for acting stupidly, and some strange girl got on his nerves so he couldn’t maintain his usual composure.

Moreover, some bizarre painting went up to 100 million gold and failed to sell, overheating the auction atmosphere and making it difficult to read the mood…

“Wait.”

Carlos’s rambling words were cut short.

“The painting that failed to sell at 100 million gold. What painting was it?”

“Pardon? Th-that was! It was a painting called 《The Forest of Cologne》!”

A moment of silence lingered.

“Get out.”

“Pardon? Yes! Understood!”

Carlos hurriedly left and the door closed.

“I was planning to throw him away from the start, but I thought I could at least use him for errands. That’s ruined now. He couldn’t even get rid of that troublesome Hanna Diego.”

Rosaline clenched her fist tightly.

“Hah, I’ll think about disposing of that incompetent fool later… Hugo.”

Hugo flinched when his name was called.

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