Auction (Part 1)

Sorea was invited to Olsen's residence. To her surprise, Olsen brought up the matter of having someone follow her: "Ms. Jane, we are very concerned about your safety, so we have sent someone to protect you in secret. We hope you can accept our protection."

"Lord Olsen, you should have told me beforehand. I thought those were assassins trying to kill me." Solaya, keeping her persona in mind, spoke coldly and expressionlessly. While Solaya could understand Olsen's actions about being followed, it didn't mean she liked them.

"Don't worry, I will definitely send someone to accompany you when you go out after obtaining your consent."

In fact, it wasn't Olsen who arranged for people to follow them; he overheard it when the hunters, who had lost their way, were reporting the situation to Hugh. But naturally, he took the blame for what his own brother had done.

Solaya only said those words to Olsen to play the role of Jane. She didn't want to make things difficult for her former friend. After expressing her opinion, Solaya ignored the words Verdelion kept repeating in her mind, "How could you forgive so easily?" and got up to say goodbye.

Seeing that Sorea was about to leave, Olsen stood up and escorted her to the door. Then he took out an invitation to the auction and gave it to her: "Ms. Jane, this is an invitation to a private box on the second floor of the auction. I can see that you are very interested in this auction."

Sorea raised an eyebrow, did not refuse, and reached out to take the invitation: "Thank you."

She was indeed very interested in this auction, which was touted as the largest in the continent in nearly a hundred years. She was still thinking about how to get an invitation tomorrow, and then the invitation was delivered to her door so quickly.

Solaya was secretly pleased, feeling that one less troublesome person had been eliminated, but she didn't show it on her face. After taking the letter, she turned and left Olsen's residence.

Watching Sorea leave, Olsen glanced at Henry, who was peeking around in the room. Hugh slapped Henry's head back into the room and looked at Olsen: "We don't have many spots in the private rooms, and you just gave them to someone of unknown identity. We don't even know how good she is."

Orson looked at Hugh and said, "You know how much we cherish healing mages here. I'm giving Jane the best treatment so that the other healing mages can see our sincerity. Besides, I'll find a way to test her abilities at the auction."

Seeing that Olsen had already made up his mind, Hugh stopped arguing with him, but what he didn't know was that their conversation had already been overheard by the parties involved.

There's nothing that Veldrian doesn't know about where there are plants, and he told Soleria what he had overheard: "They've started plotting against you."

Sorea said indifferently, "It's just a mutually beneficial arrangement. Let them watch if they want to."

For the next two days, Sorea didn't step out of her residence. She had to admit that the Bounty Hunter Association had really gone all out for her. Not only were three meals a day delivered to her, but even the clothes she had ordered were delivered.

Sorea stood in the bathroom, looking at her unfamiliar face in the mirror. She had short, neat black hair that reached her cheeks, and wore loose brown cargo pants, a white vest, and a black leather jacket. Even she felt strange about herself; not just her face, but more so her demeanor and habits.

"I've really changed a lot in this short time," Sorea reached out and touched herself in the mirror. She suddenly realized that she could no longer laugh heartily like before.

“Darling, you know what, this combat suit that our brother brought from another world looks really good on you.” Solaya’s thoughts were interrupted by Veldrian’s sudden voice.

Sorea had truly reached her breaking point with Veldrian's sudden outbursts these past few days: "Couldn't you have warned me before you spoke?"

"How can I remind you if I don't say anything?"

"roll."

The next morning, after Sorea finished washing up and put Black in her pocket, she suddenly realized that Veldrian hadn't bothered her for a long time, and she paused for a moment as she was about to leave.

Something's happened. Could it be that He was discovered by the world's consciousness while he was here? Wait, I don't care about Him. He's a righteous god, it's none of my business to care about him. Solaya shook her head, suppressing these thoughts, and continued walking out. But Solaya felt uneasy the whole way.

"Jane, darling, wait for me."

Just as Sorea stepped into the auction house with a restless mind, she heard a cool voice, and then someone took her arm.

Sorea stared wide-eyed at the blond, green-eyed young boy next to her, who had a pink flower on his head.

"Madam, please show your invitation." The guard at the entrance urged them on, as they had been standing there for quite some time.

Veldrian patted Sorea and said in a sweet, coquettish voice, "Darling, hurry up."

Solaya was disgusted by Him and felt a chill run down her spine. The hairs on her body stood on end. She felt that the people around her were looking at them strangely. Amid the enthusiastic stares of onlookers, Solaya lowered her head and quickly handed the invitation to the guard, dragging the shameful guy next to her through the gate.

Sorea dragged Veldrian to the corner of the venue and demanded, "What are you doing? What happened to you?"

“I want to be with you. Of course, we have ways to escape the world and come here. Otherwise, why do you think Floria and the like always have holy sons appearing to preach? In fact, those so-called holy sons are themselves.” Veldrian explained to Solaya, “Of course, if we use human bodies to bear our will, these bodies will be powerless, so Aya, you have to protect me.”

Seeing Verdrien's current appearance, Solaya's fists hardened. She couldn't understand how Verdrien, a god who had lived for countless years, could have the face of a young boy, make a fearful expression, and say such shameless things.

Just as Sorea was about to explode, Olsen walked up to them with Annie and Hugh.

"Ms. Jian, who is this?"

Upon hearing that a familiar face had suddenly appeared next to Jane, whom he was closely watching, Olsen immediately rushed over. The three of them looked Veldrian up and down, worried that this person might harm Jane, and also afraid that he might take Jane away.

Sorea knew these three people all too well; she could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their eyes: "This is one of my... a friend..."

She couldn't continue. Veldrian was watching her with pitiful eyes the whole time, and occasionally made strange 'whimpering' sounds.

Seeing the situation before them, the way Olsen and the others looked at Sorea changed.

“I’m Will, she’s…friend.” Willdrian looked at the withdrawn Sorea, pretended to wipe his eyes, and spoke softly.

Olsen and the others looked even more suspicious, and the scene fell silent.

Finally, the 'well-informed' Olsen coughed, covered his mouth with his fist, looked at Solaya with an "I know, I understand" look, patted Veldrian on the back and said "Good luck," before fleeing with the people behind him.

Sorea really wanted to tell the three fleeing figures, "You don't understand." She felt utterly humiliated by Verdrian and wished she could immediately abandon her identity as Jane and fake her death to escape. Finally, she gave Verdrian a fierce glare and headed towards the second-floor private room.

"Am I wrong? Why did you say we're just friends? Darling, you've hurt me so much."

Sorea almost tripped as she stepped onto the stairs when Veldrian called out "darling!" Veldrian immediately caught her from behind and continued, "Darling, be careful. What will you do without me?"

Sorea blushed completely and ran to her private room amidst Verdrian's repeated calls of "darling".

"You've become addicted to acting, haven't you?" Sorea started berating Veldrian before even closing the door to the private room.

"Wife~" Veldrian's voice was loud and melodious.

A thud sounded from the doorway. Olsen, who had turned back, nearly tripped at the door upon hearing Veldrian's address to Sorea: "Sorry, I forgot to give Jane my things. I didn't knock because the door wasn't locked. Please continue." Olsen finished speaking, threw down a card, covered his eyes, and prepared to leave.

“Lord Olsen, come back, he’s joking.” Sorea called out to Olsen.

Olsen thought this was no joke, but after hearing Solaya's words, he maintained his gentlemanly smile, picked up the card from the ground, and explained to Solaya, "This large auction house has shares in our Bounty Hunter Association. With this card, Ms. Jane, you can choose any auction item not exceeding five million gold coins, and the association will reimburse you."

"Thank you, Lord Olsen." Wilder took the card from Olsen before Solaya could, as he didn't want Solaya to have any contact with his childhood friend.

"Have a good time, both of you." Olsen glanced at the two of them and then said goodbye, thoughtfully closing the door behind him as he left.

Veldrian glanced at Soraya's face and completely calmed down. He then stood up and closed the door. The moment the door closed, Soraya grabbed a pillow from the sofa and threw it at his face. Veldrian didn't dare to dodge and was hit all over the face with the pillow. He then picked up the pillow and carefully sat down next to Soraya, handing her the small pink flower from his hair.

Sorea gently touched the little flower with her left hand, telling Veldrian to take good care of the child, and then looked around at the auction.

It was a circular venue, and the auction hall below could be clearly seen from the windows of the private boxes. The first floor had individual seats, and Solaya had previously learned that this auction would have four floors, with the higher the floor, the higher the status of the people.

Solaya's gaze stopped when it swept towards the auction house entrance. She hadn't expected to see Louis, Euan, and the others there. Seeing them getting along well with Monica, Solaya felt gratified and a little melancholy.

"You regret letting someone take your place." Veldrian could clearly see Soleria's thoughts in her eyes.

Sorea smiled and said, "I have no regrets. I chose this path myself, and I can't take them with me. It's too dangerous."