The auction worked like this: the artist explained their piece, the bidding began, and then the winning bid was finalized. Honestly, not all that different from a black market auction.
Except for one thing. Here, the order of the pieces was decided by drawing lots. In the black market, where poisons, strange weapons, or even people got sold off, the host carefully arranged the order. But here? Not exactly necessary.
My turn was second to last. Not exactly a lucky draw.
At the start, competition was fierce, but by the end, unless it was a truly spectacular piece, people kept their purses shut.
Not that I cared. It wasn’t money going into my pocket anyway. As long as I didn’t get totally humiliated, I was fine.
Besides, I was confident. Had nothing to do with the order.
The more smug I looked, the more curious the other young ladies got. Their stares practically reeked of suspicion.
“Come to think of it, didn’t Young Hero Dang show up earlier? Since he’s engaged to Lady Yeonhwa…”
“Ah, so that’s why he’s here to bid. I was wondering why he hadn’t raised his paddle even once. My, how sweet.”
I perked up my ears, listening to them whisper behind cupped hands. Couldn’t help a little snort. Completely wrong guesses. Honestly, I hadn’t even known Dang Iheon would show up here.
“But wait, who’s that over there? I’ve never seen him before…”
“Who… oh! Him? First time for me too. No idea why such a fine young lord is only making an appearance now.”
“If he bids, we might find out which house he’s from.”
“Why don’t we go ask him later?”
“Oh, hush, don’t say things like that!”
Their giggly voices were laced with shy excitement. And unbelievably, the man they were stealing glances at was Sahyeon.
Then again, if he’d just keep his mouth shut, mask off, yeah… the exterior wasn’t half bad.
But really, I was more curious why the hell he’d shown up with his face out in the open. If he could walk around like that, why bother with the mask normally? The more I thought about it, the more of a lunatic he seemed.
Maybe he felt my stare because Sahyeon suddenly looked back. Our eyes met in the air. I mouthed:
‘Why are you here?’
Sahyeon grinned wide and mouthed back.
‘To see you.’
See? Absolutely no way to get a straight answer from that bastard. I gave up on figuring him out and just zoned out, watching the auction.
Another piece was just getting awarded, and the next brought up.
It was Sohae’s piece.
A few peony buds with a butterfly perched on them. Not that different from the other works, but honestly, the butterfly and flowers looked downright alive.
It hadn’t even been formally introduced yet, and people were already clutching their bid slips with sparkling eyes.
One guy in particular was practically bouncing. Eavesdropping told me he was the second son of the massive Taicheon Merchant’s Guild in Liaoning. His eyes were glued to Moyong Sohae’s face.
“This piece depicts a butterfly arriving early to find a shyly budding peony, expressing the long wait of a lover counting days like years—until finally, they reunite in the spring sunshine.”
…Okay, what the fuck. It’s just flowers and a butterfly.
But sure. Even to someone clueless like me, it looked nice enough to hang on a wall. The crowd agreed—everyone was gushing over how Lady Sohae’s embroidery was always exquisite.
The bids came in hotter than for any of the earlier works. Sohae kept a demure smile the whole time. Like someone fully aware of her skill, but too modest to show it off.
Near the end of the battle, that second son from Taicheon Merchant’s Guild smirked confidently and handed his slip to a servant.
A whopping eleven thousand gold! Highest bid of the auction so far, a full three thousand over the last one.
Some people let out stunned, hollow laughs. Others groaned, crushed by the difference in wealth. Still others simply admired the raw power of that kind of money.
The murmur of voices rose up like a dust cloud.
As expected of Taicheon Merchant’s Guild. Though still merchants, by the gods, that was impressive…
The auctioneer waited for the hubbub to die down, then beamed.
“Sold for eleven thousand gold. Lady Moyong Sohae’s piece goes to Young Lord Kwak Yong of Taicheon Merchant’s Guild. You may settle the payment and receive the piece from Lady Moyong Sohae after the auction concludes.”
Scattered applause followed, tinged with regret.
My turn was still a ways off. I was getting restless and bored.
Maybe I’d wander over to where Sahyeon or Dang Iheon were and snag some snacks, chat a bit…
“Next, we have a piece by Lady Moyong Yeonhwa, cousin of the previous Lady Moyong Sohae.”
…Huh?
I accidentally pointed at myself, eyes popping. The auctioneer looked briefly flustered, checking the paper in front of him, then nodded.
Guess someone messed up the order. I’d definitely drawn second-to-last. Maybe someone wrote it wrong.
Whatever. Honestly, the sooner I finished, the sooner I could get out of here. Even better.
But strangely, the stares I got were… warm? At first, I thought it was support, but the longer I looked, the more it seemed like pity. Sympathy, even.
Couldn’t remember the last time anyone pitied me, so I was doubly confused.
Still, I stood up briskly and stepped forward. Even more curious eyes landed on me than on Sohae earlier. Some already had their bid slips ready.
Not a bad start. Maybe it was the flashy outfit.
Tried for a graceful bow, but somehow ended up doing a martial salute instead. Aside from that little slip, I’d say my entrance was pretty damn good.
“Moyong Yeonhwa. And this is my piece.”
I held it up boldly.
For a second, it was like everyone in the hall got wiped out at once. Dead silence.
Hmm… felt weirdly familiar. Just like when I’d picked out that dress for Sohae. Even the awkward throat clearing sounded the same.
After who knows how long, someone finally broke the hellish quiet. Stroking his goat beard, he asked carefully,
“Er… no explanation? The work is rather… striking. Difficult to interpret.”
Really tried to be diplomatic about it. Unfortunately, the guy next to him had neither tact nor sense.
“Young lady, did you perhaps treat this event as a joke? Compared to your sister Lady Sohae’s work, this is simply abys—”
Goat Beard nearly hacked up a lung, then frantically sipped tea, cutting him off. Too late, though—the core insult was already out there.
Dang Iheon, sitting further back, didn’t look pleased. Weird. His sister loved this sort of thing. Guess he didn’t?
Meanwhile, Sahyeon watched with that inscrutable smile. Made me wonder if he’d actually bid when the time came. Assuming he had the cash, anyway.
“If… if there’s no further explanation, shall we begin?”
The auctioneer looked around nervously. I firmly raised my hand to stop him.
“Of course there’s an explanation. I’ll tell you why you must absolutely win this piece.”
“Oh, yes. Please, take your time.”
The auctioneer visibly brightened, sweat trickling down. Clearly not used to this sort of derailment.
“This expresses part of the Moyong Clan’s sword art—the feeling of an overbearing, ruthless blade.”
Everyone blinked wide, then started buzzing. Now and then someone muttered that, sure enough, they could feel a certain fierce energy.
I fought down a grin. Time to hit the real point.
“As I’ve already said, I am Moyong Yeonhwa. My father is the Clan Head. My eldest brother is the Young Master. The brothers under him are the Twin Stars of Swift Swords, famed throughout the Martial Arts World. And I—am their precious youngest. The apple of their eye, their darling.”
In other words… if any clever young lord wanted to cozy up to the Moyong Clan, now was the time to loosen those purse strings.
“I trust the wise gentlemen here understand perfectly well what I mean.”
I gave them a bright smile.
Another heavy silence fell—but this time, completely different.
“Wait, wasn’t that more of a personal introduction than a piece description…?”
Someone finally spoke sense, but nobody paid him any mind. Or didn’t want to.
“W-we’ll begin the bidding, then.”
The auctioneer stammered it out. But no one jumped in right away—too busy darting their eyes around, waiting for someone else to make the first move. Didn’t want to look too obvious.
First moves were always the hardest. I’d expected this and calmly watched them all squirm.
Then, at last, someone in the back handed over a slip. The auctioneer’s eyes almost popped out of his skull.
“Young Lord Ak Huhyeon, fourth son of Shandong Ak Clan—t-twelve thousand gold!”
Holy shit. Sohae’s masterpiece only closed at eleven thousand, and he’d kicked this off at twelve!
“That’s insane. Starting at twelve thousand?”
“…Not that hard to see why. It’s the Moyong Clan.”
Mouths hung open all around. Some drummed their fingers, wrestling with their pride.
I glanced over to see who my generous little trailblazer was—only to nearly drop my jaw.
That bastard Sahyeon was waving at me, half his face hidden behind a fan.
Completely out of his goddamn mind.
Ak Huhyeon? The hell kind of fake name was that? Probably fake.
And where’d he even get the cash? From what I’d seen, his info business was shady at best. What if nobody else bid and he got stuck with it?
But my worries didn’t last. Someone else promptly handed over a slip.
“Young Hero Dang Iheon of Sichuan Dang Clan, fourteen thousand gold!”
That guy again? I mean, sure, he was loaded, being from the Sichuan Dang Clan, but still—what the hell?
Barely had the shock settled when Sahyeon smoothly offered another slip.
“Young Lord Ak Huhyeon, fifteen thousand two hundred…! Ah, fierce competition. Young Hero Dang responds at sixteen thousand gold!”
Not how I’d pictured this playing out. Those two going head-to-head?
Still, couldn’t complain. Their showdown made the others panic, ditch their pride, and start flinging out higher bids.
“New bid—seventeen thousand gold from Hocheon Merchant’s Guild! And right after that, seventeen thousand eight hundred—eighteen thousand!”
Dang Iheon stiffened, glancing at the stranger ‘Ak Huhyeon,’ who never once looked back—just kept writing bigger numbers.
With them stirring the pot, young heirs and merchant scions all over were throwing slips like mad. The price skyrocketed.
Servants carrying the bids started nearly tripping over each other.
Beautiful. That smell—money.
Come on, all of you, scramble like starving wolves. Drive it up. The winner here is Moyong Yeonhwa!
Twenty thousand, twenty-five thousand six hundred, thirty thousand… The quiet war only got hotter. Everyone’s faces grew increasingly frantic.
As the price neared fifty thousand, the young ladies who hadn’t even presented their works yet looked downright ashen.
Then a shocker—Dang Iheon’s own sister, Dang Choye, jumped in.
“New bid—thirty-one thousand gold from Lady Dang Choye of Sichuan Dang Clan!”
When I looked over, she flashed me a bright, easy smile. Said she liked my piece—guess she really meant it. Clearly had taste.
Sohae didn’t turn green outright, being a rich girl and all, but her face was deathly pale. Like she might faint any second.
“This is starting to look less like an art auction and more like… something else, isn’t it?”
The same clown who’d whined about my intro raised his hand again. Everyone ignored him. Someone even told him outright to go home if he couldn’t keep up.
All the while, I smiled more and more confidently. Not my fault I had a powerful family.
At some point, Sahyeon quietly stepped out of the race. Guess he’d only jumped in to break the ice and drive the price up.
Didn’t matter. By now, everyone was too far gone to stop.
The bids pushed past fifty thousand.
Then—
“F-f-five hundred thousand!”
A trembling voice rang through the hall, so desperate it froze everyone on the spot.
People mid-scribble dropped their pens. Even the servants ferrying slips paused, wide-eyed.
Someone whispered, stunned.
“That… that’s a gold-leaf slip…”
Gold-leaf slips meant five hundred thousand. From here on, every bid rose in increments of a hundred thousand.
The auctioneer’s voice shook.
“B-bid of f-five hundred thousand!”
The hand holding that slip trembled violently. Everyone around exhaled in ragged gasps. They were clearly defeated, both in wealth and sheer desperation.
The bidder themselves shook all over, like they’d staked their entire life on this. Almost pitiful, honestly.
“If there are no further bids… five hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, five hundred thousand.”
Some hesitated, but no one dared jump in. Finally, the auctioneer shouted.
“Sold at five—hundred thousand gold! Lady Moyong Yeonhwa’s piece goes to Chae Yeop, owner of Hwaan Tea House. You may settle the payment and receive the piece after the auction concludes!”
Everyone gawked at Chae Yeop like stunned dogs who’d lost their rabbit. Even Moyong Sohae and Dang Iheon looked dazed.
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