~Chapter 09~
Despite the urgent words coming from Caspal, his tone stayed perfectly calm and expressionless.
In the end, he just gave up on pretending and yawned.
The traders glanced at him, confused.
“What’s wrong with this one?”
He was the most beautiful among today’s captives, so they had saved him for last.
But something was clearly… off.
What if he suddenly made a scene on stage? His body looked strong, too—he might cause trouble.
Watching carefully, the traders moved to drag him out, nervous.
Thankfully, Caspal let them lead him to the stage without resistance.
One trader, wiping sweat from his forehead, gave the host on stage a signal.
The announcer glanced back, smirked, and said:
“The moment you’ve all been waiting for—our final offering!”
The stage lights remained off to heighten the tension.
Caspal, hands still cuffed, stood calmly, digging a finger in his ear while casually scanning the crowd in the dark.
“And now… slave number thirteen!”
The lights flashed on.
Silence.
A few seconds of stunned stillness, then a flood of amazed gasps.
They say true beauty leaves people speechless. That’s exactly what happened.
The crowd was frozen, mouths hanging open.
Meanwhile, Caspal, entirely uninterested, just kept glancing around lazily.
Then his gaze locked with Baron Bralz’s.
“Found you,” Caspal said with a sharp grin.
His eyes began to change color—back to their true golden-yellow.
Only then did Baron Bralz realize something was wrong.
“W-Wait, that man…!”
Gasp!
The baron leapt to his feet, trying to make a run for it with his wobbling belly.
But on the stage, Caspal spoke, voice low:
“Catch him.”
Just two words—but they echoed loud enough to shake the whole room.
The locked entrance suddenly burst open.
The knights who had been waiting outside—including the one Caspal had told to stay by the carriage—rushed in, flooding the building.
Chaos exploded.
Screams filled the hall as people scrambled to escape, only to be caught by the armored knights.
One desperate trader tried to cling to hope. He grabbed Floria by the wrist.
“I’ll take at least you!”
“Duke!!!”
Before she could say more, Caspal was already in front of them.
His hands were now free—whether he picked the lock or broke the cuffs was unclear, but he moved with effortless speed.
“Stay back! I’ll kill her if you come any closer!”
The trader pulled out a small dagger and pressed it against Floria’s throat.
She felt him shaking behind her. All she could do was grip his wrist tightly and glare.
Then she heard Caspal’s voice—low, right beside her ear.
“Close your eyes.”
“…Huh?”
Before she could even question it, Caspal gently covered her eyes with his large hand.
In the next instant, the trader and the other fleeing criminals dropped to the ground, one by one—silently, swiftly, like leaves falling.
It was over in seconds.
When she opened her eyes again, the knight squad had dragged Baron Bralz over and forced him to his knees in front of Caspal.
“We’ve captured them all. The only noble present was Baron Bralz. There was also a merchant trying to secretly buy a noble title.”
“How dare you address me as ‘Baron Bralz,’ you lowly knight! Show some respect!”
Even now, Bralz didn’t understand the situation. He shouted in rage, clearly confused.
But no one paid him any attention.
Caspal let out a long sigh as he looked down at Floria, still tightly shutting her eyes behind his hand.
She was trembling like a rabbit cornered by a hunter.
Keeping his gaze on her, he asked Baron Bralz:
“Baron Bralz. How much were you going to bid on me?”
“…What?”
The same baron who had been shouting at the knights just seconds ago now looked utterly stunned by Caspal’s question.
He was confused—not only because of the unexpected topic, but because it didn’t make any sense.
“Come on, how much were you going to pay? I’m handsome, so at least… 200 million shillings?”
“……”
The knights nearby sighed and rubbed their foreheads.
Here we go again…
Some turned their heads away in secondhand embarrassment.
But Baron Bralz’s reaction was the most extreme. He suddenly burst into a loud, mocking laugh.
“Ha! So it’s true, then! The rumors were right—Duke Fonhas isn’t just a commoner, he’s a slave! Just the sight of a slave makes your head spin. This auction house must be—”
He clearly had some sort of connection or secret. But he never finished his sentence.
Because Caspal—wearing a blank, utterly bored expression—dropped a dagger straight into his chest.
His other hand was still gently covering Floria’s eyes.
***
The incident came to a close.
This is serious enough to reach the emperor, Floria thought.
But truth be told, she hadn’t actually seen anything herself.
Still, she knew one thing for sure: Baron Bralz was dead.
One moment he was screaming, the next—dead silent. By the time Caspal moved again and her eyes were uncovered, they were already outside, in the daylight.
It had all happened unbelievably fast.
After all that chaos, the two of them sat in silence inside the carriage.
Neither spoke for a long while.
Surprisingly, it was Caspal who broke the silence.
“You’re amazing, Floria.”
“…Huh?”
“Getting sold for a hundred million shillings. That’s impressive.”
“…What?!”
Was he seriously saying that like it was something to be proud of?
Floria turned her head away from the window and glared at him.
She wanted to keep a straight face, but her expression kept falling apart.
She’d genuinely thought she was going to die.
Even if she didn’t die, just the idea of being sold to that bloated baron made her stomach turn. The horrible things that might’ve happened… she didn’t even want to imagine.
And now Caspal was sitting there, casually joking about prices?
Why was he so weirdly obsessed with how much things cost?
Still, he kept his eyes on the window and said quietly:
“I was sold for 10,000 shillings.”
“…What?”
That unexpected sentence made all of Floria’s frustration melt away.
Well—more like it left her speechless.
“It wasn’t even a slave auction like this. I got dragged into a fighting pit. I had to fight grown men to survive. I was ten years old.”
…So that baron’s cruel joke earlier—it had been the truth.
Floria felt her mood turn somber. Caspal’s words were slow, heavy.
Why is he telling me this?
She couldn’t shake the question.
Caspel was always smooth and unpredictable.
Even today, he’d said he was just here to enjoy the festival, but in reality—this auction had been his true target.
He’d planned everything in advance. Every move he made was calculated.
Floria studied his face from the side. His eyes, sharp and a little sad. The high bridge of his nose. The way his jawline looked so carved…
At first, she was just trying to read his expression. But at some point, she realized she was straight-up staring like a creep.
And before she could even look away—
Caspal turned to face her.
“You know, only one person alive knows I used to be a slave. The part about being sold for 10,000 shillings, I mean.”
“…Haha, well then… I’ll just buy you for 20,000.”
What the hell did I just say?
Cold panic filled her chest. What kind of joke was that to make to a duke?
It wasn’t funny. It wasn’t clever.
Great. Now the crazy villainess is saying weird things outside the confessional booth too.
She clenched her jaw, waiting for him to snap or scold her.
But instead—
“Hah… Haha.”
Caspal couldn’t hold back. He started laughing out loud.
He even covered his mouth with a big hand as if trying to cover it.
He looked right at her with a warm smile and eyes that crinkled at the corners.
