Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 81
‘What?’
Startled, Irene looked at her hand.
She wondered if a wandering child had grabbed her hand, but there wasn’t a child—or anyone—beside her.
Still, the sensation of something squeezing her fingers remained.
Irene lifted her hand and saw the ring, the one bound to her, still on her finger.
For a moment, she blinked, thinking she had imagined it.
But then—
“Ah!”
This time, the ring squeezed her finger so tightly that it hurt.
It wasn’t her imagination. The ring was tightening on its own.
“Irene? What’s wrong?”
“The ring, it’s… acting strange…”
But it wasn’t glowing or showing any visible sign of malfunction, and even if it was tightening on her finger, there was nothing Reyna could do to help.
‘Why is it doing this all of a sudden?’
There had been no explanation that the ring could act on its own. What was going on?
“And now, for those who don’t want to leave empty-handed, we will begin the non-appraisal auction!”
The auctioneer’s voice echoed through the open door.
At that moment, the ring tightened again, as if responding to the auctioneer’s announcement.
‘What on earth is happening?’
At least it didn’t seem like the ring had malicious intent.
If it did, it probably would have already cut off her finger by now.
Onstage, the auction staff began bringing out several reward chests.
And the more chests that appeared, the more the ring reacted.
“Irene?”
“I… I think I need to watch the rest of the auction for a bit.”
“Really? Then I’ll stay with you. Felix, can you handle the rest of the auction procedures for me?”
“Got it.”
With Felix taking care of things, Reyna grabbed Irene’s arm, and they headed back into the auction hall.
The fact that an artifact was behaving as though it had a will of its own made Irene’s heart race.
She was curious to know what the ring was responding to.
“I was so nervous before the Invisibility Ring was sold that I didn’t get to enjoy anything. I’ve been wanting to participate in one of these auctions too, so this works out perfectly.”
Reyna, unaware of Irene’s tension, chatted cheerfully, happy just to have company to watch the auction with.
The two of them found some empty seats and sat down, observing the ongoing auction.
With the Invisibility Ring already sold, most of the people who had only come for that had left.
Still, more than half of the attendees remained, unwilling to leave just yet.
On the stage, there were twenty-five reward chests lined up, each with a number.
The auctioneer swiftly moved through the numbers, starting with the first chest.
“All right, let’s begin with chest number one!”
Chest number one was a small, old, and worn wooden box, something you might expect to find in a low-tier dungeon.
If opened, it was more likely to contain trash than treasure.
“Bidding starts at one gold. Please raise your hands if you’re interested. There, two gold! Two gold! Anyone else? Three gold!”
Knowing that this box probably contained worthless junk, no one raised their hand beyond Three gold.
“Sold for three gold!”
Unlike the high-priced items auctioned earlier, this one was quickly handed over to the winning bidder.
The staff collected the payment first, reminding the buyer that refunds were not allowed, and then gave the chest to the winning bidder.
The man, clearly just here for fun, handed the 3-gold chest to his son sitting next to him.
A 3-gold toy for a child—that was the true value of the chest.
The child excitedly opened the box, only to find a silver twig with dried leaves attached.
It was probably from a tree that didn’t exist in this world.
But that meant nothing to the child.
“Aw, it’s a dud, Dad.”
The child grumbled, and the auctioneer suggested the father buy something more expensive next time, as he moved on to the next item.
Several more chests were sold quickly after that.
But some chests that looked particularly old and worthless went without any bids.
Especially after a seemingly promising chest turned out to be full of stones, the crowd grew more hesitant, realizing the chances of getting something valuable were slim.
All the while, the ring on Irene’s finger kept tightening and loosening, as if reacting to the ongoing auction.
“And next up, chest number fifteen!”
The auctioneer began the bidding for chest number fifteen, and at that moment—
“…!”
Irene flinched in surprise as the ring suddenly tightened around her finger with more force.
It felt as if the ring was urging her to place a bid.
