How to Live as the Terminally Ill Younger Sister of the Villain - Chapter 7
If people are this excited and eager for a sword, it means it’s no ordinary sword.
But compared to that, isn’t this man too ordinary?
‘Could it be…’
Angelina briefly wondered if this man was trying to use her because he coveted the sword.
If he was misusing her goodwill in such a way, it would be quite unpleasant.
Once the doubt started, it kept growing.
‘This feels off…’
But there was no way to confirm this immediately.
That’s when it happened.
The man, who had been alternating his gaze between the sword and Balcony No. 5, turned his head. Naturally, his eyes met Angelina’s.
Angelina quietly stared into his blue eyes.
The eyes that had seemed unnaturally blue in the darkness of the alley now appeared teal in the dim candlelight of the auction house.
They still held a strange allure.
“Is something wrong?”
He asked in a plain voice.
A voice that didn’t convey even a hint of malice.
After a moment of silence, Angelina slowly shook her head.
‘Whether it’s true or not, it won’t be too late to confirm after getting the sword.’
And she turned her head back towards the auction floor.
“No nine million one hundred? Nine million?”
The auctioneer was making the final call, as if the price war had already ended.
“Shall we close at eight million eight hundred thousand? Going once! Twice…!”
Just as he was raising the hammer to announce the decision.
“One hundred million.”
Angelina said as she raised her number plate.
“Ahem. Pardon?”
The auctioneer was so surprised by the amount exceeding a hundred million that he coughed. However, like a professional, he quickly regained his composure.
“O-one hundred million from Balcony No. 1! Any more…”
“One hundred and two million.”
The man in Balcony No. 5 spoke up, not backing down.
It seems the last remaining participant was indeed the man in Balcony No. 5.
Angelina looked in that direction again.
He was glaring this way, seemingly displeased with the sudden price jump.
Though the distance was far and he was wearing a mask, so his expression wasn’t clearly visible, he looked quite angry.
“One hundred and two million from Balcony No. 5…”
“One hundred and three million.”
But Angelina raised the price regardless.
“One hundred and three million…”
“One hundred and five million.”
“One hundred and ninety million.”
“Two hundred million.”
“Two hundred and thirty million.”
“Two hundred and forty million.”
As if the previous price war had been child’s play, the price rose at a speed the auctioneer couldn’t keep up with.
A chilly tension hung over the auction house as the man in Balcony No. 5 and Angelina quietly glared at each other.
“Young lady, why go this far…”
Haley, who wasn’t too pleased with the current situation, tried to stop Angelina.
“Don’t interfere.”
But Angelina waved her hand with a slightly irritated voice.
“Three hundred million.”
At her bid, the mouths of all participants fell open, and the auctioneer couldn’t even think of proceeding anymore.
The man in Balcony No. 5 seemed to hesitate a bit before saying,
“Three hundred and fifty million…”
“Five hundred million.”
“Damn it.”
His curse was audible even on her balcony.
“Five hundred and twenty million…”
“One billion.”
He tried to struggle to the end, but Angelina completely shut him down.
“Damn it all!”
The man violently threw his number plate to the floor.
Seeing this, one corner of Angelina’s mouth curved up slyly.
“How dare you try to outbid a Flaubert with money.”
Indeed, splurging money was enjoyable.
━━━━༻❁༺━━━━
The four people who left the auction house moved to a place where there were no people.
“Young lady, you look pleased…”
Haley said with a drained expression.
“Yes, I am.”
Angelina’s face, which answered brightly, was radiant as Haley observed.
‘So this is how it feels to pour money into something utterly useless.’
Angelina was in a great mood, having discovered what it felt like to spend money recklessly without worrying about limits.
She already felt like she had accomplished item number one on her bucket list.
“Here, your heirloom.”
Angelina held out the sword wrapped tightly in cloth to him.
He seemed to hesitate for a moment before reaching out his hand. At that moment,
Angelina suddenly pulled the cloth bundle back.
“But you know.”
She spoke, dropping the sword at a distance out of his reach.
“What’s the proof that this is your heirloom?”
“……”
His hand, which had stopped in mid-air, visibly flinched.
It was noticeable enough even for Angelina, who usually paid little attention to others.
“To be honest, I didn’t care until we got to the auction house. I just thought it was a rather sad story.”
She had assumed that since heirlooms are essentially antiques, their prices at auctions would reflect such considerations.
“But the popularity of this sword exceeded my imagination.”
Even considering that a ‘magic sword’ isn’t a common item, its popularity was excessive.
There were many suspicious aspects to claim it as an heirloom of an ordinary knight’s family.
“Frankly, I could just give this to you and wash my hands of it.”
Angelina considered various possibilities.
What if this man approached her because he coveted this sword?
What if everything was an act, and he was in cahoots with those thugs?
He might be planning to resell the sword.
Or he might intend to use it for nefarious purposes. There’s also the possibility he just wants it for his collection.
Of course, it could be an heirloom.
But having witnessed how heated the auction became, the likelihood of the last hypothesis dimmed for Angelina.
“But we can’t rule out the possibility that you’re a con artist and this actually belongs to someone else, can we?”
Apart from him being a pitiful citizen who was being ‘shaken down’ by thugs, she knew nothing about this man.
If she just handed over the sword to him, and the real owner showed up making a fuss, wouldn’t that be quite a headache?
‘That’s why I didn’t want to get deeply involved.’
Angelina felt a bit of regret. But she couldn’t undo what had already happened.
“So prove it. Prove that this is really your family’s heirloom.”
“…Do you know what this item is?”
“A magic sword imbued with lightning magic.”
Angelina responded with what she had heard at the auction house to his question. It was quite an honest answer since that’s all she knew.
“That’s…”
He started to explain something but stopped. Then he alternated his gaze between the cloth-wrapped sword and Angelina, lost in thought.
After a moment, as if he had made a decision, he spoke.
“I will prove it. But it’s difficult right now.”
“I suppose so.”
Angelina wasn’t particularly surprised.
To prove something was an heirloom, one would need documents or an expert’s certification.
But it was unlikely that someone would carry such things around all the time.
“I can gladly wait.”
Angelina calmly said and extended her hand towards Haley.
Somehow understanding what she wanted, Haley pulled out some items with a blank expression.
They were a wooden token and an iron token. Both had the Flaubert family crest imprinted on them.
Angelina picked up the wooden token and tossed it to the man.
“Come find me when you’re ready to prove it.”
He caught the token she threw with dexterity.
“Show that, and the knights at the main gate will deliver your letter or message to me.”
The iron token was used by the Marquis’ household staff to prove they were representatives of the Marquis’ house elsewhere, while the wooden token was for messengers coming from outside.
“Then, I’ll be looking forward to it.”
Angelina said lightly, waved her hand casually as a farewell, and turned to leave.
Haley quickly followed behind her, and Laura, after briefly glaring at the man and the roof of the building next to him, soon followed Angelina.
The man stood still like a statue until the three of them completely disappeared from view.
Once the three dots had completely vanished, a shadow dropped beside him.
The man who had fallen from the roof let out a sigh.
“Impressive.”
At those words tinged with admiration, the ‘owner of the heirloom’ let out a small sigh as if in agreement.
“I think I understand why Marquis Flaubert keeps his sister so tightly hidden.”
As he listened to the following observation, the man lowered his gaze.
The wooden token in his hand felt particularly heavy.
He had known through rumors that there was a young lady in the Flaubert household, but because the Marquis was so protective of her, very few people knew about her.
Nevertheless, the moment he saw her silver hair resembling Ante’s and her beauty that matched, no, surpassed his renowned looks, he couldn’t help but recognize her.
He had thought the Marquis’ protectiveness was an instinctive response due to the numerous calamities the Flaubert family had endured.
But now it seemed that wasn’t the whole story.
