Chapter 172

Garcia.

‘They were invited as a distinguished guest to Garcia.’

Aria was convinced as soon as she heard those words.

‘I wondered why the lord is passive in clearing out the bandits…….’

She dismissed it as a simple lack of ability, but there was a reason.

In the first place, the lord, the temple, and the bandits were intertwined with each other because of their shared interests.

‘The temple told the bandits to get things and sell them to the auction house.’

Why did they make such an unreasonable request?

The conclusion was one. They intended to obscure the item’s path through the auction.

How and by whom the auctioned items fell is kept strictly confidential. It was common for even the Emperor to not know about the distribution and sales routes of items sold at auctions.

‘In this situation, seeing that the lord was happy that the bandits were cleared, it means that the bandits’ role is over.’

There is a high probability that the item has already left the bandits’ hands and is on the auction house. So Viscount Norton was safely invited to Garcia and was able to stay there as a distinguished guest.

‘He didn’t care whether he betrayed his country and went into exile to another country.’

In the meantime, Aria didn’t want to reveal her power, so she had to sit by the sidelines, but if it’s an item that needs such a cumbersome path…….

She thought she should know what that thing was.

– Lloyd, ask what’s going on. Be respectful and polite.

Lloyd, who was silent for a moment at Aria’s message, then spoke.

“What are you going to do in Garcia…?”

It was a tone that could hardly fall into the respectful category because he spoke so pressuredly.

Viscount Norton looked sourly at Lloyd for a moment.

‘Maybe I’m mistaken.’

He seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“You don’t need to know the details. If you escort my family, I’ll pay you.”

– Aria, it’s better to deal with them now…….

– Lloyd, bear with it.

She can see why this reckless family was driven out to the outskirts. Because they didn’t have a clue even at the most crucial moment.

Aria swallowed a sigh and organized her thoughts.

And for a moment she gazed at Viscount Norton’s son, Young Lord Norton.

He must have been staring at Aria from the beginning, that as soon as their eyes met, his face burned.

‘Hmm…… You seem to have something to say.’

For some reason, she had a foreboding that if the conversation ended like this he would run after her.

After thinking about it for a moment, she asked Lloyd through the message.

– In the lord’s castle, where is the most remote place where the voice cannot reach?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“What is the object requested by the temple?”

Aria asked Young Lord Norton, who had hazy eyes.

As expected, he fell nicely into the trap. Wherever she went, he followed her without a doubt.

Of course, he wouldn’t have expected something to happen in his own residence.

“I don’t know the details. Except for the fact that it’s a book inscribed with forbidden magic…”

Forbidden magic. Upon hearing that, Aria’s brow wrinkled slightly.

Then they got information from the temple and gave the mountain range to the bandits.

Ambush, then intercept in the middle.

‘Then from whom?’

She was skeptical, but now it wasn’t a big deal. She didn’t even need to know.

“Maybe it has something to do with Garcia as a whole.”

Lloyd stood crookedly and muttered as he crossed his arms. His gaze was fixed on Young Lord Norton’s vital point.

“Probably not. If that was the case, they would have said that they had been invited by the Papal Palace.”

However, it was not specified, just ‘Garcia’. It sounds like they’re being too cautious, but maybe there’s something more hidden?

Aria, who had been lost in thoughts for a moment, asked Lloyd.

“Can Lloyd be the escort for them? I think we need to find out who planned this.”

“I don’t care, but… if I were to take on the escort mission, I would stand out.”

Hmm? Aria glanced at Lloyd up and down at his words.

As he said, he could be seen from a distance or in the middle of the night with his dazzling brilliance.

“It’s unavoidable to recognize that I’m Grand Duke Valentine, but strangely, even when I hide my identity, eyes get twisted wherever I go.”

He said as he ruffled his bangs in annoyance. His black hair tumbled down again and covered his forehead.

His unruly and disheveled hair further enhanced his already decadent beauty.

‘…… You really don’t know why?’

Lloyd had no realization that he was handsome.

It was because everyone who approached, be it a woman or a man, was struck down with a sense of intimidation and murderous energy.

Thanks to that, she didn’t even have time to say a word of praise. He didn’t even want to listen.

‘Should I tell you the truth?’

She pondered, but she decided to postpone revealing the truth until later.

Aria felt the need to give him a dull hoodie.

“Brother, Sister-in-law! Long time no see!”

As Aria ripped the movement scroll, Vincent greeted them with open arms.

To be exact, just Aria.

Aria lightly hugged Vincent, who was so happy, and patted him on the back.

“It’s been a while, Young Master.”

“Oh, are you calling me by that name because you haven’t seen me in a long time? How sad.”

“Alright, Vincent.”

“But, Sister-in-law, the back of my head is burning because something is stinging.”

She smiled as she saw Lloyd, who was about to kill Vincent with his eyes.

“Weren’t you prepared to hug me?”

“As expected, I have to protect my…”

He couldn’t even say life. Vincent, who had held her in his arms for a long time and would not let go, quickly moved away from her.

Behind him, Cloud, who had recently become the knights commander, bowed his head.

Aria told them what had happened this time.

“So, what is Sister-in-law going to do?”

“I’m thinking of going to the auction house for a while.”

Lloyd was not pleased with Aria’s plan, but he eventually agreed to it.

It was much safer for her to attend the auction in Valentine’s name than it was for her to follow the Nortons and set foot in Garcia directly.

She was playing the weak and powerless wife in the first place, so she couldn’t even follow him.

“Then it’s my first date with my daughter.”

Tristan, who suddenly appeared, took Aria’s hand and kissed the back of her hand lightly.

As soon as he heard that Aria was coming to the Grand Duke’s castle, he seemed to run right away.

Behind him, gasping for breath was his lieutenant, Dwayne, who was growing older as the days went by.

‘He acted as if he was going out of the castle with a lot of bonuses immediately as soon as Tristan handed over the title of Grand Duke Valentine.’

Surprisingly, he still remained by Tristan’s side.

Aria smiled faintly as she wished the two of them eternal friendship(?).

“How disappointing. I’m not the first.”

“Kyaak!”

Then suddenly someone grabbed her waist. Aria lifted her head, startled by who was holding her tightly.

“It’s been a long time, Little Lady. I missed you a lot.”

“……”

“Leave the escort to me today.”

In an instant, her heart pounded loudly.

‘The only person who excites me other than Lloyd is Sabina.’

Aria felt some guilt and turned to Lloyd.

Standing uncomfortably amond Tristan and Sabina’s silly remarks, he strode closer and grabbed her cheek.

“Go safely.”

And pressed his hot lips to Aria’s bright red forehead, stamping it.

Even if the Valentine’s family was not on the list, they were able to enter the auction house immediately.

‘Probably the only one.’

Aria was fiddling with the glamorous dress that she wore after a long time and a mask that covered her entire face.

‘The largest auction house in the Empire, Ibel Auction House.’

But at the same time, it was the most dangerous.

This is because the Ibel Auction House handles crime-related items without hesitation. Whether theft or kidnapping, everything auctioned here requires no law or discipline.

‘The dark houses around the world are secretly managing a peace treaty inside the auction house.’

For reference, the gutter rat, the owner of the gutter, was the biggest hand here.

‘Valentine was not interested in the auction house at all and did not follow suit, so the power is now dispersed.’

Anyway, it was Valentine that struck the gutter. They deserved to be the next master, so it was natural for them to receive special treatment.

When she arrived at the auction house, Aria took a seat at the top of the table.

“Before the auction starts, I would like to ask you first. Fighting or arguing during the auction is strictly prohibited, and everything must be won with your own money!”

Because there were so many criminals, they even gave this warning.

‘There will be the spell book that contains the forbidden magic.’

Garcia was trying to get the stolen spell book without any problems.

Aria’s purpose was to intercept it in the middle.

“The ladies and gentlemen who came to this place today are very lucky! There are a lot of very special items today!”

The host spoke with a bizarrely bright voice.

“First of all, don’t be surprised. It’s a Siren!”

note:

for those who got confused during the first scene jump, i assumed that Aria went somewhere quiet and used her song on the Viscount’s son to get information

a change from the is the Viscount’s son. so the ‘Lord’ title that the Viscount has is a ‘Lord that presides over an estate’ kind of Lord, a castellan. whilst what his son has is just a universal title for sons of noble: ladies and lords. i didn’t think the son was the heir apparent so i changed his title in this chapter.

but having them being both ‘Lord Norton’ in english will be confusing, so i put the father as Viscount Norton (or just lord) and the son as Young Lord Norton.

do share if you have any ideas~

thanks for reading!