My Husband Was Clearly a Paladin
Chapter 38
“That is….”
They were wooden boxes brought from the Room of Reward.
Typically, auction items are presented after opening these boxes, removing the contents, and putting them through an appraisal.
Yet, they were putting the boxes up for bid exactly as they were.
‘Why?’
Irene leafed through the catalog she had received upon entering.
She hadn’t read it properly earlier, focused only on the specific auction items.
Reading it again, something caught her eye near the end of the event schedule.
“Unappraised Auction?”
As she muttered the words, wondering what it could be, Michael spoke from beside her.
“It is a process where reward items from low-rank or lowest-rank dungeons are sold in their boxes without being opened.”
Irene nodded at his explanation.
“Ah, I’ve heard of that before.”
Human beings have a strong tendency to rely on luck.
Isn’t that why people gamble at casinos, knowing the odds are low but believing they will be the exception?
Everyone who came to the auction house today wanted to obtain something valuable, but only one person could walk away with the Ring of Invisibility.
What about the rest?
A few might buy something of a slightly lower grade, like the Stone of Silence Irene had put up.
Even those were valuable. However, most people would go home empty-handed.
‘These items are targeting those people.’
People who have money but feel unsatisfied.
Since they’ve come all the way to the auction house, they want to take something home, so they try to buy rewards from low-rank dungeons despite knowing the odds are abysmal.
Hoping that something might be inside.
‘It’s a foolish thing to do.’
Though it was a clever move on the auction house’s part.
Irene decided that if she ever obtained rewards from other low-rank dungeons later, she should sell them unopened like that as she refocused on the auction.
As with all auctions, the items drawing the most interest appeared at the very end.
Because of that, the auction began with things like gold coins from kingdoms that no longer existed, books, and gemstones that wouldn’t fetch a high price due to poor processing.
Just as the initial excitement was dying down and the repetition of similar items was starting to get boring, the auctioneer, sensing the atmosphere, suddenly raised his voice.
“Now, let me introduce today’s first artifact, the Stone of Silence!”
At the word ‘artifact,’ a glint flashed in people’s eyes.
Finally, they were seeing something worth its price.
And Irene’s eyes were shining even brighter than theirs.
‘Please, let it sell for even a little bit more…!’
While everyone else was on track to earn nearly 100,000 gold, this Stone of Silence was currently Irene’s entire income for this trip.
‘The Count has already reached out, after all.’
Yesterday, a maid had informed her that an outside guest had arrived, revealing it was the Count’s servant.
In her past life, she hadn’t even been able to breathe properly due to the fear and pressure whenever that servant came.
Just like in her past life, the servant acted as if he were the Count himself, browbeating Irene to hand over the money she had collected so far.
At the same time, he warned her that the merchant who had agreed to take Irene was still frequenting the Count’s estate, waiting for her return.
So, he told her she had better hurry and gather her ransom.
In the past, she would have stood alone, head bowed like a criminal, listening to those words.
But not this time.
“You must have heard the rumors that my pair is Sir Michael? Gathering my ransom won’t be difficult, so tell the Count I will repay him within the period without fail.”
Having stood her ground against Princess Cecilia, there was no way she would be afraid of a mere servant’s threats.
Stunned by Irene’s uncharacteristic confidence, the servant faltered and backed away.
Just then, Reina and Cynthia happened to visit Irene with their pairs to discuss their next gathering.
“Oh, you have a guest. Then we’ll come back later….”
“It’s fine. He was just about to leave.”
Irene said as much, telling the servant to be on his way. Seeing her treat him like an unwelcome guest, the two knights stood beside the servant as if asking, ‘Who is this guy?’
Faced with the knights’ sturdy builds and intimidating auras, the servant fled the scene without even a proper goodbye.
Watching him go, Irene swallowed a bitter smile.
They were such insignificant beings; why had her past self lived in such terror of them?
‘I can probably gather the ransom within the year, but….’
Regardless, she felt she needed to raise the money as quickly as possible just to avoid seeing that servant’s face again.
As Irene unconsciously leaned forward to see how many people were showing interest in the Stone of Silence, Michael, who had been quiet until now, suddenly spoke.
“You are quite lucky.”
“Pardon?”
“As you know, it is not easy to obtain an artifact from a dungeon. Yet an artifact appeared on only your second time designating a dungeon.”
“Ah, right? I think I’m a bit lucky myself.”
“Yes. I believe it is an extraordinary luck. Out of all the dungeons that appeared that day, the one you chose was the only one where an artifact was found.”
Irene caught her breath at his words.
He was surely just expressing his surprise, but for some reason, it felt like she was being interrogated.
“I… suppose so. The Stone of Silence is one thing, but more than anything, isn’t Limitless Healing an even greater stroke of luck?”
Irene smiled and naturally steered the conversation toward the ring he had given her.
The ring she received was precious beyond comparison to the Stone of Silence.
Hadn’t she nearly fainted after receiving the appraisal for it?
‘The problem is that I don’t get any actual profit from it.’
Even if her purification power increased, there was no specific financial gain for her. If anything, it just drew more attention to her than before, ruining her chances of living quietly.
Because of that, she had somehow ended up forming a group and even acting as its leader.
“I have good luck, but not much that turns into money.”
In the past, she would never have talked about money in front of him. But perhaps it was because they had become closer, or perhaps because she didn’t care as much about what he thought of her this time.
The topic of money flowed out more easily than expected.
“Do you need money?”
“Yes.”
Irene answered immediately without hesitation.
“I have a lot of debt to pay off.”
Before he could ask why she needed it, Irene answered first. She didn’t particularly want to mention things like ‘ransom’ to him.
‘Come to think of it… if I had told him in my past life, would he have lent me some?’
Back then, she had thought of him as nothing but a cold, rigid Holy Knight, but looking at him now, he didn’t seem like such a closed-off person.
In a way, he had been the closest person she could have asked for help.
‘I didn’t even dare to speak to him because of people’s whispering.’
There were so many people who would chatter about her being shameless if she even went near him.
So she had naturally assumed he loathed and despised her….
‘What’s the use of regretting it now?’
Her previous life was over, and this was a different one. Moreover, she wasn’t as hopeless as she used to be.
‘If things get really desperate, I’ll have to beg Reina.’
As soon as this auction ended, she too would be making a lot of money.
If she couldn’t earn the full ransom by the end of the year, she could borrow a portion to appease the Count and return to the Fortress next year.
‘Though Michael won’t be my pair then.’
Irene looked at the ring on her finger.
She was now a rank 8 purifier. While it wasn’t much different from rank 10, she could at least demand slightly better conditions than before.
Michael watched Irene silently as she was lost in thought.
Meanwhile, the auction for the Stone of Silence began.
As the auctioneer finished his explanation, the people seated began to raise their hands one by one.
“3,000! 3,500! 4,000! Double! 8,000!”
The auctioneer purposely spoke loudly and quickly to incite competition.
‘It needs to sell for at least 20,000.’
Only then could she pocket more than 5,000 gold after deducting the 10,000 gold fee for the Hand of Appraisal and the auction house’s commission.
But perhaps because it didn’t possess great power, the response from the crowd was lukewarm.
In the end, the Stone of Silence was sold for 20,000 gold.
‘The sale price is exactly the same as in my past life.’
Irene felt a momentary sense of wonder.
There were things that yielded the same result even when the situation changed, and things that yielded different results even when the situation was the same.
‘Is there some kind of law to it?’
If so, she had to figure it out.
She was thinking she should look for commonalities between what stayed the same and what changed more calmly once she returned, when she saw the winning bidder receiving congratulations from those around him.
Irene gripped the railing and leaned forward.
“Oh no….”
The moment she identified the winner, Irene’s face crumpled.
Of all people, the winner was the man Michael had grabbed by the collar upon entering.
Fortunately, he seemed to have regained his senses quickly; his clothes were still a mess, but he appeared physically fine.
‘To think that man would be the one to get it.’
“I did not expect that man of all people to receive it.”
At that moment, Michael said the exact same thing as if he had read her mind.
Then he continued.
“Had I known this would happen, I would have cut off those filthy hands beforehand so he could not participate in the auction.”
