Published at 12th of November 2020 10:16:45 AM
Chapter 35
Eventually the seats in the venue were full . There are also people standing in the background .
Immediately, one item was exhibited .
“This is a necklace with jewels that is said to be the tears of a mermaid . Please start from five gold coins . ”
The participants raise objects like tags one after another .
“What is that?”
“It’s a paddle . ”
Ernesto handed Bernard a number tag called a paddle .
“If you have something you want, take it in high and bid . ”
If there are multiple bidders, the price goes up, showing the number tag and lowering the bid cancels the bid . If there were no one else who lifted up the number tag, the winning bidder would be the last person who bidded and he/she receive the product when paying at the end of the auction .
The winning bid this time is 37 gold coins . It looks like a merchant has won the bidding .
Bernard’s monthly salary is five gold coins . So for him, it’s a transaction of unknown dimension .
Various items such as vases, paintings, sculptures, jewelry, watches, ceramics, etc . are exhibited, and they are sold at a price that is tens or hundreds of times higher than Bernard’s salary .
Ernesto wasn’t interested in the auction from a while ago, and was lackluster .
However, when the desired product came out, he leans forward and taps Bernard’s shoulder .
“Oh, here it is!”
The object shown in the stage is a body statue wearing a pure white wedding dress .
The dress that Agnes mother wore at her wedding . However, the storage condition was good and it looks like a new product .
“This wedding outfit is the dress used by the saint’s mother at her wedding . The one which is rumored in the social circles . ”
The participants who listened to the narrator words were excited .
Ernesto, who heard it, had his eyes round from surprise .
“What ?! Rumored ?! Saint ?!”
“It seems that rumors have spread . ”
When the moderator concludes the introduction, saying, “Why don’t you come to the social world and attend the blessing of the saint?” A lot of number tags are showed in high .
Ernesto seemed angry, quivering and swaying intelligibly . then, he too, took in high his number tag to participate in the bidding .
Bernard watches with cold eyes, the course of things .
In the blink of an eye, it became 60 gold coins . The two bidders who were left at the end, were…
Ernesto and other, aristocratic man . His age is unknown because they can only see his back, but he is a well-dressed man .
“Hey, are you okay to continue?”
“I can go up to a hundred gold coins . ”
“Do not overdo it . ”
Bernard was terrified, wondering how much is the salary a guard receives, as he watched Ernesto continue bidding .
And when thinking about the salary, the possibility of spending money from his parents emerges in his mind, and he sighs as if thinking what a stupid idea it was .
In the blink of an eye, the amount jumped to over a hundred .
“Oh, who is that man?”
“How will I know? I doubt we can continue bidding…”
“He’s the second royal guard, Mug . ”
He tried to answer Bernard’s question obediently . At an auction site you participate anonymously, so getting the identity of a bidder is a tedious task .
The auction continues .
Ernest’s expression was lenient .
“Kuh, so high the price …”
“You can do it! It’s a one time in the life thing . ”
“For her… mmm…”
“…”
Bernard remembered Agnes, who was talking about her mother’s keepsake .
The expression that made him smile . She was in need of her mother and that dress was an important keepsake of her . Selling an important item always bring pain .
Bernard wondered how happy Agnes would be, if he were to give her the wedding dress of her mother . However, it was impossible to give a gift of more than 100 gold coins .
However, there is still one way to get a dress of over 100 gold coins .
It was to ask his grandfather, a merchant, to borrow money .
Bernard’s maternal grandfather was a very wealthy merchant, and he constantly said that he would lend money to him if he had a problem .
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(Thinking back, that would be the best option . Later, I can return it to him . )
In the first place, Bernard wondered why he didn’t came up with such an idea sooner .
As he was vaguely thinking, the bid price had risen to 120 coins .
As expected, Ernesto also raised the number tag cancelling his bid because it exceeded the budget .
The moderator is calling out, “Who else wants to make a bid for more than 120 gold coins?”
Ernesto was trembling, and his whole body shook .
“Sorry man, please forgive me…”
“No, having that much money is something only possible for a country’s heavyweight . ”
“What will you do then…?!”
“I’m thinking . Wait a little . ”
Ernesto, trembling in anger, didn’t hear Bernard’s last words .
Ernesto thinks this is the end of the auction mission .
Next moment, the auction was stopped .
It was a woman who interrupted the competition .
Her back is tense and dignified . It does not seem to be a young woman, but she seems to be emitting dignity .
Meanwhile, Bernard was squinting .
He felt that the back of the woman who had just now bidded was familiar, so he focused his attention .
“What happened?”
“!”
Shaking his shoulders, he answered that he didn’t know at Ernest’s question .
“No, no, it’s not her!”
(I desperately deny it in my head, thinking that it is unlikely! But there is a slight possibility . Haaa……)
However, the back of the woman was so similar to that, familiar person .
In the end, Agnes’ mother’s dress was sold for 150 gold coins .
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The woman who won the auction was a woman who participated midway through .
Bernard holds his head and looks at the ground .
“Is that okay?”
“…”
Ernest, who was angry up until now, is now worried about Bernard .
They couldn’t leave, so Ernest kindly encouraged Bernard to be patient .
The auction ends in about two hours .
At the second part of the auction, the moderator said that there will be an exchange party with the masks on .
“Let’s go back now?”
“Yeah, why not . ”
Bernard and Ernesto leave the venue .
But Ernesto, quickly excused himself to go to the bathroom, leaving Bernard alone to wait for him outside .
When Bernard stepped down the stairs, he was called from behind .
“–Please wait, Bernard”
It’s the voice he listens to, almost every day, from the moment he first had conscioussness to the time he was capable of standing alone .
(It is a misunderstanding!)
He wanted to deny it in his brain and hurry ahead, but his body stopped moving steadily .
Most of the participants in the auction seemed to go to the social gathering, and there was no one who hurried on the way home except Bernard .
The sound of the heels hitting the stairs is approaching .
Bernard’s heart was pounding .
He noticed that his forehead was sweating and he was more tense than when he was being interviewed for the promotion test .
Looking back, she was standing there–
“Have a nice day son!”
“…”
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The moment he saw the woman behind him, he almost fell off to his knees .
“Oh, maybe you don’t know who I am because I’m wearing a mask?”
He knew who the other party was .
However, he was standing there silent and motionless .
The woman removes the mask and smiles .
For Bernard, that smile was a guillotine .
“I’ve known it was you even though you were wearing a mask, but I’m a pitiful mother… my son can’t recognize me even when he has seen me all his life . ”
“Ah, no mo… ther”
“Yes, it’s your mother . ”
As expected, the mysterious woman was Oceanne, Bernard’s mother .
Why are you here? The words don’t come out .
“Who won the wedding dress?”
“I won it . ”
(Why did you bid on an expensive wedding dress when you’re already married mother? Where did the money come from? Why are you here in the first place?)
The questions are endless .
“Well, mother in law, what are you doing here ?”
“!?”
Bernard was frightened out of his wits by the voice he heard at a distance .
A woman wearing a mask was coming down the stairs as well as Oceanne . The beautiful person had brown hair and a slender figure .
Bernard can see who she was even with a mask on .
She was one of Bernard’s most feared women from his childhood .
That’s the wife of his oldest brother .
With the appearance of his sister-in-law, Bernard truly fell to his knees this time .
Translated by djurasico (dot) home (dot) blog