“Huh? Did I say something wrong? You had a complicated expression on your face just now.”
“No, it’s nothing. You can continue telling me about what you were saying before.”
As much as Aurora wanted the man to forcefully let all the information out, it was not worth it to sour their relationship.
“Oh, that prophet told me to come to this auction today when I met him two days ago. He was with a rough-looking man and his complexion didn’t look so good. But then he bought something and his personality changed.”
The duke unknowingly gave a lot of information away. If he had been a spy, he would have been found out in the first ten seconds.
And his aura screamed innocence and truth. There was no single hint of deception in his words.
“So, about the tear? Can I have it?”
The man looked hopeful and Aurora finally relented her hold on the precious item. She did not care much about the tear anyway.
“Sure, you can have it. I would prefer having connections in the east over having an instant cure anyway.”
“Then, I will take your kindness and await your message to reach the east palace. Have a nice day, my ladies.”
[0??]? The man opened the tent door, but not before he handed Aurora a slip of paper.
The servant who had tried to stop from leaving before was leaning against the door, waiting for his master to come out. He almost fell when the door was pushed open..
“Master Noctus, are we going back? Did you get what we wanted to find?”
The man chose not to answer his servant, nor did he turn around. But he did choose to drag the servant away when the servant glared toward their group.
Before anyone knew it, the crisis was over and the danger had been averted.
“That was an unexpected situation. But will it be alright to give our hard-earned prize away like that? Didn’t we need it to get into the after-party?”
Amanda’s worried did make sense. Out of everyone present, she had the least bit of information about the issue at hand.
“No. we will be alright even without the grand prize. I did buy a few other things in case of emergency so we should get by alright.”
Aurora quickly shook off Amanda’s worry about the topic of the auction. The night market was about to be over and the time left for the after-party was too short.
The window of opportunity their group had was too small to be of any proper usage.
“Rita, stick close to me. Amanda, it will be better for you to stay out of this mission now. The duke might have caused your identity to be exposed.”
Thankfully, Natasha’s solo entry made others think that she was alone in her adventure and that her arrival at the scene was a coincidence.
Another thing that helped their group, for now, was the masks and their hidden identity. Even if everyone knew how the northern princess looked without the mask, they did not know what her companions looked like.
They could make sure of this fact and establish themselves as a separate team.
“I understand. I don’t like this decision but I will abide by it for now. You all should be careful as well to not get caught. If someone links us together and figures out who we are then it would be a problem.”
“I know. I will be careful. I will also leave separately so that people don’t connect us later.”
Natasha’s aura felt disappointed but she did understand the importance of keeping secrets. Besides, Aurora was also sure that Natasha had guessed the problem with her aura.
Natasha made her exist at the exact moment the representative of the auction house made his way in.
“Where did your companion, seat no 68 go? Are they not going to accompany you in?”
Since that man was a staff member, he likely knew that Natasha was their companion. Things like these were not kept a secret from the auction house.
“Our companion had a sudden problem they needed to take care of. They won’t be joining us today.”
“Oh. Is that so.”
The employee sounded uninterested but his aura spoke something different. The disappointment Aurora could see in his body language meant that the man had wanted Natasha to be there today.
Now Aurora was even more thankful that she had sent Natasha away on time.
The employee led them in through the back door and into a ballroom. Everyone inside was dressed in fancy cloaks and face masks.
It would be impossible to guess everyone’s identity based on their body structure alone but Aurora had a huge advantage and that was her system. She could easily tell who the important people were.
“Rita, we will be heading over to table two. I need you to act as my escort and not say a word. No matter what happens, do not say a word out loud.”
Rita nodded along, not even giving a verbal response.
The people at table two quietened down as soon as they watched Aurora come near their table.
“Ah miss, are you lost? I am sure this is not a table for respected people like you two.”
The man who spoke sounded in his middle thirties. It was obvious why he was speaking to Aurora as if she was a child. His interests were a ‘little’ bold to say the least.
But he was not the only one who was like that. The whole table was filled with people who were in various states of indecency.
Some had people sitting in their laps, grinding away at their hardness. The others had their partners kneeling in front of them like dogs.
It was not a respected scene to see out in the open. It looked more like a bedroom play but no one batted an eye at such a bold display.
Such displays were common in these settings and making a fuss over them was not worth it in the end.
Rita seemed a little uncomfortable at the open sexual display but she did not seem opposed to the idea entirely.
Aurora hoped that Rita would play along with her as she fooled these people. But Aurora had not explained to Rita what her role would be.
“You, kneel”
Aurora was not sure what she was expecting. But Rita exceeded her expectations by kneeling on the chain and making space between her legs.
As soon as Aurora took her seat, Rita was draped all over her like a blanket. But the hold was not possessive, nor was it tight.
It showed affection but also submission.
“You don’t need to be that concerned about me or my interests. My pet would also like to greet you all.”
It was now the people at table two who looked uncomfortable at the display. To have someone unknown walk up to their table and show such open dominance was a challenge to their authority.
But no one dared to even stand up and leave. They were likely interested in the person who issued such an open challenge.
“So, miss. Why did you seek us out? I am sure there are more interesting people in this place to talk to.”
“Of course there are. But they lack the most important thing I am looking for – intelligence. I want to know more about the underbelly of this floor, so can I ask you, people, to help me out?”
The table looked at each other in interest.
For them, Aurora was like fresh meat that had walked right into their claws. She was an inexperienced child who was trying to play at being bigger than she was and she could be easily tricked.
“Alright. We will take you under our wing.”
Little did these people know that they were the real prey in Aurora’s trap. Their words mixed with lies were easy to look through for her and all relevant information was easy to sort out.
By the time that night ended, Aurora had a tone of new information she could use. But none of it was what she wanted to know.
“So, did this night help you out?”
Rita’s teasing voice snapped Aurora out of her slump. The redhead had been through a lot tonight and Aurora knew she would have to pay for that later.
But for now, it was best to take precautions against her creeping corruption.
“Let’s collect Natasha and leave for today. The night market is about to disappear anytime and staying in the brothel is not a good idea.
Natasha was awake when the duo reached her. But Aurora had made a miscalculation in her assumption and she felt her body hurt.
Her corruption was creeping up her back faster than it should have been but she had no idea why.
“Shit, you both have really bad timing. The night market is disappearing right this second.” this was bad. If the night market really did disappear then their group would get stuck in there.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om