Nothing unexpected happened at the auction. Shade had broadened his horizons, and Miss Princess had enjoyed herself as well. Once the auction ended, people immediately dispersed and merged back into the crowd on deck. The crates at the front of the deck were removed, and the long benches were swiftly carried away. The entire auction had lasted less than forty minutes, and some guests had not even noticed what had happened here.
The atmosphere aboard the ship was now heated. Men and women who had caught each other's eye—or other sorts of pairings—were beginning to head into the cabins one after another.
"Lady."
"Get lost."
Naturally, some people also tried to strike up conversations with the exceptionally poised young lady beside Shade. Shade rudely drove them away with a very heavy Tobesk accent.
"I didn't expect you to say something like that."
Miss Princess was in high spirits.
"Really?"
Shade adjusted his bow tie.
"I really dislike places like this, gatherings like this."
He snorted, declining to comment on the chaotic relationships between nobles and wealthy people.
"My temper actually isn't that good. It's just that I rarely encounter opportunities worth losing it over."
The old landlord whom Shade had arranged to "commit suicide" that morning merely because he had seen Shade's face could attest to that.
At this time, the cruise ship continued toward the deep sea and was scheduled to depart back for Coldwater Port half an hour later. Auctions held in this manner were quite safe, but unfortunately, Tobesk City did not have the conditions for it. To hold a safe auction there, they could only go somewhere far from the urban area.
With nothing else to do, Shade and Miss Princess returned to the somewhat dim railing to chat.
The lights of civilization in Coldwater Port