Yang Mills merely assumed Charlotte had run into an acquaintance. He never imagined that the young man who had brushed past him was his most hated enemy, the one person he wanted dead above all others.
As Charlotte passed Yang Mills, he secretly slipped the magic beetle Anne had given him into the man's pocket.
A few minutes later, they met again.
A faint blush colored Anne's pretty face as she said softly, "Thank you, Mr. Charlotte."
Charlotte smiled slightly. "It was nothing. I also wanted to do something for Mrs. Yang Mills's reputation."
That was a heartfelt truth. This lady's reputation was intimately tied to Charlotte's own. If her reputation remained flawless, his would stand firm as stone.
If Mrs. Yang Mills's reputation was utterly ruined, Charlotte's reputation would collapse like a mountain as well.
No one in the world wished more fervently than Charlotte for this lady's reputation to remain pure and unblemished.
Yang Mills did not wander about. He waited quietly in a guest room until the auction began, then entered the venue.
Anne and Charlotte hid in a corner of the hall. They deliberately pretended not to know each other, but both kept their eyes on Yang Mills, wanting to know exactly what he had come for.
Before long, the renowned Duchess Mesu made her proud entrance.
She was not especially old, only a little over thirty. She had taken excellent care of herself and was stunningly beautiful. Aside from being exceptionally tall, even taller than an ordinary man, she was almost the ideal woman in every man's heart.
After Duchess Mesu's opening remarks, the first auction item was soon brought onto the stage.
It was a magical longsword, with a starting bid of one hundred and eighty Écu, far beyond Charlotte's entire fortune.
The magical longsword was fiercely sought after. After several rounds of bidding, its price surpassed three hundred Écu, and it was ultimately claimed by a wealthy bidder for three hundred and seventy Écu.
The starting price of the second item also exceeded Charlotte's entire fortune. He lost all interest in the auction and went to the long table along one side of the hall, where food and drinks were provided, taking a few small cakes to fill his stomach.
He had not eaten since getting up that morning and was a little hungry.
The Empire of Fars had no custom of breakfast. Its standard was two meals a day, lunch and dinner. Only a few nobles had the habit of afternoon tea and midnight snacks, and Charlotte was not accustomed to it.
He often bought breakfast for himself, though the only thing available in the mornings was leftover bagels from the night before.
After filling his stomach, Charlotte took another glass of wine and drained it in one gulp before returning contentedly to the corner.
By then, the seventh auction item had already appeared.
It was an ancient painting said to depict the true form of an evil god from overseas.
During her introduction, Duchess Mesu deliberately or casually mentioned that at least twelve bizarre and gruesome cases, involving more than two hundred and twenty lives, were connected to this magic item.
That did not stop the ancient painting from attracting frenzied bidding, and it still sold for an extremely high price.
To Charlotte and Anne's surprise, Yang Mills actually joined the bidding and secured the auction item in the fourth round for five hundred and seven Écu.
Yang Mills hurried away after receiving the ancient painting. Clearly, his objective was very specific.
Anne gave Charlotte a signal, and the two left the Magic Item Auction one after the other.
This Magic Item Auction had been quite an eye-opener for Charlotte, broadening his horizons considerably. Though he had to leave early, he did not find it much of a pity. After all, not a single item here was something a prison Chief Clerk could afford.
When Charlotte left the auction house, Anne, who had departed ahead of him, was already waiting in the carriage.
Charlotte climbed into the carriage, and Anne immediately told the coachman to set off.
Anne had no time for small talk with Charlotte. With her eyes closed, she muttered under her breath, occasionally raising her voice to direct the coachman.
Charlotte was unfamiliar with the Supernatural Power of the Dream Arts. With nothing else to do, he began considering whether he ought to go look at houses that afternoon if he had time.
Charlotte occasionally lifted the carriage curtain. The road seemed vaguely familiar, and as the carriage sped along, it became more and more familiar. He could not help crying out inwardly, This is the road to Mrs. Yang Mills's house.
He did not dare mention it to Anne, because the source of that familiarity was hardly respectable.
When the carriage stopped before an imposing residence, countless familiar memories surged through Charlotte's mind.
Among them was the memory of how he and a young lady had engaged in certain passionate activities inside this grand residence, activities that could not be publicly described on the internet in later generations.
Not even in a novel.
Charlotte felt somewhat ashamed. Although he could blame those youthful and reckless escapades on his predecessor, he still had to bear the consequences. He could only tread on thin ice and cautiously overcome every hardship.
Anne said softly, "I need to take a short nap. Please guard me for half an hour, Mr. Charlotte."
A blush spread across her pretty face as she said it.
In any era, for a young girl to tell an unfamiliar man that she needed a short nap and required him to remain beside her and guard her carried a certain suggestion of affection.
Though they both knew this was necessary for the Dream Arts and had nothing to do with romance, a faintly tender atmosphere still quietly arose.
Charlotte smiled faintly. "Please rest assured, Miss Anne."
Anne thanked him, clenched her fists, and closed her eyes. Her long eyelashes fluttered slightly as she entered a deep, sweet sleep.
With nothing to do, Charlotte drew the newly purchased Magnum Hand Shuttle and carefully wiped it with a cloth.
The rapier was simply too inconvenient to carry and too conspicuous, so Charlotte had not worn it on him. Besides, a pistol was far more useful than a rapier as a weapon for self-defense.
Though this secondhand pistol had been well maintained, there was quite a bit of grime on its body. Charlotte was somewhat of a neat freak and had long wanted to give it a thorough cleaning.
Charlotte polished the pistol until it shone like new, then checked the ammunition. Aside from two spare rounds, he loaded all eighteen bullets into the magazine.
As long as he released the safety, the eighty-percent-new pistol was ready to fire at any time.
A carriage parked quietly by the roadside, a sleeping girl, and a young man cleaning his gun.
It was a remarkably evocative scene.
Charlotte slid the freshly polished pistol into the holster inside his coat. Suddenly, a faint warning rose in his heart. He hurriedly opened the Eye of Insight, and a sphere centered on himself, with a radius of fifteen paces, immediately expanded outward.
He saw rolling black smoke rising from Yang Mills's grand residence and could not help feeling alarmed.
The sleeping Anne wore an expression of pain and kept moaning, yet she could not awaken no matter what.
Charlotte did not hesitate. He immediately leaped from the carriage and rushed toward Yang Mills's residence. The moment he burst into the courtyard, he felt as though he had entered another world.
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