I was right. The man hadn’t given up on the white snake.

But neither had I any intention of handing over the sacred beast I had painstakingly acquired to someone who would simply boil it into snake soup.

“If you wanted it that badly, sir, you should’ve bid higher at the auction. Talking to me about it now is pointless.”

“It’s not about offering more money. I suggest a more valuable exchange.”

Although it might’ve been a scammer’s words, the snake was rumored to be a lifeextending elixir.

The gentleman before me must have deeply believed in it too, for he was willing to pay a hundred thousand gold to purchase the white snake.

And yet, he was talking about something more valuable?

‘What is he talking about?’

The man confidently continued.

“If you give me the white snake, I will give you the original manuscript of Alronso’s scripture.”

Hearing this, Ian immediately objected.

“Your Grace, that’s a lie. The original scripture burned down last year.”

Alronso was a sage who appeared and disappeared over 500 years ago.

While there was ongoing speculation that he was still alive since his body was never found, there was no historical account to suggest that a human could live more than 500 years.

People called the book that Alronso had written throughout his lifetime, Alronso’s scripture.

Inside that book, forbidden dark magic was described in great detail in an ancient language.

‘If I find Alronso’s scripture, like in the original work by Clemens, I could also revive forbidden dark magic.’

Originally, Alronso’s scripture had been translated into the common language and spread across different countries.

At first, it was for research purposes. Each nation’s kings swore not to use the translated scriptures for anything other than peace.

However, as soon as the war began, dark magic was immediately employed.

What could have been a small spark quickly escalated into a world war.

After the world war, the kings gathered and reached a consensus.

‘Let’s erase all records related to dark magic!’

The kings brought forth their translated texts on dark magic, and with unanimous consent, eradicated all information related to it.

However, what they gathered and burned were merely the translations.

The original manuscript of Alronso’s scripture still existed.

Because it was written in an ancient language, interpretation was no easy task.

Yet its danger was so high that it was secretly stored in the imperial palace.

And, just like Ian mentioned, it had disappeared along with a fire in a palace building a year ago.

It was an incident that had once shaken the empire and even I, who spent last year living in some back alley, had heard about it.

“That’s not true.”

“Show us proof.”

Ian was not easily convinced. From the way Sophia stepped forward to stand before me, it seemed she also considered the man’s words to be lies.

“I’m telling the truth. How can I show proof to someone who hasn’t even decided to take up my offer? Who knows what you’ll do?”

However, the truthfulness of his statement was not my immediate concern.

‘If what this man says is true, then the scripture indeed hasn’t burned.’

That information was in the original work. In the original, the supposedly burnt scripture reappears later, reclaimed by Eliazer.

‘The problem is, how does this man know that the scripture didn’t burn?’

In the original, the scripture was meticulously hidden by a single person.

It was due to that one person who set the palace on fire and spread the false rumor that the scripture had burned.

‘Could it be this man…?’

“Your Grace, shall we leave? It appears Lord Clemens is also arriving.”

As Sophia said, in the distance, I could see Clemens returning with an auction house staff member.
The man in the white mask appeared and seemed to lock eyes with me, bending his knee slightly.

Yan blocked my front with one hand. Despite the visible hostility, the man seemed unfazed and spoke.

“Perhaps the little lady is not interested in such information. Then how about this?”

The eyes behind the white mask fixed on me, as if trying to see through the mask I wore.

“Maybe you’d be interested if it’s about your brother. That conman is cheaper than a hundred white foxes at two hundred thousand gold.”

He muttered softly, in a voice barely audible to others.

I took a sharp breath. The man in the white mask left before Clemens arrived.

‘Does he know that Clemens can translate ancient languages?’

“Who was that just now? What did he say to you?”

Clemens asked worriedly, apparently not expecting someone to approach me during his absence.

I quickly responded before anyone else could.

“It was nothing, right?”

I sought agreement from Sophia and Yan. They nodded, albeit with a somewhat uneasy expression.

Others agreed too, so Clemens seemed to have no further suspicions.

I remembered the man in the white mask again.

Who was he to possess Alonso’s scripture, which disappeared a year ago, supposedly in a fire at the royal palace?

I already knew the answer, though the idea seemed ludicrous. Only one person came to mind.