I quickly turned my head.

The woman’s crying was nothing compared to how noisy the surroundings were.

So much so that I thought for a moment I might have misheard.

As I surveyed my surroundings, I suddenly noticed something strange.

‘There are people wearing masks, and people not wearing them.’

I was able to quickly spot the difference between the two.

However, judging by the fact that the clothes of those wearing masks looked more angular and neat than those not wearing them, I could distinguish their status by the masks.

‘The people wearing masks are nobles.’

They probably don’t want their faces or status to be revealed. Commoners wouldn’t care about such things, so there would be more people not wearing masks.

Then suddenly, among the countless people, amidst the noise ringing in my ears, I heard the same crying sound again.

“My child, find my child! What have you done with my child?”

In the busy crowd coming and going, the woman’s bright brown hair caught my eye.

Her long hair, reaching down to her waist, was unkempt, sticking out in all directions and tangled.

I stopped abruptly in my tracks. Not realizing that the duke and Clemens were getting further and further away.

“W-wait a moment! It seems you’ve come here with some misunderstanding…!”

At the employee’s words, the woman suddenly raised her head. The moment I confirmed the woman’s face, my vision instantly went dark.

“Young lady, are you alright?”

It was Yan who had covered my eyes. I blinked blankly and raised my head.

“The lord and young master are waiting.”

“Diane!”

About five or six steps away, the duke and Clemens were looking at me. No, they were both striding back towards me.

The duke, with longer legs than Clemens, gently cupped my face.

“What’s wrong?”

Following him, Clemens also ran up and asked.

“What’s wrong, Diane? Is it too noisy around here?”

I looked at the duke and Clemens in turn. They sounded as if they were speaking from very far away.

“If it’s too much, go back first.”

“I’ll take her back and come again.”

The words about going back suddenly snapped me back to my senses. The reason I came here, the reason I came to this place.

‘I can’t just leave like this.’

“I’m fine!”

The duke, who had been showing full concern, furrowed his brow. Clemens, who had been looking me in the eyes, also rarely hardened his expression.

I spoke up bravely again.

“I’m really fine!”

I had to tell the duke and Clemens several times that I was fine.

Because the duke was about to threaten to go home again, saying this wouldn’t do, I eventually had to say once more, “I want to go with the duke!”, even though I didn’t mean it.

As if he couldn’t believe my words at all, the duke kept emphasizing.

‘If you’re scared, go first with Clemens.’

Clemens wasn’t much different.

“You understand me, right? If it’s even a little bit hard, you must tell me you want to go?”

“Yes, Clemens. I got it. I’ll definitely tell you.”

Only after getting my promise several times did Clemens sit down in the chair next to me.

The duke said he had a reserved item and went somewhere else, guided by another employee.

Right now, I was sitting in the VIP seats in the large auditorium on the first floor with Clemens.

Behind me, Yan and Sophia were standing side by side, and behind Clemens stood his aide who had been introduced as Gordon.

Only after confirming all of this did I manage to calm my heart a little.

The auction hadn’t started yet.

Looking at the empty stage, I recalled the woman I had seen earlier. The woman who had been crying out, searching for her child.

‘It wasn’t Rebecca.’

For a moment, seeing her back, I was reminded of Rebecca. It felt like my heart had dropped to the floor.

But looking closely, it wasn’t her.

The woman wasn’t wearing a mask. So I could tell more clearly when I saw her face.

‘I had mistaken her.’

Once I realized it was a completely different person, I could see the woman’s features, hair color, and build again.

The hair I thought was bright brown was actually a lighter shade of brown, and she was a bit smaller in build than Rebecca.

It was a face that looked like it had no more tears left after crying for days. All strength had drained from it, with dried tears stuck all over her eyes.

Yet the woman kept sobbing loudly.

‘Why is she looking for her child here? Did she bring the child here?’

It was so noisy earlier and there were crowds of people.

While our path wasn’t complicated as the staff cleared the way for us to enter and exit, I had seen other people being pushed around as they entered on their own without staff guidance.

‘She must have lost her child in the crowd.’

Recalling how desperately she was searching for her child made me feel uneasy.

‘I hope she can find them.’

The staff had gathered around, so they would help find the child. However, my gaze started to scan the surroundings.

Unconsciously, with a slight hope.

But there was no need to look around. Everyone entering this auditorium was wearing the exact same mask.

“Who are you looking for?”

“No, nothing.”

However, there were no other children like us in sight.

Perhaps that’s why other people kept turning their heads curiously to observe us.

Then I suddenly noticed a person wearing a white mask. The masked face had been turned towards me even before I spotted him.

‘Was he watching me?’

Judging by the overall build, it seemed to be a man, but with the hood and mask on, I couldn’t confirm his hair color, age, or anything else.

At that moment, applause erupted from the audience.

Turning my gaze towards the stage, I saw a rather large man climb up.

“Thank you all so much for your enthusiastic support−!”

I turned my head back to where the masked person had been. However, the person who had been watching me until just now was nowhere to be seen.

‘He was here just a moment ago. Where did he go?’

I looked around, but it seemed that person had already left. Finally, I turned my gaze back to the front.

The man who had come up on stage appeared to be the host. The host, with his plump build, delivered his greeting in an excited tone.

“Once again, I extend my deepest gratitude to all of you who have come to this auction prepared by our Kiki Group! To offer an enjoyable experience to you all who have taken the time to come here, I shall first show you my face and…”

Making his mask seem pointless, he playfully took it off to greet, then put it back on to greet again.

“So, is the quality of today’s items good?!”

The host’s long-winded greeting was abruptly cut off by one person’s question. It seemed other people had found the greeting tedious as well.

“Of course, of course! Those who have participated in our Kiki Group’s auctions before would know, what kind of people are we! We are the ones who live off the trust of our customers! Especially if you go to other auction houses, you’ll know. How we strive to deliver only cheap and high-quality items to our customers…”

“No, not that kind of talk, what about the item you’ve been advertising for the past fortnight! The elixir of immortality you mentioned!”

At those words, the surroundings instantly fell silent. It seemed everyone had come to this auction for the same reason.

I forcibly swallowed a sigh that was about to escape.

‘There’s no way something that grants immortality exists.’

Moreover, I had never heard of anyone becoming immortal by eating a snake.

Even if, for argument’s sake, such a thing existed, these people wouldn’t put out something so precious.

Yet these people seemed to believe such an absurd lie.

“Yes, that’s why I came!”

“Surely it’s not a lie?!”

“Hurry and show us that item!”

As one person started to argue, the surroundings quickly became chaotic. Amidst the murmuring crowd, the host showed no signs of being flustered.

‘He’s just looking at the people.’

Even as people were speaking up one by one, the host didn’t try to calm them down easily. Instead, he quietly waited for people to calm down on their own.

It was clearly effective. Gradually, those who had been speaking up closed their mouths and showed signs of trying to listen to the host’s words.

“Now, everyone, who am I? I am the leader of the Kiki Group, am I not?”

The host’s playful voice rose over the silence that had settled.

“I thought there might be some who would think that way. I will explain everything, so please wait. I will show you everything. Come now, instead of this, let me tell you something only you all will know. Didn’t we say that our Kiki Group has traveled all over the world?”

“Yes, you certainly did!”

“Now, now, please calm down− Among the items we’ve gathered today, this snake was the last to be discovered. And I discovered it personally. As soon as I saw it, I knew! Ah, that is it! The elixir of immortality!”

“So what exactly made you think that?”

“It vanished right before my eyes!”

I unconsciously gasped.

‘Vanished right before his eyes…’

“What on earth does that mean? Don’t tease us, explain more!”

“It’s exactly as I said. That white snake disappeared before my very eyes. In an instant, without a trace, you see.”

“If it disappeared like that, how did you catch the snake?”

“That wasn’t difficult either. It only hid its appearance, but I could still catch the snake with my hands! Ah, is it already this time? Now, please believe the words of me, the Kiki leader, and wait just a little longer! Everything has its order. Let’s start with the first item we’ve prepared!”

In the end, I couldn’t hold back the sigh I had suppressed earlier and let out a long one.

If its appearance suddenly vanished, it would match the description of a divine beast.

‘No, no. I don’t know yet. There’s still hope.’

That host could be lying.

I tried hard to calm my heart. There was nothing to be gained by panicking right away.

At that moment, an employee brought two drinks to us.

It was Sophia who received the cups. Then, a red energy entangled around Sophia’s hands before disappearing.

“Yes, it’s fine. You can drink it.”

Clemens immediately took the drink and drank it. I looked back and forth between Clemens and Sophia and asked.

“Sophia, what does that mean?”

“I just checked if there was any poison. You never know if someone might have slipped something in.”

At those words, I became even more confused. What Sophia had just done was simply hold the cups with the drinks in both hands.

So how did she check if there was poison or not?

“It’s not difficult, young miss. If you check the mana infused into the drink, you can easily tell if there’s poison or not.”

“Mana?”

Seeing that I still didn’t understand, Clemens casually added an explanation.

“You don’t know yet, little one. Didn’t they explain it to you?”

“I never had the chance to tell her.”

“What? What is it that I don’t know?”

“Ah, I used to work in a magic tower.”

…Huh?