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Mengdie was puzzled. Dika was driving up the price, making it even more impossible for her to buy the necklace, and yet he was apologizing to her? However, before she could wonder further, several wealthy lords and nobles, not under Dika's influence, began to react fiercely—
"Dika Lanxide Mul! If you have any dignity left as a member of the Lanxide Mul family, stop this disrespectful act! Miss Pierre (Mengdie: Who? Who is Miss Pierre? Is that... me???) already doesn't want to talk to you, and you keep bothering her!"
Dika snorted and retorted, "Mr. Berlinka, the misunderstanding between Miss Mengdie and me is just a small one. Please don't interfere with the private matters between me and my concubine."
This statement silenced the entire hall. Dika's philandering was well-known, and many had seen Mengdie and him enter together. If she truly was his concubine, their continued pestering would be ridiculous.
"Miss... Pierre... are you really this man's 'concubine'?" one of the bidders asked.
"'Concubine'???" Mengdie was confused. She thought hard, her delicate eyebrows furrowed, then lifted her head awkwardly and sincerely said, "Sorry... I don't understand the word 'concubine.' I can't read well. I just met this man today. He asked me to sign some papers, and I did. Then he said he could bring me here to find this necklace, so I followed him to this venue. This necklace is very important to me. I must have it."
Mengdie was so concerned about her necklace that she completely forgot she was posing as a member of the Pierre family. But her forgetfulness was irrelevant, as her words had already put Dika in an extremely unfavorable and publicly condemned position.
The crowd murmured in disapproval, seizing the opportunity to ridicule Dika, who usually intimidated them. The bidding lords and nobles straightened their backs, glaring at Dika with disdain. One of them couldn't wait and shouted—
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"Fifty-five thousand Sula!"
The price had risen by 110 times...
Past five o'clock, the crowded hall showed no sign of dispersing. Instead, more people kept coming in to watch the auction. The heated atmosphere almost made it seem like a war, not an auction. When the value of the necklace climbed to seventy thousand Sula, one of the bidders finally began to weigh the benefits.
"Alright, everyone, let's calm down a bit!"
The speaker was the middle-aged count. He stared at Mengdie's face, swallowing hard.
"Before I continue bidding, I want to understand the necklace's value. Please... quiet down a bit, give me some time?"
Including Dika, no one immediately objected. Perhaps they too wanted to know the necklace's "value."
The auction hall went silent, all eyes on Mengdie and the middle-aged count. Mengdie, still anxious on stage, couldn't keep calm for a moment, worried about someone buying the necklace.
"That... Miss Pierre..."
"Please call me Mengdie. And don't call me Miss!"
Before he could speak, Mengdie cut him off, causing some embarrassment. Amid the laughter, he coughed, still infatuated with Mengdie's face and long hair touching the ground, and slowly said, "Alright, Mengdie... Miss. I want to know, if I buy this necklace now and then conditionally return it to you, what would you do? Or simply put, what would you do for this necklace?"
The question was somewhat impolite in this context. However, Mengdie didn't view it from a "female" perspective, so she didn't find it inappropriate. She thought briefly and spoke clearly, "What's your condition? Say it. As long as you return this necklace to me, I'll do anything you ask."
"I'll do anything you ask..."
Mengdie said this calmly and confidently, but to everyone else, it sounded ambiguous. Would she really do anything for a mere necklace?
The count swallowed again, his body trembling with excitement. His gaze wandered from her face to her chest, waist, and legs, a greedy and uncontrollable voice escaping his throat—
"I... I just want you to... accompany... accompany me. Can... can you? I... I have a daughter, your age! If you come to live with me... you can be friends!... I really just want your company! No... no other intentions!"
Everyone understood his words. What daughter, what company? And no other intentions? His lies were transparent, and people sneered disdainfully.
However, Mengdie interpreted the question quite differently—
Hmm... he wants me to accompany him? And take care of his daughter? Let me think... Ah, that must be a butler, right? Taking care of the master's family, handling various matters, sometimes even acting as a bodyguard. So, does he want me to be his and his daughter's personal bodyguard? It makes sense, dignitaries often offend people, their lives always targeted. With my regained strength, I'd be best suited for a bodyguard role.
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