Chapter 327: Bringing a Nightmare to Life
Although I tried to fight it, I couldn’t stop the horrid memories that came flooding back to me as I recalled and relived the moment when I was put up for auction. I felt so uncomfortable that it took all of my willpower for me to remain seated in my seat.
Just a little longer, Mila...
I told myself inside my mind as I tried my best to remain calm by taking in deep and slow breaths. I told myself that things had changed, and that the prince had saved me. Things were not the same as they were last time, and that this auction had nothing to do with me. I could feel everyone’s excitement as they waited for the next item to come up on stage to be auctioned off.
Every single item that was brought onto the stage seemed rare and very valuable. At the signal given by the host that the bidding may commerce, many people put up their hands to raise the bidding price. I didn’t have enough knowledge of the arts, history, or anything related to the various items to appreciate their true worth. I was so panicked and nervous by that point that I could barely concentrate on what was going on up on the stage and nothing interested me.
Prince Leonard sat quite calmly next to me. The lights were quite dimmed with the only light shining from the large stage in front of us. With the mask hiding his face, I couldn’t see the prince’s expression; however, I could sense that he wasn’t at all interested in all the items that had been put on auction so far. It felt like he was waiting for something that would catch his interest. An uneasy feeling formed in the pit of my stomach although I didn’t know what the prince was waiting for.
After a few paintings, a few sculptures were put on auction. After that, the theme seemed to shift from the arts to rare historical objects such as vases and small pieces of furniture. Suddenly, the theme changed again when a skeleton of a rare animal was brought up onto the stage. Just looking at the dead remains of what must have been a very rare animal made me cringe inside and I had to quickly look away.
“Are you bored?” the prince asked as if he could guess what I was feeling.
“Not really...” I replied softly.
It would have been rude of me to tell him that I wasn’t just bored but I also felt uncomfortable. The only experience that I had related to an auction was when I was up for auction to be sold off as some kind of human slave. Needless to say, that wasn’t an experience that I wanted to remember or relive.
“This is really dragging on. It should be over soon. Just hang in there a little longer, Mila,” Prince Leonard said as he took my hand into his.
I was glad that it was dark and that I had a mask on so that he wouldn’t be able to see the distressed look on my face. It also meant that I didn’t need to bother faking a smile to reassure him. The prince’s thumb skimmed along my knuckles as he began playing absentmindedly with my hand. All the while, I just prayed that time would just speed by and that this event would come to an end. Since this might be something related to the prince’s job or a task that he had to do, I didn’t dare do anything that would distract him from his duties.