“The remaining payment will be made as agreed,” Orren said lightly. “One piece of your future.”
Isolde almost laughed when she heard that.
“One piece of my future? What is that supposed to mean? Are all your final payments this abstract?”
Orren said softly, “A traded item must be met with equal value. A unicorn is a one-of-a-kind sacred beast. Exchanging it for a possibility you were meant to have is entirely appropriate.”
“Perhaps it is a narrow escape from death. Perhaps it is a victory. Perhaps it is someone who would have stood on your side.”
“Once the trade is complete, that future will belong to me.”
Isolde’s gaze darkened slightly.
That was troublesome.
Gold could be earned again. Items could be stolen.
But the future was different. It could not be seen or touched, and if she lost it, she might not even know what kind of ripple it would create.
She hated uncertainty.
She hated it very much.
Isolde looked at Orren. He stood there with his elegant little bow, every movement proper and polished. Aside from his strange clothes, there really was nothing to criticize about his manners.
“You may take your time to consider,” he said. “We wandering merchants never force a sale.”
The moment he finished speaking, the black contract suddenly dropped from midair. A ring of tiny teeth grew along its edges.
[Final Payment Countdown, 10 minutes.]
[If payment is not made in time, compulsory collateral will be activated.]
[Available Collateral, Ownership of Sylvain Castle.]
Isolde fell silent.
They never forced a sale.
They simply committed time-limited robbery.
Impressive.
She said nothing. Instead, she pressed a hand to the [Secret-Seeker Button] on her cuff and tried to use it to search for possible loopholes in the contract.
[Secret-Seeker activated.]
[Searching contract…]
Layer after layer of tiny text rose from the dense writing on the parchment.
Isolde narrowed her eyes and quickly read down the page.
[Contract Clause 37, Upon the death of the buyer, the remaining debt shall be borne by the buyer’s lawful heir.]
[Supplementary Clause, The heir must inherit the buyer’s title, bloodline, and estate at the same time to be considered a full debt successor.]
Isolde’s eyes paused.
A loophole. There it was.
She had indeed gained authority over the castle.
But she had not inherited Valen’s title, his bloodline, or his estate.
At that thought, Isolde felt a bit uncertain.
Did directly dismantling his body count as inheritance?
Ahem. Not important.
Strictly speaking, she did not qualify as a “full debt successor.”
She had simply killed the homeowner and taken the house.
Was that inheritance? No. That was a forced transfer of title.
Isolde’s mood improved at once.
Sure enough, no matter how shady a contract was, it still feared someone reading it word by word.
She continued reading, and gray light flashed again.
At the very bottom of the parchment, a line of text so small it was almost invisible slowly emerged.
[Special Goods Supplementary Note, If the goods carry hidden risks such as a lingering final wish, curse backlash, or faction pursuit, the buyer has the right to redefine the final payment within seven days.]
[If the hidden risk affects normal use of the goods, the buyer may require the seller to provide one free post-sale service.]
After reading it, Isolde’s lips slowly curved upward.
So this was not a debt collector coming to her door.
This was customer support.
Isolde looked at Orren with calm leisure and spoke gently.
“Mr. Orren.”
Orren said, “My honored lady?”
Isolde raised a hand and tapped the parchment.
“I just noticed something rather interesting.”
The smiling face on Orren’s mask did not change, but his voice grew a touch lighter.
“Contracts are complicated. There will inevitably be some unimportant additional notes.”
“Unimportant?” Isolde’s smile deepened. “A lingering final wish. Curse backlash. Faction pursuit.”
She looked at the Mooncrown Unicorn.
Gray-blue sacred light still flowed slowly over its ruined coat. The horn on its brow was wrapped in black lines, like a piece of white jade eaten through by mold.
“This one has all three.”
Orren went quiet.
“What you sold me is not ordinary merchandise. It is a legendary body carrying a final wish, a curse, and a risk of confiscation.”
“According to the contract, the final payment is suspended for seven days.”
She paused, then continued.
“And you are required to provide one free post-sale service.”
Orren said nothing.
The little teeth along the edge of the black parchment clicked twice, as if even the contract had not expected to bite its own master.
Orren slowly straightened.
His neck made a faint crack. The smile on his white mask curved once more.
“My honored lady, your secret-seeking item is quite special.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
Isolde said calmly, “Your wandering merchant contracts are also quite special.”
“The writing is smaller than ants, and the traps are packed tighter than a needle’s eye.”
“Unfortunately,” she brushed a finger over her cuff, “my eyesight is still decent.”
Lia stood behind her and added calmly, “My lady’s eyesight is indeed better than Duke Valen’s.”
Isolde fell silent.
There was really no need to dunk on the adopted father who had already left the board.
Orren chuckled under his breath.
“You are much harder to deal with than Duke Valen. He never read contracts.”
Isolde said softly, “That is why he is dead.”
Orren said nothing.
That was somewhat hard to argue with.
The ten-minute countdown still hung in midair. A moment later, however, the blood-red numbers suddenly flickered.
[Contract Dispute triggered.]
[Final Payment Countdown paused.]
[Inspection Period activated, 7 days.]
[Seller must fulfill one post-sale obligation.]
[Post-sale content shall be proposed by the buyer within reasonable limits.]
Orren sighed and gave a slight bow.
“Then, my honored lady, what post-sale service would you like me to provide?”
Isolde did not answer right away.
She walked to the Mooncrown Unicorn’s body. The sacred beast was already dead, but its eye sockets still held a dim moonlit glow.
She seemed to hear countless distant wails, carried from the snowy depths of the Northlands.
In the end, all of them had been pressed into this broken body.
No wonder its final wish was not forgiveness.
Isolde lowered her eyes for a moment, then said, “I need to think about it. You can stay here for now.”
Orren paused slightly. Even the corner of his painted smile seemed to stiffen.
Isolde glanced at him.
“What? Not satisfied?”
As a man who had fooled countless customers, this was the first time Orren had been cornered by a young lady.
Not only was he not angry, he seemed rather pleased. He watched Isolde and spoke in a low voice.
“Of course not. I only hope my honored lady will make her decision quickly. Time, after all, is one of a merchant’s most valuable assets.”
Isolde’s tone was firm.
“That is your problem. My future is valuable too. Besides, I am your client now. If you want to collect the final payment smoothly, you had better work at my pace.”
After saying that, she added unhurriedly, “And I won’t house you for free.”
Orren said, “?”
Isolde said, “Lodging fee, protection fee, meal fee, service fee.”
“Oh, and your mobile shop is parked in front of my door. That requires an additional parking fee. We’ll count that too.”
Orren’s voice sounded half amused and half helpless.
“My honored lady, you have a gift for business.”
“Thank you,” Isolde said lightly. “You were my inspiration.”
She withdrew her hand and looked again at the remains of the Mooncrown Unicorn.
“Don’t worry. I won’t drag this out too long. This thing is not ordinary merchandise.”
“It has a final wish and a curse. Asking me to name a post-sale request at random right now would be impulsive, not rational.”