The Grand Auction finally drew to a close with the final gavel strike echoing through the hall like a death knell.
Kael leaned back against the plush sofa in the royal box, arms spread casually along the backrest, a quiet look of deep satisfaction on his face.
The mountain of treasures he had acquired — and the two most emotionally charged slaves of the night — now belonged to him.
He exhaled slowly, savoring the moment.
Diana rose gracefully from her seat, smoothing her dress.
“I’ll go complete the final arrangements for delivery,” she said, already turning toward the door.
Before she could take more than two steps, the heavy door to the private royal box swung open.
Elarion stood at the threshold, still partially hooded, his sky-blue eyes burning with barely contained emotion.
His gaze swept the room — first landing on Diana, then moving to Aurora, who sat frozen with her lips moving in silent, frantic mumbling.
Finally, his eyes locked on Kael’s hand resting possessively on top of Aurora’s palm, the prince leaning in close as if whispering something intimate.
Elarion’s jaw tightened so hard it looked like it might crack.
Diana’s purple eyes widened slightly in surprise.
“Elarion…”
Aurora flinched violently, like a cat caught stealing cream.
She shot up from her seat so fast the chair scraped loudly against the floor.
Her face flushed crimson with a chaotic storm of guilt, panic, and shame.
Her golden eyes darted between Elarion and Kael’s hand still touching hers, and she yanked her palm away as if burned.
“Elarion…” she breathed, the word coming out small and trembling.
The air in the royal box grew thick and suffocating.
Kael slowly withdrew his hand, his expression remaining perfectly soft and innocent, though the corners of his mouth twitched with hidden amusement.
Aurora’s face drained of color, then flushed with shame.
She yanked her hand back as if scalded and took a shaky step toward him.
“Elarion… It’s not—” Aurora’s voice cracked.
“I can explain. Please, listen—”
Kael slowly withdrew his hand from hers, his expression soft and almost concerned.
“Hero,” he said gently, as if the word felt strange on his tongue, “you came all this way probably because of Baron William and his wife, right? Don’t worry… we were able to save them.”
Diana watched the unfolding scene with cool purple eyes, saying nothing.
A faint, intrigued smile played at the corner of her lips.
Elarion ignored Kael completely.
His gaze stayed locked on Aurora, raw pain and fury swirling in his sky-blue eyes.
“William and Nadia,” he said, voice low and trembling.
“You know how much I respected them… but you let your cousin buy them like cattle.”
Aurora flinched as if he had struck her.
Her lips moved, but no sound came out at first.
When she finally spoke, her voice was small and desperate.
“I tried… I swear I tried. But Diana said the seals are already set. The only way to save them was—”
“—to let him buy them?” Elarion cut her off, his tone sharp with disbelief.
“You didn’t even try to inform me what was happening and decided to trust him instead?”
Kael leaned back slightly, watching the exchange with quiet fascination, though his face remained perfectly composed.
Aurora’s eyes filled with unshed tears.
She took another step closer, hands trembling at her sides.
“Elarion, please… I was trying to protect them. If they went to someone like that Marquess—”
Astrid, who had been standing silently behind Elarion, decided to intervene.
“Princess, let’s leave for now. We are in public. You both should think about this calmly.”
Kael’s eyes narrowed slightly.
His soft, almost gentle voice broke the tension.
“Hero… if it helps, I promise I will treat them well.”
Aurora felt like a bomb had exploded inside her chest.
She whirled toward Kael, her golden eyes blazing with fury.
However, Elarion had already lost it.
He could hear the mocking undertone beneath Kael’s innocent words.
His divine aura blasted outward, shattering the glass on the table in front of him.
His eyes burned like molten gold.
“You dare to mock me?”
Aurora’s face twisted with difficulty — guilt, fear, and desperation warring across her features.
She looked torn between rushing to Elarion and stopping the disaster unfolding in front of her.
Diana clicked her tongue in annoyance and sent a silent message to her father through a hidden communication artifact: If something happens to the prince in our place, the royal family won’t let this chance pass.
Kael felt his legs turn to jelly.
His back was drenched in cold sweat.
Elarion felt the curse tugging viciously at his core, devouring his mana as his rage burned hotter.
His fists clenched so tightly the bones creaked.
“Enoughhh—”
Astrid moved like a blade cutting through storm winds.
She stepped forward, her presence slicing straight through Elarion’s flaring divine aura in an instant.
Her glossy pink hair swayed as she placed a firm hand on his shoulder, her disciplined eyes steady and unyielding.
“We talk at the palace. Let’s go.”
Elarion exhaled shakily, the golden light around him dimming.
He turned and left the room without another word.
Aurora followed him immediately, her steps hurried and unsteady.
Astrid lingered for a moment longer.
Her gaze flicked to Kael, who looked like he was about to pass out.
The contempt in her eyes was unmistakable — pure disdain for the weak, trembling prince who had caused all of this.
She turned and left without a word.
Diana remained standing, watching Astrid’s departing back with a thoughtful expression.
No wonder she became the youngest Royal Knight Captain.
Even veterans struggle to match that presence.
The royal box fell silent once more, the shattered glass and spilled wine the only evidence of the storm that had just passed through.
The news detonated across the Crown like a bomb.
By the time the sun began to set, every street, tavern, and noble salon in the capital was buzzing with the same story.
Servants who had worked the auction halls whispered frantically to their masters.
Merchants who had lost bids spread the tale with bitter curses.
Nobles who had watched from their private boxes recounted every detail with wide-eyed disbelief.
“Did you hear? The trash prince bought Baron William and Lady Nadia — the hero’s own surrogate parents!”
“The Crown Princess sat right beside him the entire time and didn’t say a word.”
“He spent millions like it was nothing. They say the princess is the one footing the bill.”
“Some are even saying the Emperor might be considering marrying the princess to that mana-less boy instead of the hero…”
In the bustling markets, common folk gathered in clusters.
“The hero’s people… sold like cattle to the Void Prince?”
“If even loyal nobles can be enslaved so easily, what chance do we have?”
“First, the princess goes on a public date with her worthless trash, now this? The royal family has gone mad.”
The rumors twisted and grew with every retelling.
Some claimed Kael had threatened Aurora.
Others whispered that the Emperor himself had ordered the sale to test the hero’s loyalty.
A few even dared to suggest the princess had begun to favor her blood brother over her promised husband.
Back at the hero’s private palace, Elarion stood motionless in the center of his chambers, still wearing his armor. Get faster updates on g.com.
The heavy door closed.
Morgana and Charlotte arrived outside.
Charlotte’s sharp elven eyes immediately narrowed.
“Something happened,” she said quietly.
Aurora slipped in behind them, her face pale and drawn, the midnight-violet gown now looking more like a shroud of shame than elegance, and entered inside.
Astrid arrived moments later, closing the door firmly behind Aurora.
She took a deep breath and began explaining everything — the auction, Kael’s reckless bidding, the sudden appearance of Baron William and Lady Nadia as slaves, and Elarion’s explosive confrontation in Duke Neil’s box.
Morgana’s crimson eyes gleamed with disdain.
“Don’t you think the hero is giving too much importance to a kid who can’t even beat a mortal?”
Charlotte sighed, folding her arms.
“He must have felt inferior all of a sudden. You know… since he awakened, he was always the one others gave importance to. Suddenly, Kael is coming into the picture and making him look immature.”
Astrid’s voice was firm and disciplined.
“He should learn to control himself better. Otherwise, we won’t be able to stop the truth about his curse from spilling out.”
Inside the room, Elarion turned away from Aurora.
He began removing his chest plate and arm guards, the metal clattering heavily onto a side table.
His movements were stiff, almost mechanical.
Aurora stepped forward, voice trembling.
“Husband… please listen to me once.”
Elarion didn’t turn around.
His voice was low, cold, and filled with raw hurt.
“What more should I listen to, Aurora? You lied to me in the morning. Then you went on a date with your trash cousin. If that wasn’t enough, you let him play in the auction… to even have the audacity to buy my people.”
Aurora’s eyes filled with tears.
She took another step closer, hands clasped tightly in front of her.
“I swear I tried to stop it. I argued with Diana, I threatened her… but the slave seals were already set by Duke Neil. The only way to keep them out of worse hands was to let Kael buy them. I thought… I thought if they stayed with him, at least they’d be safe until we could find a way to free them through the Emperor. I didn’t know how to tell you without making everything worse. I was scared you’d lose control and—”
Elarion finally turned to face her.
The pain in his eyes was unmistakable.
“Scared?” he repeated bitterly.
“Or ashamed?”
The room fell into a heavy, suffocating silence.
Aurora’s breath hitched.
Tears welled in her golden eyes as she took another shaky step toward him, hands trembling at her sides.
“Elarion, listen to me first. I never lied to you…” Her voice cracked.
“I only went to convince Kael. But he didn’t believe me. He said I would hurt him again… so we made a deal. If I agreed to his request and acted as his loving sister for the day, he would cooperate with the purification. That’s why I went outside with him. Do you think I like being ordered around like this? Why do you think I did all this?”
Her face was pained, the proud Crown Princess looking more vulnerable than he had ever seen her.
The woman who was born to rule an empire, who rarely showed weakness to anyone, was breaking in front of him.
Elarion felt his heart clench painfully at the sight of her tears.
He had rarely seen Aurora like this.
She was always so proud — whether because of her birth as a princess of a mighty empire or her own genius — but she had always shown her soft, gentle side only to him.
Yet even as jealousy burned in his chest, the image of Baron William and Lady Nadia standing in chains refused to leave him.
His face twisted with pain as he spoke, voice hoarse.
“What have we done to deserve this, Aurora? First, an unknown curse turned me into a weakling who depends on others… then even the Goddess I served forced me to watch as the woman I loved was taken by an idiot who has done nothing to deserve her… and now the people who helped me like their own child are being paraded like slaves…”
His legs gave out.
Elarion slumped to the ground, the tears and despair he had been holding back finally breaking free.
Aurora immediately rushed forward, kneeling in front of him.
She pulled him into a tight embrace, her own tears flowing freely as she buried her face in his shoulder.
“We will overcome this, husband…” she whispered through her sobs.
“We will be happy again. I promise.”
They clung to each other in the middle of the room, both crying in each other’s warmth, the weight of the entire day crashing down on them at once.