"That's impossible, Kore Ann, we're not build like that, only weakling,"
"I am very much a weakling right now, Nguyen Russo," I mocked myself. "My body is weak, it shuts down, I call that fainting. I can't have the luxury to rest, I can't give myself that, I have to work and work to try making some money, but even then… even with all my work… it doesn't pay out. My body is going against me and shutting down, but when it does it's like a cease from existing for a while and that's… something I can't have enough of," sigh.
"Apollo be damned, don't say that, you can't die!" She gasped horrified. "You are a Mortimer, Kore Ann, snap out of it."
A bitter and sarcastic laugh left my throat, "And where did that get me?"
"I need you alive," she growled and I frowned.
She doesn't need me, I know that for a fact, "And why is that?"
They shared a look and turned to me, than he handed me an envelope and I already knew it in my damn bones what it was about. It's an envelope I saw in the counter destined for me about nine days ago, but I've been ignoring. "My mom got me to hand you this, Kore," he said, anxiety glowing in his face.
"Please," she stopped me, holding my eyes, her eyes glowing with a kind of desperation that made my heart ache, "read. It's different this time." Clenching my jaw, I looked from her to the letter and opened the damned thing.
I frowned, "The only thing that's different is that your mother ain't going as far as your grandmother and begging me to take part in it, so you can get more richer on my behalf while selling me off to Hecate-knows-who-and-what-realm. She is trying to play it nonchalantly in her debut as the organizer, I can tell. She speaks as if your family haven't been on my ass trying to get me to be on board of them selling me off since I was underaged and 15, Nguyen Russo. It's October 4th."
"She wants them to believe she's playing nonchalantly, but she is not. She is taking a different approach with the letters only, but it's different!" He insisted.
"I'm still not interested," I hissed. "I won't sell myself off for nothing."
"They will pay you," Justine exclaimed.
I blinked, "What?"
"We will pay you if you take part on it, a percentage out of the price you will be sold off to the highest bidder," he exclaimed in his business-male tone that I always found profoundly annoying.
"Do you even hear yourself? I don't want to sell myself to,"
"You can easily make 50 million mhajs, Kore Ann," he said firmly.
That was enough to make me halt, my eyes widening with the whooping amount of money he just blurted out, "Aren't exaggerating a bit too much?"
"No, look," he sat down with his endlessly long legs crossed, "this year's Valentine's Auction will be on October 19th and it'll be different, Kore. My mom, as you said, is debuting as the host and organizer for the first time since she took over the family business' after the last year. The highest bidder so far, in all of our auctions was my mom, she was sold to my dad for 900 million, around 60 years ago and she's trying to break that record. She ended up as my dad's mate, so she's taking a leap of faith this year, she is going all out, and to be honest with you, she is so determined that she bought the most wanted nine girls in Zekarr and Arient."
"Now she wants the most wanted girl in all the nine realms, you!" Justine added dramatically. "And she is also threatening us that if we don't get you in this, she won't let us get married."
So, she does need me. "You are mates!"
"But in my family, they don't give a shit," Grégórí sighed. "She wants us to prove we are worthy. Me of inheriting everything in the future, and Tine of being married into our family, because she may be rich but we are in different levels in Zekarr. Even if we weren't, they don't care about the financial side of the wives of the males of my family, because we can't be auctioned, not like my two sisters will in the future. And since I want Justine to be my wife beyond the mating bond, and I'll do everything to inherit the family business, she will work with me, so she also has to do this mission with me, and to her luck, the most wanted lady in all the nine realms is her loft mate."
"Just marry in secret," I snapped, "becsuse that's a load of shit."
"Secret marriages are not recognized in Zekarr, Kore," she groaned. "we thought about it, because you're unbendable, but it wouldn't work. He's mate, I want to marry him and be with his family like I am with my own, so there's no other choice. Which is why, we are begging you to reconsider. This could be that once in a lifetime chance, Kore."
"You will be the diamond of this auction, all eyes will be on you, they will go all out to get you, because you are a Mortimer, and in Crims'On that may be a bad thing, but out of here it ain't. Not even in Hell is, if you want to know."
"I don't want to know," I scowled at the idea.
"Well, either way, the auction stars from lady number 1 and ends on lady number 10, the 10th is the diamond, and the highest bids always go to the 9th and the 10th ladies. This year, mom is making sure we'll break her record. So, she will rise one hundred million mahjs in each lady, which I shouldn't be telling you as I signed an NDA about it, but it seems like you need to know to possibly rethink that depressing decision of yours. There's always only one lady from Crims'On, except on my mom's aucton because she was the diamond, and the Crims'On ladies are always the diamonds, so you will be number 10, the last one."
Justine nodded, "The 1st girl will be auctioned for more than 100 million mahjs, Kore, because the price always rises above the first bid, always. By the time your turn comes, the bid will start in 1 billion mahjs, and it will rise exponentially and probably go up to 10 billion if not more, because you are a Mortimer after all and more than 50 out of the 100 males handpicked for it by Grég's mom will be there solely to buy you, to marry you and get their offsprings out of your bloodline. Because that's what the auction is about, it's not sex slaves or some shit, it's to buy them a suitable wife from an important bloodline, so they can have even stronger children, and there ain't no bloodline more wanted than yours right now."
"All the other nine girls will be getting 10% out of their selling price!"
Clenching my jaw, I narrowed my eyes at him, "Are you open to bargain?"
Their eyes widened as if they had not expected me to say that, "Yes!"
"I know how much I'm worth, and it's a very, very high price, and if I'm the one on the line of fire here, plus I know the power my bloodline carries, just as I know the weight and the consequences of it. I want more than 10%. I want 20%!" That could make me a billionaire, I might never be able to be one aside from this.
Justine gasped and he swallowed, "15%!" He tried to bargain.
Bitch, I'm more expensive than that. "25%, non-negotiable!" I exclaimed.
"That's a bloody lot," they gasped.
"I ain't asking for 50%, am I? I could, given how much I know for a fact that your family craves to sell me. I'm asking for 25%, that's ¼ of what you will get by selling me off to whoever. What if a bastard from Hell buys me? That would be a fucking nightmare, so, this is damage control. If you can guarantee me that I will get 25% and be a billionaire by doing this stupidity, I will do it!"
They shared a look and back to me, "I promise in the name of the Styx."
I grinned mischievously, "Well, you better back that up, sunny boy."
"But you have to promise too!" He exclaimed.
So, I raised my hand, "I promise, that if you keep your promise, and give me 25% of the profit you gain on my back, with no taxes or complaints, I will be as agreeable as possible and take part of this year's Valentine's Auction to sell me off to marry a stranger, in the name of the Styx."