Chapter 12

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Chapter 12 – Festival Of Disasters And Pleasures (2)

[ Distria threw Arne in the middle of the banquet hall. He wiped his hand with disgusted eyes as if he had touched an insect. The lights of the colorful chandelier and the eyes of many people reached Arne.

She was so ashamed that it was unbearable to see herself with a leash in front of so many people.

As he took his seat, loud music rang out, announcing the start of the banquet. After a while, the sound of the playing stopped slowly.

Lepis stood up. He slowly recited the sins of the Kingdom of Sorano.

“One, the beginning of the war. To celebrate Sorano von Arne’s coming-of-age ceremony, the messengers sent by the Carwen Empire returned as cold corpses. The Carwen Empire did not respect the lives of the Imperial citizens. We stood up against the provocations of the Kingdom of Sorano.”

Lepis’ low-pitched voice echoed through the banquet hall.

From the moment he started speaking, Arne could not hide her astonishment. The ferocious eyes and anger-filled voice rang out like a scream.

She definitely had never been like that. In the first place, she came here following the wishes of the arrogant envoys with the Empire on their backs.

She felt unfair.

“Something like that… Kugk.”

Her body sank to the floor with a strong force pulling her collar.

Arne was furious at the situation where she could not do anything. In resentment, she hit the floor with her fists. It was fists filled with anger, even that hand was crushed and blocked by the knights.

When the situation was quickly settled, Lepis sighed softly and continued his quiet recitation again.

“Two, development. We won the war and freed the envoys who died unfairly. Third, punishment. The great emperor, His Majesty Distria, showed mercy not to kill Sorano von Arne. Her sins were paid for by the nobles of the Kingdom of Sorano. She was humbled and served as a servant in the Emperor’s bedroom.”

Shouts and applause erupted.

She heard half of what Lepis had said for the first time. Her mind went blank. Her vision shook, and her eyes gleamed. Arne was outraged that the end of the kingdom of Sorano was defiled with falsehoods and fabricated facts.

She glared at Distria, who was sitting, as she pressed her weakened heart once again.

’I have to live. We have to rebuild the kingdom… I have to correct the wrong facts.’

Biting her lip, she couldn’t do anything if she died so she would have to live somehow. Arne pretended not to notice her collapsing heart.

Distria looked at her change of heart. It was funny though he didn’t like it. It was like finding hope with her eyes shining even in the worst situations—being useless in the face of overwhelming power.

He didn’t like Arne, who kept bothering his heart.

He then stood on the podium. Seeing that, Lepis glanced at Distria with uncomfortable and anxious eyes.

“Tonight, I am going to lend the servant of the Emperor’s bedroom for one day to auction.”

Auction.

He was putting her up for auction.

Arne lost her sense of reality once again at the sight of Distria auctioning her one night. Her resolve, which she had just made up on, became more distant. People’s voices sounded like mumbles. She felt a sly gaze staring at her. She wanted to cry.

Even if she was a king, she was a person, too.

Arne found her own fault. What did she do? She couldn’t understand what she had done wrong and why she should be treated like this. What did she do to the Carwen Empire?

She murmured in the air a question that no one would answer.

…Should I live like this?

What will be at the end of this? If I endure like this, will the day come when I will be okay…?

The questions she mumbled with no answer scattered in the air and disappeared. ]

The crime that Lepis was reading sounded hazy. As in the original story, the destruction of the Kingdom of Sorano was not Arne’s fault.

No, it was my fault for knowingly opening the door. I knew, though I didn’t stop.

Like Arne, I could not be forcefully dragged, but I acted as if I was dragged away forcefully. It was a country that was going to perish, anyway, and it was a country that was destroyed.

I didn’t feel guilty.

So, I rationalized it by looking for the reason for their death. I felt a little guilty, maybe because of their loyalty to Arne, who swore allegiance to her on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony. Regardless, they were destined to die. Even though I could also stop Rewan’s if I worked hard to stop it, I didn’t want to.

Distria approached me while I was lost in thought. He grabbed my leash and made me raise my head.

Ah. Was there a scene like this in the original?

As a habit, I thought back at the original story.

Unlike her, who found the situation terrifying, it was important for me to follow the original story to enjoy multiple people and multiple relationships. After all, that was why I came here.

“Tonight, I am going to lend the servant of the emperor’s bedroom for one day to auction.”

Perhaps, I was going crazy.

A life filled with pleasure although it wasn’t bad either. In a sense, having someone who needed me gave me tremendous value. Maybe, it was a relationship that only coveted my body… Still, it didn’t matter.

The banquet of the nobles began with loud applause. At the same time, I was led out of the banquet hall by the handmaidens.

Arne’s overnight auction was held at the Masquerade Hall. The number of invitations to the masquerade was limited, and just getting them meant that they were one of the highest-ranking nobles in the Empire.

I was wearing clothes that were different from before. The top was a thin fabric that went down to the navel, revealing the chest, and underneath was only a garter belt and underwear.

Even if I moved a little, my chest popped out, and the maids organized my clothes on my behalf. Outside the banquet hall, the sound of exploding fireworks resounded. After the fireworks were over, people’s laughter was heard along with the light music.

I was tied up for a long time. I dozed off and woke up, dozed off and woke up and repeating. Soon, the noise ceased and a light came into the place where I had been confined.

My eyes frowned because the light came on so suddenly.

Although I wasn’t used to the bright light yet, I was already dragged out by the hand that grabbed me and dragged me violently.

“Then, let’s take a look at the item.”

Distria’s voice reached my ear.

At the back of the main hall, where the masquerade was in full swing, people were lining up to participate in Arne’s overnight auction.

In this place where silence fell, only the sound of the nobles raising their hands could be heard. Despite the low starting price, the price had risen nearly ten times from the beginning. Some looked over my body with lust-soaked eyes.

Even under the mask, the ugly eyes soaked with lust were not easily covered. That look wasn’t bad. Rather, I was slowly enjoying those gazes.

The strange part was that the people were looking at me with dull eyes. Because this novel was written aimed at the process of Arne’s horrendous destruction, most men would lust after seeing Arne.

There were descriptions that they took part in this auction either to impress the Emperor or to show off their wealth to buy her at a high price. People who wanted to buy Arne for various reasons gathered in one place.

That alone was enough to excite me.

As the auction came to an end, the number of nobles raising their hands gradually decreased. In the original story, the person who bought Arne was probably a young nobleman whose name was not known, or was it a wealthy merchant near the seashore…?

[ Arne was alone in an unfamiliar room. She turned her head at the sound of the door opening. A stranger came in. He had a pretty decent appearance.

Finding Arne trembling in fear, he smiled brightly. It was a smile full of kindness. He slowly approached Arne. His benevolent appearance gave her a little hope that maybe he wouldn’t covet her.

“I guess the Emperor really hated you a lot?”

A low ridicule.

Arne’s expectations plummeted to the bottom. Here, she had no one but Rewan on her side. Even then, his life and death were uncertain. Even though she didn’t want to cry, she was in tears. It was so painful and lonely. She cried her eyes out.

The man, who slowly approached and made eye contact, wiped Arne’s tears.

“Take it off.”

He said. ]

“The bid was successful.”

While I was thinking about this and that, the auction was over. Those who couldn’t buy my night couldn’t easily take their footsteps as if it were a pity.

I wandered through the auction house, glancing at the successful bidder approaching me with an anxious gaze. Only the candles in the dark space swayed to and fro in the light breeze. He called the host and whispered.

The host clapped his hand to grab people’s attention.

“The gentleman in the butterfly mask has something to prepare, so you can do whatever you want for about an hour.”

Dark eyes gleamed in the darkness. Even though the people who were not interested in Arne’s one night had left, not a few people remained. There were many cases of orgy parties between the nobles at the masquerade ball.

Come to think of it, in the second half of the original story, Raphael often drugged Arne and brought her to a masquerade ball for an orgy. Arne hated it, but there was nothing she could do to stop it.

She consoled herself that it was not of her own will that she was drunk on the drugs, though she eventually broke down.

Of course, she would. On the other hand, I rather enjoyed the orgy party.

Before joining the novel, I had met people a few times and had an orgy party in a hotel. Even though there were no drugs, it was pretty good—the beastly without time to think quickly or even to rest, without measuring the appearance and body.

However, in reality, finding people you could trust was the most difficult thing.

Though it was an orgy party with trusted people, the photos were leaked, and they demanded a relationship with that as an excuse. Of course, it didn’t matter who I am with, but the disgusting look of having the upper hand in the relationship was difficult to bear.

Despite the fact that I haven’t had an orgy party since then, I liked it quite a bit.

It was also when I was getting tired of having s*x with Raphael, so a new stimulus was needed.

The host went out, and all the candles went out. As if waiting for the light to go out, I felt a hand touching me.

It was the beginning of a long yet short night.

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