"Are you sure that you want to go against my family?" asked Jake as if the family he was a part of was common information.

Aiden hearing him, ignored him at first, as he had no idea what this person was even talking about.

What sort of family was he even part of that he should be afraid of it.

A founding family?

Aiden didn't think so as this person simply didn't emit the aura of an elite. In his mind, he was at most part of a high-level family.

He was still better than what Aiden was currently a part of, but he didn't mind it too much. He knew that his family probably wouldn't do anything over a single item.

"Are you ignoring me?" asked Jake as he got closer to Emma and Aiden who were currently sat still watching the stage.

Hearing him say that, Aiden simply raised his hand, not caring about his approaching behind.

The voice of the succubus resounded in the Ravenwood Pavillon once again.

"33000!"

Jake also raised his hand.

"Let's see if you even have the funds to go against me, ahaha," said Jake laughing a little noticing that Aiden was dead set on not answering his taunts.

After all, Aiden didn't want to have any problems with anyone, which is why he decided not to add to the little taunts that he was currently receiving from Jake.

In his mind, it was simply better to let him talk alone without responding even once.

Emma seemed to be of the same opinion as she also didn't respond to him, ignoring Jake at the same time.

Then, it became a bidding war as Aiden and Jake both raised their hands one at a time, it was now at a price of 50000 Credits, and none of them were slowly down.

Maybe Jake was coming close to spending all of his money but he didn't let it show on his face at all.

This battle between the two of them continued until 60000 Credits where it started to slow down as even the succubus was starting to question what was happening in the VIP Suite.

'Are they in a war of some sort?' she thought, however, she had a smile just thinking about the profits that they were currently making.

Then, Jake having just raised his hand once again, the price was now of 61000 Credits.

Aiden seeing this decided to raise his hand one last time. 

If Jake continued, he would stop and simply wait for another item as he started to feel bad as he was currently using almost all the money they had on a skill that was good but had a lot of backlash to its use.

In fact, Aiden didn't even know if he could use it as the succubus hadn't even revealed the mana use.

However, Aiden was sure that he had enough to at least make use of it one time. Also, most of his skills didn't depend on mana either so he didn't need to use the rest of his mana for other spells.

So, he raised his hand one last time, not caring about whether or not he would win this bidding war.

The worst-case scenario was that he could the money for another item. It was just that he didn't know if there was going to be another skill that he would be able to use.

"62000! Would this be the final price?" said out loud the succubus, keeping the tension in the room.

Then, she waited as usual a couple of seconds, but no hand was raised.

"Is this it?" she asked once again to make sure, looking in the direction of the VIP Suite.

***

"Did you see his face, ahaha," said Emma, laughing as she came out of the Ravenwood Pavillon.

"You'll hear of me soon," said Emma imitating the voice of Jake after Aiden had won the item at a price of 62000 Credits which wasn't low in the least.

In fact, Aiden wasn't happy with what happened, he had used all the money that they had. And it was all used by a single person on a single item.

"...Emma," said Aiden, unhappy with what just happened. "I'm sorry."

Emma who was currently joking realized that Aiden wasn't proud of what he had done.

"Sorry about what, just make sure to keep your promise to me," said Emma smiling.

She was happy, Aiden who hadn't shown emotions for one full month, was currently frustrated.

He had only smiled briefly after the challenge and there he was once again, showing emotions.

It might not seem like much, but to Emma, it was a big step forward.

Aiden, hearing what Emma had just said, nodded.

"I know, that you didn't mind, but still I'm sorry. I used all the money we had, and only on one item," he said, knowing that he had gotten a little stubborn with the bidding war.I think you should take a look at

He hadn't shown it, but at some point, he wanted to show Jake that he also had money.

He had tried his best not to do anything, and he had succeeded. 

Not responding to the taunts or anything of the sort.

But, he had reacted in another way, he hadn't made the decisions because of the emotions that he had been feeling.

Even if he hadn't shown them, he had felt them while Jake was talking down to him, he had been frustrated for a long time and it just helped relieved some of that frustration.

"Aiden, just remember that you can talk to me," said Emma, not understanding the overreaction of Aiden.

It had only spent money, it wasn't like he had killed somebody that she loved, so why was he reacting so strongly to what happened?

The first thing that came to her mind was what happened one month ago which cause that change within him.

"Y-yes, sure I'll try," said Aiden, realizing bit by bit that maybe Emma wasn't part of the people that would betray him in a heartbeat.

***

"So, how was the auction," asked Maelis, coming back from the meetings she had with some of the other families which were taking part in the tournament.

Both Emma and Aiden didn't want to reveal that someone named Jake seemed quite displeased with their attitude and that he might want to take revenge.

So, they had both decided that the decision, at the moment, was to lie to her.

"Everything was fine, right Aiden?" she said, slightly hitting him.

"Uh, yeah... right, everything was great no need to worry," said Aiden looking up to Maelis.

However, Maelis wasn't dumb, just looking at the expressions on both of their faces, she knew that something had happened over there.

Especially for her, it was easy to tell whether or not Emma was lying or not.

"Emma, nothing happened?" asked Maelis once again, with a tone that seemed to suggest that something did happen.

"Yep, nothing," lied Emma as if everything was normal.

"Aiden? You wouldn't lie to me right?" she said looking at Aiden directly in the eyes.

The look which she currently had was different from everything else that Aiden had previously experienced.

"No, nothing happened, don't worry."

Maelis who had hoped that at least Aiden wouldn't lie was disappointed.

However, she had noticed that ever since coming inside this room, the look in his eyes wasn't as emotionless as before.

It seemed like whatever happened at the Ravenwood Pavillon, maybe wasn't all that bad.

Aiden seemed to be a little better even if it wasn't a big change. It was still something to take note of.

But she still couldn't let it go, she knew what had happened from meeting with one of the families.

"Then, if nothing happened. Why did a high-level family come up to me saying all sorts of accusations," said Maelis, still gazing at the two of them.

'How did he know what family we were part of?' thought Aiden as he hadn't revealed any information regarding that matter.

In fact, he still didn't know the family of this Jake person. 

So, how and when, did Jake learn about it?

"That's weird," said Emma, still lying.

It seemed like Emma would never the truth even if there was proof against them.

"Honestly, I don't really care about what the two of you did, but next time, just tell me the truth. It's not like something bad happened, you only outbid his son," said Maelis.

'So, she knew all along, huh?' thought Mia, not really minding it.

"Sure, next time, we'll tell you the truth. Right, Aiden?"

'Truth, huh? Can I tell them the truth?' he thought inside his mind, not caring about the situation unfolding in front of him as he mindlessly responded "Yes".

'I wonder what they would do to me if they knew the full truth,' thought Aiden, remembering his previous thoughts about what would happen.

He remembered thinking that they would simply send him to the Nightshade family, but he wasn't so sure that would happen as he looked at both Maelis and Emma.