Chapter 55
He turned around abruptly and, making use of his high speed, went directly towards a distant figure who was most likely following him—catching the latter off guard.
Seeing him in high speed, the person in the cloak was shocked and quickly tried to flee, only to be tackled to the ground by him.
Oliver got straight to the point; grabbing the throat of the cloaked person, he asked with cold eyes.
"Who are you?" His voice was sharp and low.
"Why were you following me?"
He tightened his grip as the figure tried to shake off his hand and escape.
He threatened, "If you move too much, I'll directly crush your neck and kill you. Answer my questions and I'll let you live. Who ordered you to follow me?"
The flailing figure stopped moving around when his words were heard.
Seeing this, Oliver lessened his grip. Naturally, he had no intention to kill; he had never killed an animal, let alone a human before.
It would be weird if he suddenly became a cold-blooded killer.
He just threatened the person to make them stop; in this world, such killings were common, so a smart person would know when to surrender.
He said, "Let's take off your hood; I would like to see your face."
He used his other hand and directly removed the hood covering the person's head.
Wavy and shiny crystal blue hair emerged from underneath the hood…
His eyes slowly widened behind his mask as he saw the face of the woman.
[Ding! Lucia Vasa. Does the host wish to bind with the individual?]
'Lucia Vasa! What is she doing here!?"
He was quite surprised seeing one of the major characters of the novel right in front of him.
He swiftly declined the system and looked back at her.
She had ink-blue colored eyes which were strained at the moment and glaring at him; she had a small button nose and glossy pink lips, her skin was fair and devoid of blemishes.
She said in a low voice, "Let me down. I'll talk."
Hearing this, he came back to his senses and calmly released his grip on her throat. He knew she must have something to say to him if she followed him for so long.
Also, he did not feel good holding someone by their throat…
"Speak," he said.
He did not waver much and maintained a stoic persona while internally he was wondering if he should reveal himself or not.
In the end, he decided not to do so…
He was curious about her reason; why was she here and what was she doing here?
He could understand that she was probably here for the auction to sell the things.
"I-uhm, I am Lucia Vasa… Actually, the stone that you purchased, well, I am the one who put that on auction…"
She said, her tone faltering slightly, displaying her lack of confidence and hesitance.
"So what?"
Oliver questioned; so what if she was the seller? He had purchased the artifact now and was the official owner of it.
And not to mention, the auction house strictly forbade its sellers to directly approach its clients and demand things back.
This action of hers could give her a permanent ban from the auction circle for a lifetime—with her merchant status getting revoked as well.
She continued, "I am sorry, this may sound ridiculous and unrelated to you, but please listen to me for a moment. I know I am being a bother right now, but this is very important to me that I let you know of this."
Oliver calmly asked,
"What is it?"
Seeing that he was not leaving or attacking her again, Lucia was relieved; she told him,
"Actually, the stone you are currently taking with you is the family heirloom of the Vasa Family, an exorcist family in seclusion. I am not sure if you have ever heard of our name, but my family was very prominent some decades ago."
She paused before continuing, "But at the moment, although I feel ashamed to admit it, we have fallen and are now suffering to maintain our long-existing family. It has become a tenth of what it once used to be… the stone in your hands, I don't know why, but it's the heirloom that has been passed in my family from generation to generation…"
Her eyes turned somewhat desperate and moist; clenching her fist, she lowered her head.
"I beg of you… could you please return this to me."
Her body trembled slightly, displaying how difficult it must have been for a heiress to bow down to someone and beg for something.
"Unfortunately, that cannot happen—"
"Please! I beg of you, please! I am willing to put anything on line in exchange for it." She cut him and pleaded.
"Then why did you even put it up on the auction in the first place if you had never intended to sell it?"
He paused and asked something first.
"That… It's a complex story."
She narrated the story of how she came from the mountains and how the thing and auction happened to now.
So basically, to summarize, her father had realized that she had stolen artifacts from the household and was enraged and regretful.
He could not just come to the Mystic Purge Clan suddenly now, and it would take him a considerable amount of time to even reach them.
So, he used his connections and delivered her a message through which she came to know that the stone she had thought was useless and ordinary was actually her family heirloom.
Initially, she was shocked, but she trusted her father and asked the auction staff to give the stone back; however, by then it was already too late.
She felt that no one would buy that stone considering its lacking look and uses; she had just picked it up at random from the treasure vault while leaving her house.
Even she felt that the stone would not sell, but when she heard from her father that it was actually their family inheritance, she was shocked.
The stone was definitely not ordinary and was directly tied to the secret of the past when her ancestors were great exorcists.
She regretted ever auctioning the stone; at the same time, she was quite in awe that Oliver was keen enough to see through the special stone.
"Why were you following me secretly like this then? Why didn't you directly approach me?" He could not help but be curious.
"That… it's because of your suspicious get-up. You are dressed like a kidnapper… so…"
She spoke in a somewhat straight tone, leaving Oliver speechless.
Come to think of it, he was indeed dressed suspicious.
A black summer cap, a mask covering full face…
He shook his head of such thoughts and looked at her oblivious face.
'Sigh, why is she so naive…? Had she told this to a villain character, then it would have remained a dream to even get the artifact back.'
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Mlip· Apr 26, 2024
