The blonde man steps down from the carriage and looks at the owner who is kneeling in front of him.

"Welcome your Highness. I hope my humble establishment is not too far below the praetor's standards."

"We'll see about that." the man responds.

Yikes.
This guy gives me the metaphorical shivers.

And apparently the same goes for Lia.
She shifts around nervously while squeezing me with both arms. I'd usually enjoy this treatment, but I just can't do that if it means a little girl has to suffer. And especially not if it's my little girl.

...

The man dressed in green velvet starts inspecting the lined up girls one by one, starting from the right.

The pattern seems to always be the same.
First he looks them in the eyes, getting way too close to their faces for it to be comfortable, then, after letting off a slightly disappointed look he half-heartedly looks at the rest of their face and body before moving on to the next girl.

They do their best to smile, but I imagine this guy's attitude makes that pretty hard, though this doesn't seem to be their first time being inspected like this.

It seems the man has the title of praetor. If I remember correctly that's some kind provincial administrator in antiquity, isn't it?

Anyway, his mood seems to get worse with each new girl he looks at until he finally reaches us, or rather Lia.

He's a bit more than half a meter bigger than her, so he has to kneel down to get a proper look at her eyes.
As he moves down, I look at my owner's face from below.
She stares at him with a blank expression.
I would have expected her to be frightened but apparently now that he's in front of her she's not nervous anymore.

I look over to him, expecting to see the same disappointment he displayed for all the others, but as he peers into her shimmering golden eyes, there is only one emotion that can describe his face.

Joy.

Pure unbridled joy.

That's what his face looks like.

"You. What's your name?" He asks.

"I'm Lia." She says in her typical monotone voice.

Wait, what?

"Come on, don't be silly now. What did I tell you about embarrassing me?" The owner interrupts while giving her a stern look.
"This is Aurelia. As your Highness can see, she's not quite ready to be sold, I'm afraid."
"Her manners are terrible and her behavior is like that of a street urchin. As you can see she can't even dress properly when told to."
"The only reason I let her come out today was your Highness' express order to show off all the girls, without exception."

Without a word the blonde man looks to the side towards the owner who, apparently terrified, takes a few steps back while lowering his head so far that he couldn't even see the praetor's face anymore.

"I don't care about her manners. Her eyes alone make her a fine offering on my visit to the Golden City."

"T-The Golden City?!" The owner asks with a surprised expression.

"I'm buying this girl." The blonde man says, ignoring the exclamation.

This isn't good.

The owner raises his head slightly, feeling confident because of the praetor's reaction.
"Of course! About the price..."
He rubs his hands.

"My treasurer will handle that." The blonde man says as he walks back towards the carriage.

"Very well then. I will arrange for her to be delivered to your grand villa this evening." The owner responds as he follows behind him.

Not 'very well'.
Not at all.

This guy just bought my Lia and wants to gift her to someone?
Not on my watch!

What I'm going to do about it?
Uh... I'll figure that part out later.

Lia looks down to me and smiles.
She doesn't seem too phased for just having been bought.