Someone among the ground floor seats raised their hand along with his index finger.

“A hundred and ten!” shouted the auctioneer. 

Another one from the ground floor audience performed a similar gesture. 

“A hundred and twenty!”

Another one raised their hand but with four of their fingers.

“A hundred and sixty!”

Someone from the box seats raised their hand but it was balled up into a fist.

“Three hundred and twenty!”

Another person raised their hand from their seat and the auctioneer cried out the increment of the bid. In no time at all, the bid was already raised all the way to five hundred gold. The product herself, Rynn, was unresponsive to all the bids she was hearing. No, it was more accurate to say she was reacting but just in an opposite way. The higher she heard the numbers became, the more she was curling up as she cupped her ears.

“Your Highness, why aren’t you bidding?” Iora asked, bouncing her apprehensive gaze between Rynn and Augrun.

“Be patient, Iora,” it was Sera who answered. 

“Patient? The bid is only going up fast and you’re not going to do anything?”

“Not yet,” Augrun said. “The time will come. We have to wait.”

“I did my waiting… Your Highness. I waited a whole year for this. I have waited long enough.”

“And you will wait some more. Bidding now is pointless and detrimental. You can’t be revealing your hands too early in the game.”

“Then when will you start bidding?”

“When the bid slows down.”

Gradually, the pace of the bidding did slow down but not by much. The bidding price for Rynn was already at two thousand in just a matter of minutes and it wasn’t stopping.

“Two thousand two hundred to the lady in box eight!” the auctioneer shouted. “Two thousand two hundred!”

There were a lot of murmurs of dissatisfaction and mumbling of shock no one was raising their hand to raise the bid. As much as they wanted such a beautiful virgin slave for their own pleasure and twisted whims, they loved their wealth even more. They were rich but their wealth wasn’t bottomless. They could only seethe in frustration and bear it all in contempt silence as they watched the bid rose higher than they could ever afford.

“Two thousand two hundred, going once, going twice—”

Augrun finally raised his hand with three fingers straightened. “Now’s the time,” he told Iora.

“Two thousand five hundred to the gentleman in box five!”

There were gasps of awes and astonishment. All eyes were turned to box five, trying to get a good look at whoever was raising the already ridiculous bid. Those curious gazes quickly turned into gossip in the form of murmurs and whispers.

“Two thousand five hundred, going once, going twice….” Before the auctioneer could conclude the bid, his gaze moved so suddenly, almost as if someone shouted for his attention. “Two thousand seven hundred to the gentleman in box eleven!”

Augrun raised an eyebrow and gazed over to box eleven, where a gaudily dressed man had his hand raised. The man was none other than Baxter, who was directing a smirk at Augrun all the way from his seat.

“It’s Baxter…” Sera blurted out in a quivering tone, barely controlling her rage.

“He wants Rynn too?” Iora asked.

“Nope,” Augrun answered. “He just wants to raise the bid.”

“Why?”

“He’s a spoiled piece of shit, that’s why.”

“Two thousand seven hundred, going once, going twice…”

Augrun raised his hand again.

The auctioneer’s gaze snapped to Augrun’s box almost too instantly. “Three thousand gold!”

Baxter’s smirk deepened and he threw his hand up again.

“Four thousand! Does the gentleman in box five wish to continue?”

Augrun raised his arm with his hand curled into a fist, incurring another astonishing reaction from the others.

“Eight thousand!”

Baxter was chuckling now and he raised his hand again.

“Ten thousand gold!”

The people in the hall were all alternating their widened gazes between box five and box eleven.

“This bastard…” Iora spat. “He dares…”

“It’s alright, Iora. I will get Rynn, no matter the cost,” Augrun said and raised his hand.

“Eleven thousand!”

Almost too immediately, Baxter raised the price.

“Twenty-two thousand!”

Augrun snorted and raised the price too.

“Thirty thousand!”

“Thirty thousand…” Iora muttered in disbelief. “Your Highness… that’s a little too much…”

“Don’t you want to save your friend?” Augrun asked as he raised his hand the moment Baxter did. And the price went up again.

“I do but that’s too much money! I can never repay so much!”

“Repay? Why would you need to repay me?”

“W-what do you mean why?”

“Dear Iora, you are already the Prince’s bride and consort,” Sera said with a proud smile. “The way it is, the Prince’s money is yours too.”

“W-what? Y-you jest, Miss Sera…”

Augrun nodded.

“Please, just Sera will do. We are equals after all.”

“Y-yes… Sera.”

The bid was continuing on, approaching fifty thousand. And the smirk on Baxter’s face was only getting wider as the price went higher.

“Your Highness, what Sera said… it’s the truth and nothing but the truth?”

“Do you doubt her?”

“No,” Iora answered resolutely.

“Do you doubt me?”

“...”

“Well, fair enough. I would doubt myself too but… know this, Iora. I may hide secrets from you in the future and I may not answer some of your questions but I will never lie to you. Of course, that applies to you too, Sera.”

“I know, Your Highness. You’re too odiously and shamelessly honest.”

“Is that a compliment?”

Sera grinned faintly. “If you want it to be, Your Highness.”

Augrun chuckled. “I can’t wait to make you scream and beg for mercy tonight.”

Sera’s grin faded off. “See? Odiously and shamelessly honest.”

“I guess it is a compliment after all,” Augrun said and raised his hand.

“Forty-five thousand to box five! Going once, going twice— Fifty thousand to box eleven!”

Iora rose from her seat and leaned off the railings of the box. “One hundred thousand!” she shouted.

The whole hall turned silent at her shout, even the auctioneer. They weren’t shocked that such a high price was bid. Higher prices had been bid for less impressive goods. They were shocked that the one who made the bid was an Ogre and the renowned Iora no less. Everyone knew who she was. As far as all of the others were concerned, she was a slave, or she was supposed to be. The auctioneer was glancing at box five, barely able to meet Augrun’s gaze due to the angle.

“What’s wrong?” Augrun asked in a blatant faux obliviousness. “You heard my woman,” he said out loud. “She raised the price.”

While fornicating with slaves was an open fact, it was also a sensitive topic that one only discussed or talked about behind closed doors amongst close friends. Never had any person admitted outright in front of such a large presence of influential individuals that they were sleeping or having a relationship with a slave.

“O-of course…” the auctioneer said and nodded. “One hundred thousand! Going once, going twice…” the auctioneer looked towards box eleven.

Baxter was smirking as wide as ever. He threw up his arms, both of them, surrendering his bid.

“Sold!” the auctioneer announced. “To the gentleman in box five at a hundred thousand gold!”

The hall erupted into a round of thunderous applause. The applause seemed to shake Iora to her senses. Her eyes widened and her mouth gaped open when she realised just what she had done. She turned to face Augrun like an unoiled creaky cogwheel.

“Y-Your Highness… I… Please forgive me,” Iora said, stuttering. “I don’t know what came over me. I was just—”

“You were just spending your money to save a dear friend of yours. Nothing more, Iora.”

“Your Highness…”

“And if you wouldn’t mind, just call me Augrun.”

“Augrun? Truly?”

Augrun nodded. “Truly, Iora.”

“We haven’t known each other for long.”

Augrun smiled. “There are a few people that I have known for a long time. I thought know them well but as it turns out, I barely know them at all… I don’t believe time absolutely dictates familiarity, intimacy, or forwardness.”

Iora looked at Sera. “What about her? She still addresses you as Your Highness.”

“Well, I have asked her to call me by name but she’s stubborn.”

“That’s not true, Your Highness,” Sera baulked. “It’s because I’m your maid.”

“You’re still my maid because you’re stubborn.”

Sera rolled her eyes and gave up on the argument. Her gaze reverted back to its solemnity when she saw Rynn being wheeled backstage as another item was brought onto the stage. “What happens now?” she asked. “When can we go get her?”

“Unfortunately, we can only retrieve her when the auction is over,” Augrun answered.

“You’re serious? Can’t we go get her now?”

“Not if we want to break the rules.”

“But you’re the Prince of Demons. Why do the rules matter to you?”

“It doesn’t, Iora, but think about this carefully and calmly. I’m not adhering to the rules because it protects me. I’m adhering to them because it protects your friend. Sure, I can just rush in and retrieve her but that’s a great risk I’m putting on your friend there and why waste all the effort until now?”

“But—”

Augrun pulled her into an embrace abruptly. “Patience, Iora. No more ill fate shall befall on her, I promise you. Do you not trust me?”

Perhaps Augrun had caught her in her weak moment, Iora returned the embrace and more, hugging him tighter than he was. “I trust you… Augrun. It’s them that I don’t trust.”

“Trust their love for money, Iora. I have paid a huge amount for her. They will surely have a high evaluation of me from now on. They will make absolutely sure no harm comes to Rynn if they wish to retain my patronage. This is the power of money.”

Hearing his words, Iora’s embrace loosened on Augrun and she breathed reassuringly. “Thank you, Augrun… Thank you. Thank you… Thank you so much…” she kept repeating her gratitude as she was smothering her lips on his shoulders.

 Sera leaned in and stroked the back of Iora’s hair. “It’s alright now, Iora. All is well now.”

Slightly taken aback by Sera’s affection, Iora turned towards Sera with a bewildered expression.

“Don’t look so surprised now, Iora.”

“You’re suddenly being so nice to me, should I not be?”

“Then I apologise for the times and moments that I was mean to you, Iora. I was… presumptuous and jealous… I thought you were just…”

“A bitch?”

Sera was bewildered to hear that but her perplexity lasted for only a moment before it turned into a knowing smile. “Yes, I thought you were just a bitch who was latching on to His Highness for reasons befitting of a bitch. But… you weren’t a bitch. I misjudged you. Forgive me.”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind if she was a bitch. I would have courted her nonetheless.”

“Of course, you would, Your Highness. I have absolutely no doubt about that,” Sera chaffed and shared a deep kiss with her Prince.

“I’m right in front of you two, you know?” Iora pointed out.

“Oh, sorry,” Augrun said and gave Iora the same deep kiss.

Instead of pushing him away, Iora sighed in her heart and embraced the kiss by wrapping her arms around Augrun.

****

The auction finally came to a close after two hours more of intense bidding and feigned astonishment. Augrun and his women were then guided to a reception room where buyers would receive their purchases, hence the name of the room. The quality and size of the room were dependent on the amount the buyers spent and since Augrun had spent the most money on a single item, he was given quite a luxurious and vast room. Augrun had already made the payment immediately after being escorted to this room with a chest full of gold, drawn from the treasury vault through the use of a small portal. Augrun instantly sat down on the sofa provided along with Sera but Iora insisted on standing. There were even refreshments but Iora refused to have a drink too. She was just standing in the room and fidgeting. 

When the door to the room was opened, Iora was already moving before Rynn was even led in. And when Rynn was led into the room by two male attendants, Iora beamed into a smile, which quickly turned into a grimace when she saw the chain-leash around Rynn’s neck and the slave crest on her chest. It was the last straw when she saw Rynn weeping with tears streaming down her cheeks. Iora’s fury rose to tremendous heights and she lunged at the attendants. However, she found herself being spun around and pulled into Augrun’s arms before she knew it. Everything happened so fast and she didn’t even know when Augrun got between her and Rynn. Judging by the attendants’ astounded expressions, they didn’t know either.

“Forgive my woman,” Augrun said to the two. “She’s just a little excited.”

The attendants nodded their heads and went along with his dubious explanation. 

“Rynn, it’s me!” Iora shouted. “Rynn, it’s Iora!”

The despairing-looking Beastfolk girl with cat ears and tail looked up from her down-trodden gaze. Contrasting her mental state, she was wonderfully dressed in a black lace lingerie gown that allowed a very obscured transparent view of her naked body underneath but no one was staring at her body. No one in this room dared nor had the interest to, no one except Augrun of course. 

Rynn’s gaze was raised and she was staring at Iora. She blinked repeatedly in disbelief. “I-Iora?” her voice was coarse and rough. She was given enough food and water but she had barely used her voice for a long time until now.

“Yes, it’s me, Rynn.”

At Augrun’s gesture, they took off her leash and Rynn dashed right into Iora’s open arms with a speed that no one in the room was expecting. Rynn and Iora went tumbling to the floor together as they wrapped each other in a tear-filled and sobbing embrace. One of the attendants looked about to intervene but Augrun told him off with his gaze.

“You may leave us,” Augrun said. 

“But sir, the Slave Crest is still incomplete. A master has yet to be designated,” said the attendant.

“Is it? And what happens if the Slave Crest is left incomplete?”

“It will disappear after an hour. If you wish to have another Slave Crest apply on your slave, there will be an extra fee.”

“But nothing terrible will befall on the girl, no, woman?” Augrun corrected himself. Rynn did look young from a distance and from the picture but now that he was seeing her up close and personal, she exuded the physical countenance of an adult.

“No, sir.”

“Well then. You may leave us now.”

The two attendants exchanged brief glances towards each other before bowing. “We’ll be waiting by the door if you need anything, sir,” they both said and promptly left the room.

“Who are they?” Rynn asked after she had calmed down from the reunion with her long lost friend and that took a good ten minutes before either of them finally stopped weeping and sobbing.

“The lovely lady there is Sera,” Iora answered. “She’s a good friend.”

“And the… man?” Rynn pointed at Augrun hesitantly. Her whole body was trembling as she was staring at him. 

“He’s… um…”

“Your new master,” Augrun answered bluntly and got to his knees right in front of Rynn.

Rynn’s eyes widened and her shoulders trembled at those words. She began curling up and squirming away from her apparent new master.

Iora glared daggers at Augrun. “Would it kill you to have some tact?!” she screamed as softly as she could at him.

Augrun ignored Iora’s piercing glare and took Rynn’s shivering hands. She shuddered violently at the touch from Augrun. She was too frightened to even instinctively retract her hand. Augrun simply smiled ambiguously at her and kissed her gently on the back of her hand. 

“And you’re my bride and consort.”

Iora crumpled Augrun’s collar and pulled him to the side. “What the fuck are you doing!?”

“Explaining the circumstances of the reality she’s in?”

“Couldn’t you have done it in a gentler way?!”

“What’s not gentle about that? It’s not like I tore off her gown and fucked her right here and now?”

Iora’s fist blurred from everyone’s view but Augrun’s and it reappeared in the wall beside Augrun’s face, completely buried in it. The door flung open and the two attendants from before came storming in. The sight they saw before them was certainly more than a cause for alarm but Augrun tossed them a pouch of gold coins and gestured for them to leave the room. The attendants bowed their heads hesitantly and left the room reluctantly.

“You are despicable… You’re just as sickening as them!”

“I have never claimed otherwise, Iora. I have never claimed to be a saint or an angel. I have been nothing but honest about my intentions to you ever since we met. Shouldn’t you stop being surprised at this point?”

“Is that not all just an act you put on to blend in with the darkness but you truly meant well underneath that?”

“That’s just your own misconception, my dear Iora. I am a very bad man that does and has done a lot of bad things. I’m not a hero, Iora. I’m the Prince of Demons, what do you expect?”

“D-Demon?” Rynn gasped in horror.

Augrun nodded at her. “Yes, I’m a Demon. The Demon Prince, to be precise. I love that moniker. Now, can you get your hands off of me? I’m sure we can continue this kind of rough play when night comes.”

“So… we truly are nothing more than just your sex slaves in the end. And don’t you dare say that we are not your slaves.”

“But you are not slaves.”

“Then let us go!”

“I won’t and I don’t need to. You’re not slaves. You are free to come and go as you please.”

“W-what?”

“You heard what I said, Iora. I have never tried to stop you from leaving the tower or the Abyss Valley. You didn’t even try asking if I remember correctly.” Augrun looked at Sera. “And I thought you’re the presumptuous one.”

“Yes, and you’re the most unassuming of all, Your Highness,” Sera retorted.

Augrun chuckled. “I love you too, Sera.”

After glaring at Augrun in the eyes for a few intense seconds, Iora eventually released her grip on Augrun’s collar and stepped away.

Augrun tried to comfort Iora by stroking her head but she swatted his hand away.

“Don’t touch me…” she muttered. 

Augrun ignored her words and reached out his hand again. This time, he caught her hand that was about to slap his hand away. With a smile, he kissed the back of her hand. “You’re so adorable, Iora.”

“Making a fool of myself is adorable?” Iora spat and pulled her hand back. 

“Well, it is to me.”

“You’re an awful person.”

“And who was the one that was screaming for more from this awful person?”

Iora’s face turned red and she turned her face away. 

“I-Iora… is he truly a Demon?” Rynn asked.

“He is…”

“And he has… bedded you?”

Augrun burst out laughing. 

“Yes, Rynn. I have surrendered my virtue to him,” Iora nodded.

“W-why?”

“Because I’m his woman and so are you now…”

Rynn’s mouth was open but no words came out of it.

“And he promised to help us find Kara and rescue her.”

Rynn widened her eyes and looked at Augrun. “He did?”

Iora nodded.

Suddenly, the fear and dread in Rynn’s eyes were gone. She approached Augrun slowly and bowed at him. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you, master. If Iora’s virtue isn’t enough, take mine too. Please, just find and save Kara. I beg of you, master.” She would have got to her knees if Iora hadn’t stopped her right then and there.

“Rynn, you don’t need to go that far,” Iora said.

“But surely he’s expecting something from us, right? I mean he’s not even putting the Slave Crests on us. What else could he be wanting from us?”

“Your love and affection, Rynn,” Augrun said. “You’ll only need to give me your heart, proverbially speaking.”

“I will, master. I definitely will.”

There was so much conviction in that shivering and soft voice of hers that Augrun couldn’t help but smile warmly at her.

And then, a loud grumble echoed across the room. It came from Rynn’s belly. She crouched down and covered her belly with her face turning beet red.

Augrun tittered. “Well, what do you know, it’s supper time.” Though it was already around ten o’clock at the night.