Scarlet's Awakening

"Lead me there."

Talon shook his head at her command, "Your majesty, we cannot delay ourselves with this-"

"I just want take a look at the auction house, Talon." She said, cutting him off of his disagreement to her decision. "After this, I will leave with you… and Aqua… and I will not be distracted again until we reach our destination."

Talon opened his mouth but then closed it afterwards, he didn't have the heart to deny his queen any more. Even if he strongly advised her against it, she will still push through with it, a trait of hers that never changed. "Very well, your majesty… Please stay close to me and cover your face with the cloak. The people will easily recognize you if you don't."

"Okay... Now, lead the way."

Talon guided her through the streets of the capital city until they reached a tall building with a sign board on top saying Dhalohr Auction House.

"We're here, your majesty." Talon quietly said since there were people surrounding them. They were trying to be invisible and inconspicuous amongst the growing crown in front of the auction house so they both kept their head low especially Scarlet since her people will immediately recognize her when they see her face.

"Let me take a look inside." Scarlet said and Talon wasn't able to stop her again when she stepped inside the building. Talon sighed. He had no choice but to follow her quietly and protect her.

When Scarlet got inside, what welcomed her was a table on the center of the receiving area that looked like a receptionist's center.

"Welcome to Dhalohr Auction House. How may I be of help to you, dear customer?" the middle-aged woman behind the desk said smiling widely the moment she approached her area.

Scarlet cleared her throat.

What is she going to say?

To be honest, this is her first time entering this type of establishment, and Scarlet doesn't have any idea on what to ask or what to do!

"Uhh, I want to…"

"Do you have a membership token with you, ma'am?" the receptionist already deduced her gender through her voice so she started calling her ma'am now.

"Actually, I don't have one… yet."

"Then are you interested in purchasing our premium membership token, ma'am? It has a lot of benefits including-"

"Yeah, I want that, I want that…" Scarlet didn't let her continue about the whole benefits talk, because truth be told, she wasn't really interested.

All she wanted was to find out why the old woman would lead her here. Maybe she can find something that can help her understand Scarlet's identity better.

"I want to acquire a premium membership for myself. Can you help me with that?" .

The receptionist smiled. "Of course! The price for opening a premium account without expiring is 10,000 Gold coins."

Scarlet turned towards Talon who stood still like a statue behind her, "Do you have money? Let me borrow some, will you. I'll pay you later. Promise." She secretly whispered to his ear.

"You're a life saver." Scarlet smiled and winked at him. Talon only blushed and looked down, hiding the reddening of his cheeks.

"Please fill up this form and sign right here for authentication." The receptionist said after receiving the pouch containing the pouch of 10,000 Gold coins. Scarlet swiftly filled the form using her past lives' name and then handed it to the receptionist.

"Please wait here, ma'am. I'll be back shorty after getting the confirmation from our head office. You'll be receiving one of our 10 exclusive membership tokens today."

"Sure. Thank you. Take your time."

After what seems like 5 minutes later, the receptionist came back and in her hands was a rainbow colored glass token. "Thank you so much for acquiring the premium membership from our auction house. There's currently an exclusive auction going on inside the main hall. Do you want me to lead you there and bring you to your private booth to see?"

Scarlet nodded, "Please..."

The receptionist nodded and happily guided them inside their private booth that was right in front of the stage. "Is there anything I can get you, ma'am?"

"No need, I'm fine. Thank you so much for bringing us here."

The receptionist smiled politely. Even though her customers face was covered by a large luxurious looking black cloak, she doesn't feel the dangerous vibe around her that she usually feels around some of the auction house's guests.

She has a unique ability of judging a person's vibe through her intuition, you see. And they have never been wrong.

Never…

"It was my pŀėȧsurė, ma'am. I hope you purchase the items that takes your fancy. I'll be leaving you alone now…"

When receptionist finally left, Scarlet gestured for Talon to sit beside her. "Come here. Sit. I'm going to look at the item in this auction for a bit, then we'll leave this place immediately afterwards."

"No need, my queen. I'll just stand here behind you so that I can protect you better."

Scarlet shrugged. "Very well, suit yourself."

When Scarlet looked at the stage ahead, the item for auction at that moment was actually a lifeless doll.

But what made that doll special was its life-like appearance and its face!

The face was hers!

The doll looked exactly like her face in her past life!

"Ladies and gentleman, please don't be discouraged by this doll. Because this one, is a kind of its own!" The auction's master of ceremony said, hyping everyone up so that a lot of them will be tempted to buy the damn thing.

Scarlet, on the other hand was shocked, and horrified. How is this possible that the face of the doll exactly mirrored her former face!

"If you embed a battery in this precious doll using a magical stone as a battery, it will come to life! If you don't believe me, then shall we have a demonstration?"

The auction house' employees that were all women, wearing sėxy clothes, brought some magical stones over an embedded it inside the neck of the doll. Afterwards, the doll opened its eyes robotically and then started standing up.

The whole audience was delighted by this spectacle except for Scarlet, of course…

She angrily gripped the hand rest of her chair, almost crushing it around her fists. Even though the thing was an only doll, she still felt insulted for it for being treated as a lifeless toy.

She has her freaking face, you know! It's just… weird!

She feels like she was the doll that was being sold off while the doll was the one watching her in a private booth, doing nothing.

"800 Gold coins!"

Because she was so shocked and distraught about seeing her former face on stage she didn't realize that the bidding had already begun!

"1000 Gold coins," an old man with a bowl hat and an orc mask said.

"1500 Gold coins," said another bidder with an owl mask.

"2500 Gold coins," the old man bided again.

"3500 Gold coins," followed by the same bidder with the owl mask.

Seems like the people below are wearing masks because they all wanted to hide their identities from each other.