🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter – 04
Even during my engagement period, I—no, Luiza Mesena—had several men who were written as “lovers” but read as kept men.
Most of them were low-quality scoundrels, but they did share one thing in common:
They were extremely handsome.
Whenever Luiza Mesena appeared in a chapter, there were often illustrations of her surrounded by her lovers.
All of them were men hand-picked by Luiza for their looks.
The most handsome men in the Empire.
Luiza would buy them the finest clothes and shoes, play with them for a while, then throw them away.
So most of those relationships ended poorly—but there was one exception.
Only one man who did not have a bad ending with her:
Rudy Garco.
He was the owner of the gambling bar Luiza frequently visited—Rudy’s Night Tavern.
In some ways, he resembled Luiza: while she cheated on him with all sorts of men, he also gleefully cheated with various women.
His partners were usually the most beautiful women in the Empire—women who threw themselves into liquor and entertainment and frequented his gambling den.
Yes.
Rudy, like Luiza, was a collector with a refined sense for beauty.
He filled his tavern with rare treasures gathered from across the Empire and invited charming young men, so that the most beautiful women he wanted to see would flock to them.
And one of those women had been Luiza.
“You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”
Even when she caused a scene and broke up with him, he regretted losing her face, if nothing else.
“This face really is a rare one.”
A beautiful villainess is common in dramas and plays everywhere, but such a face is actually hard to cast.
Rudy certainly has an eye for beauty.
I stared at my reflection in the wine glass, then shifted my gaze to a man walking past us.
“Pretty.”
His lips drooped a little, which was a shame, but judging from the eyes alone, he had the kind of face perfect for the loyal supporting male friend beside the male lead.
When I said he was pretty, that’s what I meant—but Rudy, who had brought me a drink, asked:
“Do you want him?”
Want him? Was that a verb you could use for a person?
He wasn’t normal either.
“I’m fine without that kind of guy.”
That face was not my Romeo.
“Then… the one you want is still me, right?”
Rudy, with his lively blond hair, pointed at his own face with a bright smile.
A grown man acting cute—Alfredo, seated at the edge of the table, frowned deeply.
“No one compares to me, right?”
Well, to be fair, he wasn’t wrong.
Rudy was one of the most handsome men I’d seen in this tavern.
Pale skin, sharp jawline—he had a somewhat intense aura from his eyes, but when dealing with women, he’d smile sweetly, becoming instantly charming.
Still, he screams “playboy” from a mile away.
The type who would star as the philandering youngest son of a chaebol family in a daily soap opera.
In a modern setting, an agency would market him with roles like that—once he gained enough acting skill, he might transition to film, and honestly, he could even pull off a modern-day Romeo.
After all, Romeo only went to that masquerade ball (where he met Juliet) because of a girl named Rosaline.
Despite loving Rosaline so much he risked his life sneaking into the enemy family’s party, he then fell in love with Juliet, Rosaline’s cousin.
In a way, Romeo could be considered a playboy too.
The issue was—
This isn’t the face I’m looking for in a Romeo.
I looked at Rudy with mild disappointment.
“You looked like this?”
In the illustrations, he had seemed more like a clueless, childish type—but in person he was far too experienced.
This is why you need to see actors in motion and not rely only on concept art.
“What do you mean? Is it because my skin’s breaking out? I treated it, you know. It’s better now. Hmph…”
Rudy sulked. His whining made me miss Arno’s cold voice.
Honestly, if anyone fits the “cold male beauty” vibe, it might be Arno.
Except he had zero childishness, and if I asked him to act for me, he’d probably seize the entire theater and kick me out on the spot.
I shook my head at Luiza’s miserable life.
“But Luiza,”
Rudy rested his chin on his hand beside me and called out.
“Your image has changed.”
He plucked the quill from my hair and frowned.
“You were this easy-going before? And your tone is a little…”
“A little what?”
“Colder? You were always the icy beauty type, but back then you had a bit of bite. Now it feels like there’s a wall.”
A pointless but accurate observation. His sense for aesthetics made his intuition annoyingly sharp.
I quickly changed the subject.
“Be honest. Isn’t there a better place with better eye candy? The selection here is disappointing.”
Rudy grinned.
“Calling men ‘products’—Luiza, you really haven’t changed~”
“…”
“But you know ‘that place’ is strict with screening. Getting your butler inside won’t be easy. I’d let your servant in for free, but the customers hate that…”
“That place.”
He meant the most dangerous, risqué area of this tavern.
The place where Rudy auctioned off rare, secret items from across the Empire.
Luiza loved attending those auctions and buying luxury goods.
Rudy’s aesthetic wasn’t as brilliant as Luiza’s, but it was good enough that his items were both dangerous and beautiful.
And because she couldn’t stop buying things there, she eventually sold off the Mesena inheritance and became a notorious villainess.
She even lost her life because she got obsessed with one of Rudy’s “collectibles.”
Because that item… was the male lead.
The Empire’s First Prince—who had fled the imperial palace for certain reasons and was living through all sorts of hardships at twenty years old.
Luiza met him at Rudy’s tavern.
The moment she saw him, she said:
“How did that child end up working here? I’ll buy him.”
“He came up for auction a year ago. Customers bid, but I bought him back. Too precious to sell. He’s my personal collection now.”
Rudy refused.
And honestly, at the time, Luiza didn’t even have enough money to buy a slave.
Slave trading, of course, was strictly illegal in the Empire—but Rudy didn’t care.
Beautiful men attracted beautiful women. That was his business philosophy.
A lunatic.
This lunatic’s madness played a major role in Luiza’s death. Because that “collectible” would one day become the next Emperor.
I shoved a pouch of gold coins into Rudy’s hand to shut him up.
“Alfredo will wear a mask. Most guests wear masks anyway, right? For Alfredo…”
I pointed to Alfredo, whose expression had been rotten from the moment we stepped inside.
“Give him a rat mask. It suits him.”
A fussy city rat who’s easily frightened.
Perfect.
Alfredo’s face soured even more.
The city rat and the cat entered a dim underground room.
The candles were few, and black curtains sectioned the space, filling the air with a dangerous smell.
Alfredo grumbled, but stuck right next to me as if he feared losing me in the crowd.
“Isn’t that Luiza Mesena? The count’s daughter. The famous auction bidder.”
Someone recognized me despite the mask and whispered.
Alfredo pressed closer.
Was he worried about me?
“I will report every single improper act you commit with any man here to the young master!”
…He was just policing me.
I smirked beneath the mask.
“No need. Even with a mask on, everyone recognizes me. If I do anything here, the entire Empire will be dying to tear me apart.”
“…Tear apart? If anything, it would be the lady tearing others apart…”
Just then—
“Ladies and gentlemen! The auction you’ve all been waiting for is about to begin!”
A dwarf acting as MC shouted from the stage.
“You came at the perfect time, darling. The goods are great today.”
Rudy dropped onto the sofa next to me so heavily it sank. He grinned and popped a cherry into my mouth.
“Oh, those perfect lips~”
I looked into Rudy’s blue eyes beneath his mask.
Eyes that viewed people as objects.
When I slapped his hand away—
“Today, we have an extremely rare item. Rather than explain, we’ll show you. Item number 1!”
A large cage rose onto the stage.
Candles surrounding it cast a spotlight-like glow.
The dwarf tugged off the drape covering the cage—
Well-dressed nobles around us let out gasps of excitement.
Beneath the cloth was a slave, chained and bloodied.
Very slowly, the slave raised his head.
Golden eyes flashed.
The golden eyes I had been searching for.
The face I was searching for.
The male lead of this novel.
The future Emperor of this Empire—the one who would one day burn me alive in the streets.
“Beautiful, isn’t he? You want him, don’t you?”
Rudy whispered.
Around us, people moaned in admiration at the man’s beauty.
“How much should we bid?”
“1 million derks. That’s all I have. Should I go 500,000?”
“Wait. That spoiled lady will start the bidding anyway.”
They looked at me and snickered.
They were practically anticipating my bid.
The fallen duchy’s infamous daughter.
Extravagant woman.
They expected me to have no money left.
Over their voices, Rudy’s gentle tone floated in.
“Tight on money these days? I heard you earned some from auctions lately, but this must still be too much, right?”
“…”
“I’ll lend you some then. About 1 million derks—”
“50 million derks.”
“……!”
A collective sharp intake of breath filled the room.
40 million derks.
That was the amount Rudy bought him back for in the original story.
He said so himself in the novel.
So today, I brought 50 million.
It was the first amount of auction revenue that came in to me—I stayed up all night doing accounting to scrape it together.
After paying off small debts, it was all that remained.
Exactly the entire amount I got from selling my grandfather’s sword.
“Anyone going higher?”
I didn’t need to look to know their expressions. Shocked, all of them.
50 million derks was not money young nobles could spend in one night.
Nor money anyone expected the fallen daughter of a ruined duchy to have.
No one bid higher.
Not even Rudy.
I took out the pouch of gold and tossed it to him.
“I’ll settle the payment immediately.”
“……?”
Rudy opened the pouch that had hit his cheek, eyes widening as he stared up at me.
I pointed at the item I bought.
“Load him onto my carriage.”
It was a bargain.
Because the value of that “item” far exceeded 50 million.
The value of that “item” was my life.
