Chapter 218: A quiet Hall?
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She only stared with that quiet god-level stillness that made the air feel smaller. If she was right, then this auction was no longer just business. It was the beginning of a blood story that would attract monsters far worse than Iron House.
Mira saw none of that high-domain meaning. She only saw the twins again, the way they moved, the way they looked beautiful while breaking men. Her jealousy returned in a short spike, then she forced it down again with a hard swallow.
I asked for cultivation access, she thought. I asked for power. She watched Vera and Vela and felt the bitterness twist. They got it first.
The fight’s last echoes faded.
Raka’s men held the perimeter.
The three disguised "maids" remained positioned, still calm, still disciplined, like they had been waiting for this day for years. Sekhmet’s questions about them clawed at the back of his mind, but he forced them to wait. Answers would come from Elena, not from speculation.
As if summoned by his need, the hall entrance shifted.
A new presence walked in.
Not hurried.
Not panicking.
A presence that carried the quiet authority of a house spine.
Elena arrived.
She stepped into the hall and stopped, eyes sweeping blood stains, broken stone, pinned escorts, coughing spectators, and the young master at the center of it all.
Her expression did not explode into emotion.
It tightened into calm annoyance, the way a commander’s face tightened when she returned from managing one child and found a war happening in her living room.
She looked at Sekhmet.
"Young master...," Elena said, voice steady.
And the hall, for the first time since Dickoff asked his question, felt like it had finally regained a center.
She said, "... I know you have many questions. Let’s clean up everything. Before we talk."
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.
.
.
.
A few moments later... The auction hall emptied completely, but it did not empty peacefully.
It emptied the way a room emptied after someone shouted "fire" in a crowded theater. People did not sprint in panic, because sprinting created stampedes, and stampedes created deaths, and deaths created investigations. In Slik City, investigations were a second kind of punishment. So the crowd left fast but controlled, guards forming lanes, clerks shouting procedure, contract attendants insisting on signatures, and buyers clutching their sealed cases as if the cases were their own hearts.
Mira handled the last wave like she had been born behind a podium. Her voice stayed firm as she issued final reminders, not because she enjoyed authority, but because she understood that authority was a wall. Auri stood close, shoulders relaxed, eyes cold, and whenever someone lingered too long or tried to glance toward Sekhmet’s side with curiosity, Auri’s stare alone made them remember they had somewhere else to be.
Even Lily was forced out by the practical reality of politics. Her guards insisted on escorting her home because rumors would spread instantly if she stayed alone inside a building that had just hosted open violence. Lily argued in a low hiss, furious, eyes burning as she looked at Sekhmet.
"This is not finished," she said.
Sekhmet’s reply was quiet. "No."
Lily’s jaw clenched. "Do not die before I hold you accountable for being reckless."
Sekhmet’s lips twitched faintly, almost amused. "That sounds like motivation."
Lily looked like she wanted to kick him, hug him, and scream, all at once. Then she left, escorted, still turning her head twice as if checking whether he was still standing.
Raka’s men cleared out next. They did not leave like guests. They left like a cleanup crew. They dragged broken benches back into place, wiped obvious blood smears off the stone where spectators might have seen too much, and made the aftermath look less like war and more like a "security incident." When the last of them withdrew, Raka himself stopped near Sekhmet briefly.
"Master," he said, voice low. "Your order."
"Outer watch," Sekhmet replied. "No noise. No attention. If anything comes, I want the warning before the strike."
Raka nodded once. "Yes, master."
He left with controlled speed, disappearing into the service routes like he had never existed.
That left only Dawn House people.
Contract clerks finished their last stamps and fled like mice. They did not want to be near Dawn House after seeing too much. Clerks survived by not being memorable. Guards followed them out, because guards did not want to be the ones who got blamed if a noble decided to create a lawsuit out of bruised pride.
Finally, Mira and Auri moved to secure the ledger room and lock the transfer vault. Mira’s face looked composed, but her hands were tight. She had witnessed a house war in the same place she had just hosted the most important event of her new contract life. She wanted power, yes. But power had a smell, and tonight she had smelled it clearly. It smelled like blood and paperwork.
Mira bowed to Sekhmet before leaving the hall. "Young master," she said, "the transfer seals are finished. The hall is clear."
Sekhmet nodded. "Go rest. Tomorrow might be a busy day."
Mira hesitated as if she wanted to say something else, then swallowed it. She left with Auri behind her, both of them disappearing into the internal corridor that led toward Dawn House’s connected wing.
The three "maids" who had fought did not linger either. They moved with Elena’s subtle hand signal and vanished into side routes with Mira and Auri, their faces returning to servant neutrality so quickly it made Sekhmet’s skin itch. That was not normal. That was training. That was preparation.
Then the hall was finally quiet. Not empty, quiet. Real quiet. The kind of quiet that made every sound too loud.
The lanterns hummed faintly. The containment lines in the floor glimmered and then dimmed as they returned to passive state. Dust floated where earlier bodies had slammed into pillars. A faint metallic smell of blood lingered in the air, but not fresh enough to trigger hunger. It was just enough to remind Sekhmet that he had bitten in public.
Sekhmet stood near the center aisle and turned toward Elena.
She was walking toward him now, steps calm, posture straight, face unreadable.
Elena did not look shaken by what she had just witnessed.
She looked mildly annoyed, as if she had returned from stopping Bat Bat’s tantrum and found someone rearranging the furniture with violence.
"You handled it well," Elena said quietly.
Sekhmet’s gaze narrowed. "I handled what was in front of me."
Elena’s eyes stayed steady. "Sometimes that no one can do, if they are not talented."
Sekhmet exhaled slowly. His anger had been simmering since the first moment he saw those "maids" move like trained combatants. It had been simmering since he realized his house had hidden layers of hidden truth he did not know or understand.
It had been simmering since Dickoff asked his question, because the question had been a knife meant to cut his stability.
Now the hall was empty.
Now he could finally ask the questions that had been piling up in his chest. But before that, he activated Blood Eye again, not because he wanted to threaten Elena, but because he wanted the truth.