Reborn As The Minor Villain In A Romance Fantasy Novel

Chapter 259: Rich Sugar Mommy

Amber’s shoulders slumped visibly as they reached the backstage area, her entire posture radiating defeat.

She was genuinely sad about the fact that even before she had gotten the chance to bid properly, she had lost the weapon she’d come here specifically to acquire.

Fifty billion royals... The number was so astronomical it had ended the auction before it even began.

"Don’t be so sad about it." Villy said sympathetically as she walked beside Amber.

She was wearing a lion mask decorated with a golden mane, which was quite big and almost comical for her small stature. The oversized mask kept slipping slightly.

"I’m sure you’ll get another opportunity to acquire a powerful weapon in the future."

The tiny pixie Pooch floated cheerfully around Amber’s head, wearing a very small mask of its own that was almost impossibly tiny. "Villy is right~ You don’t need a super strong weapon to be truly strong~ All real power comes from the heart~"

The pixie struck a cutepose mid-air.

"Do you guys really believe that...?" Amber looked at the two with bright, hopeful eyes as her disappointment began disappearing, touched by their encouragement.

"No." Both Pooch and Villy said simultaneously in flat tones as they walked forward, completely deadpan.

Amber’s hopeful expression crashed and she slumped back down once more, feeling even worse somehow.

The announcer was standing professionally in front of two doors ahead of them. One door was golden and ornate, the other was red and simpler.

He waved at their approaching group with practiced politeness.

"Ah, thank you all for participating in today’s auction..." The announcer said as he leaned forward to shake Selene’s hand in congratulations. "The Boss said I should organize your purchased goods and have them sent to your regular private storage room."

"Thank you for the service." Selene said pleasantly without actually taking his offered hand.

Instead, she wrapped her arm around Lucius possessively, claiming him physically.

"I can take it from here now."

"Alright then, my lady." He bowed respectfully and walked toward the red door, leaving the golden door unattended.

He stood in front of the red door instead, which led to the collection area where the goods purchased by the other auction attendees were being organized and distributed.

Selene walked confidently to the golden door and pushed it open with one hand. All of the girls from their group entered inside, filing through one by one.

As soon as the last person was through, Selene closed the door firmly behind them.

The room they entered was... extensive.

It was a whole private storage room lined with shelves along every wall, stretching back further than expected. Display cases and weapon stands were organized neatly throughout the space.

"Alright sister-wives~" Selene announced cheerfully, spreading her arms wide in presentation. "You can pick anything you want from here! Consider it a gift!"

She pointed enthusiastically around the room to emphasize her generosity.

Lilliane, the beautiful fox-girl Beastkin that Lucius had purchased for five billion royals, was seated demurely on a cushioned bench against the side wall.

She was already dressed in an elegant maid uniform that fit her perfectly, and she was twiddling her thumbs cutely with nervous energy. The adorable Blazing Pup that Lucius had bought for Judea was resting contentedly on her lap.

Other than those living acquisitions, the entire room was filled with different kinds of weapons displayed on stands and preserved in protective glass cases.

Swords, spears, bows, magical staves, enchanted daggers... the variety was impressive.

It was abundantly clear that all of this valuable equipment hadn’t been purchased just today. This was a collection built over time.

"What are all these items...?" Elena was the one who asked the obvious question as she reached up to take off her mask.

The other girls did the same, removing their disguises now that they were in private. Lucius removed his mask as well, and Lilliane glanced up at the face of her new master for the first time.

She immediately blushed even harder as his black hair swooshed dramatically in the air when he pulled the mask away. Her fox ears twitched.

He was incredibly handsome, even more attractive than she’d hoped.

"I normally come to these auctions regularly to buy interesting stuff, however I didn’t always have immediate use for the items I acquired." Selene explained with a casual smile.

She scurried over excitedly to where the Twin Crescents of the Moon were displayed and opened the protective glass case. She pulled out the two matching pendants carefully, the crescent moon shapes gleaming.

"If you want any of these weapons or artifacts, I can give them to you completely free of charge, since we are all sister-wives here!" She said generously.

"There’s no need to pay me back or anything."

And to honor her genuine offer, all of the girls began moving from one shelf to another with interest, examining different weapons and magical items to see what might suit their fighting styles.

However, Amber walked directly up to Selene instead of browsing, her expression serious.

"If I may ask you something..." She started carefully as Selene was putting on the first half of the pendant around her neck.

"Yes, you may ask anything, Amber."

"Why did you buy the Reaper’s Scythe specifically?" Amber asked, trying to understand the motivation. "It cost fifty billion royals. That’s an enormous amount even for you."

Selene looked at her with a bright smile, and then her cheeks turned noticeably pink with a blush.

"I want... I wanted to give it to Lucius as a gift." Selene replied, her voice becoming almost shy. "A powerful weapon will make him love me even more, right? Prove I’m serious about supporting him?"

She looked genuinely uncertain. "Do you think he’ll like it?"

Amber blinked rapidly, completely taken aback by the innocent reasoning.

She had assumed Selene bought it for strategic reasons... to ensure that neighboring countries didn’t get their hands on such a dangerous weapon, or to add it to her own private arsenal.

But Selene had just casually spent fifty billion royals to impress her fated one.

The simplicity was almost incomprehensible.

"He will absolutely like it." Amber said with a firm nod, recovering from her surprise.

In the end, the weapon would effectively belong to Aurelia now anyway, since Lucius was allied with them. That was good enough.

"You’re a very good wife." She added sincerely.

"Thank you so much..." Selene said, her smile becoming radiant.

...

Lucius approached Lilliane while the others were browsing, and she carefully handed the Blazing Pup over to Judea who had walked up beside him.

"Thank you~" Judea smiled warmly as her dragon wings suddenly sprouted from her back, the limbs ripping through the back of her suit with tearing sounds and fluttering cutely.

The wings were scaled and beautiful, shimmering with power.

Lucius patted her head affectionately, and she walked off contentedly while cuddling the puppy close to her chest.

Lucius then took a seat on the bench next to Lilliane, and she immediately sat up perfectly straight with both of her hands placed properly on her lap.

In those hands were the official Master-Slave Contract papers that he was legally required to sign since he had purchased her at auction.

"Why did you decide to sell yourself into servitude...?" Lucius started the conversation with that direct question.

She looked at him with her striking eyes before biting her lip nervously.

"My parents needed money desperately..." Lilliane replied quietly, her ears drooping slightly. "So I decided to help them in the only way I could. I wasn’t forced into this decision or anything against my will. It was my choice."

She paused, then continued more carefully.

"Also... I genuinely want to become an official Awakened who goes on raids and fights monsters. But if my Master wills that I should instead stay at home and pleasure him, I won’t complain about that either." Her voice became softer. "Whatever you require of me."

"I see." Lucius said simply.

Then he placed a hand gently on her fox ear, and she flinched slightly at the unexpected contact. But he didn’t stop.

He began rubbing the back of her soft fox ear with his fingers, and she immediately had to fight to hold back a moan of pleasure.

"Ahn~ Master... it feels really sensitive there." She barely managed to suppress the sound, her face flushing deep red.

Then she looked down at her lap, thoroughly embarrassed. Her cute fox tail was shaking uncontrollably as well from the stimulation.

Lucius grabbed the tail experimentally, and she let out an involuntary yelp of surprise.

"Right... Master, you still haven’t signed my contract papers." She reminded him, trying to regain some composure despite her flustered state.

"I haven’t paid for what I bought yet either." Lucius said as he stood up from the bench and looked over toward where Selene was admiring her new pendants. "Selene... when exactly are we going to handle payment for everything?"

"Oh, we don’t have to pay at all." Selene said with a casual chuckle, smiling at him like he’d asked something adorable. "I own the place."

That simple statement made all the girls in the entire room stop what they were doing and turn to look at her like she was absolutely insane.

But her expression showed she was completely serious.

"Oh Clinton~!" She called out cheerfully, and the announcer came running back into the room immediately, closing the door carefully behind him. "Tell them the truth. Don’t I own this establishment?"

"Ah yes, my lady. You are indeed the legal owner of this Auction house and all other associated Auction houses across the entire country..." The man confirmed with a professional smile. "Although my lady chooses not to personally handle or review the products being sold, she is the owner and usually comes every auction day to acquire the items that particularly fancy her."

That revelation made Amber’s jaw practically drop open in shock.

And not only Amber, but all the other girls were genuinely surprised as well.

If the Moon Hotels raked in hundreds of millions or even billions in income annually, then she earned even more substantial profits from the auction houses. She was practically one of the richest women in the entire world.

Lucius began running toward her in slow motion with tears of pure joy leaving the corners of his eyes dramatically.

She saw him coming and did the same, holding the precious locket in one hand.

Both of them met in the middle and embraced, and he lifted her up lovingly and spun her around.

"My babyyyy." He said as he cried openly, tears of genuine happiness streaming down his face.

He had finally, finally gotten himself a rich sugar mama type... The dream was real.

...

Lucius was standing outside the golden door now, leaning against the wall.

The girls had collectively kicked him out after that overly affectionate public display, saying they needed privacy. He was just waiting patiently for them to finish whatever they were doing.

Apparently Lilliane was going to be shown the ropes on how to properly behave and serve by Vanessa and Luna, who had the most experience managing households.

Suddenly the crimson-haired Feuerklinge heir and the Heroine in the frog mask walked past, clearly heading toward the exit.

The Heroine noticed him and broke off from walking with her brother. She ran over to Lucius and stopped directly in front of him.

"Mister Number 2..." She said, her voice slightly muffled by the mask but carrying clear gratitude.

Lucius looked at her with a raised eyebrow that she couldn’t see beneath his own mask. "Yes?"

"Thank you." She said sincerely.

"For what specifically?" He asked, genuinely curious.

He had actually forgotten, but the masks all had built-in voice changing enchantments, so she wouldn’t recognize that it was him personally.

Everybody’s voice was altered to the same neutral tone... You could only recognize people by their physical appearance and mannerisms.

"For outbidding my brother on the Blazing Pup." She explained. "He was going way over budget and would have bankrupted us."

She paused, then continued. "Anyway, that’s not the main reason I came over here to talk to you... could we possibly get a picture together?"

Even though he was apparently like other men in being obsessed with Beastkin based on his purchases, she still wanted a photo with someone who looked like he would definitely be an incredibly hot guy underneath the mask.

The expensive clothes, the confidence, the money... they were all good signs.

"Sure, I don’t mind." Lucius said agreeably.

She immediately brought out her expensive phone and leaned closer to him, activating selfie mode. She held the phone up at the perfect angle and it clicked, capturing the image.

She looked at the result and seemed satisfied then she stepped back from him politely.

"I hope you don’t mind me posting your picture on Stitch..." She said, seeking permission.

"No, I don’t mind at all." He said casually. "I’m actually a bit popular there already."

She nodded, filing that information away. Before she could respond further, the golden door suddenly opened.

Villy appeared and reached for Lucius’s hand. She was still wearing her oversized lion mask.

"You can come back in again now..." She said, tugging him gently.

"I guess we’ll see each other later then." The Heroine said politely, stepping back.

Lucius nodded in acknowledgment as he allowed himself to be pulled inside, and the door shut firmly behind him with a solid click.