There were no acquaintances of Shade at this banquet, so he did not stop and went straight into the original restaurant on the second floor with a wine glass.
This is the larger auction room in tonight's charity auction. There are 10 lots in one session, and there is a 15-minute break between each session. Now it happens to be the rest time after the auction. As soon as Shade walked in, a middle-aged man wearing a female clerk's uniform
The woman came forward and said:
"Are you Mr. Hamilton, representing Miss Carina at the next auction?"
She asked softly, and Shade nodded, knowing that the ordinary person in front of him was also arranged by Miss Carina in advance. The duchess was worried that Shade had not participated in similar auctions, so something would go wrong.
The auction process is very simple. Guests reserve a certain auction in advance, and after arriving at the restaurant on time, they will get a wooden number plate. After the auction starts, they can use the number plate to bid. Before the auction starts,
Then you have time to view the ten items in this session.
"that person......"
When Shade took the number plate from the woman's hand, the woman said softly.
"You are at three o'clock, wearing a black formal suit with gold buttons, a mustache, and a black top hat."
She lowered her voice, made sure there was no one around, and reminded softly:
"The ring is on his finger."
Shade nodded, and then separated from the woman naturally. He lowered his head and looked at his number plate. It was even painted with a layer of paint, and it looked like a tool borrowed from an auction house.
At three o'clock, the man standing in front of the wall looking at the oil painting is tonight's target. His real name is Steve Evans, and his true identity is a cultist who believes in the "Lord of the Blood Feast".
During the transfer of the Peace Church, it was accidentally stolen, and the person who stole the ring was naturally an undercover agent of the church who infiltrated the cultists.
The ring itself was not left in the hands of the respectable undercover gentleman, but was prepared to be returned to [Mercury Blood] by the cultists. It was naturally impossible to return such an important relic in such a dangerous situation as today, so the ring was handed over by the cult
Saved by the Ring Warlock, that is Steve Ivant.
He is actually a woman and has been wanted by the Orthodox Church for many years. He used the power of the ring to transform into a man so that he could appear in public.
But the witches who are burdened with the curse are more sensitive to gender than expected. Miss Carina can easily tell who holds the ring. According to her:
"When a man uses a ring to turn into a woman, I still feel very disgusted. When a woman uses a ring to turn into a man, the feeling of disgust still exists. The former is like seeing a rotting corpse, and the latter is like seeing decay.
The excrement. The disguise of [Metamorphosis Ring] is useless in front of me."
Therefore, it was not that Miss Carina was able to steal information from the cultists, it was purely the use of the [Metamorphosis Ring] that allowed her to know who the target was.
Shade looked around, then took the number plate to the floor-to-ceiling windows of the banquet hall to observe the collection for the next auction. The real plan was to get close to Steve Ivant.
Of course, Shade would not talk to strangers rashly. Seeing that the target was standing next to the third auction item, he walked towards the first auction item and pretended to check it out.
The first item of the next auction is a dark red dress hanging on a wooden rack. Although the dress itself is very beautiful, and the gem buttons and decorations are also very attractive, the dress is older than Shade's body.
She is even older. This is the long dress worn by the previous queen. She wore this dress to attend the dinner party on April 3, 1819 in the universal calendar with King Delrayon at that time. That dinner was held in China.
Wang's speech is considered to be the beginning of a 30-year all-out war between the two human kingdoms in the Old World.
This dress probably has some historical value, but Shade can't figure out how the base price of 80 pounds was given.
A lady happened to come to check out this dress, so he turned around to look at the second auction item.
The second auction item was an old manuscript book, which was placed in a glass cabinet by the window. The title of the book "The Complete Collection of Ancient Fairy Tales of Delarion" was written in cursive letters, but because of its age, even if
No matter how carefully I saved it, the ink marks were already very faded.
Judging from the brief introduction posted on the glass cabinet, this book has a history of 60 years and was read by Duke Maihar de Maupassant when he was a child, who lived half a century ago. To people in 1863, it was a good quality book.
A very good old book.
At that time, the Maupassant family still had the title of Duke, so they had strong financial resources. The author of the manuscript was a famous writer of that era, and he left behind a collection of essays "Summer Nights" that is very famous even today. Miss Louisa won the award
His work "A Midsummer Night's Wish" is said to be inspired by this collection of essays.
"The starting price is 30 pounds. I knew that in this auction, all the lots would be bid at a premium."
Shade said this deliberately, his voice was neither too loud nor too quiet, but he ensured that Mr. Yvette standing aside could hear him.
After reading this old book, I looked at the third auction item. It was an oil painting hanging on the wall. The color of the ink was so bright that it made people feel upset. The painting was called "Harvest Field" and was made of gold.
Yellow and red depict rice fields in autumn.
The painter put so much emotion into the painting that Shade took one look at the painting and immediately felt a creepy feeling from those crazy colors, but he couldn't explain the origin of this feeling.
"This is probably the charm of art."
Shade said, and glanced at the side. Mr. Ivante was looking at the painting intently without speaking. Shade then looked at the sign with the reserve price:
"Tsk, tsk, 160 pounds."
"This price, strictly speaking, is not high."
The middle-aged "man" finally spoke. He squinted at the painting on the wall with a somewhat intoxicated expression:
"The artist's thoughts can be conveyed through his works, and the writer who painted this painting perfectly expressed his anxiety, uneasiness, and panic in warm tones instead of cold tones. This is definitely a pioneering work. Although
This painting was sold at the Biford Auction House five years ago for only 174 pounds, but its artistic value is much higher than those so-called abstract paintings. (Note) "
Fortunately, the people present were rich people who didn't know much about art. If I dared to say this in an art academy or art gallery, it would have caused an uproar long ago.
"So, sir, you have a deep understanding of oil painting?"
Shade took advantage of the situation and asked. Evante nodded. Although he was still looking at the oil painting, he had already started talking to Shade:
"I am not from Delrayon. In my hometown, I am actually engaged in art collection and preservation."
In this world, it seems that this kind of profession can easily cultivate mentally abnormal people such as lunatics and cultists, and it is an alternative "high-risk profession".