Ella’s finger hovered above Adrian’s caller ID for a beat.
A series of curses flashed in her head one after another but for a while, she did not tap on his number.
Instead, she booked a cab. After a few minutes, the cab arrived, "Miss, where to?"
"The Vermilion Bird Auction House."
In the Country V, the Vermilion Bird Auction House was a place of rich history and one of the most ancient auction houses.
As recorded down, it used to be a place where the auctions for nobilities were held.
Over the centuries, the name of the place changed countless times along with its ownership until a few decades ago, it was brought over by a mysterious person who named it after Vermilion City.
And that person was none other than the Old Master King. In her previous life, Ella had heard some people talking about the history of this auction house during a family dinner in the Main Mansion.
Ella’s path was blocked by a tall bodyguard.
Ella’s lips quirked. She leaned forward and whispered a few words.
Soon, the bodyguard bowed to her, "Welcome, Esteemed Guest."
Ella was led to a private room on the topmost floor of the auction house. The guard opened the door for her, but just as she was about to step forward, her gaze landed two rooms away, on two familiar figures.
Adrian and Lilith had just entered Private Room No. 8, followed by Ji Yan.
Her brows knitted. They’re here too?
"Miss?" The guard’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
She blinked and turned to him.
"I’ve placed the access card on the table," he said politely. "Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need anything."
"Thank you." Ella stepped inside.
The room greeted her with sweeping glass walls, one-way mirrors that allowed her to see everything outside without being seen.
From here, she had a perfect vantage point over the entire auction hall, from the grand stage to the rows of plush theatre seats below.
The private rooms were divided by status: smaller suites for the wealthy, and expansive, high-level chambers like hers, reserved for the elites.
And the access to these rooms, be it the low-level or the high level, or even the public area seats were not something that could be brought by money alone.
In her previous life, when Ella was trying to gain access to Adrian’s confidential documents that she could use against him, she had come across the papers of this auction house that was owned by the King Family.
Its placement on Adrian’s desk, almost like a prized dossier, instantly caught her eye. But when Ella went through it, she found nothing special.
In those documents, there was only information about ins and outs and every little detail of the Vermilion Bird Auction House, including the secret codes that gave one the access to the auctions held there.
Ella dwelled on it for days until Esther showed up unannounced. When Esther asked her what was troubling her, Ella did not hold back.
’I don’t understand it... Given his status, why would he pay attention to a trivial thing ...?!’ Ella was unconvinced, ’Unless it is probably hiding some deadly secret of the King Family? Something that can probably ruin him or take him down!’ Hope rose in her eyes.
’Sis, don’t worry about it. I will look into it for you. If you think this will be helpful, then I will get to the bottom of it.’
Ella had hugged the girl with tears in her eyes. At that time, she did not know that the reason Esther got so excited was not to help her but to create another opportunity to get close to Adrian.
In doing so, Esther might not have achieved her goal but she still benefitted quite a lot.
Ella snapped back to her senses as the crowd got silenced. A huge headpiece of some lost royal was presented on the stage, and the sapphires on it reflected in the dark space with an otherworldly glow.
As beautiful as it looked, Ella was not that interested in jewelleries.
One after another, new items were presented, each more exquisite than the one before.
For example, a mysterious beautifying pill set. With the Vermilion Bird Auction House backing it, nobody doubted its authenticity.
The initial price of those two beauty pills was: $800k.
But it managed to reach a peak price of $6 millions in barely a few minutes.
Ella slouched deeper into the couch, uninterested until a feminine voice cut through the place.
Once Lilith rose the bid by a whopping amount of $4 million, half of the crowd quietened down.
After all, the auction was barely halfway there and they couldn’t tell what more miraculous things would be presented today.
No matter how precious these pills were, they came in a set, paying more than $10 million did not sound like the best idea to them.
On the other hand, there were wealthier people and noveache rich. Money was the least of their concern but once they noticed that Lilith’s voice came from an elite room, nobody dared to compete.
"Thank you for letting me have this," Lilith smiled graciously.
Inside the VIP room, Ella’s brows twitched violently. So, this was how the rich people went shopping huh?
Truly interesting. No wonder Adrian wasn’t keen on answering her calls. How could he when he had to accompany a pretty lady on her shopping spree?
For the rest of the auction, nothing held Ella’s interest until a painting was presented on the stage.
Ella straightened up on her seat.
The painting depicted a beautiful waterfall encased inside green forests. And from one look at it, one could say that the painting was a vintage and one unique marvel of its time.
The starting bid of the painting was: $5 million.
In a few minutes, it rose to $17 million.
Just as the bids slowed down, Ella moved the small mic in front of her and leaned close to it, "$18 million."