Upon hearing Celestine’s question, Charles didn’t think much and replied directly, “Close? We’re just classmates.”
Celestine seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. She was worried that someone as outstanding as Charles would attract a lot of admirers, and perhaps even the second princess of Genosha might have feelings for him.
People are often selfish, especially when it comes to love, and Celestine was no exception, she wanted to be Charles’s one and only.
“Charles.” Celestine called out to him.
Charles turned to look, asking, “What’s up?”
Celestine shook her head, indicating that there was nothing wrong, but her gaze remained fixed on Charles’s face, lost in thought.
The auction was progressing quickly.
Zachary and Camilla each made several bids and managed to buy the items they wanted.
Zane, sitting in the front row, pulled out his phone, seemingly busy with something, and looked somewhat anxious.
Finally, the item Charles had set his sights on today—the top-tier red wine from Tatus Manor, aged one hundred twenty years—was announced.
He carefully observed the reactions of the crowd below, and as he expected, very few people seemed excited, most showed little interest.
When the official auction began, the host announced the starting price of three gold coins.
There were only a few bidders in the entire venue, with three or four showing slight interest, raising the price to four gold coins and five hundred silver coins.
After waiting for a while, no one else continued to bid.
Charles knew it was time to make his move. He calmly entered a bid of five gold coins, which was about the true value of that bottle of wine.
After all, for a Beast Master, no matter how good the red wine was, it wouldn’t enhance their strength, spending that money would be better spent on equipment and miracle drugs.
Just as the host was about to drop the hammer, Zane suddenly began to raise the bid, shouting, “I bid five gold coins and ten silver coins!”
Upon hearing this, the entire auction hall fell silent. Some people looked at Zane, then glanced up at the box on the second floor, discussing among themselves:
“It seems Zane is still not willing to back down, he wants to drive the price of the wine up.”
“It’s just a bottle of wine, it’s not important for a Beast Master. Charles shouldn’t continue to bid.”
“What do you understand? The wine might not matter, but face does! If Charles gives up right away, it would mean he’s afraid of Zane.”
“That’s true, I feel like those two will keep bidding. The Seven Kingdoms Merchant Association is going to make a profit.”
The big screen at the auction refreshed again, showing Charles had raised his bid to six gold coins.
Seeing this, a look of joy appeared on Zane’s face. As the price for the one hundred twenty-year-old Tatus Manor top-tier red wine reached six gold coins, he felt he could still raise his bid.
He had just pulled out his phone to borrow money, wanting to make Charles spend a bit more, otherwise, he would feel like he had lost out!
“Six gold coins and ten silver coins!” Zane added ten silver coins each time, clearly trying to mimic Charles’s previous bid.
Charles understood Zane’s intentions, but he didn’t care, it was just a bottle of red wine. There were plenty of other wines that could increase Mia’s loyalty.
So there was no need to spend too much, that would be just as foolish as Zane.
With a joyful expression still on his face, Zane waited for a while but saw that the auction screen did not refresh. His expression gradually became dazed.
At that moment, Zane began to have a bad thought: “What if Charles decides to drop out? Wouldn’t I end up paying six gold coins and ten silver coins for something useless?”
Fortunately, that thought was quickly dismissed,
As the auction screen refreshed to show that Charles had raised the bid again to seven gold coins!
In the box on the second floor.
Charles looked at Celestine with a helpless expression, the previous bid hadn’t been his but had been made by Celestine.
“Seven gold coins for a bottle of red wine? That seems a bit excessive. Let it go.” Charles said.
Celestine replied, “I’ll buy it. I can see you really want it, so I want to get it for you.”
Hearing Celestine’s words, Charles was taken aback. He hadn’t expected that Celestine wanted to win the auction and then give the wine to him!
Looking at Celestine’s serious expression, Charles thought for a moment and said, “I appreciate your kindness. Honestly, any wine that’s just a bit better than Monkey Wine would be fine.”
“Oh, is that so? What should I do since I’ve already placed a bid?” Celestine had assumed that Charles only wanted this particular bottle of red wine and didn’t realize other options were acceptable.
Charles waved his hand, signaling that he had a plan.
Under Celestine’s puzzled gaze,
Charles picked up the wine glass from the table and walked over to the glass front of the box, his figure becoming visible to the crowd on the first floor.
Especially Zane, who was still hesitating about whether to raise his bid by ten silver coins, looked up at Charles’ silhouette.
He saw Charles elegantly raise his right hand with the wine glass, making a toast gesture towards the crowd outside the glass.
This action was filled with confidence and grace, but to Zane, it felt like a direct provocation and mockery, as if Charles was saying,
“No matter how many gold coins you bid, this bottle of red wine is mine!”
“Damn it, I’ll bid eight gold coins!” Zane shouted before the auctioneer could drop the hammer.
This time, everyone else became unsettled and began to talk among themselves:
“Eight gold coins for a bottle of red wine? That’s insane! It’s only worth at most five gold coins!”
“Rich people think differently than we do, especially young ones who love to compete. I bet Charles will raise the price again!”
“It seems like Charles isn’t responding. He looks like he’s saying something, but I can’t hear him from this distance.”
“I can read lips. It looks like he said, ‘What a fool. That bottle of wine is yours!'”
“Fool, who is Charles talking about? Who else could it be, of course, it’s…”
Zane’s hearing was perfectly fine, he could hear the discussions around him.
Now, he was trembling all over, unable to believe that Charles had just given up so easily and had no intention of continuing the bidding.
And in front of so many people, he had called him a fool?
“Three, two, one, sold!” The auctioneer’s hammer came down.
The bottle of one hundred twenty-year-old Tatus Manor top-tier red wine was sold to Zane for eight gold coins.
Daniel Long watched Zane’s furious expression and couldn’t help but smile slightly.
At the beginning of the auction for that purple-quality supreme spear, he really thought Zane would snag it at a low price, but Charles’ appearance had driven the price up.
And as for this bottle of red wine, he would never have guessed it would sell for eight gold coins.
In Daniel Long’s mind, selling it for over four gold coins would have been great, but it had doubled!
Charles was truly a distinguished guest of the Seven Kingdoms Merchant Association, he wished Charles would participate in every auction.
However, Daniel Long quickly regretted his earlier thought. During the subsequent auctions, he seemed to feel Charles’ influence, causing Zane to suffer continuously.
Whenever Charles was bidding on an item, not many dared to continue raising their bids.
This led to several items being sold to Charles at a low price!
In the box, Celestine looked at Charles with admiration. Those were all things she wanted, and she hadn’t expected to get them all, especially at prices even lower than she imagined!
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“Charles, you’re amazing! I was worried I wouldn’t have enough gold coins to spend, but now I won’t even use all of it!” Celestine exclaimed excitedly as she hugged Charles’ arm.
Charles felt the sensation from her touch and replied casually, “It’s nothing. After seeing Zane’s outcome, they all dare not bid against me anymore. Besides, the items up for auction today are just some common ones, the boxes on the second floor are mostly empty.”
“That’s because it’s you, that’s why others won’t continue bidding. Charles, with just one simple gesture, you made Zane raise his bid again. How did you do that?” Celestine recalled what had happened earlier, feeling very curious.
Charles replied calmly, “It’s simple. Understand your opponent. Zane is foolish and arrogant, he cares most about his face.”
Even without spending a lot of time with Zane, Charles could roughly gauge what kind of person he was.
“Oh, I almost thought I’d have to spend seven gold coins to buy that bottle of wine!” Celestine said, patting her chest, a bit shaken.
Charles watched her chest rise and fall and said, “It’s fine, trust me.”
At that moment, the auction was nearing its end, and the items Charles had bid for Celestine were being delivered.
The person delivering them was none other than Yana.
“Respected Mr. Charles, here are the items you bid on. Please check if anything is missing.” Yana said as she bent down to place the items on the tray in front of Charles.
Sneaking glances at him with flirtatious eyes.
She had been present at the entire auction, witnessing the interaction between Charles and Zane firsthand.
The reason she recognized Charles so quickly was that her sister was a fan of his and sent her Charles’ videos every day.
Over time, Yana had formed an impression of Charles.
Now it seemed that Charles not only had exceptional talent but also far surpassed his peers in strength, intelligence, composure, and steadiness, effortlessly outmaneuvering Zane!
Before meeting Charles, Zane had been one of the most feared elites in Genosha Calivia!
Who would have thought that Zane, the son of the Taylor family head, would continuously suffer losses in front of Charles and embarrass himself?
Thinking of this, Yana, who had been bending slightly, leaned even lower, trying to draw Charles’ attention to the exposed skin on her chest.
“The money has been transferred, and the items are all here, nothing missing. You have no further business here.” Celestine said rapidly.
She had noticed long ago that this girl named Yana had not shown so much skin when they first met!
Yana glanced at Charles and, seeing he didn’t move, replied somewhat regretfully, “Alright, ladies, I will take my leave now.”
As Celestine watched Yana leave, deliberately swaying her hips and flaunting her ample backside,
she pressed her chest firmly against Charles and asked, “Is she more attractive than me? Does she have a better figure than I do?”