The Predator’s Contract Partner

‘Fortunately, the auction hasn’t started yet. The host hasn’t even arrived.’

Elisha bit her lip and wiped her forehead. She glanced at the wound on her shoulder.

‘Luckily, it doesn’t look like a fatal wound.’

Although her blood did not stop spilling, it probably wasn’t deadly. It was bearable.

Ignoring the astonished eyes of Arien and Carola, she strode forward. Behind the auction setting was a small refreshment table prepared for them.

Elisha stuck her horsewhip between her armpits. Then, she pulled out the tablecloth. Glasses and refreshments fell to the ground with a loud cacophony.

Fortuitously, the tablecloths were black. It was a short thing with lace. Elisha wrapped it around her shoulder with her trembling hands.

“Y-you… … . What are you doing now?”

Arien asked, pointing her trembling hand at her. Elisha ignored her. Her hair was a mess, so she let her hair down that had previously been in an updo.

Since she was wearing a garter belt around her thighs, she lifted her skirt and fastened the short horsewhip to her garter belt.

‘The blood… … . it’s not stopping.’

Elisha clenched her teeth tightly. She then brushed her hair with one hand while the other hand pressed down on the tablecloth to stop the bleeding. Her blonde hair shone like gold.

‘I can’t concentrate because of the pain.’

Elisha always tried to maintain calm control over her mind. But the agony was screaming into her still psyche. Her head was spinning round and round. She pressed her temples together, trying to calm down and slowly come to her senses.

‘Concentrate. Focus. Maintaining calmness is the only way we can live.’

It was a spell that had saved Elisha in her previous life several times. She had always survived despite being beaten by Jacob or Carola to a pulp and cornered.

“Is there something to see?”

Elisha shot back at Arien and Carola and sat down next to them.

‘What should I do about this?’

Arien’s hands were trembling, and Carola’s face was pale. They had never thought that Elisha would get stabbed.

“Hey, don’t you think you shouldn’t be here?”

Arien implored. Of course, not out of worry for her. On the contrary, she was frightened and distressed that she would have to take responsibility for this. Elisha may have acted like it wasn’t a big deal, but Lucerne’s wrath was terrifying.

“Why—what’s wrong with me and my condition?”

“You… … .”

Arien was speechless. She couldn’t bring herself to acknowledge that she had been stabbed. Now, it was clear Elisha was stabbed by someone under Arien’s orders.

“You must be crazy. Is it time to bid? Carola thinks you are so weird and scary!”

“I am fine. What do you mean? Do you two see anything amiss?”

Carola and Arien were utterly speechless for the first time in their lives. And they had lived their lives by often brazenly speaking their minds.

“We have to postpone the auction,”

Arien admitted reluctantly. Elisha laughed coldly.

“Why should I trust you?”

“Look, you’re the only one who’s going to lose if you ruin yourself in a frivolous fight for pride.”

Then there was the sound of the door opening. It was from the side office door. The mayor and the auction host came out as observers.

“Hurry up and proceed,”

Elisha commanded with a spiteful glare, ready to show her poison.

“What’s the point if a vain honor contest is going to kill you? Are you a moron?”

Arien interrogated incredulously.

The word “moron” really stimulated Elisha. From her previous life, Arien promised to send Elisha back when she was sure that she would be no longer of use.

“A fight for pride?”

Elisha answered softly,

“Why do you call it a futile fight? My honor is my husband’s honor. It’s a couple’s glory. And I will do anything to protect it.”

Aloof, Elisha spoke evenly and detached, but her cold fury toward Arien dripped from her eyes.

“What you really mean… … . Is this lowly one really going crazy trying to beat me, huh?”

Elisha smiled callously,

“I would rather die than lose to you. I am willing to risk my life a hundred times or a thousand times. And, I will hold you accountable for this.”

At that moment, Carola and Arien realized. that they had deluded themselves. It was not a lowly but important issue.

‘Lucerne didn’t get married out of the blue to this girl for no reason.’

There is no such thing as choosing a mate without reason in the world. Lucerne could have had any woman.

She was a viper and was suitable to be a viper’s mate. She wasn’t the kind of person to be taken lightly and could not be dealt with by playing some shallow tricks on her.

Carola and Arien felt alarm rising to the tip of their heads.

“What’s wrong?”

Then the auctioneer came out after hearing the noise. Since he was merely a civil servant working at the city hall, he had a keen sense of not wanting to get involved in this. The mayor, who soon agreed to oversee the auction with a public official, was also standing beside him.

“The time that the auction should commence has passed,”

Elisha remarked composedly. Everyone looked at the clock.

“If there is a problem, the auction cannot proceed… … .”

“Come on, let’s get started.”

For Elisha, the pain became more and more unbearable. Before, she had a collected tone, but now she couldn’t stand it any longer, and she urged the moderator:

“Quickly!”

Everyone in her room was overwhelmed by Elisha and got caught up in her urgency and rapid sense of pace.

“Alright, then I’ll start.”