I’m Just a Counselor Chapter 87

The price went straight up. 12 gold, 15 gold, 20 gold… The moderator recited the woman’s usefulness as if to encourage each price increase.

 

Obedient. Good at cleaning. Good hair. I felt even more uncomfortable when I realized that he wasn’t talking about a person, but a selling point for an object.

 

“Of course, if you want to use her for something other than a maid, I have no problem with that. Though we haven’t tested it to that point, alas!”

 

The moderator rolled his eyes and made a sexual joke. A few people in the room laughed out loud. Finally, the woman was bid on by someone.

 

“After the auction is over, please pay with the numbered plates I handed out, and I’ll give you your winning bid.”

 

The auction ended, the woman was dragged off the podium by someone’s hand, and the next person stepped up to the podium. This time it was a young boy.

 

He, and everyone else who came up after him, looked horrified and helpless.

 

I buried my face in Jeremiah’s shoulder, unable to watch the auction take place. It was so hard to watch people trample on the dignity of others just because they had a little more money and status.

 

‘Who the hell gave them the right to do that?’

 

“Maybe I would have ended up like that.”

 

If Shane hadn’t saved me when I was kidnapped by traffickers in the north, if Jeremiah hadn’t come to my rescue, I could have been the one standing there.

 

I could have been ravaged by them, and it hurt more to think about it.

 

“I assume they were all kidnapped, too, right?”

 

“I suppose so.”

 

“Maybe there are others waiting for them.”

 

“We’ll find them.”

 

Of course, we have Jeremiah here.

 

“These people will be just like the ones we rescued from Loasen.”

 

I shook my head. Jeremiah patted me slowly on the back, soothingly.

 

I focused all my attention on him, not wanting to hear the sound of the auction continuing.

 

The warmth of his body against mine. The pounding of my heart. I couldn’t tell if the tightness in my chest was Jeremiah’s or my own nervousness.

 

‘So, I didn’t give Jeremiah any answers to his confession.’

 

It was inevitable, but I felt embarrassed that I had shown him so much that he couldn’t see. 

 

‘Was he falling for me?’

 

I glanced at Jeremiah, but his face gave me no answers.

 

He was just glancing around, as if gauging my timing, and then he slowly pulled his hand away from me and removed the mask he was wearing.

 

At the same time he set it down on the table.

 

“In the name of Oppenheim, I hereby order the arrest of those here!”

 

A loud voice drowned out the voice of the auctioneer.

 

Knights from all corners of the room sprang to their feet, unmasked and drew their swords. The room quickly turned to chaos as the cloaked knights were revealed.

 

People who didn’t want to be recognized rushed to the entrance of the auction house, checking the masks on their faces.

 

“My carriage, where did you park it!”

 

“We have to go back now!”

 

Those unmasked in the process shouted at the knights.

 

“Know who I am and block the way!”

 

“This, this… is a conspiracy!”

 

But the northern knights, listening only to Jeremiah’s instructions, didn’t bat an eye at their shouts.

 

The knights were already standing firmly at the entrance to the auction house, so any attempt to sneak out would be quickly caught.

 

“They’re all so proud when they’re doing disgusting things. Is it because they’re wearing masks?”

 

Jeremiah muttered under his breath as he rushed toward the podium.

 

Jeremiah’s leg caught the louse and he fell to the ground, his mask flying off into the distance. The face that was revealed was that of a middle-aged man with a somewhat scruffy appearance.

 

“Heh, heh, heh, the Duke of Oppenheim…!”

 

“I haven’t seen you in a long time. Earl, I see them all in places like this.”

 

“Duke, Duke, just once, please. My, my, this time it was by mistake…”

 

“I’m afraid it’s not my place to judge your mistakes.”

 

Jeremiah, who had harshly removed the middle-aged man’s hand holding his pants, dismissed him and rose from his chair.

 

His presence was too much to ignore, and the faces of those who spotted him turned pale. Jeremiah didn’t let that stop him, striding up to the podium.

 

“While this place is being cleaned up, we can do something else.”

 

I understood what Jeremiah was saying and followed him up to the podium.

 

To the right of the podium was a passageway that led down a hallway with another row of rooms.

 

Jeremiah flung open the door to one of them.

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.”

 

Inside was the woman from the first auction, sitting with her knees upright.

 

Her eyes widened at the sudden opening of the door, and she looked back and forth between Jeremiah and me.

 

Her eyes were wary, and I flinched and removed the mask I was wearing. Then I smiled as harmlessly as I could.

 

“It’s okay now, you’ll be able to go home.”

 

Reassuring her, I first unlocked the shackles around her ankles.

 

The woman’s anxiety was palpable, and only after everything that restrained her was gone did she let the tears fall.

 

“There are knights outside, you can go to them.”

 

“Thank you so much. Thank you…!”

 

The woman who had bowed to me so many times before ran out of the room at a brisk pace, as if she didn’t want to be here for another moment.

 

The same thing happened in the next room, and the next, and the next.

 

After freeing all the trapped people, we returned to the hall. By this time, the hall was almost finished.

 

“Twenty-four in all.”

 

In front of the podium, the arrested men were huddled together, kneeling.

 

Some of them were still angry, some of them were begging, some of them were watching what was going on, and some of them still didn’t care about the knights.

 

And among them was a familiar face. It was Earl Huons.

 

“I’m suddenly curious.”

 

Jeremiah, who had been listening to the knights’ reports and examining the faces of the captured, stood before Earl Huons.

 

“You said you were planning to use Miss Vanessa to lure me into a trap. Care to tell me what your grand plan was?”

 

“Profit…!”

 

“Excuse me. I guess it wasn’t such a great plan after all.”

 

At Jeremiah’s cold mockery, Earl Huons could only glare at him through clenched teeth and say nothing.

 

Jeremiah snorted, as if the sight of him were not enough to make him laugh.

 

“If you’d dragged the Marquis into this, I could have at least pretended to take it.”

 

“You coward…!”

 

“That’s not a word I’d like to hear from someone who’s done this to me.”

 

Jeremiah, who had been talking to the Earl, suddenly looked back at me. I turned to face him with a puzzled look.

 

Jeremiah seemed to consider for a moment, then finally asked me.

 

“Miss Vanessa, what do you want to do?”

 

“…me? Am I allowed to talk to him?”

 

“He’s guilty of kidnapping and imprisoning you in addition to selling slaves, so you have the right to say what you want.”

 

Jeremiah’s words don’t quite register. Maybe it’s because what happened to me doesn’t seem so big compared to what I’ve seen so far.

 

I thanked Jeremiah for the opportunity, but it wasn’t my place to punish him.

 

Ah, there is one thing I can do.

 

I glared at the Earl, then spoke slowly.

 

“I want you to investigate exactly what that man did to Viscount Asell. What he’s done to the family. I want to make sure he’s punished for every single crime he’s committed.”

 

“I see.”

 

“I trust you, Duke, will give him the punishment he deserves.”

 

I don’t know much about Imperial law, but I don’t think Jeremiah would let him or anyone else get off with a ridiculously light punishment. I know he is, and I trust him.

 

Jeremiah’s lips curved into a light arc, as if he liked my answer.

 

“Have the Imperial Knights take over when they arrive. See to it that not a single one is left behind.”

 

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

 

“Imperial Knights?”

 

My eyes narrowed at the name coming out of Jeremiah’s mouth.

 

The mention of the Imperial Knights here meant that the Oppenheims weren’t doing this alone. If the imperial family was involved, the punishment would be different.

 

The others must have noticed, because their dead faces turned even more earthy.

 

“Did it even reach the ears of the imperial family…?”

 

“You can’t possibly mean that His Imperial Majesty…!”

 

Jeremiah said kindly to the distraught Earl Huons.

 

“Just wait a little while in the imperial prison, and you and the Marquis of Alpen will soon be able to see His Imperial Majesty, but aren’t you glad you’re not alone?”