The ballroom was still loud with speculation when I finally slipped out.
No one tried to stop me. Most of the court was too busy whispering about the King's announcement to notice one viscount quietly leaving through a side corridor.
The night air outside the palace felt cooler.
I exhaled slowly as the carriage carried me away from the royal district. The lights of the capital passed by the window in long golden streaks.
My life had become dangerously complicated.
A few weeks ago Damien had been a forgotten noble drowning in debt. No one important paid attention to him. That had been his only advantage.
Now the King had spoken his name before the entire court.
Harren hated me.
The Crown Prince was curious about me.
And the Duke of Blackwood was watching everything.
Attention from powerful people was not a blessing. It was a problem.
The carriage stopped in front of my house.
The old building looked even more miserable after a night at the palace. The stone walls were weathered and the windows were uneven. Compared to the estates of the other nobles, my home looked like something that had been forgotten by time.
Eli opened the door before I could knock.
"You returned late, my lord."
"I was hoping the court would forget about me before I left."
Eli blinked in confusion.
"That seems unlikely."
"You have learned quickly," replied.
I stepped inside and removed my gloves.
The house was quiet. Too quiet. Most of the servants had left months ago when Damien's finances collapsed.
Eli was the only one who had stayed.
"Did anything happen while I was gone?" I asked.
"No visitors," Eli said. "But several letters arrived earlier today."
He handed them to me.
I glanced through them while walking toward the study.
Most of them were exactly what I expected.
Debt reminders.
Thinly disguised threats.
And one particularly polite message from a banker who had apparently just remembered that Damien owed him money.
I tossed the letters onto the desk.
"I assume none of them contained gifts."
"I am afraid not," he said.
Unfortunate.
Because after tonight, I needed money more than ever.
Political attention without financial stability was dangerous. If the court decided to examine Damien's situation closely, they would discover exactly how close this house was to collapsing.
And I did not intend to become a public embarrassment.
I leaned back in the chair and looked around the study.
The room was small but filled with objects from the estate's history. Old books. Decorative weapons. Portraits of relatives who had clearly made better financial decisions than Damien.
My gaze drifted across the shelves until it stopped on a small wooden box.
I frowned slightly.
I did not remember that box being important in the original story.
Curiosity won.
I stood and opened it.
Inside was a ring.
Simple silver. Nothing extravagant.
At first glance it looked like a minor family heirloom.
But the moment I picked it up, a familiar message appeared in my vision.
[Item Detected]
[Unidentified Enchantment Present]
I stared at the ring.
"Well," I murmured quietly, "that explains why the story mentioned this house had one surviving heirloom."
In the original novel, Damien had sold most of the estate's valuables long before the plot began.
But this ring had never been sold.
Because Damien had never realized it was valuable.
I turned it between my fingers.
The enchantment was faint. Subtle. Probably something minor but useful.
Which meant one thing.
Someone in the capital would pay a ridiculous amount of money for it.
Eli watched from the doorway.
"My lord?" Eli asked.
"I think we may have found our solution," I said.
"To what problem?" Eli asked.
"All of them."
Eli stepped closer and examined the ring resting in my hand.
"It does not look particularly valuable," he said.
"That is the interesting part," I replied.
I placed the ring back into the box.
"We are going to sell it."
Eli blinked.
"You wish to sell a family heirloom?" he asked carefully.
"I wish to survive," I said.
That seemed to settle the matter.
"But if the ring is valuable," Eli continued cautiously, "should we not sell it quietly?"
"That would be the safe option," I said.
"And you dislike safe options?" Eli asked.
"Tonight the King publicly announced that my future will be decided by the court."
I closed the box.
"If I quietly sell a ring, it solves nothing," I continued. "I gain a little money and remain weak."
Eli frowned.
"Then what do you intend to do?" he asked.
"We make the sale public," I said.
Eli looked alarmed.
"Public?" he repeated.
"Yes."
The idea had already begun forming in my mind.
A discreet auction among the right people could turn a small enchanted ring into something much more profitable.
Nobles loved competition.
Especially when pride was involved.
"If several nobles begin bidding against each other," I continued, "the value increases dramatically."
"And if they realize the enchantment is minor?"
"Then the auction ends early," I replied immediately.
Eli still looked concerned.
"My lord, this sounds dangerous."
"Everything is dangerous now."
I walked to the window and looked out over the dark street.
The capital was quiet at this hour, but that would not last long.
The court had just received a new piece of entertainment.
Me.
"If the court insists on watching me," I said quietly, "then we might as well give them something worth watching."
Eli hesitated.
"You intend to invite nobles to compete for the ring?"
"Yes."
"And you believe they will accept?"
I smiled faintly.
"Of course they will."
Eli sighed.
"May I ask why?"
"Because people in power hate losing."
I turned back toward the desk.
"Prepare a message."
"To whom?"
"To the merchants who handle private auctions."
Eli nodded slowly.
"And the starting price?"
I placed the ring back in the box and closed the lid.
"High enough to attract attention."
"How high?"
I thought about the nobles who would attend.
About the Prince.
About Harren.
About the Duke of Blackwood.
Then I said calmly,
"High enough that only very powerful people can afford to participate."
Eli swallowed.
"I suspect this will cause trouble."
"Yes."
I allowed myself a small smile.
"But profitable trouble."
And somewhere in the capital, powerful people were about to start competing for a ring that none of them truly understood.
That alone made the auction interesting.