Blades of The Fallen Realm

CHPT 6

She took a fast step forward and grabbed Leo's torn collar with both hands. Her pretty face was twisted with pure hatred and deep disgust as she glared into his quiet eyes.

"You are nothing but a poor, useless live-in trash!" Clara screamed into his face, shaking him hard. "You sit in my mother's home, you eat our food, and now you stand in the dark garden talking like a big king!" Leo did not pull away from her tight grip, nor did he blink as she yelled.

He just looked down at her angry face with cold, dark eyes that held no fear. "I am not pretending, Clara," Leo said in a very quiet, calm voice. "I just want my father to be safe."

"Shut your dirty mouth!" Clara shrieked, slapping his hand away with pure anger. "I do not want to hear another single word from your ugly lips!" She grabbed his bruised arm with her sharp nails and dragged him out of the garden.

She pulled him back toward the huge, bright doors of the main banquet hall. "Come inside right now!" Clara demanded, her voice loud and mean. "The main auction is starting, and you need to serve the real nobles who have real gold!"

The grand doors opened wide, and warm golden light flooded over them. The big hall was full of rich lords, fine ladies, and high officers sitting at long white tables. In the front of the room stood a high stage covered in soft red silk.

On the stage was a massive wooden board showing the biggest commercial plot in the whole city: the Grand Dragon Merchant Hall. "Look at that grand building!" a rich lord shouted from his table. "Whoever buys the Grand Dragon Merchant Hall today will control all the trade in this town!"

"Only the richest family can buy it!" another noble lady said with a big smile. "It will make any noble house grow ten times bigger in just one day!" Julian Vance stood near the front stage in his fine blue robes, smiling proudly.

He held a high gold wine cup and looked around the room like he owned everything. When he saw Clara dragging Leo inside, Julian let out a loud, nasty laugh. He walked over with slow, proud steps, his shiny leather boots clicking on the floor.

"Clara, my dear!" Julian called out with a wide grin. "Did you find your poor live-in dog hiding in the dark garden again?" "He was standing near the trees pretending to make big phone calls, Julian!" Clara said, rolling her eyes with deep scorn.

"He is getting more crazy every single day!" "Is that so?" Julian laughed, looking Leo up and down with evil delight. "Well, since he is here, he can make himself useful for my big moment!"

Julian pointed his finger at the high stage where heavy iron display trays rested. "Hey, beggar! Get up on that stage right now and hold those heavy trays for the auction master!" "Go!" Clara barked, shoving Leo hard from behind toward the wooden steps.

"Do what Lord Julian tells you to do, or I will throw your sister out into the cold rain!" Leo did not say a word to either of them. He walked slowly up the wooden steps of the stage and picked up a massive, heavy iron display tray with his sore hands.

The iron tray was cold and heavy, pressing hard against his open wounds. Fresh blood soaked through his torn sleeves, but he stood completely still like a stone wall. Julian stepped right onto the middle of the stage, standing right beside Leo.

He pulled a thick pouch of shiny silver coins from his belt and held it up high. "Listen to me, everyone!" Julian shouted in a grand, loud voice that echoed through the hall. "The Vance Family and the Sterling Family will buy this hall together today!"

"We bid fifty million silver coins for the Grand Dragon Merchant Hall!" Julian declared proudly, raising his head high as the whole room gasped in awe. "Fifty million silver coins!" a rich lady yelled out in surprise. "Lord Julian is so rich! No one in this entire town can match a huge bid like that!"

"The Sterling Family is so lucky to have Lord Julian!" another noble shouted. "They will become top-tier nobility by tomorrow morning!" Clara sat at the front table with her mother, Lady Margaret, clapping her hands wildly.

Her face was red with excitement as she looked up at Julian with deep love. "Look at Lord Julian!" Lady Margaret said, laughing with big joy. "He is a real man! Not like that useless trash standing beside him holding the tray!"

Julian heard the crowd praise him, and his heart filled with extreme pride and arrogance. He turned his head to glare at Leo, who was holding the heavy tray without moving. "Hey, live-in trash!" Julian sneered in a soft voice that only the front rows could hear.

"You have been holding that heavy iron tray for ten minutes. Are you not tired yet?" Leo did not answer. He just looked straight ahead with quiet, dark eyes.

"You look so hungry, Leo," Julian mocked, pulling a single tiny copper coin out of his pocket. "A poor beggar like you probably has not eaten a good meal in three days!" Julian flipped the tiny copper coin into the air with a nasty laugh.

The copper coin fell down onto the dusty wooden floor right between Leo's bare, dirty feet with a sharp clink. The sound rang out through the silent room, and everyone stopped talking to turn their eyes to the stage. "Pick it up, Leo!" Julian shouted out loud so all the rich nobles could hear him clearly.

"Pick up that copper coin like a good, obedient dog! If you pick it up and bark for me, you can buy a small piece of old bread for your sick little sister tonight!" The entire grand hall erupted into wild, nasty laughter.

Hundreds of rich lords and ladies pointed their fingers at Leo, laughing until their faces turned red. "Look at the beggar!" a fat lord yelled, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "Pick up the coin, dog! Feed your dirty little sister!"

"Bark for Lord Julian!" a noble lady screamed with a loud giggle. "Show us how a live-in dog begs for food!" Clara sat at her table, laughing loudly along with her mother.

She did not feel a single bit of pity for her husband; she only felt deep joy seeing him humiliated. "Pick it up, Leo!" Clara shouted from her table, her eyes full of mean pride. "Do not be proud! Lord Julian is giving you money! Say thank you to him!"

Leo stood on the stage, the heavy iron tray shaking slightly in his sore hands. Hot, painful tears filled his dark eyes, but he did not let them fall down his face. He looked down at the tiny copper coin lying in the dirt near his bleeding bare toes.

He thought of his little sister Lily, shaking from the cold rain without any food to eat. He knew he had to survive, and he had to keep his head low to endure the deep shame for his family's safety. Leo slowly lowered his body onto one knee, his bare skin touching the cold wooden floor.

With shaking fingers, he reached down and picked up the single copper coin. "Hahaha! He actually picked it up!" Julian roared with laughter, slapping his knee in triumph. "Look at him! He really is just a dirty dog who loves copper coins!"

The crowd cheered and laughed even louder, stomping their feet on the floor. The entire hall was filled with mocking noise and cruel insults aimed right at Leo. Leo stood back up slowly, holding the tiny copper coin tight in his bleeding palm.

He did not say a word, and he did not look at Julian's laughing face. While holding the heavy iron tray with one hand, Leo leaned his other hand against the high wooden table near the old auction master. His fingers tapped a fast, secret code onto the dark wood surface three times.

It was a tiny sound that no one in the loud, laughing room noticed at all. Suddenly, a loud, sharp bell rang out from the back of the high auction stage! The old auction master jumped up from his chair, his hands shaking violently as a glowing golden paper appeared on his desk.

The auction master looked at the golden paper, and his face turned as white as a sheet of clean paper. His eyes opened wide with absolute terror and shock. "Stop! Everyone stop right now!" the auction master screamed at the top of his lungs.

The loud laughter in the room stopped instantly. Everyone looked at the auction master on the stage with confused, surprised faces. "What is wrong, old man?" Julian asked, frowning with deep annoyance.

"Why are you screaming? Just sell the Grand Dragon Merchant Hall to me right now!" "I... I cannot sell it to you, Lord Julian!" the auction master cried out, his legs shaking so hard he almost fell down. "What?!" Julian barked, his face turning dark with sudden anger.

"Why can you not sell it to me? I bid fifty million silver coins!" "Because an emergency order came from the highest imperial court!" the auction master gasped out, holding up the glowing paper with frantic hands. "The Grand Dragon Merchant Hall has just been bought outright by the Global Sovereign Trust!"

"What?!" Clara screamed, standing up fast from her table in total shock. "The Global Sovereign Trust? Who are they?!" "How much did they bid?!" Julian demanded, stepping up to the desk and grabbing the auction master's robe.

"No one can outbid the Vance Family in this city!" "They paid five hundred million gold coins!" the auction master sobbed out in pure fear. "Five hundred million gold coins in cash!"

The entire grand hall went dead silent as a graveyard. Everyone froze in their seats, their mouths wide open in total disbelief and pure shock. Five hundred million gold coins was enough money to buy ten entire cities!

It was a massive fortune that no single noble family could ever dream of having. "Five hundred million gold coins?" Julian whispered, his face turning pale as sweat broke out across his forehead. "That is impossible!"

"That is not all, Lord Julian!" the auction master cried out, reading the bottom of the paper. "The Global Sovereign Trust has frozen all luxury import clearances in this sector! Your family's trade ships cannot pass the border tonight, and all your luxury goods are blocked!"

"NO!" Julian screamed, dropping his gold wine cup onto the floor with a loud crash. "This cannot be happening! My family's shipping lines were blocked?!" The rich nobles in the hall began to whisper frantically among themselves, panic spreading through the room.

"The Vance Family is in big trouble!" a lord whispered in fear. "The Global Sovereign Trust just froze their luxury imports!" Clara ran up to the stage, her face pale and her hands shaking as she grabbed Julian's arm.

"Julian! What is going on?! Who is this Global Sovereign Trust?!" Julian took a deep breath, trying hard to stop his trembling hands. He forced a stiff, ugly smile onto his pale face and looked at Clara.

"Do not panic, Clara!" Julian lied quickly, trying to save his proud face. "A rogue imperial conglomerate must be sweeping up city assets! They are just buying up land across the whole nation!"

Julian briefly looked over at Leo with a strange, nervous look in his eyes. A small part of his mind had actually wondered if the beggar had caused this mess. But he quickly shook his head to push the crazy thought away from his proud head.

"And I have been suspecting this poor servant lately," Julian said, forcing a nervous laugh to hide his fear. "But I am very sure that he has nothing to do with it at all." "What does a dirty servant like him even know about big business?"

Clara looked at Leo and nodded her head fast, completely believing Julian's words. Her face turned ugly with anger again as she glared down at her quiet husband. "Look at you, Leo!" Clara barked with pure contempt, pointing a finger at his face.

"Do not pretend you understand what is happening here!" Clara sneered meanly. "Big financial moves like five hundred million gold coins are far beyond a beggar's small brain! You will always be a low servant who picks up copper coins from the floor!"

Clara spat on the wooden stage right next to his bare feet. Leo did not respond to her cruel words. He just stood there quietly, his face calm and empty as he held the single copper coin tight in his hand.

Suddenly, an elderly, deeply influential man in rich purple silk robes stepped out from the VIP section at the very front of the hall. He was Master Elder Chen, one of the most respected figures in the entire commercial alliance, who had traveled from the capital. Elder Chen looked up at the stage, his sharp eyes catching sight of Leo's quiet face and bleeding hands from afar.

His heart jumped in his chest, and his eyes opened wide with deep shock as he recognized a familiar aura. Without paying any attention to Julian or Clara, Elder Chen hurried straight toward the stage with fast, eager steps. "Sir!" Elder Chen called out in a loud, respectful voice, making the surrounding nobles turn their heads in surprise.

"Please, step down from that heavy stage!" Elder Chen walked right up to Leo, bowing his head slightly and offering a warm gesture toward the front VIP table. "A young man of your quiet dignity should not be holding heavy iron trays," Elder Chen said politely.

"Please, come sit at the front VIP seat as my honored guest!" Julian and Clara stared at Elder Chen in total shock, their mouths hanging open in utter confusion. Julian quickly swallowed his pride, stepping forward with his hands bowed low and his voice full of extreme, trembling respect.

"Respected Elder Chen!" Julian said nervously, lowering his head as far as he could. "Forgive my intrusion, Master Chen! But are you perhaps mistaken?" "Yes, Honorable Elder Chen!" Clara added quickly, bowing her head deeply with immense reverence.

"This boy is not a noble guest! He is just a lowly live-in servant from our Sterling house who cleans the floors!" Julian forced a small, polite smile, bowing again to Elder Chen. "Master Chen, he is only up there to hold display trays for us, so he is not entitled to sit at your noble VIP table."

Elder Chen blinked, looking at Clara and Julian, then looking back at Leo's calm, silent face. Seeing that Leo did not object or say a single word, Elder Chen quickly cleared his throat to cover his initial reaction. "Ah... I see," Elder Chen said smoothly, nodding his head.

"If he is your family's servant, then I must have mistaken him for someone else." Elder Chen turned around and walked back to his VIP table, while Julian and Clara burst out laughing at Leo once again. "Look at you, Leo!" Clara mocked loudly, pointing at him with deep scorn.

"You almost made Elder Chen look foolish with your dirty beggar face!" Leo remained silent, holding his copper coin tightly in his hand. Right at that moment, the Chief Master of the Global Sovereign Trust entered through the grand doors, flanked by armored guards, scanning the hall directly toward the stage.