Chapter 450 - 250: Racial Knight (2)

"I have a set of keys here. It’s a Taboo Item from the Van Helsing Family: [The Key That Can Open Any Door]. It can open almost every VIP lounge. Are you interested?"

’A key that can open any VIP lounge...’ Baron was silent for a moment. He took the keys and nodded. "I’ll come."

Barbara’s smile stiffened.

When Catherine saw Baron accept the keys, the blush on her face deepened. Her voice became honeyed, as if her throat were coated in syrup, and her breath was fragrant.

"Then please, pick a room... Whether it’s a VIP lounge or any other room, even a bathroom stall, I’m game."

’This woman really plays to win,’ Baron thought wryly.

She leaned close to Baron’s ear and whispered, "I’ll get naked and wait for you in that room."

Baron thought for a moment. "505."

"Room 505, then. I’ll be waiting."

Catherine paid no mind to any of this. She shot Baron a coquettish look, then glided away, leaving the crowd with nothing but her graceful back—a sight that invited countless fantasies—and Mr. Hamilton’s furious, bloodshot eyes.

The surrounding men stared at the keys in Baron’s hand, their faces a mask of envy and resentment, as if they were some elixir of immortality.

Even now, they still couldn’t understand why someone as seemingly ordinary as Baron had simultaneously won the favor of two of the Inner Side’s most famous noblewomen, Barbara and Catherine. Baron didn’t know either.

’If Barbara is interested because she’s seen through my identity, then what’s Catherine’s reason? Does she just want to sleep with a strong, well-built man?’

’But I don’t really care. From the very beginning, my goal wasn’t to sleep with a woman, but to get this key that can open any door... Wait. Why would she suddenly give me a key that can open any door, right when I was about to go find Vivian?’

The thought had barely formed in Baron’s mind when he saw Barbara let out a soft sigh.

"So in your eyes, I don’t even measure up to Catherine, a woman who’s already had a child?"

"That’s not it..."

"Then what is it?"

Baron had just opened his mouth to speak when a fair-skinned, beautiful girl with long, elegant eyebrows and phoenix eyes appeared at his side.

The eldest daughter of the Beowulf Family, Isabella.

Isabella stood with her arms crossed. Her purple hair cascaded to her waist like a waterfall, accentuating her slender, well-proportioned figure. That, combined with her perpetually cold and haughty expression and an aura that felt below freezing, caused the surrounding chatter to die down at once.

Barbara gave Isabella a meaningful look, then bid Baron farewell and departed.

Isabella said, "You’re quite popular, Mr. L."

Baron didn’t comment, simply asking, "Have you learned anything new, Miss Isabella?"

Isabella dropped the teasing tone. "The people who know the auction is a trap don’t know why it was held earlier, either. And right now, they’re arguing nonstop over whether the Dragon Witch has infiltrated the auction, ready to steal the Dragon Scale at any moment."

"What do you think, Miss Isabella? Is the Dragon Witch here?"

Baron glanced around, mapping out the hall’s layout and the positions of the people in his mind, running through all possibilities for escape and combat.

"The Dragon Witch will be here. I’m sure of it," Isabella said. "According to the Inner Side’s files, every single one of her recorded appearances, without exception, has been related to the Red Dragon Scale."

"Aside from the official records, Freya’s recent engagement party also proved this."

She glanced at Baron as she said this. Seeing no reaction from him at the mention of the engagement party, she continued.

"The fact that the Dragon Witch collects Red Dragon Scales is hardly a secret among the Inner Side’s well-informed Law Enforcement Organization."

’If it’s not a secret, then why haven’t they used a Red Dragon Scale as bait to capture the Dragon Witch all these years?’ Baron thought.

Isabella seemed to read Baron’s mind. "The main reason they haven’t caught her is because Red Dragon Scales are too precious and difficult to acquire."

"Over all these years, only a few have ever been recorded. Even this Red Dragon Reverse Scale comes from the East. You must have seen the auctioneer—he’s Lucy’s master."

"He’s auctioning this Red Dragon Reverse Scale to raise funds. Besides renovating his Taoist temple, the rest will go toward developing impoverished mountainous regions in the East."

Isabella said, "Since you know Chinese, you must want to see the East for yourself... I once went there with Lucy, to Sichuan Province. The scenery is beautiful. The people are poor, but they’re kind. I think you should go see it."

’The East really is poor in 1987... And I do want to go see it, but not now. In the future...’

Baron’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. ’Doing the math... at this point in time, my mom and dad probably haven’t even met yet. I haven’t been born. All my grandparents should still be relatively young...’

A sudden impulse to go and see them rose within him, but Baron immediately quashed it.

’My appearance wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing for them. If I really got close, with my current appearance, I’d just be a foreigner who speaks Mandarin to them... Even now, I still don’t understand if I was reborn or if I’ve transmigrated into a new world.’

’After all, apart from the addition of this so-called fantastical [Inner Side] represented by the [Golden Law], this world’s entire structure, including its politics, is identical to my past life. The only things that changed are my nationality, my identity, and the year.’

He shook his head, forcing himself not to think about these things, and said to Isabella, half-joking and half-serious:

"I will go... but only after all of this is over. Maybe I’ll even stay there and never come back."

Isabella asked, "And does ’when all of this is over’ include helping the Dragon Witch?"

Baron paused. Isabella continued, "You seem quite concerned about the Dragon Witch. Could the rumors be true? Do you really have a connection to her?"

’I almost forgot—to her, the Dragon Witch is her father’s killer.’ Baron shook his head.

"I’m just curious. After all, I was thrown into London Thirteen Prison because of her. One of the charges they pinned on me was consorting with her."

"Really?" Isabella stared into Baron’s eyes, as if trying to read him.

Baron met her gaze calmly. "Of course, it’s true. If I were in contact with the Dragon Witch, I could have just told her not to attend this auction. There’d be no need for me to take such a huge risk by coming here."

The truth was, Baron had no way of contacting the Dragon Witch. His only connection was the [Blood Covenant] they had forged. And aside from close proximity, the covenant only triggered a sensation when the other party was in danger—at least, that’s what the Dragon Witch had told him.

That was why Baron was relying on his own heartbeat to confirm whether the Dragon Witch was present at the auction.

Isabella nodded, then asked, "Then what’s the story between you and that woman from the Lancelot’s Family? Technically, you’re still publicly known as her brother’s killer. With her difficult personality, she would never listen to your side of the story unless something significant happened between you. If you just needed a way into the auction, you could have come directly to me."

"Considering this morning’s news, I’m guessing she’s the reason you appeared in London City," Isabella said flatly. "I hope you’re doing this purely for yourself, and that old feelings aren’t being rekindled in the process."

’Her intuition is sharp.’ As for rekindling old feelings... Baron shook his head. "The conviction that got me this far was never about avenging the shame of a broken engagement. I know what I have to do."

"I know you understand. I’m just afraid certain other people don’t."

Isabella’s dark eyes flickered, landing first on Barbara’s graceful figure as she hobnobbed with other socialites, then shifting to Freya, who was being pestered by Jill...