Before they'd turned to business, everyone had lived in a single barracks.
Because of that, Max and Laura had met.
Natalia finally understood.
She'd been wondering why Max and Laura seemed to know each other.
Now that things had gotten this far, there was nothing to hide.
Max pouted discontentedly and muttered, "My grandfather had an incident back then and Officer Davies left the military. Then he left Eqitin as well, and I lost contact with Laura. I didn't think we'd only meet again now, after all this time."
At that, even Louis seemed a little saddened.
He was about to say something when Natalia patted Max on the shoulder and comforted, "It's all right, you know. It's not too late to meet up now, and you can still win her over. You're both still young, in your twenties. Just right, I'd say!"
Max instantly blushed.
"Don't say it like that, Natalia! I-I've known her since we were both in nappies. Even if we felt anything for each other, it'd just be brotherly affection and nothing else."
Louis actually agreed with that.
If people started out too close, it made the situation awkward.
Or else he wouldn't be single up to this point.
Thinking of the faces he saw twenty-four hours a day except for when he ate and slept, he could feel just how slim his chances were of romance.
Seeing Max's defensive state, Natalia nodded knowingly.
"Oh, I've got it. Hmm, that's okay. Brotherly affection it is. I don't go out of my way to look at gay relationships, but if you've got thoughts like that, I don't have an opinion on it."
"Natalia!!!"
Max went berserk, only swiftly calmly down at Archie's cool stare.
Because there was too much on auction, they'd split the event into two halves with an intermission.
Having been teased too much by Natalia, Max took a phone call and said it was business.
He didn't linger any longer and left after saying his goodbyes to the group during intermission.
Louis was on break today, and it was rare that he could get a whole day to himself to relax. Naturally, he was unwilling to go back so quickly, so he stayed and continued to attend the auction with them.
When the latter half of the auction began, Natalia's sharp eye noticed hat Laura and Edward were gone too. They must have left as well.
Jokes aside, she wasn't gossipy enough to pry into people's private affairs, so she didn't pay it any mind.
The items on auction for the latter half were even more lavish than the ones in the first half.
Natalia say a few pieces that she liked, but since they only needed one present, she didn't rush to raise her tag and continued to wait.
Until a bright emerald set appeared.
With Natalia's attention to detail, she noticed right away that that set was quite similar to the one Archie had given her.
Archie had noticed too. He frowned, muttering, "That's the set that Aunt Faye has."
Natalia was bewildered.
"Then what's it doing here?"
Archie shook his head to show he didn't know, either.
Now that Max wasn't here, they couldn't go and ask someone else, so they stayed and watched.
This set, like the red coral set, was also passed down from royalty, so they were hotly contested the moment they arrived.
Everyone knew that it was a once-in-a-millennia event to have something like this on auction.
Because of that, they were willing to spend on this one. Besides, the people who could attend this auction weren't pressed for money in the first place.
So the competition intensified even more, reaching the point of three hundred million.
Natalia was a little nervous as she shot a look at Archie, who remained silent with his face dark.
Louis had seen Natalia's set of jewelry before, so he recognized that the set had something to do with the McCarthy family.
Hearing Natalia and Archie say what they just said earlier, it wasn't hard for him to guess that something must have happened.
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