Suddenly There Are Three (Bailey and Artemis) novel Chapter 471

Chapter 471

Raiden glanced at her. A look of displeasure flashed across his eyes.

She's blatantly staring at me as though she wants to strip me naked. How disgusting.

“Have a seat, Ms. Young. Let's talk about today's antique appraisal.”

Lina sat across from Raiden with a blush on her face. Looking at him shyly, she said in a coy voice, “Feel free to tell me what you need, Mr. Fletcher. I'll do my best to get it done.”

The man smirked. His charming smile was bewitching, holding her utterly spellbound.

How is this man so devilishly handsome?

“I believe you've heard about it, Ms. Young. There is a national treasure in this batch of antiques. Let's talk about the appraisal of this cultural relic.”

Lina shook her head to remove the evil thoughts filling her mind and smiled. “I have heard quite a lot about it the past few days, but I wonder what this cultural relic is to be called a national treasure?”

Raiden parted his lips and said simply, “An emerald seal.”

“What?” She jumped to her feet and stared at him in disbelief. “W-What did you say? T-That relic i-is the emerald seal lost by the Haju people for thousands of years?”

Nodding, he replied, “That's right. It's the emerald seal. This cultural relic has been resold several times overseas. No one knows if the one that was shipped back is real, so I would like you to verify it on the spot.”

“No, no, no.” Lina waved her hands. “I-I can't do that. How can I appraise such a precious cultural relic? You should look for reputable antique appraisers to authenticate it instead.”

“Oh?” Raiden arched his brows and smiled. “Aren't you a reputable antique appraiser, Ms. Young? Unless you're admitting that you're not Vespera?”

“That's not what I'm saying. I am Vespera.”

“Since that's the case, what are you afraid of? You're well-known all over the world. Are you worried about making a mistake? I heard that Master Vespera's skills are out of this world, whereby you can determine the authenticity of an antique with your eyes closed. This should be extremely easy for you, isn't it?”

Lina felt a tinge of itch on her scalp as her mind buzzed.

The techniques in creating counterfeits have become so good now that I can't even tell the difference between a real and fake Beauty's Tear. How am I supposed to authenticate an ancient relic from thousands of years ago?

“M-Mr. Fletcher, what if, just hypothetically speaking, I made a mistake about the authenticity? What kind of punishment will there be?” she asked tentatively.

Raiden narrowed his eyes at her and said solemnly, “We haven't even started, and you're already backing off? The emerald seal concerns the bloodline of Chanaea's descendants. If the authentication is wrong, there's no doubt you'll be imprisoned for life once it's found out.”

Lina shuddered in fear.

She was starting to regret impersonating Vespera.

I thought that this identity would bring me good fortune and that I could have a smooth-sailing career progression. However, I never expected it to be a ticking time bomb. If I don't handle this well, I'll have to spend the rest of my life in prison!

“T-That serious? I've never seen a real emerald seal before, so I'm not completely confident about this.”

Seeing that she was terribly frightened, Raiden arched his brows and smiled. “You don't have to be so nervous, Ms. Young. Just perform as per usual. The government has sent several cultural relic experts to work with you in the appraisal today.”

Lina breathed a sigh of relief.

I'll just keep quiet and listen to the experts' opinions first, then use them to come up with my own conclusion.

“All right. I'll do my best,” she said.

Afterward, she looked at him shyly and asked, “Mr. Fletcher, can we be friends?”

With a half-smile, Raiden looked at her and responded, “Let's discuss this after you've successfully determined the authenticity of the emerald seal.”