The Princess and the Pauper (Arabella) novel Chapter 1676

On the other side.

At 8 PM, Arabella and Horace made their entrance at the auction.

"Which one's Sam?" Arabella whispered to the person sitting next to her.

With hundreds of people packed into the dimly-lit venue, spotting anyone was like finding a needle in a haystack.

"I heard he's desperate for a kind of medicine. Whoever's hounding after the herb, that's him." Horace shared, his brow furrowing in confusion, "Boss, what's this medicine? What's it good for?"

It was a strange name, one he'd never come across before. At Horace’s question, Arabella’s eyes darkened, "It's for tonifying kidney, interested?"

"Why would I need it? My kidney's intact!" Horace replied, only to then ponder, "There are tons of kidney boosters on the market, why's he so fixated on this one? To the point of hitting up the black market."

"It's not just any booster. Combined with certain substances, it can boost a man’s sexual vitality overnight. Ahem, but it wrecks the body; it's banned. Use too much and you get hooked, just like those illegal substances."

Horace got the gist. No wonder it was a black-market item, it had that kind of power. Wait a sec, how did the boss know all this? She’s too savvy.

The auction kicked off.

The first item up for bids was some porcelain, the kind looted from graves, the sort that couldn't stand the light of day. Interest was scant, and the bids were even scarcer.

No sooner had Sam stepped out than figures rose from the weeds, armed and aiming at him. Steward had brought his men to catch him.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Sam didn't know who they were, only that he was in danger and tried to flee. But Arabella and Horace quickly caught up from behind.

"Take him," Steward commanded, and his goons moved in.

Arabella saw them trying to snatch Sam and immediately took hold of him herself.

"You again?" Steward hadn't expected this girl to show up everywhere, "Are you in cahoots?" Last time at the Demon Ring, this girl had caused a ruckus at the boxing match, letting Sam escape in the chaos. Now, she had Sam in her grip. Could it be, they were really on the same side?