Chapter 004: Unable to Marry Off

Before long, the price soared to 2,000 gold coins. Every time Old Mark raised the bid, the other party would increase it by exactly one gold coin—neither more nor less—making the provocation unmistakable.

The slave merchant on stage was sweating profusely. Normally, the higher the price of a slave, the better. But now, it seemed two highly influential people were competing, and even if he wanted to take the money, it would be extremely risky!

On Du Fan’s end, he wasn’t deliberately provoking either; it was clearly the other party who was targeting him. At this critical moment, he couldn’t afford to show weakness.

Finally, the price stopped rising at 5,000 gold coins.

The square, which should have been bustling, was now completely silent as everyone waited for the next bid. But suddenly, the bidder stepped back half a pace. Then, a corner of the curtain beside the carriage was lifted, and a soft voice, subtly carrying a feminine charm, came through: “Young Master Du Fan… oh, no… should I say Duke Du Fan? I originally wanted to take these warriors back to my estate to check out the stables, but now…”

She paused for a moment before continuing, “Since Duke Du Fan seems so interested, I, Nina, certainly can’t steal what belongs to others. If Duke Du Fan wants them, then I have no choice but to step aside!”

Du Fan? Duke?

Most people present had heard of Du Fan’s name, but when had this priest become a duke?

Many of those there immediately looked at Du Fan with respect. After all, in the capital, no one could surpass him in terms of reputation.

Seeing that she was about to leave after speaking, Du Fan frowned.

Although he had met Princess Nina once, he didn’t remember offending her! Her bold provocation clearly indicated she had planned this for a long time. Perhaps she thought he wouldn’t dare clash with someone from the royal family…

Could it be that Prince Fischer sent her to test him?

If that were the case…

Thinking this, Du Fan called out loudly, “Princess Nina!”

Princess Nina was the eldest princess of the empire, so addressing her as “Princess” was entirely appropriate.

Hearing this, Princess Nina hesitated for a moment before calmly asking, “Then, what orders does Duke Du Fan have?”

Du Fan smiled slightly and said, “Princess Nina wants someone to watch over the stables. Just send that person over… It’s as if I bought him to give to Her Highness. However, there’s still one thing Her Highness needs to know.”
Hearing Du Fan’s words, Princess Nina felt a hint of pride. His tone clearly implied that he intended to give her the person he had bid for, showing obvious attempts to please her. She couldn’t help but say, “Please go on, Duke!”
Du Fan laughed heartily and said, “It’s not a problem giving the person to Your Highness. But after all, you are a princess of a kingdom. It’s better not to keep too many rough men in this mansion… Although everyone knows it’s nothing serious, spreading such rumors wouldn’t be good, right?”
The mention of “rough men” was a severe insult to Princess Nina. Moreover, since she hadn’t married by this age, various rumors had already spread in the capital. Du Fan’s words were truly the epitome of sarcasm.
The crowd initially wanted to laugh, but they held back, knowing that the person being teased wasn’t an ordinary person but a princess.
Princess Nina remained silent for a moment but eventually couldn’t suppress her anger and said sternly, “Let’s go!”
But Du Fan had no intention of letting her off so easily. He still spoke loudly, “Princess, today is still a national funeral! His Majesty Austin III has passed away. How can you ignore the burial ceremony and come to a slave market to do such things?”
The guards by the carriage showed signs of anger, but Princess Nina inside remained silent. They still drove the carriage away slowly.
After seeing the carriage leave, Old Mark sighed slightly and said, “Young master, you went too far today… No matter how much Princess Nina pressured you, you shouldn’t have done this. If what you said spreads, this Princess Nina might never be able to marry!”
Du Fan sneered and said, “She provoked me. Should I be polite to her? Whether she can marry or not has nothing to do with me, Du Fan!”
Old Mark sighed again, “But after all, she is a princess. And what about Prince Fisher…”

Du Fan smiled slightly and said, “I think even if Prince Fischer finds out about this, he’ll pretend not to know… Hmph, his dear sister coming here to buy a stranger during a state funeral? If such a thing gets out, the royal family’s reputation will be completely ruined! So I’m sure that even if Prince Fischer finds out, he’ll still act like he doesn’t know. And most people in the noble circles already know about it and will never bring it up again! Hmph… Princess Nina suffered a great loss but can’t even complain—what a perfect situation!”
When Old Mark heard Du Fan say this, he didn’t know what to say either. He simply shook his head slightly and said, “Even so, for the sake of pride… spending five thousand gold coins—you know the situation at our household…”
Du Fan snorted and said, “I’m now a duke. A few coins aren’t a problem for me. Besides… do you really think that slave merchant would dare to charge me that much?”
Sure enough, the slave merchant on the platform saw Princess Nina leave and quickly jumped down from the platform to deliver the sign personally. As soon as Old Mark showed signs of wanting to pay, the merchant shook his head repeatedly and said, “It’s already a great honor for Lord Du Fan to visit our place. How could we dare to accept payment? My master said these slaves are just a small gift! He also said that if Lord Du Fan wants any slaves, he can just send someone to ask for them. We have everything in the slave trade, but slaves are plentiful.”
Seeing the merchant’s feigned behavior, Du Fan didn’t say much and just nodded in agreement.
The slave merchant, seeing Du Fan’s expression, left happily, rushing straight toward the back stage, not even bothering to conduct the auction anymore.
After dealing with this matter, Du Fan shook his head slightly. With his identity now exposed, there was no point in continuing to browse in public. Leaving was the best choice.
As for the slaves he bought, even if those people had the audacity, they wouldn’t dare sell them again.
With that in mind, Du Fan gave Old Mark a gesture, glanced at Laku who had been following him, then turned and walked away from the square.
Wherever he went, the crowd spontaneously parted, but no one dared to approach him.
When he reached the street corner, he suddenly heard a voice say, “Young master! Young master! I arrived too late to save you. Please forgive me!”

Du Fan glanced back and saw Ferre breaking through the crowd, drenched in sweat, before rushing over to him. Ferre had been trying to buy items elsewhere and heard that Young Master Du Fan was arguing with someone from the royal family, so he came right away. However, there were too many people in the square, which explained his delay. Seeing Ferre’s state, Du Fan didn’t scold him. Instead, recalling today’s events, he suddenly had an idea. He stepped closer to Ferre, signaled Old Mark to hand two tokens to him, then said in a low voice, “You must have bought quite a few items these days, right? If needed, keep buying… But once those people get their items, don’t bring them to the duke’s mansion. Bring more money and buy a manor in the suburbs. Move everyone there and train them properly for me.” After saying that, Du Fan signaled Old Mark to give Ferre a bag of gold coins as well. Hearing this, Ferre didn’t dare ask further. He just glanced at the tokens in his hand before retreating quickly. Only after Ferre left did Du Fan feel a bit more at ease. Although he wasn’t afraid of anything about his actions today, bringing back a bunch of slaves after offending Princess Nina would likely be disrespectful to Prince Fischer. But since he was sending them outside the city now, even if someone reported it to Prince Fischer, he probably wouldn’t say much. Du Fan was well aware that Prince Fischer likely had mixed feelings about him—forced to promote him for his merits but also wary of his rise. It was this conflicting attitude that made Prince Fischer tolerate him on many matters, showing off his image as a “wise ruler”… It was necessary. But such tolerance from Prince Fischer surely had its limits… And if his assumptions were correct, Princess Nina’s arrival today was probably also influenced by Prince Fischer. While he was testing Prince Fischer’s limits, it seemed Prince Fischer was also testing his own tolerance! The art of ruling truly was an interesting thing…