章節 37: Embarrassing Situation
Emma lowered her head as she apologized to show her sincerity. She didn't want to give any chance to the older woman to cause a ruckus.
Judging from her aura, the woman screamed trouble.
She was the one who asked her to pay for the dress and now she was wailing that Emma was trying to give her cheap pennies.
These kinds of people were terrifying as they could find fault with even a saint.
Although the older woman didn't want to let go of this matter so quickly, looking at Emma's stance she failed to find any fault in her behavior and unwillingly accepted her apology.
As soon as Emma compensated the woman, she didn't stay there for a second and went to the other end of the Hall.
She remembered how Asher had emphasized not to make enemies with anyone in the auction no matter the reason.
When chaos would ensue, then these people would make things difficult for the person with whom they had argued.
These people were like wolves and they would eat the lamb without a second thought and would even find ways to justify their actions by blaming the lamb.
Emma had seen the glint in that woman's eyes which told her that she was not a normal socialite who spent her time shopping and attending parties, rather that woman had a suffocating air around her.
No matter how much these people try to hide the bloody stench of their bodies, the scent was recognizable from a mile.
As Emma had guessed, as soon as she moved away from the woman, she saw an object shining under the lights in the right pocket of her suit.
Emma didn't want to think about how that woman managed to get in with that knife or what the purpose of that machete was.
To get her mind away from the immense danger she just escaped from, Emma decided to look around the displayed items which were to be auctioned.
She noticed a lot of items that had enormous market value and were casually placed in the glass cases to be given at a minimum percentage of their actual price.
Among these items, only three caught her eye. The first one was a 15th century Bow with intact arrows which was thought to be used by an Egyptian Prince during his reign with a market value of $11 million.
Although it wasn't as expensive as other objects, it would make a great gift to build connections if given to an enthusiast.
The second object was a glass globe that changed colors under different lights. It was a rather modern item with an original price of $2 million.
And the last thing which garnered her attention was a weird-looking square-shaped golf ball with no specific description written over it.
Even the original price wasn't mentioned. This spiked Emma's curiosity as all other things had their price written under them but this item didn't.
It wasn't a surprise as this golf ball looked pretty shabby and didn't give the vibe of a priceless item.
It might be placed here to ensure that even if a government official was to look into the items list, it would not raise suspicion due to objects with a variety of price ranges being present.
This was the conclusion which Emma came up with.
She was apprehensive about the auction in the first place but she also wanted to get close to Betty to get some information about her aunt.
Hence, it led her to this situation where she didn't want anything for herself but was still stuck in a dangerous crowd that could go rowdy at any moment.
Emma walked slowly taking one step at a time and trying her best to appear nonchalant.
She looked around for Betty and found her standing near a horn-looking thing.
Emma didn't understand what that thing was even with the description and went toward that glass case where Betty was standing and observing.
Emma did not speak to Betty and pretended to be interested in the displayed item instead.
"Oh, we meet again!" Betty was pleasantly surprised by Emma's presence and said joyfully.
Emma acted surprised although she had purposefully approached Betty and shamelessly said, "Yes, It's nice to see you again."
After that, she instantly stared at the object as if she was deeply in love with it.
Seeing Emma staring so intently at the horn, Betty was a bit astounded. She pursed her lips and didn't say anything.
Emma had been observing Betty's reaction from the corner of her eyes and felt proud of her as she attributed Betty's response to the fact that Betty felt touched when she saw someone else sharing her passion for the same thing.
Emma hid her sly smile when she saw that her plan had worked out and stared even more intensely at the trumpet-like horn.
She acted as if she was a connoisseur and knew what she was doing.
She even grabbed a magnifying glass and used it to observe the 6-inch-long horn-like object.
Even then she failed to recognize the object as it was her first time seeing something like this.
At this point, Emma was genuinely curious about the usage and function of this horn.
She failed to notice that as she was so immersed in finding out what this object was, many people were giving her weird gazes.
Even Betty had rosy cheeks as she saw Emma behaving like a fanatic of this item.
Clearing her throat, she said, "It looks like you are quite interested in this item."
Emma heard Betty's words but failed to notice the slight octave in her voice.
Instead, she smilingly replied, "Yes, I had my eyes on this masterpiece ever since I read about it in the brochure."
Betty was taken aback by Emma's blunt and eager response. For a moment she forgot how to react to Emma's reply and was dumbfounded.
Betty closed her eyes and shook her head before saying, "That's your taste?"
She wanted to be proven wrong. She couldn't believe that someone like Emma would be so open about liking something like this.
She was not judging Emma but still wanted to confirm whether what she had been thinking was correct.
Although Emma felt that there was something wrong, she still answered,
"Yeah. I have always liked things like this. I have done a little bit of research about this object and it blows me away every time I read about it."
Emma was feeling pretty confident after her reply and felt that she had made some progress in breaking the ice with Betty.
If it continued like this then she would be able to reach her goal much faster than she had thought.
She might even be able to make friends with Betty which would be a bonus as she could ask Betty about her aunt at any time.
Emma made a bunch of different scenarios in her head as she thought more about the next course of events. She was giddy and excited as well.
However, she slowly overcame her feelings and smiled at Betty as if trying to show that their tastes matched well.
Betty wanted to tell Emma something but before she could, she was interrupted by a young man wearing a worker's uniform as he politely addressed Emma.
"Ma'am, We respect your choices but you are requested to not say this so loudly as it might be uncomfortable for other attendees."
Emma creased her brows as she heard him say this. She didn't understand which of her statements might cause other people to be uncomfortable.
Seeing the doubt in her eyes, the worker sighed. "Ma'am, don't tell me you don't know what this is."
Emma didn't answer him as she didn't want to be caught lying in front of Betty like this and looked around as if she didn't hear his question in the first place.
By this time, the worker had analyzed her response and determined that she did not know what this thing was.
He didn't judge Emma as he had seen plenty of socialites pretending to know about something whereas they have no idea what they are talking about.
"Ma'am, Sorry to inform you but this thing," The worker pointed at the horn's description which was in Latin, "is placed here for those who do not know what the item is and it is a way to help them out."
Emma wasn't embarrassed as Latin was not a very actively used language and only a few people knew how to read it.
"It reads here that this is a rhino's horn which was used by the people of an indigenous tribe in South Africa in the Middle Ages." The worker tried to explain in case Emma couldn't understand what was written there.
Emma still didn't get why he said that her words might make some people uncomfortable.
Was a rhino horn used by native Africans an uncomfortable topic? Was this horn obtained by using illegal means which made it a forbidden item?
While Emma was contemplating the horn, the worker further elucidated with a blank face and nonchalant voice,
"This horn is hollow from the inside because it was used by males in the tribe to hold their private parts to protect them from any damage."
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