The Extra's Regressor Wives

Kiyome did not take the two of them to the auction area.

Instead, she led them directly downstairs.

The deeper they went, the clearer the noise ahead became. After the three of them passed through two layers of stone doors engraved with soundproofing formations, the violent roar of the crowd immediately crashed into Lathel’s ears.

"KILL HIM!"

"GET UP!"

"I BET FIVE HUNDRED GOLD COINS!"

"CUT HIS HEAD OFF!"

Lathel immediately frowned.

Ahead of them was an enormous circular arena built deep underground.

Thousands of seats rose in tiers around the sand-covered fighting ground in the center, while private rooms reserved for distinguished guests were positioned higher up, separated from the arena by one-way magical glass.

Two men were fighting on the arena floor.

Neither wore much armor. One held a short sword, while the other wielded an axe. Black metal collars encircled both of their necks, with red magical lines running across them.

Lathel only needed a few seconds to understand what they were.

Slaves.

The man with the axe had already been wounded in the shoulder, blood steadily dripping onto the sand, but since the bell signaling the end of the match had not sounded, he was forced to continue fighting.

The swordsman was not much better off. One of his eyes had swollen so badly that he could barely open it.

The audience around them, however, was extremely excited.

Every time their weapons clashed, cheers erupted as though the people being cut apart below had absolutely nothing to do with them.

Walking beside Lathel, Kiyome calmly introduced the place.

"The arena on this floor is one of our most profitable businesses. Apart from free gladiators, there are also criminal slaves, prisoners of war, and people who sold themselves because of debt. As long as they sign a contract and win enough matches, they can buy back their freedom."

Lathel watched the two men below without showing any reaction.

Kiyome continued,

"Of course, the number who survive until the day they can truly leave isn’t very high. But at least they still have a chance."

She laughed softly.

Lathel turned to look at her.

Kiyome noticed his gaze but did not pay much attention to it.

In her previous life, she had witnessed things far crueler than this.

A few slaves fighting each other for money was nowhere near enough to bother her.

Catrina was different.

She only needed to look at Lathel once to realize that he disliked what he was seeing.

’It’s starting.’

Catrina still said nothing.

Kiyome led them into a private room with an excellent view.

The room was covered in red carpet and furnished with sofas, wine, and several light dishes. A maid who had been waiting inside quickly lowered her head and withdrew after the three entered.

Kiyome sat down first.

"Well? Want to place a bet?"

Lathel immediately shook his head.

Kiyome laughed.

"Don’t refuse so quickly. The next match is much more interesting."

Lathel shook his head again and took out his writing board.

I don’t like gambling.

Kiyome raised an eyebrow slightly after reading it.

"You don’t like gambling?"

Lathel wrote another line.

I also don’t like watching people being forced to kill each other.

The smile on Kiyome’s face faded slightly.

Only slightly.

It returned to normal almost immediately.

"Not everyone is being forced."

She pointed her fan toward the arena below.

"Some people participate willingly because of the rewards. Winning a single match can earn them as much as an ordinary person makes in an entire year."

Lathel looked at the man below who had been beaten until he could barely stand.

Then his gaze moved to the slave collar around the man’s neck.

Kiyome naturally understood what he was thinking.

"All right."

She laughed.

"I admit those two are slaves."

Lathel immediately stood.

Kiyome was slightly surprised.

Catrina remained calmly seated on the sofa.

Lathel pointed toward the door, then wrote,

I want to leave.

Catrina watched him for a moment before nodding.

"All right."

Kiyome immediately frowned.

"You’ve only just arrived and you already want to leave? The auction hasn’t even started yet."

Lathel did not change his mind.

Kiyome also stood, a faint irritation beginning to rise inside her.

She had been waiting for an opportunity to approach Lathel ever since regressing.

Before this, she had even used her position as a Saintess candidate as a condition to obtain the cooperation of three other women.

Now Lathel had appeared in front of her on his own.

If she let him walk away after only exchanging a few words, Kiyome had no idea how long she would have to wait for another chance.

More importantly—

Catrina was right beside him.

Kiyome could not allow the distance between the two of them to continue shrinking while she did nothing.

She stepped closer.

"Lathel."

He immediately turned his head.

This was the first time Kiyome had directly called his name, so Lathel was clearly a little surprised.

Kiyome also realized that she had revealed too much, so she quickly smiled and pointed toward Catrina.

"The Duchess called your name earlier."

A reasonable enough explanation.

Lathel did not suspect anything.

Kiyome took another step forward and softened her voice.

"Just stay for one more match."

He shook his head.

"I can let you choose who to bet on."

Lathel shook his head again.

"If you lose, I’ll pay. If you win, all the money is yours."

The confusion in Lathel’s eyes became even clearer.

He was not poor enough to need to earn money by watching other people kill each other.

At the very least, he absolutely did not want to do that.

Lathel pointed toward the door again.

Kiyome began losing patience, though the smile remained on her face.

"You’re really stubborn."

She stepped closer, one hand naturally reaching toward Lathel’s arm.

He immediately took half a step back.

Kiyome’s hand stopped in midair.

A cold glint flashed through her golden eyes, disappearing so quickly that Lathel did not notice.

Catrina did.

She remained seated on the sofa, but both hands resting on her knees slowly tightened.

Crack.

A faint sound came from her knuckles.

Kiyome heard it and glanced over.

Catrina showed no reaction.

She merely watched calmly.

’Keep going.’

Normally, the moment Kiyome approached Lathel this closely, Catrina would already have stepped between them.

But today, she deliberately restrained herself.

Because what Catrina was waiting for was the exact phenomenon that had once happened to her.

Kiyome turned back toward Lathel.

Realizing that normal approaches did not seem to work, her golden eyes curved slightly and her voice became softer.

"Do you hate me?"

Lathel reflexively shook his head.

Kiyome smiled.

"Then don’t avoid me like that."

She stepped forward again.

The faint fragrance unique to the fox demon race quickly reached him, making Lathel instinctively want to retreat again.

But the sofa was already behind him.

Kiyome stood very close.

"Am I really that frightening?"

Lathel looked a little helpless.

He was about to explain using sign language, then immediately remembered that she could not understand it.

At that moment, Kiyome reached out again.

This time, her fingers lightly touched the sleeve near his wrist.

Lathel immediately pulled his arm away.

The movement was not forceful.

But the rejection was clear.

Kiyome froze.

Only then did Pandora speak inside his mind.

"This woman is a little annoying."

Lathel was beginning to feel the same way.

He did not hate Kiyome.

But he had already made it very clear that he wanted to leave.

Kiyome kept stopping him.

She even continued trying to touch him despite Lathel deliberately moving away.

He lowered his head and wrote,

I’m sorry. I really want to go back.

Lathel held out the board.

Kiyome read the words.

The smile remained on her lips, but some of the patience in her eyes had disappeared.

’Still the same as in my previous life.’

A cold thought passed through her mind.

’Always like this.’

In her previous life, whenever she used her fan to lift his chin, Lathel would silently step back.

Whenever she deliberately teased him, he would avoid her.

And yet afterward, he would still come running to warn her about Aldric as though he never grew tired.

A man irritating enough that people never knew what to do with him.

And yet—

it was also that very man who had eventually changed far too many things.

’I can’t let him keep avoiding me.’

Kiyome quickly changed tactics.

"All right. No more betting."

Lathel relaxed slightly.

"I’ll take you upstairs to the auction."

He immediately turned toward Catrina.

She was still sitting calmly on the sofa.

Lathel looked at her in confusion, as though asking whether she was coming too.

Catrina calmly answered,

"I’ll rest here for a while. Kiyome can take you up first."

Kiyome was slightly surprised.

Then she immediately laughed.

"The Duchess trusts me that much?"

"I trust him."

The answer made Kiyome’s smile stiffen slightly.

Catrina looked directly at her.

"As for you, not yet."

Kiyome laughed softly.

"As expected of Duchess Veyr."

Then she turned back toward Lathel.

"Let’s go."

Lathel hesitated.

But thinking that all he needed to do was go upstairs and get away from the arena, he eventually nodded.

Kiyome smiled and leaned aside to give him room to pass.

As Lathel walked by, she once again seemed to casually reach out for his elbow.

Lathel moved aside.

The second time.

Kiyome’s eyes immediately turned a little colder.

But she still did not give up.

She walked beside him into the corridor.

"You really don’t have to be so wary of me. I only want to get to know you."

Lathel looked at her and wrote,

We already know each other.

Kiyome read it.

"That’s all?"

Lathel nodded.

At last, a clear sense of discomfort began appearing inside him.

It had nothing to do with Kiyome being a fox demon.

Nor did it have anything to do with how seductive she looked or what kind of reputation she had.

It was simply because the woman in front of him seemed incapable of understanding the concept of personal space.

He had refused several times.

She still kept moving closer.

Lathel instinctively retreated another half step.

At that exact moment—

[Ding!]

Kiyome’s body suddenly stiffened.

A mechanical voice sounded directly inside her head.

The smile on her face instantly froze.

Lathel heard nothing.

Pandora showed no reaction either.

Only Kiyome could see the lines of text appearing in front of her.

[Warning.]

[The Blessed One is developing negative emotions toward Kiyome.]

Her pupils immediately contracted.

’The Blessed One?’

The notification continued.

[Conditions for the Lucky Star Halo have not been fulfilled.]

[Protection effect cannot be established.]

Kiyome stood completely still in the middle of the corridor.

Lathel turned back and looked at her in confusion.

The mechanical voice had not stopped.

[Negative attitude continues to persist.]

[Inverse Effect has been activated.]

[DARK CURSE.]

A sudden chill swept over Kiyome’s body and made her shiver.

There was no mana.

No killing intent.

None of her senses could detect where it came from.

And yet, the instincts of a fox demon made her feel with absolute clarity that something had just attached itself directly to her fate.

Kiyome immediately looked at Lathel.

He was only staring back at her in confusion, completely unaware of what had just happened.

’Wait.’

Kiyome’s gaze rapidly changed as she remembered the four words that had just appeared.

The Blessed One.

Her lips parted.

"Lathel, you—"

No sound came out.

Kiyome froze.

She tried again.

"That halo just now was—"

Still nothing.

Her pupils contracted even further.

Her throat was perfectly normal.

Her breathing was unobstructed.

There was no magic sealing her vocal cords.

Yet whenever Kiyome tried to speak about the notifications she had just seen, her voice simply vanished, as though some invisible law erased the words from the world before they could be spoken.

Kiyome instinctively touched her throat.

Lathel became even more confused.

He stepped half a pace closer and signed,

Are you feeling unwell?

Kiyome looked at his hands.

Then at the completely innocent face in front of her.

Another chill ran down her spine.

’Don’t tell me...’

Inside the room behind them, Catrina had already stood the moment Kiyome suddenly stiffened.

She had not heard the notifications Kiyome received.

Nor could she see the words Dark Curse.

But Kiyome’s reactions were far too familiar.

Her body suddenly stiffening.

Her eyes instinctively dropping toward her hands as though checking for something.

The confusion when she failed to detect any fluctuation of mana.

Then trying to speak about some secret only for her voice to disappear.

It was almost identical to what had once happened to Catrina.

She slowly walked out of the room.

Kiyome turned her head as well.

Their gazes immediately met.

One pair of eyes was filled with shock.

The other was terrifyingly calm.

Kiyome immediately understood part of it.

’You knew?’

She wanted to ask.

But she could not tell whether Catrina truly understood what had appeared before her or was only making an educated guess.

Catrina did not explain.

She simply looked at Kiyome for a moment.

Then the corner of her lips slowly lifted behind her mask.

It was only a very small smile.

But Kiyome saw it.

Catrina’s hands, which had been clenched tightly enough for her knuckles to crack, finally relaxed.

She had endured long enough.

Watching Kiyome repeatedly approach Lathel and try to touch him while Lathel avoided her again and again had forced Catrina to constantly remind herself that she absolutely could not draw her foil yet.

But the result before her proved that all of it had been worth it.

Catrina’s gaze settled on Kiyome.

Only one thought remained in her mind.

’Looks like...’

The smile beneath her mask became clearer.

’I bet right.’

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