The other guests continued entering the conference room while the two of them were chatting, filling the place up fairly quickly.
With all the guests finally seated, the first round of the auction began with contemporary works of art and literature.
As Genevieve wasn’t interested in either of those, she chose not to raise her bidder card.
Because Timothy’s father had a thing for paintings, he bought one for him at a high price.
The theme for the second round of the auction was ceramics. After going through a few vases, the next item was an earring box made out of pink-colored glass.
The design of the box looked incredibly exquisite with the grapevine pattern made out of gold lines, especially when viewed under the spotlight.
Genevieve raised her bidder card the moment the auctioneer mentioned the starting bid.
A few other guests also raised their bidder cards after her, and the price soon skyrocketed to thirty million.
Eventually, the bid got so high that most guests stopped raising their bidder cards. Right when Genevieve thought the item was hers for sure, another guest sitting in the corner continued to raise the bid.
When the price went past sixty million and the guest was still going at it, Genevieve decided to give up on the item.
“Why are you stopping now? Your husband has enough money to last a few generations! Don’t tell me you’re trying to save him some money?” Timothy asked curiously.
“It’s just an earring box anyway. I don’t really like it all that much, so that person can have it instead,” she replied.
The third round of the auction featured jade artifacts.
Genevieve wasn’t all that interested in jade, but one of the items being auctioned caught her attention. It was a pendant made out of high-quality white jade which felt really cool to the touch. On top of that, it was made by an insanely famous craftsman.
Everyone began raising their bidder card as soon as the auctioneer announced the starting bid.
After raising her bidder card twenty times, Genevieve successfully purchased the jade pendant for a hundred and eighty million.
“You refuse to pay sixty million for the earring box, but you’d go as far as a hundred and eighty million for this jade pendant? I bet Armand would die from happiness when he finds out,” Timothy teased her.
Genevieve simply ignored him and proceeded to purchase two more jade artifacts after that.
There, this should be enough charity work for tonight.
As the jade artifacts were sold out, the auctioneer announced with a mysterious smile, “I’m sure you all know that we always pick one of the items to be saved for last. Now, allow me to present the final item for tonight’s auction!”
The hotel staff brought out an item that was covered with a black cloth and placed it on the table.
With a swift motion, the auctioneer then lifted the black cloth, revealing a magnificent phoenix-shaped crown.
The crown had an air of nobility and elegance to it. A phoenix with its wings outstretched stood high on the top of the crown. Beneath it, clouds and flowers of all shapes and sizes adorned the body of the crown.
It looked so dazzling that everything else around it seemed dull in comparison.
The auctioneer smiled when he heard everyone gasping in shock and awe. “This gilded crown is embedded with emeralds. It was worn by a princess during her wedding, so it is a highly valuable collectible! The starting bid will be…”
“This crown is amazing! Not only is it a great collectible, but it can also be worn during future weddings!” Timothy exclaimed as he raised his bidder card.
Genevieve simply glanced at the crown in admiration without raising her bidder card.
I’ve been married twice now, and I didn’t even have a wedding for my second marriage. Unless any unforeseen circumstances were to occur, this should be my final marriage. Besides, who in their right mind would want to wear such a heavy and expensive crown at their wedding?
The crown was the most popular item of that auction, and almost everyone took turns bidding for it.
The number of bidders only started decreasing when the price went up to a hundred million.
Timothy casually continued raising his bidder card while munching on the peanuts. He didn’t seem worried about losing that bid at all.
In less than three minutes, the bid had gone up to two million, making the crown the most expensive item at the auction.
“Isn’t number twenty-two over there the one that competed with you for the earring box earlier?” Timothy asked.
Genevieve shifted her gaze in the direction of his finger and looked to her right.
