Chapter 255 You Left Me No Choice
Just like Elizabeth thought, she saw Darlene messing with the raw stones like she had no clue what she was doing. Darlene was just feeling them up, trying to catch some vibes or whatever.
Total cheat move, no wonder Darlene always snagged the best gems at every market.
Elizabeth noticed she wasn't the only one eyeing Darlene. A bunch of folks were crowding around her too.
Especially the stones Darlene checked out and jotted down; a lot of people were copying her.
But Elizabeth saw through Darlene's game.
Some of the stones Darlene noted were total duds from a pro's perspective. She was clearly trying to throw off the people tailing her.
Darlene was super quick with her checks, just a touch and a note, unlike the other appraisers who took their sweet time.
By lunchtime, Darlene had already breezed through four zones, both open and hidden bids, and even submitted her hidden bid docs.
Elizabeth had only managed to get through a bit more than half, and she was considered pretty fast.
While Darlene and the others grabbed lunch, Matthew's secretary brought back some boxed lunches.
By the time the afternoon auction kicked off, Elizabeth had checked out all four zones. She made careful notes on the stones she felt good about and those that might have hidden gems, complete with her price guesses. For the sealed bids, she also did her homework and submitted her bids with precision.
Even with all her pro skills, the raw stones were full of surprises. You could never be 100% sure—she might not win every bid, but she could score some top-quality gems on the cheap. That was what made the auction so exciting.
Elizabeth helped Rex and Raymond with their picks. Rex had been on a losing streak, and most of his choices were duds. She pointed out a few stones that had a better shot at being valuable.
Raymond, on the other hand, was on a lucky streak; about a third of his picks might yield gems.
She told him to keep those for the auction and, if the price was right, to go for them. She assured him he wouldn't end up losing overall.
Both of them took Elizabeth's advice.
At 4 PM, the open bids for two zones started.
Elizabeth hit the restroom before the auction began. She burned the Spellscroll she had, which totally broke the Generational Blessings spell between Darlene and Nicole cast by whoever was behind them.
It also backfired on Darlene, returning most of the Generational Blessings taken from Nicole.
Plus, the person behind Darlene couldn't track Nicole by her aura anymore.
But this backlash spell couldn't completely break the original spell cast between Darlene and Nicole from birth.
There were only two ways to break that spell: either one of them had to die, or the person who cast the spell had to die.
So, the spells on her and Brenda, Hubert, Rebecca, and Angela were still intact.
As the spell backfired, Darlene, sitting in the auction hall, suddenly started bleeding from her mouth and ears. Her face went super pale.
Darlene felt like she was on fire, burning so bad she wanted to smash into a wall.
"Ah!" She couldn't help but scream. She crouched down, hugging herself and shaking all over. Everyone noticed her.
Nicholas freaked out and asked, "Darlene, what's wrong? Do you need to go to the hospital?"
Darlene was in so much pain she couldn't even talk, but she gritted her teeth and shook her head.
This gem market was way too important for her. It was her ticket to taking over the Spellscroll Group.
She also had to smuggle out some top-quality gems for that mysterious person.
So, no way she was leaving; she had to stick it out until the auction was over and the raw stones were opened.
But Darlene felt this weird panic creeping in. Her sudden reaction felt a lot like a backlash.
After a bit, the burning sensation in her body started to chill out. But along with it, her Generational Blessings were fading, which freaked her out even more. What the heck? Why were her Generational Blessings draining and getting weaker?
Once she calmed down a bit, with Nicholas's help, she sat back in her seat. The first thing she did was look for Elizabeth.
She was sure the backlash and loss of Generational Blessings had something to do with Elizabeth.
Then she saw Elizabeth coming back from the restroom.
Elizabeth noticed her staring and shot her a playful look.
That confirmed it for Darlene—Elizabeth had done something to her. The bad feeling in her gut got worse, and she just hoped nothing would go wrong during the auction. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.
Then she turned to Nicole, who was sitting nearby, and asked, "Do you know Elizabeth?"
Nicole looked puzzled and replied, "The divination master hired by the Ingram Group? No, I don't. What's up?"
Darlene glared at her and warned, "You better not know her or be in cahoots with her."
She emphasized through gritted teeth, "Otherwise, the consequences will be more than you can handle."
Nicole sneered, "What do you mean by 'in cahoots'? If you put it that way, then you and your parents are in cahoots to do bad things."
Darlene squinted and snapped, "You've got guts, mocking me like that."
Nicole looked at her calmly and said, "You left me no choice."
Just then, the auction host walked onto the stage. He opened the display screen and started the auction.
Darlene stopped grilling Nicole. After the auction and back at the hotel, she'd have plenty of time to deal with her. She endured the discomfort and unease in her body, placing her notebook on her lap.
Darlene felt super thirsty, her throat dry like it was on fire. So she asked Nicholas's assistant to get her a bottle of water. She opened it to drink, and just then, Nicholas's phone rang.
When he took out his phone, he accidentally bumped into Darlene's arm.
Already feeling weak, Darlene couldn't hold the water bottle steady.
Her hand went limp, and the bottle fell onto her notebook. Water spilled all over it.
Darlene panicked and immediately grabbed some tissues from her bag to wipe it.
But since the notes were in pencil, the water made the writing blurry.
As she wiped, the writing on the notebook became a total mess and unreadable.
It was because her Generational Blessings had backfired so badly, making her super unlucky.
Otherwise, for anyone else, the writing wouldn't have gotten so messed up.
Looking at the now useless notebook, Darlene muttered, "How could this happen?"
Meanwhile, the auction stage was already showing photos of the raw stones, along with their numbers and starting bid prices.
Darlene's mind went blank. She couldn't read her notes, so how could she bid?
She hurriedly got up, enduring the discomfort in her body, and ran out of the auction hall.
She planned to reexamine the raw stones and find those with high-quality gems, then get the numbers to bid on them.
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