Winifred had decided to just choose death as soon as she already slapped the Enoch on impulse. But before she died, she thought doing what she wanted to do and saying her mind was a necessity she couldn't just pass on.
'Hopefully, when my neck gets cut of my neck, I'd be back in my beautiful large room.' She thought before she did all her drama, she was surprised at how much the audience loved her little show and even cheered as they watched.
"Now that that's done and said, I'm done with this bullshit so when and how am I getting killed?" She concluded looking at the audience, as if it was rehearsed, the wardens that were now about six grabbed her immediately, their faces glistening with anger.
"We... we apologize for this unfortunate incident, gentlemen. This one would be taken in for discipline and the next slave will be brought in." One of the wardens said.
Enoch who was now off the floor he was on stormed towards Winifred and gave a resounding slap on her right cheek causing the audience to start laughing.
"Before that, strip her! She needs to be disgraced before she gets sentenced to hell." He said as another one of the wardens proceeded to heed to his instruction.
But before they could, a loud voice interrupted them, "Two thousand Shillings!" The voice that belonged to Arthur said, startling and surprising even Winifred who was nursing her burning red cheek and regretting her decisions.
Everyone was soon very silent as they turned to look at who had just bade on the same slave who had been so rebellious. Nobody wanted a slave who wasn't submissive and dormant, it always proved to be an hassle and a stress for them, a loss even because their masters tend to try to tame them properly and sometimes end up killing them in the process which was a huge waste of money.
But that wasn't the only reason why they turned to look at the mysterious man, it was also due to the fact that it was the highest amount of money they had ever heard anyone mention during auctions for some slave.
"You want to buy her?" Enoch questioned, confused.
"Yes. Isn't she up for sale in the first place?" Arthur asked in return.
"You were here when she did all she did too or did you just walk in?" Enoch questioned further.
Arthur threw him a death glare from the crowd, as if telling him to stop asking those stupid questions.
"Oh okay. And to be clear, you said two thousand shillings, right?" He asked again.
"Yes! Two thousand shillings, now do we have a deal or not?" Arthur said standing up from his seat like he was done here.
"Yes sir, of course, we have a deal. This slave is sold to the..."
"Two thousand five hundred shillings!" Another voicemy interrupted, shocking everyone further.
Winifred turned to look at the new man who had bade again for her and she was so sad to see that it was no one other than the same man with the coily mustache and weird hat, the same Sir Edward who she had heard so much rumors about from her cellmates.
'No no no! Anyone else but Sir Edward. Anyone but the same man who feeds his slaves to hyenas.' Winifred thought as she shook her head vigorously, absentmindedly.
And to her greatest relief, the previous man bade again.
"Three thousand shillings!" He said, taking his seat back.
Winifred looked at the young man, his features was clear enough to be seen in the dim light but she couldn't see his whole face properly and even at that, she couldn't help but feel like she had seen this man somewhere before. To her greatest dismay, Sir Edward bade again.
"Three thousand shillings!" He shouted and immediately after, Arthur bade too, giving Edward a harsh glare, "Three thousand five hundred shillings!"
The whole room kept gasping and soon both Edward and Arthur was now the center of attention as everyone stared at them and not at the slave on the stage anymore.
"Three thousand five hundred shillings!" Edward bade again, smirking at Arthur.
Arthur was just annoyed and so he returned his smirk with yet another harsh glare. "Four thousand shillings." He said with a bored look on his face.
At this point, even Winifred was confused and shocked as she looked to and fro between both men hoping that Sir Edward wasn't the one who ends up getting her as his slave but the men seemed to turn the whole thing into a game as they kept on trying to outbid one another even further.
"Four thousand five hundred shillings!" Edward shouted yet again.
Arthur was getting tired of the back and forth and he was getting very annoyed too so he decided to just end it all, "Ten thousand shillings!" He shouted earning loud gasps and shocking looks from everyone, Enoch who was on the stage was very shocked that he looked straight at the slave again wondering if there was something he was missing.
Other people in the room was also confused as they all had one thing going through their minds, ' is this mad mentally deranged?'
Edward was speechless too, he looked at Arthur wondering if he knew what he just said. They were rich and wealthy but no sane being would spend even two thousand shillings on a slave not to talk of something as huge as ten thousand shillings, this was an amount of money that was enough to call anyone a noble and rich man, he might love competitions and all but he would never spend such a fortune on any stupid slave.
"What's with the silence, auctioneer, won't you say something?" Arthur questioned, wanting to just get it all over with and get out of the place.
"Uh... uhm... Is... is... there anyone who'd like to bid higher than t... ten th... thousand shillings for uh... this slave?" Enoch stuttered, his voice lower than usual.
"Who would be dumb enough to even do that?" A voice whispered but loud enough to get to people beside him.
"If there's non, then this slave is sold to the young man in white coat, you should come and get your good at the backstage." Enoch concluded.
Winifred was dragged back to where she was at with the slaves and she was very quick to notice the looks of envy, admiration and jealousy that she was given both by the remaining slaves and the wardens. She was dragged further to a separate part of the same small room and then the man she wa s sold to came in through another entrance.
Immediately Winifred saw him very closely, she was quick to remember who he was, it was the same man who was called a beast and dragged across the village square to be killed. The same man she had tried to save but ended up getting threatened instead. The same man who had bended a whole iron railing was the same man she had just been sold to.
"You? You!" She shouted pointing her index finger at him.