He nodded his head and told the driver to park. The driver obliged and drove the group closer to the entrance of the auction house, where there were also other carriages that had just dropped off nobles.
Sévon jumped out of the carriage first and opened the door for Vonessia and then in a very elegant manner led her to the door and she stepped out of the carriage as he instructed. With that, Assad looked back at Sévon and Vonessia very confused, just from that action alone could lead to one thing.
"Is this a mistaken identity or a connection?"
With that thought, Vonessia stopped moving at the same time as Sévon (who was still holding her hand). The two of them turned towards Assad at the same moment and shot him an angry frosty stare.
At this point, Assad realized that what he had thought was an innocent thought ended up being completely wrong.
"S–sorry, just a misconception."
He never did anything with that and followed Vonessia and Sévon to where they needed to go.
After getting out of the carriage and shutting the door behind him, Assad began thinking about copying what Sévon did earlier .So he also tapped the carriage so that the driver knew that they were done with him. The driver understood the signal and left. The driver would return after three hours. So, Assad began to follow the two of them.
When Assad arrived back at the entrance hall, he was amazed. The space has high ceilings (around 12-15m) and an axis that goes through the middle to large double doors that lead directly to the Main Hall. The floor of the entrance hall is made up of polished white or light grey marble with geometric designs (cloud and dragon patterns) in gold and black stone that resemble the floors of an imperial palace.
The columns in the entrance hall are circular, and painted vermilion, with large gold-leaf dragons spiralling around them. The brackets under the eaves/beams are decorated with traditional colours (green, blue, red, gold).
The wooden beams have coffered designs, painted with diverse colours; their designs depict phoenix, cloud and peony designs and they also have hidden LED lighting attached to the backs of the beams creating a soft "heavenly" glow effect.
A pair of large, guardian lion statues (stone or bronze) will greet visitors on the central axis of the entrance; each of these statues has long red silk banners hanging from them. The banners have gold lettering stating "Prosperity through Heritage" or a similar saying on them.
The check-in desk can be described as a modern day scholar's table that is disguised as a lacquer finished desk but has a warm, opulent and slightly theatrical feel, creating an atmosphere for guests that resembles being in an Emperor's court and bidding on their treasures. and Assad was really curious about the whole auction house, but then he got hit in the head with a little bit of a chop from Sévon.
"I know it is a cool place, but remember why we are here?" Sévon asked Assad.
Assad took a deep breath and let it out.
"Yeah, you're right."
"You two boys finished?" Vonessia asked.
Sévon smiled and the two of them began walking behind Vonessia, who was headed into the main auction hall. Once they reached the door, Sévon opened it for Vonessia to enter; once they were all inside.
Although the entrance hall was beautiful, when the three of them entered into the main auction hall, it was totally different, an absolutely breathtaking hall with a rectangular shape of raised seating (enough for 300 to 400 people); seating was finished in dark rosewood and finished in rich crimson velvet; the hall was defined by a central aisle leading to a raised auction platform located at the other end; the walls of the hall are heavily decorated with rich red embroidered silk damask fabric; between the embroidered panels are jade green trimmed accent panel and display niches for auction preview items.
Assad was back again, an expressionless shock on his face though this time he kept from allowing himself to lose control of his emotions. The three finally made their way into the VIP area and both of us took our seats near Vonessia that had been reserved for her.
Once they were all seated, the decor of the room was not overly extravagant; a single window looked down into a garden; the floor was carpeted in dark green with soft cushions on each chair; and the chairs were made of a golden material.
The minutes slowly went by as they waited for the auction to begin; many of the nobles present in the VIP section had been given special access to the VIP area. An individual, one of these nobles, walked up to Vonessia and greeted her.
"Nice evening we are having today!"
Vonessia slowly turned toward the person to see who it was that was trying to speak with her. It was a woman who had curly reddish hair with a long pigtail that had been cut to show the beautiful face of a very strong and aggressive woman with deep black eyes.
"Who might you be?"
"I am sorry for talking before introducing myself; that was very rude of me."
Vonessia did not reply, only staring coldly at the woman before turning her head away from the woman.
With a bow, the woman introduced herself, "My name is Nicla Grado."
"Nicla Grado? Isn't that a bother of a name?"
"No, I don't think so."
They were both quiet for a while until Assad and Sévon sat and looked at the situation before them without saying a word.
"Can I sit next to you, if it's not a bother?" Nicla asked.
"Yes,if you may?," Vonessia replied.
Nicla nodded and sat down next to Vonessia. The silence that followed created another awkward moment for Nicla.
Assad and Sévon saw the awkward situation for what it was and were doing their best to hide that they were inwardly laughing their asses off at how quickly Vonessia humbled Nicla without even trying.
"This emperor is Shim Ju-Won," one of these noble mummers said.
The four turned in unison towards the entrance and indeed it was the emperor with his clan that had arrived. All four got up from their seats and made their way over to the emperor to bow before him.
Shim Ju-Won walked like an emperor and wore an air of authority. His hair was groomed in a dark black and was almost completely covering an ominous new face and he had shining sapphires for eyes, skin that was light or dark tanned in color.
He was walking alongside his empress who was beautiful, she had straight red hair and was elaborately styled to display a complete, well lived in, look with gray shining eyes.
Walking adjacent to those walking in front of him are his kids; a son with long, red hair, slicked back to show off a thin, warm face and big brown eyes, and a daughter strolling next to the Empress with shoulder-length black hair pulled back tight into a bun, exposing a narrow but beautiful face, round aquamarine eyes.
Then Shim Ju-Won raises one hand.
"Thank you all for coming out today to relax, have fun, and enjoy each other."