"Ella, please prepare a carriage for me. We're going out," I said to Ella.

"I'll get the unicorns and the carriage ready in a moment," she answered. "And for the tenth time today, my name is not Ella, my lady."

I shrugged in a way of explaining that I had no idea what she was talking about.

Ella seemed to want to argue more but she just sighed as an afterthought before leaving to do her tasks.

Fifteen minutes later, wearing a black cloak and a silver mask in hand like the one usually worn at a masquerade ball, Ella and I were on the carriage, heading to the outskirts of town.

It was my first time riding a carriage pulled by a unicorn. As it moved, the carriage shook back and forth; side to side, and when the carriage's wheels rolled over rocks I was thrown up and down in my seat. The sensation was like riding a roller-coaster in an amusement park.

But of course, it didn't affect me at all. I didn't even miss the comfort of a car or modern technology.

Cell phone? Internet? Who needs that? After all, my adaptability is unrivaled.

"Where are we going, my lady?" Ella asked. It seemed like she couldn't hold her curiosity any longer.

"We're going to a slave auction," I announced.

Slave auction was a necessary scene in romance fantasy novels. So of course, I had to go to one.

As a 21st-century woman, the thought of slavery should've bothered me because it was unthinkable and dehumanizing in modern society, but not for me who was not like other girls.

"Slave auction?" Ella's eyes widened at my statement. "Why would you go to a place like that, my lady? No- I mean, how if the marquess found out? He would be very angry."

I chuckled at her reaction, lifted the silver mask in my hand, and answered confidently, "Don't worry, Ella. See, with this mask, no one will be able to recognize me as the lady of house Villan."

Because surely this mask that covered only half of my face was a perfect disguise. There was no chance that anyone would be able to recognize me with this mask. That was the logic of every protagonist in romance fantasy novels.

Anyway, it described in the novel that an illegal slave auction was held every certain date in the basement of the bar called Irriline in Varenfail Street.

Coincidentally the day I was transmigrated, was the day one of the sub-male-leads was going to be auctioned in this black market. Very convenient coincidence indeed.

His name was Cassius and he was a beastman from the wolf tribe. This child would one day become the greatest knight in the history of the Gruiwurenth Empire and even feared by other countries.

In the book, Cassius was saved by the heroine when he tried to run away from the auction house after he was sold to a middle-aged nobleman who must have wanted to use him as his sex slave. This man was like the obligatory pervert in every romance fantasy novel.

Anyway, the heroine nurtured him back to health, and it touched this affection-starved guy's heart and later on he would swear his loyalty to her.

So my plan was to get to Cassius first before the heroine could get her undeserving hands on him.

According to my logic, buying and grooming this slave to be my personal lap dog would be the best way to avoid my death-ending rather than to just simply not do all the evil deeds that this villainess hadn't done yet.

Yes, this is a perfect plan! I thought confidently.

After a moment, we arrived at our destination. An excitement bubbled in my chest at the thought of buying this sub-male-lead.

I downed my cloak and mask then instructed Ella to do the same before getting off of the carriage.

We both stopped in front of a dingy bar that looked like it could collapse at any moment. It was a really shabby building, so you couldn't even have guessed this would be the right place. But I couldn't be wrong about this for sure.

We both entered, but unlike me who walked leisurely, Ella was fidgeting and seemed deeply uncomfortable.

As expected, I'm not like other girls.

I walked up to the huge and scary-looking bartender then sprouted out a paragraph-long secret code that I just happened to conveniently remember.

"I want to order raw steak made with the meat of pink cow raised in the Webutimo Farm in Loredana City of Paphylia Continent and a glass of red wine from Eoglenemon Winery of Foothils of the Fawn Hill that was made on the third full moon day at the year of 759 by Lady Vampirellina Crimson Parralax Avalanche Goddes Abominal Angel Mutilator Nightshade Soul Slayer Venom Hunter Giga Storm Brain Freeze von Styx the XXXVI the granddaughter of Count Darkslam Moon Stalker Bloody Mugger Electromoph Hissing Hornet Stiletto Oceanus Master Morpher Erinyes Blizzard Hyperbolt Spark Plug von Styx the XXIV who married Madam Imogene Appleton Emilia Arquitilus Llywelyn Andromeda Aurelianus Orlanna Bluee Jewelle Euphrosyne Ranae Kosus Hyacintha Imperiosus Damasippus Dekapolitissa von Boerd."

After hearing the secret code, the bartender made a way for me to enter without any suspicion and I followed him casually as he led me to an underground passage.

As we reached the hallway, I saw a few people lining up to enter the auction hall and we did the same and lined up behind them.

I chuckled as I readjusted my mask and looked around. Nobody seemed to recognize me in them, despite that being the only disguise I was wearing.

I knew it. I was clever to wear this.

I noticed that some of the guests were clearly nobles who probably came to engage in questionable behavior such as buying beastman slaves loli, just like me.

When it was my turn to enter, a server in charge of escorting people in, came to greet me and led me in.

"I'll escort you to your seat, miss."

I nodded and followed him down the small stairs from behind. The stairs came to an end when an area with a dim light coming from it could be seen and next, I knew, we were inside a vast and luxurious space that was 180 degrees different from the shabby building I saw earlier.

The large hall was decorated like a colosseum so that you could look down at the stage from the grand seats.

"Have a seat here, miss. And please take this."

The servant took me to the very front seat where you could see the stage the best, then left after handing me a picket. The picket was for the auction.

"Miss, are you sure you want to do this?" Ella asked as soon as the man left.

"What kind of question is that? Of course, I do, Ella." I rolled my blue orbs at her. "This wouldn't be an isekaid romance fantasy novel if I don't go to a slave market to buy an unsuspecting underage slave and groom him for my own benefit in the name of compassion that will later cause an overused and cliché plot."

Ella looked slightly disturbed by my completely normal answer which was weird, so I decided to just ignore it.

As I sat in my seat and looked down at the stage, the auctioneer came out and walked to the center of the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen! It's time to start the auction!"

The chained slaves walked up the stage one by one right after the auctioneer's loud announcement.

"15 gold! 15 gold, is there anyone else? Sold with 15 gold!"

The slaves all wore gloomy faces as they were sold to the nobles.

Each slave's worth got better than the ones sold before them as some of them started to do some fascinating tricks and some of them had an incredible appearance that made all the old men and women salivate at the sight of them.

"100 gold! 100 gold, is there anyone else? Ah, 105 gold!"

It soon became a battlefield here with all the people trying to one-up one another, but I just looked at them with a bored expression as if I go to this kind of thing daily.

And finally.

"Everyone, now is the time you've all been waiting for. Coming up the stage right now is today's last slave!"

I, who stared at the stage in disinterest up until now, straightened my body up at the last slave going up the stage.

"A beastmen from the wolf tribe! I introduce you to our main star for today's auction, Cassius!" The man said, pointing to the center of the hall.

Even from afar, his appearance already stood out as if he was alone in a foreign atmosphere. Among the other slaves full of copper-skinned and flaky muscles, there was only one man who didn't seem like he belonged there as if he was immune to sunlight and had pure white skin.

His hair represented the shade of silver moonlight that fell in a perfect curve at 52 degrees angle and his orbs were the color of the pink ocean at 37 degrees north and 130 degrees west at exactly 6:32 a.m.

He was an albino, but I didn't know that.

The sixteen-year-old Cassius was handcuffed and his mouth was also covered shut, yet his beautiful appearance alone was enough to lighten up the whole area.

That's my sub-male-lead.

Almost at the same time as I said that, Cassius raised his head which he was bowing before and his pink orbs met my blue orbs in the air as if it was fate or the pull of gravity that he would spot me among all these people present here.

He made orb contact with me and stood still in the same posture without blinking or even thinking of turning his gaze like he was observing me.

Ah, as expected from me who's not like other girls!

For real, I breathe oxygen. Those bitches breathe perfume.

I eat steak. Those whores eat salad.

I'm a different breed!

***

Author's Note:

Sorry for the long wait. I've been focusing on writing my main story for these past weeks as well as judging for several awards, so I wasn't able to actively write this. But I decided to come up with this chapter before continuing to write my main story which is full of angst and depressing things. So yeah, I think it's nice to have a change of atmosphere once in a while. Lol...

Oh, did you notice the change of title and cover? Do you guys like it? I made the cover exclusively for this story by the way. Lol...

Last but not least, what do you guys think about this chapter and our protagonist who's not like other girls? Please tell me what you think. Votes and comments would be very much appreciated.

P.S. Please note that all the characters and dialogues have not been made to mock a race/nationality/anything at all.