"Why are you stepping back?" Selene tilted her head sideways as she approached Leo, who was backing away.

"A-am I walking back? You're imagining things," Leo said, wondering just what Selene was planning to do with him.

If he went purely by her looks, she appeared too innocent to do something like this. But her words really made him think twice. Leo kept stepping back until he stumbled and fell.

Selene reached out her hand, grabbing his hands swiftly.

If Selene were an ordinary woman, she would have been dragged down by Leo's weight. But even in her disguise, she was a Seraphim; she remained unmoving as she held Leo's hand, creating a fascinating sight.

In the garden of exotic flowers, Leo's feet were barely on the ground, and his shoulders were half a foot above the grass. He was holding the hand of Selene, who was the only thing preventing his fall.

"Are you alright?" Selene asked, looking at Leo, whose hair was almost touching the grass beneath him.

For quite some time, Leo simply stared at Selene's face. From this angle, she looked even more mesmerizing, with the moon visible behind her silhouette.

Leo reached out his other hand and placed it on the ground. With all his might, he pushed against the earth while repositioning his feet. He pushed himself up, barely relying on Selene for support.

"Thank you for the help," he said, subconsciously looking at his hand, which was still being held by Selene.

He tried pulling his hand away, but she felt like a rock. He couldn't move his hand even an inch; it was as if the woman were so strong that she didn't even feel his resistance.

"Can I let your hand go? You won't fall again, right?"

'Do I look like a child that goes around falling left and right?' Leo thought, but on the outside, he simply nodded.

"Good." Selene released his hand, and Leo was finally able to pull back.

"Even if I fall, the grass here is so soft that it won't hurt me." Leo patted his hand lightly, attempting to erase that embarrassing fall from his memory.

"I heard that humans are fragile. They can die very easily," Selene mumbled, her common sense regarding ordinary species truly being non-existent.

It was as if she genuinely thought Leo was going to go 'poof' if he fell. After all, in her eyes, only the Ancient Houses and the High Species could be considered durable.

As for humans, although they relied on their brains and technology, they were frail and physically weak.

"Here, just to be safe, keep it." Selene raised her hand and summoned a small ring, which she gave to Leo as a gift.

It wasn't an ordinary gift, either. It was from the Monarch of the House of Seraphim, cast with the divine protection of the Seraphim. It even bore the symbol of the House of Seraphim, a gift that could only be bestowed by the Monarch herself.

"As long as you carry that ring with you, it can protect you from three life-threatening situations."

Selene explained the ring's purpose, but the young man was in too much shock to pay attention. He looked at Selene blankly, his mind in a mess.

When Selene summoned the ring, her disguise flickered. In that exact moment, Leo saw her true identity.

The person before him was a Seraphim! She was a ten-winged angel! By now, even he had learned a few basic things about her kind. In the House of Seraphim,excluding a few myths about eleven wings, ten wings were the absolute maximum one could possess.

It was the highest rank in the hierarchy, as each wing was said to hold a world-defying ability that could alter the laws of reality.

The woman before him was someone he absolutely had to avoid! He couldn't believe he had walked right up to her and was talking so peacefully, all while technically being an Envoy of Necropolis.

At this point, he also understood why Selene looked so young. She was an angel; her true age was likely far beyond his guesses.

The only positive thing about this revelation was that he understood how Selene could have a daughter. This was something he had managed to learn from the limited information the Galactic Union held on the Ancient Houses.

It wasn't that Leo was specifically trying to find out how Seraphim reproduced. His main goal had been to find out how Voldred, a giant skeleton, had a child when he lacked the necessary anatomy.

It was during that research spiral that he had learned about the other Ancient Houses as well.

Unfortunately for him, now was not the time to think about that. He was literally facing an upper-rank Seraphim. If his identity were exposed, he was dead!

If it were revealed that he was the one selling the Celestial Lotus, he would likely be kidnapped, since the Seraphim were also hunting for it.

'Am I becoming like Timmy? Why do I keep attracting trouble everywhere I go?' Leo thought as he subconsciously reached out his hand to take the ring.

He wasn't sure if the ring truly worked as Selene described. Had she already guessed his identity and added unorthodox spells to spy on him? For now, he couldn't be sure. He simply tucked the ring into his pocket, his mind a complete blank.

He quickly recovered his composure and pretended everything was normal. The ten wings on the woman's back? In his mind, they didn't exist.

"Thank you," he said. Selene nodded, treating Leo the same way she had until now, without any prejudice or arrogance.

Selene kept her hands behind her back and said, "Let's get going. We have been here for a long time. The main items should be on auction soon."

"I'm supposed to be coming with you?" Leo asked with a frown.

"Yeah. I find your company entertaining. You should stay with us until the end of the auction. Since you work for the Auction House, there shouldn't be any problem, right?"

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