Chapter 255

As expected, Phoebe noticed that Una had no professional technique when examining raw stones. She simply touched them, feeling for the magnetic energy inside. That was straight-up cheating. No wonder Una walked away with a jackpot every time she attended a public or private auction. Phoebe also realized that she wasn’t the only one paying attention to Una. Many others followed her, especially noting down the numbers of the stones she had inspected and recorded.

However, Phoebe saw that Una was deliberately misleading them. Among the stones Una noted down, some were highly unlikely to contain emnerakla. She had clearly written them down on purpose to throw off anyone blindly copying her.

Una moved quickly through the stones, barely spending time inspecting them. She just placed her hand on each one, felt for the energy, and jotted down the number. Unlike other professional stone gamblers, she didn’t take time to carefully examine, research, or analyze them. By noon, she had already gone through all four sections—open and sealed bid stones alike. She had even submitted her sealed bid sheets.

Meanwhile, Phoebe had barely made it past halfway—and she was already considered a fast evaluator. Una and her group left for lunch; Emmett’s secretary returned with boxed meals for their team. They chose to eat at the venue to save time before the afternoon bidding began. Phoebe completed her evaluation of all four sections. She wrote down the numbers of the stones she felt had the highest potential to contain emeralds, along with their estimated value for bidding. For sealed bids, she submitted her offers based on her assessments. She had analyzed them professionally, but raw stones were unpredictable. Some might contain nothing at all, while others could be unexpected windfalls. That uncertainty was what made stone gambling thrilling. She also helped Remy and Maddox review their picks. Remy’s luck had been terrible lately—most of the stones he chose had little to no potential. She selected a few better options for him. Maddux, on the other hand, had surprisingly good luck. One-third of his selections had a high probability of containing emeralds. Phoebe told him to hold onto those and bid on them; even if he didn’t win all, he’d definitely profit overall. Both men trusted her judgment.

At 4 PM, the open bidding session for two sections began. Before the auction, Phoebe excused herself to the restroom. Inside, she burned the talisman she had prepared. This completely broke the shared luck spell that Thua’s benefactor had cast to connect Una and Claire. It also caused Una to experience backlash—forcing her to return most of the luck she had stolen from Claire. From now on, Una’s backer would no longer be able to track Claire through her energy. However, there was one part of the original hex that couldn’t be undone. Since birth, Una and Claire had been branded with an even deeper curse. There were only two ways to break it: one of them had to die, or the person who originally cast the hex had to die.

That’s why Phoebe hadn’t broken her own curse with Sienna yet—nor the ones affecting Frank, Brenda, or Edith. The moment the backlash hit, Una felt it. She had been seated in the auction hall, waiting for bidding to start, when a sharp pain exploded in her chest. Blood trickled from her mouth and ears. Her face turned ghostly pale. It felt like her entire body was burning from the inside out. She let out a strangled scream and collapsed forward, trembling violently. The sudden reaction caught everyone’s attention. Stanley, startled, rushed to her side. “Una! What’s wrong? Do you need a doctor?” Una couldn’t even speak—her body was in agony. Yes, she gritted her teeth and shook her head. This auction was too important. It was the key moment in her power grab within the Woodward Group. She also needed to smuggle high-grade emeralds to her benefactor. She couldn’t leave. But a creeping sense of fear spread through her. This pain…this felt like backlash. Something had gone terribly wrong.

After a few minutes, the burning pain gradually subsided. But along with it—she felt her luck slipping away. She could literally feel it draining. Her heart pounded in panic. Why? Why was her luck weakening? Once she had recovered enough to sit up, Stanley helped her back into her seat. The first thing she did was search for Phoebe from the restroom. Her instinct told her this was Phoebe’s doing. Then, as if on cue—she saw Phoebe returning from the restroom. Phoebe met her gaze and smirked—a knowing, amused smile. Una’s heart clenched. That confirmed it. Phoebe had definitely done something. She tried to suppress the rising panic. She just needed to get through the auction. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to regain her calm.

Then she turned to Claire and asked, “Do you know Phoebe?” Claire blinked, looking confused. “That master the Vaughan Group hired? No, I don’t. Why?” Una’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “You better not. And you better not have conspired with her.” Then, voice dripping with menace, she added, “Because if you did, the consequences would be more than you could handle.” Claire scoffed. “Conspired? You’re using the wrong word. If you want to talk about conspiring, look at yourself and your dear parents—conspiring to trample over others for years.” They were the ones who had ruined countless lives. Una’s eyes darkened. “You’ve grown bold, asocking me like that.” Claire met her gaze evenly. “Isn’t this what you forced?”

Just then, the auctioneer took the stage. The display screens lit up, showing photos of the raw stones, their corresponding numbers, and starting prices. Una refrained from further probing and pressuring Claire. There would be plenty of time and ways to deal with her back at the hotel after the auction. Suppressing the discomfort and unease in her body, she took out her notebook and placed it on her lap. Her throat felt unbearably dry, as if it were burning. She asked Stanley’s assistant to bring her a bottle of mineral water. Just as she opened the bottle to take a sip, Stanley’s phone rang. As he reached into his pocket to retrieve it, his arm accidentally brushed against Una’s.

Already feeling weak and drained, Una lost her grip on the bottle. Her hand instinctively loosened, and the bottle slipped, spilling water all over her notebook. Seeing this, Una panicked and immediately pulled out a pack of tissues from her bag to wipe it off. However, since the notes were written in pencil, the water had already caused the words to blur. With her frantic wiping, the writing became even more smudged until it was completely illegible. It was as if her luck had backfired on her at the worst possible moment, leaving her unusually unlucky. Under normal circumstances, even if someone else encountered such an accident, the words wouldn’t have become this unreadable.

Staring at her ruined notebook, Una murmured in disbelief, “How could this happen?” Meanwhile, the auctioneer had begun displaying photos of the raw jade stones, along with their corresponding lot numbers and starting bids for everyone to place their bids. But Una’s mind went completely blank. Without her notes, how was she supposed to bid? Panic surged through her. Clenching her teeth, she forced herself to stand up, enduring the discomfort in her body. Without hesitation, she rushed to the auction hall. She needed to inspect the raw stones again, identify the ones containing premium and top-tier emeralds, and get their lot numbers before returning to bid.