Soladin’s Casino. The VIP room of the Golden Mirage was teeming with well-known nobles, the kind one might have seen in high society.
Among them was Avery of the Lumley Count’s Family.
Leading the noble young ladies under Joy Partlan, she sat at the casino table, sweating as she looked at her cards.
Originally, she had zero interest in casinos.
She had stepped in once, merely following her family’s elder, only to be put off by the unpredictable nature of gambling, and had never returned since.
Yet here she was, in VIP room accessible only with a hefty sum, thanks to her brother.
After being crushed by the noble lady of the Allen Family, Lumley’s eldest son had willingly engaged in all sorts of debauchery.
He hadn’t exactly been a fine gentleman before either, but he at least made an effort to seem like the heir to the count’s title.
Now, however, he wasn’t even putting in that minimum effort.
Every day, he was off drinking, buying women, mingling with a bad crowd, squandering his allowance on gambling, and selling off family treasures to refill his pockets; he was truly a low-life piece of trash.
It was no wonder the family elders wanted his head.
But because he was the only son, and the family head yelled not to let him die, Lumley’s eldest would probably be buried deep underground by now.
If only he had sworn to change, grateful for the mercy he received, yet the mindset of someone who had hit rock bottom was a whole different story.
Instead of becoming an upright person, he stole Lumley’s treasures to step into the casino, wasting everything away.
You could wonder what kind of state the now-broke him was in, but you don’t need to. After all, he’d never set foot in the world again.
However, just because one person disappeared doesn’t mean the events he caused vanished as well.
The treasures of Lumley sacrificed to the casino were still there.
At first, Lumley’s elders planned to negotiate with the casino.
Even if it meant paying a little extra, they thought it would be a cheap deal if they could bury the humiliation caused by Lumley’s eldest and resolve the situation.
But the casino was well aware of Lumley’s predicament and proposed a ridiculous deal to take an even bigger cut.
It was practically a declaration to sell the family’s pride, which incensed Lumley and nearly led to war, but then an Evil God made an appearance, muddling everything up.
After a long while, with the war now finished, Avery stepped into the casino to find Lumley’s treasures.
If she didn’t find them herself, she would have to get engaged to a noble introduced by the casino, leaving her with no choice.
Damn those elders. They were the ones who sided with the First Queen, yet here I am, taking the fall!
Avery knew that marriage was a noble’s duty but there were limits. She would rather bite her tongue than get engaged to someone she found physiologically impossible.
However, Avery’s plans weren’t unfolding as she’d imagined.
The casino was fundamentally a place designed to drain the pockets of its guests.
There was no way to rake in huge amounts of money here through ordinary means.
Despite trying several times, she couldn’t even step into the VIP room, and she almost fell into despair against the wall of reality.
“What’s going on here?”
At that moment, she encountered a benefactor.
“Let’s die.”
“…But I’ve already put down a lot of money?”
“Still, it’s better to die.”
Toby.
A connection she had made through force at Soul Academy, they still interacted occasionally. To her surprise, this commoner had a knack for gambling.
“I’ll help you.”
“Are you good at gambling?”
“What do you think untrained mercenaries do every night? Gambling is what we do every single night.”
“So what? Just because you gamble a lot doesn’t mean you get better at it.”
“Of course, but a mercenary leader’s gambling is different. No one can win big, nor can anyone lose big. Otherwise, one night’s gambling could affect the next day. Everyone must leave with an appropriate amount of laughs and cries. I learned this method from my father.”
After hearing Avery’s situation, Toby decided to help, and within an hour, he achieved what Avery hadn’t managed to do for days: entry into the VIP room.
Was that all? He was also progressively increasing their money while fighting tight matches against the gambling addicts in the VIP room.
“It’s possible because Lady Lumley is beside me. If I was alone, they would’ve used every trick in the book.”
The more she looked, the more decent he seemed.
He was stoic and had a hint of needless obstinacy, but his personality was good and his abilities reliable; if he wanted, she would almost like to pull him into their knights’ group.
She had hinted at it before, but he had insisted the mercenary team was important, so she gave up.
What an arrogant commoner.
“Let’s go strong.”
“I have a low two-pair.”
“It’s fine. Based on the cards that have been revealed so far, it’s unlikely anyone has a higher hand.”
Trusting Toby’s words, Avery pushed her chips forward, and after some hesitation, the others at the same table folded their cards one by one.
“I won.”
“Give a slight smirk and think about the next round. There’s still a long way to go to reach our goal.”
Bang!
“Ugh, it stinks. It’s like a pig in here.”
As soon as she entered, while pinching her nose and scrunching her brows, the girl was one of the people Avery didn’t want to meet.
Lucy Allen. Why was the person worshipped like a goddess in the Allen Territory here!?
“Aha. So that’s why it smelled like a pig?”
Meeting Avery’s gaze, she approached her with a playful smile.
While at Soul Academy, Avery often played the role of a toy, and her anger flared up at Lucy’s appearance, but she managed to suppress any harsh words.
Now, Lucy was a power figure in the continent and must not be turned into an enemy.
Moreover, the person beside her was Ducal Young Lady Partlan, the owner of the faction to which Avery belonged.
“Hello, Avery. It’s been a while.”
“Hello, Lady Lumley. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“It’s been a while, Lady Allen, Lady Partlan. May I ask what brought you two here?”
“Isn’t it obvious? To gamble at the casino. What else would we come here for? Are you foolish?”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Toby. You’re having a hard time being next to this moron. What, did you get dragged here to spill your treasures and cry?”
“I acted foolishly. Lady Lumley graciously accepted my rudeness.”
“You were the first, huh? Hmm, I see.”
Looking intrigued, Lucy inspected Toby and then turned her gaze down at Avery.
The look in her eyes clearly hinted at something unspoken.
“Don’t get me wrong, Lady.”
“Hmm? Don’t get you wrong? What have I said?”
“…That…”
“Huhuh, heehee. You’re a shy one, aren’t you? For a pig, you’re kind of cute~ I almost want to make a small pen for you.”
As Avery trembled with humiliation, Lucy exaggeratedly pretended to dismiss her and settled beside her.
It seemed like Lucy was gambling while Lady Partlan was just watching.
Ha. Good. Let me show you how it’s done; I don’t know how you got here, but I have no intent to go easy on you.
Instead, I’m going to leverage this gambling debt to gain an advantage!
With a steely resolve in her heart, Avery once again cast the Barrier of Sound Isolation around herself.
“Got it, Toby. Let’s give our best shot like never before.”
“I always do my best, though.”
“Then do your absolute best!”
“Uh, understood. Let’s give it a shot then.”
Maybe it was Avery’s burning desire to win that answered her; the best hand she’d received after sitting at the table came into her hands.
K Triple.
Not yet. It’s not the time to get excited. A triple is the easiest hand to lose.
While she desperately tried to suppress her excitement, she barely stopped herself from cheering as the next card came in as a King.
K Four of a Kind!
It was as if the heavens had granted her a hand to win this round!
Avery struggled to keep her expression in check, contemplating how to fleece the table.
“Something feels off.”
Oddly enough, Toby’s expression was dark.
He tried desperately to maintain a straight face, but a sense of anxiety was seeping from his lips.
He looked as if he had received the worst hand.
“What’s wrong?”
“It doesn’t make sense. For Lady Allen to have a hand like this right after sitting down.”
“Maybe she’s just lucky.”
“It cannot be. Lady Allen possesses the luck of the gods; surely there must be something going on.”
Avery found Toby’s agitation annoying, even with her great hand in play, yet at the same time, she remembered how his caution had benefited her in the past.
“For now, let’s observe the situation. Can we agree on that?”
“Yes, of course.”
Once the game began, Avery quickly understood what Toby’s unease was about.
Lucy was humming a tune as she continued to push her chips forward.
As if she didn’t realize that each chip was worth ten gold coins.
“Lady Allen, you can’t play poker like that.”
A noble, unable to tolerate it any longer, tried to stop Lucy.
“Why are you interjecting when it’s not your money? You think it’ll make you look cool? Poor thing. You’ve got zero chance of ever looking cool since the day you were born. Just look in the mirror every morning, and you’ll know.”
Lucy was mocking him, and once again raised the stakes as others got heated and joined the race.
In the end, Toby’s judgment proved correct.
“Thank you, gentlemen. How nice of you to offer so much just to be considerate of a girl~”
In Lucy’s hand was a Spade A, 2, 3, 4, 5.
“Kuhuhuh. You really didn’t have to worry so much~”
Seeing Lucy hoarding chips with a smile, both Avery and Toby sensed something was wrong, yet they couldn’t back down.
There was far too much at stake here.
