Episode 43

 Chapter 43

“Huh? Everything?”

“Yes, give me everything.”

Veronica’s abrupt order flustered the shopkeeper yet she left the room saying she would bring what was in the warehouse.

‘How much is 3 Blois?’

It’s three million won worth of lottery tickets. I opened my mouth in admiration at how incredible Veronica is.

‘No, wait. If you’re going to spend your money like that, just give it to me instead!’

With 3 Blois, we could put chocolate fountains in the forest of withered roses. While I was thinking about what I could do with all that money, the shopkeeper came back with a bunch of papers on hand. Sweat has formed on her forehead, presumably because she must’ve run.

“Here! I’ve brought the entire lottery tickets issued for this week. There’s a little bit of change left from the 3 Blois—“

“Keep the change.”

‘Kyaaaah! Our sister is so cool!’

I stood up and imitated Veronica’s chic style of speaking. Take a look, shopkeeper. This is what Lagrange really is.

‘But of course, it didn’t change that I’m still poor.’

Right then, Veronica purchased a small bag and placed the lottery tickets inside and handed the bag to me. I hugged the fairly heavy bag in front of me and grinned.

‘With this amount, winning is a surety.’

“Thenk you, Sishter. You’re the besht!”

“Hm. Well, this isn’t much”

Veronica’s aura turned yellow when I hugged her legs to thank her.

I couldn’t see my aura with my own eyes, but I’m certain that it’s shining joyfully right now.

I think I know now why the aura of joy is yellow. Since gold is yellow. Money is really the best.

“I-I also have that money!”

Yuric, who has been watching Veronica and me with a friendly face, suddenly showed up. I didn’t speak right away and waited for him to say something.

“I don’t have it with me right now, but I do have money. Really.”

“That’sh nice.” 

‘Why are you suddenly bragging about your money?’

I shrugged at what Yuric said and fixed the bag on my shoulder.

Before going out, I wanted to see the gambling house, so I found a game I was familiar with while looking around.

“Anissa wans to try that.”

The game I pointed to was very simple unlike the gambling tables played by professional gamblers.

It’s a game where the merchant hides a ball under a cup on a low table and moves the cups flashily to switch their order. The player then guesses which cup they think the ball is hidden under.

‘Of course, there’s a trick.’

I mingled among the dirty children huddled together in front of the merchant.

 It was said earlier that children cannot enter the gambling house, so they must be workers here. Some of them were holding cup trays and brought drinks to the guests.

“Marco, can you guess it this time?”

As the game was about to begin, a girl wearing the same uniform as the boy sitting in front of the table, raised her voice in excitement.

The boy nodded and answered her loudly in confidence.

“Of course! Because I am Marco the Hawkeye!”

“What? Nobody calls you that! Don’t make nicknames for yourself!”

“Pfft . . . . .”

The boy laughed at the girl’s spite and began to give his focus on the game at the sound of the merchant clapping his hands.

‘Wow. Look how fast his hands are.’

Though Baal said I have keen eyes, I couldn’t keep up with where the ball was hidden. I watched the merchant in admiration at his skill of throwing the ball in the air and rolling it back into the cup.

“It’s in the center!”

As soon as the merchant’s brief performance ended, the boy confidently chose the middle cup. The skinny merchant laughed and opened his mouth.

“Are you sure? I’ll give you only one chance to change your choice, customer.”

“Yea, yeah . . . . . “

Not knowing that the merchant would give him another chance, the boy got worried and cupped his chin. The merchant’s aura shook a great deal when the boy’s gaze landed on the left cup.

‘It seems like it’s in the left cup.’

I couldn’t figure out exactly what he’s thinking, but the fact that his aura swayed from side to side meant that his composure was shaken. When the boy said he would stick to his first decision, the merchant’s aura was remarkably relieved.

“Ish the lef one.”

I whispered the words to the loud girl earlier, who seemed to be a friend of the boy. The cute skinny girl with high pigtails shook her head and widened her eyes at what I just said.

“How do you know? Marco chose the middle cup.”

“Anissa is a genyus.”

‘Just wait and see, it’s the left one.’

I waited triumphantly for the merchant. There was, of course, no ball in the center cup he flipped first.

The girl looked back at me with her mouth agape as the ball crept out of the bottom of the left cup.

“Wow. How did you know?”

“Hmmm. I know evwything.”

I imitated Veronica’s actions earlier and raised my nose. Obviously, my nose was much shorter than hers so it looked like I was frowning instead.

“Aren’t you great? Anissa, was it?”

“Un.”

“I’m Charlotte. Charlotte Balandia.”

I was left with no choice but to look back at the silver-haired girl who just introduced herself with that name.

Charlotte Balandia.

It wasn’t an extremely rare name, but it was definitely the name of the only heroine in “The Rose Wars of Men.”

‘Saint-Dena . . . . Yes, all this time I’ve been wondering where I’ve heard this name before.’

Charlotte was a saint with strong divine powers, but she hailed from the slums. Her status was so low that she was given the nickname ‘the pearl in the mud.’ However, Dietrich later devoted half of Lagrange’s fortune to the imperial family and bought a title for Charlotte.

‘I can’t believe I’m already meeting the heroine.’

I haven’t even met Hermann, the main male lead and my real brother.

There’s a possibility that it was another person sharing the same name, but the pure silver hair and brown eyes weren’t a combination you see everyday.

‘Now that I look at her, she has a striking beauty.’

“Charrote?”

“Yeah. Are you a kid here? I’ve never seen you before.”

“No. Am not from Seyn-Den.”

At my response, Charlotte adorably tilted her head to the side then shrugged her shoulders.

By the way, it’s hard to believe that she’s already going in and out of the gambling house.

‘Then, did you and Dietrich already meet when you were young?’

Come to think of it, no matter how saintly she was, there was no reason to help a man whose face she didn’t recognize, much less a villain who was sealed for committing evil deeds.

“To be honest, I’m not completely from Saint-Dena, either.”

Charlotte continued with a wink.

“A strange prophecy came down and I stayed here to check it out.”

“. . . . . propecy? (Prophecy?)”

“Are you curious?”

I nodded at her playful question. She chuckled and pushed me in front of the merchant.

“I’ll tell you if you win.”

I nodded my head enthusiastically at Charlotte’s words.

“Anissa accepts your challeynge.”

I exclaimed and stood before the merchant. I must’ve looked cool, but for reasons unbeknownst to me, the children burst into laughter. Their laughter didn’t subside until I pompously pointed to the cup where the ball was hidden.

It was by the time I found the ball three times in a row that they began to hold their breath with tension.

“What? How the hell did you do that??”

“You’ve got good eyes, kid!”

Amidst the noisy children, the merchant looked grim and began to switch the cups once again. I checked the merchant’s aura first by pointing my finger at the middle cup with a coy expression.

‘Hmm. The aura didn’t shake. If so—‘

When I slid my fingertip to the right, the merchant’s aura wavered like twigs swaying from the wind. I grinned and poked down the cup placed at the right.

“Wooow. There’s another one again!” 

The boy, who was the only one that lost to the merchant, cheered and stroked my head.

“You’re truly amazing.”

“Hehe.”

“This is refreshing.”

It has been so long since I heard a compliment that it felt like my feet were floating in the air. I beamed at the unknown boy and held my hand out to the merchant.

“Come own.”

The face of the merchant became pallid when he pulled out 1 Shilling.

He must’ve changed the position of the ball under the table, so it would seem he couldn’t believe that I found the ball again.

‘Who said that only you can cheat?’

It was foul play that I used Eredia’s ability to win, but it was the merchant who cheated first. I snorted and snatched the coin from his hand.

“Again, let’s do it again. Why don’t you bet a little more this time?”

 The merchant, who lost 5 Shillings to me, offered and raised all five fingers as if saying that he couldn’t just let it end like this. I could see through him that he’s trying to take away all the money I earned so far.

‘No, that’s not gonna happen.’

I shrugged my shoulders and accepted his offer. I was confident I could find the ball wherever he hid it.

‘Uhh. That’s weird.’

The merchant laughed and began mixing the cup. As I pointed the cups one after another with my finger, I tilted my head. This time, the merchant’s aura didn’t respond no matter where I pointed.

‘What’s this?’

He couldn’t possibly have self-control over his aura like Dietrich does all of a sudden. I squatted down on the table and pointed under it.

‘Oho.’

Only then did the merchant’s aura begin to tremble. I grinned and opened my mouth.

“Ish under the tabwel.”

“What? Choose from the cups.”

“No. Ish here.”

I snatched a piece of cloth covering the bottom of the table. Just in time, the ball rolled towards me.

“Woaaah!”

The children started to applaud in admiration at my knack for this game.

‘At long last I found it. My talent!’