Episode 38
“Our knight… first of all, he’s really tall.”
“And?”
“He has broad, strong shoulders. His tanned skin looks so healthy, and he kind of shines like a rich nobleman, not just a knight.”
“Uh-huh… anything else?”
“His shy smile is really charming! And he’s amazing at sword fighting! Every time he swings his sword, it sparkles like lightning!”
“…Amy, are you still talking about his looks?”
“Hehe… I got a little too excited while talking…”
Sigh… this isn’t working. Amy was totally love-struck. Reina was supposed to be helping her find the most handsome man in the world, but that kind of person clearly wouldn’t be here.
“You gave him that handkerchief you made for the hunting competition, right? Is he still wearing it?”
“Hmm… yeah, when I saw him recently, he still had it on.”
Reina remembered the handkerchief clearly—it had a unique pattern around the edge.
“Good. Then we’ll look for that. It’ll be faster if we split up and search.”
Amy thought for a second, then nodded. She might have realized this place wasn’t as dangerous as she feared—or maybe she was just worried about her knight. Now on her own, Reina began looking carefully around.
“Let’s see… I’m looking for a knight wearing a handkerchief…”
She focused on waist-level, hoping to spot someone wearing a sword and the handkerchief. As she wandered through the crowd, she noticed gambling tables. Though she kept searching for a while, her eyes were drawn by a loud voice nearby.
Someone was throwing dice at a table. A commotion was going on.
“Please! Please give it back! That was my wedding money!”
The closer Reina got, the clearer she could hear a man begging.
“What’s wrong with you? We played fair and square. I won!”
“But… something’s not right! How could the dice roll even numbers again and again like they had legs…?!”
A man with a goat-like mustache laughed loudly.
“Numbers don’t show up with a warning, you know.”
People nearby laughed along with him.
“What a joke.”
The mustached man brushed off his hands and tried to leave. But the begging man clung to him again.
“Just one more round! Please, just one! I feel lucky this time—I know I can win!”
“Get off me!”
The mustached man kicked him hard. The man rolled on the ground and cried out in pain.
“Trying to gamble when you don’t even have any money. Pathetic.”
The mustached man scoffed and left. The man on the floor sobbed.
“My money… my poor money…”
No one paid him any attention. It seemed like this was common here.
A classic “lose everything” story, Reina thought.
A man losing his wedding savings at a gambling table.
“Poor woman who’s supposed to marry him…”
Reina sighed and turned away. She didn’t feel sorry for the man, but something he said stuck in her mind. So, she quietly followed the mustached man.
He walked casually to another table and started a new game like nothing had happened. Reina stood close and watched him.
He was clearly skilled with the dice. He lost and won a few times—but at key moments, the exact numbers he needed came up, and he won big.
“Lady Luck must be with him today.”
“He keeps winning big at the right time.”
Chips piled up in front of him.
Reina smirked.
No one is that lucky unless the game’s rigged.
She looked closely at the table. Then her eyes narrowed.
She had figured something out.
With a sly smile, Reina said loudly, “He’s cheating. Obvious cheat.”
“What?”
“What’s that mean?”
People around looked at her, confused.
“Tsk tsk… you’re all going to lose everything at this rate.”
“What did you just say?”
A big, muscular man sitting across from the mustached cheater turned sharply. He had already lost a lot of money. Reina’s comment clearly annoyed him.
Even though he was intimidating, Reina didn’t back down.
“Mister, you’re playing against a pro. If you keep going, you’ll lose everything.”
“A… pro?”
“Didn’t you notice how strange his dice looked?”
“Well…”
He must’ve suspected something. The man looked at the mustached guy with narrowed eyes. Noticing the tension, the cheater tried to grab the dice and leave quietly.
“Hey! Grab his hand!”
Reina shouted. The big man quickly grabbed the cheater’s wrist.
“Mister, I suggest you keep your hands still. You might lose them otherwise.”
Reina looked deadly serious now. People gathered around.
“W-what is this? Why would a noble lady care about someone like me…?”
The mustached man tried to slip away, but the muscular man held him tight. Reina calmly reached for the dice on the table.
“Just as I thought.”
She picked up the dice and smiled.
“What are you talking about?”
People asked questions from all around, but Reina was lost in thought.
What a twist… I never thought I’d use something my father taught me.
She didn’t mean her current father, Count Philon, but her previous life’s father—a man named Cha Seon-ji’s dad.
A terrible gambler, drunk, and abuser who left her at an orphanage when she was six and never returned.
He used to teach little Seon-ji some gambling tricks for fun.
“Seon-ji, look closely.”
“Huh? What is it?”
Her father would show off sleight of hand tricks with the dice. He could even change the colors.
“Woooow!”
Young Seon-ji clapped, unaware of how dangerous those tricks were.
One day, he dropped some dice on the floor.
“See these? Something’s weird.”
“I don’t get it…”
“Look closely. Pick them up and check.”
Eventually, he showed her the trick—dice that only had three numbers, instead of six. Some were made to only land on even or odd numbers.
She remembered those days with bitterness.
There were better cheats in the world, and her father always lost in the end.
Reina held up the dice and showed the people.
“Look at this.”
They blinked, confused.
“Miss, it looks normal.”
“Just regular dice, right?”
Reina slammed the table in frustration.
“Are you serious? You’re looking at it right in front of you!”
“At what?”
“Look closely! These dice… they only have three numbers!”
“Three?!”
Someone finally held them up and examined them closely.
“She’s right! There should be six numbers… but there’s only three!”
“This is weird. Where’d this come from?”
“Seriously? Where do you think it came from?”
Reina pointed straight at the mustached man.
“Ahhh!”
Everyone gasped in realization.
“Wow, that’s wild!”
They started clapping and turning the dice around.
“Yep, no matter how you look, only three numbers.”
The trick wasn’t that clever—not compared to her father’s.
Don’t they know about cheaters or scams here? Why did no one suspect him?
Well, this was the first casino in the Empire, right? These naive folks were easy targets.
“Tsk tsk… so innocent. How are they going to survive like this?”
Reina looked around with worry—then her eyes widened.
“You… what are you doing here?”
