novelraw Chapter 136
Chapter 136
Ch.136 Isn’t This a Game where You use Magic to Win
Giovanni arrived in the Imperial Capital, and his schedule immediately became hectic.
He had to meet the commander of the Imperial Capital Defense Force at the palace and then greet the personnel who had joined the Special Task Force.
After discussing detailed strategies with those involved in the Special Task Force, an exhausted Giovanni made his way down the corridor toward his quarters—
when he encountered a woman with gray hair.
“Ah?”
“You?”
Scarlet frowned and strode briskly toward Giovanni.
“Mr. Giovanni?”
At the sight of her, Giovanni sank into despair.
‘Ah… I’m doomed.’
And for good reason—he had previously told Scarlet that Hans was dead and had even kindly escorted her to the graveyard.
“I… must’ve mistaken you for someone else.”
He hastily averted his gaze, trying to slip away—but Scarlet was quicker.
Squeeze…
“Where are you going?”
Unlike before, she now gripped his sleeve.
Giovanni’s face turned ashen.
Intimidated by Scarlet’s menacing aura, his voice trembled.
“Brother H-Hans ordered me to do it.”
“Ordered you to do what?”
But Scarlet had no intention of letting this go easily.
Her faint smile felt eerily unsettling to Giovanni.
‘Brother… I feel like I’m going to die the moment I set foot here—killed by one of your amazing girlfriends.’
Faced with Scarlet, whose red eyes gleamed like a wild beast’s, Giovanni pleaded pitifully,
“I absolutely refused at first! But as my liege, he commanded me—I had no choice but to say he was dead!”
“Oh? So was running away also Hans’s order?”
“Well…”
Scarlet’s visit that day had been completely unexpected.
Had he known, he wouldn’t have been there at all.
Giovanni’s eyes darted as he hesitated.
Then Scarlet spoke in a bright, cheerful tone,
“You told me the man I loved was dead—I wanted to hear the full story. But the very person who knew everything ran off! That was really hard on me, Mr. Giovanni.”
Her voice was cheerful, yet her red eyes glowed ominously.
Shivering violently, Giovanni stammered,
“If I… hadn’t run away then… would I still be alive now?”
It was a brutally realistic assumption—and it made perfect sense.
“Oh? That’s quite logical. Then, please tell me—why should I let you live?”
Sometimes, the truth only wounds the listener.
And this was exactly such a moment.
“Well…”
Faced with Scarlet’s overtly threatening question, Giovanni’s eyes darted again.
“Think about it! If I die, who’ll manage the Special Task Force?”
Scarlet stared at him with half-lidded eyes.
With his life on the line, Giovanni hastily added,
“And besides—Baron… no, Brother Hans and I are very close! If I die, he’ll be absolutely devastated!”
He felt utterly wronged.
He was barely in his early twenties and about to marry his fiancée soon.
Why should he die over Hans’s love troubles?
“Hmm… So it was you who sent those letters to Mia and Cecilia? Don’t even think about lying.”
Flinch.
Realizing there was no point in lying when everything was already exposed—and doing so would only pour oil on the fire—Giovanni admitted plainly,
“Yes, that’s right.”
Though he confessed readily, Scarlet clearly wanted to make him suffer.
After all, that day, she had shed more tears than she ever had in her life.
“Hmm… Cecilia said she’d execute whoever sent that letter…”
“Guhh!”
“And I heard the Church is preparing a heresy trial for desecrating the Saint…”
Indeed, once the Holy Knights learned that fake letters had been sent to the Saint, they had strongly demanded a full investigation to find the culprit—but in the end, they never found Giovanni.
“Please spare me! Brother Hans ordered all of this! If I’m dragged to trial, he should stand first!”
It wasn’t a wrong argument.
A knight must obey his liege’s commands.
If Hans had truly ordered those letters sent, then he, too, deserved punishment.
“Well… from what I hear, Hans is a Champion-level hero—punishing him would be difficult. And wouldn’t it be hard to punish someone who successfully saved humanity?”
Indeed, Hans was under the protection of dragons—and once he saved humanity, not even the Emperor could easily dispose of him.
Especially now, after forging ties with the Dragon Lords, even the Emperor would have to tread carefully around him.
“But…”
Giovanni felt deeply wronged by Scarlet’s words.
Hans gave the order, yet the main culprit walked free while he, the subordinate, was left to face the consequences.
“It’s unfair.”
He truly felt unjustly treated.
“Hehe, don’t worry. I’ll defend you. Though I may be inadequate, my authority as the Hero should be quite helpful.”
“Th-that’s true…?”
Giovanni’s voice trembled again—he sensed something was terribly off.
“But of course, I can’t just do it for free.”
Only then did Giovanni realize Scarlet wanted something from him.
‘Why… why is this witch doing this to me?’
“Yes…?”
“How are Hans and Mia getting along?”
“They seem to be doing well?”
At Giovanni’s calm reply, Scarlet’s eyes narrowed sharply.
“Is that all?”
Only then did Giovanni grasp what Scarlet truly wanted.
‘This woman… wants to know about Brother Hans’s daily life?’
“W-well… they often meet at night.”
“At… at night?! Why?! Why would they do that?!”
Mia would brew Hans a calming tea at night to help him relax—but
that innocent act was more than enough to invite misunderstanding, and Giovanni knew nothing of the true context.
He only cared about saving his own skin.
“I don’t really know… but I heard rumors that when they were at the mansion, they spent every night together.”
Of course, they only drank tea—but rumors always get exaggerated.
Giovanni simply assumed Hans’s womanizing tendencies had surfaced again.
And his words were more than enough to ignite a blazing fire in Scarlet’s eyes.
‘Unbelievable! People called him a sage, mocked him for being a rake—but behind my back, he was scheming like this?’
How many times had Leah, Cecilia, and Mia stood before Scarlet, pouring scorn on Hans?
Now, Scarlet felt deeply betrayed by Mia.
‘Was all that slander just so you could steal him behind my back?’
Her suspicion soon spread to her other friends.
‘Could… Leah and Cecilia be doing the same thing?’
A woman’s intuition is sharp.
Using not her five senses but her sixth, Scarlet sensed the truth of the matter.
‘I hate to admit it… but we do have similar tastes.’
Otherwise, it would’ve been impossible for every member of the Hero Party to fall for the same man.
Watching Scarlet’s expression harden, Giovanni cautiously asked,
“Is… is this enough?”
“Yes. This will do for now. But if you fulfill my requests regularly from now on…”
Her lips curled into a smile—but her eyes burned with jealousy.
Seeing this, Giovanni swallowed hard.
‘Brother… this woman is no different from a demon!’
Though he screamed silently inside, Giovanni knew he had no other choice.
Reluctantly, he nodded and gave a servile smile.
“Yes. How could I refuse?”
***
Someone gently opened the door to my office and peeked in.
“Brother, what are you doing?”
Aria—the adorable girl.
“Me? Just thinking.”
I’d been racking my brain for ways to capture Roy, but nothing useful came to mind.
I knew he’d survive the explosion thanks to his divine protection—but I’d still hoped against hope…
And just as I’d expected, he made it out alive.
“Uuung… Play with me…”
Aria, looking bored, swayed her shoulders back and forth.
Her behavior made me smile despite myself.
“Wanna play together after so long?”
The girl answered with a bright, radiant smile.
“Yes! I’d love to!”
She darted over and climbed onto my lap.
“Brother, Brother!”
“Hmm?”
The white-haired girl looked up at me, her eyes sparkling.
“Do you know how to play poker, Brother?”
“Poker?”
I was startled—it was the last word I expected from such an innocent, adorable dragon.
“Yeah! I’m super good at poker!”
Not only did she know poker—she claimed to be good at it?
“Let’s play poker together!”
Who?! Who taught our pure-hearted Aria how to play poker?!
It was unimaginable—someone had taught this snow-pure girl such a wicked game?
“Ah… Aria?”
“Hmm?”
I calmly asked the girl, whose eyes were as clear as crystal,
“Uh… who taught you—no, who showed you how to play poker?”
“Sister Elena and Sister Bella!”
Elena and Bella—both servants in the mansion.
They taught Aria poker? Why?
They were both diligent, honest workers! It was hard to believe they’d teach a child poker.
“So, let’s play poker!”
What’s more—Aria, as if possessed by a gambling spirit, kept insisting on playing…
Was this really happening? Was my pure, innocent Aria really asking me to gamble?
I didn’t know whether I was going crazy—or reality was.
“Me! I’m really good at poker!”
Unaware of my inner turmoil, the girl proudly puffed out her chest.
She was undeniably cute.
But how good could you really be at poker at your age?
“Oh? You’re really good?”
“Yeah! Of course! I won all of Sister Elena and Sister Bella’s chocolates!”
So they weren’t betting money—just chocolates?
“I see…”
“Yup! So Brother, bet your chocolate and play one round with me!”
Giggling, Aria insisted on playing poker.
Thinking it might help clear my head, I readily agreed.
“Alright. Let’s play.”
Soon, a plate piled high with chocolate chip cookies and a deck of cards were set on the table.
Aria earnestly shuffled the cards with her tiny hands.
“Hehe, I’m gonna eat well, Brother!”
She already looked like she’d won. Watching her overconfidence, I smirked inwardly.
You have no idea I’m from South Korea… You’ve already lost.
Back in my board game café days, I was a poker master.
And now this little kid dares challenge me?
Technically, these cookies came from my own mansion—so they were mine—but today, I was determined to beat Aria.
The thought of her smugly munching cookies right in front of me, taunting me with every bite, actually excited me.
What does a child know about gambling?
Just as I thought that—
Aria began shuffling her cards.
Swish, swish-swish.
With dazzling sleight of hand—where on earth did she learn that?—the little girl dealt our hands.
Hmm… My hand isn’t bad.
We placed small bets, then revealed our cards.
“I’ve got one pair.”
“Hehe! Full house!”
Wait—full house? On the very first hand?
Statistically, a full house on the first round isn’t impossible—just extremely unlikely.
But…
Aria was a dragon. She could use magic.
Was she cheating?
As I suspected that, I watched her tiny hands scoop up the cookie-chips as stakes—and decided to wait a little longer.
Then, as we dealt the next round:
“I’ve got three of a kind.”
“Hehe. I’ve got a straight!”
Watching her take another cookie with a sunny smile, my suspicion only deepened.
“Wait a second!”
I grabbed her slender wrist as she reached for another cookie.
“You used magic, didn’t you?”
As far as I knew, full house and straight weren’t hands that came easily.
So of course, I was certain Aria had cheated.
“Huh? Isn’t that obvious?”
But Aria nodded calmly, shamelessly unbothered.
“What?”
“Isn’t this a game where you use magic to win?”
The girl had completely misunderstood the rules of the game.
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