“The third young master of the Valdeck family came to our casino?”
“Yes, boss.”
“Pwahaha! That young deer master has now gotten into gambling too!”
Hugo let out an amused laugh at his subordinate’s report.
Noble clients weren’t rare, but this was the son of a grand duke—and not even a knight.
“He must’ve brought a good sum of money.”
“As soon as he entered, he took out his money pouch. Looked like he was set on setting up a big table.”
“He’s probably never held a card in his life, yet he’s dreaming big.”
Hugo clicked his tongue disdainfully and smirked.
That’s why he disliked those young nobles.
Since everything at home always went their way, they thought the world worked like that too.
It would be fun to let him taste how harsh the real world was, but to make real profit, patience was needed.
“Just give him a little lesson today and let him go. You know we can’t fleece him all at once.”
“Of course. We’ll give him a few coins so he goes home feeling lucky.”
“Don’t forget the right seasoning. He has to win just enough to think it’s his own skill.”
“Of course. We’ll make it flawless.”
If you want to ruin someone with gambling, first you have to let them taste victory.
At first, they’d planned to let him lose a bit to get him stuck in the mud of chance.
After winning a few rounds, he’d get confident, and then they’d provoke him with small wins.
After a month of this push and pull, he wouldn’t be able to escape even if he wanted to.
“From young deer master to young mongrel master—it’ll happen fast. The grand duke must be worried. His sixteen-year-old son turned out like this.”
Hugo smiled coldly as he stroked his chin.
He’d gotten an unexpected card—now he just had to decide how to play it.
The grand duke had already lost half of his interest in his third son.
If they pinned him with even a light gambling debt, he’d do anything to keep his father from finding out.
‘If I play this well, not only will I recover the loss, but I’ll earn several times more. Right now, we need someone on the inside of the grand duke’s house.’
But as he’d said, if they moved too fast, the prey would get scared and flee.
It was important to slowly drag him into the swamp.
Three months of patient work would be enough.
The only problem was deciding when to play the trump card.
“H-hehe.”
“Boss.”
At the subordinate’s voice cutting through his thoughts, Hugo frowned.
“Didn’t you just report a few hours ago? Why are you back?”
“I-it’s about that deer young master I reported earlier…”
“Now what about him? Is there a problem?”
“This isn’t just a problem. That young master is currently emptying the entire casino.”
“What?”
Hugo tilted his head, thinking he’d misheard.
The subordinate, as if to confirm it, spoke with a stunned expression.
“That young master’s gambling skills aren’t normal. Not only can we not manipulate the game, but even when we go all in, the players can’t beat him.”
“…”
***
The gambler felt like he’d been possessed by the devil himself.
How the hell was this happening?
No—was this even possible?
Barely holding onto the thread of his sanity, the gambler spoke through clenched teeth.
“C-crimson rose.”
“Me too, crimson rose.”
Unlike the gambler, who was shaking uncontrollably, Lucian casually laid down his cards.
His attitude was so relaxed, he didn’t even seem to consider losing.
“I win. Even though it’s the same hand, the value of my cards is slightly higher.”
“….”
At those words, the gambler closed his eyes tightly.
It was the fifth time Lucian had drawn exactly the same hand as him.
And every time, he won by the slightest numerical margin.
Not winning with a better hand, but humiliating the opponent with the exact same combination every time?
Even after decades in gambling dens, he had never seen anything like it.
“I—I lost.”
“Already leaving? It was getting interesting.”
Lucian licked his lips and collected all the chips on the table.
The already huge pile grew even larger.
The other players nearby swallowed hard at the unbelievable sight.
“Good lord… is all that his?”
“What do you mean? All those chips were won by that young master. How can anyone stack that much?”
“Did he use magic? Or sleight of hand?”
“Even watching from the side, you can’t see what he’s doing.”
“They said he was a deer young master, but he’s a pro gambler.”
Hearing the murmurs, Eric, the casino manager, frowned deeply.
What a humiliation—losing like this to an inexperienced noble brat.
Grinding his teeth, Eric grabbed the collapsed gambler by the collar and dragged him to a corner.
“You damn idiot! What do you mean ‘I lost’? Get back in there and win it back!”
“It’s impossible. That young master is on another level. What do you expect me to do?”
“You wanna die? Think you’ll walk out with your hands intact if you quit like this?”
“Even if I cut off my hands, it won’t help. I’d rather lose an arm now than keep losing and have my head cut off later.”
No matter how much he threatened him, the gambler remained utterly broken, and Eric was on the verge of losing his mind.
He had informed Hugo, but after losing so much money, it wouldn’t be easy to dodge the blame.
At the very least, he needed to recover part of the loss before Hugo arrived.
“Useless.”
“B-boss!”
But Hugo arrived faster than Eric had expected.
Seeing the pile of chips—far larger than he’d been told—Hugo clicked his tongue.
“Nice job. I left this to you, and this is the result? Planning to drain all the organization’s funds?”
“Boss, it’s not that—”
“Shut up and step aside. In the end, I was the fool for trusting you.”
At the icy tone, Eric shut his eyes tightly and stepped back.
Still, he could consider himself lucky that Hugo had arrived before they lost any more money.
If it was Hugo—no matter what methods that young master used—he’d make sure to take back all the money he’d won.
***
Hans looked back and forth, stunned, between the mountain of chips and Lucian.
Not only had he not been cleaned out, but he had also left the gambler with nothing.
He never imagined his young master had such a talent.
“Young master, did you really use magic?”
“What magic? It’s just technique.”
“And where did you learn that betting technique?”
“Let’s just say it was by chance.”
Lucian toyed with the cards as he dodged Hans’s question.
In truth, he had learned it in his past life after saving a one-armed knight.
Despite his weathered warrior appearance, that knight was a timid coward, but when it came to gambling, he was top-notch.
He said that, because he was too confident in his skill, he ended up at a table with high-ranking nobles, got caught, and had his arm cut off.
He always claimed he lost it in a fight with his usual rival, so when he finally told the truth, it was truly absurd.
‘Still, he was a pretty decent guy… damn that gambling addiction.’
“Young master, could I have your attention for a moment?”
A deep voice echoed in Lucian’s ears as he wore a faintly bitter smile.
Turning his head, he saw a muscular man, a head taller than the rest.
Lucian smiled at the clearly marked scar running from the man’s eye down to below his lips.
‘You finally showed up.’
Black Shark Hugo.
He had started as a thug from the back alleys but eventually came to control the underworld of five territories.
When the era of chaos arrived, he declared himself a baron and established himself proudly as one of the warlords.
Though scorned for his origins, he was also renowned for his extraordinary capabilities.
Even up to the day Lucian died, his power remained intact, so those were no mere rumors.
Hugo glanced briefly at the mountain of chips, shifted his scar, and stepped closer to whisper to Lucian.
“Seems like you’ve got quite a talent. How about we leave this small table and move to a high-stakes one?”
“A high-stakes table?”
“Upstairs are tables reserved for true high rollers. In a single game, chips worth everything you’ve won so far can be wagered.”
“Wow.”
Lucian’s eyes gleamed with interest.
Seeing his reaction, Hugo smiled slyly but soon shook his head with feigned regret.
“Oh, what a shame. Sorry, now that I think about it, that won’t be possible.”
“What do you mean? You tempt me like that and suddenly back out?”
“Upstairs, they not only bet higher, but the players are much more skilled. A casino exists for its customers’ enjoyment, so we shouldn’t ruin the fun.”
“You’re saying I’d lose? Me, Lucian Valdeck? After seeing this mountain of chips?”
“That’s not what I meant. If you took it that way, I apologize.”
“Outrageous! Take me there now! I don’t care how skilled those players are—I want to see for myself.”
Lucian stood up, pretending to be angry, and Hugo nodded with a troubled expression.
“If the young master insists, I have no choice. But please understand, if you lose, we can’t return your money.”
“You think I’m the kind of miserable person who’d ask for it back? Stop worrying about nonsense and take me there.”
“My apologies. I’ll escort you immediately, so please calm your anger.”
Hugo turned around, acting like he was in a bind.
But he couldn’t hide the brief smile that crossed his lips.
Lucian smirked and muttered to himself.
‘Even Black Shark Hugo is still a rookie at this point.’
In other words, he still had no choice but to move under Lucian’s control.
Once again, Lucian understood the true meaning of having returned to the past.
No matter how much potential someone had, if they were still an unripe bud, they could be taken or crushed at will before they had a chance to bloom.
And the first proving ground would be none other than the Black Shark standing before him.
***
After leaving Hans waiting downstairs, Lucian went up to the third floor.
As expected of a place reserved for special clients, the decor was on a completely different level from the first floor.
Upon entering the room, three people already playing turned their eyes toward him in surprise.
“What’s this? A rookie?”
“He’s too young.”
“Hugo, where’d you find this brat?”
“Mind your words. This is the third son of the Grand Duke Valdeck, Young Master Lucian.”
“Ah! Our sincerest apologies…!”
At Hugo’s words, the others quickly stood up and bowed their heads.
Then, they introduced themselves one by one.
Two claimed to be heirs of large merchant companies, and the other said he was the second son of a viscount’s family.
After hearing them out, Lucian let out a nasal chuckle.
‘How ridiculous. A made-up story, and they didn’t even try to make it believable.’
Maybe in a lavish capital city, it would be credible, but this territory wasn’t big enough for that level of leisure.
Heirs of giant companies or second sons of viscounts would be in far more extravagant places.
It was obvious the three were just Hugo’s subordinates in disguise, using fake identities.
They must have pegged him for a gullible young master and didn’t even bother polishing the cover story.
Lucian pretended to fall for the ruse and took the empty seat.
“Well, since we have a special guest today, let’s start a new game.”
“As always, I’ll act as the dealer. But before that…”
Hugo smiled crookedly while shuffling the cards in his hand.
The faint magic embedded in them dispersed into the air.
“No tricks. The game’s only fun when it’s clean, wouldn’t you agree?”
‘So he noticed after all.’
Lucian had dominated downstairs using a magic trick.
He marked each card with a slightly different magical imprint and combined it with the right sleight of hand.
Against regular folks who couldn’t sense magic, he was practically unbeatable, but against those who could perceive it through circulation, it was useless.
Though he already knew that, Lucian widened his eyes, pretending to be surprised.
“Then let’s begin! Dealing the cards now!”
Hugo began the game, satisfied with Lucian’s reaction.
As expected, there were consecutive losses.
Without tricks, beating real gamblers was impossible.
In less than thirty minutes, Lucian lost all the chips he’d won.
“Damn it! This can’t be! One more round!”
“Young master, you’ve run out of chips.”
“From what I understand, when you’re out of chips, you can borrow, right?”
Lucian asked cautiously, and Hugo grinned slyly.
Exactly what he had been waiting for.
“Of course, it’s possible. How much would you like to borrow?”
“As much as I can! Borrow up to the maximum you can lend me!”
“Ahaha! So bold! Here you go!”
Stupid young master.
Everything was going too smoothly not to laugh.
He probably thought he’d win it all back in one go, but all he’d be left with was a debt impossible to repay on a noble’s allowance.
Thinking that, Hugo dealt the cards again.
When the time came to reveal the final hand, Lucian hesitated dramatically.
“Young master, why the hesitation? Please show your hand.”
“No, it’s just… it’s not a great hand…”
“Whether good or bad, you have to show it for the game to continue. You’re not planning to pretend this game never happened, are you?”
“Do I really have to show it?”
“If you admit defeat, then no problem.”
“Ha… I guess I have no choice. This is my hand.”
Under Hugo’s pressure, Lucian sighed and laid his cards on the table.
Just as Hugo was about to burst into laughter, seeing it was a hand with no combination—
“By the way, how’s your drug business going? Seems like you’ve been working hard in the underground labs lately. When do you plan to start mass distribution?”
“…What?”
With a tone as casual as if asking about breakfast, Hugo blinked in surprise.
Seeing his blank reaction, Lucian lightly added—
“It was Marquis Roglan who hired you, right? Told you to stir things up in our territory with drug trafficking. That guy’s really petty. A marquis, yet resorting to such lowly schemes.”
“…!”
“And even with all the support you’ve been given, you went and set up a production center in the neighboring territory. You’re really something. If they catch you, every house nearby will want to tear you apart. Hahaha!”
As Lucian’s laughter echoed through the room, the four men—including Hugo—were completely frozen.
The rabbit they thought they had caught in their jaws had become, in an instant, the grim reaper himself.
____
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