Chapter 9

I stepped outside the Imperial Palace about ten days after my reincarnation.

I grabbed a carriage stationed at the Crimson Crescent Palace.

“Let’s go to the ‘Hope’ Casino.”

Upon hearing my destination, the coachman audibly sighed.

He kept glancing at me throughout the ride.

Seeing the mix of disdain and fear in his eyes, I guess my reputation had spread well.

I looked outside the window with satisfaction.

The ground was paved with stones, with sewer grates spotted here and there.

The roadway for carriages and the walkway for pedestrians were clearly distinguished.

Rows of stone buildings stood three to five stories high along the street, each using differently colored bricks to look appealing.

Some commercial buildings had a glass wall on one side.

Oil lamps were hanging along the edge of the sidewalk.

In the evening, lamplighters would be seen bustling about with sparks, rods, and oil.

The capital of the Empire, Silentalouon, boasting a population of 500,000, was beautiful no matter when you saw it.

People who saw the imperial insignia on the carriage would tip their hats and greet me, or step back in surprise.

The coachman glanced at me again and sighed once more.

It was a peculiar expression, one that blended pride and self-loathing.

“Are we far?”

“We’re almost there. Please wait a moment.”

The coachman replied in surprise.

I chuckled softly and closed my eyes.

I was awakened from my nap by the sound of the horses’ hooves on the black brick buildings coming into view.

“We’re here.”

The black bricks and the red lights.

The red-light district of Silentalouon.

It was the boundary between the dark and the light.

“This is the ‘Hope’ Casino. When would you like me to pick you up again?”

“Tomorrow morning. Please come before the sun rises.”

By that time, everything would be over.

The coachman frowned at my words.

It meant he would have to wake up at dawn, so he couldn’t be feeling good about it.

“Don’t you like it?”

Recalling my duel with Sir Bonnel, the coachman glanced down at his own legs and swallowed.

“I will arrive right on time.”

Fear made humans kinder and more diligent than friendliness did.

“Good. I appreciate it.”

I checked the edge of my sword once more, then headed down the stairs leading to the underground of the black building.

“Welcome. This is Hope. We will guide you.”

A man in formal attire wearing a red mask greeted me at the entrance, bowing politely and offering me a paper mask.

I willingly accepted the mask and put it on.

His gaze quickly swept over the color of my hair.

Despite seeing my shining white hair, indicative of royal lineage, he showed no surprise.

It was common for the royalty these days to spend their maintenance fees on the entertainment district.

Those who couldn’t study or learn swordsmanship or magic easily fell into amusement.

“I’ll help you with exchanging money first.”

As soon as I walked in, a woman in formal attire with a red paper mask came close to me.

I followed her to the counter while surveying the casino.

I saw noblemen playing cards in rooms on the edges, wealthy individuals placing chips at tables in the wide hall, and young noblemen throwing darts against one wall.

Waiters walked here and there holding trays.

A beautiful dealer in a bunny girl outfit dealt cards to the young noble heirs.

A small band was playing cheerful tunes on a small stage.

Colorful and beautiful glass lanterns filled the room with radiant light.

“Thirty silver coins. Please exchange them all for black chips.”

“Thirty silver coins, and I’ll exchange them for black chips.”

The casino set the prices of chips and money ambiguously to create confusion in accounting.

Black chips were high-value chips worth seven chips for every two silver coins.

“If you have a game you want to play, I can guide you to that table.”

“More so than a game I want to play, I want to meet someone.”

The woman in formal attire turned back to me.

“Madame Laviecia. I want to play at the same table as her.”

A moment of silence passed.

Then she replied in a smooth and bright voice.

“Of course. I will take you to a table with Madame Laviecia. Please wait a moment while I ask which room she is in.”

I recalled events from my past life.

Madame Laviecia was a woman born from a concubine during the time of the previous emperor, who was a crown prince.

After managing the palaces like the Crimson Crescent Palace, she retired after Jeilliris took the throne.

The age difference with Jeilliris was that of mother and daughter, and as a child of a concubine, she held no inheritance rights, thus not being subjected to political maneuvering.

Now, she was enjoying a wealthy retirement with the money accumulated and properties owned.

With an extravagant personality and a penchant for spending, she was a welcomed guest anywhere in this street of black walls.

That was the publicly known Madame Laviecia.

“Who would have thought that money was embezzled?”

I sighed quietly.

One month, having lost too much, Laviecia took out a loan and started dipping into the palace maintenance funds to cover it.

She secretly withdrew the maintenance fees using her established connections and rotated her income from rental fees.

The problem began when a building caught fire.

With operations halted, the rental income ceased, and without funds, she couldn’t repay the palace maintenance fees she had withdrawn.

She even embezzled funds earmarked for the attendants’ salaries, resulting in delays in the maids’ wages.

Learning the truth, the emperor executed Laviecia and wiped out the red-light district.

After that, the maintenance fees for the royal family were further cut, and the organizations that dominated the red-light district resorted to gathering information while aligning with foreign countries to survive.

The cost of one libertine’s deviation was far too great.

“I can’t let the maintenance fees get any lower from here.”

If that happened, I might truly find myself starving.

I couldn’t resort to eating black bread while slicing meat.

As I contemplated this, someone approached and bumped into my shoulder.

“Who are you?”

“Then who are you?”

A slurred reply came back.

The fellow smelled strongly of alcohol.

“Why is the water here so bad? Is it a place where amputees frequent?”

The bleary-eyed youth bumped his head against my chest.

“Look at those white hairs, calling himself royalty.”

He reached out.

He was a drunken noble brat.

“Yeah. I’m royalty, alright.”

But I was a drunken, out-of-control bandit of royalty.

I kicked between his legs without any consideration this time.

There was no courtesy of targeting his thigh’s inner side.

“Ugh!”

He fell like a rotten log.

The woman in the red mask rushed over.

“What happened?”

“Nothing at all.”

After a moment of assessing the situation, the woman exchanged glances with nearby staff.

“Yes. Nothing at all. Please follow me.”

He had no chips left.

I followed the woman in the red mask toward the inner rooms of the casino.

As I walked down the corridor flickering with candlelight, I heard laughter from various people.

“This is it.”

The woman politely opened the door.

“I don’t recognize that face.”

“Is this a new arrival?”

“I feel like I know you from somewhere.”

Inside the room were several masked guests, a dealer, and Madame Laviecia.

I looked at Madame Laviecia.

She was wearing a dress that had waves of folds falling, and her brown hair, with a tint of red, matched well with her purple mask.

Though she was over thirty and nearing forty, there was not a single wrinkle on her forehead or neck.

The daughter of the previous emperor and his concubine.

Even time could not take away her beauty.

“……”

She gazed at my hair, and her mouth, revealed beneath the mask, stiffened.

The vivid and glossy white hair.

She must have already discerned that we were half-siblings.

“Please take a seat at the table.”

The dealer gestured to me.

I accepted my chips from the woman in the red mask and took a seat.

“This game is simple.”

The dealer held the cards and explained.

“You will receive two cards. One is for your personal view, and the other you will place face up without looking.”

“The one with the higher total wins, I see.”

“Yes, that’s correct. If both cards are the same, it becomes a pair. In this case, a pair takes precedence over the higher number.”

“If both players have pairs, will the larger pair win?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Sounds easy.”

I half-listened to the dealer’s explanation.

I intended to lose anyway.

Next, they would induce me to take illegal loans after I had lost everything.

Then I would leverage the emperor’s name to threaten them.

Illegal lending was a serious crime in the empire, heavy enough to use for coercion.

At the same time, I would subtly be informing Madame Laviecia of where her repayment money was coming from.

Once they realized they were feasting on embezzled funds, they would think twice about their actions.

This way, Madame Laviecia wouldn’t need to recklessly siphon off funds, and there would be no risk of being caught.

Ultimately, our maintenance fees would be secured, and I could receive some hush money from the casino.

Had I been a commoner, I would have to worry about annihilation.

But I was royalty.

“Then let’s begin.”

Right.

Let’s start already.

I would gladly lose.

I placed a generous pile of black chips in front of me.

* * *

“Four pairs! The victory goes to the gentleman with white hair.”

“The total is 24. The victory goes to the gentleman with white hair.”

“The total is 17. The victory goes to the gentleman with white hair.”

“Six pairs. The victory goes to the gentleman with white hair.”

The dealer’s voice announcing my victories echoed endlessly in the room.

A middle-aged man clad in fur frowned.

“Looks like it’s not my day.”

A young woman in a form-fitting dress sighed.

“I had five pairs.”

A plump young man broke out in a cold sweat.

“I lost everything.”

A pale-haired noble woman shot a resentful glance at me.

“Isn’t this rigged?”

Madame Laviecia whispered.

“You’re quite lucky.”

“Indeed.”

I stared at the colorful chips piled in front of me in a daze.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

I was meant to lose.

I needed to be pushed into illegal lending to gather evidence.

It shouldn’t have happened this way.

“I think this is where I’ll stop.”

The man in fur picked up his bowler hat and stood up.

“I’ll give up as well.”

The young woman in the clingy dress gathered her things.

It seemed the plump man and pale-haired noble were also feeling the atmosphere to leave.

“Everyone seems to be leaving, but would you care to indulge in a few more games with just the two of us?” Madame Laviecia said to me.

Since she wore a mask, I couldn’t discern her expression.

“I’m fine with that. How about you?”

I hadn’t come to earn money.

I couldn’t retreat from here.

“Oh my, are you worried for me?”

Madame Laviecia rang a bell in the room.

After a moment, a woman in a red mask stepped in.

“Please bring me just 490 black chips.”

She calmly declared.

“Then this next game will……”

The dealer began to explain the game.

I sighed and pushed my chips forward.

It wouldn’t take long for Madame Laviecia to blow through those 490 chips.

Now that I thought about it, the reason she had dipped into the palace maintenance funds was likely because she had lost so much gambling.

Laviecia was truly, exceptionally terrible at gambling.

“Please bring me 350 more chips.”

I nearly slapped her cheek right then and there.

“Sir with white hair, your expression isn’t looking good.”

“No, it’s just that I’ve never won like this before, so I’m a bit anxious.”

“That’s the thrill of gambling. Those who can’t learn study or swordsmanship have nothing else to do but this, right?”

She spoke as if testing me.

Delicately mentioning my identity behind the mask, the dealer shot her a glance.

“Madame.”

“Yes. That’s true, as long as there’s enough money.”

The corners of Laviecia’s mouth twisted awkwardly.

“I’ve rambled on. Let’s continue.”

The cards turned and turned again.

I had no idea what time it was.

Feeling incredibly drowsy, I realized I must have long surpassed my usual sleeping hours.

I pushed the chips piled up in front of me aside.

They were stacked too high for me to see Laviecia’s face.

Just how much was this?

It was frightening.

“Please bring me 490 more chips.”

“Madame, I’m sorry, but the money you stored in the safe has run out.”

The woman in the red mask politely refused.

“Shall I lend you some?”

Laviecia clicked her tongue.

“Sure, lend me some. I’ll repay you next month.”

I opened my eyes wide, as though on the brink of waking from a fever.

Thinking about it, I actually didn’t need to borrow any money.

“How much would you like to borrow?”

“Please lend me three hundred silver coins.”

“Understood. You will repay three hundred and ninety silver coins on July 1st.”

It must be compounded interest.

At 30% monthly, that would exceed 2200% annually.

I had no idea illegal lending would be to this extent.

It was no wonder the maids were often delayed in their wages.

There was a reason the emperor swept through such practices rather than imposing fines or voiding contracts.

“Excuse me.”

I started off cautiously.

The woman in the red mask and Madame Laviecia turned to me.

“Isn’t borrowing above 40% annual interest illegal under imperial law?”