Screech.
Count Kamil sprang to his feet in shock and the sound of his chair scraping against the floor was stark within the silence.
The expressions of those seated around the table were all the same. Their eyes were wide open as if they were going to fall out as they scanned the cards laid out before the Baron and Baroness.
Four Ace cards, each of a different suit.
No matter how many times they blinked and looked again, it was undeniably Four of a Kind.
Bertol’s eyes narrowed. That meant the first three cards they had been dealt had all already been Aces. So from the very beginning, Cassia’s hand had been higher than a One Pair, and the moment she received that final Ace, she had already secured a victory of Four of a Kind.
In other words, the dejected face she made when Bertol advised her that a One Pair wasn’t very good and the foolish, beaming smile she wore while asking if a Two Pair was decent, every bit of it had been an act.
It was an act that could only be pulled off by someone pretending to learn the game for the first time.
The execution was so flawless that it made Bertol shudder. He suspected that she had known the rules long ago and merely feigned ignorance to lure them in. If it was the woman before him, she was more than capable of such a scheme.
“I suppose the game was a bit less exciting since none of you seemed particularly worried to part with your bets. For those of you gathered here, losing or winning these treasures would likely mean very little. We, on the other hand, had to play with our hearts in our throats…”
“Hah, haha…”
Playing with their hearts in their throats? She had a divine hand from the very start.
Lucian ran a hand through his hair as if he had been dealt a blow and fixed his gaze on Cassia.
“In any case, would it be fair to say that this was the defeat of those who judged only by outward appearances?”
The woman who had been blushing and excited over a mere Two Pair was nowhere to be found. Only then did the nobles realize that her clumsy behavior had been nothing more than a mask.
Bertol let out a dry laugh. The others might have been meeting Cassia for the first time, but he had thought he knew her well enough from Greze, yet he, too, had been fooled. He couldn’t tell whether he himself was dull or she was simply that meticulous.
In the midst of the stunned silence, Cassia’s steady voice continued.
“Sir Valak, who was born a slave, was the greatest frontier Margrave who repelled the invasion of the Bert Empire five times and later earned the title of Duke. There is also the blind woman Bardera, who was once scorned and oppressed for being lowly, and became the Emperor’s vassal through her wisdom and the first woman to be granted the title of Marchioness.”
Her soft voice flowed through the room. As if interrupting her were a taboo, everyone sitting around the table remained silent, their ears wide open.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, your words were not wrong. I, too, grew up seeing and hearing the noble society of the South, so there is no way I would be unaware. How could I not know this world where title is equal to honor and wealth is equal to power?”
Cassia smiled faintly and slowly turned over the remaining cards that weren’t part of her Four of a Kind, one by one.
“However, the workings of power are much like this card game. One cannot know what lies an inch ahead until the hidden cards are revealed. Who will one day rise to the pinnacle of power, who will one day be looked up to with honor…”
Even as she spoke, she took care to manage her expression. This was not a place to lecture the high nobles who had built their own exclusive society. It was merely about carving out a space for them to squeeze into.
They were people who already each held formidable positions within the empire.
She didn’t need to maintain a close relationship with those steeped in the inertia of a stale noble society, but she certainly didn’t need to make them her enemies or earn their spite.
Just do not dismiss us as mere nobodies, spare us a glance, at least once.
Simply put, this was the task of carving down the mountain that stood in the way of Greze’s growth.
“Well said. One standing at the peak of power today may come crashing down tomorrow, and a new power that pulls them down may rise to the top in turn.”
Eagle, who had been listening quietly, interjected.
It was a meaningful remark. Only Cassia or Zester would likely grasp its hidden meaning. After all, he was the one seeking to judge the corrupt Vatican and drag Pope Victor X down from his position of ultimate power.
A flicker of pity crossed Cassia’s eyes. It would be nice if it were as easy as his words made it sound, but smooth transitions of power were rare in history. In her past life, Eagle and the Remiel Faith were remembered in the history only as pagans who plotted a rebellion.
It was only after learning the ‘truth’ that she felt sympathy for him; in her previous life, hadn’t she also dismissed them as mad pagans and a prince blinded by a lust for power?
Lucian, who had been staring at the pensive Cassia, let out a chuckle and shook his head in amazement.
“Alright, I see what you are trying to say, Baroness. So then, what is Greze’s plan? It would be good to do something with the wealth you’ve raked in here today.”
At his words, Cassia gave a small smile.
Of course, it was a tempting amount of wealth, and if she claimed ownership and accumulated it all, it would be a massive boost to the Greze territory. However, she needed to look further ahead.
“Wealth is fleeting, just like a bubble. See, just the riches we earned here today are a staggering amount. It comes and goes and it vanishes. In the end, it’s futile. Which is why judging the essence of a person by it is the most meaningless and foolish act in the world.”
I—we—are not the type of people to be easily buried by the limits of title and wealth.
“That is why the Baron and I do not dwell on wealth. We will think of this game as nothing more than a greeting for our first meeting and take with us only the memory of this pleasant atmosphere. Wealth is something that can be built up whenever one sets their mind to it, so why be greedy for it? If anything, holding excessive riches often entangles one in discord and strife….”
She was a woman who had lived both as the daughter of a wealthy noble family and as a lady of a poor territory. Given her memories of a luxurious life, one might expect her to be greedy for money, but she didn’t seem so at all.
“A plum that has fallen to the dirt may be perfectly ripe and good to eat, while a plum hanging temptingly on a branch may actually be bitter. Ultimately, isn’t the insight to discover those who are like unpolished gems destined to reach the summit, a virtue that only great nobles of high standing can possess?”
She was indirectly saying that Greze was a rough gem yet to be polished, a dragon yet to ascend to the heavens.
She didn’t explicitly say, ‘We will work hard, so please assist us’ but it was a remark that everyone there could understand.
More than that, interest already gleamed in the eyes of Crown Prince Lucian and the two high nobles.
“And if you did not intentionally set this game up for us, then it truly is astonishing.”
Cassia’s hand slowly brushed over the four Ace cards laid out side by side.
“In life, there are situations that one cannot control through their own ability alone. What one lacks at such times is exactly this.”
Four of a Kind.
A hand so rare that that unless one were exceptionally lucky, it was almost impossible to draw.
“Luck.”
We happen to have a bit of luck on our side as well.
Seeing Cassia’s bright smile, everyone’s eyes shone with interest.
* * *
Ruberno Castle, Count Ruberno’s chamber.
Perhaps remembering the lesson to ‘maintain an expressionless face when playing cards,’ his son Allen was busy trying to force down the corners of his twitching mouth. It seemed he had a good hand.
The Count of Ruberno chuckled and laid all his cards face up.
King of Hearts, King of Spades. A decent hand with a One Pair
Allen burst into laughter and revealed his own cards.
Jack of Hearts, Jack of Diamonds, and three Aces. A remarkably high hand.
“I won, Father!”
“So you did.”
“I’m not bad, right? Don’t you think I’m quite good at this?”
“I wonder. You need to put more effort into managing your expression. We’re just practicing, so I held the cards until the end, but your face made it so obvious you had a good hand that I would have folded long ago. I wouldn’t have bet even a single coin.”
“Wh-why? I managed my expression well….”
“You still have a long way to go, you rascal.”
“Tch. But Father, didn’t you say you were very surprised when you first taught elder sister cards? Mom said so. She said you were at a loss for words. Was she that good at managing her expression?”
“Hm, well. I don’t know if I’d call it managing expression.”
“Why? What did she do?”
The Count gathered the two ‘Kings’ in front of him and the two ‘Jacks’ in front of Allen then gave a wry smile.
“She showed me a hand with Two Pairs and asked me with such a bright face, ‘Father, you said it’s quite hard to get two high pairs, right?'”
“Ugh. That doesn’t sound like elder sister at all. Haha….”
“Right, that’s what I thought too. I had a better hand than her at the time. I thought I’d teach her a lesson, so I kept taking cards. She bet her necklace, the dress I’d given her as a birthday present that year…in any case, she wagered everything she had.”
“Sounds like she’s not very good at card games.”
Allen chuckled. He figured the reason the Count was at a loss for words was that Cassia, who was otherwise perfect, was surprisingly poor at mental battles.
“Hm? No.”
However, the Count looked intently at the laughing Allen and shook his head.
“I dare to say…that child has no field she lacks talent in.”
“Huh?”
“She asked me to wager a hundred gold, then two hundred gold, then the ownership of the library… It was cute to see her listing all the things she wanted, so I agreed. Seeing a smart girl getting excited over a mere Two Pair and failing to manage her expression, I thought I’d show her how the world works. But then—.”
He recalled that the shock at that time was quite fresh.
The moment the face-down cards were revealed, the Count spent about a full minute staring blankly back and forth between Cassia and her cards.
“When she flipped them, all four cards were the same.”
“W-What?!”
Four of a Kind. A top-tier hand, with almost no chance of being beaten.
“In the end, I was cleaned out of money and handed over ownership of the library too. I don’t even remember everything, but back then, that kid took just about everything from me that was worth taking.”
The Count let out a dry laugh as he stared into Allen’s wide eyes.
Of course, she only used that trick when he first taught her the game, that is, acting like an utter fool with no skill at all.
After that, as if she had never acted like that, she was so good at managing her expression that it was hard to believe. She didn’t bat an eyelid and her lip never even twitched.
The Count shuddered slightly.
He should have been suspicious the moment that smart, meticulous child started acting delighted over a mere Two Pair.
The Count shook his head as he recalled the face of the young Cassia.
“I still get goosebumps when I think about it. That girl showing her Two Pair with such an innocent face… Ah, and you know, while I sat there in daze, she calmly tidied up the cards and then she said something so nonchalantly.”
Indeed. Managing one’s expression did not necessarily mean acting expressionless. Between her beaming like a fool and betting this and that, hadn’t even he, a seasoned veteran, been completely deceived?
“To think you’d fall for such an obvious act. Geez, Father.”
- Honey, I’m Going on Strike – Chapter 90 - August 21, 2026
- Honey, I’m Going on Strike – Chapter 89 - August 1, 2026
- Honey, I’m Going on Strike – Chapter 88 - August 1, 2026