The Villainess turns the Hourglass
chapter-96

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

‘If it’s a game of 100% luck…’

As she was looking through the hall, she saw a card roulette game. It was a game in which the cards were arranged in a row, and only one card was taken to pay all the amount to the same cardholder.

With this game, it was possible to win as much money as possible by turning over the hourglass. Aria left Annie, who was soaked in the wine, took her hourglass and moved to the place where they played a card roulette game.

The card roulette game could not be manipulated because it was a way for an employee to mix the cards and a player to pick one out. So because of the people who didn’t trust the employees, it was quite crowded.

“Which seat would you like to take?”

“I’ll finish it at once.”

When she showed the staff a chip worth a hundred gold, he guided Aria to a seat a little off the center. A hundred gold was a huge amount that ordinary people could not dream of, but it was not that big at a casino.

Several tables were placed in front of the card-mixing staff. When she sat down in one of them, she could see some good-looking people around her. She felt like they were going to participate in the game together. There were about ten or so people.

‘There are about ten participants in one round…’

It wasn’t bad. The minimum amount would be a hundred gold, and it meant that she could get a thousand gold in just one game.

When the staff lined up the cards, another employee waiting next to Aria asked her. “Do you want to choose a card?”

“No, I’ll start with the next round.”

‘I have to check which card will be picked up. In addition, I have to check if there is no winner.’ Aria watched the game go on for a while, putting the hourglass on the table.

The staff checked the time with his pocket watch. It took less than five minutes for the staff to line up the cards and the participants to select their desired card and check it out. The time was on point.

As most rounds did, even if it was a game of luck, there was no winner. Watching the staff re-mixing the card of Heart Queen, she turned over the hourglass.

“Do you want to choose a card?”

“Yes.”

She then pushed the chips worth a hundred gold toward the front of the table and said,

“I’ll bet all the chips on the card of Heart Queen.”

Aria smiled leisurely, holding the Heart Queen handed by the staff. The participants looked out for the hands of the staff, who turned over the pre-picked card, with hopeful eyes. The result was fixed. Aria was the only one who kept a smile in the table full of sighs.

“Oh, my God! Isn’t this her first time?”

“She was lucky. But there’s no way for her to win the next round, too.”

The applause and whistles poured on her, who pocketed as much as ten times the amount of money in just one game. She shook her head at the employee’s question of whether she would bet again, leaving without regret. The magic of the hourglass was only once a day. It was time to go back.

“Will you take care of my companion?”

How much wine Annie drank? She laid on the sofa like a wet sheaf. It looked so ugly that Aria thought to leave her for a while. But she couldn’t, and as she asked a staff to carry her, someone put Annie around his shoulders.

“What would you like to do with the chips?”

“Leave them as they are. Take the calculation out of the chips.”

‘I’m going to come back tomorrow anyway.’

Going back to the cafe, she transferred to the carriage of the count, which had been waiting for her to return and went back to the mansion. For the unconscious Annie, Aria explained that Annie had been unconscious like that after eating so much chocolate that contained alcohol because there was little way for a minor to drink, and Aria could easily cheat them.

The next day, Annie appeared with a hangover holding her head, and Aria told her that she would go out again, and as if she hadn’t done so, Annie dressed herself more colorful than yesterday.

“If you do that again today, I’ll really leave you behind.”

“… I was sorry yesterday, miss. I didn’t know I was that weak to alcohol. I’ll be right next to you today.”

Indeed, Annie followed Aria all the time, apparently reflecting on herself yesterday. Of course, there was a white wine of Pinonua in her hand. With the intention of controlling it, she never emptied her glass like yesterday.

“Which seat would you like to take?”

The same employee as yesterday asked Aria. Aria said, showing the chips worth of a thousand gold.

“I’ll finish it at once.”

Then, unlike yesterday, he guided her to a seat in the middle. The number of participants was about ten, similar to yesterday’s, but there were so many onlookers that she could not even count. Whether she was surprised by the crowd, Annie asked, shrugging her shoulders.

“Miss. Miss, why are there so many people here? How many chips did you show them?”

“A thousand gold.”

“A, a thousand gold?”

Annie shouted. Her face was red because all the eyes of the crowd were directed to her, and she asked Aria again.

“Did you say “A thousand gold”? A thousand gold?! You mean a thousand gold at a time?!”

“Annie, you don’t have to stress that much. A thousand gold is right.”

“Well, if you win, how much do you earn…?”

“It’s multiplied by the number of participants.”

“There are about ten people, so… If you win, you get 10,000 gold?!”

It was equivalent to the amount spent in half a year at the family of Count Roscent. The amount included spending by the count and the countess, Aria and Mielle, Cain’s allowance, and finally food and other administrative expenses, including the salaries of the servants and maids. Considering the wealth of the family of Count Roscent, it must have been quite a large sum.

Annie said, wiping a cold sweat from her palm on the hem of her skirt, “Miss, by all means, win. Win! Be sure!”

Annie seemed overexcited even if it wasn’t hers. “Cheer up!”

It was a game of winning and losing according to luck. What could Aria do with cheering herself up? Even Aria knew that; she said that she got it with a smile because Annie was cute when she was talking about nonsense. It all originated from the relaxed mind of Aria who knew she would win.

Aria turned over the hourglass when she saw an employee mixing Clover 4 into other cards. Then she said, betting all the chips on it, as she had done yesterday,

“I’ll put all the chips on the Clover 4.”

And Aria, who, like yesterday, got 10,000 gold in less than five minutes, played just one game and left the casino without regret.

It was instantaneous that rumors about a mysterious woman, who had earned 10,000 gold from 100 gold with a game of two rounds, in just two days spread all over the casino.

* * *

“… Oh, my God, 10,000 gold! Miss, have you decided what you’re going to do with it?”

Ten thousand gold would be a huge sum for most people but not for Aria. Leaving Annie in the midst of a fuss behind, Aria hurried to get ready to go out with Jessie’s help.

‘It’s far from enough to hoard.’

Of all occasions, this was especially true because they were luxury items such as pepper and sugar that the route were blocked. The basic unit cost was expensive, and it took quite a lot of money to buy more than half of what was released on the market.

‘Even if I buy sugar, I need at least 50,000 gold. 50,000 gold will be far short.’

A thousand gold was the best for the game in the hall. The above was done in a private room. It was not desirable to play games in a private room since she had been winning consecutive games, and the maximum she could get by using the hourglass was only a thousand gold per day.

‘It’s going to take longer than I thought. I’m tired, too.’

After using the hourglass, she slept all day long to relieve her fatigue. Recently, she had been forced to wake up, covering her face with a towel soaked in cold water. So she felt weak and tired, and she fell asleep at any time. It happened only in two days; it was too much to last five days.