NRIAD 13

Chapter: 13

It was only after seeing Hayden’s face twist that Eloise realized she did not look nearly as trustworthy as she had thought.

“What’s the plan?”

“It’s not dangerous. I’ve also arranged for someone to guard Richard—”

“What’s the plan?”

At Hayden’s sharp voice, Chenny stopped cutting the pie.

Even Hayden, who was so careless about danger that he would let someone he had known for only a few days into his home, apparently needed an explanation when it came to his family.

Eloise sighed before speaking.

“Exactly what I said. I gave Richard money to gamble. On the condition that if he wins more than 1,000 gelling within a month, he won’t have to repay any of the money he borrowed.”

She had not merely given him money.

She had even had clothes tailored for him, booked a hotel room, and assigned him an attendant.

Everything had been arranged so that he would look exactly like a nouveau riche.

“What? You said you were going to make him quit gambling, so what’s the point of encouraging him?”

“Richard may have a lot of debt, but the actual principal isn’t that large. Because he never gets the chance to gamble to his heart’s content, he only becomes more desperate for it. So I’m telling him not to worry about money and to gamble as much as he wants until he gets sick of it.”

“Get sick of it? Of gambling?”

“Hayden. Do you know why people gamble?”

“Well…”

“It’s because they expect to win money.”

Before he could answer, Eloise continued.

“But what happens if he keeps losing every time? And what if he doesn’t even get to feel that regret of thinking, ‘If only I had played one more round, I could have won,’ because he has an endless supply of money?”

As though he had realized what Eloise was thinking, Hayden’s tense jaw twitched.

“Once he realizes that he can never win money no matter how much he spends, there’ll be no fun left, nor any lingering attachment.”

“…You think Richard won’t be able to win any money?”

“I guarantee it. He won’t.”

She had deliberately dressed him up like a nouveau riche so that he would become prey for gamblers.

The gambling dens were filled with ‘professionals’ looking to trap naïve nouveau riche like Richard. They would let him win the first few rounds, but gradually, they would reveal their true colors.

Richard would never be able to beat them.

And just as Eloise had predicted, Richard was steadily losing his money.

‘The attendant I assigned to Richard used to be one of those ‘professionals,’ too.’

She had ordered him to interfere with Richard, so even if Richard happened to receive some miraculous stroke of luck, he would never be able to win money.

“Don’t worry. Even if Richard doesn’t win any money, I have no intention of actually taking his money. I’m going to have you grant my wish instead.”

When Eloise finished speaking, silence descended over the table.

Chenny resumed cutting the pie, while Hayden rubbed the corner of his mouth and pondered something.

Then, all of a sudden, he raised his head.

“But how did you give Richard the money?”

Then he brought up something even Eloise had forgotten.

“You said you had no money and would have to sleep on the streets because you spent everything buying the loan agreement.”

Ah.

She had said that when she asked to stay in this house.

Remembering the conversation from ten days ago belatedly, Eloise quickly fabricated an answer.

“I sold something I had. It was a keepsake from my father, but it turned out to be worth quite a lot.”

“A keepsake?”

Hayden’s eyes widened.

“Are you crazy? Why would you sell something like that?”

“I can find it again. Anyway, does that explain everything?”

As she spoke, Eloise put a piece of the pie Chenny had cut into her mouth.

“Ha. Just what the hell are you….”

“Come to think of it, Mr. Richard…”

Just as Hayden was about to speak again, Chenny tactfully interrupted.

“He seems interested in the arena these days.”

Eloise and Hayden turned their heads at the same time.

“The arena?”

“It’s held in an underground fighting pit. They make people who are good at fighting battle each other, and the winner takes the money.”

“Is it like a swordsmanship tournament?”

Eloise asked.

“It’s nowhere near as tame. Even though they fight without weapons, people die.”

“Uncle is looking into a place like that?”

“Yes? Well, he doesn’t necessarily risk his life every time… If he doesn’t participate as a fighter, he can simply bet money on one of the fighters, so it isn’t that dangerous.”

At Hayden’s low voice, Chenny rolled his eyes before changing the subject.

“It seems Mr. Richard received an invitation while gambling. According to the attendant assigned to him, he plans to go watch sometime soon.”

Hayden pressed his lips together.

Seeing his protruding lower lip, he clearly seemed dissatisfied with Richard’s actions.

“Don’t let him go there.”

As though he had barely finished thinking that, Hayden turned his gaze toward Eloise.

“I understand your plan, but I don’t want to let him start going to places like that.”

Certainly, betting money on a match where someone might die was a different kind of gambling from playing cards or dice.

Although Eloise was not sure whether such a thing should even be called gambling.

“Actually, there’s something I’m worried about, too.”

Just as Eloise was about to speak, Chenny spoke first.

“Wouldn’t he be able to win money there simply by picking whoever looks like they’re going to win?”

He added an explanation.

Four people participated in each match simultaneously, and they fought a bloody battle in a huge arena until only one person remained standing.

The spectators placed bets on one of the four fighters, and if they correctly predicted the winner, they received the money that had been bet on the other three.

In other words, it was possible to get lucky and win.

Hayden listened quietly to Chenny’s explanation before shaking his head.

“Then it’s better not to let him go.”

Of course, Chenny was right, and Hayden’s concern was also reasonable.

But…

“No. If we stop him from going, it’ll only cause a bigger problem. Richard will think that he can win money at the arena.”

For Richard, who had discovered that he had no talent for other forms of gambling, it would be like finding a new breakthrough.

“Even if he doesn’t go now, sooner or later he’ll go to the arena of his own accord.”

“So you’re saying we should just leave him alone?”

Hayden’s voice became sharp again, but Eloise calmly nodded.

“Yes. And then we have to make sure he can never set foot in there again.”

Whether by making him lose all his money or by showing him something he would never want to see again.

“The results of the matches can be manipulated, too. We can pay the fighters more than the prize money and buy them off, then hire shills to make Richard bet on the fighters we bribed.”

“…I don’t think they’d allow someone to buy off the fighters at the arena.”

Probably not.

Which meant they first needed to find out how the fighters were managed at the arena.

Then she could have Chenny approach someone who looked easy to deal with.

And if, as Hayden said, it was impossible to bribe the fighters…

“Then we’ll have to use a slightly more troublesome method.”

All they had to do was make sure that whoever Richard bet on could never win.

No matter what it took.

“Your Highness!”

Loud footsteps followed behind Kyle as he headed toward his office.

Arthur, who was walking behind Kyle, gave the knight a warning look, but the oblivious knight paid no attention and hurried toward them.

“Your Highness, the Crown Prince!”

Arthur glanced at Kyle’s expression and quietly clicked his tongue.

The Crown Prince’s Palace, which even Benedict had begun visiting only rarely, was filled not with peaceful leisure but with a bleak silence.

Only Arthur and a few attendants knew that the reason was because Kyle had been in an extremely foul mood lately.

“A letter for Princess Marta…!”

Kyle ignored the urgent cry and entered his office.

Only after the knight who had followed him inside gasped out the rest of his words did Kyle stop walking.

“It’s a letter from Lady Eloise to Princess Marta…”

“Eloise?”

Kyle abruptly turned his head.

“When?”

“Apparently, a messenger delivered it an hour ago…”

“Ha.”

Kyle’s sharply raised eyes curved softly.

He had been wondering why Eloise had shown no reaction even after he had sent her a letter and a gift, and now the knight he had assigned to keep an eye on Marta had brought him some welcome news.

‘Just as I thought.’

She had been unusually quiet, so apparently she had been taking out her anger on Marta.

It seemed she was too embarrassed to make a scene and openly interfere after making a big fuss and storming out.

But considering her shallow patience, she had endured it for quite a long time.

Somehow feeling better at the thought of her commendable effort, Kyle began walking again and asked,

“How did Princess Marta react? She didn’t happen to say she was returning to her homeland, did she?”

“Not exactly, Your Highness, but she wishes to see you. I believe she will send word that she intends to visit the Crown Prince’s Palace soon.”

She must have been surprised.

After all, she had just read a threatening letter telling her that she would regret it if she did not stay by his side.

“I’ll have to summon her first. I’ll send her a letter tomorrow, so placate her until then. Tell her that whatever threats Ellie made, she doesn’t need to worry about them.”

Kyle sat at his desk and waved his hand, indicating that the knight could leave.

Then he opened a drawer and took out a box.

When he lifted the velvet-covered lid, a bracelet appeared.

It was the bracelet he had ordered along with Eloise’s.

‘So she must have liked the gift after all.’

When he saw the red diamond, similar in color to her eyes, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

The bracelet he had sent to Eloise, on the other hand, was set with a blue diamond similar in color to his eyes.

Blue was not Eloise’s favorite color, but most of the gifts he gave her tended to be blue.

That was because he liked seeing blue against her body.

“Your Highness.”

At the knight’s voice, which suggested that he still had something to say, Kyle raised his head again.

The knight hesitated before speaking.