CH 2

The night trolley that had traveled through the darkness stopped at the entrance of the entertainment district.

Odette got out of the carriage with the gambling house guard who had brought her here. Their empty seats were soon filled with drunken people standing at the bus stop.

“Come on.”

The man’s voice aroused Odette, who was immersed in thoughts.

Odette took a deep breath and took a step towards the street colored with dazzling lights. Her vision was obscured by the black veil covering her face, but it wasn’t too difficult to find her destination. It was thanks to the fact that she had already come to fix the accidents her father had committed several times before.

“Stop, lady.”

Just as she entered the entrance of the building, the man stopped Odette.

Odette, who stopped walking, conveyed her intention to listen to him by nodding her head. But the man didn’t say anything, just let out a deep sigh. Even in the trolley he had muffled his words in this way several times.

“Is the amount large?”

Odette, who was lost in thought for a moment, asked calmly. The guard did not speak again this time. 

The old man’s daughter was not too surprised to see the gambling house’s guards breaking in in the middle of the night. All she did was look at him quietly, let out a weary sigh, and ask for time to get ready to go out. She seemed to believe that it was probably about the extent of her father getting into debt while gambling, as before. 

“……no.”

The guard, who had regained his composure, shook his head resolutely.

Odette was not the only woman sold to the gambling table.

He had seen countless wives and daughters of gamblers who had fallen into such dire circumstances, and he knew what their end would be. If you’re lucky, you might come to an agreement to pay the money back, but the group that won Odette tonight didn’t seem to be so lenient. Their intention was plain simple; to get the daughter of a beggar Duke, their trophy.

“Go up.”

He pointed to the stairs leading to the second floor with emotionless eyes. It was pitiful for the woman whose life had been ruined by her scumbag father, but he couldn’t be caught up in such silly pity and bring anger upon himself.

Odette, with her neck and back straight, began slowly climbing the red carpeted stairs. The hem of the shabby dress, which did not look like that of a noblewoman at all, rippled along with her soft steps as if walking on water.

Having made up his mind, the guard hurriedly followed Odette. The old man’s daughter, unaware of the tragedy she was about to face, swam in the mud with the most elegant manner.

***

Realizing that tears didn’t work, beggar Duke changed his stance and began threatening them.

Do you know who I am? If you treat me this way, you will get in big trouble. The trivial bravado that this kind of people lived like a habit dispersed in disarray along with the cigar smoke that filled the card room.

“If the news of you recklessly touching a lady of the imperial family reaches the ears of the emperor, you guys will never be safe!”

The gambler, who used to line up all kinds of splendid titles and families, now used the emperor as a weapon.

The officers who watched him, as if they were monkeys in a zoo, burst into laughter all at once. Erich Faber, who was giggling as if he was out of breath, even shedding tears.

“Hey, Bastian, you will have an audience with a lady who is the niece of His Majesty the Emperor. Do you hear that?”

Erich wiped away the tears with the back of his hand and turned his head.

“It will be an honor.”

Bastian, who smiled and replied insincerely, moved slowly and approached the window. He opened the window facing the street a little, letting the cool wind in.

He leaned against the window sill and watched the meaningless spectacle. The louder the old man’s bullsh*t grew, the ridicule of the onlookers grew. It was just when enduring this ruckus was starting to get annoying he heard a knock.

Bastian stood up, biting on the unlit cigar. The eyes of the beggar Duke and the onlookers who had stopped the fuss all turned to the entrance of the card room.

In the sudden silence, the door opened slowly.

Putting down the lighter, Bastian watched the start of the new act with his arms crossed. Old coat, gloves and hat. Even a black veil  covered her face. A drab, shabby-looking woman was standing beyond the open door. The big man guarding the back was undoubtedly the guard who had gone to pick up the old man’s daughter.

The woman carefully looked around and approached her father without showing any signs of haste. The sound of footsteps quietly permeated the tense silence. 

“Tell me how much my father owes you.”

The woman who stood in front of her father, who started sobbing again, said with great strength. It seemed that she had not properly grasped the situation.

Mocking and booing began to erupt from all over the place, but the woman did not even flinch. She stood upright to the point of being arrogant as she endured all the humiliation.

Bastian smirked with his well-shaped eyebrows raised and put down the cigar on the window sill. The moonlight that passed through the window made the insignia adorning his uniform and his platinum hair a paler shade.

“You seem to be mistaken about something, but the lady wasn’t called to pay off the debt.”

Erich clicked his tongue and slowly approached the woman.

“Then I will take my father with me.”

The voice of the woman who answered resolutely was cold and clear, which did not go well with this mess.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible. Even if your father leaves, you have to stay.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your father wagered you in a bet . And well, he won that bet.”

He pointed to a tall man standing by the window of the card room.

Odette held her breath in a daze. It took her a few slow blinks of her eyes before she understood the meaning of his words.

“Father?”

Odette, with her wobbly legs, looked at her father as if asking for an explanation. 

“I am so sorry, dear. I didn’t know it would turn out like this. I could definitely win big…”

Duke Dissen, whose face was painfully contorted, lowered his head, unable to bear his excuses. It was the cowardice he often showed when he did something he couldn’t handle. (*Duke Dissen is nicknamed beggar Duke in the gambling house because he always beg for more turns. No one knows his real name.)

Odette surveyed the crowd that surrounded her with  frightened eyes. They were all in uniform, and even Odette, who didn’t know much about soldiers, could tell that they were officers in the Admiralty. Most of the soldiers serving at the capital’s headquarters were from the upper classes. It meant that they had the power to rectify any accident committed in the back alley gambling house.

A mocking whistle someone started blowing quickly spread throughout the card room. Jokes and giggles with risqué hints soon followed.

But all Odette could hear was her own erratic heartbeats. The blood in her entire body seemed to grow cold and chilled, but the breath that flowed from her quivering lips grew hotter and hotter. The man standing by the window started to move when the terrible dizziness made it difficult for her to even support herself.

Knowing that it would be futile to strategize a plan right at this moment, Odette turned her head to look at the closed door. Even if she were lucky enough to escape this place, there would be guards standing on the other side of the door.

Wouldn’t it be better to jump out the window instead?

At the moment of an absurd impulse, the shadow of a large man fell over her head. Odette slowly raised her head in the shade. The victor of the betting game was standing right in front of her before she knew it.

“Aren’t you ashamed?”

The woman’s first words were quite unconventional.

Bastian looked at the woman who was being sold to him with his eyes slowly lowered. Through her black veil, the outline of her looming face was reflected.

“To think that an officer of the Empire would participate in such a low-level gamble. I bet you don’t know that a contract to buy and sell people can’t be established in the first place.”

Her voice began to tremble slightly, but the woman persevered in admonishing. Bastian laughed a little, feeling pitiful for such an insignificant bluff.

“Looking for law and morals in a place like this doesn’t sound like a very good solution.”

“Since when did the honor and dignity of a soldier become obscured by time and place?”

The brave woman unexpectedly threw a provocative counter-question. It wasn’t a very wise move, but at least one thing that she didn’t cry like her father was worthy of high praise.

“Please forgive my father for his mistake. In return, I will pay off his debt.”

The woman who was already well-adjusted made a brazen request. Her attitude was incongruous with her predicament.

“What? Nope.”

Bastian tilted his head, giving a plaintive answer. The formal smile that still lingered on his lips made his cold eyes stand out even more.

The woman was trembling. The fear she could no longer hide ran through her body. It was a sight that gave him sadistic pleasure, though this kind of oppression was not to Bastian’s liking.

“I am the one who gives orders. I won the bet.”

Ready to put a stop to this ruse, Bastian declared.  He was tired of ridiculing this woman. Bastian did not have the intention to exercise any more patience.

But if he let the woman go like this, more problems would happen.

After examining the faces of the party full of anticipation, Bastian’s gaze returned to the gambler’s daughter. The veil hiding her face suddenly bothered him. It would have been quite satisfying to tear it off in a moment of insult. Of course, it wasn’t just that he didn’t have a cheap curiosity to check out the woman’s appearance.

“Take that veil off.”

Bastian’s brief command broke the silence.

“I’m not interested in your money, and the men don’t want money either. But since a one-sided defeat would be unacceptable, so I’ll end it with a look at your face.”

Staring at the sharp-edged, wary woman, Bastian continued his dry explanation without any enthusiasm.

“Uh, let’s do whatever they want and leave here.”

The gambler, who had been watching, began to urge his daughter. He was just happy to get out of his predicament, but nowhere on his face was the guilt of the father who had sold his daughter for a game of cards.

Swallowing the anger that rose to the top of her throat, Odette raised her wet eyes and faced the man. It was a very humiliating request, but she couldn’t refuse it. It was because she knew very well that this was the best solution. For now, that man was Odette’s only hope.

“Can you keep your promise?”

The woman holding the end of the veil asked a question. Her hands in her faded gloves trembled, but her voice was surprisingly cold.

Following honor, dignity and trust.

It was ridiculous to find such a noble value in a gambling house, but Bastian nodded his head kindly. It had been a long day. He was tired, and most of all, the show was boring.

“Honey, come on.”

After the woman’s hesitation lengthened, her father urged her once more. Even if it meant unveiling his daughter himself, he was ready to do it.

Resolutely refusing to be touched, the woman lifted the veil herself. Her long, slender neck, tightly pursed lips, and a pert nose. As the woman’s face hidden beneath her black lace was gradually revealed, the excitement of the onlookers grew.

Bastian silently watched the woman with sunken eyes. The minute his bored face was slightly frowned, she took off her veil.

In the moment of silence in the card room, the woman slowly raised her head. Bastian gladly met her eyes as they looked right at him.

The woman had eyes that were an exquisite mixture of blue and green. There was a strangely clear light in her large eyes, which looked both like a frightened young animal and like a weary old woman.

The officers who had been holding their breath started to stir, but Bastian watched the woman in front of him with unwavering eyes. It was probably because the woman was too white that the shadows of her reddened eyes and long eyelashes stood out so much. The contrast between her dark hair like night and pale skin made the woman’s impression more distinct.

An empty smile crossed the corner of Bastian’s tilted mouth.

The beggar Duke was a lousy cheater, but it was clear he didn’t lie about the stakes. His daughter was beautiful.

At least that one thing was perfectly true.