KFBRV Ch 129
- Mar 17
- 7 min read
Needing seed money, Ferdinand headed to his father's armory. He planned to take three or four hunting rifles and pawn them temporarily.
He said a whopping 3,000 times, didn't he? Am I any less capable of winning than that Köndel guy? I'll just redeem them with the money I win.
He conscientiously chose the ones that looked the oldest in the armory. Unaware of the fact that those were precisely the ones with immense historical value.
[Ferdinand] "Odette, you need to go out with me for a moment."
I can't do a sloppy job of surveillance. Because Father, who is strict only with me, will find fault for no reason again.
[Ferdinand] "Don't bother with the dress or whatever nonsense, just come wearing the dress you have on now."
Having created seed money by stopping at the pawnshop, he took her to the casino.
Good thing I came to inspect. It's more popular than I expected, isn't it?
Seeing the extremely long queue to enter the casino, he thought:
Even so, it's just a fleeting success due to novelty.
The person who built this casino must be a huge bumpkin.
If they knew that the Ulrich Casino across the street belonged to Albrecht, they would never have set up shop here.
Having Odette, the only purifier, meant that money would never run dry. It meant that losing in competition was impossible.
Indeed, only such a bumpkin would build this kind of vulgar casino. Without a shred of aristocratic nature.
Ferdinand, who had been sneering throughout the wait in line, had no choice but to be surprised the moment he passed through the entrance.
What is this...? Why is it so dazzling...?
Gambling and luxury are sometimes called the virtues of nobility. Therefore, casinos were generally made by renovating coffee houses frequented by nobles. So they could be dissolute to their heart's content, but never vulgar.
But this place did not seem like a renovated coffee house, but a space created specifically for a "casino."
A space made blatantly flashy as if determined to be vulgar. Which meant it was exactly his taste.
[Employee] "Guest, would you like to rent a mask?"
[Ferdinand] "No, forget it. A gambling house is the best place for socializing. Is there any idiot who wears a mask in such a place?"
He waved his hand in refusal.
Besides, renting a single Bauta mask costs 1 Atasha? That's more expensive than buying one! Who would pay that money to rent a mask?
However, once he entered the inner room, he had no choice but to understand why people rented masks.
A fountain made of alcohol placed in the center of the room and slightly dim lighting created a strange atmosphere.
Men and women who fancied each other were freely kissing or holding hands while wearing masks.
Though it was an era of upheaval, it was an incredibly bold sight.
What the…. here, if you just wear a mask, you can play with other women? It won't reach the Princess' ears either.
Ferdinand, who had been forced to cut off women after the talk of becoming a royal son-in-law emerged, swallowed hard. Gulp.
[Employee] "Would you like to try the slot machines? It is the first time we are presenting them at our casino."
[Employee] "Would you like to try roulette? If it is your first visit today, we give you 5 chips just for participating in the roulette."
Moreover, the inside was filled with new gambling machines that even he had never seen before.
How colorful the gambling machines were. And how many benefits were given for playing for the first time?
It was difficult to keep his wits about him amidst the allure.
Hah—. Everyone's eyes have rolled back.
Ahem, adjusting his collar, he sat at the roulette table. As soon as he sat in the chair, the dealer's face caught his eye.
What the? Why is he so unnecessarily handsome?
Dealers, servers. Every male employee in the casino was excessively handsome.
Because of this, men who came to spend money were unnecessarily betting more chips to show off their ability, afraid that their female companions' gazes would be stolen.
[Ferdinand] "20 Atasha, change it all to chips and bet on the game."
He also called out an amount much higher than planned. It was an instinctive action that came out after seeing Odette looking admiringly at the dealer's face.
Today's goal is 100 Atasha. Once I win that, I'm leaving.
He thought naively. Completely unaware that the dealers of Wolfgang Casino had been waiting for him to come.
After repeating the process of winning big money and losing big money a few times, as expected, Ferdinand fell deep into the casino.
By the second day, he had completely forgotten Odette's existence.
Thanks to that, she was able to go to the hospital near the Rothbart River recommended by the status window.
To the largest hospital in the capital.
[Remaining Time: 2 days 6 hours]
[Reputation: 100]
The fourth day since she started volunteer work.
Like other volunteers at the hospital, Odette, wearing a pure white apron over a sky-blue dress, sighed.
Haa... I've been working myself to the bone without sleeping even 4 hours for four days, and my reputation is still 100?
It was much higher than the insignificant number of 8 at the beginning, but considering the remaining time, it was a disastrous result.
Can I fill the remaining 400 in 2 days?
She even tried making donations with the money in the status window's safe, but the reputation gained by that method was a mere 15.
[Warning! Donations exceeding the current amount will make capital citizens feel 'deprivation' and decrease reputation.]
Furthermore, with such a warning window appearing, she couldn't even donate more money.
Should she risk being caught by the Count and turn her volunteering at the hospital into an article? She thought about it, but she couldn't use that method either.
Because as soon as she thought of it, the status window displayed this warning.
[Warning! If publicized, 'Odette's' treatment will feel like 'hypocrisy' to capital citizens and decrease reputation.]
In the end, this was the result of choosing only hard work without rest. Raising reputation to 77.
In the midst of that, after hitting 90, the speed at which reputation rose became noticeably slower.
I worked without rest, but for reputation not to budge even by 1 all afternoon is too much, isn't it? ...Are you telling me to fill 500 or not?
Then, a nurse called loudly for volunteers in the hallway.
[Nurse] "We're out of clean water! Is there any volunteer who can go to the upper reaches of the river and draw some water?!"
The carcasses from the calamities that suddenly occurred in the capital had fallen into wells and the river's lower reaches. Because of this, groundwater and the lower river were contaminated, so to get clean water in this vicinity, one had to go up to the upper reaches of the Rothbart River.
Being a long distance, it was very arduous work. While everyone avoided the nurse's gaze, only she raised her hand.
[Odette] "I will draw it."
The nurses, having seen Odette's dedication over the past few days, now looked at her with awe-filled eyes, as if looking at a saint.
[Nurse] "Lady Odette is taking on the hard work again. It won't be easy; thank you so much."
The nurse who was currently moved was the person most hostile on the day Odette first arrived.
Suspecting, "With what ulterior motive are you doing such bizarre actions?"
[Nurse] "I am ashamed that I misunderstood the Young Lady's sincerity at first."
However, Odette had not volunteered for the noble reason they thought.
[Reputation increases by 2.]
[Reputation: 102]
She only volunteered because her reputation increased if she did tasks others avoided.
Just in time, there was something I wanted to do while avoiding others' eyes.
There was no one at the river's lower reaches when she arrived, carrying a heavy wooden bucket. It was due to the foul smell reeking from the contaminated river.
Checking her surroundings, she put down the wooden bucket beside her and shouted inwardly.
Inventory. Take out the report into my hand.
Then, about 10 pages of paper appeared in her hand.
It was Mueller's report, secretly delivered by Gisella a few hours ago.
Since there were many eyes in the hospital, it was difficult to read. She intended to check it at this opportunity.
The gist of the long and detailed report was as follows:
Those who met the girl with pink hair, other than my wife, on Athena Island, do not exist. However, I found a few people who met that girl in the capital.
Everyone who met her said that the girl was maliciously spreading rumors about Lady Odette. Since I have found the people who met her directly, I will investigate a little further.
Maliciously spreading rumors about me? Without even meeting me, for what reason?
Even after reading to the end of the report, she couldn't understand. She furrowed her brow.
It was then. With a flutter sound, a single sheet of paper roughly inserted between the report pages fell to the ground.
⌈P.S. I am writing here what my wife recalled hearing just before losing consciousness. Thinking it would be a clue to catch the culprit later, she said she tried to memorize it as perfectly as possible.
It seems to be a foreign language, but I searched all the languages of the continent and couldn't find a match.
I am noting the pronunciation exactly as my wife remembers it.
Below that, the Barzeha alphabets were listed. It was a sentence that didn't form meaning in the Barzeha language.⌋
I can see why he separated it.
A sentence that didn't make sense in Barzeha or any foreign language of the continent.
Since it was information with unknown meaning, Mueller judged it unreportable, but it seemed his wife pressured him to include it separately.
If the meaning is unknown, then even if I check it, it has no meaning—
It was the moment she tried to ignore the paper.
Why?
She felt a familiar sensation from the arrangement of those letters. Therefore, she slowly mimicked the pronunciation with her mouth.
[Odette] "What... the hell... are you doing... going around,"
The moment she stuttered out the meaningless words, goosebumps ran down her spine.
Because it was a language she knew. More precisely, a language that Han Suwan knew.
[Odette] "Sick... sick of it... Suwan... unni..."
At that moment, she felt as if her mind had stopped.
[Odette] "Suwan unni."
In Han Suwan's life, there was no one to call a friend, and people worth calling acquaintances could be counted on one hand.
So there is only one person who would call Suwan "unni." Han Songyi.
It was the moment she froze at the unexpected shock.
[Unknown] "Wake up, Odette."
A voice as brilliant as sunlight rang in her mind. With the sensation of that voice resonating deep in her soul, her vision turned white, and her body went stiff.
Odette collapsed onto the ground with a thud.
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