“So this is all you do in a crisis that threatens your family business—begging for sympathy? You’re willing to crawl like a dog to achieve your goals. It suits your common bloodline well.”

Sybel felt like he had been struck on the head.

When he first discovered evidence of counterfeit chips circulating, Sybel’s first action was to silence his staff.

If news about counterfeit chips spread, the casino would lose credibility, and people would rush to exchange their chips for cash immediately.

The problem was that amid such chaos, if someone brought counterfeit chips, the casino would have no way to distinguish them.

That’s why he had tried to ban Belinda, who was circulating the most chips, to buy time until they found a way to distinguish between fake and real chips.

‘What? Are you saying Belinda is behind all this?’

Sybel’s face, which had gone blank from the shock, gradually contorted.

He finally realized that winning large sums through gambling and exchanging chips with nobles were all Belinda’s tactics to naturally circulate counterfeit chips.

“You, you madwoman! This could bankrupt the family! How dare you do this while bearing the Blanche name!”

“I think you’re misunderstanding something—I couldn’t care less what happens to this family. The Blanche name means nothing to me.”

Belinda looked down at Sybel with a face devoid of any trace of amusement.

“Sybel, I’ve thought long and hard about your advice not to show weakness. I wondered if garbage like you, who even killed your own father, could truly value anything. It turns out there is one thing. Something that a worm like you would kneel to protect.”

“…Shut up.”

“To think this Blanche family means so much to you—aren’t you failing to recognize your place? People should know their limits.”

“I said shut up!”

Sybel lunged at her with bulging veins in his neck, looking ready to strangle her.

But he couldn’t touch even a strand of Belinda’s hair.

“Argh!”

A crow that sprang from Belinda’s shadow lunged at him, appearing ready to peck out his eyes.

Sybel collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily and glaring at Belinda with menacing eyes.

But for the first time, Belinda saw fear in those eyes. A thrilling satisfaction spread across her face in a smile.

Belinda stood up and declared, almost like a prophecy.

“Sybel, from now on, I’m going to take away everything you hold dear. One by one. Just like you once did to me.”

“….”

“So let’s enjoy this game until one of us dies.”

With those final words, Belinda turned her back on him and walked away, leaving herself defenseless, but Sybel didn’t dare even think of attacking her.

***

Through the carriage window, the brilliant lights of Red House slowly receded into the distance.

I only fully leaned back against the carriage seat after the casino had completely disappeared from view.

‘Finally, it’s over.’

Forging chips, ordering a whole new set of dresses in styles I’d never normally wear to disguise myself as Adelia Blanche, pouring money into buying Sugar’s blessings, and then…

“So the job ends today?”

Jerry’s fee was more expensive than I expected, too…

I glanced at the small-framed man sitting beside Terry and nodded.

Jerry, a lieutenant in the Rats who specialized in disguises, had demonstrated truly remarkable transformation skills.

One day he was a noble lady from the countryside who, unaware of Belinda’s reputation, fearlessly asked me to teach her card games. Another day he was an old man who had squandered his entire fortune at the casino and exchanged chips with me, begging for luck.

From lowering people’s guard against Belinda to creating the chip exchange culture—this plan wouldn’t have succeeded without Jerry.

“Here’s the rest of your payment.”

I settled the remaining fee on the spot.

Jerry casually took one gold coin and bit it to test its authenticity.

“Looks like real gold to me.”

Ah, that oddly irritating way of speaking.

I looked back and forth between Terry and Jerry, who appeared to have nothing in common, and blurted out.

“You said you were siblings—now that I look at you, I can see the resemblance.”

“What? How do I resemble this mad dog in any way? I have a mouse-like face, not a dog’s!”

“That’s right, Master! I have a puppy face, and that one has a pure rat face!”

“What? Why does it sound like an insult when you say something that’s actually true, sister?”

The two immediately started bickering.

I smirked at what looked like an ordinary conversation between siblings.

I suppose pulling each other’s hair and fighting like that is what normal siblings do.

“Really now, just because we’re in front of the Master, you think you can take the opportunity to be snarky?”

“Yeah, that’s right. I know you’re just putting on an act in front of the client, so I deliberately provoked you. You only realized that now?”

“You? YOU? This is unbelievable! You need a good beating to come to your senses!”

“Aack!”

Well… perhaps?

***

“Mary, how is Sybel these days?”

At my words, Mary’s busy hands paused momentarily.

“I don’t know much. He’s been so busy lately that he hasn’t even returned to the mansion.”

Yes, that makes sense.

‘He must know that the simplest solution with the least damage would be to recall all chips and completely redesign them.’

Knowing that, he must lack the resolve to proceed with it.

Hope that there couldn’t possibly be counterfeit chips identical to the real ones must be blinding him.

What I had counterfeited were only the golden chips.

The chips of Red House, especially the golden chips worth 1,000 gold, were crafted so meticulously that no proper counterfeits had emerged in the past 100 years.

They even bore invisible magical seals that couldn’t be detected by ordinary methods, so being confident they couldn’t be counterfeited wasn’t a careless judgment at all.

Sybel’s efforts to distinguish between counterfeits and real chips wouldn’t have been in vain—if only the counterfeiter hadn’t been someone who had once “received education as the legitimate heir of the Blanche family.”

‘Belinda’s memories about how to forge chips and what the hidden magical seals looked like were a huge help.’

Without that, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of counterfeiting chips.

“Master, you said you were going out, but are you really going dressed like that?”

Just as I finished getting ready and was about to leave the mansion.

At Terry’s words, I looked down at myself.

“You’ve been wearing only black dresses lately. It’s not that they don’t suit you, but… they look like mourning clothes. I don’t think they’ll give a good impression to whoever you’re meeting.”

“They are mourning clothes.”

“Pardon?”

Instead of explaining in detail to a surprised Terry, I adjusted the fit of the black dress I’d been wearing consistently except when visiting the casino.

“I have someone to commemorate.”

Terry probably wouldn’t know—no one in this world would—that the person I was mourning was none other than Belinda.

Until this revenge is complete and I claim the crown of the Blanche family, I won’t take off these mourning clothes that honor her.

Leaving a puzzled Terry behind, I went out with Sir Penadel as my escort for the first time in a while.

Shortly after the carriage departed, I noticed that Penadel was different from usual.

Sitting across from me, he consistently avoided meeting my eyes and kept staring out the window, giving me a strange sense of déjà vu.

‘I think he avoided me like this once before.’

I abruptly spoke to him as he stubbornly kept looking out the window.

“Sir Cherry, why don’t you take off your mask now that your face has been revealed?”

“…I would prefer if you called me Penadel.”

“Alright, Sir Cherry. So why not remove your mask when we’re alone?”

Despite my words, Penadel still refused to meet my eyes or remove his mask.

“Should I take it off for you?”

Out of sheer stubbornness, just as I was reaching out carefully to remove his mask, like that rainy day on the terrace.

“My heart rate is abnormally elevated and feels like it might burst, so please don’t touch me without warning.”

“…?”

What is he talking about?

“My lord, do you have a chronic illness?”

“That’s not it…”

“No?”

“I, I’m just shy…”

“….”

“….”

“My lord, are you aware that you have absolutely no talent for lying?”

“…I’ve been coming to that realization lately.”

Penadel sighed in what seemed like extreme fatigue as he agreed.

I know he’s a rigid person who hesitates to remove his mask due to adherence to protocol, but there was one thing I wanted to tell him.

“Sir Penadel, there seems to be something you don’t know.”

“Yes, please enlighten me.”

“I quite like Sir Cherry’s face.”

“…!”

Though I couldn’t see his expression behind the mask, one thing was clear.

My single comment had completely broken him.

A handsome man who doesn’t know he’s handsome—this was rare and tempting to tease, but I decided to stop there for now.

Through the carriage window, a small but old mansion came into view.

It was the Lechel family mansion, our destination for today.