The quiet stillness was broken as the door opened roughly. William, the room’s owner, frowned as he looked at the intruder disturbing his rest time.

The man, seemingly having run here, spoke while gasping for breath. His words were so interspersed with panting that each syllable was swallowed by his breaths.

“Table… 3… roulette… 500 gold… 35 times bet… succeeded… they say.”

Although there were gaps in between, the meaning of what he wanted to say was clearly conveyed.

“…What?”

The expression of William, a Count and the casino operator who had been looking at the servant with a displeased face, distorted in an instant.

“…Didn’t I tell you to thoroughly check whether they were mages or not before letting them into the casino?”

“Well, there was no problem during the inspection. Moreover, they say she used a blank check from Duke Celestine.”

Why did that name have to come up here of all places?

The Count, who already had many suspicious dealings, wanted to avoid getting entangled with Celestine if possible.

‘Could it be an inspection? No, if so, they wouldn’t have flashed a blank check with his name on it so obviously.’

William, unable to easily gauge the Duke’s intentions, fell into thought for a moment. He had been pondering long when familiar footsteps cut through his reverie, giving him a sense of déjà vu.

The footsteps chaotically cutting through the corridor headed straight for his room, and just like the previous person, rudely opened the door.

The Count, who was considering firing both servants at once as he looked at the other servant, frowned as he looked at the man who had just entered the room.

“What is it now?”

“Well, about that young lady from earlier… They say she just succeeded in another 500 gold bet…”

“…What?”

William stood up abruptly from his chair in disbelief.

“You damn fools, did you properly put magic on the roulette? How can she succeed in betting not once, but twice?”

“We-we’re sorry. The dealers say they don’t understand the reason either…”

Even if someone from Celestine had come for an inspection, this didn’t make sense.

Magic was cast on the numbers with the highest betting amounts to intentionally prevent the ball from stopping there. To ignore this and succeed in maximum bets twice?

Either the magic cast by the mages was garbage, or the young lady had used some trick. And William suspected the latter.

‘I should check what kind of woman she is first.’

William headed towards the roulette table with his servants to see the young lady they had mentioned. There sat a woman with a familiar appearance, holding her head in her hands.

Beige hair, green eyes. Although her face was covered with a mask, if she was related to Celestine, it narrowed down the possibilities immediately.

It was undoubtedly Ravenne Rischefeld, the Duke’s fiancée who was the talk of the town.

A smile spread across William’s face as he confirmed this.

‘If I play this right, I might be able to blackmail the Duke with this.’

“Guide the young lady to the VIP room. Investigate thoroughly whether she’s using magic or if she possesses any artifacts.”

The two men beside him bowed their heads as they heard the order.

Since the payout was too large to receive in chips, the dealer gave me one gold-colored chip with the casino logo on it.

He explained that if I took the chip to the exchange counter, they would exchange it for the appropriate amount of money.

“If I exchange it for money, what happens to the blank check?”

“In that case, we’ll destroy the blank check and return the difference to you.”

“Can I take the chips with me and come back to exchange them later?”

“Chips cannot be taken outside the casino. Please understand.”

As I listened to the dealer’s kind explanation, I looked at the two gold chips and the 50 or so chips on my table.

Should I just scatter them here? It seems like I could get rid of them in an instant.

“Mister, would you like to have a chip?”

I asked, looking at the man next to me who had been giving unsolicited advice.

He gleefully snatched the million-point chip and neatly tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket, then patted his pocket a couple of times.

“Wow, see? You win money when you follow my advice. I’ve been coming here for a long time, but I’ve never seen someone as generous and bold as you, Miss. I’m telling you, you’re going to make it big!”

Compliments poured out like from a vending machine just for handing over one chip. Of course, except for the fact that there wasn’t a single thing I could agree with from start to finish.

I nodded mechanically, agreeing halfheartedly with his opinion.

“I can’t just take this for free. As a token of gratitude, I’ll give you this.”

Saying that, the man took out a black card from the br*ast pocket where he had put the chip.

“What’s that?”

When I asked, the man brought his face close to my ear and whispered as if afraid someone might hear.

“It’s an invitation to a secret auction. Only a very select few among the nobles can receive this. You seem to have plenty of wealth and don’t hesitate to spend money, so I thought you might like this kind of thing.”

“……”

Secret auction, it was a familiar term somewhere. Could it be the auction house where the saintess was caught after escaping from the imperial palace in the original story?

I don’t want it! I have no intention of getting entangled with the original story!

“N-no, thanks.”

“Come on, just take it. They say there are many handsome non-human men that young ladies like.”

“…Non-human?”

When I asked out of curiosity, the man grinned and said,

“Yeah, handsome elves or muscular werewolves.”

There are elves and werewolves in this world too? I’m getting a bit curious… No, what am I thinking right now?

While my last remaining conscience was screaming that this wasn’t right, the man finally pressed the invitation into my hand.

Well, since he’s insisting this much, should I at least pretend to accept it?

Torn between conscience and desire, I ended up absentmindedly putting the invitation in my bag. Right. It’s not polite to ignore an adult’s goodwill either. Ahem, ahem.

After that, I continued to distribute chips one by one to the people around me, but before long, I was stopped by the dealer. He said I was causing a disturbance and should stop.

Thanks to that, my dilemma only deepened. Should I exchange the chips and go back, or should I find a table with higher stakes and squander all the money?

As I was sitting at the table, drinking a beverage and pondering, two burly men stopped in front of me.

“Miss, would you mind accompanying our staff for a moment?”

“Me?”

They seemed to be the casino’s security guards.

“Yes. We’ll escort you to the VIP room.”

“Why there?”

“Count Gardner, the owner of the casino, has instructed us to escort you to the VIP room.”

What’s this? Have they already found out that I’m Celestine’s fiancée? Well, I did use a blank check with the Duke’s name on it, so a report might have gone up.

Geez, inviting me to the VIP room just to see a celebrity’s face. Being famous is tiring.

“…Do I get anything if I go?”

When I asked primly as if I had caught celebrity disease, the two men asked back with incredulous expressions.

“Pardon?”

“I mean, do you offer expensive alcohol or something?”

“O-of course.”

The man hesitated for a moment, then nodded with a gentle smile.

Seeing that I was hesitating, Lily tugged at my clothes.

“Miss… Let’s go back now. You’ve already won money.”

“It’s fine. I’ll just have one drink and come back.”

Reassuring the worried Lily, I followed behind the men.

As we were about to enter the VIP room, the two men stopped Lily.

“We’re sorry, but he wants to see the young lady alone.”

“Can’t be helped. Lily, have a drink or something outside.”

“But…”

Lily looked at me with a worried expression. Probably most of that worry was about whether I would cause any trouble.

“I won’t cause any trouble.”

To ease her worry a bit, I said that while patting her shoulder a couple of times, but Lily gave me a doubtful look.

“Really.”

Lily reluctantly nodded, saying she understood.

The VIP room was certainly splendid enough to deserve the term VIP.

On the right side of the room was a gambling table made of marble, and on the left were luxurious sofas and small tables.

The shelves were lined with various high-end liquors, making it feel like a personal casino in one room.

However, the Count, whom I thought would be waiting, was not there.

“The Count isn’t here?”

“We apologize, but please cooperate with our staff for a moment.”

“What?”

As he said that, one of them held my shoulder to prevent me from moving while the other swept a long stick around my body. It was like a scene from an airport security check. Why?

“There’s no mana reaction.”

When the scan was over, the man holding my shoulder released me.

“We’re sorry, but we’d like you to remove all the accessories you’re wearing.”

This isn’t even a real airport security check!

“What do you think you’re doing? Do you know who I am?”

The men flinched when I shouted in displeasure. As expected, dropping names serves as the best shield.

But although they flinched, they showed no signs of backing down.

“Let me at least hear the reason. Why do I have to go through this?”

“We received a report that you entered the casino wearing an artifact.”

Who made such a report? And an artifact? There’s no way I would have such a thing!

I frowned and removed everything from my mask to my earrings, rings, and bracelets. Come to think of it, I was still wearing this cheap bracelet.

After I irritably placed all the accessories on the table, the two men began to inspect them.

The device that looked like a magic tool remained quiet until it suddenly started beeping in front of the old bracelet.

And the two men looked at each other with happy expressions as if they had made some great discovery.

What is it? Tell me too! Are you saying this is an artifact now?

“We’ll report to the Count and come back.”

One of them excitedly rushed out, while the other remained in the room to keep an eye on me.

Looking at the situation, it seems it really is an artifact, but I was completely baffled and couldn’t understand what was going on.

It seemed I needed a few more puzzle pieces to complete the story.