Far East Maritime Province Special Tourism Zone Development Project (3) ****
"I won't cheat. I stake my honor on it."
Mikhail said with a smile that could have been either mocking or sincere, and spread a worn deck of cards on the table.
He began to shuffle the cards skillfully.
Chwareureureuk—
As if the cards were living creatures, they mixed smoothly in his hands before coming together as one.
Josefina watched the scene without a word.
"Now, the rules are simple. The one closer to twenty-one wins. If you go over, you lose. If you win, you get back what you bet, plus the same amount."
Mikhail explained the rules leisurely.
"I'm the dealer. I have to hit if my hand's total is 16 or less, and stay if it's 17 or more. However, if I have an ace and it's 17, a soft 17, I get one more card."
Mikhail placed a clean sheet of paper and a pen in front of Josefina.
It was a scoreboard to record her points.
"Since it's working hours, it's a bit much to bet money, so let's do it with points. Starting score is 100 points."
"Understood, Your Highness."
Josefina answered mechanically and picked up the pen.
Her posture was still impeccable.
The game began.
First round, Josefina hit on 14, got 24, and lost.
-10 points.
Second round, she stood on 12, but Mikhail made 20 and she lost again.
-10 points.
The third round was the same.
-10 points.
She didn't frown, nor did she show any disappointment.
She just silently recorded her score on the paper.
Like a machine inputting data.
And from the fourth round, the flow began to change.
"Hit."
Josefina said curtly.
Mikhail dealt her one card.
Her hand was 19.
"Stand."
Mikhail's hand was 18.
It was Josefina's first win.
+10 points.
After that, a strange thing happened.
Josefina started winning consecutively.
Situations where she would narrowly hit 21, or Mikhail's hand would go over 21 and bust, were repeated.
"Well now, you're pretty good."
Mikhail's eyes shone with interest.
He was losing, but he didn't seem displeased at all.
Rather, he looked delighted, like a child who had found a very interesting spectacle.
"Don't you have a knack for this? Huh?"
"No."
Josefina shook her head.
Her voice was still dry.
"Card games are ultimately about probability. If you remember the cards that have already been played and calculate the expected value of the remaining cards, winning is not that difficult."
"Wow, you say it so boringly."
"However."
Josefina put down her pen and looked straight at Mikhail.
"This business, isn't it dangerous? If it can be seen through so easily even by someone like me who can only do a little calculation, to professional gamblers…."
"Aha, so that's what you were worried about?"
Mikhail clapped his hands.
He got up from his seat and headed to a cabinet on one side of the office.
Thump!
What he brought out was a small wooden box.
Inside the box were five more decks of cards with the same pattern.
"Alright, then how about this?"
Mikhail poured all six decks of cards onto the table.
And then, flailing both his arms, he began to shuffle the mountain of cards randomly.
It was a childish and joyful gesture, like a child building a sandcastle.
Chwaaaaaa—
The sound of hundreds of cards being shuffled filled the room.
Josefina's brow, for the first time, furrowed very faintly.
"Certainly, this would make the calculations much more complicated."
"Right? And it's no fun just playing the game."
Mikhail smiled playfully.
"I'll give you money equivalent to the points you've won. How about it? It's free money."
Josefina was silent for a moment.
Then, she simply nodded her head.
Mikhail smiled with satisfaction and sat down again.
"Alright, round 2 begins!"
The game started again.
Perhaps because money was on the line, Josefina became much more cautious than before.
But it was impossible to remember hundreds of cards.
Her win rate dropped noticeably.
She was gradually getting immersed in the game.
Her initial mechanical attitude disappeared, and every time she received a card, her blue eyes shone sharply.
Every time her score dropped, she would bite her lip without even realizing it.
Mikhail did not miss that change.
He cheered inwardly, waiting for the decisive moment.
And finally.
"It's pitiful to keep losing, so I'll add a special rule."
Mikhail put on an expression like that of a statue of the Virgin Mary in a cathedral.
"From now on, if you get a blackjack, you get 1.5 times your bet. And there's also split and double down."
He added several rules that were advantageous to the player.
"How about it, is it a bit more playable now?"
It was just as he said.
Josefina's win rate began to rise again.
Every time her score went up, the corners of her mouth would rise and fall very slightly, almost imperceptibly, without her even knowing.
But it was strange.
Her win rate had clearly increased, but for some reason, her score wasn't rising much, hovering in place or decreasing just a little.
Before she knew it, Josefina was completely absorbed in the game.
Her once-erect posture had crumbled, and her body was leaning more and more forward over the table.
"Haa."
Finally, the moment her score turned negative again.
A sharp voice burst from Josefina's mouth.
"Did you not use some kind of trick?"
Her shoulders were trembling with indignation.
She had realized that she had been made a fool of.
'She has a strong competitive spirit.'
"In the first place, where is it that you keep changing the rules of the game like this!"
"Those rules? They were all advantageous to the player."
Josefina, perhaps having nothing to say, closed her mouth.
Mikhail nonchalantly put down his cards.
"And I said I wouldn't cheat. I kept my promise. I staked the 'honor' of royalty on it. Want a taste of lèse-majesté?"
Josefina couldn't say anything.
He wasn't wrong.
"The casino I'm going to build is different from the gambling dens run by the back-alley gangster bastards."
"I will never use vulgar tricks like cheating. Just fiddling with the rules appropriately is enough."
Mikhail leaned back deeply in his chair and smiled with great satisfaction.
"We sell dreams, hopes, and fantasies. We make our dear customers very happily and willingly bet their money, and then lose it cleanly."
He chuckled.
"Even now, are you anxious about this business?"
Josefina, instead of answering, kept her mouth firmly shut.
Her expression was complicated, as if she were indignant, resentful, or had realized something.
"And from what I see."
Mikhail rested his chin on his hand and looked at Josefina as if he found her very amusing.
"Josefina, you are smart and have a strong competitive spirit, making you the perfect type to ruin yourself. So never gamble from now on."
Josefina realized that the hand she had placed on the cards was trembling slightly, without her knowledge.
She clenched her fist tightly.
The sensation of her fingernails digging into her palm seemed to calm her boiling insides.
She was furious.
Never once in her life had she been toyed with like this.
She had been ignored or given dirty work countless times for being of humble birth, for being young, and for being a woman.
But this was different.
This was being toyed with.
Her cheeks burned with humiliation.
"I...."
Josefina barely squeezed out her voice.
It was a cold, cracked voice.
"I was lacking. My words were presumptuous, Your Highness."
"Well, it happens. But it was fun, wasn't it? I had quite a bit of fun."
His voice was endlessly languid.
He seemed fully satisfied after finishing his amusement.
"...Yes, it was enjoyable."
Josefina answered, gritting her teeth.
Enjoyable, my ass.
"Then that's great. Since I won."
Mikhail chuckled.
"No, I am the dealer, so is there a win or lose? Anyway, just clean up the cards scattered around there. Isn't this better than going back to the office and looking at documents anyway?"
Mikhail picked up a butter cookie from the plate next to him and put it in his mouth.
A light sound was heard with a 'basak'.
Josefina, without a word, just lowered her head.
And silently, she began to pick up the cards scattered on the table, one by one.
One card.
And another.
Every time the cool touch of the paper reached her fingertips, her mind swirled with complicated thoughts.
'Good-for-nothing, drunkard, a hopeless piece of trash....'
The reputation of Mikhail she had heard in the capital.
Her fellow officials had openly mocked this development project, saying, 'His Highness the good-for-nothing Grand Duke is having another fit'.
'But.'
She had seen the alcohol named 'Mikhail' sweep the empire.
She had seen how just one type of alcohol could shake the landscape of high society, and even drive two noblewomen to their deaths.
Was that something a simple good-for-nothing could do?
Josefina picked up the last card.
'It was a gamble.'
Her volunteering for this abandoned land, the Far East Maritime Province, staking everything she had.
It was the biggest gamble of her life.
Promotion, and power.
She stood up, holding the neatly arranged deck of cards.
And she stood before Mikhail.
The anger and humiliation had already subsided coldly.
In their place, a different emotion had settled in.
It was satisfaction.
Satisfaction from winning the gamble of a lifetime.
"I have finished cleaning up, Your Highness."
"Right, good work."
Mikhail held out his hand, his eyes closed.
Josefina handed the deck of cards to his hand.
It was at that very moment.
"Ah, right."
Mikhail opened his eyes into slits.
He picked up a cookie from the plate next to him.
"Do you like sweets?"
He asked abruptly.
Mikhail didn't even wait for her answer and placed the cookie on her empty palm.
"It's a reward."
"…Thank you."
Josefina looked down at the pastry in her hand without a word.
The sweet buttery scent tickled the tip of her nose.
She bowed her head to show her respects and turned to leave the office.
Kkiiik—
Her hand, which had gripped the doorknob, paused for a moment.
Without looking back, she said softly.
"Contrary to Your Highness's words."
A faint hint of a smile was mixed in her voice.
"It seems I have quite a talent for gambling."
She paused for a moment, then added.
"Of course, I won't be doing it anymore."
"…Huh?"
Mikhail, who had been lying on the sofa, lifted his head with a puzzled expression.
Only then did Josefina slowly turn around.
A very faint and strange smile was on her lips.
It was the smile of a winner.
She bowed her head lightly once more and left the office without hesitation.
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