Unedited
Across the street from the bookstore was a somewhat open-air casino. Under an awning that covered the entire street, card and roulette tables were dotted around, and even in the middle of the day, the place was bustling with people.
What caught my eye were the machines lined up in the center. Three boxes with different pictures on each side were mounted on a metal rod. If you pay a certain amount of money and lower the handle on the left side, it will start spinning while a short piece of music plays and then stops. If the pictures on the front of the three boxes matched when it stopped, you were rewarded.
With bleary eyes, I snooped around the people pulling the handles and sat down on an empty chair. I thought it would be worth a try.
When I put a gold coin into the gold coin slot, the boxes started spinning. It was very fun to see the spectacular effects, like exploding mana bullets. A moment later, when the first box stopped, there was a leprechaun drawn on it. The next box was the same. But a siren jumped out of the last box. Waves rose from her fluttering tail.
After wiping the water droplets from the bridge of my nose, I took out a gold coin. The status window glowed, and the amount of money I have on hand decreased. Siren, Siren, and… Siren! The loud fanfare drew attention from all around. More water splashed on my face, but there were even more gold coins. After hurriedly picking up the gold coins that were pouring out, the number of coins in my possession changed. Several staff members wearing round hats gathered around and applauded. I was dazed.
“Congratulations! You won the second prize!”
“Second prize?”
“Three leprechauns would be the first prize.”
A dwarven employee placed a ladder on my machine and climbed up. I suddenly felt uplifted. If the second place prize is this good, what about the first place prize? I felt that I could at least understand Uncle Ruth now, who squandered his inheritance through gambling and lived as a nobleman in name only.
“It takes time to replenish the gold coins. Would you like to change seats?”
I firmly shook my head in response to the employee’s question. Now that Sirens have appeared, I was certain that leprechauns would also appear—
I should have remembered that I didn’t have any fond memories of leprechauns. Since that first stroke of luck, my machine has been quiet. I consciously ignored the status window that kept blinking.
At some point, [Possession: 178 gold] became [Possession: 6 gold]. At this rate, I wouldn’t be able to afford not only <The Adventures of Nivea: Historical Hotties of Milua> that Bree requested, but also <The Adventures of Nivea: Historical Not So Hotties of Milua – From Alexander Adams to Graham Howard>.
It was right to quit. I knew it in my head, but my heart got in the way. I searched through my bag of gold coins as if I were possessed by something.
“Oh my, Ariel! It’s been a while, girl!”
“Jodie?”
When I turned around at the sound of a familiar voice, I saw my cousin Jodie passing by with two maids on her tail. The skirt of her dress was so long that it almost swept the floor, and the gold coin hanging from it immediately caught my eye. ‘Finders keepers!’ As I excitedly shook the dust off the gold coin, Jodie grimaced in disgust.
“Please, Miss Dalton. You haven’t changed at all.”
“I am the same as always, Miss Greene. What brings you here?”
“I came to fit a dress. There’s an important banquet coming up soon.”
I had a hunch that her ‘important banquet’ was the Duke of Spencer family’s banquet.
“Are you going to participate in that too? The talent show?”
“Talent show? Please, it’s called a ‘charity showcase.’”
Jodie said smugly.
“Lord Spencer and Madam Spencer said they would select a woman suitable for the noble hero of Milua at this banquet. Of course, they didn’t use the word ‘selection’ directly, but you should know what an aristocratic way of speaking is.”
“Yeah, yeah. I read about it in the paper. They say you have to ‘prove your worth.’”
As I casually replied, I pulled the handle again. Goblin, goblin, and leprechaun. Without hesitation, I inserted another coin.
“The banquet is short. In that short period of time, more than a dozen girls will be working hard to ‘prove their worth.’ I’m going to recite a poem. As you know, I have a pretty good voice.”
“It’s perfect for a talent show.”
“’Charity showcase’. And you? If you’ve come all the way to the capital from your little hole in Sancreek, I imagine we’ll meet again at the banquet.”
“Me? I don’t know; I haven’t given it much thought.”
“You haven’t given it much thought? Someone I know even broke the Monster Protection Act and smuggled Arachne in here. She plans to present a tapestry directly embroidered by her with an Arachne to Lord Spencer.”
“How did the tapestry woven by Arachne turn into a tapestry she embroidered herself?”
“Isn’t that just how the world works? I mean, everyone’s sharpening their knives. This isn’t the time to gamble carelessly.”
“This is not gambling; this is life.”
“Gambling isn’t life, Ariel; life is gambling. If I can become a duchess, any bet is worth it.”
Jodie crossed her arms and criticized me, as if I were pathetic. I sensed a slight discomfort in her tone, so I stopped pulling on the handle and looked at Jodie. She had a cold attitude. Not like Jodie, who had a third child with Jaden Spencer in her imagination.
I saw the machine spinning loudly again. Gargoyle, Leprechaun, and Pixie. It was a complete disaster. As I was looking at the leprechaun making funny faces and teasing me, I suddenly realized that Jaden Spencer was a leprechaun to Jodie. Like most of the suitors who flock to the Spencer duchy.
If you think about it, Viscountess Greene, Jodie’s mother, was not even a quasi-baroness but a commoner. I quickly understand Jodie, who described marrying Jaden as ‘becoming a duchess.’
“Let me ask you one thing, Jodie. Have you fallen in love with Prince* Spencer?”
*(Dukes son and daughter are also often addressed as prince and princess.)
But what Jaden was looking for in the banquet hall was love.
“There was a time when I admired him. It was definitely when I was about sixteen.”
Now nineteen, Judith Greene, Viscount Greene’s infamous daughter, tapped the back of my neck with her fan and then walked away with her chin raised.
***
Jodie was right. It was no time to be gambling.
Even if Jaden had a girlfriend, there was no way to call off the banquet that was right around the corner. Rather, the rumor that an anonymous daughter of a viscount had stolen his heart only fueled the competitiveness among his suitors. Anyone attending the banquet would still be hoping to be the future Duchess Spencer. Confident that they will be able to fight against the weak and sickly anonymous young lady of a viscounty.
The current Duchess of Spencer, Madame Spencer, asked for my full understanding of such matters. Of course, as Jaden’s fake girlfriend, it was all irrelevant to me. The only thing I had been concerned with so far was my unruly self trying to break free. That was certainly the case, until I met Jodie.
“Jaden, I’ll do my best.”
I had to jump to get the words into Jaden’s ear. The untimely hopping threw off the rhythm and movement of our dance. His hand, which had been lightly touching just below my shoulder blades, slid to my waist. As Jaden jerked away as if he had been burned, the tune of the dance song we had missed shook the leaves of the flowers and trees.
I was confident that I was a decent person. I have never been proud of my dancing skills. I just thought that I could be perfectly fine without dancing. But with the entire capital paying attention to Jaden Spencer’s ‘girlfriend’, I couldn’t be fine without dancing. And not just dancing, but dancing well.
So Jaden had decided to carve out what little personal time he could find between his duties as heir to the dukedom and his duties as a knight in the Royal Knights of Milua to teach me again! It was an incredibly private lesson made possible thanks to the maze garden, densely planted with tall trees.
“Dance?”
Jaden asked, a hint of dread in his voice. Maybe it was because I had been bullied so hard by Bolton, but I was much less clumsy than I was at the Beginning Month Banquet. The tops of his feet were badly bruised, though, because there was a complete difference between the less clumsy and not clumsy at all.
Jaden Spencer, who was too kind-hearted to survive in this harsh world, nevertheless reassured me that my footwork was so light that he didn’t even feel anything, saying it was better for him to be stepped on by me than the other way around (when I told him that he might have congenital insensitivity to pain, that is why he couldn’t feel anything; he just smiled. But I made a big deal out of it and made him promise to see a physician).
“By the way.”
Whatever it was, my resolve wasn’t about dancing.
“The girlfriend selection contest.”
“Why?”
Jaden didn’t seem to mind that I was now referring to the Duke’s charity banquet as the “Jaden Spencer girlfriend contest.”. He had grown desensitized to my constant teasing, and I clicked my tongue in disappointment.
“If I act like your ‘girlfriend’ properly, they’ll shut up for a while.”
Judith Green was the most sincere to Jaden of anyone I know. In the letter she included with a photo of her boyfriend, she used more than half of the paper to describe the veins on Jaden’s forearms. But even to Jodie, the most important thing is Jaden’s last name. It occurred to me once again that you can’t really be sure of what other people are thinking.
At the same time, I wondered if that was reality. Like Elizabeth McCarthy and Darryl Cowan’s engagement. Jaden Spencer was too perfect as a groom to be judged based solely on his character.
However, Liz stubbornly followed her heart. I thought it would be a good idea for Jaden to do the same.
“I hope you find the love you want.”
Jaden laughed out loud at my dramatic statement. It was his pretty laugh that I liked.
I felt better and started taking steps randomly. My ballroom dance instructor, embarrassed, hurriedly approached me. I placed my hand in his large, warm grip and spun counterclockwise. As our arms got tangled, I realized that I should have spun clockwise.
You can now sponsor an extra chapter by buying me a Ko-fi! 2 Ko-fi= 1extra chapter.
