Adek: 14 Points
Isabella: 8 Points
The final round began. After coming this far, it was only natural for both players to think about their defense. If they saw their opponent doing well, they’d undoubtedly have their teammate get them with a direct hit to end the round, and they’d never discard a card if it looked like their opponent needed it. A single misstep would lead to certain death. The two of them would have to play their turns under all that pressure.
“Heh heh heh! Nice, I like this tension. I haven’t tasted anything like this in my ten thousand years. It’s simply delicious!” Adek said with a grin. “Just you and me, in the end. Who will prove to be the better player? Let’s settle this.” He directed a malicious and intense gaze toward Isabella.
Sharp as a knife, Isabella glared back. There was no hint of fear in her eyes. She was composed and focused on the game before her.
Good. I want no less from the best opponent I’ve faced in over ten thousand years, Adek thought with conviction. No other player had ever come close to measuring up to him. But that’s why I have to stack the deck against her with no room for error.
He chuckled to himself as he became lost in thought. For a brief moment, he glanced over at Alicia. Not at Isabella or even his teammate, but Alicia.
✦ ✦ ✦
Somehow, she managed to turn that hopeless situation into an almost equal one, Alicia thought as she looked at Isabella. She’s incredible, simply unparalleled.
It had always been like that.
✦ ✦ ✦
“You’re Alicia from the House of Haschwalth, right? Let’s be friends.”
Those were the words Isabella directed at Alicia as she reached out to her during their first meeting. Despite facing much harsher circumstances than Alicia, Isabella was bright, kind, and stunning. Unlike the present, Isabella had her vulnerabilities and careless moments, but she still shone with a radiance that attracted people to her. Someone like Alicia, who was timid and targeted by bullies despite her high social standing, could never be like Isabella. That was why Alicia thought she had to support Isabella, who had her flaws back then, as her close friend.
Alicia’s name happened to be a front-runner among the prospective marriage partners of the first prince that Isabella was in a loving relationship with. Alicia herself also had feelings for the handsome first prince. If she’d been chosen, she would have been on cloud nine. However, the prince chose Isabella. Though disappointed, Alicia thought it was only natural, completely unavoidable, in fact. She buried her feelings and decided to stand and fight alongside Isabella, even during the war with the demons.
Later on, after Isabella experienced betrayal and awakened as a monster of politics, she lost her earlier vulnerability and acquired everything in the kingdom with her fearsome intellect. Alicia struggled to keep up with Isabella after her sudden change. Nevertheless, she found that new side of her friend incredible. Alicia became certain that someone like her could never beat Isabella in anything, no matter what she tried.
It was around that time that something interesting occurred.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Adek.”
One night, after Alicia finished her duties and returned to her room, she found a demon waiting for her.
“H-How? With the demon lord’s gate gone, no demon should be able to exist here,” Alicia stuttered.
“True enough, miss. The demon lord’s gate didn’t just connect our two worlds. It also kept transported individuals on the other side—this side,” Adek said. With the gate’s closing, that power had disappeared and the demons could no longer remain in the human world. “Oh, but, my Ex-Skill has allowed me to turn many of this world’s inhabitants into my stand-ins, you see. It’s terribly draining keeping a shenmo like me here, so they burn up quite quickly, but they should last me another month or so.”
Alicia shuddered at that. Treating the lives of others like candles to burn through was a deplorable thought.
“So, what? Are you thinking of using me to replenish your stock?” Alicia placed her hand on an emergency alarm device. If she poured mana into that magicite, a loud ringing noise would echo throughout the entire castle. The demon before her was a shenmo. He wasn’t the kind of enemy she could hope to fight and defeat alone.
“No, I came here tonight to sign a contract with you,” Adek said. He smiled gently, to Alicia’s surprise.
“Wait, a contract?”
“Precisely. Wouldn’t you like to rise above your mistress, Isabella Stuart?”
“What?!”
“She’s been shaping up into the most delectable prey these past few years. I’d like to have her when she’s at her ripest.”
Adek made his proposal to Alicia. In about two decades, the demon army would invade the human world again. Adek planned to participate in the war and attack the Fourth Kingdom with Isabella as his target. He would play a game with her. During the final stages of that game, Alicia’s job would be to betray Isabella and help him finish her off.
“In exchange, you will be granted sovereignty of the Fourth Kingdom after it falls under the demon army’s control. I don’t have any particular desire for authority, you see. In other words, you’ll become queen.”
“I...could replace Mistress Isabella as queen?”
“As long as there’s consent from both parties, my skill can forge an unbreakable contract, even without the need for a game.” Adek’s handsome face wore a truly fiendish smile. “Let us sign the contract now, shall we?”
✦ ✦ ✦
That day, I made a deal with this man. Alicia drew a card from the deck and felt Adek glancing her way as she discarded her card. Let me pass along the information, Adek. My cards are... She then used telepathy magic to relay the message to Adek.
The game continued with both Isabella and Adek proceeding favorably. They both placed a meld on the table early on. On her fourth turn, Isabella added one of her cards to an existing meld and went down to three cards in hand, followed by Adek doing the same. Victory would be decided based on who could pick up a card to form a meld and then discard their last card.
I need the three of spades to go out, Isabella told Alicia via telepathy.
My apologies, but I don’t have that in hand yet.
Very well.
Alicia reviewed her cards during their conversation. The three of spades was most certainly among them, but she didn’t discard it.
Adek, whose turn was right before Alicia’s, drew a card, placed it in his hand, and discarded a different one. I have two jacks now. It’s time to fulfill your contract, miss, or rather, Queen, he told Alicia through magic.
Adek had held on to the jack of hearts, a high-point card that could result in his immediate demise, even though it should have been his first card to discard with that in mind. The reason was simple: Alicia had told him she had the nine and king of hearts, as well as the jack of spades. If he drew the ten or queen of hearts, and either of the two remaining jacks, he’d have her discard the appropriate card and pick it up for victory.
Alicia went stiff as she looked over her cards.
“Is something wrong?” Isabella asked, finding her behavior suspicious.
Adek let out a small chuckle. The contract he’d signed with Alicia specified that if she betrayed Isabella during the game and it led to her death, Alicia would be granted sovereignty of the Fourth Kingdom after it was taken over by the demon army. Which meant that, at the moment, Alicia also had the option of not betraying Isabella. She could instead discard the three of spades Isabella needed and help her go out.
Alicia once again turned her eyes to Isabella, her friend and mistress. Unlike Alicia, who showed clear signs of her age, Isabella was still as beautiful as ever. She was intelligent, a capable fighter, determined, and had taken ahold of absolute authority and fortune. Alicia was inferior to her in every single way, so she’d decided that her role was to support Isabella for the rest of her life. However, deep down, the truth was that she found Isabella unpleasant. She loathed losing each and every time. Even if it was just once, she wanted to stand above Isabella.
“Mistress Isabella.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Did you know that I was the leading candidate to be the first prince’s fiancée?”
Isabella stayed silent.
“I’m sorry, Isabella.” Alicia offered her apology while referring to Isabella just like she had back in their student days. She then discarded the jack of spades, the card Adek needed.
Alicia had sold her soul to the devil, all in order to discard the inferiority complex she’d carried inside her once and for all.