In the following three rounds, every time Adek was one card short of going out, Isabella switched to defense and never discarded the card he needed.
She’s pretty remarkable, Adek noted to himself.
Still, everything was within Adek’s expectations. Isabella’s insistence on the betaori strategy was further proof she’d completely fallen for his trap. The odds of staying safe seemed high at first glance, but she’d die if she only played defense. Since she kept following that same strategy without thinking, when he finished her off with a direct hit, he’d be able to rock her world and throw her into complete despair.
He’d already begun preparations to make his plan a reality.
Heh heh, here it is.
Currently, it was his fifth turn and he held five cards in his hand. However, he’d intentionally kept one meld in his hand and was already one card away from going out. He was waiting for either the eight or queen of diamonds, so he used telepathy magic to relay that information to his teammate. The troll discarded the eight of diamonds, making this game over. Next, all Adek needed to do was pick it up, form a meld, and place down both melds, making him the winner. If he did that, Isabella—who hadn’t discarded a single card—would be guaranteed to perish.
Yet, he chose not to do that.
I’ve set a near perfect stage for her to discard the card I need.
On his next turn, Adek drew and discarded a card. From Isabella and Alicia’s perspective, it would look like he was either far from going out, or that the queen of diamonds was a safe discard. He expected Isabella would have guessed he was waiting for the eight or queen of diamonds, or thereabouts. Thanks to his plan, her reading of his hand should’ve been reset. In truth, if he was really waiting for those cards, he’d have already won.
With all of that in mind, what would Isabella do if she drew the queen of diamonds, a card with a high score that was hard for her to use because she’d already discarded its surrounding cards? The sensible move would be to discard it because it was a relatively safe card. A person like her, trying to hold on for dear life, would no doubt make that move.
Go ahead, draw the queen of diamonds, then dive right into the irrational trap you so rationally built for yourself.
On Isabella’s turn, she drew a card, then discarded...the king of diamonds.
That was so close, just one rank above it. That was fine for Adek. By discarding the king of diamonds, the queen would be even more isolated in Isabella’s hand. This only increased the chances of her getting rid of the queen when she did draw it. Come on, come on, come on! Hurry up, draw that card, then show me your face filled with despair! That’s my favorite thing in the world!
“Phew, is this the last card?” Adek said as he drew the last card from the deck. To his disappointment, Isabella never discarded the queen of diamonds, probably because she never drew it in the first place. That had always been a possibility. His good fortune was far from flawless.
Either way, I have plenty of chances. I haven’t lost a single point yet, since Isabella is caught in the trap of defending herself. With her points as low as they were, if Adek succeeded at even one of his attempts, Isabella would meet her miserable demise. With that in mind, he discarded the king of spades he’d just drawn.
“I was waiting for that.”
Adek almost recoiled at the dignified voice echoing through the darkness. It was none other than Isabella Stuart.
“I saw through you the moment we met, Adek. You’re a sadist from the bottom of your heart, a worthless piece of garbage whose sole reason for living is watching the suffering of others. I knew that if I never showed any fear, no matter what, you’d aim for a direct hit. Even if you had to avoid going out, you’d wait so you could crush me. To you, it’s not victory unless you surpass me, smash my pride, and watch me suffer. It’s only natural you’d be controlled by your desires,” Isabella explained. “As a result, I could take my time building the hand I needed to kill you.”
Isabella then revealed her full hand of seven cards; she hadn’t formed a single meld this round. Her cards were the queens of diamonds, hearts, and clubs, as well as the nine, ten, jack, and queen of spades. The two cards she’d been waiting for were the eight or king of spades.
“This is a rummy and a direct hit. Go on, show us your cards, Black Star,” Isabella said with a stately, even expression.
✦ ✦ ✦
Th-That was incredible. Mistress Isabella never fails to impress, Alicia thought, her confidence in Isabella burning anew. She’d heard the strategy through telepathy magic, but Isabella really pulled it off spectacularly.
Adek stared at Isabella’s cards in silence, a stark contrast from his earlier talkative self. “I...see. It was all deliberate,” he said as he raised his eyes to look at Isabella.
“That’s right. I played like a coward with a misunderstanding of probability, until my points were low enough that a direct hit would finish me off. I used your overconfidence to give myself enough time to form a lethal hand. After all, you went as far as to hold yourself back from going out when you could,” Isabella said with a smirk. “Now, come on, show your hand.”
“Oh, yes. I have to get to that,” Adek said as he opened his cards on the table. He had the fives of all four suits, as well as the nine, ten, and jack of diamonds, for a total of 49 points. Since this was both a direct hit and a rummy, the points were increased ninefold to a final result of 441.
Adek: 59 Points
Isabella: 20 Points
While Isabella hadn’t killed Adek in one hit, she’d dropped his points low enough for his death to become a distinct possibility.
And that’s not all, Alicia thought.
What was even more impressive was the fact that Isabella had used the queen of diamonds—one of the cards Adek had needed to go out—for her victory. In other words, she’d also realized which cards Adek had been waiting for.
My mistress is a truly outrageous individual. Alicia couldn’t help but shudder.
“It’s your turn to get a taste of pain.” As Isabella said that, the monster acting as Adek’s chair began to move. The game really was impartial.
“Graarrrgh!” Adek screamed in agony as the monster consumed more than half his body in one fell swoop. He’d lost more than 400 points in a single round. The pain was on a level far above what words could describe. Even the face of a shenmo like him warped from the excruciating torment.
“Haah... Well, well, well... I must say, you got me, Queen,” Adek said, both of his hands on the table as he tried to catch his breath. “You’re certainly talented at reading people. And your mental resolve! To completely trust in a reading that will result in your death if you’re even slightly off, that takes nerves of steel—no, orichalcum.”
“In the royal court’s power struggle, I’ve experienced many situations where an incorrect judgment call would end with my death sentence,” Isabella replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “The sour, the sweet, and the bitter betrayals—I’m here now because I drank deeply of all of them. I’m far past being afraid to stake my life on my own insight.”