I Picked Up the Trash Others Threw Away - Chapter 17.2

Chapter 17.2

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Of course, Trish never contacted me or sent a letter asking to meet with me first. I didn’t contact him either, as there was no need to monitor his every move and everything that happened.

After a week like that, the rumors about our relationship, which had been heating up in the social world, began to quiet down as well.

The wedding date had deliberately not been announced yet, so the people were still keeping an eye on us, but it was a relief that the commotion had quieted down a bit.

In the meantime, I was given some dresses by Mr. Wellington, Baroness Delphonie’s lover.

It was three or four dresses that he brought in while trading abroad, and although they differed from the fashionable designs these days, they were all pretty charming outfits. Though they were the so-called sexy type of dresses that were quite different from the ones I usually wore.

‘I hope my identity won’t be discovered in the casino.’

Then, like always, I contacted Trish first. Fortunately, he didn’t ignore my contact this time.

He came to the mansion late in the evening and looked around it without hiding his troubled expression.

“I wonder when this ceiling will collapse.”

“So is my whole family going to live in the Malekiah mansions?”

“That would be terrible, so I take back what I just said.”

Trish took a sip of the tea the kitchen maid had poured for him, then slowly sighed and put down the teacup.

He scoffed as he explicitly scanned my outfit, which looked a little different than usual.

“You seem to be trying to change your overall atmosphere, but it doesn’t suit you. It’s better to just dress innocently.”

“I didn’t dress like this to please you. My mother gave it to me.”

“The Baroness’ tastes are very sophisticated.”

Even his attitude of naturally returning criticism as a compliment was sly.

I let out a small snort and told him why I had called him to this shabby place.

“I’ll be brief. How about we hit it big at the casino?”

“Where on earth did you learn to speak in such an unladylike manner?”

“Are you curious about that now? Why don’t you think about how to hit it big?”

“I was going to tell you that it’s useless even with the dice play you told me about last time. Aristocrats are different from alcoholics in the back alleys.”

Who wouldn’t know that? I shrugged instead of answering.

“That’s why you need help. You know how the casino flows, and I know a new game.”

“… Another game besides that? Even quite a few magnates would be interested if you asked them if they wanted to make big money. Do you have any other good ideas?”

“What if it’s a new type of card game from the East?”

I set the cards that Mr. Wellington had gotten me with much difficulty down on the table.

In the familiar words we knew, it was called a ‘hwatu’ deck. It was used to play Go-Stop, a game where you made money during the holidays.

Since it was a cultural product from the East, I wondered if it existed in this world. Fortunately, I was able to get something similar even though it wasn’t exactly the same. It would have been difficult to find if not for Mr. Wellington, who worked in trading.

Trish’s eyes shone when he looked at the hwatu deck he had never seen before. The quite luxurious-looking cards with the shape of a flower painted in red attracted his attention.

“Do the elites in the East play with this?”

“That’s right. It’s a different concept from playing Trump, and the rules are definitely different.”

“It might be interesting, but if the rules are too complicated, it’s difficult to gather people.”

“Don’t worry. The rules are as simple as matching the pictures. We can play it just the two of us, so would you like to try it?”

Trish looked a little uncomfortable but nodded as if he was interested in a new game.

We weren’t betting money anyway, so I explained the easiest game we could play with a hwatu deck, ‘Min-Hwatu’. Using all the cards you have, you take out the cards with the matching pictures, add the points of the cards, and the person with the most points wins.

Perhaps because he enjoyed playing card games, Trish immediately understood my explanation.

“What do you think, is it worth it?”

“It’s easy because you only need to understand the composition of the cards themselves. But people with money are fussy, so if you clumsily use tricks like hiding a card or something, be prepared to have your wrist cut off.”

“My body is precious, so I don’t want to commit such a scam. Instead, wouldn’t it be fine if I acted as the dealer and let the game turn in your favor?”

“You’re going to be the dealer? You?”

Trish looked at me in surprise at the unexpected comment.