I Became the Daughter of a Disgraced Duke - Chapter 37

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 36
Cassian laid down each card with meticulous care, one after another.
He knew well enough: he had no talent for this.
‘This’ meant card games, gambling, thinking hard—all of it rolled into one.
Still, he’d accepted the game because he had barely a Gold left, and he couldn’t back out now without looking like a coward who’d talked a big game in front of his daughter just to slink away.
‘I won’t fall for it twice.’
Cassian honed his senses sharp as a blade, drawing them taut.
Instantly, all his perception—sight, hearing, and instinct alike—sharpened to several times their normal edge.
He’d felt this kind of tension on the battlefield, but really, living itself was war.
‘If I lose, I’ll have to crawl into Zenobion’s place.’
His nephew would adore him, dote on him like a princess, but at best Cassian would end up a penniless wreck of a slave.
Surely his brother wouldn’t actually try to kill his only sibling… well. He’d try. But Cassian was certain he could endure it.
It was with that resolve that he was playing the game with fierce concentration.
Iris, sitting alone with no toy to keep her occupied, began to whimper.
“Dad. Why Halli Galli instead of something else? I like Halli Galli better. I could play that too, you know.”
“That’s… too dangerous. Dad’s too strong—I might break these gentlemen’s hands.”
“But Dad. I’m hungry.”
“Right, right! Innkeeper! One fried chicken here!”
Cassian called out in his characteristic booming voice, even as his legs trembled beneath the table.
Each time one of them played a card, his insides burned. His mouth had gone completely dry.
So he drank alcohol like water and breathed out rough, ragged sighs.
‘The answer is… this!’
He calculated all the possibilities and played his card, but the next man countered with a trump he hadn’t foreseen.
His mind went white. He knew what this felt like—he’d lost cash and even a manor to card games before.
Only a handful of rounds left.
Within three or four more cards, they’d take his last Gold.
‘What’s going wrong? I didn’t sense any Hand Technique from them.’
So it was a problem with his mind, then.
They said if the body was good, the head had less work to do.
Which meant this time, if he just tried a little Hand Technique himself…
His turn was coming up soon, and he was about to slip and swap his cards when—
“Whoa!”
The seasoned fried chicken flew through the air and landed in the center of the table, right on the cards.
Iris had tried to stab the freshly brought chicken with her fork, but her hand slipped and sent it flying.
“Hey! You, brat! Get out of the way!”
“Ehehe!”
“Damn it, watch your kid while we’re playing.”
There were few things in the world that Cassian Calliso could not tolerate.
One was anyone mocking his daughter. Another was anyone mistreating her. The last was anyone mocking or mistreating her right in front of him.
Cassian took the knife that had been set out for Iris and drove it straight into the center of the table.
The cheap blade penetrated the wooden table like clay, lodging itself deep and fast.
“Focus on the game. You’re not focusing, which is why my daughter made a little mistake, and that’s why you’re spouting that nonsense.”
Golden eyes glinted with a glimpse of past glory.
It was the raw, brutal aura that only a hunter could possess—one who had mastered battlefields, who had hunted monsters like common fowl, who had made rivers of blood from the wicked.
He looked like a man who would take a life without the slightest twinge of guilt or second thought.
The gamblers instinctively shrank back from that keen, weighty edge—the particular sharpness of someone desensitized to the value of life, someone deeply familiar with death.
One man, his nerve broken and his courage withered, felt all strength drain from his hand.
A single card fluttered and fell to the center of the table.
Since it was his turn coming up next, the three-man scheme to corner Cassian stumbled for just a moment.
When Cassian’s turn came, his eyes flashed as he snatched up the card that the man had carelessly played.
With that, his life was extended a little longer.
“Dad. Are you winning?”
Instead of answering, Cassian tore the meat apart with a fresh knife so Iris could eat it easily.
When someone’s cigarette smoke made Iris cough, wracking and harsh, he flicked a coin at the man and shouted.
“Hey! Don’t you see there’s a child here?!”
“The one who brought a kid into a place like this is the problem, not the one smoking!”
The man who’d taken the coin to the back of his head grumbled and grudgingly stubbed out his cigarette.
Meanwhile the round came back around, and it was Cassian’s turn again.
As Cassian was about to play a card, Iris, munching on meat beside him, asked softly.
“Dad. Can’t I play this one? I like the red hearts, and it’s a seven too. I feel like something really good’s going to happen.”
Somehow, the girl who loved Shara-la and pink had exposed the card her father meant to keep hidden.
He covered her mouth too late—the damage was already done.
With tears welling in his eyes, he revealed the card everyone now knew about.
But for some reason, it threw everyone into confusion.
An unexpected hand had come up, and his carefully laid plan had unraveled.
‘Oh.’
Cassian’s eyebrows shot up.
Meanwhile, Iris—full from her meal and having set down her fork—whimpered as she leaned against Cassian’s arm.
“Daddy. When does the game end? I’m bored. I wanna sleep.”
“Just a little longer, okay?”
“Can’t we go home now?”
“A tiny bit more. Come on, be good for me. My darling girl.”
“Daaaddy.”
When she made it clear through her whole body that she’d throw a proper tantrum if he didn’t finish soon, Cassian tried to placate her with candy.
He didn’t realize it was bitter candy—the kind no child would enjoy.
After tasting the bitter candy, Iris was properly furious.
So Cassian tossed her a Silver Coin and told her to go buy herself a drink from the Tavern owner.
‘Ah. One of these two cards is the answer.’
If he played the wrong one, the players after him would rake in the pot; if he played the right one, they’d all lose consecutively and he’d claim victory.
Cassian was groaning through his deliberation when—
“Let’s go! Daddy, let’s go hooome!”
Instead of buying a drink, an even more irritated Iris arbitrarily played one of his cards.
“No!”
Cassian let out a cry of despair.
“Wait, that’s not—”
The next player’s eyes went wide with shock.
“Well. How did this even happen?”
The next player tried desperately to salvage the situation with their cards, but failed completely.
“…I lost.”
The last player gave up and folded.
Then it was Cassian’s turn again.
“This one!”
Cassian laid down his final card and completed the game.
Cute, adorable, and helping her father win his make-or-break hand, no less.
Delighted, Cassian scooped up his daughter and kissed the top of her head like a madman.
Iris, understanding nothing, tilted her head in confusion.
Cassian hoisted the child higher and showed her off to everyone at the table.
“See? Our victory fairy! Ha-ha! With our daughter here, I win every game!”
Cassian, riding high, swept all the Gold Coins from the table into a bag.
With this much money, he’d be able to pay off all his debts.
As he was thinking he should buy Fried Chicken for the girl on the way home, Iris asked him something.
“Daddy. Are you a bad person? When money comes up in games, is it something you gotta do? Like… that thing?”
Clank. Cassian’s hand froze mid-sweep into the bag.
Was my child a genius? She already knew about that? Should he be looking into advanced education programs?
All manner of thoughts flashed through his mind. He denied it with exaggeration.
“What? No? Your daddy could never be such a bad person.”
“But you said grown-ups who make or lose money from games are bad.”
“Who told you that?”
“My older uncle.”
That… that useless bastard of a brother! Teaching the girl such nonsense.
Strictly speaking, knowing gambling was wrong was important common sense, but the timing was terrible.
The house had a notice of debt on it, and he’d just won an astronomical sum through gambling—of all times.
‘The debt is 460 million Gold.’
Without selling his Peerage, earning that much money at once would be nearly impossible.
Somewhere in the Empire he supposedly held a Territory, but he had no idea where, and it would take at least several months to pay the debt through the Territory’s income.
His heart screamed at him to pocket the money immediately, but meeting the child’s eyes, his mind went blank white.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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