Chapter 562: Turning the Tables
"Too impatient..."
Loren watched everything unfold from behind, shaking his head.
Violetta's goal was never to win money. It was to force Castio into cheating, so she could use the demon card to kill him.
The best play would have been to gamble slowly, exude confidence, and put psychological pressure on Castio.
Now, the situation had reversed. It was Castio applying psychological pressure to Violetta.
Loren looked at the demon card in his hand. When the bet was made, Violetta had already handed the demon card to Loren.
No matter what, she had no intention of continuing to live.
The dice cup opened. Violetta lost again. Over a thousand gold coins were gone.
Now, Violetta had just over three thousand gold left. She could only make one final bet.
In the end, she steeled herself and pushed all her chips in. She wanted to use this method to put psychological pressure on Castio.
But her plan still failed. This time, Castio remained calm as ever, shaking the dice unhurriedly.
The dice cup opened, revealing two, four, and five. Exactly eleven points.
"What a shame. So close. Do you have any chips left?"
Castio asked calmly, but Violetta couldn't hear anything anymore.
She kept trembling. Her lips were already bitten bloody. Fresh blood dripped onto her white dress, already stained with bloodstains.
Suddenly, Violetta lifted her head:
"Castio! I want to play the roulette wheel of death with you!"
Her eyes were filled with despair and rage. This was her last-ditch struggle.
The demon card could never be wrong. No one could escape the Observer's eyes.
Since Castio wasn't dead right now, it could only mean one thing: he really hadn't cheated.
Violetta hadn't expected this. Neither had Loren.
"Is he really that confident in his luck? Even with the possibility of losing twenty thousand gold, he didn't cheat..."
Suddenly, Loren had an absurd thought:
"Could it be... Castio really doesn't cheat?"
Just as Loren was thinking, Castio rejected Violetta's request.
"Gamble with me for your life? On what basis?"
His smile was full of contempt as he looked down at Violetta from above:
"I just won five thousand gold, and you have nothing. On what basis do you gamble your life with me? Our lives simply aren't equal."
"You—"
Violetta suddenly charged at Castio, but the moment she reached out her hand, her hand fell to the ground. The seventh-tier mage beside Castio had acted.
Seeing this, the smile on Castio's face grew even brighter.
He didn't want people's lives. He was just savoring their despair.
Not giving Violetta a chance right now was what would make her most despairing.
Violetta stared at the blood continuously flowing from her wrist, her expression numb. It wasn't until Loren poured a bottle of healing potion into her mouth, stopping the blood from her wrist, that she reacted.
This healing potion wasn't as effective as the ones Loren made himself, causing Violetta to lose quite a bit more blood.
"Can anyone lend me some money? I have a chance to turn things around."
Loren stood up and started borrowing money from everyone around, but not a single gambler was willing to lend.
"Where did all the money you won last time go? Did you give it all to this woman? What deep feelings you two must share..."
Hearing Castio's contemptuous words, Loren yawned:
"I used it for skipping stones. Got a problem? Gold coins feel way better than rocks when you skip them across the water."
Castio chuckled, not paying much attention to Loren's words.
"Alright. Lend me some money. I'll pay you back double later."
Loren reached out toward Castio, giving him an opportunity.
"I refuse. Just as you said before, gambling addicts never end well. Not lending you money is for your own good."
Castio's words were dripping with sarcasm, but Loren didn't take it to heart:
"So, you're afraid of me? Because you can't figure out how I'm cheating."
"..."
Castio fell silent. Though his expression didn't change much, Loren could sense the emotions inside him.
He was indeed wary of Loren. Even when he was gambling with Violetta just now, he was also afraid of Loren. But even so, he still didn't cheat.
"Forget it. I still have twenty coppers here."
With that, Loren fished two copper coins out of his pants pocket and exchanged them for chips.
"The minimum bet is ten coppers. So, betting twenty coppers should be fine, right?"
"Of course."
Castio placed the dice back under the cup and didn't refuse Loren, but he couldn't help feeling nervous.
"All on ten points."
Just like before, Loren put all his chips on ten points.
The bet this time was very small, but the crowd of gamblers still watched the game with great interest.
Earlier, Violetta had so much money, so they wanted to see her lose.
Now that Loren had so little money, they wanted to see how he would win.
After skillfully shaking the dice cup, Castio revealed the numbers.
Two, four, four. Ten points. Castio's smile froze.
He tried his best to maintain his composure as he pushed the chips to Loren and started a new round of gambling.
Loren placed the original twenty coppers, along with the one silver and sixty coppers he had just won, all on ten points.
Sure enough, this time the numbers were still ten points. Loren's chips doubled again.
"Keep going."
Sixteen silver were placed on ten points. Loren continued betting.
It wasn't much money, but Castio still couldn't help sweating uncontrollably.
Loren's other hand was holding Veronica's. He wasn't very comfortable cheating in this kind of gambling game, so he had just used the simplest and most brutal method: having Veronica use her Arcane Ability to alter the dice numbers.
The environment Veronica created could deceive not only sight but also touch and other senses, so Loren wasn't afraid of Castio discovering anything.
Castio used all his effort to stay calm. This time, when he shook the dice, he employed a special technique. Such a subtle movement didn't escape Loren's eyes, but Loren felt it didn't matter.
He was controlling the numbers, but Veronica was directly overwriting the numbers. No matter what he rolled, Veronica would change it anyway.
It was like the difference between Sima Yi and Xiao Qiao in some thriving online game.
So, after all Castio's efforts, he still rolled ten points.
"Why is this..."
He started to doubt his life. The dice had been in his hands the whole time, yet the numbers were controlled by Loren.
In the blink of an eye, Loren's chips reached ten gold and five silver.
Next was thirteen gold, then a hundred gold... until finally around ten thousand gold...
There were so many chips that the gambling table couldn't hold them all.
The situation had turned in an instant. Loren's twenty coppers had become ten thousand gold. By now, Castio was numb. His gaze was dazed, unwilling to accept reality.
So much so that the mage behind him was ready to strike at Loren at any moment. The other gamblers also sensed that the atmosphere had turned hostile and quickly cleared out.
This was no longer just about gambling. With this much money, plenty of people could die silently. They didn't want any part of it.
"Castio. With this much money, Violetta should be qualified to gamble her life with you, right?"
Loren helped Violetta up and shoved the demon card back into her remaining hand.