Chapter 57
“There is no such thing as a 100% guarantee in gambling. How can you use such logic…!”
“That’s strange. You should know what my Ability is, right?”
The fact that I had become the second adopted child of the Papiope Duchy had not yet been made public.
However, every servant in the Papiope Duchy knew of my existence.
Only then did his eyes tremble, as if he had just recalled that my Ability was Precognition.
Lena, ignoring whatever he had to say, asked me.
“Young Lady, what shall we do?”
I glanced over the betting slip she had brought and said,
“Place a trifecta bet on numbers 1, 2, and 3 in that order.”
“Understood!”
There are many ways to bet on horse racing.
There is the win bet, the most basic method where you win if the horse you choose comes in first.
There is the quinella, where you choose two horses and win if they both finish in the top two, regardless of order.
Among them, a trifecta is a method where you must correctly predict the horses that finish in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place out of 12 horses in the exact order…
It is the most difficult type of bet to win in horse racing, but it offers a correspondingly high payout.
At my absurd bet, Lucian’s servant widened his eyes as if he had misheard me.
“...What did you say? You’re just throwing your money away like that?”
“Yeah. Do you have a problem with that?”
“I certainly do! The horses you’ve chosen aren’t even close to winning; they’re bottom-tier horses. And you’re not even joking, you’re betting on them in that specific order…!”
I pulled up one corner of my mouth in a crooked smirk.
“You, you were just telling the Young Master not to get corrupted by gambling because it’s a bad thing, yet you seem to know quite a lot about it?”
“Th-that is…”
It was then.
Someone carefully tugged at my sleeve. It was Lucian, his expression even more anxious than before.
“Tania, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but…”
The moment I heard the first sentence, I realized he didn’t trust me at all.
In this world, there are three major excuses people use to cushion the blow before contradicting someone.
1. Don’t take this the wrong way, but.
Interpretation: I am about to say something that will offend you.
2. I don’t mean to be nosy, but.
Interpretation: I am being nosy, so get the hint.
3. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but.
Interpretation: I absolutely cannot trust you, so stop right now.
According to my interpretation, what Lucian was about to say next was…
“The horses you picked, their past records are truly miserable, so are you sure about this? Did you really see the future correctly?”
Bingo.
I yawned nonchalantly and replied.
“Yeah. I’ve confirmed for sure which horse takes which place.”
“Really…?”
“Oppa, my Ability is Precognition, so why do you keep doubting me?”
“But it’s strange that horses that are always at the bottom would take 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in a row. And in numerical order, too.”
“Isn’t it even better if they’re horses with miserable records?”
“...Why?”
“Because the payout is high.”
The payout for the trifecta in this race, which I had learned from the future, was approximately 864.3 times the stake.
It meant that even if I put in just 1 gold, it would balloon into 864 gold.
It was truly a sum that could turn one’s life around.
Considering that 3 gold is what a commoner earns after working for an entire month, it was an astronomical figure.
In fact, the Dignity Maintenance Allowance I received for the month was only enough for one month’s worth of living.
The fortunate thing was that, thanks to having a wealthy mother, my allowance was higher than that of other noble children.
Other noble children my age seemed to receive about 50 silver to 3 gold.
Of course, that was just an average, so depending on their circumstances, some children might receive nothing at all, while others might receive several times that amount.
Fortunately, my Dignity Maintenance Allowance was a whopping 10 gold.
If I put this amount into a trifecta bet and succeeded?
I clicked my tongue with a cynical expression. It’s no wonder I find it easy to make money.
Knowing the future was like this. It allowed one to navigate life far too easily.
I tapped Lucian on the back and spoke.
“Just watch. No matter how absurd something seems, it’s all just probability in the end.”
Having said that, I left the betting to Lena and entered the racetrack with Sir Aiden.
✦ ✦ ✦
As we went inside and took our seats, the coarse voices of gamblers reached my ears.
Most of it was rough conversation where the beginning and end of every sentence were punctuated with profanity.
Perhaps because that bothered him, Sir Aiden quietly covered my ears with both hands.
I slowly looked up to gaze at him.
Seeing his face upside down made me laugh for no reason, and I curled my lips into a smile.
“Even if you cover them, I can still hear everything.”
Then, Sir Aiden lowered his hands with a somewhat embarrassed expression and muttered in a low voice.
“...I came here because I had no choice, but as expected, this is not good for a child’s emotional development.”
“Geez, this is all just experience. It’s not good to raise someone like a flower in a greenhouse, you know?”
How many people have ruined their children by raising them like flowers in a greenhouse?
I had some skepticism about the idea of letting children only see and wear the best things.
However, Sir Aiden seemed to think differently.
“Tania, you… it’s about time you grew up in a greenhouse.”
“Haha, who grows wildflowers in a greenhouse?”
“Isn’t there one right here?”
He slowly stroked my hair with affection.
“There is no law saying wildflowers cannot be grown by human hands. In fact, if managed well, they can grow much healthier and more beautiful.”
I closed my eyes and quietly enjoyed him stroking my hair.
“Then, are you the gardener, Sir?”
“I wonder… perhaps I am more like a pesticide.”
“Pardon? Pesticide, all of a sudden?”
It was such a mood-killer that I wondered what he meant.
“Puhaha! Don’t tell me, as an escort knight, you’re comparing yourself to a pesticide because you want to protect me from pests?”
Sir Aiden gave a small nod, as if to say yes.
“Isn’t your self-assessment a bit too harsh, contrary to your ambition to raise me like a flower in a greenhouse?”
“That level is just right.”
“...Pesticide, huh. It’s essential to prevent damage from pests and diseases. But if you use too much, it becomes poison to the plant.”
Sir Aiden wouldn’t know.
That the biggest weakness for me is Sir Aiden himself.
“...You just have to control the dosage well.”
What a ridiculous thing to say.
Even in the previous timeline and this one, he had sacrificed his own life to raise me.
I deliberately shrugged my shoulders in an exaggerated manner and changed the subject.
“Still, since I’m focusing on talking to you, I can’t really hear the swearing.”
“An unexpected harvest.”
As I chatted about this and that with him, the rest of our party took their seats around me one by one.
However, the servant who had been with Lucian was nowhere to be seen.
I poked Lucian, who was sitting next to me, with my elbow.
“Did you place a bet too, Oppa?”
“No. I didn’t have any money, so I couldn’t.”
“Then why did you come so late?”
“My servant said he would go borrow money in a hurry, so I waited and then just came in first.”
“Oh dear.”
The moment you borrow money to gamble, you’ve crossed a river you can’t return from.
I tilted my head.
“Why didn’t you stop him?”
“...Oh. Should I have stopped him?”
Watching Lucian blink his eyes innocently, I raised my eyebrows as if to tell him to think about it.
“I mean, gambling during work hours is absurd, isn’t it?”
“Even if he’s betting for my sake?”
“He’s betting his own money, so why would he give the winnings to you?”
“Huh?”
“If he’s going to borrow money, he’s borrowing it under his own name, right? By what authority would he use your name to borrow money? Obviously, it’s his own money.”
Then Lucian said with a flustered face, as if he hadn’t thought of that.
“He knew my situation, so wouldn’t he be trying to help me?”
“Did he know your entire situation…?”
It meant that he knew everything yet left it alone without reporting it to the Duchess.
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