Chapter 235

“Wuuu…”

Kaneff took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The hand that moved towards the wooden tower gradually slowed down.

Everyone’s eyes turned to his hand, which had almost stopped.

The whole table was silent as if everyone had forgotten to breathe!

– TAP!

Kaneff opened his eyes and moved his hand at an invisible speed.

He moved his hands so fast that it left an afterimage.

-TAT TAT!

With great speed, he pulled out a block and placed it at the top of the wooden tower.

In an instant, the middle part became empty, creating an illusion that the upper part of the wooden column was floating in the air.

Although it was shaken by shock for a while, it regained its balance and firmly maintained its balance.

“Wow!”

“Hahaha, Did you see that Papa? The top of the tower floated?”

Speranza burst into admiration as if she had seen a strange stunt, and I stuttered with a little excitement.

“As expected, that was really great, Boss! Really great!!”

“This kind of thing… it’s a piece of cake.”

Alfred continued to repeat the words “great,” and Kaneff looked relaxed and flattered.

In contrast, Andras and Lia’s faces got distorted.

Next up was Andras.

He reached out his hand as calmly as Kaneff.

‘Maybe Andras will also..?’

Speranza and I, who saw Kaneff taking the block, which seemed close to a stunt, expected something amazing from Andras and waited for it.

But…

-THUD.

Contrary to our high expectations, the wooden tower collapsed as soon as Andras touched it.

Andras, who saw the disappointment on our faces said with a sulky look.

“Sihyeon, it’s not that I couldn’t do it, it’s just what Mr. Kaneff did was strange. There is no way one could do that without using Magic.”

I clearly understood what he meant.

To be honest, the wooden tower should have fallen during Kaneff’s turn, but he broke through the impossible with pure power and speed.

“We won, Boss!”

“Piece of cake.”

“Um…”

“Let’s try harder next time, Andras.”

Emotions of joy and sorrow filled the table as the first game came to an end.

“Speranza dear, did you have fun?”

“Un! It was fun, Papa.”

Although we came last in the first game, Speranza was smiling regardless of that.

It seemed like she was just happy that everyone got together and played like this.

“Now! Shall we start the next game?”

The second game was [One-Card].

In this game, the participants are given trump cards and the first player who plays all his or her cards out wins the game.

The rules are simple enough that Speranza learned them easily, but it was a game that requires careful consideration of the opponent’s cards and sensibility.

This time, we sat in a way so that each one was apart from their team members.

When all players have been dealt their hands, the game started in earnest.

At first, I put out an ordinary card while being self-conscious, but as the game progressed, I started to put down the attack cards.

As the game continued like that, a crisis happened in Alfred’s turn.

After a moment’s hesitation, he pulled the ‘Clover A’ card out of his hand. However, Speranza was next.

“Ah!”

“Speranza, do you have another A card or Joker card?”

“Um….”

“If you don’t have it, you have to take three cards from the deck.”

Speranza, who failed to defend, became depressed and took three cards from the deck.

Everyone looked at her with pitiful eyes.

I looked at Alfred, who pulled out the attack card with scornful eyes.

Alfred protested with a look of injustice.

‘It’s just a game.’

‘No matter how much it’s a game! You’re so mean.’

The funny thing was even Kaneff, who was on the same team, looked at Alfred with eyes full of contempt.

Thanks to everyone’s reaction, Alfred did not use an attack card after that, and naturally, Speranza’s card count decreased.

“One card!”

In the end, Speranza shouted One Card with the last card in her hand.

Speranza could finish first if she could discard the last card in her hand.

After everyone’s turn, finally it was Alfred’s turn.

Since he failed to attack properly due to Speranza, a lot of cards piled in his hands.

After thinking for a while, he put down a card with a look of determination.

The discarded card was “Spade A,” and once again everyone’s scornful eyes turned towards him for attacking Speranza.

However, Alfred turned away from everyone’s eyes as if he was really determined.

“Um… this is all I need to do, right?”

The last card in Speranza’s hand was the Joker Card with a colorful picture.

At the unexpected counter from the fox girl, not only Alfred, who gave the attack card, the rest, who gave a scornful look, were stunned.

“Did I win, Papa?”

“Um… Yes, Speranza is the first.”

“YAYYY!”

Speranza ran around, bursting with cheers of joy.

Speranza, who expressed her joy to her heart’s content, came to me and hugged me.

She looked up at me with her twinkling eyes, waving her fox tail. It was the look saying [Praise me because I got 1st place!]

I plimented the cute little fox girl with a pinch on the cheek.

Speranza pricked up her cute fox ears with a satisfied expression.

“Oh wait! If that’s the case, I had to take cards, right?”

Yeah, the game isn’t over yet.

Andras, who couldn’t defend Speranza’s Joker, took cards from the deck with a dark expression.

The game went on with attacks and defense.

“One card!”

Kaneff, who shouted one card, shook off all the cards and came second.

All that was left was me, Andras, Lia, and Alfred!

Andras was hit hard and had a lot of cards left, while Alfred had the fewest cards left.

This game had a condition that both team members had to finish the game to win, and at this rate, Kaneff and Alfred’s team would most likely win first place once again.

“All right, Elaine! Keep going like that, we’ll be in the first place and it will be our victory.”

Kaneff, who finished the game first, cheered for his team member.

Alfred tried to calm his excitement and concentrated on the game.

While the two were excited about the victory that was just around the corner, the most unfavorable-looking Andras began to move.

-Tap, tap.

‘Huh?’

From the side, Andras tapped my leg slightly.

When I turned my head, he opened his hand so that I could see his cards.

At first, I was puzzled, thinking [What are you doing?] but I could quickly grasp his intentions.

When I showed my cards, Andras quietly looked and nodded.

Andras was determined to let me finish the game first to stop Kaneff and Alfred from winning.

I had no reason to refuse.

I formed a tacit alliance with Andras and Lia’s team, and the game went on.

Andras took care of matching the shape and number of the cards to make it easier for me to play. Thanks to this, the number of cards in my hand decreased smoothly.

Alfred, on the other hand, could not easily reduce the number of cards due to Lia’s proper checks.

Kaneff, who felt something strange, said while alternating between Andras and me.

“Are you guys match-fixing right now?”

“Hmm, what do you mean match-fixing, Mr. Kaneff? Sihyeon is just lucky.”

“Hmm…”

Kaneff continued to look at us with eyes full of doubt.

But, despite his doubts, I cleared the last card and finished the game.

Both Speranza and I finished the game, so our team won first place in the second game.

“Speranza! We’re in the first place.”

“YAYYY! 1st place!”

I held both hands of Speranza and shared the joy.

“One card!”

Soon after, Lia ended her game by discarding her last card.

Now, it was just Alfred and Andras. The team that finishes the game first among the two, will e in second place.

The number of cards was much lower for Alfred, but the game did not end easily due to Andras’ strategy and luck.

Eventually, the gap between the two gradually narrowed, leading to a final battle.

“One card!”

“Ugh…”

Andras shouted [one card].

Alfred, who had no card to defend, passed the turn as it was, and the game ended as Andras discarded the last card.

Lia, who watched with a nervous expression, smiled broadly as soon as the game was over.

“Well done, Andras!”

“Haha, thankfully, I was lucky.”

Alfred lowered his head in front of Kaneff as if he felt ashamed, while Kaneff waved his hand as if saying he shouldn’t care about it.

“Elaine was really unlucky. He lost the game because he couldn’t throw away the last few cards.”

“It wasn’t bad luck.”

“What?”

Kaneff pointed at Andras while narrowing his eyes.

“I’m sure he knew exactly what card Elaine had”

“How?”

“What do you mean how? He remembered all the discarded cards and the remaining cards, and guessed it.”

“What? Is that even possible?”

“If it’s those Schnarpe guys they could do it.”

I looked at Andras with disbelief.

He opened his mouth with a shy smile.

“As Mr. Kaneff said, I predicted, by memorizing all the discarded and remaining cards, but I was able to actually win because I was lucky. If Elaine had drawn the card he needed at the end, I wouldn’t have been able to stop him.”

“……”

“It was quite fun. I think it’d be nice to cool off like this from time to time.”

No, Andras……One card is a simple game. It’s not a game where you cool off like that

Anyway, the second game [One-Card] came to an end with Andras’ brilliant performance.

Seeing the result of the first and second games, all three teams were tied with the same score.

“Ho ho? Since the third game is the last one. If we win that game, we’ll be the final winner, right?”

“In your dreams, Mr. Kaneff.”

As the results of the last game will determine the ranking of the three teams, everyone expressed their burning desire to win.

As the atmosphere gradually heated up, I brought out the last game I prepared.

“This is the last game.”