Starlit night, castle corridor.
A large group of soldiers and knights held shields and hurriedly advanced with Eileen protected in the middle. Whenever they encountered people, whether it was patrolling soldiers or castle maids, they all rushed forward to quickly subdue the other party.
"Miss Eileen! What are you doing?" someone screamed.
Without answering, Eileen just strode forward.
In the distance, they could already hear music and laughter.
With a "clang," the soldier at the front directly slammed open the door.
In the castle hall, the music and laughter abruptly stopped, and the guests froze one by one.
Sitting in the main seat, holding a cup of wine, the bald, bearded Count Caspar, dressed in a black dress, stopped his hand in mid-air and maintained a smile on his face.
"Dear Uncle Caspar, long time no see." Eileen greeted him with a smile.
"It's Eileen. Hahaha, I was just looking for you." Caspar gestured to the left and right: "You all go out first, I want to chat with my niece Eileen."
The guests put down their wine glasses and stood up one by one, and the attendants orderly retreated.
Eileen turned her head and whispered to Horus, "You guys go out too."
"Okay."
Soon, the door slammed shut. The once crowded and messy hall was now only Eileen and Count Caspar.
The two stood far apart, separated by more than ten meters.
==========================
There are two dice cups, each cup has two dice. Two people roll the dice to compare the dice number size, and then others place bets.
It's a very simple form of gambling.
For an undead who knows thousands of kinds of magic and can sense the surrounding without relying on their eyes, it's just too easy.
Gray squeezed into the crowd of people, slapping silver coins on the table one after another, winning one after another. Gradually, all the money on the table came to him.
"Is there gambling in the underworld?" the black cat whispered.
"The underworld doesn't gamble. Demons and undead hate any form of uncertainty. Of course, they don't mind winning steadily. Unfortunately, there are no humans in the underworld."
"Then how did you learn to gamble?"
"I just learned it. They were arguing very loudly, and I sat there and listened clearly, so I quickly learned it."
"You can hear all that?"
"Of course, Lich have no vision or hearing. They actually use magic to sense things. The range depends entirely on the strength of the magic."
"Well, I think you're pretty smart sometimes. But I advise you not to win too much, it will attract too much attention."
When the black cat said this, it seemed to be too late. Because most of the money on the gambling table was already in Gray's hands.
Suddenly, the whole tavern became quiet, even the music stopped, and everyone gathered around here. Even the red-haired mercenary, Pas, was included. One by one, they widened their eyes curiously at Gray.
Gray held a handful of silver coins and looked at them.
One of the dice rollers squeezed out of the crowd with his remaining money, leaving a seat empty. The red-bearded bald man left behind made a "please" gesture towards Gray, inviting him to sit down and gamble directly.
The look in his eyes was obviously not friendly.
Gray continued to stand still, as if nothing had happened.
The bald red-bearded man made the gesture again.
A group of obviously bald red-bearded men, who were probably his henchmen, had surrounded Gray.
Of course, Gray, who was fearless, didn't seem to understand what a threat was, and remained motionless.
The henchmen next to him probably couldn't stand it anymore and directly dragged Gray down to the seat.
"What do they mean?"
"They want you to gamble directly. You've won too much."
"Is there a rule that says you can't win too much?"
"There's no rule, but... how do I explain it to you? Anyway, I suggest you start losing now."
"Why? Why should I give back the money I won?"
"You can keep winning if you want, but if you want to fight them later..."
"I think I can take them on." Gray said confidently.
In fact, in the eyes of the Lich, anyone who didn't understand magic was weak.
The black cat sighed helplessly.
The bald red-bearded man on the other side stood up, stepped on the chair, deftly picked up the dice and cup, took a deep breath and shook them vigorously. Finally, he slammed the cup heavily on the table.
"A bundle of ten silver coins, it's your turn!"
Gray didn't say anything, he covered the dice with the cup and shook it lightly twice before letting go.
Others placed their bets, mostly on the opposite side. Gray only had three silver coins, one of which was from the red-haired mercenary, Pas.
"Roll!" The red-bearded bald man uncovered the cup. "Ten points! Hahaha!"
The customers who bet on him winning immediately cheered.
Gray also uncovered his cup, revealing eleven points.
Suddenly, the tavern fell silent.
"Again!"
...
"Roll!"
The red-bearded bald man got six points, and Gray got eight points.
...
"Roll!"
The red-bearded bald man got seven points, and Gray got eleven points.
...
"Roll!"
The red-bearded bald man got eight points, and Gray got twelve points.
The game couldn't continue, as everyone was only betting on Gray to win, which meant there was no betting odds. The onlookers could only watch for entertainment.
Redbeard wiped his forehead vigourously, continuously wiping and twitching at the corner of his eyes. This was because he only had eleven silver coins left, while there were no less than 700 silver coins on Gray's table, piled up in a full stack.
The bartender squeezed over and whispered a few words in Redbeard's ear. After hesitating for a while, Redbeard snorted and took his remaining eleven silver coins and left with his seven or eight henchmen.
The boo-ing break out in the tavern, making Redbeard flush with anger.
The gambling game ended, and the onlookers scattered. Only Gray was left sitting there silently.
"Okay, now you can get ready to fight. Your opponent is at least twenty strong men. Are you sure you can win without revealing your identity?" The black cat sneered and taunted in the armor.
Pas seemed to want to say something to Gray, hesitated for a moment, and then turned and walked away. He took the small bag of silver coins he won back to his position and said a few words to his people.
The music started again, and the joy continued. However, the atmosphere could not go back. Everyone in the tavern was intentionally or unintentionally looking at Gray.
...
Taking a deep breath, Eileen looked up and smiled, saying, "Your attendants said you were busy, but I didn't expect you to be holding a banquet. What are you celebrating? Why didn't you tell Eileen, so Eileen could be happy with you?"
"Just some... small things." Casper laughed and propped up the table, saying drunkenly, "What's up? Why did you come to me?"
"Wasn't it Uncle Casper who wrote a letter asking me to come over? We urgently need your help, Uncle."
"Oh, right. I did write a letter asking you to come over, haha." Casper suddenly realized, "I remember now. I asked you to come over to tell you to give up the fight. You can't win, so take a step back."
"Take a step back? You specially asked me to come over just to tell me this?" Eileen widened her eyes.
"If I didn't ask you to come, would you have listened to me?" Casper laughed heartily. "You're too young. Even if your father's will states that you are the rightful heir, what can you do without an army? Whether the will is true or false, it's still up to the king. Your brother..."
"He's not my brother!" Eileen's face darkened, and her voice rose eight degrees.
"Okay, your father, Duke Bechel's illegitimate child." Casper shrugged.
"I'll say it again, he's not my father's illegitimate child. My father never mentioned anything about having an illegitimate child when he was alive!"
"Well... then I don't know what to call him." Casper smiled helplessly, shaking his head. "But you have to understand that if the king says he's your father's illegitimate child, then he is. I have already discussed with His Majesty, and the title of Duke will be inherited by him, while you can continue to hold the property inherited from your mother. However, you must marry my son and completely give up the Bechel surname."
Eileen looked quietly at Count Casper, gritting her teeth.
"How about this? Isn't this condition great? You can still hold onto a certain amount of property, without the fear of losing your life, and you don't have to take up arms. Your subordinates also don't need to shed blood for this. This idea is simply too great."
Lowering her head, Eileen took a deep breath and said, "You promised my father that after he passed away, you would continue to be loyal to me."
"I'm sorry, what I said was loyalty to the Bechel family, and you're not yet the Bechel Duke."
With a "clang," the large door behind them opened again.
Turning around, Eileen saw her soldiers rushing in, holding shields around her. Soon, more soldiers from Count Caspar's men flooded into the hall, surrounding Eileen and her knights.
The not-so-large hall was instantly filled with armored soldiers.
Rising slowly, Count Caspar smiled and said, "My dear niece, I'm doing this for your own good. With this ragtag group, you'll never succeed."
"You look down on them?"
"That's not what I mean, hahaha, of course, it might be."
"Then are you willing to let your men compete with mine?" Eileen asked.
...
Carrying a large bag of silver coins, Gray had just left the tavern. Before he could even mount his bone horse tied outside, a group of ragged thugs had surrounded him.
"See, I told you they would cause trouble." Black Cat said lazily, "What are you going to do now? Will you reveal your identity as a witch and use magic? Maybe a bunch of knights will rush out of the church soon, and the scene will be spectacular."
At the forefront was the red-bearded bald man who had just gambled with Gray. Holding a knife, he viciously said, "I don't care who you are, or whether you cheated or not, leave the money you won and get lost! This is your last chance!"