Ciel stared at the number and then at the chips next to him. It looked like a pathetic, modest stack compared to the towers rising from Bryan’s well.

Then he turned back at Thiago with a satisfied, magnanimous expression.

"How could you lend me just this much?!"

Eight hundred and eighty-eight thousand. Not even a clean million.

The triple eights were a traditional lucky number, which somehow made the insult worse.

Thiago hadn’t just been cheap, he had been cheap with flair.

But Thiago was already turning away from Ciel. His gaze fell on Neville’s chip well, where a modest stack of chips sat in neat formation.

"Can’t you learn from him?" Thiago jerked his chin at Neville. "Even Neville only withdrew a hundred thousand. A hundred thousand! Using someone else’s money!"

He rounded back on Ciel. "Can’t you be more sensible when spending other people’s money?!"

Ciel’s head whipped toward Neville with quiet accusation. The hundred-thousand-star-coin stack sat there, unremarkable but practical.

"That’s not how you play this game!" Ciel pointed at Neville.

Neville adjusted his glasses. "I’m pretty sure I know how to play the game."

"No, you don’t—" Ciel said, already out of his chair, leaning across the table’s surface.

He was reaching toward Neville’s chip conversion controls with the clear intention of correcting the wrong consumption rate.

But then a hand closed around his wrist, tight and firm.

Grayson’s grip on Ciel’s wrist wasn’t painful since there was no need for pain to make his point clear.

"Take your paws off our table," Grayson said, his eyes flat and unblinking, "and play your own game."

He looked at Neville and said, "We’ll add more if necessary."

"That’s not fair," Ciel said as he tried to take his hand back.

Behind him, Thiago’s hand landed on the back of Ciel’s collar, gripping the fabric. He pulled the leaning Ciel back to his seat.

"Learn to be content," Thiago said.

Bryan, who had been watching this spectacle, picked up a single chip and rolled it across his knuckles.

"If you’re brave," Bryan said mildly, "just play with your own money."

Ciel shut his mouth.

Soon, the final stacks of the chips were placed on the table.

Ciel had a neat tower of 888,888 star coins, even though he hated to see its uneven view.

Julius and Sarah each had their respective 500,000.

Bryan’s million-coin fortress was so obvious from the dealer’s station.

And then there was Neville’s modest hill of chips. One hundred thousand star coins. Making a huge dip in height compared to both ends of the table.

Bryan planted both palms on the felt and swept his gaze across his fellow players.

"Now that I’m looking at these stacks." He complained and jerked his chin toward the others. "Guys, you’re seriously embarrassing me. How could you all play under a million?"

Ciel’s lower lip jutted out immediately. He twisted in his seat and pointed at Bryan like a child tattling to a parent.

"Brother-in-law! You called me a high roller, but what about that one? He’s sitting there with a million like it’s nothing!"

Thiago didn’t even look up from the drink he just got from a robot server.

"If I let you play a million, what difference does that make? You’d blow through it in four hands and come crying back for more."

"I would not—"

"You would. And you did. I know. We know."

Ciel opened his mouth. Closed it. Turned back around with tattered dignity and pink cheeks.

Meanwhile, Grayson leaned close to Neville’s ear. His warm breath stirred the fine hairs on Neville’s nape

Grayson whispered to him, "Are you really fine with just a hundred thousand?"

Neville didn’t turn his head. His fingers rested lightly on his chip stack, clinking the discs in an idle motion that created crisp sounds.

"If I can’t bankrupt Lilianna with just a hundred thousand, do you think I could do it with a hundred more?"

Grayson’s silver eyes flickered. "There’s no harm in adding more funds."

"There’s no need." Neville’s tone was flat; the gears on his head were already turning.

Of course, there’s no need.

While the others had been busily talking nonsense to each other, Neville had been subtly doing something.

He had been watching Lilianna shuffle.

Not just any watching—really watching.

Every time his gaze would subtly turn, he would secretly share half of his attention in observing Lilianna.

The way her wrists snapped through a riffle shuffle. The way her thumbs released the cards. Soon, he realized that each motion carried intention.

No sooner than he realized that, something strange happened.

When Neville narrowed his focus—when he concentrated—her movements began to slow down.

Not literally, of course.

At least in his eyes it was.

He didn’t know if it was because of his mermaid inherent skills or because of some hidden ability that was given to him by the system.

But still, the results were surprising.

When he locked onto her fingers, the speed of her shuffle decelerated in his perception like a playback set to half-speed.

He could track individual cards.

He could count their positions.

He could see the sequence.

A shiver of exhilaration threaded through his veins, sharp and electric. He tamped it down immediately.

No one could know.

At least, not yet.

If I just focus... I can track the redistribution after every cut. Even if the machine shuffles between rounds, as long as she handles the shoe and the deal, I can read the flow.

He wasn’t naive enough to think he would win every hand. Card counting, backed by whatever this ability was, was still operated on probability, not certainty.

But over the course of a session?

The house edge would surely diminish by the second, and Neville intended to grind it into nothing.

A small, involuntary smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.

Grayson saw it. It was the same expression that had preceded the dismantling of power play in the company, the same quiet confidence that had driven the Black Ocean Project to victory.

Grayson rested his hand on the back of Neville’s chair to let the other concentrate on the game more.

At the end of the day, it was still Neville’s game. It was his time to shine.