For some reason, Bryan, on the other side, heard it too.

His smirk widened. "If I lose, so do you." His eyes were looking directly at Ciel’s cards.

A ten and A jack.

It was also a twenty, the same as Bryan’s.

Bryan meant that if the dealer pulled a higher number, which was only twenty-one, they would both go down in flames together.

Ciel’s expression twisted. "I told you not to say things like that during a game!"

"Don’t be so sensitive, kid."

"I am not a—"

"Children," Thiago said mildly, placing one hand in the middle of the table as if to create a barrier between them. "Are you still going to play or continue to argue?"

Bryan shrugged with exaggerated innocence. Ciel clamped his mouth shut.

Neville thought as he saw their reaction, I’m surprised they didn’t argue about being called a child.

"Stand," Bryan said to Lilianna, smiling politely.

Lilianna nodded and turned her attention to the next player. "Sarah?"

Sarah peered at her cards, confident.

A nine and an ace.

Soft twenty—or hard ten, depending on how the wind blew. But Sarah wasn’t the type to overcomplicate things.

"Stand," she said brightly. "Twenty’s twenty."

"Sarah stands on twenty," Lilianna announced.

Then came Julius.

Julius stared at his cards with a grim expression, already planning for the worst while hoping for mediocrity.

A two and a three.

Five.

He would need a miracle, or at least a card that didn’t make things worse.

"Hit."

Lilianna dealt him a ten. The highest draw possible.

The total climbed to fifteen.

Julius’s jaw tightened.

Fifteen.

The dead zone.

Hit on fifteen and risk busting.

Stand on fifteen and pray the dealer busts.

He weighed the options for two seconds.

"Stand."

And then it was Neville’s turn.

The twin seven of hearts sat before him like a mirror.

Neville didn’t let himself think about that too hard and split the sevens.

The table murmured. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The first seven received their new partner.

An ace.

Neville’s expression didn’t change.

The second seven received their card.

Another ace.

Ciel slammed both palms on the table. "How lucky can you get?!"

Eighteen on both hands.

Neville just gave a small smile.

If I hadn’t taken those aces, Lilianna would have them. And if I still hit even though I already have a high card, it would be unnatural.

He stood on both hands.

"Ciel?" Lilianna prompted.

Ciel looked at his ten and jack.

Twenty.

"Stand," he said with a little residual frustration of watching Neville pull aces out of thin air because he didn’t have the guts to split his and test his luck.

The table fell quiet.

Lilianna’s fingers hovered over her face-down card. Every player leaned forward by a fraction, some consciously, some not.

Lilianna flipped the card.

Five.

Combined with the face-up seven of hearts, the dealer’s total sat at twelve.

A ripple went through the spectators.

Twelve was weak.

Twelve was practically an invitation to bust.

The players needed Lilianna to draw high—a face card, a ten, anything to push her past twenty-one and hand them all a win.

But then, Lilianna drew.

Ace.

Twelve plus one—thirteen, still weak.

"Come on," Sarah breathed. "One more."

Lilianna drew again.

Another ace.

Thirteen became fourteen.

Two aces in a row.

The celebrations that had started to bubble up around the room.

Ciel repeatedly muttered "yes."

Bryan was preparing a fist-pump.

Sarah’s eyes were bright in anticipation.

Fourteen was still below seventeen.

Lilianna had to draw again.

Neville’s fingers tightened beneath the table where no one could see.

His heart was beating fast as he kept track on the deck. He watched as the cards left the shoe, keeping a mental note.

He had already intercepted the two aces earlier.

If this went according to the order he remembered, the aces he hadn’t intercepted left should just be those two aces that Lilianna had already drawn.

As he recalled the remaining cards on the deck, the next card should be a five.

Seven, five, ace, ace, five.

Total: nineteen.

Even if he lost, the others would still win; that was the plan.

After all, without his intervention, Lilianna would’ve held seven, five, ace, ace, ace, ace, five—a seven-card hand totaling twenty-one.

A seven-card Charlie.

An automatic win against every player at the table, regardless of their totals.

And now, with the five incoming, the best she could manage was nineteen—enough to beat Julius’s fifteen, but not enough to touch the twenties that Bryan, Ciel, and Sarah held.

Neville exhaled, keeping himself calm.

Lilianna drew.

The card landed.

Not a five.

But another ace.

Neville’s breath caught in his chest.

Fourteen plus one.

Fifteen.

He stared at the card—at the delicate red spade of the ace sitting atop the pile—and began to doubt his memory.

That wasn’t supposed to be there. There were only four aces in a row in his memory.

Two were in his split hands, and the other two were already dealt to Lilianna.

That was four.

That was supposed to be all of them.

He knew that having more than four aces in a row in a 6-deck blackjack was normal.

But this? How—

Then, the realization settled over him like cold water.

Is she being serious now?

Neville’s gaze lifted from the cards to Lilianna’s face. She stood behind the dealer’s position with a professional smile, as if she had done nothing unethical.

But she didn’t need to say anything. Her hands had already told him everything. His eyes had already seen it for himself as she was drawing the cards right now.

Was she really trying to force a seven-card blackjack?

Lilianna’s cards were at fifteen now. She needed at least two more to get to seventeen.

If she drew low cards—twos, threes, aces—she could stretch this hand to six, even seven cards without busting.

And if she reached six cards with a total of twenty-one or under, the six-card Charlie rule would override everything.

Every player at the table would still lose, regardless of six-hand or seven-hand Charlie, because she would get a twenty-one by any possible means.