54 Is it over?

"Who are you," she muttered, "I don't know you."

"I'm Agnes, I'm me. Can't you tell?"

"Kuh," she hit a pillar behind her in frustration, "so what," she whistled through her gnashed teeth, "you only won one round, I have four."

I stomped my foot on the table, "huh what are you talking about, you cheated," I grabbed her hair and moved my face near hers, "you signed the contract, The contract stated that cheating is not allowed. Are you just going to break the rules?"

She flinched and shrunk away.

"No, I won't accept this."

"Hm," I raised an eyebrow, "what do you mean you won't accept this?"

"I didn't cheat," she said steadfast.

I gently tapped her soft cheeks with my palm, "are you crazy? I told you just a minute ago how you did it, could you not be so shameless?"

"That is no real proof. You could have made those scratches to frame me," she gripped the cards.

"Then what about you manipulating the cards you gave me? What about the signals?"

"It was just a whim," she replied, "I didn't do it to cheat. You chose the cards on your own. The signals are coincidence, and that is how it is."

"Are you listening to yourself," I was genuinely shocked by her bold faced lies, "what's the point of this?"

She grabbed my hand and then smiled weakly, "it is simple I don't accept your arguments."

"Wha," I suddenly realized something, and my eyes opened wide, "you damn fox, you planned this real well, didn't you," I spat out in frustration, "I see now, how your contract works."

She turned at the crowd and asked, "do you guys believe I cheated."

The group stared at each other, and then shook their heads one by one.

"Huh," Celestia cried out, "what's the meaning behind this!"

I twisted Rayas head around, "I will explain," I told her, "do you remember, the rules stated when accusing the opponent of cheating, one has to provide proof, right?"

"Yes, that's what you did wasn't it!"

"Yes," I smiled wryly, "but did you ever think about whom the proof has to be delivered to? Think about it, in a trial the most important things are, the defendant, the plaintiff and lastly," I waited, "the judge or jury."

"Still, what about it?"

"But we have neither judge or jury here, so the role was filled by the crowd and the person who was being accused. They of course, could simply deny everything."

"I don't get it, what about the contract, could it not determine who cheated and who didn't?"

I shook my head, "maybe it could, maybe it couldn't, but there was never a statement in the contract stating it would play judge. If you remembered correctly, everything had to be written down, subsequently, everything left out would not play a role. Now, if the rule was simply no cheating, it may have acted, but as long as proof was necessary, Raya or the crowd could simply deny any allegations."

Celestia gasped as she slowly comprehended what I was saying.

Yes, I could provide proof for her cheating, but I could not validate it, if there was no neutral party to judge it. Thus, my proof was useless, even if I caught her cheating. How such a fluke went past me, I didn't know. Maybe it was because I still wasn't accustomed to the idea of magic.

Suddenly, Raya began giggling, "seems like you found out," she was still intimidated, but not as defenseless as before.

"I was wondering why you would cheat so brazenly, who knew you still had an ace up your sleeve. Not bad," I pulled her hair tightly.

"Ow, ow, ow," she yelled, "so what, the game will continue like I planned, let's see how you will fare when the score is one to four," she kept giggling, but small tears welled up from the pain on her scalp, displaying her real emotions.

I violently threw her head away, and she slammed onto the table. I grumpily sat back down with my hands crossed, "alright," I agreed, and then took all the cards and threw them away, "but no more cheating, do you understand?"

The cards flew through the air, far away from everybody and hid themselves within the green, luscious grass.

Raya stayed silent, and her lips were bruised. She stopped her bleeding with her hands and seemed indignant as her tears were on the brink of falling, but she weakly nodded.

"Then let's move on."

The game continued with a gloomy atmosphere.

Nobody said anything, and the mood had turned sour. She made a new pair of cards, ones that weren't marked. Even though she had one more round to win, she wasn't happy at all. Instead, for the first time, she was nervous.

Celestia was the only one unaffected, no, she looked rather pleased. Her expression always differed from everyone elses.

The cards began shuffling, and as always, I was tasked to say stop. I knocked at the wooden table, in proportion to the seconds passed, and after exactly four times, I stopped the cards. Nobody understood why I would do such a thing, but I paid them no heed.

Celestia was about to take the cards, when I grabbed her hand ,"choose the first, second and fourth card," I told her, much to everyone's surprise.

"I said no talking when they play the cards," Raya said with a small voice.

"There's no such rule in the contract."

"Ugh," she blurted out in frustration, but there was nothing she could do.

Celestia did what I told her to do and she played the card that she thought was the most correct. After a quick shuffle, which I accompanied with rhythmic knocking, it was now mine and Rayas turn.

For the first time, she didn't let me choose, and simply took a card. I didn't mind and took the one left over.

"Say Raya, do you feel relieved," I asked her, "do you feel relieved knowing that you only need to win one more time?"

She said nothing.

"You must be. Seing that our scores are so far apart, and you are so close to winning," I placed my hand on the card and announced, "that wouldn't do, you know? It's the first time since you played for real, after all. But how will you enjoy the game, when it is already over? How will you feel the thrill of betting everything you have on the line," I smiled, "that tingling sensation underneath your skin, not knowing whether the choices you made were the correct ones, the gnawing despair of wondering how you ended up in this position, the ethereal hope of winning, and lastly the everlasting regret of facing the wrong foe," I turned louder, "how will you ever feel it?"

"Hiih," she shuddered and turned her card, in an effort to know the results as soon as possible.

A sturdy tree signifying how it could hold the sky if it wanted to was revealed. It was the 'earth' card.

I didn't react and only said, "I want you to have some fun too."

My card was the 'hell' card. A fitting card for what was about to come.

Raya blinked her eyes in disbelief. If I had to describe what she was feeling, it was akin to a long sword mercilessly slashing her heart in half and then cooking it under a slow roasting fire. She was sweating a lot, and I heard her gulping the whole time.

"Agnes won another round," the crowd said and sucked in their breath. The game had done may twist and turns until now, but this was the first time that Raya was shown in a disadvantage.

"Let's get on with it," was all I said.

We moved on to the next round as I didn't say anything to Celestia, and Raya didn't talk with her partner either. There was nothing to talk about, because the game was now truly random. Alright, not truly, but the meaning was clear.

I did the same knocking sounds, perplexing everyone around us and then took the card I wanted.

The round ended in a draw.

It was two heaven cards. However, nobody rejoiced as it only postponed the inevitable. No, Raya was even sad at the results, since she wanted it to end as soon as possible.

We were about to resume the game, but Celestia interjected, "let's take a break."

Everyone stared at her, but she stood unfazed. She only looked at me and awaited an answer.

"Alright, let's do that," I stood up to walk into the corner.

Suddenly, I heard a thud and when I turned around, I saw Raya who who had fallen on her knees with the people around supporting her in worry.

Her face was white, almost green and she covered her mouth, as if trying not to puke.

"Coward," I sneered silently, but just loud enough for her to hear, "don't play games if you can't deal with the consequences. Your half-assed resolve does nothing, except disrespect those brave enough to bet with everything in the line."

She covered her eyes and curled up, I couldn't see her face due to her hair that fell from her loosened bun. Only her shoulders trembled lightly.

I resumed my walk towards the corner.

"So, what do you want to talk about," I asked Celestia with a cheerful voice.

She nodded, "see, I've been wondering, why aren't you telling me what cards to play?"

"Why, everything is random, and who knows who might be listening."

"Uhm," she squinted her eyes, "yes, it is, but you aren't just going to leave it like that right? Surely, you must have a strategy to not lose the game."

"Oh, what are you basing it on."

"Intuition? Or maybe because I think I know a bit about you now."

I laughed, "well, you are right. But I only need you to play the card you think is correct. I will naturally feel what you will choose."

"Again," she grumbled, "do you know how stressful it is for me to not know what I should do?"

"You need to think for yourself too," I said, "and more than anything, I trust you."

She only sighed and we returned to the table.

The eight round began.

Shuffling, knocking, some choosing and in the end turning the cards. That was about it. Nothing had changed from the other rounds, except for the suspense.

I won.

I couldn't hold my laughter anymore and shouted, "with this, I have won four times! It's a tie now, who would have ever thought we would reach the ninth round, are you excited Raya, are you?"

Raya looked ghastly, her original red lips turned white and her partner had staggered and fell down. His face was crunched together.

"If no one has anything to say, let's move onto the next round."

It was the final round, everything was decided on this. Whether they would end as a slave with no future or the master was all on a single card.

Just like how the earth wouldn't stop rotating, the cards slightly levitated into the air and mixed together with zero hesitation. It was acting like there wasn't a stuffy tension weighing down, making every move feel like being underwater.

Knock, knock, knock, knock.

I stopped the shuffling and tasked Celestia to choose the first, third and sixth card. Without the slightest doubt, she did what I told her and then threw out the first card that came to her mind.

On the other hand, Raya partner was brooding incessantly on what to play. A futile notion, but whatever helped him relieve stress, I guess.

After his decision I was about to stop the shuffle, but Raya interrupted me. Her eyes wer slightly red but she was determined.

"I understand how you are doing it now."

"Doing what," I tilted my head.

She replied, "a perfect shuffle. As we only have six cards and there aren't many variations to shuffle them. When you take into account how the shuffling would be as impartial as possible, you would realize it would always use the same method, but that makes it easy to predict. If you remember the sequence of how the cards have been mixed, then it would be easy."

I paused for a few seconds and then answered, "you are wrong."

"I'm right," she cut me off, "the knocking sounds to count the seconds, then telling the maid which card to choose was because you knew how the cards."

"What if that is the case, what would you do?"

"Nothing, it's not cheating," she then pointed at my hand and then smiled, "but have you noticed, you stopped knocking."

"Ah," I let out of my mouth.

The cards stopped shuffling on her command this time, and she chose before I could, "but you aren't the only one who can do that. Unlike you, I kept the seconds in my mind. Now how does it feel to have your trick used against you," she asked with cautious glee.

"You are wrong," I insisted.

"It's over," she said and we both turned out cards at the same time, "it will be my win."