Maria leaned on Rudy's shoulder and closed her eyes.
"I am feeling sleepy after all that."
"What about my reward?"
"You will have it after the next tournament."
Rudy raised his brow and said, "That's going to cost you interest."
"Hmm?"
"You will have to suck me too," he said with a straight face.
Maria opened her eyes and looked up at Rudy with a judging look on her face.
"What's with that look?"
"You are a pervert," she said in a low voice.
"Uhh… I will take that as a compliment. Thank you."
Maria rested her head on Rudy and muttered, "I was not a compliment."
After a few seconds of silence, Rudy asked, "Are you not going to ask anything about my harem?"
"Hmm."
"Is that a yes or no?"
"Hmm."
"...."
"To be honest, I kind of expected something like that," she said.
"Hmm?" He copied Maria.
"When I asked you about your relationships, you said it was complicated. I thought about it all night and came to various conclusions, but I wasn't sure which one was the real one.
I hate to admit that you having multiple lovers did cross my mind when I was about to fall asleep. Then, I had a dream after I drifted to sleep. In that dream, we got married, and you introduced me to your family.
And… then you introduced me to your other lovers. I was honestly shocked and woke up from my sleep. I… couldn't decide whether that dream was a nightmare or not.
After that, when we met in the VIP casino tournament, I was curious about your relationships, but I never got a chance— nor did I have the courage— to ask you."
"Is that why you asked me to play the 'gamble of life' with you?"
Maria nodded and said, "I am not angry or sad after knowing about your relationships. I was the one who was imposing myself on you. I first forced you to gamble with me, then I forced you to become friends with me, and now a lover. If anything, I am the one you should be angry at."
Rudy lowered his gaze and smiled slightly before muttering, "You are too innocent."
Maria fell asleep after that and didn't wake up until the estate arrived. Rudy carried her in his arms and took her into the estate. However, he was stopped by the guards at the gate.
"Uhh… what?"
"Master Rusher has asked us to stop you at the gate," the guard stated.
SIGH!
'Rusher's match had ended a way before my semi-final match started, so it's no surprise that he got here early.'
The guard informed Rusher that Rudy and Maria had arrived, and a minute later, Rusher came to pick them up in a car from inside the estate grounds.
"Well yeah, this is better," Rudy muttered.
Rusher stopped the car on the other side of the gate, and Rudy walked in.
"What's wrong with her?" he asked.
"She fell asleep."
Rudy placed her in the backseat and said, "Uhh… I have nothing else to do here, so I will take my leave."
"Wait, I have something to discuss."
Rusher parked the car on the side and took Rudy to the garden.
"What is it? Do you plan to ambush me?" he said jokingly.
"It's about what you did today."
"Oh! I had already informed you that Maria and I will get engaged after the tournament ends."
"Not about that. I don't want to talk about anything related to Maria or you; I will let you decide everything," Rusher stated but shortly added, "And it's not like I have my say in that. You are giving Maria a happy life, and that's all that matters for me."
"So… I assume it's about my challenge to Heim Lu Bela?" Rudy asked with a curious yet calm look on her face.
"Indeed. You someone managed to become the top 2 celebrity in the entire underworld. And your fame points and fan numbers will keep increasing without doing anything.
You even gained that citizenship to the underworld— which you would have gotten anyway if you had married Maria.
And lastly, you challenged her, and that was something no one dared to do in years."
Rudy stared at the sleeping flowers and asked, "Is she that good at gambling?"
"Not sure, but her games are," Rusher responded vaguely.
"She is the leader of the strongest syndicate in the entire world and also the head of the UBC. She certainly has so much power in her hands, but she doesn't look that old. At most, she is close to 25. How does she have so much power at such a young age? Inheritance?"
"No." Rusher shook his hand and sat on the bench to relax. After a brief pause, he continued, "At the age of fifteen, she had become a celebrity in the underworld. At the age of sixteen, she became the top gambler. At the age of seventeen, she became the head of UBC, and at the age of eighteen, she had become the leader of the 'Lu Bela' Syndicate."
"Wow… when I was fifteen, I was…" Rudy stopped and sighed, 'I still can't remember anything about the last five years. After I remembered everything about Rias, the in-between memory was back, but nothing prior to that.
"You were?"
"I was playing games," he said in a neutral tone.
"I called you here to warn you. I don't doubt that you will enter the VVIP tournament, but none of the contestants has ever smiled after that. I hope you are ready for that."
"Yeah. Don't worry about it. But since there is zero evidence about it, I assume that the VVIP tournament has never been officially live broadcasted?
"Yeah."
"Hmm~" Rudy looked up at the sky and muttered, "It's past 3 AM."
Rusher looked at his watch and said, "Yes. It's 3:33 AM."
"Oh, by the way…" Rudy turned to Rusher and asked, "About this tournament, it was also being broadcast live broadcasted, right?"
"Yeah, obviously."
"Does that mean everyone in the world saw it?"
