Rudy was eating breakfast at the dining table with Rusher, Nyara, Ruby, and Maria.
Maria and Ruby were seated on either side beside Rudy. Nyara was sitting on one end and Rusher on another.
"..."
It was the most awkward situation Rudy had ever been in— second to where he was caught jerking by Rebecca.
Rusher didn't ask Rudy about what or why he was there. It was almost as though he had already expected something like that to happen sooner or later.
Ten minutes after the breakfast started, Rusher's wife— Nyara, was the first one to finish. She left soon after without saying a word.
'Well, this is much more awkward than I had expected. But it was given that she just found out about the incestuous activity of her husband,' Rudy uttered inwardly.
There was nothing but an eerie silence in the dining hall which would usually be filled with maids, butlers, and syndicate members eating breakfast together.
"What happened to the VVIP match, Ruby?" Maria asked calmly. "Since you are here, does that mean you surrendered??"
"Oh, no. I won, actually."
"What?!" Maria exclaimed in surprise. "But Rudy said the VVIP is a death match. Did you truly risk your life in some stupid gambling tournament?! Does all that mean more to you than your life?!"
Maria yelled angrily.
However, Rudy was unfazed after hearing that Ruby had won the VVIP tournament. Seemingly, he had already expected that outcome.
"It was indeed a death match, but I got lucky, I guess?" Ruby responded.
"That's not what I asked! How could you do something so reckless? What if something had happened to you?!"
Maria's anger was justifiable as Ruby was the only person close to her other than Lilim.
"There were twelve contestants, but the moment they showed us the contract and explained the tournament, five of them surrendered right away. And the remaining seven signed the contract, but two more surrendered before the first match could start.
Then, we played and played until all of them surrendered, and I won. It was easy if I had to add. Of course, it was risky too, but I think it was well worth it considering the reward I got for winning the VVIP gambling tournament," Ruby calmly reported everything while eating.
"What's the reward?" Rudy asked curiously.
"Why don't you guess? You call yourself smart, right?" Ruby asked with a haughty look.
"Firstly, I have never called myself smart, and even if I did, that was probably to intimidate my opponent. And as for guessing the reward, my best guess is that it was something related to 'status', am I right?"
Ruby Gritted her teeth as she glared at Rudy.
"...seriously?"
"How did you guess it?!"
"I said the first thing that came to my mind, like literally," Rudy shrugged. "I didn't even put any effort into guessing. But if I am right then… that reward is lame in my honest opinion."
"You guessed it, but you didn't guess it completely. The status reward was a wish, an order. I can use that wish to do anything in the Underworld, and by anything, I mean anything!
I can get someone killed. I can make someone my slave. I can destroy a syndicate or renew one. In simple words, I am going to use that wish to rebuild this syndicate from scratch and make it number one again!"
Ruby puffed her chest and uttered, "I am going to be the Mafia Queen of this underworld."
"...okay," Rudy responded.
Ruby bit her lips after seeing the lack of reaction from Rudy. She raised her brow and smirked before saying, "By the way, I can also use my wish to dethrone you from your number one spot in the Underworld Ranking!"
"I can just become number one again," Rudy responded with a shrug.
"Not if I ban you from the underworld," she said with a smug face.
'There it is again. I don't want to brag, but she is clearly trying to get my attention, isn't she? Come to think of it, Rusher did mention that I will have to marry Ruby, but that deal is off now that Ruby is independent from the syndicate.'
Maria got up from her seat and turned to Rudy. She smiled at him and said, "I will pack my stuff."
Rudy nodded in response.
"Wait… what…?" Ruby glanced confusedly between Rudy and Maria as she was oblivious to what Maria meant by that. She even glanced at Rusher, but that was a useless attempt.
She got up from her chair and rushed after Maria to ask her directly.
Now, only Rusher and Rudy were present in the dining hall.
'I should probably scoot too.'
"Don't you want to ask me questions like you always do?" Rusher asked in a low voice.
"Well, I do, but this is clearly not a good time. You seem depressed, and I don't want you to have a mental breakdown like the other day," Rudy sighed. "And don't worry about Maria. I will take care of her."
"I know."
"..."
"..."
Rudy and Rusher stared at each other, seemingly wondering who would break the silence first.
"Okay, sure. Go ahead and give me details," Rudy groaned softly.
"No, you ask me, and I will answer."
SIGH!
"How did your wife react to it?"
"She… didn't react much. I think she knew from way back when Maria was just a kid, but she kept it a secret… perhaps, because she didn't want Maria to know the truth."
"Ruby knew too, by the way," Rusher shortly added.
"Then I assume your parents knew as well?"
"Yeah." Rusher nodded. "Everyone knew, except Maria."
"Uh… what about your sister? How did Maria react to that?" Rudy gulped down a few sips of juice before asking, "She is clearly giving you the cold shoulder, so I wonder if she is treating your sister the same way?"
"After I told everyone everything, Ria took Maria to a room to have a private talk, and then she left without telling me anything. I have no idea what they talked about, and I don't want to know."
"Me neither."
RING!
Rudy's phone rang, so he checked and saw a message from Lu Bela.
[I heard you are currently in the Underworld? Can we meet?]
"Freaking… stalker…"
