I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 11

Eye for an Eye (3)

It had been several days since I started special training at Charles Wellesley’s mansion.

Although it was a bit slower than expected, Wellesley was fortunately starting to develop the insight to catch bottom dealing [a cheating technique in card games where the dealer manipulates the bottom card of the deck].

At first, he couldn’t catch it well enough that I wondered if this was even going to work, but that wasn’t because Wellesley’s eyesight was poor.

It was simply because my speed of regaining my old skills was faster than Wellesley’s speed of improving his perception.

Of course, if I told Wellesley to glare and watch for bottom dealing, he could easily do it.

But what kind of crazy person would try to bottom deal in front of someone who was glaring at them like that?

I could do it in a different way, but at least the swindlers in that gambling house couldn’t.

No, from the start, as soon as Wellesley showed any sign of noticing something, they would likely make up a plausible excuse and not let Wellesley join the gambling game.

Or, if they did, they would minimize the odds and only let him play in safe games.

Originally, fraudsters are fundamentally suspicious and constantly observe and try to gauge their marks.

So, in order to fleece them in reverse, it was necessary to always maintain a juicy, appetizing state.

The moment you give off even a slightly unpleasant smell, they run away immediately.

“You’re finally getting better. I think we can put it into action next week?”

“I can’t believe it… I mean, we’ve been practicing together for days now. It’s natural for my skills to keep improving. But why does it seem like your skills are getting better and better?”

“It’s not that I’m getting better, it’s that I was always this good.”

“Ah. I understand. You were matching my skill level at first.”

“Something like that. By the way, is it really okay to get a letter of recommendation from the Duke of Wellington? I’m making excuses to my family like that, so it could be troublesome if my words don’t match up later.”

It would be one thing if it ended as a one-time thing, but now I’m constantly visiting Wellesley’s mansion.

So, I was making excuses to my father and James about the letter of recommendation, but I have to consider that my father might meet the Duke of Wellington later.

What if the Duke of Wellington reacts by saying, ‘So who is Killian?’

It’s not like I can’t make up an excuse, but it could create a slight flaw in the otherwise perfect trust in me.

That should never happen.

One of the minor goals of this plan is to create a connection with the Duke of Wellington, so Wellesley needs to do his part.

But why do I feel so uneasy?

Looking at his graduation from Eton College [a prestigious British boarding school] and his rapid rise in the military, he seems to be an elite, not just pretending to be one, but it’s all because of a bad first impression.

The first time I saw him, he was getting his money taken by swindlers who looked pathetic to me.

It would be strange if I trusted him.

Wellesley seemed to notice my feelings and scratched his head awkwardly with a sheepish smile.

“I’ll take responsibility for getting the letter of recommendation, so you can trust me. Just tell your father that you met a bright and intelligent student by chance.”

“Who said anything? I trust Wellesley implicitly. But as you just said, I’m just a smart student. No one should know anything about me except for my partner, Wellesley.”

“Of course. Your gain will be my gain in the future. From my point of view, it’s best if no one but me knows your true worth.”

In fact, the last request was close to being unnecessary, as Wellesley said.

From his point of view, if someone else knew my true worth, they might take me away with better conditions.

He would want to hide me like a precious treasure.

It would be more accurate to say that I chose him, not that Wellesley is hiding me, but there’s no need to tell him that.

It’s only what I’m planning to do, and it’s not completely confirmed yet.

Of course, if he does a good job with the task I’ve given him this time, I can entrust him with the role of my bulwark.

Honestly, it’s hard to find someone with this kind of background.

So, I just hope he has the ability to take what I spoon-feed him.

Still, the son of the hero who defeated Napoleon and a talented graduate of the best school in the British Empire should be able to do that, right?

I’ll trust him. I’ll trust Wellesley.

“By the way, Killian, what was that line you told me to grab their hand and shout?”

“Oh, that was just a joke.”

Hmm. Can I trust him…?

* * *

Fortunately, Wellesley wasn’t as hopeless as I thought.

Or was it effective to keep pushing until it worked with the spirit of ‘if it doesn’t work, keep trying’?

Through grueling training, I was finally able to 改造 [gaizao – reform/remodel] Wellesley into a living bottom-dealing detection machine.

Once I was convinced that he could do his part, I decided to proceed with the plan immediately.

And the very next day, with all preparations in place.

I visited the gambling house with one of the bodyguards Wellesley had assigned to me, as usual.

“Oh, young master, you’ve come again. Are you going to play a game of even or odd today?”

“I’ve only been playing even or odd, so I want to try something new today.”

“Then why don’t you try matching the color of the marbles? That’s also fun to enjoy in a small way. By the way, what happened to the butler who came with you at first? You always come with someone else these days?”

“James hates gambling houses so much. It’s easier to come with someone else if I want to enjoy it lightly once in a while.”

“Hahaha, well, that fellow did seem a bit rigid. Please sit here. I’ll bring you a warm glass of milk.”

It’s obvious, but even after meeting Wellesley for the first time, I regularly visited the gambling house to check on the situation here.

If I cut off contact for a while and then reappeared on the day of the plan, it could arouse unnecessary suspicion.

Usually, they wouldn’t look at a 10-year-old child like me with suspicion, but overconfidence is forbidden.

After seeing blood once in my past life, the word ‘carelessness’ doesn’t exist in my life.

As I was settling down in my seat, Wellesley’s henchmen, whom I had registered as gambling house members in the past few days, entered.

Most of them took seats around the table where Wellesley would sit, pretending to enjoy the game.

All the stage was set, so it was time for the main character to appear.

About 30 minutes later, Wellesley entered with his butler, walking in as normal a way as usual.

As soon as I saw him, the gambling house owner went straight to the front and bowed at a right angle.

Was that guy’s name Jack?

After Wellesley dug into him a bit, I found out that he was capable enough to set up a gambling house of considerable size in a place like this.

He had made some money doing business in the past and had also done errands for the nobles, creating some connections.

This was where he ambitiously set up the gambling house, and so far, the income must have been quite good.

It would have been nice if he had been satisfied with that, but it seems that people’s greed is endless.

“Welcome! Thank you for visiting us again today.”

“Of course, I have to come. Where else can I relieve stress if not here?”

“We’ll take you to the VIP seat as always.”

“Ah. And today, put me with people who have some money to bet. We had a big card game in our unit last time, and I swept it all up. Today, I came with the money I won then. A game where about 1,000 pounds can go back and forth would be perfect.”

The gambling house owner’s mouth widened at the word 1,000 pounds.

It’s not easy to accurately compare the modern era with the 1830s, but even if you roughly estimate it, the value of money is at least 130 times different.

So, 1,000 pounds now is worth about 130,000 pounds in modern terms.

In modern Korean currency, it’s almost 200 million won, and considering the characteristics of this era, even a skilled worker’s annual income was only about 50 pounds, so 1,000 pounds was a considerable amount of money.

Of course, it would be too obvious to take it all at once, but even if they only took 30 percent, that’s 300 pounds.

That’s the amount of money that skilled workers have to save for 5 or 6 years, and unskilled workers have to save for more than 10 years without spending a penny.

From the perspective of someone who can manipulate the game and reliably fleece them, how could they not be excited?

“1,000 pounds… let’s see… I think we’ll have to gather some pretty big players. Please wait a moment. I’ll get it ready for you quickly.”

“Good. Let’s have a really big party today.”

“Thank you for your understanding. I’ll prepare it quickly!”

“You can take your time, so don’t rush too much. Hahaha!”

The two of them were smiling brightly while preparing the game, which looked like a black comedy to me.

If you were to visualize the word ‘same bed, different dreams’ into a scene, it would be exactly like that.

As I was waiting, pretending to match the color of the marbles, I saw the dealer and players arriving at their seats one after another.

Finally, when Wellesley took his seat, the curtain rose on the main game.

“The rules are the same as usual, right? The odds too?”

“Yes. You can do everything the same way as before.”

“Good, good. Then let’s have fun all day today with a lot of money to bet.”

It was still early, so they were exchanging playful words and cards were being exchanged.

Since it was the beginning of the game, the bets were only going up by about 1 pound, and they weren’t obviously cheating yet.

But that was only a matter of time.

As the game progressed, the heat gradually rose, and Wellesley also reduced his words and pretended to concentrate on the cards in front of him.

The bets that had been going up by 1 pound jumped to 10 pounds at once, so they must have felt that the time was coming.

As expected, the dealer glanced at Wellesley subtly, only visible to me.

It was a look to see if he was concentrating on the game enough not to notice that they were about to start working.

Of course, unlike the Wellesley of the past, he, who had already received thorough training from me, couldn’t have failed to notice the dealer’s gaze.

The proof was that he was fixing his gaze on the cards in his hand and making a ‘tss’ sound, as if telling me that he was super focused on the game.

Was he giving me a signal that he was watching everything and that I didn’t need to worry?

I was going to give him a separate signal if he couldn’t catch the scene, but it seems I won’t have to.

It’s not quite the feeling of a mother bird sending off her baby bird… but I feel proud to think that I made a person out of a pathetic human being who was being taken advantage of in a gambling game?

While I was indulging in such a small emotion.

The gambling house dealer subtly shuffled the cards so that the cards to be bottom-dealt were at the bottom of the deck, signaling the start of the main game.

It’s a familiar and nostalgic sight, but that’s why it’s hateful.

The dealer continued to shuffle the cards, moving his hands smoothly to take out the hidden cards.

It looked like he was shuffling and distributing the cards evenly, but his gaze was alternating between the cards he had taken out and Wellesley.

He must have already planned in his head which cards to distribute in what way.

With a natural and calm expression, as he had always done.

It was a calm hand movement that no one had ever caught and believed would never happen in the future.

While the cards were being shuffled, Wellesley, as he had been taught, did not pretend to look at the dealer’s side, but only moved his eyes and watched the player in front.

It was a great performance that the expression ‘foolish’ couldn’t be more fitting.

Finally, the dealer smoothly slid his hand and pulled out the bottom card, and at the moment he was about to deal the cards.

Wellesley snatched the dealer’s hand and smiled coldly.

“Quit the act! Trying to slip in a bottom deal, huh?”

The dealer’s face, who had his hand caught in the air, and the gambling house owner’s face, who had been watching this whole situation, turned white.

Only the noisy surroundings of Wellesley were plunged into a strange silence as if alienated from this world.

I took a sip of warm milk in the center of the frozen gambling house and looked around at the still stiff swindler gang.

If they were truly first-class, they would have responded immediately, but look at those moving figures.

That’s why you guys are getting eaten.

That expression of those who firmly believed they were predators beginning to fall into prey.

If I could drink alcohol, there would be no better snack than this, but it’s a pity that my body can’t handle alcohol yet.

By the way, I said it as a joke, but I can’t believe he actually said that line.