"Alright, it's time to play." Yamoyan took a sip of the finest red wine from Joffen, and a look of enjoyment appeared on his face. This red wine produced in the south was far more fragrant than the wine produced in Tellier.

The female servant took out the stack of dominos from the platter, then began to shuffle them in an expert fashion.

Meanwhile, the other female servants collected were distributing chips to all of the guests at the table. The ante alone was 1,000 Loonies, and it would be far too cumbersome for each person to have tens of thousands of Loonies stacked on the table in front of them, so these chips were used as a replacement.

There were no newbies at the table on this day. Each of the guests at the table had tens of thousands of Loonies worth of chips deposited with Prince Yamoyan, so there was no need for them to be carrying Loonies with them all the time.

Once the chips had been distributed, the female servant began to hand out cards to the players.

Manjay was quite lucky, receiving two prime minister cards and a soldier card, which was naturally quite a welcome sight for him.

To his surprise, the wheel that was spun by the female servant also came to a rest pointing at him, so he was the first king of the first game.

Manjay was feeling even more elated upon seeing this. He wasn't expecting to have such good luck from the get-go.

The first target that Manjay chose to attack was Prince Yamoyan, who was seated to his right, and he put forward one of his two prime minister cards. On the card table, there were no rules aside from the rules of the game. Anyone could be targeted and taken down.

In addition to that, despite how ruthless Prince Yamoyan was, he was renowned for having very good etiquette when it came to gambling. He had never lost his temper during any game that he played, and that was why so many of his guests were willing to participate in these games despite his notorious reputation.

Prince Yamoyan's hand consisted of two soldier cards and a prime minister card, and he didn't even stop to think for a moment before playing his prime minister card in a decisive manner.

After examining the cards, the female servant returned Manjay's card to him while confiscating Prince Yamoyan's card and setting it aside. Of course, aside from her, no one else could see what cards the two had put forward. Even though both had played prime minister cards, Manjay's kingly privilege allowed him to win the ante of 1,000 Loonies that Prince Yamoyan had set.

Thus, the female servant leaned forward and moved 1,000 Loonies worth of chips from Prince Yamoyan's side over to Manjay's side.

While the woman was bent forward, Manjay took the opportunity to sneak a few glances at her voluptuous cleavage. After standing up straight again, the woman noticed Manjay's rude gesture, but she wasn't incensed by this, and her expression remained unchanged as she calmly inquired Prince Yamoyan whether he wanted to set another ante.

It seemed that Prince Yamoyan had trained these women to be very obedient and prioritize the guests above all else.

Prince Yamoyan chose to set another ante, then immediately pushed forward a card without any hesitation to issue a challenge to Manjay.

Manjay also submitted a card of his own, and the female servant flipped over both cards to reveal that Prince Yamoyan had played a soldier card, while Manjay had played a prime minister card.

Thus, Manjay won another 1,000 Loonies.

"My apologies, Prince Yamoyan," Manjay said with a smug expression, in response to which Yamoyan gave a faint smile, indicating that the night was still young.

Why was it that Prince Yamoyan had chosen to play a prime minister card as his first card, but had chosen to put forward a soldier card during the challenge segment?

In reality, it didn't matter what card he played as his first one as there was a very good chance that it would be beaten by the king. If the king were excessively greedy and chose to play a soldier card as their first card, then Yamoyan would've been able to win with his prime minister card. As for the second card, that had been played with the objective of ensuring that he didn't beat the king during the challenge segment.

If he had lost one of his cards in the first round, then won in the second round, he would've become the king of the table, but all that would remain of his hand would be a prime minister card, which was revealed for all to see, and a concealed soldier card. Under those circumstances, if a public challenge were to be raised against him, then he would be sure to suffer a severe loss.

The reason why Prince Yamoyan was being so aggressive with his plays, sacrificing two cards and two sets of ante, was that he was gambling that Manjay didn't hold the king card. He had already roughly guessed that Manjay was holding two prime minister cards, and it was clear that he wanted to make a quadruple ante during the public challenge segment. He was the first to have been attacked, so he could lose his ante without any qualms.

As for Manjay, he was thinking that it didn't matter even if he had to reveal one of his prime minister cards. He had two prime minister cards in his hand anyway, and he was confident that he would be able to gobble up five antes worth of Loonies.

After that, Manjay initiated his second attack, which was directed toward Christine, who was seated on Prince Yamoyan's other side.

He picked out one of his two remaining concealed cards before pushing it forward.

Manjay had a revealed prime minister card on the table, but he was refraining from using it, and that was a very interesting decision.

"It's time to make your move," Manjay prompted with a smile.

Christine's hand was identical to Prince Yamoyan's original hand, consisting of two soldier cards and a prime minister card, so this was going to be a test of her judgment.

She had to guess the combination of Manjay's two concealed cards. Was it a pair of soldier cards or was it a soldier card and a prime minister card? Of course, if both of them were prime minister cards, or one of them was the king card, then her decision didn't even matter.

If both of Manjay's concealed cards were soldier cards, then there were two courses of action that she could take, the first of which would be to play her prime minister card and seize the throne, then after Manjay's challenge, she could eliminate Prince Yamoyan from the game. However, that wouldn't be very socially acceptable. At the very least, she didn't want to eliminate Prince Yamoyan from his own game in the very first game of the night. As for her second course of action, that would be to play one of her soldier cards to intentionally resign herself to a loss, then play her second soldier card during the challenge segment. If she were to implement the second course of action, then Manjay would end up with three antes and only a single concealed card in his hand. Thus, under normal circumstances, at the end of the game, both she and Prince Yamoyan would be able to place quadruple wagers. However, Manjay wasn't an idiot, and he knew that such an outcome was possible.

Instead of using his revealed prime minister card, he was voluntarily conceding the initiative to Christine. If he had two soldier cards left in his hand, then there was a very good chance that his decision would lead to his own elimination. Thus, Christine decided that the Manjay's two remaining concealed cards had to consist of a prime minister card and a soldier card.

In this situation, Christine had no choice but to play a soldier card for her first card. There was no reason why Manjay would voluntarily forfeit her ante, so his first card had to be a prime minister card.

Thus, the only thing that Christine could do was accept an initial loss. If she were to decide to place down another ante, then she would have no choice but to challenge Manjay. This was because if she were to forfeit her right to challenge, then Manjay would've gobbled up three antes and still have two concealed cards in his hand. In that case, the third player that he attacked would be no match for him. After all, he had both a revealed prime minister card, and one that was still concealed in his hand, thereby placing him in an essentially invincible position. 

Thus, during Christine's challenge, she would have to face the predicament of whether to play a soldier card or a prime minister card.

If she were to play a soldier card, she would be able to ensure that Manjay couldn't pass his title as king onto her. However, if Manjay were to play a prime minister card, then she would lose the challenge as well, and once that happened, Manjay would've secured four antes. As long as his next target didn't have the king card in their hand, then he would be able to secure five antes and call a conclusion to the game.

Alternatively, if she were to play her prime minister card during the challenge segment, while Manjay played a soldier card, then she would have to become king. In that position, she would only have a concealed soldier card and a revealed prime minister card in her hand, and that certainly wasn't going to be enough. At the end of the game, not only was there a very good chance that she would be stuck with the title of king, she would most likely have to face a public challenge from all of the other players, and that would result in a significant loss.

Despite the complexity of the situation, Christine was able to make a decision very quickly.

The first card that she played was a soldier card, and in doing so, she lost the third ante of 1,000 Loonies to Manjay.

After that, she immediately decided to place down another ante and challenge Manjay.

Thus, the two of them each pushed forward a card for a showdown.

The female servant revealed the cards, and as it turned out, they were both prime minister cards, so the showdown ended in a draw.

Prior to the challenge, Manjay had already won three antes, so if he were to claim another ante during this challenge segment, then his victory for this game was all but assured. Thus, under normal circumstances, there was a very high likelihood that Manjay would play a prime minister card in response to this challenge.

However, Manjay was a seasoned veteran on the card table, and he was planning to take advantage of this challenge to pin the title of king onto Christine.

It was rather inexplicable to think that Manjay would choose to only win 3,000 Loonies when there were 5,000 Loonies there for the taking, but how was one supposed to win in the King's Game? By doing the unexpected, of course. Thus, Manjay decided to play a soldier card for this round.

However, Christine was no slouch, either, and she was already one step ahead of Manjay in the mind games. As long as she put forward the same card as Manjay during this challenge segment, thereby removing one of Manjay's cards, then she would be able to win this game.

However, was Manjay really going to play a soldier card?

There was no way that he would do that.

Manjay knew that this was the best moment to do something unexpected, but Christine also knew that, and Manjay also knew that Christine knew that. Thus, in the end, he ultimately chose to play his prime minister card.

Unfortunately for him, Christine had also played her prime minister card.

The mind games involved were truly nothing short of psychological warfare.

At the moment, Manjay only had a revealed prime minister card and a concealed soldier card left. It was true that he had won three antes, but he was going to have to cough that all back up with interest soon.

At this point, the state of the game was already very clear. Unless one of Marlo or Teeky had an exceptional hand and decided to take the crown away from Manjay, everyone aside from Manjay could expect to profit at the end of the game.

As it turned out, both Marlo and Teeky had hands consisting of three soldier cards, so they couldn't take the crown from Manjay even if they wanted to.

Thus, during the final public challenge segment, Christine and Prince Yamoyan each won a quadruple wager, Marlo won a double wager, and Teeky won a base wager.

Overall, Prince Yamoyan won 2,000 Loonies, Christine won 3,000 Loonies, Marlo won 1,000 Loonies, and Teeky also won 1,000 Loonies, while Manjay suffered a loss of 7,000 Loonies.

"What did I tell you? I told you not to underestimate her just because she's a little girl. You fell into her trap, didn't you?" Marlo chuckled as he threw a jibe at Manjay, and Teeky was also quite amused.

"You're far too kind. I just played a card at random and hoped for the best, and it just so happened to work out," Christine said in a modest manner.

Prince Yamoyan was naturally aware of the thought process that Christine had to have gone through to arrive at her decision, and he was very much in admiration of her. She possessed intelligence and decisiveness in equal measure, and she was quite a beauty as well. If it weren't for the fact that she was a little too young for his tastes, he would've been very tempted to pursue her as a romantic interest.

"I must admit that was very well done," Manjay sighed with a resigned expression, and he was looking nowhere near as cheerful as he had been earlier during the game. That game had truly been a rollercoaster of emotions for him. Everything had been going smoothly for him in the initial phase, but he had fallen to Christine at the final hurdle.

Having said that, this was only the first game, and the night was still young.