Herald of Steel

The reason for Gelene cursing the moment she read her card was this.

It said,

"Your new business has become very popular. Receive 500 ropals from the king as a gift. Then be immediately sent to the dungeon on charges of tax evasion. On your next turn, roll only one die. Even number sets you free. Odd makes you disappear."

This one move meant that it had become almost certain that Gelene would not have any chance of reaching Tibias, which was the water utility square.

Plus, it seemed to also make Mean laugh quite hard,

"Ahaha haha, imagine getting to see the king, he hands you a bag of money, hosts a lavish feast, and then just as you are to leave, says, 'Oh, I heard you are not paying your taxes. Off to the dungeon with you! Ahaha hahaha," Mean chuckled with wild abandon while clutching her tummy.

And Cambyses joined in on it too, putting on a fake, deep voice and mimicking in an animated way, "It would be like, …Miss Gelene here is 500 ropals for your business. Oh, a tax thief eh? I will take that back. And now you disappear, haha haha."

Everyone in the room seemed to find that joke funny.

Expect Gelene who dragged her piece back all the way to the dungeon with a sullen face.

And then turning to Alexander asked, "Are my three turns still going? I'm already in the dungeon."

"Oh, yes." Was the straight answer, with Alexander adding, "You are in there for deceiving the king. The Inquisition does not know about it yet. They are still looking, hahaha."

"...." Gelene pursed her lips.

She had already guessed the answer but thought it did not hurt to try.

"One dice?" So picking up the die, she sought to confirm that she had indeed read the rules correctly and receiving a nod from Alexander, let the six sides cubed roll.

One!

"Fuck!" For some reason, Gelene seemed to be in a particularly cursing mood, while Mean cheered swinging her legs,

"One! It's odd! You disappear! Haha, you would have disappeared even if you were playing normally. Hehehe."

The petite girl was either very happy to see Gelene go, or just a bit tipsy from that huge drink she was made to quaff down.

Possibly both.

"Wait! Do… do I get to use my special power?" But just as the grim reaper seemed ready to swing his death scythe and reap her piece, suddenly Gelene recalled her privileges.

She was not ready to be put down yet.

Thus sending Alexander a desperate gaze, she reminded him, "You know, whenever I roll a one, I can sell one of my properties to re roll it. Here, I would like to use it now."

Saying this Gelene then very promptly brought out one of her properties.

"Wait!" But before Alexander could make his ruling, Cambyses decided to make her own ruling, reasoning, "That was under normal circumstances. But here, you were sent to the dungeon for a special reason. And even getting out of it had special rules. So you cannot use your powers."

*Tsk*! And where does it say that I cannot use my powers here? It is clearly written that when I'm in the dungeon, I can re roll a 1." Gelene however was not so easy to rebut, as she immediately counterattacked with a click of her tongue, pointing, "Who cares if it's special circumstances or not? What matters is if I'm in the dungeon or not. Period!"

To the surrounding crowd listening in, Gelene's case seemed to sound a bit stronger than Cambyses's.

But the lady of the house would not be done in so easily.

"What do you mean special circumstances or not? Of course, it matters. Your powers are clearly implied to be able to be used only in a regular dungeon. But now you are in a dungeon put in there by the king himself." Cambyses countered by swinging her palms, as she tried to bring real life example,

"Your noble identity might be able to save yourself from the regular judges and officials but do you think it can save you from the king?"

"Who says that at other times it is the judges who are putting you in the dungeon? Perhaps it's always the king." However Gelene had this clever retort.

"Right! Because the king is so free!" To this, Cambyses's nostrils flared, feeling it was too insincere as she then curved her lips in mockery,

"And if he was so free, then why did he change the rules for you? Why do others have to roll doubles, while you only have to roll even on a single die, hah?"

Saying this the young girl felt very smug, thinking she had won, as her face puffed up with pride.

"Ehhh! Perhaps, the king likes me more." But even such a solid argument did not seem to faze Gelene, as she nonchalantly shrugged her shoulder, before turning the conversion PG 18.

"Like maybe he finds my pussy better and my boobs bigger, hehe." She curled her lips with a mocking hock and smirked, then very visibly shook her chest, causing her magnificent assets to jiggle, and causing flames to erupt in Cambyses's eyes.

The innuendo here was crystal clear to everyone but Fabiyana, who only had a worried face seeing the two women argue.

For the rest of the audience, it was very apparent that the king was Alexander and Gelene was poking Cambyses for having almost flat plains for a chest.

Everyone knew that Cambyses's frontal assets, although not as extreme as Mean's which was basically the 'steppe', were still very much lacking, with Alexander barely able to feel the fat from the flesh whenever he squeezed them.

And it was something that the girl was very conscious of, even being a bit jealous of Ophenia and Gelene, who possessed ample volume of the treasure.

Something that was especially true for Gelene, whose chest was so large that it seemed to be in a perpetual state of wanting to burst out of her guest.

Seeing this, in the past, Cambyses had even gone to meet Gelene in private, asking for her advice on how to improve her own rack size.

Regardless to say, all of that 'advice' had failed.

No matter what Cambyses did and how long she did it, her chest barely grew, with the single most appreciable increase coming from giving birth.

An endeavor that Gelene certainly had nothing to do with.

Thus, although warranted or not, Cambyses held a slight acridness towards Gelene for giving her the wrong advice.

And it was something that Gelene knew.

Which was why she decided to poke the matriarch of the house with it.

Much to the latter's blazing chagrin.

"Yo… you... bit…" Cambyses did not get to expose her large volume of explicit curses to the surrounding audience as,

"That's enough!" Alexander felt he had seen enough and decided to step in before the game night turned into a catfight, flashing his palms and commanding in a voice that was deep and domineering.

Alexander's intervention instantly caused the two quarreling girls to pipe down, while he felt Fabiyana actually jump a bit in shock, as her heart skipped a beat, and the doll like girl quickly turned her head to fearfully look up at Alexander.

She had never heard him raise his voice in front of her, so it surprised her.

While, Princess Camelia who was also curiously looking at Alexander felt a different set of emotions.

She was looking at him in appreciation, marveling at just how seamlessly the man was able to switch from happy to angry to authoritative.

It reminded her of the night she had cut her hair and showed up at the party, trying to put Alexander in a difficult position.

And how effortlessly he had dispatched her.

And while she was looking at Alexander, for a split second, her father's image suddenly seemed to overlap with him.

Strong, jovial, and with a humorous personality, in Princess Camelia's eyes, Alexander seemed to share a lot of similarities with Perseus.

But that was only for a second, as the Princess quickly deleted that image, cursing, "No! No! Camelia what are doing? He is the enemy!"

However, even when removed, that image continued to linger, and for the rest of the night, Princess Camelia suddenly found herself unable to look at Alexander straight.

Once the game would be over, Princess Camelia would also have the time and head space to appreciate the dynamics between the Pasha's four wives, finding the eldest by age, Gelene to be constantly in small scale conflict with the mistress of the house Cambyses and her friend plus maid Mean.

They would curse, taunt, and poke each other at every opportunity, taking pleasure in the other's misfortunes.

They also seemed very competitive, refusing to give even an inch, as evidenced by their attitude even during simple a game.

But they also appear to know to keep a grip on their leash, never exceeding the unspoken line.

Princess Camelia guessed this probably had to do something with Alexander.

While the most beautiful of the four Ophenia mostly stayed out of it, only occasionally intervening, usually on the side of Gelene to balance the playing field.