Chapter 415: Accusations
"Lilianna, calm down," Helena said from her seat, throwing a secretive look that was part concern and warning.
"Miss Lilianna," Neville added, his voice mild and pleasant, "please, take a breath. It’s really not good to be so angry."
To anyone’s ears, it was just Neville trying to chime in to calm Lilianna. But to Lilianna, she felt like he was mocking her.
"Don’t tell me to calm down!" She said, jabbing a finger across the table at Neville. "You—tell me. Did you hack the table before we sat down?"
"Are you talking to me?" Neville asked. He pointed at himself with one finger again, innocently. "Cheating? Me?"
"If not you, then who?" Lilianna said, voice getting louder by the second. "Who could possibly get that many blackjacks? Three blackjacks in a row without doing something!"
Bryan leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, smiling as if he was just watching an interesting drama unfold before his eyes.
Helena’s fingers tapped once against the felt. Let’s see how this would play first. If there was a sign that it would go downhill, I’d just stop them before that.
Neville acted like he was thinking about it.
Three consecutive blackjacks finally did the trick, huh.
However, there was one thing she got wrong: Neville hadn’t hacked a single thing.
He didn’t need to.
Shelly wasn’t even here for him to spend points to cheat. However, his new peculiar ability would show everything for him, and it was up to his exceptional memory to remember every single thing in there.
Lilianna had been rigging the game from the start; this was inevitable.
Neville hadn’t cheated, but he simply out-cheated the cheater without anyone realizing.
So when Lilianna accused him of hacking instead of just outright cheating, his bafflement was, for once, real.
Come on. How could I even cheat in such a short time? Not to mention, in front of all these people?
But he didn’t let any of that show.
Instead, he leaned back, plucked a black chip from his modest pile, and began spinning it between his fingers.
"That’s a big reach, Miss Lilianna."
Neville said with a slightly sad tone, feeling wronged.
"You’re saying that since I’ve got the technical skills to find my way around Maxwell Corp’s security layer, I can also do something at a blackjack table that I saw for the first time today, without a single person in this room noticing?"
Meaning: If I could really do what you’re suggesting, wouldn’t that make me the most dangerous person in this room? And wouldn’t accusing that person, publicly, in front of witnesses, be an incredibly stupid thing to do?
He let the question hang, spinning the chip.
Lilianna’s jaw tightened. "Liars always say that."
"Hmm." Neville caught the chip between two fingers and set it down with a soft click.
He tilted his head and looked at Lilianna with patience.
"Miss Lilianna, may I teach you some basic math?"
He didn’t wait for an angry reply and continued.
"In a standard six-deck shoe, the probability of a natural blackjack on any given hand is approximately four-point-seven-five percent. The probability of three consecutive natural blackjacks is roughly one in ten thousand, five hundred and fifty."
A brief, razor-thin smile.
"Improbable? Yes. Impossible? Not really. Casinos across the galaxy see it happen more often than you would think. Ask any pit boss."
He paused, letting the numbers sink in to everyone’s mind.
"But you probably know that. Surely the dealer would know the odds better than any player at this table."
Surely the dealer would know.
Several people caught the subtext. Helena’s eyes narrowed, observing Lilianna’s situation.
Sure enough, the flush on Lilianna’s neck darkened, spreading to her cheeks.
Soon, her inner voice began to frantically shout, ’Stop. Stop this now. You’ll be exposing—’
But she couldn’t ’hear’ it anymore.
"Don’t lecture me," she hissed, "I’m not an idiot. I’m sure that you’re cheating."
She planted her palm flat on the table, fingers splayed.
"I’ve heard your name before, Neville Hope. I’ve also seen you once before. I know exactly who you are. You’ve got the skills, and the means, and the person—"
Her gaze flicked to Grayson for a second before snapping back.
"—who could cover for you. It’s pathetic that you’ve become so desperate to win that you would use those skills just to cheat on a mere game."
She straightened, her golden hair swinging. Her voice dropped, laced with contempt.
"No wonder you were so eager to recommend this game to us."
At the sides, Pete and Chronos exchanged a glance.
Iris set her drink down with a quiet clink that sounded unreasonably loud. She believed that Neville wasn’t that kind of person.
Sarah had both hands pressed over her mouth. Her eyes were wide and darting between Lilianna and Neville. Feeling torn because she didn’t know who to side with.
Then Neville did something that made Ciel next to him flinch.
Neville laughed.
Because he found her reasoning absurd.
"Now you’re laughing? Must’ve been because you’ve really done something."
Lilianna’s voice came out smug and confident.
"Don’t play dumb with me, Neville Hope. Telling others what to hit or stand on, predicting outcomes—how could you possibly do that without cheating?"
Neville barely managed to stop laughing and blinked once.
Soon, he became confused.
"Are you serious now? I said what I thought would happen. That’s all there is to it. A feeling."
He said in a flat tone and then shrugged.
"Haven’t I been losing for a good stretch before this? I barely held onto my keep. The only reason I’m above water is because of that side bet."
Bryan lifted his glass to hide a smirk behind the rim.
Julius, leaning back with his arms crossed.
Helena was visibly silent, dropping her head, hiding most of her face with her hair.
"It’s just a game, Lilianna," Ciel muttered quietly in panic, his hand trembling as he held his glass. "You’re making it weird."
"Making it weird?"
Lilianna whipped toward him, sharply.
"Am I the only one seeing this? He’s sitting right there—acting innocently—while blatantly, disgustingly cheating right in front of all our faces, and you’re just going to sit there and drink?"
