Behind the crowd of people with their own busy lives. The candle on the table illuminated the face of someone I didn't want to see.

I then raised my hand to warn Johan to stop.

"Your smile looks bad."

"As people said in the past, a smile is a manifestation of happiness. It's just an expression from the bottom of my heart to meet again an extraordinary person like you... Really, it's a pleasure to meet you again."

My face became even colder. My white hair was slightly loose with sharp eyes.

I knew that Johan would come towards me, but I didn't expect him to come sooner than I did.

Without paying attention to what Johan was doing, I now reached back for the empty glass. From there, I could tell that what was left in the glass was probably the smell of blood mixed with the aroma of wine.

How disgusting. What was this man thinking?

While watching what I was doing, Johan then opened his mouth.

"Do you like that drink Miss White?"

"Yes, if you hadn't spoiled it, I would have finished this wine in one gulp."

"...What a pity, I had prepared it for you."

Looking around where the sound of knives and forks colliding with fancy plates could be clearly heard by my ears, every sound that was produced made my eyes blink. Those people, yes all those people came to this feast and stuffed every bit of food into their mouths, without knowing exactly what meat they were consuming.

Seeing all that made worry and fear fill my mind.

Huf.... I took a slow breath before asking.

"Johan... are you now working in this palace as a cook?"

"No. I can't even cook."

"Good. It's good for people like you not to cook with strange ingredients."

"I might have to learn."

"...Some people aren't born to cook, so you never got that far."

I hoped that everything Johan said wasn't a lie. My tongue would definitely go numb when it came into contact with pangang meat from the same species.

Humans were not designed to enjoy cannibalism.

But maybe there will always be people like Johan who enjoy it while wearing a big smile.

My eyes glanced back at Johan. I noticed that he was at least not smiling for now.

Imagining him smiling broadly was enough to make me want to leave this place.

"By the way, thank you for all your gifts. But I'm quite complaining about the way you gave them to me."

Technically, Johan did give me gifts. But as a career woman like me always experiences, gifts are often followed by desires and motives. Especially when a single man gives a gift to a mature woman. There must be a purpose behind it all.

I mean, in normal and natural circumstances, when a mature woman who is even a virgin gets a gift from a man, the next time they might go to a love hotel and do something-that's normal for a species that has a reproductive drive.

But what I'm talking about now is that man. That man doesn't seem to have the same motives as the majority of normal men.

In front of me, John then replied with a friendly smile.

"No problem. I hope you're happy with the tree I've decorated."

"I see..."

"I was hoping to meet you at that time but you weren't there. I didn't know that Miss White had a habit of being late, even though you are a businessman."

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"A little tardiness won't be a problem."

Paying attention to the surroundings, no matter what Johan plans to do to me, he is unlikely to start a fight with me when there are many people here.

Therefore, I believe this man is also not carrying any dangerous weapons except for the blood inside his body.

"Miss White. Would you like to play with me?"

Johan said that while reaching into his pocket for something.

Damn it, is that a knife?

Grabbed something and took it out. A black colored playing card was placed on the table.

"Remi?"

"Oh... you know this game?"

I briefly noticed Johan showing a puzzled expression, before he hid it again.

Why did this surprise him? I knew the game of Remi had existed in my time. But this is definitely not something great.

Some of the culture from the era I lived in still remains today, so I wouldn't be surprised if there were simple technology or games like Rummy and chess similar to the ones I often see.

Johan then raised his hand, he signaled to me that he might want to teach me to play Remi. I of course refused.

"No need. We can start right now."

"Owh..."

Johan then played with his fingers. Shuffling the playing cards with just the right amount of aerial momentum. After doing so, he then passed it to me.

"If you don't mind."

I grabbed a black colored playing card. There didn't seem to be anything suspicious inside the lining of the playing cards.

There was no smell of blood or wet paper. This card was obviously safe.

Shuffle them and play them. Each card in my hand floated between my fingers in turn as if fate was actually playing it. But there was definitely no fate here, it was all an illusion created by someone familiar with gambling. A little magic trick like the ones in the show.

After finishing, I put the playing cards back on the table. Taking out a few cards for myself while giving a few more cards to Johan.

Johan grabbed the cards I gave him, he then looked at what was there. His mouth began to open as he wanted to speak.

"Hmm... Miss white, have you ever heard of a wizard named David Howard?"

"Who is that?"

"At the same time as your arrival, I lost contact with Mr. David."

"Perhaps that was the name of one of the two ill-mannered men you sent to greet me."

Johan reached for another card on the table and shook his head.

"No-no, it's a different person. Mr. David went to a hill where there is an ancient dragon bone. You know ancient dragon bones? I'm sure, if Miss White left the city at that time and went west, you would have seen a giant bone that was very sturdy."

"Oh... that big bone? Yes, I can see it too."

Perhaps what Johan was referring to was the bone near the bunker I was in.

Johan then continued as he watched me reach for another card.

"That place is known as the graveyard of the dragon of life. It is said, in the distant past, more precisely 800 years ago in what is known as the age of chaos, the Rebellion of Muneir. The Muneir Kingdom in the North fought against its rebellious people, because one of the dragons of the six elementals was under the control of the Muneir Kingdom, the rebellious people did not have much of a chance, eventually there were countless deaths due to various large massacres."

Johan paused for a short time to pick up more cards. Once the card was in his hand, he continued.

"In the midst of the desperation of the rebel forces, they then built a large army consisting of elemental users along with iron-plated monsters that came from the darkness. Fighting back with all the strength they had left until they managed to kill the dragon of life. But there is something unique there."

I grabbed another card so that there were a total of five cards in my hand. My ears throbbed as Johan continued.

"There is another version of the legend circulating in the local community, that the dragon of life was never actually obedient to the kingdom of Muneir and the dragon itself had lived 2000 years ago in the time of the Scaramur kingdom to protect an ancient temple. What was the dragon trying to protect? No one knows, the local people believe that the place seals a dangerous monster that is equal or stronger than the six elemental dragons, some also suspect that the temple is a tomb of the lost king Scaramur. And the shrine is most likely near the fossilized dragon of life."

"I never knew that there was a temple in that place."

"Is that so? But history says that there was a temple."

"History is always written by the victor, which makes history itself filled with bias. You shouldn't be surprised that the truth may be far from what people say."

What do you have to do with the shrine? I wasn't stupid enough to think that the shrine Johan was referring to wasn't the bunker I lived in. In fact, based on Johan's story, it was very likely that the shrine Johan was referring to was the bunker.

So, what did Johan and the organization behind him have to do with me? This worried me because indirectly, Johan was strengthening his own position as my natural enemy.

While hiding this fact, I then closed my eyes for a while. Rechecking the cards in my hand while opening my mouth.

"Most of human history in fact consists of bias. What the ancients said will always be different from what people say today. Even if historical records are close to the truth, there will definitely be disinformation there."

What I am saying is the truth, which science has proven through various complex methods.

The rotating reality, the reality that continues to run on an elongated timeline will always be eroded by empty space.

Time is relative, time runs on space.

In the infinite space of time, life can be created and humans exist there.

Human extensions have natural weapons that can change the surrounding environment, control the lives of other species, solve various problems while creating more problems. And bias is one of those problem sources.

But even if bias is a problem. In reality, it is possible for humans to control their own destiny just as I was currently doing.

In a brief moment, I then closed the card in my hand and approached Johan.

"Didn't you put any more cards?"

"Me, stand."

Johan answered briefly. He then closed the card in his hand while leaning back against the chair.

On the other hand, I then placed my butt on the table right in front of Johan. Trying to provoke him.

"Victory seems to be in my hands."

I quickly turned over the card in my hand to show it to Johan.

"21, blackjack."

"Fuu... you're lucky."

"Do you think so?"

"Of course, this game was designed from the start for winners who have complete luck."

My eyes narrowed slightly as I pointed at the cards in Johan's hand. He hadn't revealed all the cards in his hand but I knew everything that was behind them.

"Ace, 10 diamonds, 9 Love, and 8 Love. You get 10 diamonds on the last draw."

Hearing what I said, Johan could not open his mouth anymore, he could only remain silent without saying anything.

He then opened all the cards in his hand to prove that everything I said was true. None of them missed.

While continuing to watch Johan, I then grabbed the deck of cards on the table. Moving the cards up a little to turn them over one by one.

"5 love, king diamond, 8 love..."

Johan watched my hand movements while listening to everything I said.

Little by little the cards I mentioned fell down creating a messy pile of cards.

Johan's eyes trembled slightly and his hair bangs covered part of his face.

I did all this to show him that there was no luck in the game. Everything was arranged for me to be the winner-

"..... And the last one. As Love."

Keeping the remaining cards in my hand. I then said something to Johan in a low tone of voice.

"Did you know? When all the values in the cards are added up, the total is 184. The same number as the people you killed that day."

Noticing that his whole body was motionless, I was worried that there would be dust on the clothes he was wearing, so I brushed off the dust with my delicate hands.

"Don't think that the lives of hundreds of people are enough to scare me. Or perhaps if I can give you a suggestion, you'd need at least a million lives to make my eyes blink."

After confirming that there was no dust on Johan's clothes, I then placed my hand on Johan's cheek, ready to snap my fingers when his lips showed signs that he was about to smile.

Johan's smile crumbled instantly, replaced by his eyes that radiated murderous intent.

Seeing that, I was a little taken aback as I crossed my arms between my breasts. I then whispered to him.

"If we meet again in the future. I think, perhaps one of us will perish and there is no need for me to be able to guess who will be the winner. You or me, who do you think will be the winner?"

Ah- Johan, your only mistake now is that you chose the wrong opponent.