Super Righteous Player
Chapter 792 - 331: The Weakness of King Gupta’s Kingdom and the Decay Husband_1

Chapter 792: Chapter 331: The Weakness of King Gupta’s Kingdom and the Decay Husband_1

"You don’t seem nervous."

Looking at "Annan’s" face, Rotfiend spoke leisurely, "But now I’ve won two games in a row...."

"Your card play is too damn good!"

Husky interrupted Rotfiend loudly, "That’s how you play the game, my friend!"

"Oh? Do you hate your brother so much... so much that you’d play dumb and ruin his chance to be the heir?"

Rotfiend narrowed his eyes, "Cut the bullshit; just play your card, you damned eunuch."

Husky was blunt, "Oh... wait, is it my turn now?"

She complained, "It’s all your fault for thinking too long just now; you’ve messed up my train of thought."

——You actually had a train of thought?

Maria, who was witnessing the nightmare, was instantly shocked.

"...So you do intend to lose."

It was only now that Rotfiend could finally make out that "Annan" indeed wished to fail.

Because he dared to directly provoke him without fear—or rather, without knowing, that Rotfiend could actually kill him right now.

The reason he wasn’t doing it wasn’t because he feared the old grandmother.

After all, the children of Winter who had died weren’t few, and besides, it was he himself who had summoned himself here, not Rotfiend cozying up to him.

The old grandmother was reasonable. She was the God of Tradition, and even the word "reasonable" itself was created by her, conducted first by her clerics.

Rotfiend didn’t attack Annan simply because...

The "price" Annan proposed during the ritual truly piqued His interest.

If He could ensure Dmitry’s firstborn had no heir, and then exile Annan, allowing Dmitry to take control of the duchy, His ritual’s progress could be advanced by two-sevenths.

The price, merely to play a game with them, wasn’t much at all.

After all, He couldn’t possibly lose.

Staking something on the outcome was only natural.

These cheating methods were all things He had played with in the past.

Narrowing His eyes, Rotfiend stated unabashedly, "Or perhaps, your goal is to enter the third round of the game.

"This cannot be Dmitry’s or Annan’s nightmare, so there can be only one answer...

"This is that young wolf cub’s nightmare, isn’t it?"

Once He finally had enough evidence to be sure it was a nightmare,

The surrounding stone chamber began to shake.

There were powder and pebbles falling...

——But the nightmare didn’t collapse after all.

"...He’s realized it’s a nightmare."

Maria exclaimed, "But why hasn’t the nightmare collapsed?"

"Because He doesn’t want it to."

Annan whispered, "I have read a book about Rotfiend before. The Thousand-Faced Phantom Tower in The Holy Nation now, a long, long time ago... used to be in His homeland, a lost dynasty known academically as ’King Gupta’s Kingdom.’

So it goes, one who gambles for too long is bound to lose."

Regardless of how ingenious the technique or how precise the probability, nothing overcomes cheating — Rotface had understood this truth very clearly long ago, and paid a considerable price for it.

— Take, for instance, His manhood.

Unlike the current introverted, freedom-seeking Underground Federation.

As the predecessor of the Underground Federation, the dueling culture was prevalent, and the customs were fierce in the Eastern Desert Kingdom of Gupta, where initially they dueled with curved swords.

After a certain king issued the "Blood Hate Decree," any form of dueling with bladed weapons or attacking others on the streets with blades was abolished. Guns didn’t even exist at that time.

Brawling was limited to a non-bloody level, and anyone who caused another to bleed would become a slave, to be sold to someone else... unless the criminal paid a large sum of money to "redeem" himself.

Thereafter, the people of Gupta resorted to "games" for gambling duels. But they did not allow a cost-free "defeat," so initially these games were all for gambling — with very little money involved, more often gambling on body parts or control over the other person.

"In other words, they gambled on people."

Annan said softly.

This was seen by the desert people as a final way to settle disputes.

Rotface, at the age of seven... gambled with the king known as "The White Robed King" of Gupta and was directly declared the loser for cheating, had His manhood chopped off, and was branded on the forehead with the mark of a slave, becoming a court eunuch and growing up alongside the children of the White Robed King.

In Gupta, the trait of "white skin" was rare. Added to Rotface’s beauty and natural exotic scent, He served as an attendant to the White Robed King’s young child and also became the White Robed King’s lover.

Later, Rotface found the opportunity in His teens to become an alchemist.

According to historical records, the White Robed King was eventually murdered by an assassin — while the King was using the toilet, the assassin blew him up along with the toilet into pieces. The assassin was of course later tracked down and executed severely.

But according to later scholars’ investigations...

The White Robed King Himself was a "Heka" who was proficient in idol spells; He was also skilled in many now-lost Prophet spells and Soul Snatching spells, so it’s impossible He did not foresee someone wanting to kill Him.

— And it was Rotface who blocked this part of His transcendent abilities.

At the age of fourteen, He foresaw that someone was plotting to assassinate the White Robed King. Without any communication with the assassin and without exposing Himself, He helped the assassin lure away the guards, sealed the White Robed King’s precognitive abilities, poisoned Him to weaken His body, and even smashed the resurrection statue the White Robed King had set up in advance.

But because He had no direct relationship with the "assassin," the spell could not trace back to Him.

LATER, He assisted the son of the White Robed King with whom He grew up — who was also the last monarch of the Gupta dynasty, "Iris King," — in murdering His thirteen brothers and six sisters, smoothly taking the throne for Himself.

The "Iris King" had a mild nature, was not adept at governing nor military matters, and what He did most often was to study various spices with Rotface, tending to listen to Rotface in everything. And the final outcome was that Rotface secretly took control of the country’s governance, becoming the de facto monarch and annihilating many loyal subjects.

"...And you know the rest of the story."

Annan said.

Maria hesitated for a moment, "I feel like His actions weren’t solely driven by His friendship with the Iris King and His own personal desires..."

"Of course, a significant part of the emotion also comes from His hatred for the White Robed King."

Annan spoke solemnly, "It’s the same as with Henry VIII. He actually despised this country, thus wishing to destroy it — before the destruction of the country, He had already killed almost all the White Robed King’s children. In the end, only three were left... aside from the Iris King, there were only His two young sisters."

In the end, these two sisters also perished in Rotface’s experiments.

That was the ritual Rotface hoped would ascend the Iris King, and also the one He used to ascend Himself after being executed in a fit of rage by the Iris King.

"And therefore... ’I’ sought Rotface for a ’duel’."

Annan concluded, "Because Rotface would not choose to flee, nor would He strike to kill me out of spite. He had to win using whatever means necessary.

"Being sold into the royal house after losing to the White Robed King was the beginning of His life’s shame and pain. The duel that Dmitry and I initiated against Him hit right in His sore spot, He could not escape —"

As Annan spoke, He seemed to see Young Annan’s silent and cold gaze and seemed to hear his words.

— Since gods too are beings with human hearts.

Then why not use it to one’s advantage?

...Indeed, just like me.

Annan squinted His eyes, revealing a fox-like light smile.

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