Work Prophet
Chapter 401 - 19: Truth or Dare

Chapter 401: Chapter 19: Truth or Dare

Ruby and Raymond had a chat and quickly identified the fastest horses in the stable and the families to which their owners belonged.

She also inquired indirectly whether there had been anyone else approaching the area or lingering nearby during this time.

From Raymond’s answers, Ruby locked onto a few suspicious targets, but felt their chances of success were slim and it would be quite difficult to break out of the castle with just a few fast horses.

The guards of the Arias family were not just for show, especially those archers on the walls.

Even if their arrows couldn’t penetrate the knights’ steel armor, they could easily hit the warhorses below them.

Could it be that this time Hirodod planned to pay a price to eliminate Ireya, with the assassin resolved to die if necessary?

This possibility was not beyond consideration, but Ruby still felt as if she had missed something.

She left the stable and returned to the castle, climbing to the highest level and standing before a narrow stone window to gaze out. From here, one could see vast wheat fields brimming with promising growth.

If all went as expected, this year’s Green Field would welcome an unprecedented bountiful harvest.

However, that was not Ruby’s main focus at the moment. She shifted her gaze from the wheat fields to the small path outside the castle, noticing a carriage approaching from the distance.

Because of the far-off distance, Ruby couldn’t make out the emblem on the flag, but it presumably belonged to a noble who lived far away and was hastily arriving just as the banquet started.

This would normally be an unremarkable occurrence, yet upon watching the carriage, Ruby suddenly paused and then, recollecting something, she ran down from the castle.

Ruby did not seek out the owner of the carriage; instead, she went to the southwest tower.

There, a team of guards had just relieved their colleagues and come down from the wall, resting on the second floor of the tower and started playing cards.

This little game, unique to the Double Rest Sect, quickly became popular in Green Field after Li Yu brought it to this plane.

The main ways to play included comparing sizes, Blackjack, Train Pulling, and Landlord.

Especially Landlord, which was suitable for all ages, could be played by gathering three people anytime, anywhere.

And after the invention of white paper, the last obstacle to the widespread popularity of cards—the lack of cards—ceased to exist.

Upon returning recently, Li Yu felt as if he had walked onto the wrong film set. By the fields, at the village entrance, by the roadside... One could see people playing cards everywhere, which could lead one to think this was the world of "The Witcher".

Miss Rabbit also had quite an addiction to cards, setting a trend, so naturally, the others at Teacup Castle also quickly fell in love with this tabletop competitive sport.

However, Alfred did not allow the guards to gamble with money while playing cards, firstly to prevent gambling losses from disrupting the team’s camaraderie, and secondly, to avoid the risk of outsiders exploiting this and blackmailing the on-duty guards.

So the guards substituted with other stakes, like the winners could drink all of the losers’ alcohol, or hit the losers’ buttocks with the hilt of a sword... In short, all kinds of bizarre bets emerged, making every card game lively.

When Ruby first came to Teacup Castle, her initial job was washing clothes for the guards, so she was quite familiar with many of them, and now, as Ireya’s personal maid, she encountered no obstruction entering the tower.

But Ruby did not let her guard down, because being here meant she was on Alfred’s territory, and she had her own reservations about the old knight, especially as she had secrets of her own.

Ruby swiftly calculated in her mind how to get the information she wanted without drawing attention.

Once she arrived at the second level of the tower, someone soon noticed her.

This little maid who had only arrived at Teacup Castle a little over a month ago was already well-known among the guards of the Arias family.

Mainly because Ruby was beautiful and kind-hearted, she quickly attracted a large crowd of unmarried young guards’ admiration.

However, before these people had the chance to confess their feelings, Ruby was already noticed by Alisa and not long after that, she was recommended to Ireya to become a personal maid, achieving a career leapfrog.

While they were happy for Ruby, the young men found the words in their hearts a bit difficult to express. Nevertheless, being able to see Ruby again made them very happy.

Someone asked, "Does Lady Ireya have any orders?"

"No, Miss went with Grisa to deal with the nobles in the castle, and she gave me a day off, but everyone else in the castle is pretty busy right now, so there’s no one to play with me."

"So you came to find us?" a young guard with blond hair said with a smile.

"That’s right, I remember that there should be cards to play with here."

There had been some concerns that Ruby, after becoming Ireya’s personal maid, might become haughty like Grisa and no longer willing to associate with them, but Ruby’s response personally shattered such doubts.

Charlene still seemed to be the same kind and sincere Charlene, unaffected by her change in position.

Seeing that no one answered her, Ruby added, "What, am I not welcome here?"

"How could that be," a middle-aged man with a full beard stood up from his wooden stool, "Little Charlene, you can take my place. I was just about to take a nap."

"Come on, Bas, you just don’t want to admit you were about to lose and want to run away."

"Nonsense, I was obviously letting you off easy. Otherwise, you’d be grooming my horse for me later." The bearded man looked serious as he spoke, but he was quick to act, tossing the deck of cards he held into the pile below and shuffling it twice.

His actions elicited a chorus of booing.

The other two at the card table also joined in the jeering, calling him despicable, but seeing the bearded man replaced by the youthful and beautiful Ruby, they both raised their hands in approval.

So without further ado, they quickly reshuffled the cards.

A designated referee was in charge of dealing the cards, each person received 17, and an additional 3 cards were set aside as the landlord’s cards.

Before calling the landlord role, Ruby suddenly said, "What were you betting on just now? It looked pretty interesting."

"Uh, we were just saying... whoever loses has to groom the winner’s horse."

"I can groom horses, but I don’t have a warhorse," Ruby said, feeling troubled.

"Then let’s not bet on anything, we’ll just play casually."

"But then the game doesn’t seem as interesting."

At this, the two men exchanged glances and then looked back at Ruby, "What do you suggest we play, Charlene?"

"How about this, we play a little game called Truth or Dare."

"Truth or Dare?"

"Right, the rules are like this. The person who loses the card game has to choose between Truth or Dare to complete."

"What’s Truth and what’s Dare?" The other people in the room were also showing interest by now.

"Truth means the winner asks a question, and the loser has to swear in the name of Saturday, that your answer is the absolute truth. As for Dare, it’s a command from the winner that the loser must fulfill."