Apocalypse Cage (1)
The boredom was crushing. Sunlight poured through the windows, turning the dust floating in the classroom into specks of pure gold. Counting every single one of those glittering particles would have been far more productive than listening to the old professor droning on from the podium.
“...Therefore, in the territories of His Highness the 4th Prince, Grand Duke Vladimir, the Northern Steppe region, and the territory of His Highness the 7th Prince, Grand Duke Mikhail, the Far East Maritime Province, a lower tax rate is applied compared to other regions in accordance with special legislation… This can be considered His Imperial Majesty’s benevolent consideration, taking into account the unique characteristics of those areas…”
Imperial Tax Law.
Erika Cage wanted to sigh, but even that felt like too much effort. The professor’s voice was nothing more than a meaningless string of noise. It was no different from the buzzing of a fly’s wings. Even when she tried to focus, her brain refused to process the meaning of the words. Of course it did. Sitting here wasn’t even her choice to begin with.
Enrolling in the Academy, being forced to major in law and administration—none of it had been her decision. It was all her parents’ doing.
“Erika, you’re so smart.”
Her father had always said that. When she was little, those words had felt wonderful. So she worked even harder, just to hear them again. But in the end, they were nothing but shackles. Heavy iron weights chained to her ankles.
“Your older brother is honest and good at running the factory, but he’s completely hopeless when it comes to using his head. If you go to the Academy, make connections with the young nobles there… learn the law and become a bureaucrat, just think how much that would help our family.”
Family business. Factory. Enterprise. Just thinking about those words made her chest feel tight.
From the moment she was born, her life had been laid out like a perfectly scripted play. Her brother, as the eldest son, would inherit the family business, and she—the clever second child—would support him from the shadows as a government official. And eventually… she would be sold off to whatever marriage prospect her parents chose. A flawless design. At least inside her parents’ heads.
That was why she was here at the Academy. But she wasn’t enjoying it in the slightest. She couldn’t even understand it. What was so great about their pathetic family name? Their pathetic business? Their pathetic factory? No matter how hard they struggled, they were still commoners at the end of the day.
So she kept her grades at the exact level needed to graduate. She could have done better, but she didn’t want to. It wasn’t that she had anything else she particularly wanted to do. She simply… hated all of it. The predetermined path she was walking, and the people around her who never once questioned it.
Her parents, having forced her into the Academy, didn’t even care about her actual grades. The only thing that mattered to them was how many noble children she associated with and how close she was to them.
“As expected of our daughter! Her networking skills are absolutely incredible!”
Whether that was praise or an insult, Erika no longer cared to tell the difference. Everything felt like a lie.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The sound of the old pendulum clock on the classroom wall seemed to burrow into her brain. Seventy-two minutes. The time left until class ended. Four thousand three hundred and twenty seconds.
Erika counted the numbers in her head and laughed bitterly at herself. She thought that being tied to a guillotine would probably make time pass faster. She couldn’t even tell if she was alive or dead.
What does it even mean… to be alive?
The moment she asked herself that question, the sensation she felt while playing Texas Hold’em came rushing back. The feeling of holding cards in her hand. Reading her opponents’ eyes, their tiniest facial twitches, even the sound of their breathing. The ecstasy of seeing through it all and predicting the next move. The thrill of bluffing someone into folding. And finally, that instant when the river card was flipped over. The perfect state of immersion where the entire world seemed to stop, leaving only her and the cards on the table.
That was real.
It was completely different from this Academy life, which was filled with nothing but lies and hypocrisy. In that world, status and wealth meant nothing. Only skill, guts, and luck decided the winner.
Texas Hold’em. That was the only thing. The only time she ever felt truly alive was when she was playing that game.
Erika couldn’t hold back anymore. She slipped her hand under the desk and gently stroked the worn deck of cards she kept in her pocket. The familiar, soft texture of the paper against her fingertips. Once again, she waited desperately for the end of class. For the moment when her real life would begin.
A thin trail of smoke rose from a cigarette carelessly stubbed out in the ashtray. The acrid smell mixed with the scent of expensive perfume, making her head spin.
Erika stared silently at the two cards in her hand. An ace and a king. An excellent hand. But now that the outcome had already been decided, these pieces of paper meant nothing.
A mountain of chips she had won towered on the table. Made of ivory and tortoiseshell, they felt heavy and cold. Erika flicked one of them lightly with her finger.
Clack.
It collided with the others, producing a cheerful sound.
“Oohohohohoho!”
At that moment, a familiar laugh burst out from behind her. The strange sight of someone covering their mouth with a fan while their shoulders shook with laughter. It was Victoria Mckenzie.
“As expected of Miss Cage! You really are the strongest in the entire Academy!”
Her golden vertical roll hair bounced in time with her laughter. The other noble young ladies beside her immediately burst into applause, showering her with praise as if they had been waiting for their cue.
“That felt so refreshing, Miss Cage!”
“Did you see the look on that arrogant marchioness’s face? It was like she was staring at her husband’s young mistress. It was absolutely hilarious!”
“When you went all-in at the end, I really thought my heart was going to stop!”
This was right after the “arrogant aunties” who had been sitting across from Erika had stormed out of the salon in a huff. As if on cue, her so-called “friends” had swarmed in to celebrate her victory.
“It was nothing special.”
Erika answered indifferently as she began gathering the scattered chips. Her hands moved with mechanical precision, stacking them in neat piles of ten.
“Oh my, nothing special? Miss Cage, you’re far too modest!”
Victoria approached and gracefully sat down in the red velvet chair beside her. The sweet, dizzying scent that clung to her body—exactly like the liqueur Vyakh produced by her family—tickled Erika’s nose.
They call it a love potion or something.
Erika scoffed inwardly. As if such a thing existed. And even if it did, it had nothing to do with her. Love. Was there any emotion in this world more pointless and fake than that?
“By the way, Miss Cage, what do you plan to do with all that money? If you have time… would you like to go see the revised edition of Katarina and Henrietta together?”
“...Maybe.”
Instead of answering, Erika carefully placed the final chip on top of the tower she had built. A perfectly balanced tower. The moment she saw it, the dizziness in her head vanished like a lie, leaving only calm.
She had no interest in the money. Whether these chips were real currency or just enchanted pieces of wood didn’t matter. There was only one thing she wanted.
Victory. The sensation of reading her opponent’s moves, exploiting their weaknesses, and taking everything from them. The feeling of being truly alive. That was all.
Erika felt her heartbeat as she stared blankly at the chattering faces of the friends surrounding her. Gorgeous dresses, expensive jewelry, and smiles full of lies. Their eyes seemed to hold pure joy and admiration. But Erika knew what those looks really meant.
I’m nothing more than a fighting dog.
Exactly. It was the exact same look a master gave when their prized fighting dog sank its teeth into an opponent’s throat and won the biggest match of the night. Pride. Satisfaction. The arrogant desire to show off how strong and clever my dog was.
They weren’t looking at Erika Cage the person. They were only looking at a “champion” named Cage—one that fought well and had an excellent win rate.
But she didn’t mind. In fact, it was comfortable. The relationship was clear. They provided her with money and the chance to play at bigger tables. In return, she fulfilled their expectations, giving them vicarious satisfaction and feeding their vanity. It was a perfect transaction. At least it was far more honest and clear than the “family love” her parents forced on her or the “friendship” people prattled about at the Academy.
“Miss Cage, you might not just be the strongest in the Academy—you might be the best in the entire capital. Truly.”
Victoria whispered as she lightly placed a hand on Erika’s shoulder. Her touch was hot. It was the touch of an owner caressing their most treasured possession. The same way one would stroke a dog, a horse, or a doll.
“By the way, Miss Cage, have you seen today’s newspaper?”
Another young lady beside them, Eleonora, suddenly changed the subject as if she had just remembered.
“That good-for-nothing, His Highness Grand Duke Mikhail, is apparently holding a Texas Hold’em tournament!”
At those words, Erika’s hand—which had been about to brush Victoria’s hand off her shoulder—froze for a moment.
“A tournament?”
“Yes! They say the grand prize is an Eternal Special Membership Card for the Tourism Special Zone!”
“Oh my god, really? That 240,000-gold one?”
Gasps of disbelief erupted from those around them.
Erika’s heart began to beat with a slightly different meaning for the first time in a long while. It wasn’t because of the expensive prize. It was because of the name Mikhail.
She secretly respected that debauched prince. People pointed fingers at him, calling him a drunkard and a madman, but to her, he was different. He was a genius.
The Mikhail Blue Label craze. The auction frenzy. The gacha events. And above all, Texas Hold’em.
She didn’t know what the word meant. Like the names of the other games created by Grand Duke Mikhail, it wasn’t listed in any dictionary. But she liked the sound of it. It felt somehow rough and barbaric, yet strangely romantic.
“Preliminaries are being held across the entire Empire, and the top performers in each region will earn the right to advance to the main tournament. Participants can even place bets on the matches like they do in horse racing.”
Victoria’s voice pulled Erika out of her thoughts. Her eyes were burning hotter than ever. It was the same look a racehorse owner gave their prized steed right before a major derby. The other girls’ eyes were the same.
They wanted it. They wanted their champion to shine brilliantly on the biggest stage in the Empire—not just in the salons and clubs of the capital. They wanted to prove that their judgment had been correct. They wanted to brag that they were “friends” with someone like that.
Erika could feel every ounce of their expectations. And strangely, she didn’t find it burdensome at all. In fact, she found it enjoyable.
“You’re going to participate, right, Miss Cage?”
Erika didn’t answer Victoria’s question right away. She simply stared quietly at the tower of chips on the table. Then, a very faint—but more confident than anyone else’s—smile appeared on her lips.
“Of course.”
Her voice was low, but there wasn’t the slightest tremor in it.
“Obviously I have to go. It’s such a huge table.”
She paused for a moment and slowly scanned the faces of her friends one by one.
“You’re all… going to bet on me, right?”
Her “friends” nodded enthusiastically, saying of course they would. Victoria Mckenzie, in particular, made a huge fuss about betting her entire fortune on “Miss Cage.”
But none of that mattered.
Erika Cage simply felt her heartbeat quicken. Heat rose throughout her body.