Chapter 274: Rabbit in the Moon (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 274: Rabbit in the Moon (4)
“Master, how about a card game next?”
Elize, who had produced a deck of playing cards from somewhere, handled them with nimble fingers.
With a series of sharp taps and a fluid riffle, she shuffled the deck expertly, the cards dancing dazzlingly between her fingers.
In the blink of an eye, the color of a card changed.
“Amazing! I can’t feel any mana, but the cards are just changing!”
“Heehee, it’s not magic, it’s sleight of hand.”
It was a simple card trick, but impossible to perform without constant practice.
“You know how to do that?”
“I used to make a living with this. I’m quite confident in my ability to swindle people, you know?” Elize said with a shrug.
“Alright. Let’s play a card game then.”
Bunny girls and a card game. A perfect match.
Since some of them might not know the rules of poker, we decided on Old Maid, which was easier to pick up.
The rules were the ones everyone knew. The person left holding the Joker at the end loses. We decided the winner would give the loser a penalty.
“Alright, I’ll deal. And of course, I won’t cheat. Rin, you shouldn’t either.”
“I won’t.”
Elize dealt the cards with a few quick flicks. All seven of us received our hands without a single card missing and laid down our matching pairs on the table.
Karami fanned his cards out like a fan.
The feel of the cards was snug in his hand. A familiar sensation.
“Everyone knows the rules, right? The person with the Joker at the end loses. We’ll go clockwise. I’ll start.”
Old Maid was a continuous series of probability and psychological warfare—the foundation of any card game. It was a simple game, but it had its own fun, and who you played with made all the difference.
Five bunny girls and one fox.
No matter what he did, playing with them was fun.
They were so engrossed in the game that they seemed to have forgotten they were even wearing bunny outfits.
From the legs right in front of him to the curve of their buttocks pressed against the chairs and the swell of their upper chests—that was just the start. When they reached out to draw a card, the skin that had been pressed together would part, revealing their armpits.
Or the sight of one of them subtly lifting a buttock, using her fingers to adjust a leotard that had ridden up into her crotch.
Every single trivial movement was fucking sexy.
There was never a dull moment watching them.
“Master, it’s Rin’s turn.”
As I was enjoying the sight of the bunny girls playing, my turn came around quickly.
Karami held out his hand.
“Master, do you have the Joker?”
“Nope, I don’t.”
Reassured by Karami’s immediate reply, Rin drew a card without much thought—only to scowl the moment she saw it.
“Lying through your teeth…”
“Haha, now it’s my turn, isn’t it?”
I drew a card from Azyeth, and a few more rounds passed. Elize threw the last two cards in her hand onto the table.
“Oh my, looks like I’m the first one out.”
“You didn’t cheat with your tricks, did you?”
“How could I cheat when I was taking cards from your hands? You should refrain from baseless accusations and focus on getting out. You never know what kind of command I’ll give the loser.”
The winner who would assign the penalty was decided. All that remained was the race to escape punishment. The players were even more focused than when they were trying to win.
One by one, they managed to get rid of their cards and escape, until only Karami and Azyeth were left.
Karami had two cards.
Azyeth had one.
Karami was the one holding the Joker.
Azyeth’s nerves were on edge. She stared at the two cards Karami held out as if trying to see right through them. Of course, that didn’t mean she could actually see through them.
The odds were 50/50.
A single choice would separate the winner from the loser.
As Azyeth stared intently, deep in thought, Karami subtly pushed one of the cards forward.
As if I’d fall for such an obvious trick.
Without hesitation, Azyeth drew the other card.
“Eh…?”
A single cry, like a dying gasp, escaped her.
She fell for it.
Her clumsy mind games were no match for Karami.
“My turn.”
“I think it would be fine if you lost, Master.”
“Not a chance. Now, Azyeth. Present your cards.”
Azyeth’s hand trembled as she held her cards forward. Karami’s hand hovered over them, weaving back and forth as if casting a spell.
Then, it stopped over one of them.
“Hmm, should I pick this one?”
Azyeth’s expression brightened instantly.
“Hmph, no. Maybe I should pick the other one…”
Her face fell.
“Or not. Was it the first one after all?”
Bright again.
“Hmm, maybe not? It has to be this one…”
Fallen again.
Her expression changed dramatically depending on where his hand went. Azyeth, who was usually so devoid of emotion, couldn’t maintain her poker face with defeat staring her in the face.
It was obvious which one was the Joker without even looking.
“I suppose I should set an example as the master here.”
Karami gave a faint smile.
Azyeth’s face lit up.
In that instant.
Swoop.
“Oh, I’ve made a pair. Miss Azyeth, you’re the loser.”
“…?”
A beat later, Azyeth grasped the situation. She glanced at Karami’s empty hands, then at her own. A single Joker was clutched in her fingers.
The Joker, reminiscent of a reaper holding a scythe.
Azyeth asked, her eyes filled with a sense of betrayal.
“Why…?”
“I’d rather not have a penalty. And besides, I can’t show favoritism, can I? Don’t look at me like that. The world of competition is a cruel one.”
“So the princess gets the penalty for Old Maid. Hmm, what should it be~?”
Elize savored Azyeth’s anxious expression as she mulled it over happily.
The two were well-known rivals.
To Azyeth, Elize was the thief who had stolen her ring, and Elize disliked Azyeth for her blatant jealousy.
It was enough to make Azyeth openly radiate her dislike.
So, what penalty would truly vex Azyeth? It seemed like a difficult question, but a change in perspective offered an easy hint.
Elize patted her own thigh.
“Princess, you can sit on my lap too.”
“……?”
It was a penalty too ambiguous to be called a penalty. Azyeth stared at Elize with quizzical eyes, as if to ask why she would suggest such a thing when she must dislike it too.
That was exactly what Elize wanted. An act Azyeth would never want her to do. In other words, if I hate it, my opponent must hate it too.
A mutually-assured-destruction mindset: I hate it too, but I’ll endure it if it means I get to see you suffer.
Azyeth, grasping her intent, furrowed her brow.
“No.”
“Master, what do we do with someone who refuses to perform their penalty?”
“Hmm. How about the winner gets to take one of the loser’s possessions?”
“In that case, I’ll take the princess’s fairy tale book…”
Thump.
Azyeth shot to her feet.
She seemed to engage in a brief staring contest with Elize, but soon walked over and gently placed her bottom on Elize’s lap.
“That’s right, you have to protect your precious fairy tale book. Sitting on my lap is a hundred, a thousand times better than having something precious taken from you, isn’t it?”
“……I hate you.”
“Still saying things like that. You haven’t learned your lesson, have you? For that, you get an additional penalty.”
Elize wrapped her arms around Azyeth’s waist and hugged her tight. Azyeth’s eyes widened at the sudden back hug.
“Let… go…!”
“This is also part of the penalty. If you want me to take your book, then by all means, keep struggling.”
It was a warning that was no different from a threat.
Azyeth, who had been struggling, froze.
“Heehee, isn’t this much nicer when you’re so docile? Besides, Princess, your body is so cool, it feels good to hug you.”
“……”
Frozen like a doll, Azyeth wore a sullen expression, lamenting her helpless situation. It was worse than Skadia’s ice prison.
The sight of the stunningly beautiful bunny girls embracing was so overwhelming it went beyond eye candy and could almost be called an assault on the senses.
Elize’s breasts were pressed flat like a pancake against Azyeth’s back, forming a double-decker sandwich with their layered buttocks.
‘Nowhere to look? What are you talking about? I have to get my fill now.’
He stared openly.
That was the master’s privilege.
Who was going to say anything?
As Karami was feasting his eyes, Mirabelle, who was still sitting between his legs, looked up. A deep blush colored her face.
“U-Um, Master…”
“What is it?”
“I-It’s just……”
“…Ah. You should get down.”
“N-No, it’s fine. I’ll stay here…. Yes……”
The night continued with several more games. Rewards and penalties were exchanged, all within reasonable limits, and there was even a show where they displayed their charms.
The most spectacular was Elize’s pole dance. She performed a sensual dance on a pole installed in the center of the stage.
They ate snacks and drank alcohol. Mirabelle was included. She was considered an adult in this era, so there was no problem with her drinking.
However, her tolerance wasn’t very high; she was out after just a few drinks. As the hour grew well past midnight, even Azyeth couldn’t fight off her drowsiness.
Both of them fell fast asleep, using Rin’s tails as both a pillow and a blanket.
Except for Alfia, who had a high tolerance for alcohol, and Karami, who had used a Potion of Invulnerability just in case, everyone else was in a less-than-sober state.
“Everyone seems tired. We should be heading back.”
“That sounds like a good idea. Let’s go home, Narsha.”
“Ughh… I’m not a cooow……”
Mirabelle and Azyeth showed no signs of waking up, so we had to carry them. The rest were steady enough to walk on their own, so we left the establishment.
They left wearing the bunny outfits. Karami had liked them so much that he simply bought them, planning to ask the girls to wear them from time to time.
Walking through the night streets he had once strolled, now accompanied by his slaves in bunny girl outfits, was a surreal and novel sensation.
Thanks to them, he’d had a lot of fun today.
Maybe I’ll come back again…
“Darling.”
“Yes?”
“I’m just saying this in case, but you’d better drop any thought of coming here again. If we ever see you fooling around with another woman who isn’t one of us, even we don’t know what we’ll do.”
They probably wouldn’t do anything to Karami, but the other woman might not get away unscathed.
“Whatever you want to do, whatever you want to see, we’ll satisfy all your desires, so don’t you even look at another woman.”
It seemed there wouldn’t be a next time.