"Are you all crazy?" Draco frowned and commented after listening. "The odds on the ship are even worse than on land. Even if you're really desperate and have to gamble, you'd probably have a slightly better chance at any casino on land!"
Seeing her face grow paler, Draco raised his voice, "To be honest, no matter where the casino is, these kinds of places are not for ordinary people! Nine out of ten gamblers lose."
"No, for people like you who hope to turn things around with it, it's a gamble that will lose every time! It's a bottomless pit that devours everything; it's not hope, it's the beginning of despair!"
"I know... I know you're right." Diana nodded, tightening her grip on the bag strap.
"From the moment he brought up the idea, I advised him not to come, not to place his last hope in such a futile and ruthless place. But he said..."
Her eyes quickly reddened again, tears welling up. "He said that as long as there was a sliver of hope to keep the house, even knowing it was a trap, a pit of fire, he still wanted to... he still wanted to try. We... we were so scared."
" Collard, we're so afraid of losing that house that's almost finished... it's all we have left."
After saying this, Diana's tears finally gave way, streaming down her pale cheeks. She said remorsefully:
"Actually, we were wrong from the beginning... We shouldn't have been in such a hurry, we shouldn't have let the idea of having our own home cloud our judgment, and we shouldn't have rushed to take out such a large loan to build a house."
"If only I could have stayed put in that rented room, even if the conditions were worse, and saved money little by little until I had enough to buy a house outright..."
"It's all our fault for being too impatient, too eager for a stable home of our own. We were blind to our own potential, and step by step... we've reached this desperate situation..."
"I understand." Seeing her lost in deep self-reproach, Draco sighed helplessly, his tone softening.
"I understand your desire for a home, a place of your own, where you don't have to move around so much."
"That desire itself is not wrong."
"But Diana, have you calmly considered what would happen if you couldn't turn things around in this casino?"
"You'll lose all the money you brought, including the last bit of cash you managed to save, and then what?"
"Right here, on this ship, in the shadows of this casino, there's never a shortage of people waiting to leech off others, loan sharks. Their eyes are like vultures, watching every desperate person like you who still clings to a sliver of hope."
"At that time,"
"Not only will you lose your house, but you'll also be burdened with a mountain of interest-laden debt that you'll never be able to pay off!"
"That's truly not worth it. The days to come will become a hell you can't even imagine now!"
These words struck at Diana's deepest fears; her body trembled violently, and her face turned deathly pale.
Large tears rolled down her cheeks.
She had considered this worst-case scenario.
During countless sleepless nights, fear haunted her, but both she and her husband chose to escape.
At this moment, Draco spoke so bluntly and cruelly...
She felt panic and despair; her hands and feet were ice-cold, her fists clenched tightly, and she felt utterly powerless.
Diana shook her head, trying to shake off the terrible image; she refused to think about any worse possible outcomes.
"We're very lucky... that won't happen..."
These words were less meant for Draco and more a form of self-hypnosis directed at himself.
"Then why not take advantage of our luck, cut our losses, and leave with our winnings?" Draco advised.
Diana remained silent, a fierce internal struggle raging within her, her gaze wavering, no longer displaying the complete stubbornness of before.
After hesitating for a moment, Diana made up her mind and asked:
"Could you take me to my husband? I don't know exactly which table he's at..."
"No problem," Draco replied readily with a smile.
As Diana left the slot machine area, she was still tense, a little afraid of running into that kind of persistent man again.
So she gets close to Draco seeking a sense of security, but is too embarrassed to grab his arm—that would be too intimate.
So she simply pinched a small corner of the sleeve of his suit jacket with her fingers and followed closely behind him.
Feeling the slight tug at his cuff, Draco neither turned around nor quickened or slowed his pace.
He simply maintained a steady pace, leading her through the noisy and crowded main hall of the casino.
The two hadn't walked far when they arrived at the even more lively dice area, where the atmosphere was even more frenzied than in the slot machine area.
Gamblers gathered around the green dice table, their eyes fixed on the dice cup in the dealer's hand, erupting in cheers or sighs with the sound of the dice settling.
"He's over there!" Diana exclaimed with delight, pointing to one of the dice tables. Draco looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a man wearing an ordinary shirt.
So he stopped, turned around, nodded to Diana, and said calmly, "I'll leave you here."
Diana froze, staring at him in astonishment.
Clearly caught off guard by Draco's abrupt departure, they were momentarily at a loss for what to do.
Draco, seeing her stunned expression, raised an eyebrow and deliberately teased her in a slightly mocking tone:
"I have such bad luck, what if I pass on my bad luck to your husband and ruin his winning streak? I'd be in big trouble then," Draco explained, seeing her dazed expression.
"Huh?" Diana blushed, remembering her childish behavior of avoiding him and secretly thinking he was the source of bad luck. She felt both ashamed and a little embarrassed.
I want to say something.
But when the words reached her lips, seeing his smiling face, she didn't know how to begin, and could only lower her head in embarrassment.
"Go ahead," Draco encouraged.
"Thank you," Diana said sincerely.
Then, she released her grip on Draco's sleeve and quickly walked towards her husband.
The dice area was bustling with noise and a frenzied atmosphere. Diana's husband was standing in the front row of a dice table.
The man gripped the dice tightly in his hand, then suddenly swung his arm and let out an excited cheer as the dice landed. He turned to the side and gave a high five to his female gambling buddy, who was chatting happily with him. His face was full of excitement and pride after winning money.
On the gambling table in front of him was a thick stack of chips of different colors, clearly indicating that he had won quite a bit.
"Darling!" Diana, having shaken off her earlier grievances in the slot machine area, saw her husband and the pile of chips. Like a little girl who had found her parents, she skipped and hopped to her husband's side, reaching out to gently tug at the corner of his shirt.