“Have you ever played a game with dice?”  

When Verati first sat face-to-face with the Emperor, fully prepared to accept her death, those were the peculiar words he chose to start with.  

“…Dice game?”  

“Anything involving dice. A board game, maybe. Or even the street hustlers’ dice game. Haven’t you seen it in a casino? There must be such gambling games there.”  

Verati remained silent, staring steadily at the Emperor. Since the eccentric woman in the fox mask had left, the Emperor’s expression hadn’t shifted an inch.  

Surrounded by cathedral knights, each one powerful enough …