章節 49: It is all fun and games until a sore loser, loses.
In the garden of the Vega manor, All the Manor's servants have gathered in the back, standing together in a herd to watch the shooting game, while the guests were in front of them, sitting and enjoying some refreshments while waiting for Safa and Fabian to begin.
Each person with a loaded pistol in hand, Safa and Fabian faced two round targets made of wood which were similar to archery targets that were placed a good distance away from them.
Each wooden target had 10 circles drawn on it with each two neighboring circles painted it in different color than the next.
The first two edge circles were White, the next two towards the inside of the target were black, The next were blue and the two that followed were red, and finally the two remaining circles, the one in center of the target and the closest to it, were painted in yellow.
With a book and a pen in his hands, "This is your first round out of three, and the rules are simple much like archery, Use all six bullets in chamber and try to gain more points than your opponent by the time third round ends.
If you hit the first White circle you receive 1 point, you hit the second white one you receive 2 points, you hit the first black circle you get 3, the second black one 4 and this goes on until you make it to very center.
If you hit the center which is a bullseye, you get 10 point." Wolfgang explained, "Understood?"
"Yes!" Fabian nodded, he was still nervous about the whole thing but did his best to appear confident.
"Great! as the host, Safa will begin first.
We'll compare points once you both do your turns.
My lady, you may begin." Wolfgang said stepping away.
With her gun pointed at her target, Safa fired her gun with little to no time to waste between each bullet.
With each bullet every person watching was gasping and Oh-ing at her, especially Clara who was slightly terrified of the gun sound so she held onto James's arm until Safa was done.
Once done, Everyone clapped for Safa while she stood with a relaxed face, still facing the target but as she lowered her arm, she turned to Fabian who was suddenly looking determinant and it made her raise a curious eyebrow at him.
"Fabian, your turn." Wolfgang announced.
Fabian took a deep breath and faced his target, but unlike Safa who immediately fired her bullets with minimal Waiting period.
Fabian actually took few seconds between each bullet fired, he was focusing more on the target before he shot.
It made Safa slightly smirk in delight, in her mind that confirmed one thing, Fabian was inexperienced and since she already believed that because Fabian was embarrassed during the dinner party when Colin was bragging about his shooting skills.
Once Fabian fired the last bullet in his chamber, another round of applause was given to him by the watching crowd, "Safa was rather quick, while Fabian took his time, why do you think that?" Clara asked.
"People have different ways of approaching the same result, Safa is the kind who knows what she's doing and she's not the sort of person to delay business because she would lose focus if she did so, which is why she is quicker in making decisions than most people.
As for Fabian, he stricks me like the sort of man that needs to take time before making a decision and it's usually because this sort of people are indecisive and change opinion very often." James explained.
Impressed, "That is a brilliant observation James!" Penelope commented, "It's accurate to a scary point." Colin said, "Thank you." James replied with a smile.
"Now! Let's see your scores!" Wolfgang said as he walked to Safa's target and examined it with his eyes, before he wrote something on his notebook.
Then he walked over to Fabian's target.
Wolfgang's eyes immediately went wide, he hurriedly scribbled on the paper and went back to them to announce the results.
Originally, Safa wasn't feeling rushed to hear the results, in her mind she won and won with a big difference but the look on Wolfgang's face as he approached her started to make her worry a little.
"TELL US! WHAT'S THE SCORE!" Gertrude shouted excitedly from her seat making Colin and Penelope snigger at her eagerness.
"Well, my lady's score was 8,9,9,9,10,10 which means she Has gained 53 points for this round! And hit a bullseye twice." Wolfgang said and the crowd cheered and clapped for Safa.
"Let's see if our future Lord Struat has what it takes." James said.
"Well, for Mister Kainz, his score was a 7,7, 8,9,9, 10 which is the total of 50 points and he hit the bullseye once." Wolfgang announced.
Everyone gasped, But Safa she immediately shouted "WHAT?!"
"Wow Fabian is only three points behind Safa! That must mean he's really good at shooting!" Clara said, but instead of responding, "Uh, something feels wrong..." James said pointing at Safa.
The seated group all turned to look at Safa who had an absolute look of rage on her face as she looked at Fabian.
"My Lady? Is everything alright? You won this round, but you don't seem happy." Wolfgang questioned.
To everyone's surprise, "YOU! YOU ARE A LIAR! When Bridgerton boy said you shoot well you You lied! You said you can shoot Alright!" Safa exploded.
With wide eyes, "My Lady! Calm down!" Wolfgang said.
Shocked and startled by her sudden outburst, "I... I am sorry!...I was just doing the polite thing by being humble, I was not intending to lie I just did not wish to brag." Fabian defended himself.
Safa grunted loudly, "UGH?!"
"Is she alright? Why is she being so angry?" Penelope asked.
"Safa has a huge dislike for liars especially those who pretend to be something they're not, I do believe she's exaggerating right now but some of the blame does fall on Fabian's shoulders, if he did lie about being a good shooter, he deserves to hear about it." James replied.
Sighing, "I was afraid something like this might happen." Colin said.
Meanwhile, "You need to calm down before you faint again, there's still two more rounds and you're in the lead Safa! There's no need to worry about anything." Wolfgang said to reassure her.
Scoffing, "Worried?!! I am not worried! I will win this game and you will see it!" Safa replied.
...Few Minutes later...
Nervously, "My lady's score for the second round is... 8,8,9,9,10,10, which is in total 55." Wolfgang announced, "While mister Kainz is 8,8,8,9,9,10 which is the total of 52."
"He's behind her again with just three points!" Clara said.
"Safa has won this round again, but she seems far from happy." Penelope replied, "It must be the bet, since they betted in secret we have no idea what's at stake, but we can tell that whatever it is, is bothering Safa.
Even though she's in the clear so far, she seems terrified of losing." James said.
With a nervous smile, "You make it sound like they betted on something sinister, I'm sure whatever the bet is, it's not as scary as you make it sound like." Colin replied.
Smiling back, "You would say that after all you know exactly what they betted on, Colin." James said making Clara gasp, "Do you know what the bet is? Mister Bridgerton?"
Colin's eyes went half wide, "I don't know what you're talking about James."
"This is silly, Colin cannot possibly know what they agreed to bet on." Penelope innocently defended her husband.
"Not just Colin, even you Gertrude, you two know what's going on because you're close to Fabian.
Especially you Colin, you were the one who instigated all of this from the start when you suggested to add more risk to make the game fun." James said still smiling but his smile was beginning to scare everyone.
"Anyhow, I can't force you to tell me your secret, I suppose as Safa's friend I will find out about it sooner rather than later." James added.
...Few Minutes Later...
It was time to announce the last round's results, "My lady scored 6, 9, 9, 10,10,10 which is 54." Wolfgang said.
"A 6?! I hit a 6?!" Safa said angrily, "Yes you did...my lady, but look at the brighter side, you hit three bullseys." Wolfgang replied.
Then he took a deep breath, "For mister Kainz, his score was...Oh God help me...6 bullseyes!" A terrified Wolfgang announced.
"HUH?!" Safa's eyes never being wider.
"I shot 6 bullseyes?!" Fabian himself was unable to believe.
Everyone gasped, the crowd of servants started whispered and talking amongst each other
"How did this happen?!" Clara asked in disbelief.
James who was equally surprised, "He lost two rounds, only to win the last with 6 bullseyes, that's an insane talent?!"
"I knew he was able to do it!" Colin cheered happily, "Oh my!" Gertrude said, "Oh my is understatement in this situation." Penelope replied.
"What about the Total score?! Of all the rounds? Doesn't that mean.." Clara asked.
"This means that they're tied up!" James replied.
"If you haven't already guessed it...Both partied have scored the same total from all three rounds combined.
A 162 points each, 7 bullseyes for my lady and 8 for Mister Kainz, which means I'm terms of points it's a tie.
But it terms of how many bullseyes, Mister Kainz has won.
However this game is based on points so we will have one final extra round to decide who's the winner" Wolfgang announced.
"No need to." Safa spoke-up, everyone went silent at her word, Fabian turned to look at her with a scared but curious eyes, she seemed strangely calm all of the sudden.
"What do you mean my lady?" Wolfgang asked.
"He would probably do Another 6 bullseyes if we give him another chance." Safa replied, "So there is no need to, just announce him as winner." She added.
"Safa! Are you sure?!" Fabian asked.
"I am a woman of my word, I will keep my end of the bargain, but do not expect me to be nice about it." She replied and began walking.
As soon as she was a good distance away, Colin hurried to Fabian to congratulate him.
"That was amazing my friend!" Colin said but he immediately felt worried when he noticed how gloomy Fabian got, "Hey! You won! What's making you worried?" Colin asked.
"I do not like that Safa is angry at me..." Fabian replied.
"Don't worry about Safa, she's a bit of a sore loser, Congratulations on winning." Wolfgang said and walked away to follow Safa.
"Mister Kainz! That was amazing to see how you picked yourself up at the end after losing two rounds!" Clara said with a sparkle in her eyes, "Thank you and Please, call me Fabian." He replied.
"I didn't think you had it in you, that was a surprise, congratulations." James spoke-up, "Young master has impressed everyone today, I'm very proud of you!" Gertrude said making Fabian smile.
"Congratulations Fabian, This was a brilliant game, I wish Safa didn't rush away so I could at least congratulate her too, her performance was equally impressive." Penelope said, "You're right, Safa was amazing too! I felt bad for her, she was obviously tired by round three, she must've felt humiliatee when she scored a 6." Clara replied.
Hearing that, "Excuse me, I shall be back." Fabian said and rushed to leave with the intention of finding Safa who by now was out of the garden entirely.
As he watched Fabian walk away, "Interesting..." James mumbled to himself before he turned to Clara with a smile, "I need to do something, I'll be back." He said and walked away as well.
創作者的想法 
QW_JiHi
QW_JiHi Fun fact or is it: What happens when we lose?
When we fail to win, the natural response is to rationalize the loss. We make legitimate sounding excuses, most often in the form of blaming our vehicle or the condition of our tires. When we repeatedly fail to win, we lose confidence, and fall into thinking that we just can’t do it because the winner must be more talented.
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