Reso felt the blood shooting in his face and for a second he was actually tempted to agree to the girls offer, but he could almost feel Acarni’s look digging holes into the back of his head like hyper-intense laser-beams. And, in the end... no matter how seductively beautiful this Elf was, she wasn't worth getting into trouble with Acarni. He shook his head.

“No thank you...” he said. “I already have my company here.”

He gestured over his shoulder towards Acarni and turned halfway around to her. The Elf girl was clearly disappointed by that answer, while Acarni had a bright blush over her cheeks.

“Alright, Sir.” the Elf responded and took a slight bow. “Sorry for bothering you.”

She walked past him and Acarni, while his bodyguard and lover just remained in front of him, with her otherwise professional poker face slowly softening up into a warm smile.

“I... would've never guessed someone would prefer me before such a beauty.” she said and wrapped her arms around a pretty surprised Reso.

“O-of course I would...” Reso responded. “After all... we're here together, aren’t we?”

Acarni nodded and bend down to kiss him: “Sorry. I guess I just got too jealous for a second. I should've trusted you.”

For a moment the rest of the casino faded away as their lips touched and for tiny, magical second time stopped. Unfortunately, there was a being in this room with the ability to destroy magic, to break the spell of love that surrounded them in this Moment. A being of power which neither Reso nor Acarni could understand at the moment.

“Interesting, Mr. Croix.”, that being said and undid the spell with his words. Both Acarni and Reso pulled away from each other and raised their looks to get an idea of who they were talking to. There, in the middle of the room, there was a small man... no, it was rather, an averaged sized, male Elf with black hair and a custom-made suit, just like the ones that his father preferred for him. He had a pale skin and somewhat reddish eyes, even though his weren't remotely as shiny as the eyes of the Elf girl that they had just encountered. His hands where folded to a route above a flat belly one could probably even describe as muscular and his paper-thin lips barely seemed to move when he talked.

“And... who are you?” Reso asked the Elf. “How do you know my second name?”

The Elf left out an amused laughter: “Oh dear... yeah, it's true, you probably can't remember me. When we last met face to face I could hold you on my arms after all.”

Reso’s look got even more mistrustful at the Elf: “Who... are you?”

“My name is Kantem. Kantem Neotonic. I am a business partner of your father.”, he said with a confident smile on his thin lips. He reached into the pocket of his suit and pulled a deck of cards out. “And I thought you could maybe play a game of poker with me...”