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[h1][color=f49ac2]Amaris Marivaldi[/color][/h1]
[sub]Interacting with: [color=fc8686]Madalyn[/color] [@Achronum][/sub]
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The Countess’ eyes tracked the moving counters as they flew from one side of the abacus to the other, first with her father and then again with Aaron. While it did seem the purpose of the object was exactly as she assumed, Amaris was somewhat suspicious of the convenience of such an item. With traditional gambling, the house was typically against card counting and took measures to prevent consecutive wins employing such a method. Here, however, it didn’t seem to matter that the abacus was documenting the numbers for them. Not even bothering to have the players rely on memory to hedge their bets.

Ameris was beginning to get the feeling that there was perhaps more to the game, no, the entire exam, than met the eye. The challenge facing the snake had teetered on the edge of revealing information she had been ordered by Salazar, as well as Ryner, to keep absolutely secret. But in return it seemed to hint at something hidden by or within her partner, whether she was aware of it or not. Still, up until this point, the invasive nature had been contained to the pair as subjects… so why, all of a sudden, were they gambling for a peek into the private lives of their fellow classmates?

Sharp, amethyst eyes snapped back to the dealer as he began speaking once again, revealing that which was to be their next clue. At first, the clue seemed rather specific, but the longer Amaris thought on it, the more she realized the description fit each of the nobles in one way or another. Even her own house had experienced a division surrounding the shift in leadership, but she didn’t know anything about standing against a past ruler. The Astorios had never hidden their displeasure surrounding the treaty and had suffered greatly for it, but she didn’t know enough about the inner workings of their family to know if their stances were united or not. When it came to the Sinnenodels, she couldn’t understand how anyone could trust one another in a house filled with venomous snakes. They seemed like the backstabbing sort but so long as the damage done was overshadowed by the reward it didn’t seem to matter.

The chip in her hand weaved its way around and around her fingers, never once breaking stride as she stared at the table intently.

[i][color=f49ac2]The Eves.[/color][/i] The Countess thought to herself, eyes locking on to the image of a man she was sure had to be Lutheran. He had functionally taken over for the house of Eve after their patriarch had vanished, but unlike her own Salazar, Lutheran had not been able to legally seize the lordship. With so much uncertainty surrounding the house and its future, the internal hierarchy had all but collapsed on itself. Even now at the academy, since the very first night, the Eve selection had changed not once but twice. Of course, the reasons for such frequent shifts in attendance were kept fairly need to know, but it didn’t stop the rumors from flowing.
Still, she wasn’t fully convinced. While Eve made a good selection for a ‘house divided’, she still didn’t have much of an answer to the latter portions of the clue. Leaning back into her partner, Amaris turned her focus back to Maddie.

“[color=f49ac2]I’m thinking of selecting from the family heads since we’re talking about ‘houses’ here, but the best answers I’ve come up with so far have been Eve… and Sinnenodel.[/color]”