SHK CH 559: LIFE IS LIKE CHESS (1) (Patreon)

A few minutes later, a bewildered Sol was playing chess with Khali. The game was already underway and Khali seemed to be filled with glee as she set this up.

In the first place, where did she even get this? Was something Sol wondered as he watched the small crimson witch.

In the end, as confused as he was, Sol had a guess. But why guess when you could simply ask the culprit?

“So. Care to explain why we had to stop the discussion for you to go take a chessboard and come back?”

Khali's eyes were twinkling as she moved her piece. Her joy was for something else very different, “The mood! My dear friend. The mood! It’s a law that an evil mastermind's plan must be explained while moving chess pieces. Now come! I am ready.”

She looked at Sol up and down, “Sadly your clothes and the room are a little too bright but heh in a way this is even better. The prince filled with light is in fact an evil mastermind behind the scenes.”

“I say this is pretty cliche.”

“Well. Is there anything not cliche nowadays? So shut up and no whining. You are currently the evil prince about to reveal his mastermind plan to the audience in the most dramatic way possible. So now, we play.”

Sol had a headache just watching Khali move. He knew very well that once she became like this, there was no way to stop her.

‘Well…I guess one match won’t be bad?’

He had been so busy lately and the way things were going made him uneasy and fidgety. Every time his plan moved ahead, he was waiting for the sword of Damocles to drop.

Force brought counterforce and the more he tried to manipulate fate, the bigger it would be.

“You do know that as a prince I have been trained all my life in this, right? Don’t cry later on.”

“I have been living for nearly 100 times longer than you. Heh, trust me. I am no slouch. You will be the one who cries.”

“Bet?”

“Kay, what do you want?”

“Hum. If I win, you will work as a Maid again for a week and call me master.”

“Oh. I didn’t know you had such fetishes…No scratches that. I should have guessed. With Milia and all the maids you nailed.”

“Heh.”

“Okay. When I win, you will be my maid for a week as well.”

“...Butler you mean.”

“No no. My Maid.”

“You evil monster.”

Khali cackled, “Game?”

Sol shrugged as he took one of her pawns, “I am in.”

“Gah~ Okay. This is just the start.” She focused, “Now, would you mind sharing your evil genius master plan?”

“When you say it like this, I feel like I am the bad guy.”

“I mean. Wratharis may have been the one to declare the hostility but Lustburg was the one who baited them on it. Starting with Camelia’s Saint Fall. Everything started from there.”

A kingdom without a supreme daughter could not erect the Holy Barrier that served as the last bastion. So for other countries, attacking Lustburg at that moment would have been the best if Camelia had indeed lost their power.

Wratharis was merely the first one to rise to the bait.

“We are the victim you know. We threw the bait for the Wing of Freedom. Not our fault others fell for it. It’s like attacking a woman who is wearing sexy clothes for her husband or boyfriend.”

“Weird analogy. But whatever. Now, my evil plan. Fast.”

“My plan–”

“Evil plan.”

Sol simply took another of her pieces and continued, “ —Is honestly very simple.”

“Continue.”

“Though as the Blessed I am bestowed with Divine authority, having the cheer of the population is important. People are what run a kingdom. But as you know, the relationship between the citizen and Lustburg has been strained since Neptune’s era. Things got better during Mars’s era. But he died too soon and when Lilith took the throne. Well…It didn’t go well.”

Lilith had started with many handicaps and had never been as respected as a Queen as she was as a warrior. The population had been easily manipulated back then by the nobles and this created many small problems.

In the end, Lilith managed to work it out in a way. But one had to remember that from Neptune’s Era to Lilith’s and now his, the time that passed was ridiculously small. People from the time of Neptune were still alive and many feelings were still raw.

“This is why Lilith made all this plan with Camelia. Killing all nobles rebellious and I finished this plan recently by killing off the nobles who refused to pay taxes or increased the taxes too much on the citizens. You could say that Lustburg is as clean as it could ever be.”

“But…”

“It isn’t enough. We dealt with the top but the bottom is still crooked. The perception people have of me is not good. Being closed in a tower for years didn’t help and now this war. People are not stupid. Well…They are. But they can be pretty smart when they smell complot.”

“So you decided to smear your reputation?”

“I don’t have much reputation to begin with. Giving them the cord they need to hang themselves is the best way. The Crown’s shadows are moving the rumors, slowly but surely and soon…”

“A reversal.”

“Heheh. The more they doubt me now, the more they will be sorry for me afterward as they need to prove that they are not traitor who unjustly insulted the king. Well, in the end, this is just a small game. My reputation will take a dive when the true alliance with the witches is announced. So might as well dive now.”

Khali whistled quietly and looked at Sol with new eyes, “All you need now is a book and a pen or wing-shaped pupils and I would call you mastermind sama.”

“Do not forget the music background and the rain alongside the roar of Thunder.”

“Heh. How could you? Add some deep evil laugh and the picture would be perfect.”

The two laughed a little. In a world where few people could get their jokes, talking to each other always made them happy.

This was a special moment for them where they could chat and relax.