Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Knights of Light (5)
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“Haa….”
*Two whole hours stuck in the same room as the First Imperial Princess of the Empire. What a nightmare.*
I glanced at the princess, who was sitting on the bed with her monocle on.
Her beautiful platinum eyelids fluttered softly.
Her blue eyes, brimming with knowledge, were devouring *Valderian's Fifty Stratagems*.
The bedroom was filled with complex manuals just like the one she was reading.
I scanned the surroundings, looking for something to alleviate the boredom.
That was when my eyes landed on an old chessboard tucked away in one corner of the bookshelf.
*I never pegged her for the gaming type….*
I rose leisurely and picked up the chessboard.
“It seems even Your Highness enjoys a bit of leisure now and then?”
At my question, Leah turned her head slightly.
She gave me a nonchalant reply as I walked back with the chessboard.
“I don’t particularly enjoy chess.”
“Is that so? And yet here it sits, boldly claiming space in Your Highness’s chambers.”
I placed the chessboard on the table and blew on it gently.
Dust accumulated over the years scattered into the air like sparkling jewels.
“I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away. It was the first and last gift my father ever gave me.”
Leah closed her book with a thud.
She extended her legs from under the covers and rose.
Revealing her smooth, long legs in the process.
“I’ve dared to touch such a precious item. My apologies.”
As I apologized, Leah shook her head.
She placed her finger lightly on the chessboard and spoke.
“It’s fine. He probably doesn’t even remember giving it to me. His subordinates must have recommended it, and he just tossed it my way.”
Leah gave a bitter smile as she rubbed the chessboard.
I watched her with a pang of sympathy.
I’d long known the Emperor was indifferent to his children.
He had married three foreign queens alone.
Excluding Crown Prince Leon, Leah, and Lydia, there were still two younger imperial children below them.
Irina was out, since her mother was a commoner.
In such a situation, favoring one child would inevitably breed discord.
That was why he couldn’t easily show Leah affection.
“…”
She grew up without her parents’ love.
Perhaps the First Princess and I had that much in common.
“What a shame. I was going to suggest a game.”
I smiled and lifted the chessboard.
Intending to return it to its place.
“I’m not really into tactics, you see. It’s easier to kill time with this than reading.”
At my casual remark, Leah let out a small chuckle, as if amused.
A knight saying he had no interest in tactics was like a student telling the principal he hated studying.
“A knight who….”
The First Princess picked up a knight piece from the table.
She fixed me with a sharp gaze and said,
“You must see me not as imperial blood, but as a friend?”
“How could I? I wouldn’t dare lie to Your Highness, so I’m simply being honest.”
A subtle implication that I couldn’t lie precisely because she was Leah.
At that, the First Princess’s chuckle turned into full laughter.
“How intriguing—a sly fox like you, and yet a commoner.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Hehe… It is.”
Leah wiped the corner of her eye with her finger.
She nodded, as if genuinely amused for the first time in ages.
“You’ve entertained me, so I’ll humor you for one game.”
As if I’d been waiting, I set the chessboard back on the table.
I even kindly set up the pieces for her side as well.
Leah rested her chin on her hand, gazing intently at my busy hands.
“But let’s make it interesting with a little wager.”
“A wager, Your Highness?”
“Indeed. If I’m gracing you with my time, it needs some stakes.”
I smirked, lifting the corner of my mouth.
I met her gaze with a relaxed expression.
“Very well. What are the terms?”
“Oh, the usual—fulfill a wish.”
Leah tossed out the bold condition with feigned indifference.
I nodded.
“Agreed.”
“Confident, aren’t we?”
“Of course. The First Imperial Princess wouldn’t stoop to something vile like ordering self-harm or a transfer of allegiance.”
My preemptive safeguard.
Leah’s lips curved upward at the sight.
“You’ve thought this through. But I’ll issue a command worthy of it, so prepare yourself.”
Her knowledge-filled blue eyes pierced through me.
In response, I gestured lazily with my thumb, inviting her to try her worst.
“I won’t go down easy either. I was top of the orphanage chess league, after all.”
Top of the orphanage.
Leah smiled faintly at that and advanced her pawn.
￣￣￣
In the quiet princess’s chambers, only the sound of chess pieces moving echoed.
There sat a mere commoner knight locked in a battle of wits with the Empire’s greatest strategist.
I, the knight, rested my chin on my hand.
I glanced up at Leah with sharp eyes.
Leah Bodwin Andalusia.
Smart enough to command the Empire’s strategy division.
But she said she hated chess.
With hardly any practice opponents, I figured I had the edge.
Yet unexpectedly, her skill was quite respectable.
All that accumulated strategic knowledge from her readings.
She was covering her lack of practice with sheer intellect and intuition.
“What’s the holdup? Move already.”
The princess crossed her arms leisurely behind her horse.
In response, I decided to switch tactics.
If she was going to unsettle me with brilliant plays,
I’d counter with a proposal no ordinary knight would dare make.
“By the way… back when we captured those warlocks.”
I advanced a pawn.
While she focused on it, I slipped in my question.
“The Knights of Light were impressive. I was in awe of how flawlessly they executed my plan.”
Leah didn’t react much to my words.
She just stared at my pawn, pondering deeply.
“Well, they’re the top cadets from every class. What did you expect?”
Her nonchalant response.
To pierce her composure, I lobbed my prepared follow-up.
“But compared to the Crown Prince’s army, selected purely as the continent’s finest regardless of class… they might still fall short.”
At that, Leah’s upturned lips stiffened.
She brushed her hair behind her ear and looked up at me intently.
“What are you getting at?”
Seizing the moment her focus split,
I slipped my bishop in for check on her king and asked,
“Are you competing with Crown Prince Leon for the throne?”
One more move, and her king was dead—the game over.
Leah moved her king to evade.
She responded with a blank expression.
“You seem awfully interested in imperial intrigue.”
“My apologies. A mere knight like me overstepped into grand matters.”
I bowed my head in apology.
“This time, I’ll sweeten it with some fine gifts before asking again.”
As I bowed, I eyed the board, searching for the next stab at her king.
“The Crown Prince and First Imperial Consort are colluding with the Northern Grand Duke to tear the Empire apart.”
I moved my rook, attacking her king again.
“Will Your Highness side with them? Or…?”
Then, I posed the real question burning inside me.
“Do you intend to punish those traitorous bloodlines?”
Only now did the First Princess tear her eyes from the board.
She regarded me coldly—a mere garrison knight questioning the Empire’s foundation.
“I’ve known about my brother and mother’s moves for a while.”
“And you’ve just been watching?”
Leah swept the hair covering one eye aside.
She glanced back at the board and replied flatly.
“I don’t have much love for this Empire. If they dismantle it, I’ll just declare independence with my own forces. Check.”
Leah struck back at my exposed king, having focused solely on offense.
I deftly countered and retorted,
“Then all the care you’ve shown the people so far—was that just to placate them?”
This time, she moved her queen.
“The people won’t suffer. It’s just a fight among the elite.”
Her counterattack scattered my pieces every which way.
Leah fully escaped my encirclement.
“On the contrary, the purge will trim the corrupt upper crust that’s been rotting the nation. It’s a net gain for the country.”
Now convinced of her advantage, Leah crossed her arms again.
I asked gravely in response,
“If you let them be, the blade will eventually turn to you, the second-in-line princess. Even the Emperor can’t guarantee traitors won’t target you.”
From memories of my past life, I knew.
Leah’s rift with her mother and brother.
She wasn’t boarding their ship but aiming for her own nation because she couldn’t trust them.
“So you want me to oppose my own kin for some uncertain future?”
“If that’s how it sounded, my apologies.”
I bowed to avoid offending her.
But Leah shook her head, unperturbed.
Her blue eyes gleamed with interest as she asked,
“By your words, it sounds like you want me to ally with other imperial kin who share even less blood….”
She’d seen through my aim at once.
She asked leisurely, awaiting my next move.
“What do I gain from that?”
To her question, I moved a pawn and replied,
“Is there something specific Your Highness desires?”
Leah pressed her fist to her lips, deep in thought.
Then, as if struck by a fun idea, she smiled with her eyes and said,
“Well… a loyal, strong, cheeky knight doesn’t sound bad.”
“Pardon…?”
“Oh, check. You’re in danger.”
Turning my own trick back on me.
She pointed leisurely at the board.
“Ahem… I’m not without my aces either.”
Only then did I pull out the imperial prime minister’s edict from my bosom.
It was the land grant he’d offered when requesting my aid.
“The Prime Minister seeks to halt their schemes.”
I showed her the document briefly.
“You must know how many nobles back him, Your Highness.”
Leah took the grant with intrigued curiosity.
She confirmed the prime minister’s handwriting, then peeked through the paper.
“I do. And that the nobles who trust Mosian are all pawn-level small fry.”
I shook my head at her words.
Pressing her king with my advanced pawns, I said,
“But even pawns can band together to take the king.”
Leah’s lips pressed tight.
She swallowed hard at the infantry closing in from all sides.
“Check.”
No escape in sight, no matter how she looked.
She chewed her lip.
She who had only ever dominated others her whole life.
Even in her beloved books, knights were treated like slaves.
Now, facing defeat at the hands of a commoner knight, her face flushed red.
The candle in the room flickered.
The wax had nearly melted away, leaving a stub.
“This has gone on too long… If we keep this up, word’ll get out I was in Your Highness’s chambers.”
I rubbed my fully healed back as I spoke.
Leah, displeased, herded her king into the corner.
She’d survive for now, but the next move was certain death.
Even she, still clumsy at chess, knew it.
“…”
Color returned to the princess’s pale face, like the candle’s flame.
Leah bit back her frustration, lips sealed tight.
Then, with a haughty expression she’d never shown before, she asked me,
“Were you really just first place at the orphanage?”
I smiled brightly at her question.
“Yes.”
Gazing north toward the orphanage, I added,
“But that orphanage had over a hundred kids.”
First among a hundred peers.
Perhaps because I’d omitted that detail.
Leah realized she’d fallen for my wordplay and yanked off her monocle.
Propping her face with one hand, she shot me a sullen glare.