Checkmate to a Happy Ending

……Checkmate. It's Lady Ruby's victory.

Ugh. Venting to these bastards was my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠first mistake.

First priority is somehow escaping this.

How do I talk this woman down……?

Ding.

Someone else left a comment.

Gogumador?

I left a reply under his comment.

……He had a point.

Alcohol makes reason fly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠away, but a game sharpens it to a razor's edge.

And Ruby hated losing more than she hated dying.

If I could stoke her competitive fire and lock her focus onto the game?

I could shift the mood from erotic to competitive.

I hurriedly typed a reply.

……I wasn't sure about the exhaustion part.

Still, playing a game didn't seem like a bad idea.

"Chess…… that could work."

Even the waltz melodies of the banquet hall had fallen asleep in the deep of night.

I walked the corridors of the mansion that now bore the name Scarlet instead of Silverrain.

I stood before the door with grim resolve. Swallowed once, and knocked.

Knock knock.

"Ruby?"

— Come in.

The moment permission was granted, I carefully turned the doorknob.

Creeeeak.

"What the hell? You're late, Teacher."

Ruby was leaning diagonally against the headboard, swirling a wine glass.

The red dress had long since been thrown to the floor.

Right now she was wearing nothing but a single thin silk gown, barely clinging to her.

Beneath the loosely tied sash at her waist, the white flesh of her crossed legs spilled out smooth as a snake, scrambling my gaze.

Clearly she was even drinking so she could go through with it with me tonight……

Actually, that worked out perfectly.

"I thought my neck was gonna fall off waiting. I told you to wash up and come back—who told you to run away?"

"Run away? I came to keep my promise."

Feigning composure, I set the thing I had prepared in advance on the table.

"More importantly…… what's that?"

"Chess."

"Chess……?"

Ruby's brow crumpled hard.

"Are you kidding me right now? In this atmosphere, right in front of the bed, you want to play chess?"

"Not just play. Let's make a wager."

I pulled out a chair, sat, and politely cast the bait.

"If Lady Ruby wins, I'll do whatever you want tonight. No resistance, no excuses."

"……Ha?"

Ruby's eyes glittered with curiosity and the hunger to conquer.

"Why would I bother with some annoying wager like that……? You don't want to roll around with me, Teacher?"

"Of course not. It's just…… tonight, for some reason, I want to play chess with you. I want to match wits with the calm, noble 'Aristocrat Ruby Scarlet' who no longer loses her temper."

"Hmm……."

"Well…… if you're avoiding it because you think you'll lose to me, we can pretend this never happened."

"……You're hilarious."

The corner of her mouth twisted upward.

"Fine. But if I win, you don't take a single step out of this room until the sun's high in the sky tomorrow. Got it?"

"Understood."

She took the bait.

The chessboard unfolded.

Click. Click.

Only the dry sound of pieces moving across the board filled the room.

Ruby's play was aggressive.

She led with knight and queen, ruthlessly overrunning my side of the board.

Just like her personality—a fiery momentum that looked ready to burn everything down.

I, on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the other hand, was thoroughly defensive.

Absorbing her attacks, opening paths, scrambling just to protect the king.

"You gonna keep blocking all night?"

"Haha…… Lady Ruby's momentum is a little too strong."

I sacrificed a pawn and smiled bitterly.

This game resembled our relationship.

She was the queen who had to keep advancing, and I was the pawn who opened the path for her and then had to disappear.

"Check."

Ruby moved her queen and drove my king into the corner.

Certain of victory, she lifted her wine glass and wet her lips with the crimson liquid.

"It's over. Surrender quietly."

"Not yet."

I blocked her attack with a bishop and quietly opened my mouth.

"……Lady Ruby. You are perfect now."

"What? What's with the random nonsense all of a sudden."

"You no longer get swept away by rage the way you used to, and you've learned how to elegantly crush your enemies. The figure you showed at the banquet hall today…… was a truly perfect noble."

At my low confession, Ruby's hand—reaching for a pawn—froze in midair.

"……Hmph, isn't that obvious? Who do you think I am."

"Yes. So you no longer need an advisor like me."

"Ha? What the hell are you talking about? Teacher, you have to stay with me forever. You know that, right?"

Stay forever, she said.

I let out a languid smile.

"Why is that?"

"……."

At my question, Ruby Scarlet fell silent.

She propped her chin on her hand, stared down at the pieces, and sank into thought.

Only the ticking second hand of the clock filled the stillness.

"……Ah."

At last she let out a small sigh, as if something had clicked.

"Because…… you're like Dad."

"Pardon?"

"……From you, I felt something gentle, like Dad."

"Dad……?"

I repeated it with a deliberately blank expression.

That this alluring, dangerous woman in front of me had looked at me and thought of her father.

Ruby seemed embarrassed by her own words; her ears flushed red to the tips as she cleared her throat.

"Ahem! Well, that's what I mean. Don't get the wrong idea. It's not that you look old…… just, the feeling is like that."

She fidgeted with the head of her queen.

"Nobody was ever on my side. When everyone treated me like a crazy bitch…… the only one who stayed next to me, nagging and showing me the way, was you."

Ruby's voice grew wet and soft.

It was the moment the bare face of a wounded little girl, hidden beneath the venomous mask of a wicked woman, came into view.

I sacrificed one more pawn and smiled gently.

"I see."

"……Yeah. So you have to stay by my side forever. Like a dad. Like a guardian."

"No, Lady Ruby."

I cut her off in a firm but calm voice.

"What?"

"You are no longer a child who needs protection."

I looked straight into her wavering eyes.

"You saw it yourself at the banquet hall today. You crushed your enemies with your own hands and overwhelmed the nobles. Without anyone's help—purely by your own power."

"That's……."

"You are no longer a daughter who needs someone to look after her. You have become the 'family head' who must lead the house."

My recognition.

It drove into Ruby's heart more powerfully than any comfort ever could.

To a woman who had been denied her entire life, the single certainty from the only teacher she trusted—You are perfect now.

At that one sentence, the taut string of tension Ruby had been holding snapped with a soft twang.

"……I'm…… perfect?"

"Yes. Overflowingly so. So…… you can let the strength out of your shoulders now."

"Ha……."

Ruby exhaled a long breath.

At the same time, the nerves that had been holding her body upright loosened as if by a lie.

She slumped forward over the chessboard. The hand she had been propping her chin with slipped, and her body tipped toward me.

Ssslip—

With that motion, the loosely tied knot of her silk gown came undone without resistance.

"Uh……?"

The collars fell open to either side, and Ruby's bare body—previously hidden—was laid bare right before my eyes.

Flesh so white it stung the eyes under the moonlight.

The full, rising curves of her breasts, the narrow waist, the smooth line flowing down into her hips filled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my vision with nothing in the way.

Of course, the moonlight meant I couldn't see everything clearly.

Especially the important parts, that is……

And yet Ruby made no move to cover herself.

No—it looked like she no longer even had the strength left to try.

"Ugh…… I'm getting drunk."

Her body swayed.

Like a doll whose strings had been cut, Ruby's body collapsed toward me.

"Ruby?!"

I reflexively threw out my arms and caught her.

Thud.

A heavy yet soft sensation crashed over my entire body.

Ruby's bare form in my arms.

The thin gown had already failed at its job and slipped down; her naked skin pressed hot against me through my shirt.

A thick wine scent stabbed at my nose, and beneath it something sweeter and denser—the scent of her skin.

"Mmm…… Teacher……."

Ruby mumbled with her face buried in my chest.

Her hot breath seemed to pierce the shirt and touch my heart.

"Sleepy…… weirdly…… too comfortable……."

She tried to force her eyes open, but once the tide of sleep had begun to rise, there was no fighting it.

Relief.

She had spent her whole life fighting, suspecting, raging.

But the complete recognition she received from the person she trusted most finally granted her, for the first time, rest.

On top of that the strong wine was working through her system—even the great Ruby had no way to hold out.

"I…… can't sleep…… I have to win……."

Her hand flailed weakly through the air, then feebly clutched my collar.

And soon even that hand went slack.

"……."

Only the regular sound of soft breathing filled the room.

Only then did I let out the breath I had been holding.

"Haa…… I survived."

That was genuinely dangerous.

If she had held on even a little longer, reason or not, I might have been the one who jumped her.

Ruby in my arms was dead to the world.

The usual venomous expression was nowhere to be found—just the defenseless face of a child who only wanted to be loved.

I carefully lifted her in my arms.

I laid her on the bed, drew the disheveled gown closed, and pulled the blanket all the way up to her neck.

Then I returned to the table.

The unfinished chessboard.

I set the pawn she had dropped back upright.

Then I picked up my king and set it down in front of her pawn.

A king who knelt of his own will.

My final move, to make her the victor.

"……Checkmate. It's Lady Ruby's victory."

Even though no one was listening, the declaration was clear.

I turned my gaze back to the bed. Even in her dreams, Ruby was fidgeting her hand as if searching for something.

"As promised, you won."

So take the spoils for yourself.

Even if those spoils cannot stay by your side.

"Good night, Ruby."

In that moment, blue light rippled through the air.

(NSFW Service Cut — Viewer Discretion Advised)