“I’ll go first,” Peter said, resolved filled his eyes.
He pushed the king’s side pawn, mirroring white’s position. The emperor doesn’t say a word, silently moving his piece. The move caught everyone by surprised, the sheer boldness of it is almost disrespectful.
pawn to e4.
Karla is an amateur at chess, but she knows sacrificing your pawn during your second move is unusual at best and disrespectful at worst. She looked at Peter. He is stunned for a moment, unable to process the confound move. He glanced up, his gaze almost a glare at the emperor.
“I will not take that pawn, father.” He said, his resolve replaced by anger.
“Suit yourself,” the emperor said, his eyes glued to the stack of papers in his hands.
‘Is that a report? He playing a five-minute game while working?’ Karla can’t help but comment in her heart.
Peter Gritted his teeth, Karla can hear it grinding. He then places a bishop at c5, attacking the emperor’s unprotected knight. It looks very threatening. The emperor’s king’s side is open and vulnerable. If Peter put his queen at h4, then defeat for the emperor is imminent.
The emperor glanced down, moving the knight to f3 before returning to his report. The emperor’s Knight is guarding h4, so Peter can’t use the devastating queen and bishop combo. After some deliberation, he pushed a pawn to d6, solidifying his central position.
The emperor pushed a pawn to c3
Sensing an upcoming attack at his center, Peter put his queen at e7.
Pawn to d4, the emperor, began his assault.
In the end, peter’s queen puts the emperor’s king in check. It’s forced to escape to f2, open and vulnerable. Karla held her breath. ‘Is the emperor losing this match?’
It was a disaster for peter after that check. Turns out his attack is nothing but a paper tiger. What followed is a devastating counterattack by the emperor. In just a few moves he trap peter’s queen, overextended and without allies. After that, he developed his pieces and slowly ensnare Peter.
Missing a queen. Peter had no choice but to play aggressively. Despite this, Peter always ends up in a worse situation after each attack. He always comes close to beating the emperor. But, the emperor always escapes and deal a devastating counterattack. With each lost piece came a wave of frustration and disappointment. Peter can feel his siblings looked on in silent judgement. His shame shatters him, no longer does he take the initiative. Peter plays meek and defensive chess as the emperor slowly chokes him like a noose.
It was a decisive victory for the emperor.
Peter sat slumped in his chair, surrounded by a kaleidoscope of colors. Frustration, humiliation, jealousy, disappointment and anger all swirled around inside him, each one vying for dominance over the other. Karla couldn’t bear to look at him; the sight was too painful to witness.
She shifted her gaze to the emperor, who sat across from them, engrossed in reading his report. How could he treat his own son with such contempt? It was as if Peter wasn’t worth even a fraction of his undivided attention.
‘He said everyone is here… that’s means the four of us are the only one invited?’ Karla thought.
'why? why just four of us? What happens to the rest of the family? Are they not invited?’
“I like to play one more game before leaving the table… Who likes to go next?” the emperor asked, glancing at Karla.
Karla averted her gaze. All of her brothers are good chess players. Karla, who is a novice, would likely suffer a worse humiliation. In fact, isn’t this whole tournament meant to torment her? Being the youngest and least experienced in chess, she was bound to lose this tournament and take the punishment. The emperor might be angry at her for avoiding him. He must set this whole thing up to punish Karla.
“I’ll go next then,” Lucius said, eyes twinkling in delight. A rare sight compared to his usual lifeless eyes.
“...” The emperor stared at him for a moment before moving his piece.
Even though it’s supposed to be a family bonding experience, the atmosphere present is akin to a high stakes tournament. There is a sense of gravity in the air, despite the silence. Everyone in the room thought the same thing: This is the emperor evaluating their strategic capabilities. They have to perform their best.
Karla saw her brothers deep in concentration, their eyes is fixed on the board even though it’s not their turn yet. They are evaluating each other strength and weaknesses.
Lucius is a careful and methodical player. He plays slowly, developing his pieces gradually. His match against the emperor perfectly illustrated this. The game went so long without them a taking a piece. It was definitely the longest game of the tournament. Yet somehow, the most intense.
Lucius might seem like a passive player at first. However, if you don’t disturb him for too long, he will launch a devastating attack out of nowhere. That is how he defeated Peter, who is still lacking initiative, the previous loss clearly still affected him.
Frederick is... a rampaging barbarian. He hunts the enemy’s king from start to end, attack after attack. He takes risks that would make the average player squirm, willingly sacrifice his pieces for an attacking chance. People might think facing such a single-minded player is easy, but he has a surprising amount of skill and calculation in his play.
Frederick has a penchant to make the game complicated, with pieces all over the place. A complete opposite of Lucius’ positional play style. Frederick thrives in chaos. That is how he defeated Lucius in a truly confusing game. At some point, both sides seem to trade places. They have more pieces on the opponent’s side than their own.
Peter is an opportunist. He’s great at punishing his opponent’s mistakes. He struggles against careful positional players like Lucius. However, he shines against opponents who came at him relentlessly like Frederick. After two straight loses, Peter finally managed to clutch a win against him in the endgame.
The emperor's play style is... sinister and insidious. Karla once read about the flightless bird of Morodina, known as the brain eating bird. It forms a symbiosis relationship with a carnivore plant named the Boa Vine. The bird lured hungry predators to be ensnared by the boa vine, trapping them in its clutches. After the predator-turned prey tired itself from struggling, the bird proceed to peck at their victim’s brain through its eyes.
Karla remembers she used to have nightmares about that damn bird. The thought of being tied and having a bird peck her eyes is enough to traumatize her five-year-old self. Watching the emperor play chess gave out a familiar feeling. He lures and bait until the opponent bites, a devastating counter attack would follow. So far, nobody in the room had beaten him.
Compared to them, Karla has nothing of note. She is an ant caught between a battle of giants. So far, she hasn’t won a single game.
“I think you should prepare your pen now, little sister,” Said Peter with a smug look,
‘Regained your confidence? Bastard!’ Karla chided in her heart.
Karla is currently losing her third match. Peter is sitting across from her with his hands under his chin. Karla just lost a piece. Things are looking grim for her.
Karla is experiencing an overwhelming sense of nausea. The surrounding atmosphere is tense, the stakes are high. As she clutches a pawn in her hand, she notices that it’s trembling uncontrollably. She blinks rapidly, to prevent herself from crying. Peter seems to be thoroughly enjoying the torment he’s putting Karla through as he grins with delight. The pressure is palpable and Karla can feel it bearing down on her with every passing moment.
‘If I lose this game, my plans to escape this damn country will be delayed again!’
‘Is there a way to win? A way to make me better at chess?’
Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. It was a small ray of hope, but it was the only card she had. A card no one else knew she possessed. If it works, Karla might get away with a little suspicion, but nothing concrete. Probably only the emperor would see through her.
Karla has to use her second ability. It’s the only way she can win.
Karla closes her eyes. Chess is a finite game. There is only a certain amount of moves one could make at any given time. The problem lies in the branching nature each moves make, each has many outcomes. But what if one can calculate every single one of those outcomes? What if someone plays the game over and over in their heads until they reach the best outcome?
Such branching calculations are impossible for a normal human, but Karla can cheat using her second ability. Karla can feel her mind splitting into dozens of parts, each one calculating a branch of moves, each one seeking the best outcome. Hundreds of games are running simultaneously in her mind
“Time is running out, little sister,” Peter mocked. Karla can’t hear it.
A throbbing headache. Karla instinctively places a hand on her forehead. The heat radiating from her head was reminiscent of a fever, and she could feel the strain it was putting on her brain. She wouldn’t be able to maintain this state of mind for much longer. As she slowly opened her eyes, Karla attempted to move a piece with her hand, but found it to be slow and clumsy. Her mind is being overloaded with information, struggling to process even basic movements.
Peter says something as he moves his piece. Karla can't hear it, her mind is fully occupied with the chessboard and only responds to it.
***
Peter moves his piece. Before he retreats his hands, His sister is already moving.
‘It feels strange, is she giving up?’ he thought.
After a while, Peter took a long pause. Before he knew it, all his advantages vanished before his eyes. No, he is the one in disadvantage at this point.
‘What happened?’ Peter looked at his sister. She only looked blankly at the chessboard.
There is something about her that’s unnerve Peter. To her, it was as if he didn’t exist. To her, the only thing worth looking at is the chessboard. Peter feels this before. It was the same thing with the emperor a while ago. They both treated him like air, as if he was not worth to be considered a human being like them.
“Time is running out, little brother,” Frederick chided. He can feel that the situation has changed.
‘Shit! I’ll show them!’ Peter gritted his teeth as he made a move.
Karla makes her move instantly right after.
Peter would take a long time to make his move, while Karla did so instantly. It was only natural that Peter is now suffering from time pressure. Low in time, Peter is forced to make bad moves. Karla immediately takes control of the game after that.
He had ten seconds left on the clock; he moved.
Karla moved immediately again.
Six seconds. In a panic, Peter moves randomly.
Karla immediately took his queen.
Three seconds. Peter knew it was over.
Two, one…
The clock ring a metallic chant, signaling his loss.
Peter stared at the board, his expression blank. The reality sunk in - he had lost. And to make matters worse, the person who had beaten him was his little sister, seven years younger. He couldn’t believe it. He was winning until a while ago! Doubt is creeping in. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that she must have cheated somehow. His mind raced as he tried to come up with an explanation for his defeat. Was it really just a matter of her being more skilled, or was there something else at play here? Peter couldn’t help but feel frustrated and embarrassed by his loss.
“How...“ Peter stammered, his clenched fist shaking.
“You... you must have done something. I was winning until... “
Peter realized his sister was not even looking at him. She keeps looking at the chessboard, waiting for him to make a move even though he already lost on time. ‘What the hell is wrong with this freak? Does she not hear the bell?’ he thought, anger consumed him.
“Answer me, damn you! How do you know what moves to make instantly?”
Karla did not respond. Her world is that chessboard, anything outside of that simply did not exist. Peter tried to grab her by the collar. But before he could touch her, a firm hand on his wrist stopped him.
“Out of the way, it is my turn now” the emperor’s voice is tinge with excitement.
Peter looked up at him. He found the emperor staring not at him - but at his sister instead.
“Move”
Peter gets rudely shoved off his seat, leaving his mind stunned at what happened. The emperor arrange the pieces to their starting positions before resetting the clock.
This game is unlike any before. Both Karla and the emperor moved at lightning speeds. Pieces flew across the board in a flurry, people watching couldn’t help but worry that their hands may clash and ruin the board. Those two are showing such speed and complexity in their moves, everyone watching is in awe.
One by one, the pieces on the board started to decrease. Everyone can feel that the game is ending already. A mere minute is all it takes. In the end, two kings are left staring face to face. All the other pieces have been taken.
It was a draw. No, more than that. It was a...
“A perfect game... “ Lucius said in awe.
They say that if both sides played perfectly, a game of chess always ends in a draw. Such things happen before, but not at this speed. Having a perfect game in a five minutes is impossible, not even luck can explain what happened here.
There is only one thing in this world that can explain what happened.
“Some kind of ability?” No one knew who said that. But the secret is now clear to the sons of the emperor.
The siblings had a younger sister who possessed an intriguing ability. However, the questions remained: why she kept it hidden? Was she concealing her talent for a specific purpose? Could it be possible that she harbored aspirations of ascending to the throne in secrecy? These were all possibilities that lingered in the minds of those around her.
knock knock knock
Knocking sounds can be heard from the door. The emperor gives them permission to enter.
“Your majesty, we can now begin the assembly. Our sincere apology for the delay,” a servant came in and bowed deeply.
“Very well, let’s proceed”
Everyone stood up except for Karla. Unlike last time, this time no one is chiding her for the rude behavior. Even the emperor is only staring at her.
“It seems she is tired. Everyone else should go ahead.” The emperor said.
“But... “ Frederick said, his eyes flickering to Karla, who was still staring at the chessboard all this time.
“Go on, we will be there shortly”
Since the emperor insists, they cannot do anything. Everyone left the room except for Anna and Sarah, who are Karla’s hand maids.
The door closed with a thud. What follows is a choking silence. Both Anna and Sarah are too afraid of the emperor’s presence to check on Karla.
The emperor approach Karla until he was standing above her. Karla is unmoved, unable to see the imposing figure in front of her. After a while, the emperor raised his hand and bring it down.
SLAP
The emperor struck Karla on her cheek.
And Karla just proved to her father that she is a grand strategist.