Chapter 26

“Where is the call?”

The moment Heidemarie moved her piece, the man sitting across from her spoke up with a sullen face.

“Eh?”

“I said, it’s a Check. Say it properly. It’s manners, you know.”

Heidemarie blinked her long lashes at the sharp, feminine tone. She glanced down at the board and tilted her head.

“You’re right. It was already a check. Oh dear, I didn’t intend to finish you off quite this early.”

“What? Are you trying to say I’m weak?”

When the man questioned her with a prickly voice, Heidemarie gave a wry smile and shrugged.

“What’s wrong, Liesel? Are you in a bad mood? Did your makeup not turn out right today?”

“Hah? My porcelain skin is as radiant as ever. You really are a woman who knows how to rub people the wrong way.”

True to his word, the person called Liesel wore makeup like a woman. With finely groomed eyebrows and smooth skin, combined with his long hair and androgynous, well-featured face, he possessed a strange naturalness and a unique sense of beauty.

He appeared to be in his mid-thirties. Dressed in tight pants and a loose white shirt, he looked like a slender man or perhaps a lively woman in riding gear. However, judging by his perfectly pressed clothes, tastefully coordinated accessories, and subtle but expensive jewelry, it was clear he possessed a sense of style far superior to the average woman.

Liesel rubbed beneath his lip with a beautifully manicured fingertip and then rested his chin on his hand, looking displeased.

“Ugh, this is truly irritating. What is this board state? What exactly are you trying to do? Keep your meddling to your circle of male followers, you wicked woman.”

“…I believe you were the one who pushed Gilbert aside to challenge me, Liesel. You really do hate me, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. I despise ‘mothers without affection’ more than anything else in this world.”

As Heidemarie spoke with exasperation, Liesel let out a huff. Their exchange felt less like a conversation between a man and a woman and more like two women who simply couldn’t stand each other.

Liesel Estmann.

Hailing from Jaderood, the renowned Capital of the Arts, this individual had been imprisoned for the serial kidnapping of the children of royalty and nobility. However, the case was bizarre: Liesel himself claimed, “I thought they’d be happier if I took them,” and the kidnapped young ladies unanimously agreed, saying, “I was happy to be by Mother Liesel’s side.”

Liesel was a man born with the heart of a woman. Possessing a “feminine charm” exceeding that of most princesses, he had despaired over the fact that he could never bear children himself. As if to compensate, he would find girls who were being mistreated or who were withered by their lack of beauty, whisk them away, and subject them to a gifted education in womanhood.

From skincare and makeup to walking, speaking, dancing, embroidery, and even the art of seduction—the training, which was sometimes harsh, reshaped the girls’ spirits. At the same time they attained supreme beauty, they were imprinted with a profound loyalty to Liesel. It was said to be like the sight of a hatchling devotedly following its parent.

Liesel, too, had become a captive to the “blind affection of a child,” and had gradually, consciously, begun to weave elements of brainwashing into his tutelage.

“How rude, Liesel. Just because you’re jealous that I was blessed with such a wonderful daughter like Elma, please don’t speak of me as if I were some cold-hearted mother.”

“It’s a fact that Elma is the finest daughter one could ask for—mostly because I’m basically the one who raised her. But isn’t it also a fact that you’re a cold-hearted mother?”

Liesel shot back instantly, his words laced with the weight of a sin like envy.

“Because you were able to let go of that sweet girl without a second thought.”

His tone turned icy, far too cold for their usual lighthearted banter.

“Listen, Liesel—”

“Heidemarie. What exactly are you thinking?”

Interrupting Heidemarie as she began to rise from the sofa, Liesel spat out the words.

“I’m telling you now, I’m not like the others who just stay quiet, sulking and grumbling. At the end of the day, they are just ‘fathers.’ To that girl, I am an older sister and a ‘mother.’ My love is on a different level. I find it utterly unbelievable that you kicked Elma out this time, and I am truly, deeply furious with you.”

Eyes like those of a noble cat locked with eyes decorated in beautiful makeup.

Liesel blinked slowly. When he opened his eyes again, he seemed to have decided to throw away even the pretense of “banter over a chess match” in favor of a deeper, more confrontational dialogue.

Spotting the black Queen that Heidemarie had moved moments ago, he picked it up. He squinted at the piece as if looking through it, glaring at the representation of the courtesan.

“Tell me, Heidemarie. You were born in a vassal state of Luden, weren’t you? You were hailed as the greatest courtesan in the three kingdoms, and when the King of that land took a fancy to you, you rejected him so coldly that you incurred his royal wrath. As a result, rumors were spread that you had consorted with a survivor of the Demon Race. You and the hero who protected you—Gilbert—were both thrown into this Walzer Prison. That’s the story, right?”

“…”

Heidemarie said nothing. She simply arched a single, elegant eyebrow with practiced grace.

“It’s a ridiculous story. If you had actually been carrying a demon child, you would have been executed on the spot. Besides, the Demon Race is a species that went extinct ages ago. Survivors are the stuff of novels. In other words, the demon business was a fabrication—a blatant, false accusation.”

Liesel deftly tossed the chess piece and caught it in mid-air before walking slowly toward Heidemarie.

“Gilbert might have messed up by siding with you when he had an engagement to a princess pending, but that’s hardly a crime worth imprisonment. It was practically a frame-up. Knowing what a fool for honesty he is, he probably called out the corruption of the high officials and made a nuisance of himself, didn’t he?”

Liesel moved behind the luxurious sofa, resting his hands on the backrest and leaning over to peer down at Heidemarie. As she tilted her gaze up from her seat, Liesel gripped her slender chin and tilted it upward.

“Absurd charges. An imprisonment born of spite. But all of that was only possible because the King of the great nation of Luden pulled strings to make the other countries owe him a favor at the time. Isn’t that right?”

Liesel leaned his face close and whispered, almost seductively, “Tell me.”

“Until now, we’ve called you [Lust] and Gil [Wrath], but the truth is the other way around, isn’t it? In reality, Gil is the fool who drowned in his infatuation and busied himself making this prison a comfortable home for you. And you… you are the vengeful spirit, so persistent and beyond saving that you haven’t forgotten your anger even after fifteen years.”

In the dim room, Liesel’s eyes flashed. Like a beast protecting its young, he interrogated Heidemarie in a harsh voice.

“You… you sent Elma in there just to tear Luden apart, didn’t you?”

“…”

Heidemarie remained silent. Beside the two staring each other down, the chessboard—frozen in checkmate—maintained its heavy silence.