“Is this how you do it?”
“Yes. But, well, while it’s not against the rules, playing this way will lead to defeat later on. If you look closely…”
At Ares’s explanation, Karen nodded enthusiastically with an expression of interest.
From the very beginning, he had noticed that this woman had exceptionally expressive reactions.
“Oh? You’re right! I almost completely fell into your trap, Your Highness.”
“Actually, I designed it to be that way. The idea is to learn from near defeat at this stage when you don’t know what might happen later… or something like that.”
“I see… So, you’re telling me in advance to avoid dying unnecessarily, right?”
“Uh? Is that… how it’s turning out…?”
“Ehehe, thank you. Your Highness is so considerate.”
Ares scratched his flushed cheek with a finger, avoiding Karen’s gaze.
When she discovered his secret hobby—something he had never wanted anyone to see—he had honestly felt like hiding in a hole.
But now, he wanted to praise himself for not tidying up his room, allowing her to pick up the cards and play.
For several tens of minutes, they spent time together playing various board games.
***
“I think it’s about time I head back.”
Ares turned his head to look out the window.
The sun was already setting beyond the horizon.
After Eirene’s reformation, during the days when despair over his inability to do anything had kept him holed up at home, time had felt stagnant.
But now, it seemed to rush by in the blink of an eye.
“Then, Your Highness, I had a lot of fun today! Let’s meet again soon!”
“Take care on your way back.”
After seeing Karen off, Ares sat in his chair, staring blankly ahead.
‘What on earth had happened today?’
‘Calm down.’
Ares began to retrace the events of the day.
The Emperor had summoned him and suddenly encouraged him to study religion.
He had grown wary of Erin, who seemed intent on recruiting him, and that was only a few hours ago.
Yet now, here he was, genuinely enjoying the time he had spent with her.
‘It’s a transparent ploy—to ease my wariness toward the church.’
‘Did they think I’d fall for something so obvious?’
Ares scoffed.
‘What does the church think of me?’
‘If they believe I’ll simply dance to their tune, they’re sorely mistaken.’
Yes.
Packing his things and moving to the secluded estate he had prepared as a contingency didn’t seem like a bad idea—
He rose slowly from his seat, but strangely, his feet refused to move.
‘If I disappear now… what kind of expression would Karen make when she hears we can’t meet again?’
Humans have an uncanny talent for rationalizing when their desires clash with their principles.
Ares, being human, began to craft a ‘rationale.’
‘Wait. If I vanish, the church will just think this method doesn’t work and strengthen their efforts to manipulate me.’
‘It would be wiser to engage with Karen casually, so they underestimate me as insignificant.’
This line of reasoning was easily refutable by understanding that no matter how strong the church’s power grew, the empire’s authority ultimately lay with the imperial family.
Ares himself knew that the church couldn’t touch him if he decided to leave.
But if he didn’t ignore this fact, he couldn’t justify his desire to spend more time with Karen as aligned with his principles.
So, he nodded as if it were the only reasonable alternative.
With his thoughts organized, the weight in his heart seemed to lift.
‘What had that burden been?’
‘Fear of almost falling for the church’s ploy?’
‘Or was it… the faint regret of possibly not seeing Karen again?’
Ultimately, the decision rested with Ares.
‘Yes. Rather than hiding, engaging with Karen is the smarter approach.’
He chose the sweetest rationalization.
***
From the day of his fateful encounter with Karen, Ares’s life began to change ever so slightly, like a dish seasoned with just a pinch of spice.
The grand cause he had been preparing fell apart with Eirene’s awakening.
Dethrone a wise ruler who loves their people and implements policies for the greater good?
Honestly, if Ares were an ordinary citizen, he would have seen himself as nothing more than a young upstart consumed by a lust for power, attempting to overthrow the emperor who had raised him after his mother’s death.
As the world grew increasingly peaceful under the church’s influence, Ares’s days had become colorless and dull.
But Karen’s presence began to add color back to his monochrome existence.
***
One day, they shared a deeper and more serious conversation.
“My younger brother is about your age?”
“Yes! He’s currently at a monastery training to be a priest. It’s a difficult path, but knowing he chose to walk it with me makes me so proud as his sister! Still… I feel a little lonely. We won’t see each other often anymore.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I work as a nun at the cathedral, while he’s far away at a different monastery. We won’t see each other for years.”
Ares thought about how being a religious figure seemed to involve its own share of hardships.
And yet, a strange, indescribable emotion began to stir deep within him.
“Do you miss him a lot?”
“Yes. We were very close. We played chess together every day, shared stories, and leaned on each other after losing our parents. He’s the only family I have left.”
It wasn’t unusual for siblings to have a close relationship.
‘But why did he feel a strange sense of deprivation while watching her speak so fondly of her brother?’
‘Ridiculous.’
It had barely been a week since they met.
As Ares silently berated himself for such feelings—
“Your Highness,”
“Yes?”
“Would you like to be my younger brother?”
“Wha… What?!”
With a playful smile, she said something completely unexpected, leaving Ares speechless.
Unable to meet her gaze, he fumbled awkwardly as Karen’s lips curled into a mischievous grin.
“Ehehe, just kidding. You looked so down that I wanted to tease you a little.”
Truly, she was a type of person he had never encountered before.
‘Who else would dare joke so boldly with a prince?’
And so…
Ares found himself thinking that she would have to take responsibility for such audacious teasing.
“…Alright, I’ll do it.”
“What?”
“I’ll… be your younger brother. If… if I’m good enough…”
With an expression that would have shocked his elder sisters, Linnea and Yuria, Ares cautiously offered his sincere words.
Karen, staring blankly at Ares for a moment, suddenly broke into a smile.
“Great! Yes! I’ll be counting on you, little brother!”
“Uh… y-yes… I’ll be counting on you too, Karen… sister.”
“Mm-hm!”
It wasn’t just color that returned to Ares’s world.
Thump. Thump.
The sound of his heart pounding filled his ears, an undeniable reminder that he was alive.
***
A few days later, an incident occurred during one of their chess discussions.
“Alright! Do you know the best move in this situation?”
“Umm… would it be this, sister?”
“Wow! That’s correct! As expected of my little brother! You’re learning so quickly. At this rate, I think you’ll beat me soon!”
Ares couldn’t help but smile.
Hearing Karen—his sister—praise him brought him pure joy.
“Do you know what the next move would be?”
“No.”
In truth, he had a good idea, but he lied because he enjoyed watching Karen excitedly explain.
“Then let me teach you. Here, make a bold move with the queen—”
Bam!
“—by sacrificing it!”
‘A queen sacrifice…!’
Even as the black queen was sacrificed, it was clear that white’s defeat was inevitable in just a few moves.
“Ta-da! Now, white can’t avoid checkmate within three moves.”
Sacrificing the queen for the greater strategy… To an outsider, it might seem reckless, but it was a profoundly beautiful play.
For Ares, who believed in the virtue of sacrifice, it resonated deeply.
To sacrifice something significant to achieve ultimate victory—what could be more beautiful than such a strategy?
At that moment, Karen, who had been watching Ares intently, picked up the fallen queen and placed it back on the board.
“That’s the beauty of games, don’t you think? No matter how many times we sacrifice on the chessboard—”
She smiled softly and adjusted the piece.
“—we can always start over from the beginning.”
“But if it weren’t a game and there were no restarts… no matter how insignificant the piece, sacrificing a living queen recklessly wouldn’t be so simple, would it?”
Ares slowly looked at Karen’s face.
“You understand what I’m saying, don’t you, little brother?”
Her gaze pierced through him, as though she could see right into his thoughts.
***
The church must know a great deal about me.
Karen’s usual smiling face now seemed somewhat different.
Ordinarily, Ares would have laughed off her comment and moved on.
He would have dismissed his insignificant feelings for her and focused on guarding against the church.
He would have decided to either play along with the church or retreat to his secluded estate to investigate the source of leaked information.
He needed to understand just how much the church—how much she—knew about him to prepare thoroughly.
But strangely, instead of choosing the safe and efficient path, Ares decided—
“Without sacrifices, nothing can be achieved. If, in the end, it makes more people happy, then a certain level of sacrifice is inevitable.”
—to confront her with his unfiltered truth.
“Being too afraid to act because of fear of sacrifice is nothing but cowardice. I’ll carry the burden of those who are sacrificed.”
“And who decides who will be sacrificed?”
“That’s…”
“If the scope of sacrifice becomes too broad for the greater good, what determines its limits?”
If Ares were to carry out his ideals, many lives would undoubtedly be lost.
He had even resolved to sacrifice his allies if necessary.
To say he would consult them beforehand would be a lie.
It wouldn’t just be his life; innocent others would inevitably be dragged in.
But what choice was there? That was the nature of revolution.
Without sacrifices, nothing would change.
Shouldn’t she understand that?
“Are you saying I’m wrong, Karen… sister?”
“That’s not what I’m saying…”
Ares scoffed inwardly—at himself.
Expecting someone he had only known for a few days to understand him?
‘How pathetic and laughable of me.’
“Of course, I shouldn’t have expected anything. After all, Sister Karen isn’t…”
He paused, correcting himself.
“You’re just a nun sent by the church to sway me, aren’t you?”
“Was it the saintess who sent you?”
Karen looked at Ares with trembling eyes but said nothing.
“I was naive. Thinking you’d understand me just because you played pretend as my friend was foolish.”
“Ares, that’s not what I meant—”
“I don’t want to hear it!”
Ares shouted, cutting her off.
Turning his head, he retreated back into his own world.
“Tell the saintess this: I’ll obediently study the religion that’s now the state church as instructed, but I have no intention of changing my ideals.”
Karen looked at him silently for a moment before bowing.
“I understand, Your Highness. I apologize for overstepping.”
The door closed behind her, leaving Ares alone in the now silent room.
He threw himself onto the bed.
‘I’m exhausted. I just want to sleep without thinking about anything.’
***
The next morning, the first thought that came to Ares’s mind was regret.
‘I didn’t need to take my anger out on Karen…’
Karen was just a nun doing what the church told her.
‘What could she possibly know?’
Besides…
The question about who decides the sacrificial lamb—
It wasn’t her words alone that upset him.
The fact that he couldn’t answer her question had struck him deeply.
He had always believed that sacrifice was necessary for change.
He had been prepared to sacrifice his allies if required.
But her words had revealed the arbitrariness of his convictions.
The image of Duke Kal Bayan suddenly surfaced in his mind.
“Wouldn’t it be best if nothing happened, and we could just play chess together peacefully?”
‘I need to apologize.’
‘When Karen comes in a few hours… I’ll make sure to tell her I’m sorry for losing my temper.’
‘As a gesture of apology, I’ll prepare her some tea.’
‘She seemed interested in the tea set, so she’d probably appreciate it.’
Ares calmed himself with these thoughts, waiting for her to arrive.
***
But hours passed.
And then a day.
Two days.
Three days.
Karen, who had greeted him every day with a radiant smile, never visited his room again.
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