Volume 4, Chapter 45 – The Vortex of Despair

“I seem to still owe you a condition.”

This must be referring to the bet from their first chess game, which Edith had lost. If she had won, her daily activity time would have increased to seven hours. But since she had lost, Edith was at her disposal.

Although using the seemingly tempting condition of “at her disposal” here was quite a waste, in reality, she had nothing she needed Edith to do. Even though she really wanted to see the scene Edith had mentioned, of her meowing or woofing like a cat or dog, she would never actually say it out loud. At most, she would just imagine it.

I’ll use it here to give Edith a way out.

Yisi waved her hand in resignation.

“Yes, yes. Then from now on, I’ll call you Pepe, and in return, the bet is off.”

“Deal.”

Edith agreed with a smile that looked as if she had thought of some mischievous idea.

I feel like I’ve been tricked.

Shaking the thought out of her head, Yisi returned to the previous question.

“So what do you think of my suggestion just now? To wait a few days before carrying out the plan, let the assassins lie in ambush in a more advantageous terrain. Oh, and I forgot to mention those four elder-level Frost Giants. If we wait a few days, they might have recovered enough to fight, and they would be a considerable force.”

Even so, it would just be delaying their deaths by a few days; the outcome would not change.

But she just didn’t want to see Edith die. Like someone desperately digging underground when the end of the world is coming, Yisi knew that she was just seeking psychological comfort, trying to find a glimmer of hope in the impossible.

For example, maybe Edith would suddenly become flexible, or finally give in to the pressure and stop being so stubborn, turning to her for help instead. Yisi knew this was impossible, yet she couldn’t help but think about it.

“Master, I also think it would be better for you to launch the attack later.”

Refina chimed in. Edith looked at her with a slightly surprised expression.

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“I was thinking about this in the dungeon. Refina, you’ve become quite rebellious lately.”

“But…”

Refina lowered her head.

Yisi quickly cut in.

“Refina is just helping you. It’s more like she’s offering advice than rebelling, right?”

“If that weren’t the case, I wouldn’t have just said it in words.” Edith’s light snort made Refina’s shoulders tremble. “I don’t think you would tell me to give up my noble honor.” ¹ bleeh what noble honor… dont mind me, im just tired of it.

“Yes…”

After seeing Refina nod, Edith picked up her bishop.

“I’d be happy to increase my chances of winning, of course. But I’d advise you to focus on the game.”

Finally, Edith captured Yisi’s queen.

Seeing the frowning and silent Yisi, Edith urged, “Your move.”

“Ugh…”

If this continues, I’ll lose.

The board was filled with Edith’s white pieces. All she had left were her king, a bishop, and a rook.

With only three pieces left, it was almost impossible to win.

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“…Are you really not considering letting me help you?”

“Not considering it. And I’d advise you not to take matters into your own hands and try to fix things. That would be an insult to me. I’m not going to my death; I’m seizing an opportunity to win. I’ll have the assassins and the Frost Giants create a diversion, and then I’ll use my pureblood status to blend in with the soldiers. To those soldiers, harming a pureblood is a capital crime. They won’t dare to do anything to me. I can then take advantage of the chaos to get to Hetty.

Although defeating both Father and Hetty at the same time will be difficult, it’s not entirely impossible. Once we’re away from Elden City, Father will hardly be able to attack with the Tower of Pescia, and Hetty only fights with mind magic, lacking the means to threaten me.”

“Hmm…”

Although the chances of winning were slim, it wasn’t entirely impossible.

Yisi silently moved a piece, placing her last rook in front of Edith’s king, putting it in check.

Edith naturally captured the rook that had moved in so close with her king.

And so, Yisi was left with only her king.

However.

“It’s a draw.”

Yisi declared the end.

A stalemate.

In chess, the king is forbidden from moving to a square where it can be captured by an opponent’s piece. If a player has no legal moves and their king is not in check, it is a stalemate.

“Tch.” Edith clicked her tongue. “You, you’d do anything to win.”

“This can’t be considered a win. At most, it’s just not a loss. And in chess, one only pursues victory, regardless of the means. That’s different from reality. You’re the one who said that, Pepe.”

“Consider it your win.”

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Scattering the pieces in her hand onto the board, Edith reset the game.

“Want another game? The six hours are up.”

Seeing that Edith wasn’t too dejected, Yisi joked in relief.

The count’s eldest daughter paused for a moment.

“Is that so? Then take the body. But this doesn’t affect the game. I will use the Magic Fairy to command Refina to move the pieces for me.”

“No problem.”

However, just as Yisi was about to take back control of the body, a sound of hurried footsteps came from outside the carriage.

“Master, i-it’s bad!”

It was Mary’s voice.

Yisi immediately stopped setting up the pieces and got out of the carriage. Mary was rushing towards her with a very anxious expression.

“Mary, what’s wrong?”

“That young lady was about to sneak away with the assassins, but she was discovered by Miss Camilla, and now she’s fighting with Miss Camilla and Tiffany!”

The “that young lady” Mary was referring to was the pet girl who had taken Camilla, Mary, and Tiffany to change their clothes earlier.

Realizing who Mary was talking about, Refina’s face, who had also gotten out of the carriage, turned ugly. Edith, who had also come out, pressed on.

“Is it Caroline?”

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“Y… yes. After Miss Caroline blew the whistle, all the guards ran towards Elden City. After I told Miss Camilla about this, she said Miss Caroline was a traitor and immediately went to stop her. By the time I came to inform you, Miss Camilla had already started fighting with Miss Caroline.”

“Refina, where is the wooden whistle for commanding the assassins?”

Edith’s deep, pool-like azure eyes looked at Refina. Refina averted her gaze, not daring to look her in the eye, and tightly clutched the spot on her chest where the wooden whistle used to hang.

Previously, because she had to stay away from the assassins to carry out the assassination plan with Edith, Refina had given the wooden whistle for controlling the assassins to the pet named Caroline, letting her temporarily control their movements while she was on guard duty. Later, because of rescuing Edith and having to be by her side at all times, she never had a chance to get the whistle back, so it was not in her possession now.

Seeing Refina’s ugly expression, Edith clenched her fists, then slowly unclenched them. The reason Caroline had done this was probably because she felt she couldn’t reclaim her position. But she neither wanted to side with Hetty nor continue to follow her, so she had released her last asset—the more than one hundred assassins—back to Elden City.

“Hehe… how merciful…”

Not having those one hundred plus assassins turn against her was probably Caroline’s final act of “loyalty.”

Just as Edith’s words fell, Camilla and Tiffany slowly emerged from the forest. Camilla’s golden hair was slightly disheveled, and Tiffany’s clothes were torn in several places from being snagged on branches.

Camilla first glanced at Edith—a hint of worry hidden in her ruby-like eyes—then her gaze fell on Yisi.

“I’m sorry, Onee-sama. We couldn’t stop Caroline.”

“I’m sorry.”

Yisi flew forward to comfort them.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. You and Tiffany don’t need to blame yourselves.”

In the end, this had nothing to do with them.

Mary cautiously peeked at Edith.

“But Miss Edith…”