11. Conclusion
"Deborah, come to think of it, your birthday is just around the corner."
Duke Seymour, who was sitting opposite me, looked at the chessboard and suddenly said, and I nodded my head as I picked up the Queen.
"How about spending this birthday quietly with only immediate family members without inviting guests? Since the circumstances behind who were targeting you have not been revealed yet ...."
I hadn't yet shared the clues I found in the diary with my father.
'Although we have deduced the background, there is also no conclusive evidence to investigate and question the royal family.'
I can't believe the emperor's favorite empress is targeting me.
She was a very tricky opponent, so it gave me a headache.
Instead of answering my father's suggestion, I crossed the chessboard with a black bishop and knocked down the white pawn.
My father slowly rubbed his chin as he watched the black bishop bravely dashed into the enemy camp.
"That's a bold move. It's just like you."
Like me?
At his comments, I suddenly felt a sense of exasperation.
I've lived thinking that I'm timid and quiet, but how did this happen?
'But I made a bloody resolution that if I had another life, I would not live like a pushover ....'
I picked up the Knight while remembering that fierce determination.
The battles came and went several times, and in the end, the father's horse was surrounded by the Queen and the Knight, and it was impossible to move.
“Checkmate.”
He thought for a while, moving his horse here and there, and eventually declared surrender.
"You deliberately gave up the Bishop to lure the King in this direction. There's no way Enrique or this father could look at that."
He murmured as if he was lamenting and leaned his back on the soft backrest.
As I played the game, the sun was setting and the sky was colored black and snow was scattered in the darkness.
There's silence in the office. Duke Seymour's silver eyes sank into a flowing dark, with a cool energy like the blade of a knife.
He didn't show any signs in front of me, but after I was attacked at the Imperial Library, he was burning with strong hostility.
To a certain extent, he mobilized private soldiers to dust off even a group of social workers unrelated to the black wizards on a rainy day, biting Marquis François as a tax evasion case to block the Miya's funding line.
However, the duke already knows that cutting off the tail, not the head or body, is useless.
"Father."
"Yeah. Talk to me."
"This year, my birthday will be more special than anyone else's, just like the Princess of Seymour. I've been the most successful debutante in the Empire, and I also became the queen of hunting competitions, so it's boring if I pass it quietly, right?"
"..........,"
“Of course, I have no intention of inviting guests to this townhouse, obviously.”
