The queen was also a piece on the chessboard

Stacks of paper covered the teenager flipping through reports at the desk. His complexion was pale, and it would come as no surprise if he keeled over any time. Dark eye circles stood out on the dashing face and a silver ear wrap was hooked from the top of his right ear, dangling below the earlobe. Slender, pallid fingers wrapped around the document edges after bloodshot eyes scanned them from top to bottom, right to left.

Before the folder could land in the ‘Information to be verified’ pile, a tall young man with elongated ears grabbed it. His lithe body filled the tight, dark clothes and he moved with unhurried steps like a panther prowling its territory. Then he left the warm-toned room soundlessly.

“Thanks, Lai!” Hale called out to Nikolai’s back.

The man didn’t respond but Hale knew he heard. The dark elf’s been getting even more silent over the years. They learned to read his body language to discern the unspoken subtext but maybe they had gotten too good at it and now he didn’t feel the need to talk. At all.

Chase sat at another desk, holding a gel pen in one hand and her head on another. Swinging legs dangled from a personalized child seat and two tails poked out from the gap in the back. Save for the better quality of her clothes, she looked about the same as she did 4 years ago.

The small body writhed in protest, “I can’t take this anymoreeeee!”

“... Tomas,” Hale looked at the remaining youth.

Unlike his slovenly friends, Tomas sat in perfect posture, light from the widescreen monitor shining on his tired face. Freckles splattered across his cheeks and nose bridge, as if dark stars were spilled on a honey canvas

“At this pace, your cut for the month is 299 gold and 9 silvers.” He recited the numbers from the top of his mind.

“Just round it up!!”

“299 gold and 7 silvers.” Tomas said without looking up.

“Stop, why is it decreasing!”

“Because the pace is dropping. 299 gold and 6 silvers.”

“UGHH!” The small girl groaned and threw herself into work again.

With her sickly mother treated, and her income improved, money wasn’t an urgent issue anymore, even after repaying everyone she stole from. But old habits died hard and old loves never die. She was a great slave—no, employee—as long as there was a monetary incentive.

“GUYS! Look what I brought!” The door slammed open, and a beauty dressed in the trendiest fashion jumped in, lush navy blue curls bouncing behind her.

“Li-Lily,” Delys gasped, holding the door frame for support. “You're too, fast.”

The mousy crybaby had some giantess blood somewhere far up her line and grew the most among them, towering a head above their second tallest, Nikolai. She was the reason they customized the furniture and had high ceilings in the building.

“Lily, please be gentle on the door. It’s your second offense. I’ll deduct 20 gold since the damage is negligible.” Tomas said.

“Don’t be like that. Here, your fave black forest!” Lily presented the slice of cake.

“The Anti-Corruption Act prohibits bribery.”

“Tomas, you’ve changed! Where is my sweet and kind child?!” She wiped her non-existent tears with an embroidered handkerchief.

“Anyone will change too, if they had to handle our finances.” Tomas glared at the cake box.

“Perish the thought! These were bought with my own money.”

Tomas’s sharp look softened and he busied himself again.

When Lily and Delys sorted out the food and made themselves comfortable at the coffee table, Delys gathered her courage and brought up a topic they had many times.

“Hale, are you still not going to contact Kat?”

“No.”

“Oh…” The large girl’s head drooped like a withered flower.

“When is Charles’ team returning from Dreadwater?”

Lily sighed at the poor change of subject. Hale was too stubborn. Unlike the rest who maintained some form of contact with Katharin, Hale didn’t because he “didn’t want to get in the way”, as he put it.

The Watchers Intelligence Guild had become something of a famous urban legend in the realms, though the resourceful and powerful knew it was a real existence. But what they didn’t know was that the core of the covert group was the children of cage 12.

Hale’s pet project turned into a full-fledged organization after the trafficking incident. Even if he had wanted to stand still, the world wouldn’t let him. So he wanted to make sure he was well-prepared the next time he had to run.

And he wanted to make sure that Katharin was well-prepared the next time she had to run. That someone flattened the roads and removed the obstacles. That there were refreshment points and she could stop whenever she wanted.

Because he realized he was wrong. The world didn’t spin for the female lead. It spun for her romance. That was why it gave her a childhood full of suffering and threw her in horrible situations one after another. It gave her despair to make hope shine brighter and pain to make love taste sweeter.

In the end, the queen was also a piece on the chessboard.