The Villainess’ Beloved Plan: The Struggles to Avoid a Doomed End

The interior of the Cigarette Room is blurred, albeit only slightly, by the thick purple smoke.

To escape the swarming women, Randall and Kyle used the Cigarette Room as a hiding place and played chess to pass the time.

Sophia seemed to be having dessert in the common room, so it would take longer. If only Sophia was next to him, the women would be more reserved and not call out to him, but he felt bad about going to her side to ward off the women.

“Are you going to follow me after you get off the Ship?”

Randall asked, as they fought a heated battle on the chess board, and Kyle laughed aloofly

“Sure.”

“……. we’re on our honeymoon.”

“Have you ever looked up the word “honeymoon” in the dictionary?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t think this is far from a ‘honeymoon’, at least as far as you’re concerned.”

“I don’t understand. A honeymoon is a trip taken by a married couple for the first time. What’s the difference?”

“Oh, ……, I really feel sorry for Sophia.”

Kyle fiddled with his queen piece in his hand.

“I like chess, but there’s one thing I don’t like about the rules of chess. It’s that the queen moves to protect the king. I think it’s the other way round. The husband should protect his wife, right? If the wife is used as a decoy and the king stays until the end, what does that mean? I think a husband should love and honour his wife until the end of his life and protect her life at his own risk.”

“So what’s your point?”

“I’m saying you should love and honour Sophia more and be more openhearted.”

Kyle puts the queen back in place and moves his bishop to take out Randall’s knight.

Surely, it’s true that Kyle rarely used his queen as a decoy to go for his opponent. Basically, whenever he won, there was always a queen left too. It is his chess style to keep his queens safe until the end.

“You know, have you ever looked at Sophia properly? I don’t mean look her in the eye. I mean, have you ever faced her properly? You’re making Sophia out to be a fake and a bad person from the start. Has she ever actually done anything to you?”

“Sophia has been maligning Keira.”

“And have you ever actually seen that?”

“…… Keira has testified to that.”

“Oh, yeah. So if Sophia said “Keira bullied me”, you would believe Sophia’s testimony as well?”

“That’s…….”

“Hmm. You wouldn’t believe Sophia’s version of events. Maybe you think that princess Keira is like a little sister you’ve known since birth, so you don’t believe Sophia’s story. But you married Sophia, think about what that means. At least as long as you neglect Sophia like that, believing only in your sister’s story, which you don’t even know if it’s true, I’m going to mercilessly take your ‘queen’ away from you. I hope you realise it earlier and it won’t be too late.”

Randall stopped holding the knight with his hand. Finally, he realised the situation he was in. No matter where he moved this Knight, Kyle would take his Queen in the next move. Just as he had declared.

Randall hesitated with the Knight in his hand as he saw the Queen and Sophia overlap. If he left the knight and moved another piece, he would not be able to protect the queen from this position. Randall was only thinking of protecting the king, so the queen is not only thinly protected.

If he moves the queen;who has a wide range of action, the king will in turn be struck down. The only way for Randall to win is to continue to use the queen as a decoy and protect his king before Kyle can take it out.

Randall took a deep breath. This is a game. It’s just a chess game in front of him, just a chess queen. It’s not Sophia.

‘Ridiculous.’

‘This is a game. You should win. Don’t be fooled by Kyle’s useless chivalry. The queen is not Sofia. The king should stay. If Kyle’s king is checkmated, that’s all that matters. It is enough if the queen, a mere pawn, is struck down, as long as he wins.’

‘tsk’

Randall put the knight back and took the queen in his hand.

‘…… What the hell am I doing, man?’

Feeling a feeling of near self-mockery in his heart, he moved the Queen to as safe a place as possible.

Naturally, Kyle would not miss the opportunity and easily attacked.

“Checkmate.”

Randall looked up at the ceiling in defeat.

Kyle happily took Randall’s king in his hand.

“You’re a stiff, you always have been. You need to look at things more broadly and flexibly.”

“Mind your own business.”

“I think Sophia’s a good girl.”

‘………’

“It’s a good trip. You should try to face it properly. Maybe you’ll see things you didn’t see before.”

“……But you’ll come with me, won’t you?”

“Of course. I didn’t say I wouldn’t get in the way.”

“You were aware you were getting in the way.”

Randall sighed.

Kyle puts the pieces back in their correct positions and begins to prepare for the second round.

Randall was about to ask the waiter to change his whiskey.

“‘There you are.”

McKeel entered the cigarette room. He looked somewhat bemused.

“Was Miss Sophia here?”

“No. ……Sophia was in the break room eating something sweet, I think. ……”

When Randall replied, McKeel frowned and clicked his tongue. It was so rough that one couldn’t imagine him, who always looked calm.

“I knew there was something wrong with you, ……!”

McKeel retorted, spinning on his heel and running off.

Randall and Kyle looked at each other and decided to follow the strange McKeel.