Back then, the tides of the Chrysos War,
Had not yet engulfed the city-state of Talanton…

And the young princess inside the gates,
Once loved to roam without worries.

She snuck into forbidden grounds while the servants were away,
But was shocked by what she saw on that day.

A chessboard,
A stack of pieces,
And a strange woman.

The board dissected by daylight and shadow,
The pieces polished from rough stones uneven.

“Fancy a game? If you are my match,
Then I'll call you my friend.”
The stranger's voice was husky and coarse.

“If you can beat me, then I'll call you my teacher.”
The princess proudly retorted.

Despite the bravado,
The princess had never touched chess.
The defeat made her study in earnest, acknowledging the other as a teacher…

First she learned the knights, bishops, rooks, and queen.
Then how to defend, attack, capture, and checkmate.

“I have learned all there is to learn.”
Barely out of childhood,
The princess raced into games of chess.
Those who looked down on her faced many losses.
Those who glorified themselves forfeited in a mess.
At her prime, none could rival her at all.

But she still recalled what the stranger said:
“… My origins bring dark omens,
So never tell others where your teacher is from.”^[1]

Then the waves of the Chrysos War,
Washed over the world…

The Okhemans welcomed a ruler.
She was deemed Imperator, and loved to play chess with herself.
She regarded all things as “pieces,”
Whether Chrysos Heirs or Titans magnificent.

Before every god-slaying campaign,
She thought of the stranger from her childhood,
As if that woman had always lived in her mind.

“Isn't it lonely to play chess against yourself?”
The princess did not understand at the time.

But now,
She who bore the crown finally realized,
The Flame-Chase's beginning was like fuel being tossed onto the fire,
And in the unending road of marching banners and war cries,
She finally had the time to meditate.

There were often jesters behind the king,
Curious about her past in the old city lost to time.

One claimed the Imperator was cruel,
Executing her own teacher.
Another stated the Imperator was biased,
Learning from an enemy hostage.

Many such rumors abounded, with no origin found.

“No matter. That was indeed the criminal sentence I read out.”

The Imperator stated evenly,

“My teacher was an enemy hostage whom my elders had imprisoned.”

^[2]“Her state betrayed our alliance
And must be executed according to Law.”

“But she taught me chess,
So why can't I chisel the word “teacher”
On her tombstone now?”

When the princess personally cleaned up the possessions of the dead,
She caught sight of an incomplete game on the ground.

The stranger's hoarse chuckle
Still echoed in her ear…
Laughing at the eternal fate of imprisonment,
And at how the one facing her was the princess of the enemy.

“Is this your final game for me, my teacher?”

The princess imagined the endgame
Over and over.
Even when she took the imperial crown,
She still dreamt of the black-and-white board.

The concealed truths
Suddenly dawned on her
During a more difficult contest in the future…
An unfinished game
Might be the opponent's lifelong barrier.