Ruslan stared blankly at Sarka sitting in the living room.
As usual, Sarka was half-reclined on the living room sofa, flipping through a book with a bored expression.
Ruslan watched intently as Sarka read the book in a half-hearted manner, unable to concentrate. After looking around, he spotted a chessboard placed on the cupboard.
After thinking for a moment, Ruslan asked in a casual tone, as if tossing it out carelessly.
“……Want to play chess?”
Sarka paused and turned to look at Ruslan. Ruslan gestured toward the chessboard on the cupboard with his chin.
Sarka stared blankly at Ruslan for a moment, seemingly thinking about something.
Soon, as if he’d reached a conclusion, Sarka nodded slightly.
“Bring it.”
It seemed he hadn’t thrown out a bad suggestion. Relieved, Ruslan rushed to the cupboard and took out the chessboard.
After spreading the chessboard on the table in front of Sarka, Ruslan glanced at the sofa across from him at an awkward distance, then simply plopped down on the carpet facing Sarka.
Sarka silently picked up the white pieces and began arranging them.
Ruslan picked up the black pieces.
The game began.
After watching Sarka move his pieces for a while, Ruslan smiled slyly to himself.
Sarka was quite good. He probably had rarely lost when playing chess with friends.
But……
Thunk.
Ruslan’s black knight stopped in front of the white king.
“Checkmate.”
Sarka’s hand flinched.
“……”
A brief silence flowed.
Watching Sarka’s expressionless gaze fixed on the chessboard, Ruslan guessed this must have been an unexpected defeat.
You underestimated me and let your guard down, didn’t you? I’ve been a match for Kanya at chess since I was seven years old.
Ruslan sneakily observed Sarka’s expression, then asked as if tossing it out.
“Want to play another round?”
Sarka raised his eyes to look at Ruslan.
A red light flickered through his green eyes,
Clink. The white pieces returned to their positions.
Ruslan silently returned the black pieces to their original spots.
The second game began.
Watching Sarka immediately come out aggressively from the start, Ruslan grinned to himself.
Got your pride hurt?
The battle over the chessboard grew increasingly fierce. At the formidable momentum, Ruslan also bit his tongue as he moved his pieces. On the table, there was only the sound of pieces moving in busy silence.
A moment later.
Thunk.
The white queen was placed in front of Ruslan’s king.
“Ah.”
Ruslan clicked his tongue regretfully.
……He really is good.
Earlier he must have really lost because he let his guard down.
When Ruslan glanced up, Sarka was staring down at Ruslan blankly.
Ruslan bit his lip and read the mood, then rubbed the tip of his nose slightly and muttered.
“……Let’s play one more round.”
Clink.
The white pieces obediently returned to their positions.
The third game began.
After both had figured out that their opponent was no pushover, the match became even more careful and elaborate.
Watching Sarka’s white pieces move meticulously with no intention of going easy, Ruslan thought that Sarka had quite a strong competitive spirit.
Just like a valedictorian.
The match gradually transformed into a close battle where even one move ahead was unpredictable. The two boys’ gazes were fixed on the chessboard without wavering.
As Ruslan chewed his tongue and moved his pieces, he suddenly glanced up at Sarka and threw out a question.
“……Want to make a bet on this round?”
Sarka raised his eyes to look back at Ruslan.
After thinking for a moment, Ruslan met Sarka’s eyes briefly and suggested.
“The winner gets to ask the loser something they’re curious about, and the loser has to answer no matter what.”
Sarka looked at Ruslan with a thoughtful expression for a moment, then answered briefly.
“Fine.”
The chess pieces began to move again.
Ruslan concentrated, chewing even his fingernails.
Their skills were evenly matched. The boys’ eyes moved quietly over the chessboard in silence.
As their pieces fell away in the nerve-wracking battle……
Thunk.
Sarka’s piece checkmated.
Ruslan made a frustrated expression for a moment.
Until just now it seemed like he had a chance, but while he was distracted thinking about what to ask if he won, the tide had turned.
Ruslan clicked his tongue while looking down at the chessboard, then scratched his dirty blond hair.
Obediently acknowledging his defeat, Ruslan looked up at Sarka with an expression that said to ask away.
Sarka silently looked down at Ruslan in silence. He seemed to be choosing his question.
“……Why did your grandmother raise you?”
Ruslan, who had been regretting not moving his pawn earlier, suddenly raised his head at Sarka’s abrupt question.
With wide eyes, Ruslan stared up at Sarka blankly for a moment.
Ruslan’s navy blue eyes trembled as they scanned Sarka’s face. After being stunned for a moment, Ruslan obediently answered even with his dazed expression.
“Uh……There was a great famine in our country about 30 years ago. My birth parents also wandered around looking for food, and passed away in the mountains of our village. Our grandmother, who lived in a cabin halfway up the mountain, went out to pick herbs and heard a baby crying, and found me, the only survivor in my mother’s arms.
There was no room left in the orphanage, so they decided to just bury me with my parents, and the villagers gathered to dig the ground…… but tiny me stubbornly cried my lungs out, insisting on living.
Our grandmother, who couldn’t stand listening to it anymore, said looking at that brat’s stubbornness, if left alive he’d make something of himself, and took me in to raise me.”
Sarka stared down at Ruslan blankly without answering.
Ruslan felt his heart pounding. It was strange that Sarka had asked him something, and moreover, it felt odd that it was a question about Kanya, whom he hadn’t even been able to open his mouth about until now.
While Ruslan watched Sarka’s expression with a slightly tense air after finishing his answer, Sarka seemed lost in thought for a moment.
After a while, Sarka opened his mouth again and asked slowly.
“……What kind of person was she?”
Ruslan opened his mouth and stared at Sarka blankly.
Sarka was staring down at Ruslan blankly, waiting for an answer.
Ruslan unconsciously looked up at Sarka with curious eyes and almost smiled for a moment, then calmed his heart and began explaining eagerly.
“Her name was Kanya! No last name, ‘just’ Kanya. So I’m also without a last name, ‘just’ Ruslan.
Her age…… she never said exactly, but I think she was probably around her mid-fifties when she picked me up.
Red hair, and she was incredibly tall for a grandmother. The village kids called her the old tree grandmother!
Her temper was a bit cranky, she cursed well and got angry easily, but…… still, people always came to her when they were sick. Our grandmother was a really, really capable herbalist!
She knew everything about herbs, there was no illness she couldn’t cure, she could write, and she was incredibly good at arithmetic! She was so learned that she could read Imperial language and even El Cid language, so she taught me how to read and write directly. That’s why I always had good grades at school.
She always checked my homework, and when I came back from taking tests, she always made me meat pie, and always put walnuts that I liked right in the middle……She loved me so, so very much!”
As Ruslan rambled on incoherently, he unconsciously blurted out the last words and smiled brightly.
It had been so long since he’d talked about Kanya with someone in a cheerful mood, and it was practically the first time someone had listened to stories about Kanya with interest, so his chest swelled up.
While Ruslan looked up with a flushed face, Sarka seemed deep in thought.
As Sarka stared into Ruslan’s excited navy blue eyes blankly, he suddenly asked in a murky voice.
“……Do you believe that?”
Ruslan blinked. Ruslan asked back puzzledly.
“What do you mean?”
Sarka observed Ruslan’s face blankly, then narrowed his eyes.
With his brow faintly furrowed, Sarka asked again in a hazy voice.
“Do you believe……that she really loved you?”
Ruslan blinked.
After staring up at Sarka blankly for a moment, Ruslan nodded without hesitation.
“Yes.”
It was such an obvious answer that he couldn’t even add anything more.
Sarka looked straight down at Ruslan like that, then asked aggressively.
“How can you believe it?”
Sarka’s voice was sharp.
Ruslan stared directly into Sarka’s green eyes. The keen gaze seemed to be interrogating him.
Ruslan rolled his eyes as if he didn’t know what to say, then shrugged one shoulder.
Thunk, a short answer rolled out calmly.
“Just. You know when you see it.”
“……”
Sarka stared into Ruslan’s eyes blankly without answering.
Ruslan looked straight up at Sarka.
Sarka’s gaze was murky.
Sarka’s eyes, which had been lost in thought, slowly lowered.
Sarka’s fingers moved over the chessboard, slowly pushing Ruslan’s king.
Tap.
Ruslan’s king fell.
The game was over.
Sarka stood up from the sofa.
Ruslan stared intently at Sarka’s retreating back as he left the living room.
After that, Sarka was often lost in thought.
Losing interest in the book spread on his lap and looking up at the window, or throwing darts at the wall while immersed in his own world—Sarka seemed to be pondering something deeply.
After watching Sarka like that for several days, Ruslan resolved again and asked carefully.
“Want to play chess?”
Sarka, who had been sitting on the sofa listlessly flipping through pages, turned to look at Ruslan.
After staring at Ruslan blankly and being lost in thought, Sarka soon nodded obediently.
Ruslan familiarly brought the chessboard, placed it on the table, and sat down across from Sarka.
The game began.
After watching Sarka’s pieces for a while, Ruslan subtly let him win at the decisive moment so it wouldn’t show.
While there was still a mountain of things he was curious about regarding Sarka, what he was most curious about were Sarka’s thoughts.
What Sarka wanted to ask him and what he wanted to hear were more curious than anything else.
When Ruslan obediently acknowledged defeat and looked up, Sarka was lost in thought for a moment.
Looking down at the edge of the table while choosing his words, Sarka suddenly asked.
“……Have you never doubted?”
Ruslan raised his head to look up at Sarka.
Sarka stared down at Ruslan blankly, then added in a murky voice.
“That your grandmother kept you by her side just to use you……to get blood, or with some other purpose.”
Ruslan blinked once.
An unhesitating answer popped out.
“No.”
It was a clear answer without a shred of hesitation.
Sarka faintly frowned and looked down at Ruslan.
Ruslan met that gaze directly without avoiding it at all.
Sarka’s eyes narrowed.
Keenly tracing over Ruslan’s navy blue eyes, Sarka asked in a low voice.
“……What if she had? If she had, what would you……do?”
Ruslan silently stared straight into Sarka’s eyes for a moment.
After one breath, Ruslan took a deep breath and answered calmly.
“It wouldn’t be like that, but if it were……I wouldn’t have come to the Empire.”
“……”
Sarka’s eyes blinked slowly.
Sarka silently looked at Ruslan for a while with eyes deeply lost in thought.
Ruslan, who had been quietly looking into those eyes, lowered his gaze to look down at the chessboard.
After being lost in thought for a moment, Ruslan glanced up at Sarka and suggested.
“……Want to play another round?”
A red glow flickered in Sarka’s green eyes, which had been lost in thought for a moment.
Clink. The white pieces returned to their positions.
The game began again.
After moving pieces for a while, Ruslan realized that Sarka still hadn’t emerged from his thoughts.
Sarka’s pieces moved slowly and dully, and Ruslan easily cleared away Sarka’s pieces and placed a black rook in front of the white king.
“Checkmate.”
Sarka glanced down at his king.
Obediently acknowledging defeat, Sarka nodded. It was a gesture telling him to ask.
After choosing his words for a long time, Ruslan slowly asked.
“……Do you doubt?”
Sarka raised his gaze to look at Ruslan.
Ruslan stared into those green eyes and bluntly spat out each word one by one.
“That the person who raised you, the person who protected you, the person who died trying to protect you……might not have loved you.”
“……”
A brief silence flowed.
Ruslan looked straight into Sarka’s eyes.
Sarka slowly blinked. His green gaze became murky, then soon lowered.
Sarka was lost in thought for a long time without answering. Ruslan stared intently at that face and waited calmly.
After a long silence, instead of answering, Sarka moved his fingers.
Tap.
Sarka pushed over his own king.
The game was over.
Sarka stood up wordlessly and left.
Ruslan stared at Sarka’s fallen king, lost in thought for a long time.
