TVBDS 11

Chapter: 11

“But the age difference between the two of you…!”

“He’s a Sword Master, so he stopped aging. My husband is just that capable.”

Through my almost possessed performance, as if two souls had entered a single body, not only Hyppolyte but also the children who came to watch had clasped their hands together and were completely absorbed.

“How could this happen! Why, why are you standing beside the Duke?!”

“It’s been a long time, Father. You never imagined that the daughter you abandoned would return as your in-law, did you?”

I paused for a moment and glanced toward Felix.

How is it? It’s driving you crazy because you’re curious, isn’t it?

Even though he tried to ignore it, the ridiculous story was too interesting to resist, and soon the children gathered around him began shifting away.

This was all thanks to the fact that I never neglected reading.

“Grrk…!”

Eventually, Felix slammed his fist down on the armrest of his chair with a face that looked like he was about to explode from frustration.

That’s an expensive chair.

If it breaks, I’ll have Uncle Guillaume pay for it.

Then Felix looked around and suddenly brightened up.

He stood up from his chair.

“Ahem!”

As if he wanted everyone to hear him, he cleared his throat.

In his hand was something with a very familiar shape.

A large cube-shaped wooden board with short legs, and lines drawn on its surface with perfect precision.

Above all, round black and white stones sitting inside a circular container.

…Why was that coming from there?

Perhaps here, no.

Perhaps in this entire country, there was no one more familiar with that object than me.

“Wow, Felix hyung. What is that?”

The children’s heads turned simultaneously.

Felix explained in a proud and dignified tone.

“Ah, this? This is a ‘baduk board’ that my father brought from the East. It’s an adult’s game that children who only play with dolls wouldn’t even dare attempt.”

Then, with an obvious mocking smile, he turned his attention toward me.

“What do you think, Lady Adelaide? How about a match between just the two of us, leaving the children aside?”

“……”

“Ah… You don’t happen to not know how to play baduk, do you? Surely not. Especially not someone like you, the daughter of the Charmeuse family.”

“I don’t.”

When I admitted it so easily that it was almost anticlimactic, Felix’s face twisted into something quite entertaining.

He must have expected me to stubbornly pretend I knew and then suffer a humiliating defeat.

But what could I do?

I really didn’t know.

The only thing I knew about baduk, whether in this world or my previous one, was that having a large house was always the best.

“I don’t know how to play baduk. But…”

I paused for a moment and looked around the room.

Do you guys happen to know alkkagi?

“The rules are simple. The person who knocks away all of their opponent’s stones first wins.”

Tak.

Every time I placed a stone on the baduk board, a clear sound rang out.

“Tch, I thought you were going to suggest some kind of game, but it’s just something childish like this…”

“No matter what the game is, you’ll regret it if you don’t do your best with the intention of winning against your opponent. Or are you saying it isn’t worth trying because it’s something only children who play with dolls do?”

Felix’s expression twisted again, and his bulldog-like cheeks trembled.

As his expression became frightening, the children became nervous.

“I’ll let you go first. It is only natural for a gentleman to yield to a lady.”

“I won’t refuse. Refusing a gentleman’s kindness is also not very ladylike.”

It didn’t take long for Felix to regret his own words.

Tak!

“Wow…!”

The stone that flew from the tip of my finger glided across the smooth surface.

Then it knocked only Felix’s white stone out of the board with perfect accuracy and stopped exactly where it was.

‘Director, are you watching?

Although your baduk skills never improved until the end, thanks to you, my employees and I became experts at playing alkkagi for coffee bets.’

As I recalled the director’s shiny bald head that sparkled like a baduk stone, I fell into memories for a moment.

“Damn it!”

Next was Felix’s turn.

However, unlike me, who carefully calculated the angle, his stone flew forward with great force, passed right by my stone, and fell straight off the board.

“Damn it!”

Bang!

Felix slammed his fist against the armrest in frustration.

If the baduk board had been just a little lighter, he looked like he might have flipped the entire thing over.

‘Good reaction. As expected, kids are still kids.’

The spectators who had initially watched Felix and me nervously were now completely invested, sweating with excitement.

Every time the stones moved across the board, cheers and disappointed sighs alternated.

Even a hastily made banner was fluttering above our heads.

Finally, there was one white stone and two black stones remaining.

Tak!

The result was, of course, my overwhelming victory.

“That was a fun match. Then I’ll go back to playing with dolls like a child.”

“Grrk…!”

As I lightly mocked him while putting away the board, Felix ground his teeth.

He hadn’t even lost all his baby teeth yet, but he had already developed such a terrible attitude.

I almost said something, but decided against it.

Let him struggle in a place without proper dental technology.

Felix simply could not accept the result before his eyes.

I lost?

But no matter how much he stared at the board, the single remaining black stone did not magically turn white.

“Lady Adelaide! That was amazing!”

“Where did you learn a game like that?”

“Please teach me too!”

The children who had been busy flattering Felix only moments ago were now gathered around Adelaide, chattering excitedly.

The moment he saw that sight, Felix truly understood what people meant when they said their insides were twisting.

“Felix hyung, are you okay? Ignore those kinds of people and let’s just play together.”

When Felix lowered his gaze, the younger child who usually followed him around was holding out a toy.

The moment he saw the roughly carved wooden toy, Felix’s expression twisted even further.

“Are you joking right now? How dare you offer this cheap toy to someone?”

—Thud!

He was already annoyed enough to explode.

And this kid had absolutely no sense of timing.

Felix threw the toy onto the floor.

The toy shattered into pieces.

The loud noise drew everyone’s surprised attention.

Among them was Adelaide.

“What do you think you’re doing right now?!”

Adelaide stormed toward him, her anger blazing.

“Apologize immediately!”

“W-why should I? He was the one who upset me first!”

Overwhelmed by Adelaide’s presence, Felix flinched, stammered, and then shouted back angrily.

Faced with such shameless behavior, Adelaide was momentarily speechless.

“He was trying to comfort you. What you just did was nothing more than taking your bad mood out on someone else because you were angry. You lost to me, you’re frustrated and upset, so why are you taking it out on someone weaker than you? That’s cowardly.”

As if her words had struck the exact spot he was hiding, Felix’s face turned pale.

But Adelaide’s words did not end there.