Chapter 25

“Where’s Cole?”

As soon as Heidemarie moved a piece, the man sitting across from her said with a dull look on his face.

“What?”

“Say it correctly. Manners.”

She looked at the board and then tilted her head, “Oh dear. You’re right. You are already in check. I didn’t mean to beat you so soon.”

“What? Do you think I’m weak?”

When the man asked with a scratchy voice, Heidemarie chuckled.

“What’s up. Are you not in a good mood, Liesel? You couldn’t decide what make-up to put on?”

“What? My jade-like skin is still shining today. You’re a woman who works on my nerves all the time.”

As mentioned, the person called Liesel is wearing make-up like a woman.

Thinly trimmed eyebrows and smooth skin.

He had a strange naturalness and a unique beauty, combined with his long hair and well-groomed appearance.

He looked about in his mid-thirties, wore tight-fitting pants and a loose-fitting white shirt that made him look like a thin man or a vivacious woman clad in riding clothes.

However, his completely wrinkle-free clothing, elegantly coordinated style, and casual but luxurious accessories made it clear that he had a much better sense of style than most women.

Liesel rubbed the bottom of his lips with his beautifully manicured fingertips, then poked his cheekbones sullenly.

“Oh, it’s frustrating. What’s on the board? What do you want? You only let the men around you scratch and claw, you little bitch.”

“I think it was you who pushed Gilbert aside and came forward to play, Liesel. You don’t like me, do you?”

“Of course I don’t. I hate mothers who don’t love their daughters more than anything else in the world.”

Liesel snorted in disgust as he and Heidemarie spoke.

The exchange was not so much a conversation between a man and a woman as it was between two women who were at odds with each other.

Liesel Estman.

He was from Yarederud, the renowned art capital, and was once imprisoned for kidnapping a string of royal family children.

However, the kidnapped claimed that they thought they would be happier with the one who kidnapped them. The young ladies who were kidnapped said, “I was happy to be by my mother’s side,” which was unusual.

Liesel was a man with the heart of a woman by nature.

He was despairing of the fact that he could never give birth to a child himself, even though he was more “feminine” than a princess. So, as to make up for it, he found girls who had been oppressed or deprived because of their looks and took them away and gave them a gifted education in the feminine arts.

From skin-care to make-up, the correct way to walk and the proper way to talk. He even taught them to dance, embroider and even how to seduce someone.

The sometimes gruelling training also remade the girls’ spirits so that they achieved supreme beauty and, at the same time, imprinted their loyalty towards Liesel.

They were just like baby birds yearning for their parent.

Liesel was also captivated by the “love from a child” who were blindly devoted to him, and gradually, though not consciously, began to brainwash them.

“You are rude, Liesel. You mustn’t call me a cruel mother just because you’re jealous of the fact that I have a wonderful daughter named Elma.”

“Elma is indeed the best daughter I’ve ever had, and I raised her as well. But isn’t it also true that you’re a cruel mother?”

If you tell him that he is jealous, he immediately retorts.

“She’s so sweet and easy to let go of.”

The sound of his voice was so chilling that it didn’t resemble the lighthearted exchange.

“Hey, Liesel—”

“Heidemarie. What are you thinking about?”

Putting the piece down and interrupting Heidemarie, who was about to raise herself from the couch, Liesel continued to talk.

“I’m not like the rest of them, who only sulk and complain at best. They are more like ‘fathers.’ I’m her sister and her mother. That’s the difference between them and me. I can’t believe you sent Elma away this time, and I’m really angry at you.”

Liesel blinked slowly, and the next time he opened his eyes, he seemed to have decided to throw off even the ‘exchange about chess’ guise he had barely maintained up to that point and decided to have an in-depth conversation.

“Hey, Heidemarie. You were born in Louden, weren’t you? You were the best whore in the three countries. When the king of that country found you attractive, you violated his wishes by half-heartedly refusing to be his. I’m not going to say that I’m not able to do anything about it. Isn’t that right?”

Heidemarie didn’t say anything.

Just one graceful eyebrow was lifted dexterously to one side.

“It’s a crazy story. If a demon child was conceived by a demon, it would be killed instantly, and the demon race is a species that declined

long ago. Survival is just a fictional story. In other words, the whole demon race thing was made up – a blatantly false accusation.”

Liesel threw the piece with dexterity, catching it in the air before slowly walking over to Heidemarie.

“Gilbert didn’t deserve to go along with you at the time of his engagement to the Princess. Still, it’s not a crime that warrants imprisonment. That’s almost an accusation. He was so stupid and honest that he was in trouble because he accused some of the higher-ups of corruption.”

An opulent sofa.

He walked behind it, put his hands on the backrest, and peered at Heidemarie from behind.

When she glanced up as she sat down, Liesel grabbed her slender chin and raised it upward.

“Ridiculous charges. Vengeful imprisonment. But that was only possible because the king of Louden, a great power, turned his hand to the nations of his time to make a loan. Isn’t that right?”

Liesel gently moved her face closer and whispered, “Hey,” as if to seduce her.

“We’ve been calling you [Lust] and Gil [Wrath], but it’s the opposite. In reality, Gil is a lustful fool who spent all his time setting up a nice little prison for you to live in, and you’re still angry. Even after fifteen years, you can’t get over your anger.”

In the dimly lit room, Liesel’s eyes gleamed.

“You sent Elma to mess with Louden.”

“………..”

Heidemarie did not say anything.