Chapter 5

“Hmmm, I’ve taken the white queen.”

”The knights and pawns were easily captured. Good grief, you’ve been working the queen too hard.”

”She’s so much smarter than the slow-witted king.”

Walter Jail.

This space, which was always dimly lit, even in the early summer afternoon, was surprisingly comfortable and well organized.

This was a spacious living room that runs through ten rooms of which were originally prison cells.

On the carefully polished floor, there was a leather sofa, a heavy table set, and even a velvet carpet. There was even a huge chandelier hanging from the high ceiling.

They were all so well-kept that they could more appropriately be described as furniture found in a room in a royal castle rather than a prison.

Now, sinking their backs into that comfortable couch, two men and a woman were enjoying a game of chess.

One is an intrepid, mature man with black hair and sky blue eyes.

The other is a silver-haired woman who has aged gracefully, and even her cheeks seem to glow with youth.

Heidemarie, a former prostitute with a beauty that was far too unbelievable for the mother of a fifteen-year-old old daughter, softly kissed the white queen she had taken from Gilbert.

“Do you think little Elma would have let one of her queens fall in the castle by now?”

”Just because you’re out of here doesn’t mean you’re going to stay in the royal castle.”

”OH, do you want to bet? I’m good at gambling, you know?”

Huffing and giggling, Gilbert shrugged silently.

No one would be foolish enough to gamble with her in this empire called Walter Prison.

And then.

“Your tea is ready.”

The delicately carved door opened, and a man pushing a silver cart came into the room.

He had gray hair peppered with black and eyes of the same color.

Dressed in a quality shirt and pants and a slender tie, he had the elegance of a butler in the service of a high-ranking nobleman, combined with a soft and intelligent appearance.

Heidemarie raised a thin, well-defined eyebrow as he brought in the tea set with a smooth gesture.

“Oh, that’s unusual, Morgan. That you, [Lazy], would make yourself a cup of tea.”

“I suppose it’s because you’ve driven my little Elma away. I’ve taken great care to raise her to be my successor, including how to make tea.”

Heidemarie held her chest as if she were hurt when she was asked to taste it.

“Driven away? It’s terrible. How can a helpless sinner disobey an edict to free an innocent daughter?”

“Your facial muscles betray your tone and gestures. How can you say such a thing when you are in control of the… Walter and hold more power than ordinary royalty?”

“It’s not ‘you,’ it’s ‘us,’ isn’t it? This castle belongs to the seven of us.”

“Yes.”

Morgan agreed. It was a fact.

This prison had been their comfortable haven ever since they had quietly risen up in the pale night of the moon, fifteen years ago.

The prison was refurbished with the incredible physical strength of a mad warrior, medical and hygiene standards were raised to an extraordinary level under Dr. Mad’s orders, and the rebels were brainwashed by the kidnappers before they could budge.

What did Morgan do?

“I didn’t do anything. Too much trouble.”

He didn’t “get in the way” of the rest of his friends as they were rushing about. If only they could get a good cup of tea.

Morgan, the rare swindler from the cold villages of Rutland, had given up his zest for life since he lost his entire family to poverty.

All the knowledge he had amassed for his dream of rising to prominence and learning the art of getting into people’s hearts was in vain because he could not get there in time.

He had simply passed his time by idly looting the lazy, extravagant, and treasure hoarding aristocrats and raking in the money.

He never got his hands dirty. He only “worked” and watched from the sidelines. It was strange that we had to be diligent in punishing laziness.

Just so.

He raised Elma, who was born here fifteen years ago and who gave him an innocent smile that day, with love and care in his own way.

Meal etiquette was essential for communication and how to brew a cup of tea to ease the mind.

Even how to read the slightest expressions.

If she could learn to control and manipulate people’s emotions, her life would be so much easier.

Just like Morgan’s life was now.

He was a con man who reads people’s faces and runs his mouth while pretending he’s on top of things.

[Lazy].

That’s how Heidemarie had described Morgan when they had just met.

She was so amused that she applied the names of the deadly sins to the seven prisoners, including herself, that she had completely made a habit of calling each other by the names of the sins among her friends.

Elma was disciplined and called everyone around her by their nicknames like “Father of [Laziness],” “Brother of [Greed],” etc., so she might assume that’s what family is all about.

“Yes, even [Gluttony] Isak has had it rough. I wondered what he would do after he had reinforced it to the level that withstands an attack that ‘can even kill a dragon in a single blow.’ Since the kitchen’s strength had been reduced, I heard that we’re going to have to leave the meat dishes for a while.”

“Hey, wait? What did he do to my two daughters? You’re not going to lose your wife to me.”

Morgan announced as he poured her tea, and Heidemarie ruffled her silver hair, looking annoyed.

Her eyebrows and upper lip, which have been tightened for just a moment, seem to indicate truthful displeasure, but her cat-like eyes, with slightly dilated pupils, seem to be amused by the situation.

In fact, this woman’s expression was often the only thing Morgan couldn’t discern.

It was also part of her charm.

“Well, okay.”

Heidemarie took the offered tea with a word of thanks and quickly enjoyed the aroma.

“That’s why we let her leave the nest. The harder the task, the more motivated she’ll be.”

“Task?”

Gilbert, who was staring at the board across from him, tilted his head slightly.

Heidemarie then smiled quietly, huffing and puffing while kissing the cup.

“Yeah. ‘You should see the world for what it is to be a ‘normal girl.’ Don’t come home until you understand that‘.”