Chapter 525 Backing Out?
I… I actually lost? In that instant, Sophie was thoroughly shocked as her face blanched. Things got so complicated she could only feel embarrassment and frustration.
Quickly, everyone sensed the shift in favor. Elise turned the table by just making a move backward, forcing Sophie into detriment. At once, the crowd felt a chill when they peered at Elise, realizing how lethal the woman was. She remained silent the whole time, and before they realized it, her opponent was already on the brink of defeat. And that could only be pulled off by someone who had absolute confidence in her own chess skills!
Meanwhile, Sophie, having lost all her optimism, could only maintain her sitting posture when she fell onto the support of her chair. She couldn’t bring herself to accept that she had fallen by Elise’s hands, especially after she had nailed such a high-level tactic.
Elise shot her a subtle grin. “So are you going to forfeit, or are we going to finish the game and you still lose anyway?”
Finish the game? How am I supposed to do that? No matter what Sophie’s next move was, it would only show the audience that she was bound to lose regardless of how hard she struggled.
At that moment, Elise revealed a smirk as she gave Sophie a taste of her own medicine. “What’s with the silence, Miss Sophie? It’s my first time seeing a player so bad and so disrespectful.” Her smirk grew charmingly wider, while Sophie guiltily gulped. Eventually, the latter loosened her gripping fists and took a deep breath. She raised her hand and put down her king piece, admitting her defeat to Elise.
At the same time, Kenneth, who had just finished his match, came to see the ladies’ match. Seeing Elise retain her cool look as she won, he let out a deep sigh, feeling the pressure within him getting heavier.
He could not let his guard down for a second or he might just fail to keep up with such an outstanding woman. After collecting his feelings, he moved up and asked a question everyone had been thinking. “How did you spot the weakness in her strategy?”
Hearing that, everyone held their breath as they stared at Elise with expecting eyes, getting ready to engrave what she had to say in their minds.
However, Elise looked rather innocent. “None of you noticed?”
The crowd wordlessly nodded. One could easily rise to fame if they were known to have seen through such a prominent tactic, and none would even try to hide it once they discovered its flaw.
“Uhh…” Elise awkwardly pursed her lips as she naively turned to the chessboard. “Honestly, the gist of it is to forget all the lines and squares you see on the board and observe the situation of your ‘troops.’ Then, things will start revealing themselves.”
With that, the chess enthusiasts attempted to erase the lines in their minds as she said, raising their heads to read the entire situation on the chessboard. Those with less advantage in height even stood on tiptoes, not minding the embarrassment. Slowly, they realized something odd. For some reason, the chess pieces seemed to be arranged in the shape of a word.
“Fool?” One of them blurted.
“Bingo!” Elise excitedly pointed at the person. “It is ‘Fool’ indeed! Once you’re done with the ‘F’ and ‘l,’ all you need are two chess pieces in between as the ‘o’s.’ As such, ‘Fool’ becomes the point to victory!”
“Oh!”
“So that’s it!”
The crowd appeared as if they’d discovered a new dimension. Nevertheless, the only reason the audience dwelled so long on the Malta Tactic was solely because they wanted a shortcut to winning games. Shortly after, they realized that she was only insulting them, mocking them for their ignorance. They then scowled, feeling somewhat embarrassed for having been set up. All these adults who spent all their time scheming against each other ended up being made fools of, so how could they not feel ashamed?
On the other hand, Sophie, who’d honed her chessing craft religiously, was gravely infuriated as she glared at Elise, who treated it as mere toy. Right then, all she wanted was to disappear from the public’s eye.
Flatly, Elise uttered, “Moral of the story is that not everything in life has twists and turns, and the only thing that matters as we live is sincerity. So, Miss Sophie, have you prepared to sincerely fulfill our agreement?”
As per their agreement, the loser would have to kneel and kowtow thrice before the winner. Since the rule was made, they would have to adhere to it. And now that Elise had won, naturally, Sophie would have to kowtow to her before the crowd.
Sophie glowered as she gritted her teeth. “Who said I lost? This isn’t right at all! You simply pulled off a silly trick and arranged the chess into a word. If you were actually playing this properly, even God knows I wouldn’t lose!”
Elise lifted her commissure. “So you’re backing out?”
Sophie then raised her voice and spoke as if she was the most reasonable being in the world. “Who’s backing out? I’d admit it if I was defeated by actual chess skills, but what you did was fool around. As if I’d recognize that nonsense!”
Upon her words, a white-haired senile man, under his assistant’s support, walked out from within the crowd.
Seeing that, Sophie immediately sprung up from her seat and walked to the old man. “Why did you come here, Master Reynolds?”
All of a sudden, everyone’s attention was drawn by her words. Realizing that the old man was Warren Reynolds, the president of the Cittadel Chess Club, the crowd hastily stood still and pulled a straight face, paying utmost respect to the old man.
Warren slightly nodded. “I’m already an old man, and I can barely walk now. I didn’t intend to interrupt, but I heard that someone was able to beat the Malta Tactic?”
A random man from the crowd replied, “Indeed. The person who beat the Malta Tactic and won is—”
As he was speaking, he turned to Elise, and as he was about to introduce her to Warren, Sophie interjected out of nowhere, “Look, Master Reynolds, she turned the game into Scrabble!”
“Scrabble?” Warren craned his neck to take a good look and was obviously stunned. “‘Fool,’ it says? Ah, so that’s it! She did that while playing the game? All that’s left now are the two ‘o’s,’ and the formation tears itself apart! Splendid, splendid indeed!”
