“Long time no see, Dumfree.”

At the sound coming from behind, Dumfree turned around.

“Huh, S-Senior?”

Regardless of whether they knew each other or not, Dumfree seemed startled, probably having fallen prey to Rodney’s mischief.

I felt a sense of camaraderie with Dumfree, whom I just learned about today.

“How on earth do you two know each other?”

“We went to the same school.”

Yurik informed subtly.

‘The same school?’

Dumfree mentioned seeing a student from the same school at the chess tournament, and I recalled encountering one of them in the finals.

“Oh!”

“…?”

The moment I heard that, vague memories of playing chess with Dumfree resurfaced.

“I remember.”

“What?”

“Dumfree, I remember now!”

“Huh?”

As I grabbed Dumfree’s arm, he looked extremely bewildered.

“I had about three games left until the finals that day.”

The memory of continuous games day and night, my head aching, was vivid.

The face of the opponent from the previous game was also blurry. The immediate thought after the match was how I wanted to lie down on a soft bed.

“To be fair, I was extremely tired that day. So, I might not have remembered.”

That day, I didn’t properly look at the opponent’s face and continued the game. The only information I had about the opponent was that they attended the same school as Yurik and Rodney.

They moved the pawn to e4, and as usual when the opening came out as e5, I placed my pawn there.

And the opponent, after castling, set a trap. Just as Dumfree said, he fell for it neatly.

“Do you really remember?”

Dumfree looked at me suspiciously.

“I do. You, Dumfree. You captured my knight.”

I recalled that day.

Although his mistake was regrettable, I was pleased with the thought that I could checkmate quickly.

But the opponent, despite falling for the trap, was resilient. Even after suffering significant losses, they could be seen making moves to avoid checkmate at all costs.

Even their strategies worked quite well.

However, a few minutes later, the words “I lose” came from the opponent’s mouth.

In practice, it was the victory I anticipated. I carefully observed the opponent’s pieces, trying to drag out the game to a draw.

There was a tactical move that I hadn’t seen.

What were they trying to do?

Even if I wanted to ask, the opponent had already fled out of the room. I couldn’t catch his hurried figure.

What…?

Apart from interesting moves, I felt bad about the rude attitude.

“Why did you suddenly leave that day? Huh?”

In response to my changed reaction, Dumfree coughed as if he found it absurd.

“Now you remember it!”

“Better late than never.”

Dumfree, astonished, shook off my arm.

“I told you. That was my last qualifying match. How frustrated I was to lose…! And it was because of my mistake.”

“It was quite a big mistake. You shouldn’t have captured my knight that day.”

“Thank you for reminding me of the embarrassing mistake I didn’t want to remember.”

Dumfree was fuming.

“Anyway, I’m really glad to see you, Dumfree. That game that day was fun.”

“That day, I was just a beginner.”

“I suspected as much.”

Dumfree glared at me.

“…I always enjoyed watching chess, but playing with someone was my first time. And losing to you painfully, I started playing chess diligently from that day on. The current me is not like the old me.”

“Really. Really.”

“My answer makes you feel bad.”

He caught on to my casually given response. Quickly apologizing didn’t ease Dumfree’s pouting expression.

I didn’t think Dumfree was worth bothering until just now, but now it was different. I wanted to experience that revenge chess game once.

“What? You two knew each other?”

Rodney, watching the banter between me and Dumfree, smiled disappointingly.
“I was intrigued to find out that Dumfree was interested in Rezé again, and it was exciting. Even though we were in the middle of a conversation, Yurik became very sensitive and couldn’t take his eyes off.”

“Miss Rezé is not my type!”

Dumfree retorted. Rodney’s misunderstanding seemed to have hurt his pride, and he stared at me defiantly.

“I prefer women with silver hair! Someone gentle and kind. And they must be from at least a Viscount family!”

“Same here. I also like silver or black hair.”

Who would have thought someone had no preferences?

“Rezé, do you like silver hair?”

Rodney, who had been watching us with keen interest, responded. When our eyes met, Rodney replied with a teasing smile, pointing to Yurik beside him without hiding his grin.

Sure enough, there was pride and blush on Yurik’s face at the same time.

I glared at Dumfree, who had made unnecessary remarks. The intimidated Dumfree flinched.

“…W-What?”

“If you want revenge, bring a chessboard.”

“I always carry a foldable chessboard just in case.”

“Wow.”

Dumfree, claiming that he had brought it on the carriage, ordered a servant to bring a chessboard immediately. Chess at a wedding reception…

Felicia would be furious if she found out.

“Just a moment.”

I was about to agree readily to Dumfree’s challenge, but Rodney intervened.

“Won’t it hurt your pride if you face her head-on?”