A scant three days before my baptism, the king and his party arrive.

Thanks to intense training lead by Mother and a team of tutors, I understand the elements necessary in order to be the vision of a perfect noble. The price of this useless knowledge? Freedom to explore Xete! These two legs can carry me across the world but they are stuck holding curtseys and learning stupid dances. I wish I can go back to my old world for a second and curse the game creators for modeling so much of royal culture off of European history!

“Lady Lucina, come.”

I trudge over to Amelie.

“Aren’t you excited to meet Prince Alexious?”

“Not particularly.”

She giggles. “It’s okay to be shy. Some boys like shy girls, you know.”

It isn’t shyness but arguing the point is useless. Everyone in the manor seems to believe I will be ecstatic to play princess.

The dress Amelie puts on me seems far too mature for a girl my age. For one, it’s a deep violet, the color of the sky at dusk. The long bell sleeves have silver beads that mimic stars. The train of the dress is also a tad too long, scrunching at my feet. Great. Now moving with any sort of speed requires holding a skirt. Since no one in Xete dresses like this, it must be the capital fashion. Yuck. Good thing we have our own trends. I’d go insane dressing like this every day. She finishes by curling my hair and using a silver headband to hold back my bangs.

The darkness of the dress magnifies the innate villainous traits of my face. Good to know if Alexious acts haughty I can give it back just as fierce.

Amelie messes with my curls some more, fluffing and stroking them.

I don’t mind; the scalp tingles from her manipulations relax my nerves.

She exhales slowly. “I think I’m more nervous about this than you are.”

Maybe she’s heard some stories I can use as ammo if he tries to push my buttons. Surely a little tyrant has his share of horror stories. “Is the prince nice?”

“Hmm...” She taps her cheekbone with her index finger. "Come to think, I don’t believe I’ve heard any stories about Prince Alexious. Only his brother, Prince Teo.”

I haven’t heard of Prince Teo at all. Is he even a part of Dragon Fantasy XXIV?

“Prince Teo is such a wonderful person,” she gushed, eyes practically sparkling, “I’m certain the young prince will be too!”

Or he can be a squirt with an inferiority complex.

“Come along, let’s not keep him waiting.”

The halls are filled with workers, zipping through like bees, strong with purpose and focus, controlled by the whims of my father. We weave through them as best as we can, trying not to stress them out even more than they already are. Some of them look like they’re one mistake away from a meltdown.

At last, we arrive in the guest wing. Amelie adjusts a few of my curls and pats my head. “Ready?”

Am I supposed to feel nervous? I shrug. “Ready.”

She pushes open the door. “Announcing Lady Lucina Maelle!”

I didn’t have an actual playroom. Instead, they removed a bed from the guest room, replacing it with my toy trunk and a small child-sized table with two chairs. The only two people inside are Prince Alexious and his retainer. Color me impressed. A prince normally commands an entire entourage.

Alexious, who sits at the table reading, looks up at me and stands.

Him?

Really, truly, him?

That was Alexious?

But—it can't be!

No.

How?

It’s not fair!

While my villainous traits are obvious from birth, he looks completely different than Game Alexious! His soft tawney tousled locks perfectly frame a cherubic face. His deep oceanic eyes framed by long dark lashes, cute button nose, and the slight rosy tint to his cheeks will make a master painter weep with joy for such a muse. The utter gentleness he exudes stops me in my tracks. He lacks any semblance of egoism or haughtiness present in an emperor.

He smooths his deep navy jacket and bows.

Amelie flicks the back of my head.

That flick may as well have been a thunderbolt spell. Electricity crackles down my spine to my toes, stealing my breath.

I completely forgot to introduce myself and curtsy! Worse, he bowed first despite being above me in rank!

Blood rushes to my cheeks as I sink into a quick and sloppy curtsy, bowing my head deep to hide my embarrassment.

The retainer clears his throat. “Accepting is Prince Alexious de Evoa of Oranhail.”

And then, my skin begins to burn with the intensity of a fierce gaze.

It must be those villainous tendencies! He’s hiding them behind that angelic façade!

Tilting my head up and peering through the curtain of black curls reveals the hot gaze doesn’t come from Alexious. It comes from his retainer.

“You can rise,” Alexious says as he gestures upward. Even his voice sounds angelic.

Ice-cold chills course through my core. I break my curtsy and awkwardly smooth the front of my dress. The situation felt reversed; instead of being a guest at my home, Alexious acted like he plays host to me. What did all that heavy-duty training get me in the end? I can't let a kid get the best of me, a girl with sixteen years of experience in my head!

“What were you reading?” I ask in an overly friendly tone with an equally overly friendly smile.

“The History of the Seven Lands.”

That cloying smile I plastered on my face becomes my solace for a poker face. My eye twitches. “You don’t say?” A history book. Seven years old. Aren’t kids supposed to read things like fairy tales and silly ghost stories? “For fun?”

The expression on his face falters. Looks like he hasn’t learned how to control his emotions yet. “I have to study.”

Perfect opportunity to turn this around! “Would you like to take a break and play with me?”

Alexious doesn’t look to me; he looks to his retainer. “May I take a break, Sir Ricardo?”

Ricardo’s silver brows furrow, creating deep crevices in his forehead wrinkles. He is a wiry and wizened old man with decades of experience written all over his no-nonsense face. His uniform, a fitted pair of black slacks with a soft green dress shirt and black vest, has not a single wrinkle. Not a single stray baby hair is out of place on that gray head. The perfection even extends to his rigid posture. Simply put, even with my best villainess impersonation I doubt I will be more intimidating than Ricardo.

Ricardo pulls out a silver pocket watch engraved with the dragon crest of the Evoa family. He studies it for a moment before snapping the cover shut. “Time allows for a brief respite.”

“Marvelous!” I clap my hands. “So, what games do you like to play?”

“Ahem.” Amelie coughs and pretends to mess with my curls when in actuality she tugs a lock downward.

Oh, right. Alexious is a prince. I should speak more formally to him. I hate these stupid nobility rules. No one has to follow them. They can wake up and say, no more rules! and be done with the entire thing. It would be better for everyone, too. Especially me, since all the empty time in my schedule means I can go out and explore and train!

A faint hint of pink colors Alexious’ ears and he stumbles through the titles of several games all at once.

Oh, no. He probably spends his days under the tutelage of strict professors and never learned how to cut loose and have fun. I walk over to my toy chest and open it. Which ones will a young boy like to play?

A ball for soccer or basketball? Do those games exist in this world? Maybe some clothes for roleplaying— scratch that. He’s already a prince, what other role will be more appealing? Nothing. There are several board games though. He always studied so he will feel more comfortable playing games that play to his strengths. It may allow him to play longer since strategy games technically count as learning. Strategists are taught chess and Go back in my old world, after all.

I pull out the first slender wooden box on top of the pile. I’ve never actually played any of these games because of those stupid etiquette lessons so it’s not like I can pick an easily winnable game. Since it’s a child’s trunk, the games are probably equivalents of things like checkers or monkeys in a barrel. “Let’s play this!”

I carry it over to the table and open the box. At first glance, the board looked liked checkers, with the same black and white boxes. I set the board down and pull out two black velvet bags that hold each side’s pieces. Definitely, chess inspired.

All the typical chess pieces are there, but each one glows a different color when I hold them in my hands. The king and queen pieces are black and white respectively while the pawns change to a rainbow of red, blue, silver, green, brown, and yellow. The same colors of elements in Dragon Fantasy games. The other main pieces— knight, bishop, and rook— also glow in rainbow colors. But there’s also one more piece that doesn’t exist in the chess set I know, a piece with a large vertical crescent sculpted on the body. It looks kind of like a bow, perhaps an archer piece? Moreover, when Alexious holds his pieces in his hands, they glow a different set of colors than mine!

Since the boxes look like a normal chessboard, I arrange the pieces according to chess rules. The moment I place my king, however, the board transformed! The black and white squares disappear, replaced by a mix of dark green and light green squares. A thin line of blue squares streak across the center of the board. After Alexious places his king, his side of the board transforms into a mix of light brown, light green, and grey.

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While I gawk at the board, Alexious takes the timer out of the box and places it beside the board. “Are you ready?” His hand hovers over the button on his side, eyes glimmering with anticipation.

The gaze of a person who is playing a game they love. I suppose I can give him a win while I learn the rules of this new game that is definitely not chess. I nod.

He taps the button and the board shimmers. A bright light flashes and I close my eyes. The brief second that passes changes the pieces. His are now floating at various elevations, grey being the highest, like it stood on a mountain top.

Mine? Mostly on the same elevation.

He takes one of the green archer pieces in his hand and moves it to an empty gray tile, the highest point on the map. The board lights up with red squares. None of my pieces are inside the red squares, so he hits the button and ends his turn.

This is like an SRPG! I only ever played one, Dragon Fantasy Tactics. Not finishing that game is biting me in the ass right now. I should have pushed through the boredom!

But there’s one big problem with this map— I’m at a horrible disadvantage! His archers being so high up basically means he can pick me off as I ascend the mountain without ever taking a hit or moving another one of his pieces! No wonder that sneaky brat looked so excited to begin. He probably thinks he has this in the bag.

Being on the disadvantageous side of the map is commonplace for any gamer. Plus, he’s a seven-year-old boy, not an A.I. The only advantage he has left is my lack of knowledge of the rules.

The colors must be elements. I still don’t know if the pieces have HP or will be taken out in one hit. Alexious’ archers are wind; therefore my ice units need to attack and the fire units need to stay out of its range. Of course, this map didn’t give me any favors; my knight is fire and my ice unit is a bishop. There are two pawns that are ice. I can move them up to protect my bishop. Once I kill Alexious’ archers, the battlefield evens out. Since it’s modeled after an SRPG, there are bound to be restrictions for move and attack based on height for close-range combat. Magick being tied to ranged attacks should compensate for my archers being useless.

I move a pawn forward, just outside the range of the archer. The red squares are just one on each side of the pawn, a typical attack range for a close-range fighter.

He moves his fire bishop off the next highest point on the map.

My second pawn follows.

He counters by moving his other archer to the second-highest position.

Now, the bishop. I move it next to my two pawns. Bishop’s attack range is only four squares wide. Not much to work with. I must spend at least two of his archers’ turns getting close enough to hit.

My success depends on how many hit points each piece has. I doubt it’s just one. It would make sense to have them be sequential. If pawns, the smallest, are worth two, then the others will be three, leaving the king and queen with four.

He moves an earth pawn down a few spaces. I have one water element pawn, so I’ll go ahead and match him to that one. He also has one lightning bishop, one fire bishop, two ice knights, one earth rook, and one water rook. His queen and king are like mine, light and dark.

The king and queen are probably the strongest units to battle with, but they have no weakness to exploit outside each other. That’s like having two glass cannons firing each other. Victory depends on who strikes first.

For now, though, I need to see how many HP a pawn has. I add a lightning and fire pawn to my water pawn’s party and push the three to the lonely earth pawn. The other two elements won’t have an advantage but they won’t have a disadvantage. Perfect scouts.

Alexious notices my coming attack and starts to move some pawns toward my party.

Heh, too late for that! I place the water pawn next to his earth. The red squares light up, but nothing happens.

I stare at the board.

The timer ticks down.

How do I make them attack?

I look to Alexious and Ricardo for a hint, but they both wear similar expressions, saying— why isn’t she making them attack?

Maybe it needs to be said aloud like a spell or something? I clear my throat. “Pawn attacks pawn.”

The pawn’s light dims to black.

The piece clacks against the table as Alexious sets it aside.

Do pieces have one hit after all? That would mean my two ice pawns will be sacrificed to attack the archers before my bishop can kill them both! Should I bring out the king or queen? No, I can’t risk losing one of them this soon. Press on with the rooks. Knights won’t move until at least one archer is disposed of. What a horrible advantage Alexious has. Two elevated archers have a clean shot for the entire half of the board.

One of the pawns he moves towards my trio is an opposing element but the other two are not. I don’t need to worry about them for now.

Alexious’ turn. He stares at the board a long moment before saying, “Archer attacks water pawn.”

The blue light becomes dimmer but doesn’t die out.

How is it still alive? Were arrows weaker than other attacks?

My earth rook will be a good match to his lightning bishop. Maybe it’s because of the tower shape, but it seems like it would be a tank compared to the other pieces. I send the rook alone.

The next several turns he picks off another pawn of mine while I pick off one of his. That confirms that opposing element doubles attack. Once my ice squad gets to his archers, destruction will reign supreme! Only one foe stands in my way: an ice knight.

My fire knight can make short work of it but it’s weak to the archer’s element. Ice squad could meet him but what if there’s a penalty for same element attack? Then again, the one penalty I did know, double damage, wouldn’t matter in this case. Better than losing my fire knight, anyway. Onward, my frozen beauties!

The pawn finally comes in range of the ice knight. “Pawn attacks Knight.”

Alexious snickers before catching himself and covering his mouth, looking up at Ricardo like he did something wrong.

Nothing happened to the knight. The light didn’t go dimmer.

“Same element absorbs,” Ricardo stated.

Oh. My stomach clenches as the acute sensation of being laughed at for being stupid bombards my body. No one actually laughs in front of me directly, but I can tell what they’re thinking. Alexious’ snicker may as well be a stadium megaphone announcement.

What a waste of a turn. I hit the turn button and wring my fingers in the air. Stupid mistake! I’m already at a disadvantage when it comes to elevation, I didn’t need dumb mistakes holding me back!

Wait, so if that’s the case, then if there’s no elemental weakness to exploit, attacks do single damage. The arrow attacks aren’t weaker; they are the wrong element. My ice pawns will be able to take at least two arrows because they are the strong element against wind. If I’m especially lucky, there will be a zero-damage hit against them.

I still have a chance!

I press ahead past the knight and to the accursed archers.

Alexious moves his other units closer to my ice squad, but their elements aren’t effective so I will still have enough turns to get rid of the archers before he takes them down.

Interestingly, the archers aren’t attacking the ice squad at all.

If the weaker element attacks the strong element, damage must be null or not worth it, tactically.

Just one more square for my bishop to be in magic attack range!

But Alexious’ rook reaches the ice squad, standing before them like a true tower. Its purple glow radiates onto my pieces. There’s no way for me to push past it and get to the archers without defeating it first.

“Bishop attack Rook.”

Alexious snorts.

My chest tightens. Another mistake!

Ricardo quirks his brow but says nothing. He must think Alexious will lose if he gives me a hint.

Fine. I can figure out this puzzle myself!

The purple light doesn’t change. What’s going on here? I purse my lips and tap my toe against the floor. Ice isn’t an element strong or weak against lightning, so why is damage zero?

Maybe it’s because I used a magic attack? Usually, tanks are weak against magic, though. Nothing has absolute defence.

Alexious picks off another one of my sacrificial pawns with his archer.

Why isn’t he making the rook attack?

This piece obviously has some sort of special rule attached to it. Why else would he not capitalize on an advantage?

What if the rook can’t attack? If it can’t attack, it would need a rather large trade-off to compensate. Even though I’m pretty certain a physical attack will do nothing of note, I still had to try.

“Pawn attacks Rook.”

Another giggle from Alexious. He covered his mouth but I can see the glee in those striking blue eyes.

The attack does nothing.

Magic attacks? No good. Physical attacks? No good.

My teeth grind together. There’s a detail missing somewhere.

There’s no way an immortal piece exists. The solution had to lie with the laws this game’s world is governed by. In terms of strategy, attacking the weakness is always the best option. They took too many turns to defeat otherwise. Taking too long to defeat a unit would leave your units vulnerable in the process.

I suck in a breath. That’s it! The rooks must only be able to be damaged by the opposing element. Otherwise, they are an immobile wall that can block advancement of troops.

Lightning is weak to earth. My gaze darts from piece to piece. The only earth unit I have left is a rook.

The elation deflates to an empty shell.

How can I move past a piece if I don’t have an opposing element?

Wait—the elements and terrain are randomly generated. There has to be another way to harm the rook.

The ticking clock, slow and steady, taunts me with every soft metal clink. As if this dilemma isn’t enough to worry about, time also works against me. My time is being wasted figuring out rules while Alexious had a time bank to strategize to his heart’s content! Of course, that large time bank proves how little he thought of how to defeat me. The only thing holding him back is probably waiting for me to take another turn and make another stupid mistake.

I bring my nose down to the table, staring at the board from an even horizon view. The king and queen look rather regal from this angle, towering over their domain. Speaking of, what did those units do? There must be some sort of strategic reason to be light and dark beyond the symbolism of it.

Light and dark! Icy chills coursed through my body. Light and dark are opposed to each other only, existing outside the normal element cycle. They must be able to harm the rook!

I push myself up and grab the dark king, moving him as far as I can to the rook. It will take three turns to get him there. He has an attack range of two squares, so I can hide him behind a pawn too.

Alexious begins pressing his main force towards my king.

Good. Take away your height advantage and you’re left with nothing!

The archer hits my king for one hit. I’m not sure what his HP is, but considering the symbolism behind a king, I doubted defeat would come in two hits.

Finally, within range! “King attacks Rook.”

Seeing that purple light fade away to black feels like I just got an extra big serving of dessert. Do I even need to win the battle? Figuring out that rule feels just as good as a victory. With that rook gone, that leaves the archers wide open to my attacks! BAM! BAM! Two turns, two archers dead! Take that, Alexious! Your pretty advantage is gone.

Alexious can do nothing now that I have an army of terror in my hands. One by one, I topple his meager and pathetic army with elemental bombs until we reach the endgame-- my white queen leading the way, a small battalion of a knight, rook, and archer, behind her.

His last unit, a black king, sits atop the highest point of the map.

My white queen climbs the arduous mountain. At first, Alexious tries to run to a corner of the map, probably thinking he can manage being flanked on two sides better than three. But I meet him before he can complete his run.

“Queen attacks King,” I proclaim, all but announcing my win with my tone.

A dimmer light, but not completely shut down in one hit like the other opposing elements.

Alexious smirks.

That little cheeky bastard!

He only pretended to be upset in order to draw me in.

That innocent face masks his true villainous intentions!

He moves his king to my knight. “King attacks Knight.”

The knight dies in one hit.

I should have put him behind the rook. Why did I do that? Inside, I know why. The queen and the squad look cooler traveling in a pack. Four pieces against one? This game should have been in the bag. My cockiness got the better of me. Now I’m only left with a unit that can’t attack and a unit whose attack is weak.

I chase after his king. “Queen attacks King.”

Dimmer light, but not completely shut down. How many HP does the king have? And why does it take more hits from my queen than his units when they attack my king?

He picks my rook next. “King attacks Rook.”

Fade to black.

My beautiful lead is cut down to the quick in a few single shots.

Wait, what if HP has to do with the type of units that attack too? What if the king and queen are strong against other units, but not each other?

I take my archer and pull him as far back as his attack range allows. “Archer attacks King.”

The king’s light finally fades to black.

Victory!

I jump out of my chair, pumping my fist in the air. “Yes!”

Ah, I can hear the victory theme now… babababaaaababababaaaa~

Those ocean-colored eyes shimmer with unshed tears.

I may have the body of a seven-year-old but the memories of a sixteen-year-old. I should have let him win! Not because he’s a prince, but because I not only have my past life memories but memories of playing SRPG games like Dragon Fantasy Tactics or Dragon Force II to help me along.

Ah, Lucina, you are such a villainess! It must be those innate evil tendencies of mine that allow me to beat up such a sweet and innocent child. What if he holds a grudge against me and says, off with your head! like the queen from Alice in Wonderland?

Alexious takes the board and begins to fold it.

I grab the board and stare him straight in the eye. “Want to play again?”

He didn’t look to Ricardo this time for permission. “Yes!”

This time, I’ll let him win! It’s better for us to end on a draw, anyway.

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Victory!

I pump my fist in the air. Babababaaaababababaaaa~

Oh, no.

I was supposed to let him win that time.

I give him a sheepish smile and ask, “Third time’s the charm?”

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Victory!

Fist in air, theme song ringing in my ears, basking in the bitter glare of the enemy—it just feels too good!

One look at that cross face across from me sent a chill through my core. I did it again.

It doesn’t seem like Ricardo’s going to let him play again…

I’m sorry, Alexious. This villainous heart of mine is just too difficult to overcome!