The World I Was Supporting Was Real - Chapter 78



78. Nun and Prince (2)

So, right when Ares was battling his own inner turmoil, the mushy sensation on his forearm still fresh.

Deciding he at least needed to look at the chessboard, he opened his eyes to check the game –

‘… Huh?’

Suddenly, the heat that had flared in Ares’s head, thanks to the feminine body, began to recede rapidly.

“How is it?”

“This is….”

*Tap, tap.*

What caught his attention – was the fluid, breathtakingly beautiful movement of the pieces.

Karen was fearlessly selecting the optimal move in every situation, step by step.

On a grand scale, actions that seemed totally unconnected were becoming part of a larger picture.

Ares, having some knowledge of chess, could see it.

“If the Prince had moved that way, I think I would have lost.”

As Karen seemed to drift further away, Ares found himself clapping, the applause rising unbidden from his heart.

“…Incredible, truly. You’ve really never had any formal chess training even once?”

“It’s just chess, you know! It’s not like we had the money at home for lessons… I just got better naturally by playing with my younger brother.”

“I know it might sound ridiculous coming from someone who just lost several times in a row, but with this level of skill, I think you’d be a formidable opponent anywhere. “I mean it.”

“Is that so? Ehehe… I’m not sure, but still, it makes me happy to be praised by someone as impressive as the Prince. Thank you!”

While she was saying that and scratching the back of her head, her smooth armpit was fully exposed due to the side slit of her nun’s habit, stealing his gaze again.

‘…Pull yourself together!’

Yeah. Better to talk about chess than get caught up in her body.

Ares immediately replayed her moves, quickly going over the game with her.

Karen’s strategy, on the surface, looked recklessly like she was giving up everything – yet, within that, there were attacks that came from completely unexpected places.

The more they went through the moves, the more it hit him, just how audacious and brilliant her tactics were.

“Amazing… If I’d just placed it like that, I could’ve actually overwhelmed you, but until I heard Karen-ssi explain it, I couldn’t see that move at all. It wasn’t that hard to notice if I’d just thought about it a little-“

“Well, isn’t it different to evaluate things objectively from the sidelines compared to actually participating as a player and observing the situation?”

“That’s right! That’s exactly what I was trying to say.”

“Really? Ehehe, I think we really click, Your Highness!”

“Yeah, we do.”

Ares’s voice, without him even realizing it, had gotten louder.

It was clear proof that his tension had risen.

Honestly, it was the first time he’d met someone his age that he clicked with this well.

Even though they had just met today, he felt like they had been friends for ages.

“Yay! That was fun. What should we do next?”

At Karen’s words, Ares gave a sheepish smile and responded.

“Um… again, it might sound weird for me to say this, but it feels like quite a bit of time has passed, is it okay if we don’t do the Bible study?”

“As it says in the Bible, we never force religion upon anyone! And in this way, the time we spend together getting to know each other is also a straightforward fact from Igeogwogeo-nim! If we do various things together during the time given to us, I think a good time for Bible study will come.”

Even though they said they wouldn’t force it, sending a nun in the first place seemed like they were already pressing him – but Ares didn’t lack social skills enough to say that out loud.

Instead, he focused on the phrase, ‘a good time for Bible study.’

… Did that mean they didn’t need to urgently cram doctrine into him?

More accurately, it meant they knew that converting him with that method was pointless.

“……Even looking like *that*, she’s a young lady you can’t underestimate.”

Then.

Karen suddenly made a clearly sad expression and spoke.

“Ah! Look at my mind… come to think of it, I was acting too selfishly. The Prince may not even want this….”

“……Huh?”

“I’m so sorry… I was having so much fun doing this and that with the Prince, I just didn’t realize it…”

Ares, noticing that the usually cheerful young lady was suddenly downcast, couldn’t help but feel concerned. Suppressing the growing wariness that had been bubbling up inside him, he waved his hand and said,

“No, no… it’s not like that. I was having fun. Th-that… playing with Karen-ssi… it was fun.”

The moment he uttered the word ‘fun’, Ares’s face flushed slightly.

Karen saw this and chuckled, a soft *kuhuhu*.

“Oh my. Your Highness. Your face is all red. Hehe.”

“Th-that’s…!”

“You had fun playing with me?”

… … Nod nod.

“I’m really happy, Your Highness.”

Karen’s eyes formed a lovely arc as she leaned her upper body once again, *whoosh*, into Ares’s personal space as if it were nothing.

The scent of perfume, which he presumed she’d applied, once again assaulted Ares’s nose.

The scent of perfume. A floral fragrance that suited her well, subtly mixed with her body odor… the smell of a woman.

He felt dizzy again.

Why is it, what is it about women that makes my heart shake so much?

“Let’s have fun together while we’re living together!”

“Ah… yeah. Sure…”

With that, Karen, beaming and bubbly as ever, retreated—

This time, she began to show interest in the cards scattered around the room.

“It looks like you enjoy playing card games, Your Highness? Are you playing solitaire*?”

As she spoke, picking up a card, Ares’s expression instantly turned grim.

“Wait, hold on. Ms. Karen, those cards are—”

“Huh? These aren’t playing cards…?”

‘Damn it…!’

Ares brought a hand to his forehead and sighed deeply.

The identity of the cards was, in fact, the product of Ares’s own imagination.

Board games were his sole hobby, as he was averse to getting deeply involved with others.

It had already been a year since he’d gone beyond simply playing games and had begun to create his own.

Considering that board games are a form of entertainment that’s difficult to enjoy without other people, it was ironic, to say the least—

But, fundamentally, he didn’t trust people very much and disliked iron-fisted rule, so for him, board games, where everything operated according to systems and rules, felt like friends.

“That… well…”

Showing the novel he’d written to others was not a difficult thing.

After all, he didn’t have any real affection for creating stories. What he wanted to convey wasn’t the story itself, a mishmash of clichés that he’d cobbled together to be as readable as possible. Instead, his intention was to express the hidden message within – to expose on the structural flaws of iron-fisted political systems and the possibility of implementing an ancient political system, a republic.

But.

Board games were different.

As his sole hobby, it was impossible for it *not* to be imbued with affection—

and creative works, the more affection they held, the more fearful one became of showing them to others.

‘… I should’ve put this away earlier.’

Among the people who entered his room, besides his sister, there were no peers.

And so, naturally, since no one had ever rummaged through his room like Karen, the Crown Prince had been living without much thought about it.

Ares let out a short sigh.

He could feel his face burning up.

It felt like someone was staring at his weakness, the feeling digging into his heart.

And, after a few minutes had passed…

“Did… “Did you make this, Your Highness?”

“… Yes.”

Karen turned her head to look at Ares.

And at that very moment—

* * *

Let’s get a simple recap.

What I want to convey to him this time is—

The need for recognition.

Satisfying his desire for recognition was the core of my term-limited, plain facts.

A point easily found in people who want to achieve greatness with their own hands, not someone else’s.

That was, they were thirsty for recognition.

They’re talking about grand ideals and whatnot, and sure, maybe their hearts are truly in it—

but there aren’t many warriors who can walk a lonely path when no one acknowledges them.

And Ares wasn’t that kind of warrior. He gets weirdly salty about things resolving themselves without his intervention, which clearly indicates that he craves recognition.

I mean, how much must he despise the Order to start saying things like he needs to keep an eye on Erin, or that Erin is essentially a god?

And that’s why I asked the writer for this:

To assign him a nun who’s incredibly skilled at board games and totally embraces Ares’s hobbies and tastes.

Not a knockout beauty, but kind of cute, with a decent reservoir of holy power—the kind who could easily ensnare a few men.

Sure, she’s a nun, so she can’t have a real boyfriend, but who cares? She’s just a ‘temporary, plain fact’ anyway.

Still, I don’t think he’s the type to fall for a simple honey trap.

Yeah, he might get all smiley while a pretty girl’s fawning over him—but later, when he’s alone and has time to quietly process, he’ll realize.

He’ll quickly deduce why a nun was sent and become wary, for sure.

Ares is positioned as a pretty smart character in this world, after all.

So, just a pretty girl smiling won’t cut it.

We need to acknowledge what he holds most dear, and give him all the “good boy” and “aw, poor baby” treatment!

Only by filling the void in his heart this way can we turn him into a believer who craves plain facts.

A pretty girl is smiling and coming to him, *and* on top of that, she’s affirming something he cares about?

That’s something you just can’t resist, man.

That said, we can’t have the nun actually validate Ares’s real intentions—the revolution.

We needed to find something else to affirm, and thankfully, in a short comic about Ares, I learned he’s fiercely interested in board games.

Apparently, he even designed his own card game.

It’s like, he’s the kind of talent that should be in the modern world, not a fantasy one… but I guess it’s not that weird for a writer who lives in the present day to create a character with that kind of mindset.

Anyway, the target’s locked in, now all that’s left is to make it happen.

Let’s see how long you can hold out, Ares.

Do you think you can beat a god?

* * *

Karen turned her head to look at Ares.

And at the same moment—her eyes shining brightly—she began to shower him with questions.

“Whoa… can you, like, battle each other with this, like in chess?!”

“Huh? Uh… yeah, I guess, yeah…”

“That’s so cool! Is there a rule book by any chance?”

“I… didn’t make one…”

“Then, could you explain it to me? The drawings are really cute, and it looks like it’d be fun!”

“Wait, just a second… um, that, that…”

“?”

“Isn’t it… weird? Like, that, uh… you know… that a prince is making something like this…”

“Not at all! Why would it be weird? It’s actually amazing!”

“…Amazing… you think?”

“Yeah! I was thinking, so you made this all by yourself. Oh yeah! Now that we’re talking about it, let’s play with this together sometime!”

—Karen, looking at the cards Ares had created, that he had never shown anyone…

was smiling a smile so beautiful, it could push away absolutely no one.

That moment.

I’ll watch to see how far you can endure.

For the first time.

Will you try to win against a god?

Not Karen’s alluring body, but her soul, alive and breathing within her flesh… Ares’ heart resonated.