The Alpha's Revenge

Chapter 31: Challenger

The challenger round had started. There were already a few participants who had already finished. Two male participants competed in the wolf hunt while other ladies competed in music and dance. However, no matter how many of them compete, it’s always competing with the same gender.

No male had proposed a challenge to female participants and no lady had proposed a challenge to young male people. It’s understandable for everyone. If a man challenges a woman, it would make the man lose his pride as a man. While no woman would dare to go against a man, especially when they are stronger in build and power.

Kira smiled and did not continue to look at the stage. Currently, it was Celina and Cinder who were up on the stage. They were competing in painting, which was expected by everyone since it’s both of their strengths.

She continued to look at the chess pieces on the chess board. She casually picked up a white chess piece and placed it in the upper left corner of the board.

“Lady Kira, are you playing random chess again?” Katelyn asked, “It must be casual or just random playing, right? I mean, I haven’t seen a person who would move a piece so far away at the first move.”

“Is it far?….” Kira shook her head.

Every piece had its own purpose. No matter how useless a piece is or no matter how casual its position, it has its purpose. The reason a lot of generals are losing in wars is that they don’t know how to use their soldiers well.

For them, the stronger soldiers are the most integral part of their victory. However, they don’t know that this strategy is not applicable in all situations. No matter how weak an opponent is, if he or she knows how to handle his/her soldiers well, there’s a guarantee that he or she will be victorious…

It’s just that no one can see through it…

“Bariston…” she whispered.

Not a second late, Bariston arrived at her side instantly and bowed. She said some words that only she and he could hear.

After Bariston nodded, he left immediately to carry out her orders. Kira looked down at her chess set again and smirked. “The second show is about to start…”

Just then, it was now Valerie who was up on stage because she was challenged by another female participant who also came from a noble lineage. They were competing in music and Valerie picked up the flute this time.

One song by Valerie can make her listeners dance to her tune. She had the power to manipulate someone’s emotions using her melody. This is one of her strongest points. That’s why she had a lot of people who were crazily loyal to her. Her gentle and angelic appearance, together with her magnificent musical skills, would make people drunk and stupefied.

“This Lady Valerie really is good at playing her instruments.” Katelyn reluctantly said, “Even, I, myself, don’t know if I can play as well as her. I wonder who taught her to play like that. Do you know who her teacher is, Lady Kira?”

Kira did not answer and continued playing with her chess. She was totally immersed in it that Katelyn didn’t disturb her further. She won’t know what was so interesting about what she was doing.

For the whole night that they were together, she had been playing constantly with the chess board. If she was not mistaken, it must already be her fifth round. However, no matter how much she looked at it, she couldn’t guess what she was trying to accomplish with each of the pieces.

So, to avoid her brain being stressed out, she turned her attention to the stage instead. It would be less stressful compared to understanding her unknown chess strategies.

Valerie’s song had ended and she bowed elegantly in front of everyone, which earned a round of applause. She glanced at Kira and saw that she wasn’t paying attention to her performance at all. Kira’s focus was on the chess set on her table.

Valerie had been noticing this strangeness from her sister since earlier. She had already noticed her playing the chess set a couple of times this whole evening. But she did not know how to play chess, for heaven’s sake! For her to look this serious, it was probably to look down on her.

After Valerie went back to her table, Anthony suddenly stood up from his seat and climbed up onto the stage.

The examiner asked him what arts he would be performing; “Military Arts. I would like to do archery!”

It was obvious that Anthony would do archery. Since his father came from a military family, he had been by his father’s side, training together with him. And because of that experience, his skill at archery was honed very well, up to the point that among the youths present, he was considered the best among the rest.

No one can compete with him in that department. No matter how far the distance is, he can accurately shoot the target easily. This earned him the title Prince of Arrows.

As Anthony stood proudly on the stage, he was thinking about who he was going to challenge today. In the audience seat, no one is on equal footing with him about arrow shooting.

Everyone was anticipating who he was going to challenge. And shockingly, instead of looking at the male’s table, he looked at the female’s side. His eyes were darting at a particular female who was playing chess on her own. “I want to challenge Lady Kira with shooting arrows,” he said loudly, intentionally.

This earned a lot of gasps from the people, as their jaws dropped at what they had just heard. What?… He said Lady Kira’s name?!… That’s ridiculous!

Right at Kira’s side, after she heard him calling out her name, she placed the chess piece she was holding and placed it at the center of the board, “Checkmate…”

She raised her head and looked straight at Anthony on the stage with clear and bright eyes. There’s no fear, anxiousness, or fluctuations in her emotions. It was just like this piece of news wasn’t shocking to her but instead just a casual call from someone she was acquainted with.

Valerie instantly frowned after she saw this. She thought that Kira would show fear in her expression but she was still in her calm and composed look. She still maintained her composure even after hearing this.

Katelyn glanced at the man on stage with a frivolous expression, “Is he crazy?… Why would he challenge a girl in military arts?!”

She was about to complain but stopped when she saw Kira standing up. Before Kira walked towards the stage, she glanced for a moment at her chess board before responding with a cool voice, “Accepted…”

Katelyn was mystified by her confidence. She couldn’t help but look down at the chess board and saw that the black pieces were completely trapped by the white pieces. Even the chess piece she commented on earlier about its distance managed to trap a stronger black piece completely.

“How is that possible?!…” Katelyn gasped in surprise.

Valerie immediately showed her worried and anxious look, “Why would my sister accept this challenge?… This is military arts and not scholarly arts.”

“Let her be humiliated, Lady Valerie… She was so arrogant about not knowing her limits. It’s her fault if she was crushed heavily on the stage.” Leslie commented.

In her mind, she was wishing for Kira to be humiliated heavily in front of everyone. If not for her, Celina would have been able to win the painting category.

“Kira, you don’t have to do this… No one would blame you if you backed out on this challenge. Even father wouldn’t do that.” Valerie looked anxious on the outside but she was heavily rejoicing on the inside.

Whether Kira backs out or accepts the challenge, she would be greatly humiliated similarly. If she backs out, she will be called a coward and if she accepts it, she will make a fool out of herself in front of everyone.

She knew very well that Kira never once held a bow in her entire life. And Anthony is extremely gifted at archery, so she would be defeated immediately without a question…

“There’s no need for you to worry Valerie…” She slowly walked toward the stage with her cold demeanor. This made the entire crowd quieten down so that even a breathing sound could be heard.

“This challenge… I’m willing to accept.”