Chapter 140 - The Secret Answer

Glancing up from the piece of paper, she looked around the room. From what she could see there was absolutely no where in the room for her to input the answer to the riddles on the paper. Was this just another trick to waste time, or was there something she was missing? 

She brushed a hand over her forehead, the heat wasn't helping in the slightest, but she needed to figure out what was going on quickly if she wanted to be able to make it any further long. Clive and Romeo were both in similar situations and although they could stay in touch to know where each other were- they weren't allowed to help because it was considered cheating.

How was she even supposed to think about chess at that very moment when the biggest concern at the back of her mind was how her fiancé was doing? Not knowing what kind of situation he was in wasn't helping her to clear her mind and focus on what was in front of her. At least if she understood what the motivation behind everything was and that Samuel was doing okay, she would be able to better focus on what she was being required to do. Jovani however hadn't even sent one indication either through picture, video, or voice of where Samuel was or how he was doing. 

She couldn't afford to ask him now though because it would reveal too much of a weakness she couldn't afford in the current situation. Jovani might've already figured out that she cared about him, but revealing the depth of that care would put her at a great disadvantage than the one she was already at. While she didn't quite care about that for herself, she didn't want it to be something that put Samuel at a greater risk by knowing how big of a bargaining chip he could be used as. 

Right now though she needed to think about what a queen couldn't do on the chess board that other pieces could do. She had played chess a number of times when she was younger, but it never had really been her favorite strategy game. She hated how restricted the movements of the pieces were and how quickly one could lose the game if they didn't pay attention to how the enemy pieces moved around the king. Most of the time she only played it because she knew it had been one of her mother's favorites. 

That was years ago though, so all of that information wasn't so fresh in her head and she couldn't even ask her father about it even though he knew the most about chess in the family. She would have to really think about it. 

The next riddle wasn't any easier either. It seemed illogical to her that there was someone everyone would want to lay their life down for, but not want to aspire to be at the same time. Wasn't it the case that the people you were willing to lay your life down for were the ones you aspired to be the most likely because of how much you respected and admired them? 

Perhaps that was only how it worked in her world though. Samuel wasn't violent, but there were people who would lay down his life for him. His parents being one, or so she thought at least. The other would those who worked for Lena, not so much though because of who he was as much as because they knew who he was to the Princess. Although she never did, she was unsure if anyone aspired to be like him or not. It seemed like too much of a silly obvious answer though for the riddle to be modeled after him. 

She couldn't even tell by the way the question was structed if it had anything to do with chess or not. It could've been a riddle related to something completely different but used together to throw her off. The pressure of the fact that she only had an hour left to figure everything out wasn't helping her either. 

Leaning back in the chair, she closed her eyes so that she could try and focus on what she needed to think about. She knew the information about the first riddle, it was just a matter of thinking about to how she used to play chess and what she learned when she was younger. She played it enough that the information wasn't lost, she just had to dig to bring it back to the front of her mind. 

The second riddle would be more problematic, but the answer couldn't be impossible if she could figure out what the first one was. Maybe there was a clue imbedded somewhere that she was missing. The only thing that had come to her mind was the text that Jovani had sent here- the reminder that she needed to think how a queen would move. That wasn't much help though because the riddle already told her that was what she needed to focus on. 

It was also problematic because required her to focus on things that she would rather not think about right now. She didn't want to dig around in memories from the past because of what they meant to her. She knew it was necessary, but it didn't make it any easier. 

She just knew in order to find out the secret answer to the first riddle that she would need to think through the past to remember chess. It was there and once she could visualize the board and how all the pieces moved- she knew that she would able to come across the answer that she was looking for. With that, she would be half way towards making sure what happened in the past didn't end up getting repeated in the future. She would make sure that she could get Samuel back safely and protect him from now on forward no matter what looked like.