"When is the last time you clean this room, Dad?" Maris asked while looking around the room.

"oh, I cleaned it.... last week, why do you ask?"Rurik asks back

"Just surprised that your office is such a mess compared to this" Maria teases her father.

"Well, Dad works there every day and every time I clean it, there's a new work arrives. So I closed the effort to clean it, not different from you; That your office is such a mess and hired... Alexandra right? Clean it up every time but your bedroom is so clean because you never rest there" Rurik teases back, making Maria embarrassed more than her father did a thousand times. It's a stupid idea to tease her father. How could she forget that her father is the person she shouldn't tease the most in the world? Because he teases her back a thousand times harder.

"Oh yeah, around 4 - 5 PM, I have a work to go to the labour camp. It's not gonna take that long, and then we will go have dinner in the city after it. Do you wanna go with me? If not, we can meet at the restaurant" Rurik invites.

'Labour camp? Is it about the name list? Doris... yes, it's the surname of who organised the party in the Nazi office in Munich in the newspaper?! The same surname or are they relative? No, there's a rumour that he has a daughter but never appears in any news. Does it mean..." A thought popped into Maria's head. It would be a weird coincidence that shouldn't happen at once. Even if it is just an assumption if she finds some way to this information useful. She might be able to do about her country's difficult situation.

" I will go with you. I don't have anything else to do anyway" Maria has an idea, so it makes her accept it without hesitation.

"Great, Dad don't have to feel lonely." Rurik grinned before placing the bread on the table.

It's just a crispy fried buttered bread. It's an ordinary meal that every house can do; But miraculously, Maria ate it with relish as if she were savouring a luxury meal. Maria grins and eats it with delight in its taste. Rurik walks to the office table, and pulls out the drawer; There's a chessboard. He picks it up, places it in front of Maria and starts to arrange the pieces on the black and white board. He's over the moon like he anticipated it for a long time.

"Black or white?" Rurik asks.

"Black" Maria replies without hesitation.

In the chess game, Black and White have outcomes that are determined from the beginning of the game. Black starts first. It means that you have a chance to determine direction and planning; When whites only have to follow the black's plan but if whites can read the game. They can use this point chance to be able to override the other's plan. For chess, every step and piece is important to create a king's checkmate plan. Maria's father picks up the timer and puts it on the table. He stuffed the bread into his mouth. Strange that even now, he still has a smile on. Maria's choice of black merely gave her the chance to wriggle out of his palm; or truly, he didn't have any plan but only used his instincts to lead the chess pieces dancing across the board.

"If you ready, start the timer." Rurik smiling looking at Maria's face starts to tense up, like it's a small entertainment for him.

Maria didn't hesitate to press the timer. Maria opened with the queen gambit, which is a popular opening because it can open the way for the inner pieces to be able to move the most and importantly, it will put more pressure on the middle of the board. Normally, the defender will respond with the Sicilian Defense because it is the most effective way to prevent themselves from being at a disadvantage from the beginning of the game. But Rurik chose to accept the queen gambit and play along with Maria's game. He didn't even think about it because after Maria pressed the clock, her father started and pressed the clock immediately.

'He accepted it? No, or is this a bait? Should I continue with the queen gambit? I can't tell from his expression, damn it.' Maria was a little irritated that her father went along with her. This wouldn't be the first time he went along with her, but the fact that she couldn't tell from his expression was the problem.

"Knock knock. Didn't I tell you not to think too much? Are you going to be anxious since the beginning of the game? Your face is all exposed. Accept it. Continue with your plan, daughter. Why are you afraid? I haven't even started doing anything yet." Rurik snapped his fingers at Maria's forehead to bring her back to her senses.

"It's because it is you, that's why I hesitate." Maria stared back at her father with an annoyed expression that felt like she was being insulted.

"Wouldn't it be a bit embarrassing if you were nervous at the sight of an enemy?" Rurik speaks in a high-pitched sound

'It's definitely embarrassing, but how could I not hesitate if I had never even been able to draw to you in a game of chess? Since I already started it, let's just get this over with.' Maria insisted on completing the Queen Gambit.

"That's right. Accept it. Whatever you can gain a small advantage over, don't be suspicious. The ones who don't dare to do anything because they're afraid are just pathetic people. And you know that those types of people in the middle of the battlefield are the first ones to die before the ones who scare and run away." Rurik calmly taught her.

It's not strange that he will find something to teach her while playing chess. He thinks it's a good thing to teach his daughter something while doing activities together. Don't know if it coincidence or not that both of them like chess. The difference is how good at playing chess. Maria often wins someone else easily, but never even once draws when she has to face Rurik. Don't know why is he so good at this, to be able to win Maria every game. For Maria, Part of her planning skills came from chess training.

Strangely, scientists like Rurik had this ability that was superior to a major like Maria who had first-hand experience in battle and war. Maria has a feeling that he has to be something more than just a scientist. On the surface, not everyone is curious in this part because he's a scientist. Of course, he has to be smart. But intelligence is fit in the border of information understanding. It's impossible for those who look like are only interested in science but somehow be able to analyze, plan and teach military strategy and psychology better than a major with real experience and graduated from a military school. Or we can say that this is because he has superior analytical ability even in areas he is not an expert in.

How could Maria not be afraid of him? He can twist the board to be the advantageous one anytime even when he nearly loses. Or maybe he's just pretending to nearly lose. Sadly Maria doesn't know anything about him, except that he left her when she was 5 years old because they were pushed apart during the chaos, he ended up working here and found her on graduation day at military school. Change her to be an experimental human. And he is her biological father. It can't be wrong because the locket pendant she wore said so.

"Don't play quietly, Dad is lonely, please talk to me." Rurik said sweetly, repeating poking Maria's cheek to get her attention.

'Ugh, I'm going to be crazy. I can't believe that someone like this relates to me by blood.' Maria pouted, sending an annoyed aura back to Rurik.

"Aww, my daughter is so cute when she's angry." Her father sneered and said sweetly.

"Heh, disgusting." Maria retorted coldly.

"You scold Dad like your mother scolded me." Instead of feeling hurt, he smiled even more happily.

"I'm trying to focus, Dad. Please, focus on playing." Maria sighed.

"I always do. Look at the board." Rurik chuckles, pointing at the board.

"...""Huh?... Huh?!" Maria was shocked. From her advantage, she suddenly became at a disadvantage. It turned out that she was close to checkmate him, but if she didn't retreat her Queen, she would inevitably lose her King. It turned out that while she was about to lose her King, Her father's pawn would become another queen.

'How could that be?! Since when? Where did I make a mistake? Or was the conversation you just made intentionally to distract me? So this is how he pretended to be mad to get my attention and disturb me?' Maria was stunned and immediately tried to find a way out.

"it's you who have to focus. I can see through your expressions that you have no plans anymore." Rurik sneered at Maria. The cheerful smile turned into the smirk of a hunter who was enjoying seeing his prey trapped.

"?!" Maria was startled and hurried to keep her expression in. She had to think of a defensive plan. She has to retreat first.

The game goes back to being serious again. Maria tried to control her facial expression as much as possible. Her mind is full of a lot of the ways to move. But she can't waste a lot of time because there's a timer. She needs a good plan. But why is it that the more she retreats, the more she becomes cornered? Not that she lost a lot of pawns but it a difficult to move. Anyway she moves, it looks like a trap. Is there any way that she could get out of this situation? It's so frustrating being double-crossed. She needs more time.

'If he didn't do dirty cheating outside of the game, I would have... oh' Maria stands up and stops the timer.

"May I use the toilet?" Maria speaks in the middle of stress.

"Yes, Dad will wait" Her father didn't suspect anything about her.

Maria walks to the toilet. She jumps to the sink, her hands tightly grabbing the sink. She looked into the sink and sighed heavily, Turning her face up, she saw herself in the mirror, sweating with a stressed expression. It might look like a coward but he used a dirty trick first; now she used it back. She came out because she needed more time to plan. Maria lays her back on the White tiled wall near her. She looks around the toilet. It was a small bathroom with only a shower, toilet and sink that had a thing on it like glass, toothbrush, toothpaste and medicine bottle.

What is that medicine? I didn't even know that my father used the medicine' Maria picked up the bottle and observed it. It's a sleeping pill.

'Dad must be so stressed out that he needs to take medication. Does his work make him stress that much? Anyway about that surname. If my assumption is correct.  It might be his daughter or relative that got kidnapped. It's not a new thing that kidnapped the general child to be hostage. It's the normal thing that can be seen in the war situation. But I have a feeling that I keep thinking about this all the time.' Maria looks around the medicine bottle before putting it down.

'But the important thing is my dad lied to me and will investigate it quietly, but this thing is too back to keep it in the shadow, it might be worse. I need to do something but what can I do eh' Maria pops a crazy idea.

'If no one going to do something, then I will do it myself. What if I use that party as a stage to get into the office and steal the data? There might be something there. Even if there's no information about experimental humans at least there must be some secret information. Or I could assassin a lot of generals. And for the office plan, I can use that Doris in the labour camp to help me. Even if it's just an assumption, it seems worth risking it. But how can I pass the guard, if I want to sneak in and get that Doris for extortion of information?' Maria glances at her dad's sleeping pull bottle.

'Mix it in the alcohol just 1 pill will be fine' Maria picked her dad's sleeping pill bottle up and tasks 1 pill before putting it in the same place. She hides the medicine in her dress pocket. But she just realised the purpose she is here for. She sadly sighs. She got distracted again. And her dad might suspect her if she takes more time in here. She walks to flush the toilet and walks out to sit on her chair, doesn't have any plan in her head. Maria decides to continue retreats until she can think of a plan.

'I did it again, follow my instincts without thinking twice. But since I've already picked it up, I'll examine it. If it's not what I thought and it's just a coincidence that someone has the same last name but isn't related. But it's still too hard to believe that it's a coincidence. Why is everything that looks coincidental like it was handed over to me? I didn't have a good feeling about it. I wasn't confident about the plan I planning. It seems impossible to make it practical. Don't think too far, Maria. Just let it be the future thing in front of me, I have to win him' Maria shook her ambiguous thoughts out of her head.

Maria looked around the board, trying to simulate the moves of every piece she had the power to command. In her head, she tried to guess the possible moves of her and her father's chess pieces. The fun of the chess is there are many possibilities that could happen. But hoping others to move perfectly as guessing is a low chance. That's why The player needs to have a backup plan and another backup one, using intelligence to solve immediate problems and to hope that the long-term plan works. Thinking of a short-term plan only works with playing someone new to chess. And that not going to work with Rurik

"Do you want to know why I like chess?" Rurik opens the conversation.

"Because you like challenges and disparage me?" Maria sarcasm.

"No, not at all. But eh? I never disparage you. where did you get that thought from?" Rurik's trying not to laugh.

'Ugh, it obviously looks like that. The face is telling all of it every time you checkmate me' Maria thinks of the satisfied expression on his face when he checkmate her.

"It's an activity that I can play with friends and you. Being able to return to being a father again, Being able to teach you and having fun with you. It's the joy of being a father." Rurik whispers softly. The sly fox face turns into a lovable father hiding the sad expression in his eyes, unlike before.

"Really?" The daughter responds

"There is no father who doesn't want to see his children unhappy." The depressed man continues to speak, avoiding Maria's gaze as if he was thinking about something.

The game now looks like Maria came back to be the advantage once again. Maria has already analyzed everything. And now She's ready to counterattack with full force. Maria is advancing towards Rurik's King, but it looks like Rurik still keeps a calm demeanour. He doesn't seem to show even a little worry. It looks like Maria's victory starts to come closer and closer, Her chess pieces that she place near to block every way, it's just a few moves left.