The Lin's Patriarch is weird.

With a quiet sigh, Lin Xuan pushed his g-pawn forward one square, blocking the attack while simultaneously forcing her queen to move.

Mu Qingya’s expression immediately fell.

She stared at the board for a moment before her eyes suddenly brightened again.

"Queen to f3."

Her queen slid into position, once again threatening checkmate on the next move.

However, her excitement did not last long as Lin Xuan calmly moved his knight to f6, blocking the attack and protecting his king from the fated checkmate.

Mu Qingya immediately looked up from the board, this time, she stared at him with clear frustration written across her face.

After a moment, she reluctantly turned her gaze back on the board and moved her g-pawn forward two squares, intending to attack his knight on her next turn.

By now, Lin Xuan had already realized that she was a complete noob at this so he moved his knight to d4, attacking her queen while simultaneously threatening a fork on the king and the rook in the next turn.

Mu Qingya’s expression became even more sour.

She had no choice but to retreat her queen back to its original position, where it could at least defend the pawn and block the fork.

This time, it was Lin Xuan’s turn to become aggressive.

He immediately pushed his d-pawn forward to d5, attacking both her bishop and the pawn beside it.

Mu Qingya reacted quickly and captured the pawn with her own pawn.

With a smile, Lin Xuan slowly moved his light-squared bishop forward and captured her g4 pawn, attacking her queen once again.

Mu Qingya froze as she stared at the board as the position she had controlled only moments ago had completely fallen apart.

"This isn’t fair!"

She blurted out the words before stopping herself.

Her eyes were already beginning to water as she stared helplessly at the chessboard, watching the entire game slip further and further out of her control.

Still, Mu Qingya had not completely lost all hope.

She pushed her f-pawn forward one square, blocking the attack while attacking Lin Xuan’s bishop at the same time.

Lin Xuan smiled and reached for his knight on f6.

The moment his fingers touched the piece, Mu Qingya immediately raised her hand.

"Touch move! Touch move!"

Lin Xuan paused.

In the eyes of Mu Qingya, instead of pulling his bishop back to safety, he had reached for an entirely different piece. No matter what moves he plays now, his bishop was free for the taking!

All the frustration that had been written across Mu Qingya’s face earlier had suddenly disappeared.

Lin Xuan on the other hand, was genuinely surprised.

Is this really someone from the imperial family?

He quickly covered his surprise with a light cough.

"Oh, I didn’t notice that."

He then calmly moved the knight to e4 and Mu Qingya’s expression instantly became solemn once more.

What is he plotting? What is he plotting?

She stared at the board.

The longer she looked, the more something felt wrong.

Her f3-pawn was currently attacking both of Lin Xuan’s pieces, with his light-squared bishop on g4 and knight on e4.

If I take the knight, my queen will be exposed, and his bishop can take it.

Her eyes shifted toward the bishop.

What if I take the bishop instead? I can take it, right?

With that thought, Mu Qingya immediately pushed her f3-pawn to g4, capturing the bishop.

To which Lin Xuan did not hesitate as he immediately moved his queen to d4.

"Check."

Mu Qingya’s expression changed.

She stared at the board and moved her king to f1, the only square available to her.

Lin Xuan calmly moved his queen to f2 and then said, "Checkmate."

Mu Qingya stared at the board in silence, her eyes widening as she finally understood what had happened.

Lin Xuan, with a satisfied smile extended his hand across the chessboard.

"That was a good game, Your Imperial Majesty."

Ding.

[Congratulations, you won against the Empress. You are one courageous dragon.]

[Reward is in settlement.]

Lin Xuan felt excited as soon as he saw the notification.

He had already given up hope of receiving anything better than a Blue Grade reward.

Yet Mu Qingya had practically handed him an opening and allowed him to earn a Golden Grade reward.

Mu Qingya’s eyes were still filled with tears, but she nevertheless reached across the board and shook his hand.

"Who did you learn chess from?"

Lin Xuan looked at her and struggled to hold back his laughter.

If he responded with self taught right now, that might be too much for her.

His gaze briefly drifted toward the door.

Besides, didn’t Nanny Liu beat her earlier? She seemed perfectly fine after losing that game.

There was also another reason he could use her name without technically lying.

The previous Lin Xuan had indeed played chess with Nanny Liu in the past.

"I learned it from Nanny Liu."

Lin Xuan answered with a completely serious expression.

Mu Qingya’s eyes widened slightly.

"Nanny Liu?"

Lin Xuan simply nodded.

"Yes."

Mu Qingya’s expression finally returned to normal, as if learning that Lin Xuan had been taught by Nanny Liu had somehow made everything acceptable.

"I see. If you also learned from her, then we’re martial siblings!" she said proudly. "You can call me Senior Sister Mu."

The embarrassment from losing the chess game seemed to disappear completely.

Deciding to play along, Lin Xuan nodded and called her, "Senior Sister Mu."

Hearing him address her that way made Mu Qingya even prouder.

"Come, let’s spar. This Senior Sister will teach you a thing or two."

"Huh?"

Lin Xuan stared at her in disbelief, unable to respond for a moment.

Did I hear that right? She’s not planning to beat me up because I won the chess game, right?

"What happened?" Mu Qingya asked, looking at him with a confused expression.

"Uh, nothing, nothing," Lin Xuan quickly replied before adding politely, "It’s just that I still have quite a few matters to take care of. Senior Sister Mu, would it be possible for us to have the spar some other time?"

He then smiled and continued, "In the meantime, please feel free to help yourself to anything you want around the place."