The night crickets seemed oblivious to the crackling electricity that hung heavily in the room as the gracious King and Queen of Goryeo battled in a second round of baduk. The King is not much of a scintillating conversationalist during the game, although the Queen believed it to be a facade he put on to lure preys in. A sense of security is but two things, she remembered her father told her, deceit and temporary.

The game could not be more accurate, with the King moving white stones and the Queen black stones which annoyed the Queen even more. If anything, it heightened the fact that the King still bore the thought of her as an inferior and outsider and he the superior and protector. White the good and black the evil. But how could she prove herself otherwise if she was never given a chance to rise above her perceptive sole duty that is to bear heirs to the King. And even then, that basic duty of hers could not be fulfilled unless the King starts visiting her chamber.

The pregnant silence became unbearable so she cleared and analysed for a second if she should look at him straight on when she speaks. It didn't take too long to decide.

"You understand that the reason that I asked was that Iwanted to help. And that I care," she raised her gaze at him, hoping the sentence  would not erupt another landmine of questions.

She saw the slightest of turn of his head and wondered if he understood her.

"Care?" His voice was devoid of any emotion. She wondered if he knew that it only made the situation more dire and he seemed more vicious. His short brief response did not help lighten the mood either. 

She made a move, skillfully and tactfully cornering one of his white stones, effectively rendering him a prisoner in the next move if he didn't try to save that piece. She was stunned by his response and by the lack of emotion in his voice, she cannot predict where this conversation may end up in. Thread carefully, she told herself. The next move is his but she had an inkling that her fate has already been decided. 

"I care about this country. It is mine as much as it is yours, now that I am her Queen," he sacrificed his black stone and let it be captured.  

He raised his head then, his eyes so dark and light at the same time. In the dark of the night, she almost could not make out the exact colour of his eyes but the black orbs created an abyss that attracted her in but she figured would never let her loose easily. Much like quicksand. There was no hesitancy in his eyes. It is not the King if there is any. There was nothing in his eyes that gave away his emotions. His face a solitude fortress too. His emotions carefully and properly locked in. Dangerous. 

"Aah," his lips a thin grim line, "and so?"

Talking to this man is an exercise of anger management. She prided herself in being a very patient person, her anger always in check but lately it seems to evaporate like boiling water. 

"Yuan is a great country with more and stronger influence over the peninsula. They have had a chokehold on Goryeo for over centuries, rendering the Kings before you as puppets. Now that you have fought and earn your own sovereign, they come barking at your door to surrender," she saw he was starting to map out his territories towards his side, a neat line of white bordering in the center.

"Hubaekje wants to break free. There are words circulating around that Silla felt the same way too. If they ever decided to join forces," she paused as she calculated her next move and started to create her own territory on the board as well, "there will most likely be a war."

For the longest of time, the King did not move. Not a single muscle. He was not looking at her but through her. She waited silently, knowing enough now that he enjoyed silence, even needed it to think, and prayed for the first time in so long that she would for once ace his tests. Whatever the tests are. Because she confessed she had hoped for affections and adoration to birth out of this forced union. How could she not? The man sitting right in front of her is so gorgeous that it actually saddens her. The Gods have clearly taken their own sweet and leisure time crafting him. She could not point out a single flaw in the King's face. The arched brows, the sculpted nose, the evenly round eyes, the formidable lips and what beautiful ears His Majesty have. Yes the Queen is ogling over her husband and that in itself is enough to amuse as much as rebuke herself. A year ago, she would have scoffed at the thought of drooling over beautiful men because that is just plain shallow but she caught herself sketching his features in her mind. The Queen would not be praised as an artist but she would not think that the greatest artist existed could even capture the very essence of beauty of this King on paper. Life, Her Majesty decided, is definitely and objectively unfair.

He made a move, capturing one of her black stones. He was quiet, she could almost hear her own thoughts echoing loud throughout his room. She didn't know what was she hoping for. She just wanted to be treated as an equal. If she were to be made a decoration, she didn't need to be married for that. Before him, this marriage, this life, she was purely ornamental. Her father saw no importance on her being educated as much as her brothers, her mother only saw her worth as means of birthing children and now her husband... she longed to know what he thought of her. What he truly thought of her.

"Where does your loyalty lie?" so empty and blank, his voice.

"I've said countless times. Goryeo-" one look from him and she fell silent. 

He captured another two of her black stones. Even a child would understand that at this point of game, she has already lost. Again.  

"Let this be your first lesson. Lies are as sweet as honey and they fall off one's lips as easy as breathing," he made another move after she placed her black stone at the farthest top right corner away from her. A mistake, she realised as white stones soon surrounded her black ones. Captured as prisoners. Just as she now.

"It seems I have won," he announced, "again."

She smiled, bowed her head and made a move to excuse herself out of the room before she began to suffocate.

In a game of baduk, there are 2 players, one moving black stones and the other moving white stones. It is said to be customary for the more experienced player to play the white stone and the opponent to play black stones. Black move first. The aim of the game is to conquer as many and as large territories as possible. The winner is the one with the larger territory and number of prisoners.