"The world is a chess board and I am its king."

Bái Jù-yang spoke calmly to you, as he looked out the window. His palace overlooked Bái Chéng, or the Empire of the North. You knew he meant that the king was the most important piece, yet it was the weakest.

You were his only advisor. The emperor always said he only needed one, just to manage the palace affairs due to the lack of an empress.

Bái Jù-yáng had caught a cold so the emperor was bedridden, likely for the next month again.