(Elaria POV)
"That's a checkmate on this board, Mistress Elaria," Sophia announced, moving her cannon a step in front of my general.
I hid my grimace before moving my concentration to the middle board, taking the time to go over my plan again before shifting my chariot to take her pawn.
Right now we're playing the same game of chess but with a slight twist.
Instead of just playing on one board, we're playing on five boards simultaneously for the added difficulty.
Although she's not at Onii-sama's level, Sophia turned out to be an especially strong opponent for me.
It's not like she's overwhelmingly strong, but for someone who only learned it by watching us play, she was better than she has any right to be.
Out of the five boards, I had already won two and lost two, so the middle board was the final one that will determine the winner in our game.
Frankly speaking, I had the upper hand on this one and it would be hard for me to lose. Judging by the small smile that Sophia had, she knew that fact as well.
Sure enough, within the next five moves I had her general cornered before putting her in checkmate after another two moves.
"Good game," Sophia praised, a rare thing coming from her. "I'm sure Master Lin would be impressed too."
I sighed, "If only Onii-sama was here. I'm already missing my Onii-sama hugs."
She shrugged, offering no words of consolation before moving to keep the pieces, signaling that it was time for our lunch.
"Is Onii-sama coming back for lunch?" I asked hopefully.
Sophia shook her head, "Master Lin had mentioned it was unnecessary to prepare his portion, so I would not think he will be."
"Kuuuh… Onii-sama abandoning his cute imouto for another man, I'll have to rectify that when he comes back."
Sophia ignored my wailing and gestured towards the pavilion's stairs, "Shall we, Mistress Elaria?"
Just as I got up to follow Sophia to our dining room, Joanne came running up to us with her face full of tears.
"Mis… Mistress Elaria… I'm sorry! Waaaahhh!!"
What? Why did this weird girl suddenly start crying in front of me? Isn't she supposed to be taking care of little Cai Hong?
Sophia bent down to pat her head, consoling her like how she would a child, "There, there. What's wrong, Joanne? You can tell big sister here."
"Sniff… Sniff… Hic… I… I lost Mistress Cai Hong…"
I goggled at her, "You what?!"
Sure, I'm not that close to the little girl, but she's still my Onii-sama's adopted daughter which makes her my niece! If something happened to the cute little thing, I'll definitely call down an artillery bombardment on the people involved!
"We… We were playing hide and... And seek… Hic… But… But… I haven't been able to find Mistress Cai Hong since we started… I tried calling out to her but she hasn't appeared… What if… What if she was taken… Waaaahhh!!"
"Calm down now," Sophia soothed, "Did you tell little Cai Hong not to go outside of Master Lin's courtyard?"
"Hic… Ye… Yes… I told her… Sniff… Master Lin would be angry if she went out… Sniff…"
Sophia smiled at her, "Then she should still be hiding around here, maybe she had fallen asleep somewhere. She usually takes an afternoon nap as well so that could happen."
"Whe… Hic… Sniff… Where could she be?"
Sophia turned to me, as though expecting me to know the answer.
I frowned, if Cai Hong really was going to hide somewhere, she would pick somewhere where she feels comfortable enough to sleep while also remaining hidden if this was the issue…
She couldn't have gone through the secret entrance could she?
Well, it's worth a shot at least.
"I think I might know where she is," I told them. "But just in case, look around the courtyard in case she climbed up some tree to take a nap or something."
"Of course, Mistress Elaria," Sophia bowed.
"Ye… Yes Mistress Elaria…" Joanne bowed as well, though her face was still marred with tears.
Sophia took the sniffling Joanne away while I went back to our room, making a beeline towards Cai Hong's bed.
I checked under it just in case she was there and found a rather big box stashed under the space.
Hmmm? I didn't know Cai Hong had something under the bed? Maybe she's hiding in it?
Curious, I reached for it and pulled it out, opening the top carefully to reveal its contents.
Inside it was a curious assortment of clothes and towels, a few of them seem to be child sized while others were adult sized. All of them shared one common trait of being male clothing though.
Does Cai Hong like to crossdress? Not that I'm judging her though, but this seemed like a weird hobby for her to pick up.
Just when I thought to put it away, a small picture tucked into the corner of the box caught my eye.
I was confused about the existence of that photograph until I remembered Manami had a Technique that could replicate such a thing without a camera.
Not able to help my curiosity, I reached forward to pick it up.
The picture showed a young boy dressed in one of the clothes I recognised from the box, but since it only showed his side profile I did not recognise the person straight away.
I had to squint and take another few seconds to examine it before I realised I was looking at the younger version of my dearest Onii-sama!
Gasp! That means… All these clothes were Onii-sama's!
Oh, this sneaky little girl! She managed to get her hands on the costumes Onii-sama used during the play! No wonder I couldn't get my hands on them even after I threatened the theatre manager! Back then I thought the other actors had stolen Onii-sama's clothes and hidden them, guess I was wrong about that.
Whoopsies~
Welp, no need to take from my niece's stash since she worked so hard to get them. I can always just steal my own stash since Onii-sama is here now~
I packed the things back into the box and pushed it back under the bed, dusting my knees as I stood back up.
Now I guess I should check the secret entrance for Cai Hong's cupboard.
Pulling open her cupboard doors, I was about to reach for the hidden handle when I noticed the pile of clothes that were in the corner of the cupboard.
I already know that all my sisters had Onii-sama's clothes stashed inside their wardrobes so it wasn't a surprise to find a pile in Cai Hong's too. Not to mention the fact that she had Onii-sama's costumes under her bed so it was even less surprising.
But the thing that caught my attention was the pile was actually moving slightly.
Ah, of course… She hid under Onii-sama's clothes and fell asleep. That would be where Cai Hong would feel the most comfortable sleeping in. Why didn't I think of that?
I picked up the top most shirt to reveal the little girl's head, her ahoge twitching slightly when revealed.
I slowly unearthed her from the pile, giving her a soft tap on the head to wake her up.
"Little Cai Hong~ It's lunch time~"
She yawned before rubbing her eye sleepily, "Mmm… Papa… Huggies…"
Hmmm? She must have thought I was Onii-sama since my hand had his scent from touching his clothes. Such an impressive nose she has.
Oh well, I picked her up into a hug and she promptly fell back asleep on my shoulder, mumbling about Onii-sama feeding her or something.
Well, I'll just carry her to our dining room for lunch and grab Joanne and Sophia on the way there.
Package secured and in transport~
