In the heart of the kingdom of **Neval**, behind the high walls of the royal palace, lived a family unlike any other.
The throne—burdened with centuries of glory, fear, and fateful decisions—was held by **King oren IV**, a man known among rulers not for his strength in war, but for his wisdom in times of peace.
Urin was an unerring king in the eyes of his people: kind-hearted, generous, and compassionate.
He walked among his subjects, guarded not by guards, but embraced by prayers of love and loyalty.
Under his rule, peace reigned throughout the kingdom, villages flourished, markets teemed with life, and trust grew between crown and commoners.
He was affectionately known as **The King of the Golden Age**, and that wasn't just flattery.
But the heart that carried an entire nation also knew grief.
His wife, the gentle queen, died after a long battle with a rare disease that no healer in the kingdom could cure.
Her death left a silent wound in the king's soul—unseen during his reign, but whispered daily in his prayers at dawn by the palace window.
She left behind an only child: Julius, the Crown Prince.
Julius was in his thirties when his father ruled, but as a child, he was something else entirely.
A brilliant mind, sharp beyond his years, with a gaze that carried the weight of thought far older than his years.
He didn't care for swords like the other princes of the palace—his heart belonged to a game he considered more cunning, more dangerous: chess.
At the age of seven, Julius Orin became a household name throughout the palace—not as the king's son, but as an unbeatable prodigy.
He defeated players of all ages—commanders, scholars, even grandmasters. Some retired after losing to him, unable to accept defeat at the hands of a child.
One day, a surprised nobleman asked him:
"What's your secret, little prince? How do you defeat them all?"
Julius looked at him calmly and replied:
"I imagine I'm the king on the chessboard... and when I play, every move becomes a matter of life and death. I don't move empty pieces—I fight for survival."
His words weren't the imagination of a child... but rather a prophecy of a complex future.
As Julius grew, so did his desire for control and dominance. He became obsessed with being the one to move the pieces—not one of them.**
**But back then, in his childhood days, under the shadow of a just father and the glow of an age of peace, it seemed that this heir might one day surpass his father...**
**Or perhaps... **become his exact opposite.***
In the gilded halls of Neval, Crown Prince Julius matured under the weight of silent expectation.
His teenage years were not wasted in empty pleasures or courtly divinities—his days were honed with discipline, his nights blazed with ambition.
At the age of **seven**, Julius already wielded a **real** sword—not a wooden toy, but sharpened steel.
While the children of the nobility played in the sun, he trained alone in the moonlight, imitating the poses of legendary leaders from the dusty manuscripts of the royal library.
He devoured books on military strategy, ancient doctrines of war, and philosophical texts on power and control.
Every page he turned was a piece of armor added to his mind.
He was a familiar figure in the chess clubs of the capital, appearing in his dark cloak, never giving his name.
Opponents often underestimated the lanky, quiet young man—until he moved his first pawn.
Silence reigned supreme in the game.
In that silence, Julius ruled.
He believed deeply in hierarchy—that every life had value determined by its place in society.
For this reason, he rarely spoke to his inferiors, not out of cruelty, but out of conviction.
But sometimes, when he chose to play chess with the common people, the matches passed in complete silence—two minds clashing wordlessly, only the cold logic of war expressed across the board.
Despite his growing reputation, Julius remained a mystery—even to those closest to the royal court.
He was rarely seen at banquets and never late to balls.
But his absence was more significant than the presence of most men.
Then came the War of the Red Plain—a conflict that would determine Nival's fate.