It was not the Kingmaker's knowledge of my life that startled me.
Rather, I was made anxious by how the question was phrased.
'What do you think his role is in the mission?'
It gave me a small glimpse of my role in this entire saga. While it seemed that the Kingmaker brought me to this place to provide answers about his villainous goals, I was basically in an examination room.
And I did not know when a wrong answer would get me into trouble.
Well, more trouble than I already was in…
Still, I could not resist answering the question. After all, I was still curious about the Kingmaker's intentions. Perhaps, if he were pleased, he would finally reveal what his plans for the world truly were and satisfy my curiosity.
So, I shared my thoughts.
"I think he is a foolish sacrificial pawn in a game of politics and religion, but he does not fully understand the extent to which he is being used. He is too set on creating what he thinks would be a perfect world that loves, respects and accepts him."
"Over the years, he has presented himself as an intelligent person, and perhaps, he is. However, it cannot cover his emotional shortcomings. He thinks he is fixing the outside world, but he cannot see that people are using his inability to fix his internal world to manipulate him."
The Kingmaker was silent and seemed to look at me critically after my answer.
"You claim not to sympathise with him, but your words betray you. You seem to pity him even though you purport to dislike him and everything he stands for. But you are overly concerned about his well-being," He said with something akin to suspicion.
I sighed with a bit of frustration, although I tried to hide it.
"As I said, I empathise. Empathy is not a sin in my opinion, but it might be the case for me. I do try too hard to understand things to the point where I might even have compassion for a vile person. I cannot overcome my need to understand people, even when they are destroying the world."
I looked to the Pawn, but I was thinking of the Kingmaker when I said the words.
The Kingmaker looked happier than he had been since we met. It was not a wide smile, but it was genuine without stiffness. The wrinkling of his crow's feet, the marker of a Duchenne smile, was present.
It was a little disconcerting because of the genuine joy I could sense.
"I might yet make a believer out of you," The Kingmaker said.
I shook my head with some amusement.
"I doubt that. The only problem with being empathetic is that I cannot be committed to one cause. But to be clear, I still do not sympathise with him because a person who is pitied often has a hateful characteristic." I said.
"可怜之人必有可恨之处,可恨之人必有可悲之苦."
The Kingmaker spoke the sentence with what I assume is a perfect Mandarin accent. While I have a lot of love for the language, I only know enough to ask for a glass of water and indicate that I am a friend.
I try to learn the basics in most languages just in case I am stranded…
However, I could guess exactly what he said based on the context of our conversation and the countless translated novels I have read.
"There must be something hateful about a pitiful person, and there must be great suffering behind the hateful deeds," I responded, tilting my head as I tried to remember the popular saying more clearly.
"Well, it summarises your apparent principles quite well," The Kingmaker said with less tension on his face.
"I might yet make a believer out of you," I repeated his earlier sentence.
The Kingmaker did not look offended, even though he did not take me seriously as far as I could tell. I knew I could not make a believer out of him, at least not when it came to his mission to restore the world to its natural order.
"You said that you believe that this pitiful but hateful man is a sacrificial pawn. How do you think this is the case?" The Kingmaker asked.
"I believe he is quite narrow-minded and has a lot of unearned self-confidence. He thinks he has true power, but all he has is money. In addition, his ideologies are a little extreme and not well-received by most people."
"He is an ideal sacrificial pawn for doing the dirty work on behalf of the powers because he believes he is in control. However, he is just the person who will absorb all the hatred and allow the true people in power to come in and rule once he is done."
I looked meaningfully at the Kingmaker.
"Go on," He said, even though I felt like I had responded enough.
I took a moment to think about what more I could say about the Pawn. If the Kingmaker was asking me to go on, I had probably missed something. However, I did not think I knew enough to write a thesis about it.
"In my opinion, I think that he was promised an opportunity to build his perfect world where the people who have wronged him will not exist. I cannot speak for the identity of the powerful cabal that would promise him such a thing since they would have to be powerful and secretive."
"A person like him might seem like he has everything, but the fact that he is trying to build a world that would feel like home to him makes him vulnerable to manipulation. He thinks the cabal shares his values and will hold him dear."
"However, he does not know he is simply a demolition guy who is supposed to be clearing the old building. In essence, he is the bad person who destroys a community-oriented apartment building in a quaint neighbourhood in order to make way for the soul-sucking high-rise development."
"His role is essential for the plan to work, but he will not partake in the construction of the new world. Of course, I do not know if the demolition man hates their role. All I know is that the cabal does not truly care about their sacrificial pawns."
The Kingmaker adjust his glasses. "You keep mentioning a cabal."
"It is a reasonable assumption. While you are powerful, you cannot possibly be acting alone. For now, I assume it is the Order of the Paragons, but I cannot say for sure. After all, it is an elaborate plan." I replied with a shrug.
The Kingmaker did not say anything more on the topic. Instead, he looked back at his control panel and pressed a few buttons. The video on the screen changed from the Pawn and revealed another familiar face.
The Mad King.