She Quit Her Family and Found Herself novel Chapter 93

Years ago, when Hulda was just a teenager, she had been deeply obsessed with the game of Go.

She was living with the Sterling family back then, raised by her grandfather, Dobbs Sterling. He was a domineering, tyrannical man, and his strictness bordered on downright cruelty.

Playing Go was not an approved hobby. To Dobbs, spending time on a board game was a useless waste of hours that should be strictly devoted to her academic studies.

But she loved the game with all her heart. So she learned in secret, using every spare moment she could steal behind his back.

After teaching herself the basics, she desperately wanted to improve. She eventually found an elderly master to tutor her. By now, that kind old man had likely passed away.

As her skills grew, playing against herself was no longer enough, so she began sneaking out to compete in tournaments. This secret double life lasted from the time she was thirteen until she turned sixteen.

But secrets always find the light. Dobbs eventually discovered her hidden tournaments. He was absolutely furious. He ordered her Go board smashed to pieces and pulled strings to have every trace of her existence wiped from the competitive Go circuit, determined to kill her passion once and for all.

He even threatened her, warning that if she ever touched a Go piece again, anyone associated with her in the game would pay a heavy price—starting with the old master who had taught her.

Ironically, it had been Caspian who secretly found that master for her. And for his trouble, Caspian had taken a severe beating from the old man.

Thinking of Caspian made her eyes dim slightly.

Since that day, she had never touched a Go stone again. She reverted to being Dobbs' perfectly obedient puppet granddaughter, playing the part until the day he died.

Recalling those suffocating days in the Sterling household made her heart clench slightly.

Pushing the emotions down, she walked straight up to the table and stared at the board. The layout looked oddly familiar.

Truthfully, she had always felt a lingering sense of incompletion about that Master's Cup final. To her eyes, it hadn't been a dead end; White hadn't entirely run out of moves. It was a shame her opponent had thrown in the towel so early without even trying to struggle a bit longer.

With that thought, she mentally ran through the entire sequence of the match at lightning speed. Then, she reached out, picked up a single white stone, and placed it firmly on the board.

"What do you think you're doing?" Wade's displeased voice suddenly barked from behind her. Herbert was standing right behind him, his brows knitting together as he glared at her.

Hulda calmly stood up from the mahogany chair. "Just looking around."

"This house is massive. Why did you have to wander into my space?" Wade walked over to the tea table, looking visibly stressed. When he saw that the layout was still orderly and didn't look tampered with, his deep frown finally relaxed a fraction.

It had taken a massive amount of string-pulling and networking just to get his hands on the game record of the phantom player's final Master's Cup match.