"Personally, I've had my eyes on her," Olivie said. "The Duchess of House Abrielle is supposed to lead us, being the highest title holder, but she hasn't even attended a single social event. These days, even Duke Abrielle is hard to catch. It makes me think that perhaps she hasn't debuted formally yet, which is why she's remaining within the house. Don't you think that it is odd—"

The ladies around looked uneasy, anticipating the image of the Duchess to be downtrodden any moment.

"—that she doesn't even manage the house's affairs?"

"Look, look, Madame," the Baroness hurriedly said. "It is absolutely her wish, and we shouldn't interfere within the affairs of another House. Duke Abrielle particularly holds the Madame dear. He hasn't even released her name formally. Perhaps we are poking our noses too much..."

"Is that what you feel?" Olivie threw back her head, thinking. If the Duchess doesn't take hold of the power politically, then Olivie would have the highest title.

But it intrigued her.

Because she was well-aware that this Duchess was a Nameless. Considering the Nameless' position, anyone would feel as if there's a missing piece – the Nameless even dominated the men.

Unless...

"I propose a Ball," Olivie said gingerly, trying to appear as unperturbed as possible. "The Duke would have to attend. Perhaps he will bring along the maiden he's hiding from public? We could even arrange it to be her débute. Wouldn't that be fantastic?"

Unless the Nameless he took in was either Josephine or Josette – or maybe both!

—Her first chess-pieces were her parents. The pawns.

She had inscribed spells on their bodies, permanently binding them to do her bidding – they were her slaves from then on tasked to entertain her.

Forbidden Spells worked wonders.

And then Olivie decided to rekindle an old hobby.

She was fond of making dolls in the past. However, as some point, she began to lose interest in the normal sewing and stuffing – while she was encouraged to do so to become a fine lady by her parents, she started feeling ordinary.

Olivie was supposed to be unbeatable in all spheres – the epitome of a perfect Lady. And she was, to a certain extent. But how could others practice the same things as she could...?

So, she devised a plan to help her take clutches of the inferiority she felt.

She would make Human dolls thereafter!

That was her revised hobby now – drawing beautiful patterns on flesh, branding the same by fire to prevent healing her wounds, and then stitching them up a few days later.

Her parents' Magique had grown weak, directly proportional to their health, so they were unable to fight back. Olivie starved them, but not to the point of death. It was in situations like those that a Human understood that their Nom could even be useless one day.

The scars looked so elegant and refined by then. After that, they truly become dolls, because they would not even be able to stand on their own feet – forever dependent on Olivie.

She was yet to have their arms removed and stitch another person's in the empty ball and socket joint. She wondered how fun that'd be – but that was for later.

—Now, the second piece she wanted was Océane. The knight.

The House of Abrielle held several great records, spell books, and even the Lyon's past. If she could get her hands on those – even if she needed a contractual marriage with the Duke for that – then she could have access to most resources Diane did, back in the day.

The ladies mumbled along in agreement, scared to attract any bad luck. The rumors said that Olivie was mentally retarded – gaining pleasure from torture and very gory games.

There was this one legend from Paris that made Olivie enthusiastic: The Nameless aren't the first maltreated race, and neither will be the last.

It excited her; it'd be magnificent if she could grow on Diane's already formed base – which she would, to attain Godhood – and then make Humans the next maltreated race.

"So, then," Olivie concluded. "How about the Countess host this fine event? I will be looking forward to the invitation." She got up – and so did the others, with her, already regretting attending – and bowed.

She knew they would write a twisted invite to Océane forcing him to come – and get the girl along. No one would ever disappoint her. These girls were her rooks and bishops, after all.

And she could do much worse than Diane if she lost her temper.

—Finally, the third chess-piece she hoped for were the two Nameless. The queens.

They had a common enemy – Diane. And the Nameless were an absolute necessity for the ritual since she couldn't murder people unnoticed. That'd be a demanding task, even if she could, because all she required was the femur from the entire skeletal system.

She recalled having removed Josette's bones before she buried her mother alive. She knew Diane better than anyone else. And Diane wouldn't even have heard of her – so powerful was her stopwatch, tuning back people's memories instead of time.

Then, of course, she was the King piece – if she lost the battle, so did her entire army.

Perfect!

~~

= 876 words

A/N: Prepare to read about Olivie to the point you simply want to gouge your eyes out.

PROMPTS MENTIONED: N/A; though prompt #1 ["You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." - from the Dark Knight] was the theme of the chapter.

~~