Villainess Of Hearts

"But what if I only wish to make you smile?"

Rosalyn Lockhart blinked and eyed the man from the corner of her eyes. Maybe it was a wrong decision to come here because the man's grief shifted to him flirting and toying with her? 

The Queen of Hearts huffed. 

If it weren't for the fact that she had heard every word said by the Joker to him then she would have assumed that he was once again acting irresponsibly as a King. The man had left the dinner table with only a few exchanges of words with the Joker?

It was ridiculous.

If not for the fact that each word struck a deep wound into one's heart then she would have never come and found him. She blew her lips into a raspberry and shook her head. "You should think about yourself, Your Majesty or else you'll only be disappointed."

"...the reason you had come here is to ensure that I'm alright, did you not?"

She blinked and then frowned, "Do not think too much about it. I have already explained to you why it would be an inconvenience if you were to suddenly run away and leave your duties as a King out of vindication to the Joker." It wasn't the exact truth—she had been afraid that he would do something much worse than running away.

Speaking of wishing to die and wishing to be released from this life?

Would this man be disappointed that he'd end up meeting the Time man if that were to happen? Her brows furrowed as a thought struck her. Would there be a chance that the man would also offer the same to the King when that happened? It would be a bothersome thing if that were to occur—two conflicting parties wishing to both rewind and change what had already happened.

"I know, but I am still grateful." He replied.

His words were enough to take her mind away from a cycle of worrying. The Queen of Hearts then rolled her eyes, "You are so grateful that you wish for me to smile? It seems impossible to do that right now after all the trouble I went to find you." 

She had searched for who knows how long before she found him here.

Rosalyn Lockhart was only lucky that he had left the door ajar when he had run away. Even then she nearly had a heart attack and assumed intruders had arrived before realizing that it was him who had left to seclude himself.

"Perhaps my reasons are also selfish for wanting to see you smile." He sighed.

"Selfish?" She bit back a snort, shaking her head. "I would believe that although there is not much to be gained from it." The man's reason for becoming and staying as a King… she did not wholly understand his motivations. But despite knowing that the people favored and perceived him as good-natured, it did not escape the fact that maintaining a Royal position also meant one desired of it.

No one was genuinely good for no reason.

Except perhaps for some idiots?

"Your Majesty does it feel like you and I are growing close together?"

She balked for a moment and gave him a look, "I have told you to quit with your incessant words and foolish daydreaming. It is already night and you're better off sleeping and imagining that in your bed." Did her words not go through his head? Rosalyn had already repeated her reasons. "Have you hit your head while you were running away?"

"No."

She refused to say another word until the two of them had finally arrived back under the roof of the castle. The Queen of Hearts tugged her hand away from him and gave him a final look, "My understanding of the Card Trials is quite incomplete—I had never bothered with it before, my own family telling me during my youth that it was a practice that had already lost its purpose save for the entertainment of the people.

"I did not pay attention to it in the past and neither had the Kingdoms for the past years—until you and your friend had supposedly won. And even now I continue to ignore it, foolish as it may be. 

She frowned and tried her best to continue—an event that had toppled the monarchy. 

"It is impossible for a battle or a war to be won without any casualties and though it may sound unfair and callous, the only thing that is left for you is to honor those who have died." She stared in his eyes, those blue eyes widened in surprise. He was ridiculous. "Do not let their sacrifice be in vain, Your Majesty."

"Y-Yes, Your Majesty." He looked on the verge of kneeling to her.

Rosalyn Lockhart sighed and shook her head, "Then I shall be off, have a good night, Your Majesty." It was there and then that she left him be, she had already done more than enough for his sake and of the kingdom. If the man was still an awful state after her words then the fault no longer lay with her or with the Joker—the fault would lie with him.

The Queen of Hearts then departed for her chambers.

She could only imagine what might have happened right after the moment that she had left the Prime Minister with the Joker, Knight and Mary Ann. Would the man have died in a heart attack at that moment? The thought of it was enough to make her crack a smile.

It was a ridiculous scenario.

And yet it might have also happened in reality. A thought then came to her mind, if not a little later than it should have been. She resisted the urge to smack a hand over her face. Had it been necessary that it was she who had intervened with the King's pitiful state?

"Prime Minister Edelweiss could have done it just fine instead of me," She shook her head in disbelief. She wasn't entirely sure what he would have said, something different entirely no doubt, but it might have also worked.

Someone else could have helped him.