Villainess Of Hearts

The man coughed loudly for a moment and nearly dropped the teapot in his hand and the liquid in it freezing mid-air, stunned by her answer. It took him a moment to recompose himself and time flowed back naturally and the tea resumed pouring into her teacup. A small chuckle escaped from him, "Ah, you really are terribly confused, Your Majesty. If you have any questions for me then I'd be happy—"

"What exactly was that—and this!" Rosalyn Lockhart tugged the sleeve of her white dress, "Why am I wearing white?" She didn't like this color at all, she hated seeing it in huge quantities and ever more so that it was her who was wearing it. It was the color during death— She gave him a frown and fought the tremble in her tone, " I'm not dead, aren't I? Did I fail and end up here again… what exactly happened last night?" 

If she could see him then she might have been able to see the man raise a brow, but she didn't and so she gave him a look and awaited for his answer.

"If it's your wardrobe choice then I suppose it is something that I can fix," With a quick wave of the hand the white dress ruffled and vibrated until it changed to another hue of a deeper shade of red, the sleeves lengthening themselves along with the edge of her gown until it reached the floor. "But I do not think that you have died—at least this time. If you shake your head a little then you could jog your memory a bit?"

His words never failed to make a twitch play on her lips, "Are you serious?" The man never failed to remind her of her previous failures and deaths. It was a little annoying that he did this every now and then, the young Queen then reached out for one of the available chocolate chip cookies and shoved one into her mouth.

"I suppose expecting a little gratitude from you is a big thing to ask." A soft sigh escaped him.

She lifted a brow at him, "And what do I have to thank you for?"

"Your current dress?"

She looked at the familiar red gown she donned on most occasions, and it was indeed her favorite one. Everything was replicated to even the minutiae of details and it was even the one she probably had worn the last time when the two of them had met. 

Perhaps all he did was simply rewind back time to when she had arrived with the dress? She tugged the cuff of her sleeve lower down her wrist, "Is this all that I have to thank you for?"

Surely the man should ask for gratitude in that he was the one changing time and events for her—but this was all he asked? She hadn't paid much attention before but he was a curious fellow.

The Queen had never been able to pay attention to him before, each time she was focused on her goals—whether it had been killing the King, Alice or something else. But this time, she was finally looking at him.

He didn't exactly know how to feel about that, especially when she gazed at him intently, "Maybe when I saved you from the waters of memories earlier?" He blinked at the sudden slip of the name and bit down his tongue.

The Time Man shouldn't have said that.

But he still ended up saying it and so she pieced it together. 

"That… that was the thing that I saw from earlier? It really was some body of water?" Rosalyn Lockhart narrowed her eyes at him but failed to grasp any kind of reaction. That hood was annoyingly shielding his face even when she had been so close to him earlier.

Nearly face to him did not let her see him either so perhaps it was magic.

He really wished to remain anonymous.

The man poured himself his own cup of tea and took a sip, "I am the Governor of Time—or the Time Man as you call me. That water is for those to go when one truly wishes to leave their old life behind to start a new one."

"What?" She blinked and stared at him. Now he was introducing himself? 

He hadn't done this before.

He sighed and shook his head, "If you had drunk from those waters then you could have escaped your current situation now, forgetting every relevant piece of memory that you can still remember and restart your life anew." He stared into her eyes, "And I do not think that's what you desire, Your Majesty."

"That's…" Flickers of the different kinds of waters appeared in her mind and each one of them had called out to her. She had been terribly tempted but he was speaking of another life? She raised a hand to her forehead and rubbed it,, "Would you please slow down, and I did not know that you are this so-called Governor. A position of authority I presume?"

"Yes, you could think of it like that," He waved a hand, "But enough conversation about me, that is all irrelevant to your situation. I did not expect to see you here. Hasn't your life been good in recent days so why would you come here and specifically there?"

She picked up her teacup and downed her tea in one go. And it was strange that she didn't exactly feel any burn in her mouth. For all she knew then she could have been drinking cold tea and yet it warmed her throat and stomach. She could still feel her senses here and not at all dulled.

Rosalyn Lockhart glanced at the now empty cup, it was drained to the last drop. Not one was spared. She met his gaze and tried for a smile, "Thank you for the tea, it is a good brew." She had been so thirsty earlier but now it vanished.

Every now and then, she would catch something beyond his eyes but it often focused on simply one thing. A resigned smile crossed his lips, "I could share the recipe to you, but I'm not entirely sure if you can have it brewed."

"I see…" She could see his eyes and even lips but not everything?

This situation was so absurd.

And yet if she asked to see his face there was no doubt that she would once again be denied and rejected. Instead, the Time Man refilled her cup and she accepted it with a silent thanks.

It was at this time that a silence fully enveloped between them. 

The Queen of Hearts mulled over her situation and silently drank her tea while the man in front of her also did the same. The sound of some munching here and there erupted in the space that they were in together when she ate her desserts.

Even when she had tried her hardest to not make a sound.

The silence was beginning to make it awkward and she wasn't even sure why she was sticking around even longer than necessary. 

"I have no idea why I'm here and yet all we do is sit together in silence—it's probably better if I just return to my bed. You can send me back, can't you?" She inquired him with a careful look, still remembering the last time the two of them had met.

Somehow the thought of the last time they were together was a sour taste in her mouth.

And yet she understood the position that she was in—it was better to stay silent.

He placed the teacup back on the table and rested his face on his hand, and a cadence in his voice, "It is kind of pleasant having someone with you, I didn't think that you would have trouble understanding that. Even I know the concept that two is better than and that no man is meant to be alone."

There was a marvel in his tone.

As if he was admitting it to himself for the first time.

She eyed him with a frown, "Well then, I suppose it's just because you've been trapped here all of your life perhaps but I have gotten tired of spending too much time with too many people—I am trying to befriend the ones that wench had gotten close to in her past but it is exhausting. I am not even sure if my effort was all in vain, it probably is useless."

"...too many people you say?" He paused and broke off the corner of a cookie nearby his side of the table. It disappeared in his hood and after a moment he spoke again. "What if it's only one? Would that person still grate on your nerves then or would having one person be enough for you?"

His questions often confused her, she could understand the words but not his reasons for asking them. But she would answer him in return for everything, "I would say that it depends. Someone can make my blood boil at the mere sight of them and there are those who are kind to me but even their constant presence has been depleting my own energy."

"One could only hope that they do not annoy you then,"

She scoffed, "A fool's errand, it's impossible to always be happy around someone—it's more often than one's days are mundane and average with them maybe. But I don't think it's possible to always have good days with the people around you." 

"You seem to have grown knowledgeable this time around, Your Majesty."

She scrunched up her face, "I have always been a knowledgeable person and if you knew that then you wouldn't have said anything like that."

"And yet we're still having tea together."

"What is it then, are you implying in this?"