Villainess Of Hearts

When the Queen of Hearts woke up, she found herself back in the room of Alice—daylight piercing in through the thin curtains. Rosalyn Lockhart might have found things to complain about, but for now, she stayed silent and kept them out of her mind.

She hadn't actually physically crossed into the Time Man's world, but it was once again through her soul or mind alone? Perhaps it was just a physical representation of what was in the land in between worlds.

But regardless of that, for now she rubbed the corner of her eyes and sighed.

"This is going to take him a bit of time and work, wouldn't it?" The Time Man had to locate the King of Hearts by looking through countless events in the past and then find a way to 'tear' back a path to her own world.

He hadn't exactly sounded that confident when he explained it… however, would put her trust in him. Now it meant that she had to reside in this place until it all worked out, and that was easier said than done.

Rosalyn Lockhart saw that there was another pair of clothes for her today, and it was a strange design. Well, it was nothing that strange as having multiple holes for her head to fit in, but the fabric was far from what she was used to. It almost looked like what a miner would use while locating stones.

It was both rough and soft.

"This world really is strange…" she muttered and changed. Today would be a day where she'll survive and then for perhaps another couple of days? The idea that she would stay here far longer than necessary was what scared her.

There were far too many things that she needed to worry about the castle!

Even while she understood that by one's death, everything was nearly meaningless… she was still alive and while she was living—she was a Queen and had to live like one. Perhaps the Time Man could mitigate her absence and that of the King, but she needed to be realistic.

> Convince the boy's parents that she needed to stay for a little longer

> Possibly unearth more information between Alexander and of Alice

> Find something useful that she'd be able to implement in her own world?

The understanding that this was a completely different world from her own did not evade her mind. The Queen of Hearts needed to take into account countermeasures and other things if she were to find herself accidentally bridging the two worlds together.

It sounded unlikely.

But Rosalyn Lockhart had to think about everything. 

—

His parents had already left for work and his sister to her classes for the rest of the day—only he and his 'friend' were to be staying here. At least until he had to attend classes in the afternoon. But what would happen to the woman by then?

He doubted that she actually had any place to go to.

Could he convince one of his friends to let her stay at their dormitory? Alexander would think about it as he placed some eggs on top of his French toast and began to bite—until he saw her leave his sister's room. He gulped his food down and took note of her in skinny jeans and a plain white top.

Somehow even just those clothes made her look extremely good. And those clothes were supposed to be his mother's! He needed to snap out of it.

"Good morning," he finally managed to blurt out. "Do you want to have breakfast?" Well, wasn't that a stupid question to ask? Who'd wanna skip breakfast!

Her gaze swept over him, as if taking note of something, and then nodding. "Ah yes, good morning to you too… Alexander." The way she called him was somewhat hesitant, but she approached him and took a seat right beside him. Instead of sitting in front of him or even at the corners of the table, she sat right beside him. Rosalyn reached out for the bread and looked around the table with a pursed lip. "Eggs and bacon?"

He blinked and said, "Uh, we have peanut butter and jelly if you want? Some jam?" Maybe she didn't like heavy breakfast? He never met someone who'd refuse it, but here she was.

"Jam?" she raised a brow.

"Strawberry—"

"I'll have that."

"Oh let me just get it from the fridge." he moved fast and then handed it to her with the cap already removed. She looked at him with a careful look and he sheepishly smiled. "I can uh… spread it on the bread for you, if you want?"

A pleased smile crossed on her lips, and she nodded. "That would be kind of you."

"No worries." he said and added some jam. "Is this enough—"

"Can you put in more of that jam?"

"Oh, okay. Not a problem." He said and added more jam until she was satisfied and was happily nibbling on the bread.

She looked really cute.

Alexander would then realize in horror about how stupid it was that he was so worried about what she was going to eat. She was less of a guest and more of someone staying at his—and his parent's mercy! But there was a part that made him want to check if she was alright and everything was to her liking.

Was it because she acted like someone who needed to be served or was it because he thought she looked cute?

Maybe it was a little of both.

He couldn't exactly feel about this for someone he barely just met—and especially a complete stranger! Alexander began to eat faster and hoped that it was only his empty stomach giving him strange thoughts.

—

The Queen of Hearts was staring at a… television. And she was watching a film—the young man, Alexander, had even prepared her a bowl of what he called to be 'popcorn'. Now the two of them were watching this 'film' and seated at the comforts of the couch. The curtains were closed, and the room was made entirely dark.

Only the lights from this television were present, but more than that Rosalyn Lockhart even had her feet up. Unlike that of the Queen in normal functions and even in her office, having her feet up in this hour was the most approximate position to enjoy what she was seeing. 

Rosalyn Lockhart glanced briefly at the young man. "This fight between this… ogre and dragon is nothing but false and recreated. You call them animations?"

"Yeah. It's not real but only made through the artist's imagination," he explained and threw some popcorn into his mouth. He glanced at her from the other end of the couch. "Are you really sure that you haven't seen a film in your—"

"Hush, boy. This is a valuable scene." Rosalyn raised a hand and kept her gaze on that of the battle in the towers and snorted. "Well, this dragon has been easily vanquished. You're telling me that this ogre and donkey have outwitted such a creature?"

"Yes, you need to use your brains and not just your strength."

"I did notice all the littered skeletons of previous brave men and souls that attempted to free the Princess," she said. "But ah, this really seems like a stupid thing to do. Lock a princess in a tower to find a champion who'll save her and then she'd marry him?" By those kinds of standards, she might have already wedded her own Knight.

Or even the Hatter for the man had saved her once.

… and there was the fact that the King himself had once helped her breath again after drowning from the lake. Rosalyn Lockhart chewed on her lip and glanced at the young man across from her. This one had no clue at all about what had happened or what will happen in the future, didn't he?

Her look probably made him think she needed to reply, because he spoke up.

"I thought that you said hush—er, I already watched this so okay." Alexander scratched his head and stared back at her. "I mean, you want the Princess to marry someone willing to risk his life to save her. You'd want someone brave, strong and amazing, right?"

"He's not only saving the Princess but the chance to gain the crown, dear Alexander. Think of it more carefully. The dwarf man made sense in hiring an army and a champion to save her… but it only happened that this ogre was the one who won it. And he's doing all of this for his swamp, right? Not exactly the type who's heroic."

He averted his gaze from her, scratching his cheek. "You can call it character development."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know of onions?"

"Those horrible vegetables? What of them?" She wrinkled her nose at him. "I detest having them on my plate."

Alexander chuckled and shook his head. "Onions have layers. And it means that people like the ogre also have their own layers—he may look and act mean, gross or even fart everywhere, but he's also a good guy underneath that. Sensitive. Thoughtful. Even loving, you know?"

"... this ogre and Princess are going to end up together?" Rosalyn blinked and watched the ongoing film with a small frown. "I feel almost sorry for this Princess, but she's not someone you can feel sorry for. Well, she's a tad stupid for believing that the ogre was some sort of honorable Prince or Knight in the first place."

"Let's watch this thing all the way to the end first, alright?"

She didn't like his almost patronizing tone, but nodded.. The Queen of Hearts stared at the screen and reached for more popcorn—she wounded up grabbing something else.