Villainess Of Hearts

Information did not only mean Blake Landrigan gathering information for the Queen of Hearts and delivering it through the passage in a little black book of ancient magic鈥攊t also meant that at a tip of their fingers, a crystal crackled into light and the voice of some hasty person spoke in a rushed and panicked voice.

"The Kingdom of Hearts has been attacked!"

"Calm down and explain yourself." Somebody snapped. "We would have seen it if the Kingdom had gone down in flames, but surely you have spoken wrongly, haven't you?"

This person's voice might have been cold, and the other speaker-the-reporter knew they were on thin ice. One wrong move and they could have been a goner, replaced by some other fool who thought they could earn coin by selling information from the Castle.

"The Castle of Hearts has been attacked by numerous assassins on the Day of Twilight, and numerous individuals have died鈥攂ut the Queen of Hearts and King have both survived. Somehow, both were gone during the launch of the attack and had been caught late since the two were lucky enough to be in the maze at that time."

"..." The receiver of the call was silent. Luck? Fate? Destiny that brought them free from such destruction? Was that a good thing or mere ridiculousness?

Other voices clamored in from their crystal balls, magical mirrors and other long-distance communication devices. Each were Informants like Blake Landrigan, but all had differing answers and reports to give to their respected lords, ladies, kings or queens.

"We were unable to figure out where she was鈥?

"No, the numbers on the death toll only rose up to seventy鈥攅r, lemme double check. Please hold on, Your Regalness."

"It hadn't been helped. Must have been one of the Nobilities there, but it's difficult to ascertain who."

"Definitely the Eris House collaborating with the Marius House, who else?"

"Why, it must have been a small kingdom bordering the Hearts."

"It's a revolt once again. It happened before and it will happen again, the people there are always unsatisfied and thus blood after blood will be shed and in my humble opinion, ripe for the taking my siege."

"Yes."

"No."

"Perhaps."

The people who held renowned and prestigious power all sat and relaxed in their thrones, beds or even fancy upholstered sofas. Wherever they were, information was able at the tip of their fingertips鈥攃ertainly not all the same, of varying degrees of truth and inaccuracy, but it was available.

Not everyone was capable of being fully rooted and flushed out of the Castle. There were experts in their field, who placed their head downs and did their jobs lest they be beheaded鈥攏ot by the Queen of Hearts, but by their employer.

And while that thought might have made one shake his or her head at the lack of trustworthy people鈥?sometimes, people did have a price. It wasn't too terrible of a question at the start, simply answering questions like:

'What is the Queen's favorite food,' or 'What is the King like up close?' until it descended into 'Every night, at precisely seven o'clock in the evening, the Prime Minister Blyke Edelweiss goes to the bathroom.' and other strange but highly specific questions that were paid in gold.

Gold.

Not a pith of copper, or even outstanding pieces of silver鈥攊nformation was bought and sold at their weight in gold. This was a business, some did it to survive, others to earn and others to protect their loved ones and keep their promises.

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However, Alfred Villeuce would have never expected to see a man of green on the road while his horse and him travelled thunderously through the desert lands of Spades and entered the lush and viridian lands of Hearts.

The King might have escaped some of his duties, leaving it to capable men, but now he saw what could have been a man dying on the road to the kingdom of Hearts. Which was terribly odd in a land bountiful with plants, trees, and other natural resources?

Nevertheless, Alfred picked up Blake Landrigran on the back of his shirt like what a cat might have done to the scruff of its kitten neck, and slumped the guy's body on his horse after he ascertained that the man was alive, not a robber (which wasn't a problem) or some weird person.

Alfred was sure that the Queen of Hearts might have had the chance of appreciating his valiant deed of saving one of her people鈥?or he could give this guy as a slave. The guy might have been slightly handsome if not for the ragged appearance, but regardless, Alfred had no reason to fear for competition.

What was more heart-throbbing? Some guy who stayed in the castle all day or a man who traveled through Zephyr's Winds and Storms to visit a Queen just as he promised? He had gold on his person, not enough to purchase a thousand swords of silver, but still impressive enough that he faced a group of escaping bandits on the road towards the Castle of Hearts.

He rode past them, uncaring because he had better things to do.

And these people perhaps knew that if they had attacked him first, then it would not stop until only one party remained. This always meant that he survived, and he killed the other group down to the last member, and on the occasional time he did spare someone鈥?they were slaves.

Regardless, that wasn't important at all鈥攈e was actually a pretty nice guy.

And thus the sole ranger鈥攅r, King with his sidekick asleep, rode to the Castle of Hearts, completely unaware of all the information that sprang up across the multitude of Kingdoms. It was hard to be up to date when one had to ride through winds, sands and giant sandworms that tried to eat him up.

Somehow, he was almost jealous of the Kingdom of Hearts.

The thought of capturing the land for himself played in the mind of the Conqueror King, but if there was a greater and more interesting challenge was to conquer the Queen's heart. Alfred Villeuce wondered if he was actually up to the difficult task of doing so.

However, a challenge was always fun.

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Through firestorms and blast of lightnings and clouds that darkened the day into the oblivion of the night, the Jabberwocky prevailed them all and consumed everything in its path鈥擩ulius Ginellev茅 sprang up from the bed, sword drawn鈥攅xcept his sword was not with him, and he wore no armor, save for his chest plate.

A nightmare had come and swept into his mind.

It had stirred him awake, grateful he woke and had done nothing to bring him close to tears. But even he realized that he should have been awake for quite a long time already. When he woke up, he would see the Queen of Hearts lounging by the sofa in her room.

Her skin was fair鈥攑ale, rather. The usual rosy hue on her face was gone, but she was reading and flipping through a book until her gaze met his. "Ah, Gine, you've finally awoken. You've missed breakfast and lunch." She informed him with a tight smile.

"My apologies鈥?

"No, it is I鈥?who have to apologize, no, I rather want to thank you," she said.

Even now, apologies never did well in the Queen's lips and so she opted for gratitude instead, as if that was easier.

She continued with a soft smile that turned more genuine. Her thoughts now focused on him and mustering the words as she said, "You have served me well and it seems to be the first time that I've allowed you to relax."

"I did not choose to become your Knight to have a good and easy life."

"And neither have I chosen you to鈥?suffer, at least not so much." the Queen of Hearts placed her book down and sighed. "Regardless of the case, I鈥?I want you to check if your men have returned."

"My men?"

"The ones you sent to Nicholas and Harold's place." She hung her head, embarrassed.

Mere mention of their names was sobering. Already, the vision of a boy lost and wounded聽 barely registered in Gine's conscious mind. He stood up and donned the rest of his armor, "I will do so, Your Majesty. And I will return鈥?

"At least eat or drink something first."

Desperate, the Queen might have been. She wanted to see and hear about the two's conditions; she had thought of him in this hour. Possibly even hours prior, for the Queen herself, gluttonous as she might be at times, did not prefer to sit around and simply idle.

And yet here she was and had been鈥攚aiting for him to have woken up.

The Knight rested a hand on his chest, "Thank you, Your Majesty. However, it is not right for a servant to eat while their Mistress or Lady touches nothing at all."

"Touch what?" she asked and tilted her head at him. Blood red ruby eyes sparked up in mischief, similar to how her lips curved into a teasing smile. For a moment, they were back in the days of simple but unadulterated pleasure鈥攈owever, it was only a rapture of a moment.

Snatched away before he could even respond.

The Queen of Hearts stood up from the chaise lounge and nodded, "I will partake of something, perhaps some tarts."

A table would have been wrought to exist if it did not hold any desserts.

Julius smiled, only a touch sad at the moment that ended, but offered the Queen a seat before the two of them dined together. Perhaps in this minute, or even an hour, he could pretend as if everything was alright.

The world did not burn in his eyes.