Villainess Of Hearts

The Queen of Hearts knew that something was amiss. She was not blind, deaf or immune to any of these frowns that her Knight threw at her brother and neither did she fail to notice the looks that the King of Spades was giving her.

It only felt terrible if she paid attention to any of them right now.

The pool of liquid in her cup of tea was bright red, sweet and pleasant to her tongue???but now it felt too sweet. Too rich, too delicious to have now when there were other things she needed to worry about.

The tea and even tarts looked like crimson blood to her.

And then it moved to her hands, they were stained red like these tea.

Why? Oh, of course it made sense why! The Queen of Hearts was a???

The tart in her fingers crumbled, and she quickly shoved it down into her mouth. The tart was too moist, soft when it should have been flaky and dry. It couldn't be this delicious???no she was not allowed to enjoy this.

While the Queen of Hearts might have been able to function and perform her duties without even blinking an eye, it failed to show the real troubles that lay beneath such features.?? Rosalyn Lockhart knew she needed to focus beyond the death of Mallory. She was supposed to be focused on her desires, goals and achievements???the death of that girl should not do anything to her.

And yet it stung.

Every now and then, she'd end up thinking about it. Even the damn bloody tea wasn't helping at all and she placed the teacup down.

"Is the tea not satisfactory to you, Your Majesty?" Gine asked with a furrowed brow.

"It's just too sweet for me." Rosalyn Lockhart rested a hand underneath her chin. "My palate may not just be feeling up for sugar right now. I suppose I could go for some earl grey." Her brother was quick to offer to refill her cup, doing it even without a word. She couldn't help but smile at that and inclined her head.??

She had never thought that he'd do something like that.

"Are you not feeling a little down under the weather, Queen Rosalyn?" His Majesty of Spades asked from her right corner. His gaze was honest, perplexed and worried. "Is this something prevalent here called spring hay fever or something?"

The Queen of Hearts glanced at Alfred Villeuce. "What?"

"Is it not an affliction of some sort?" Alfred blushed and scratched the back of his head. "Most of my people die of heatstroke or thirst, for a kingdom like yours??? it's probably spring fever, right?"

Even just the mere mention of such sickness confused and dumbfounded her for a moment. Rosalyn Lockhart's thoughts shifted to this and she snorted. "Oh for the love of tarts???I don't think I'd be affected and neither have I heard of anything called spring fever. The Kingdom of Diamonds tend to have people who suffer from frostbite, if I recall."

"And people just die in Clovers." King Alfred nodded along.

"Pardon?"

"Oh, I mean???some of them can get too risky? I'm not so sure of myself either. Maybe they choke on autumn leaves or something." Alfred Villeuce shrugged.

The Queen of Hearts felt her lips twitch, Rosalyn's thoughts occupied with this conversation. "I have not much of an idea, but I'd be surprised if that was the case. Both the King and Queen seem like very careful people."??

"Well, we'd have to ask at the next gathering for sure!" Alfred Villeuce chuckled. But he then cleared his throat and addressed the Lord, "My apologies for engaging in a topic which is a bit???"

"Think nothing of it, Your Majesty of Spades." Lord Reinhard answered with a smile of his own. "It's clearly alright, I do not mind simply listening along with the Prime Minister."

Rosalyn Lockhart had hardly seen her brother smile. It was incredible to imagine that only one man had been able to bring it out???her thoughts paused. She didn't consider it before??? but was there a chance that her brother preferred men?!

Her gaze flickered between the two men and she pressed a hand to her mouth.

"Are you alright, Your Majesty?" Alfred Villeuce asked once again.

She did not know if this man preferred men, or perhaps could swing it both??? ways? These were all new thoughts that sprang up within her mind. Is that perhaps the reason why the King of Spades did not teach Olivia Deuce and only thought of her as a sister?

The Queen of Hearts needed to get a hold of herself.

She cleared her throat and nodded. "I'm very much fine, thank you. I hope that the rest of the day will be good for His Majesty of Spades???and I hope that you'd be able to be at ease. There is some current trouble as you've seen from how Lord Jericho Marius interacted with us earlier, but I assure you that your presence and visit will not be harmed."

"I'm not sure if he can actually do that. But ah??? I hear this is one of the infamous???er, famous trials?"

Rosalyn Lockhart wasn't sure if she mentioned the Joker, but the Lord probably did. She smiled a bit, "Yes, the Joker will be the one administering it."

"And I see that he's still here. Then it will be a sight to see." the King nodded. "I think I've watched one of the trials before, it's actually where I managed to see how your.. How the King of Hearts excelled and survived it along with the Queen of Clovers."

"Is that so?" Rosalyn Lockhart smiled. She had no idea what to say to this.

"Our family never actually allowed us to watch it before." Lord Reinhard added. "It had only been quite recently since the Joker actually interacted with the Four Suit Kingdoms, that some people initially thought the show was a fake. Or rather, the Joker was something mythical."

"Like the Jabberwocky," the King of Spades rubbed his chin.