Villainess of Hearts

Chapter Twenty-Three: An Emergence of Individuals

In one of the furthest areas of the Kingdom's town, in an abandoned street, there was an ear-splitting scream. A man cried in agony, his hand laid down in the cobblestones only to be crushed by the Knight's boot. "I don't know!" Already sporting a bruised and bloodied eye, this one had been the only one he had caught after he had started from the Hatter's shop.

Someone had been left by his companions no doubt.

Eyeing the blood splattered hat dismissively rolling on the ground, Sir Julius Ginellevé sighed, "Screaming all the way here with no one to come for you, how pitiful." His gaze narrowed at the man, trying to discern any notable items for identification but they wore nothing distinguishable.

The men were at least no fools to have anything on them.

This man's voice however was grating his ears. "Shut up." He tried to get a word in amidst the wails for help. Nobody with a head on their shoulders would come rushing to help them. "Who do you work for?"

"No one."

It was rewarded with a crack.

Splintering of bones perhaps, he couldn't be bothered to check as another strangled scream escaped his victim's throat. "I suppose I have no time to waste upon someone who clearly will not say anything else." He grinned and grabbed for his sword, "Such loyalty, it's a shame that you work for the wrong person."

All it took was one curve of his blade.

. . .

"What are you thinking of, Gine?" Rosalyn Lockhart had assumed that someone would be as eager as her to eat the tarts but her Knight didn't even eat the one in his hand.

A smile curled on his lips, "How much of a punishment it would have been if His Majesty had discovered this incident." The man finally bit one in satisfaction.

"There's nothing he can do." That was a lie. Both she and her Knight was aware of that. The man was still King and if loyalty were placed on a scale, more people would listen to him than her.

She was incredibly stuck in a bad place.

"But I can't be bothered with that." Her tart crushed slightly in her fingertips, she quickly gathered the crumbs and quickly finished her dessert.

"There are things I need to do, people I have to meet..." Deaths she had to avoid.

The Hatter and his friends were simply one out of the many things she needed to take care of.

"Her Majesty, I assumed you were here to relax," Sir Julius Ginellevé gave her a kind smile, "Why not leave the planning for later?"

She sighed, the Knight before her was far too doting on her.

But she couldn't relax.

And amidst their snacks in the kitchen, she couldn't even fully enjoy her tarts as a certain individual was practically cowering in the corner. Her eyes narrowed on the young woman. "Mary Ann, what are you doing over there? You're ruining the atmosphere. Come over here and at least eat something."

She really had a lot on her plate and it hadn't even been too long since she arrived back here. A lot of things were starting to differ between her previous experiences and her current ones—it was starting to be more difficult than what she wanted.

The Queen of Hearts had a lot of thing happen to her today...

But she was barely scratching the surface.

Even she was unaware of the entirety of events that would surround this particular day.

. . .

Some men were awarded for their valor, might and bravery, others for their wits, sharp thinking and intelligence.

He couldn't say that he was either.

Alexander Hartsmichdt considered himself as being foolish enough to try for reckless things. He reached the water's surface and took a quick gulp of air before heading down.

Vaguely, he knew that his Prime Minister was watching from the sidelines with other servants.

The waters were dark, deep and cold—yet he carried on into its depths. With some imagination, he wondered if he could resurface elsewhere.

Something, or someone moved past him.

It was another King.

Now this one was more willing to thrust himself into danger, but at least they had more luck than him.

Though it wasn't enough for them to find the necklace either.

It should have glowed or something. Although it may have been hiding in the bed of sand or some kind of aquatic plant life.

But despite all odds, he was going to retrieve it because...?

. . .

They had lost one of their men.

But more important than that, they had lost the Queen of Hearts.

"The Boss is not going to like this."

"We should have been able to capture them, that mad man had been carrying her too! How could we lost them?!"

"Streets and alleys are confusing here."

"Try telling that to the Boss, if you don't end up in a worse state than the our dead colleague, then I'll salute you."

. . .

Now the Gathering of Suits did not simply meant that the Kings themselves were going to converge, no—the Queens were also present. Although their stake and participation on the matters were much less than their counterparts.

In addition, one would be ill-pressed to convince them to leave the chambers.

"What kind of place is this?" One of them had spat. Certainly, in her Kingdom, there were better places to stay in than this mediocre castle.

Another watched the events happening out her window, she saw four men trying to outdo the other. "Idiotic. Shouldn't they be conversing about the trade agreements instead of measuring how long they can hold their breaths? The people here are truly mad." Her eyes lingered on one of the Kings and it wasn't even her own husband.

The third one, although she stayed within her own chambers, she actually desired to leave the room but was simply ordered to stay put. "This is too annoying, I shouldn't have gone with him if I knew that he was going to keep me in here. Shouldn't the Queen of Heart at least greet us?"