death is the only ending for the trash queen

Part 18

"What's wrong is you fucked that whore in front of our daughter–"

Penelope realized in retrospect how her words might have been misinterpreted.

Although at the time she really couldn't comprehend the sudden leap in logic her mother had taken. She especially wasn't sure how to cope with Cale's apparent rage over it.

She'd only warned her mother to hasten their divorce. She'd thought that Cale would respond to this as nonchalantly as she did to most news involving her despised husband.

Alver's eyes widened to the size of saucers and he choked on his words. "I did no such thing!" The king looked legitimately shocked by the accusation. So surprised that indignation didn't even have time to settle in.

"Don't lie to me." Cale hissed through clenched teeth, rearing her head back and hitting him again. "You're the–"

"I've never slept with anyone but you–!" Alver realized just how loudly he'd yelled such a thing in front of everyone, including his daughter, and shrank down with flushed cheeks and panicked eyes. "Can we discuss this privately?"

"Why?! So you can lie through your teeth–"

"How could I possibly look at someone else when I have you!?"

Penelope took a step back from the developing scene and nearly bumped into the knees of the dutiful guard she'd only just hired who stood behind her with an expression of forced apathy.

Ah. It must be an uncomfortable scene for the heroine. Penelope winced. She'd rushed things too much and now she and her mother were perfectly positioned to be the villains that got in the way of the heroine's happiness.

Cale reeled back from the words and looked like she might headbutt her husband a third time as the rage broiled inside of her. "Clearly you did– was it fun fucking around with her?!" The acidic way that Cale managed the pronoun was as venomous, if not more so, than the way she normally said your majesty. It was almost shocking to hear Cale use that level of vitriol against someone that wasn't Alver.

"I never touched–I've only just met her for the first time!" Alver gestured towards the knight standing dutifully behind his daughter. "I barely remember her name!"

"You don't need a name to shove your–"

"Penelope is here!"

Alver's sharp reprisal finally knocked some sense into Cale and she released Alver's collar, looking towards her daughter with a sinking stomach.

What sort of things had she been saying in front of her four year old daughter?

She'd already exposed Penelope to plenty of unpleasant sights due to her act but she'd made sure to stay away from such vulgar insinuations, at least while in Penelope's hearing distance, and here she was yelling out crude and inappropriate accusations that no child should hear.

It shook her.

Momentarily she reflected that Penelope should have never had to see any of her public personas. No one ought to see their mother 'drunk' and violent and cold–she knew that it wasn't good for Penelope to see such things but she'd always assured herself that it was for the greater good. It was in order to protect Penelope.

She was doing all of this to ensure Penelope's safety and happiness. And that was true, it really was, but was it the best way to do so?

Or was it just the easiest for Cale? To continue what she was used to doing instead of finding methods that caused less damage?

Looking at Penelope's clearly rattled expression she wondered how many times she might have scared Penelope just like this. She was surely too young to understand Cale's insinuations and so her fear must have been from Cale's fury.