The Last Dahlia

023

The blood was beginning to slowly drain from the queen's face, although Yuehwa was impressed by how she was still keeping her cool despite Shoya's provocations.

"That's what you're here for isn't it?" Shoya continued. "You want to verify that I am who you think I am, but whether or not I am that person, you'll have to repeat what you tried to do twenty-five years ago because it's better to be safe than sorry. By the way, that cousin of mine—your son—is an absolute scum. If you wanted to do away with me so that he could inherit the throne, then the least you could do was bring him up to be a decent human being, but I suppose it's too late for that. I helped you to teach him a lesson back in Dahai, I trust you might have already heard about it."

The queen was clenching her fists so tightly that the bluish veins were beginning to show up against her fair skin, yet her voice still maintained a degree of calm. "You can say whatever you want now," she said, "because you won't be able to say any of it tomorrow. I'm sorry to tell you that I'm not the one who wants you dead, although I can't say that I wouldn't be happy with you gone. Even if you are him, there's no way you will ever sit on the throne."

"My mother was your sister. How could you do this to her?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the queen replied, avoiding his steely gaze. "Her health had always been poor, there was nothing anyone could do about it."

"Is that so? Or did it only become poor after you tried to send her firstborn to the gallows? How would you feel if someone had taken your son from you and sentenced him to death because of some broken prophecy? Your Majesty, even if you weren't the one who gave the order, you are still an accomplice. She was your sister, but you stood by and watched while they took her son away from her. While she withered away, you became the queen of this kingdom and your son became next in line for the throne." Shoya paused for a moment, letting his words slowly sink into her consciousness. The cracks began to appear in her façade. "Why is my father not here to speak to me? If he intends to sentence his son to death for the second time, surely he should have the guts to give me an explanation. Or is he such a coward that he's still sending a woman to do his dirty work for him?"

"The king won't see you. There are more important things that he needs to do. Since you already seem to know what's going on, then there's no need for me to beat around the bush. You shouldn't have come back here. There's no longer a place for you here and there never will be. If you had just stayed away and lived your own life, then things wouldn't have come to this. As for the debt that I owe your mother, I'll repay it in the next life."

The queen took a moment to regain her composure, then she turned to leave, but before she could turn the corner, Shoya called out to her.

"Is that so? In that case, I suppose you have nothing to fear."

"If I was afraid, I wouldn't have come this far," the queen replied, turning round to give him one final cursory glance before she disappeared from view.

Yuehwa had been silently witnessing the exchange from the beginning, her mind trying to fit together all the different puzzle pieces that were being thrown her way. She had seen many different sorts of people throughout her travels, but the queen of Feng was possibly one of the most interesting personalities that she had encountered. Power was a frightening thing, to be able to drive a person to betray blood relations and family ties in exchange for it. Yuehwa wondered what it had been like twenty-five years ago when both the sisters had been in their prime and the foolish decision of a cowardly king led to the irrevocable damage to that relationship, eventually resulting in the tragedy that was Shoya's entire life.

She placed a hand on his shoulder, the tension in his muscles palpable beneath her fingers.

"Twenty-five years," he said with a wry smile, "and still nothing has changed. I don't know what I was hoping for—that it was actually someone else? Or that they would get down on their knees and apologise for their mistakes? At least the queen bothered to come down here, if only to help herself sleep easier at night."