Villainess Of Hearts

New places, new things, and new beginnings. There were a lot of things that had changed in her life and all of them were something that she had to get used to, new positions, new people, and a new environment. Everything was new to her. New relationships, new friends and enemies, new everything really.

Neo Anasthasia was the Queen of Clovers. 

The place of luck and new beginnings—she could be considered lucky in this way. Or perhaps unfortunate to some. Ivan Nordskov walked through the corridor in the Castle of Hearts, and she could only follow after him, not exactly sure where he planned to stay now that the court trial was over. 

Not exactly over.

But still enough that it didn't require their presence any longer, she pushed back some of her hair behind an ear.

"Are you alright, Your Majesty?" A sudden voice interrupted her musings. It came from no other than Dimitri Norskov himself, the King's older brother. Between the two of them, he was known as the more amiable one and she had even heard that he gave away his position to his brother—because Ivan had liked her.

He was a doting and accommodating brother.

"I-I'm fine, Your High—" She cut herself off before nodding slightly, "I'm fine, Delegate Dimitri, just having trouble with catching—"

"Your Majesty Nordskov, I believe Her Majesty is having trouble following after you, can you slow down?" He immediately called out to his younger brother with nothing but a smile on his face.

It made her pause as she watched the man halt in his steps.

She honestly didn't want to be too much of a bother and yet the King of Clovers retraced back his step and poked her in the forehead. "I forget that you're so tiny that your legs are too short to keep up with me."

It made her frown slightly—she was at least five feet and one inch tall!

A small chuckle escaped from Ivan Nordskov's lips as he dipped his head slightly, "Why are you so upset? Here, let me help you." The man reached out for her and within a moment she was already in the man's arms bridal style.

Her face heated up, "Y-Your Majesty, put me down!"

"Well, we're not going to make it to the Royal Dining Hall at your pace," He rolled his eyes and bit back a chuckle, "Let's go, Dimitri." He nodded at his brother and proceeded to walk whilst carrying her in his arms.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and averted her gaze to the floor. The Clover Kingdom may have gotten a small and somewhat unfavorable impression—even Alex had warned her when they finally had the time to meet, but she was the one who had landed in the Kingdom and not him.

And though she was quite new to it all.

Neo Anasthasia couldn't help but see only a certain degree of happiness and peace within the Kingdom that she was staying in. At least in a far better case than all other three Suit Kingdoms combined in her honest opinion.

But she couldn't dare admit that out loud.

. . .

Each Kingdom had their own fair share of secrets—no matter how much willing a Kingdom is to share about their place, there were always instances where some things wouldn't be exposed to the general public and of course the other Kingdoms. Despite the Alliance between the Four Suit Kingdoms, they could still all consider each other as possible rivals.

The Joker was the one who was supposed to keep it in check.

But Rosalyn Lockhart didn't expect that such a situation was possible between the Queen of Spades and her King. The two of them weren't... married? She should have understood it at once, it happened more frequently that unions were to be of benefit to not only the individuals but the surrounding groups, but to hold no amount of affection at all?

The Queen of Hearts had been stupid about this before.

Once upon a time, she had thought that she and the King of Hearts could have a relationship beyond simple mutual benefit. It was mostly wishful thinking before she had actually met him—but her expectations vanished too quickly. Of course, it made sense that she'd get mistaken about this one as well.

A partnership that was the best for the Kingdom would always surpass that made of romance. But she still couldn't expect that the Queen of Spades would openly-say something like this to her, and she wished that her Knight wouldn't make any form of reaction. "I...I see, I was unaware of that incident in the Kingdom of Spades."

"Well now you know—but it's still not best to discuss it. Then again, it is somewhat open for most that the King of Spades is looking for a woman."

She raised a brow but wasn't exactly sure what to say about this either.

"The King of Conquest has taken over minor Kingdoms, nothing special but it's also not a secret that he has taken in some Royals, Princesses and other ladies that catch his eye—but it's the first time that he has attempted anything close to giving a gift."

"...it should be something normal. Most visiting Kingdoms are expected to give a gift as a tribute to the Host Kingdom." The Queen of Hearts pointed it out with a slight frown. The man may have been a tad friendly with her in the aftermath after their debate in the Royal Conference Hall but it meant nothing.

"You must have been absent during the last Gathering—it was at the Diamond Kingdom and His Majesty Alfred be damned if he actually brought anything for the King and Queen of Diamonds." Olivia Deuce snorted and waved a hand, "They're already ostentatiously wealthy as it is, that is one of the reasons why he's more interested in trading with the Lockhart House."

Even Rosalyn Lockhart wouldn't be so willingly saying things like this aloud, at least not in the presence of other people but she continued, "He trusts that we'll do a better job than a Kingdom that doesn't have much of a need to trade with other Kingdoms because they're already affluent?" 

There was nothing wrong with stating the facts.

"I don't want to be rude, but the Diamond Kingdom is indeed significantly more wealthy than the Heart Kingdom." The Queen of Spades finally looked a bit embarrassed right now. 

Rosalyn Lockhart felt a twitch on her lips, "None taken. It's understandable—despite the frigid Everwinter in the Diamond Kingdom, their mountains are abundant in natural resources. Crystals, gems, and other expensive stones. The reason why they trade with us is mostly for food resources and such."

"Exactly. They don't have much of a reason to expand on anything but mining that I'm led to believe that most of their smithwork is spent on mining materials rather than weapons." Olivia Deuce pushed up her glasses, "We believe that the Kingdom of Hearts, in particular, the Lockhart House will show more craftsmanship and effort into the swords."

The Queen of Hearts already made an agreement with them, she had done so to make the King of Spades finally sign the agreement that the King of Hearts had fashioned. She ignored the twinge in her chest, but she was going to have to head back to Marmoreal for this.

She wasn't exactly sure how it'd go when she'd face her… family. But this was also a business and diplomatic matter. And Rosalyn Lockhart wasn't returning there as herself, but she was returning back to the Lockhart House as the Queen of Hearts.

… That made everything just troublesome, didn't it?

. . .

A certain King was sulking, or it could have been two or three depending on how you defined the word 'sulk' in the first place. One of the Kings, a certain man who had been so positively sure that the Queen of Hearts had gone out of her way to save him from the trial was pushing his vegetables around the plate. He liked to eat when the duties of being a King were too much for him but now Alfred Villeuce was just sulking.

His Delegate sighed as they dined beside him, "You're not a child, Your Majesty. Please eat your meal."

"I don't want to, they can feed the scraps to the homeless children in the streets." Alfred Villeuce muttered dejectedly as he pushed his plate away.

It caught the attention of servants serving the dishes on the dinner table but they made no comment about it, which was relieving on its own. He bet they would gossip about it in their quarter's though. The Delegate, Cyan Lucielle, made a face before the man continued dining. Right now, he couldn't be bothered with appeasing his King when the Kingdom of Spades had barely gotten itself out of trouble! He needed some tea right now, maybe jasmine tea or something relaxing because the King was getting on his nerves.

As for another King, sulking for them would be… well, His Majesty Francis le Diamant could be in the best of terminologies be said to be throwing a hissy fit. He was a tad annoyed during the Trial, although at least the man was doing their outbursts in his own quarters than in the Royal Dining Hall. He kept up with appearances of being a true King and his reputation for him was important. 

And last but certainly not least, the King of Hearts himself was once again in a state of not caring about the world and yet caring too much at the damn same time. He glared at the Joker but then slammed his head on the table. Once again, he needed some time for himself.

Hopefully, even an hour or so reprieve would be alright.