Villainess Of Hearts

There was no remorse or any fluctuations in her chest when the Queen of Hearts returned back to her office—if anything, only an irate feeling pervaded her senses. She slammed the door behind her. From the Lady Catherine Duke to even the Queen of Clovers herself, they expected her to be grateful and gracious."I haven't done anything wrong, I'm doing what anyone would have done in that situation."

Why were they expecting more?

The door behind her opened as Julius Ginellevé stepped into the office—she had probably slammed it in his face, but there was no indicator that he was annoyed at all. If anything, the knot in his brow only meant that he was concerned about why she had slammed the door. "Your Majesty, are you alright?"

"That's a stupid question, Gine." She narrowed her eyes at him before sighing aloud. "Do they honestly think that being a Queen is a gift? Some kind of luck—it's a duty, Gine." Once again she found herself imploring for the man to nod along. Rosalyn Lockhart stepped towards her desk and took a seat, "It's a responsibility bestowed to me, managing this Kingdom is not an easy thing, and I am already doing it to the best of my abilities."

"Indeed you are, Your Majesty." Her Knight was quick to nod, and even though they might have gotten through similar things like this in the past, his reassurance was still valuable to her. "You've been tutored since you were a child, Rosa—although, your emotions do get the better of you at times." It also sometimes helped when the man did point out her mistakes at times.

Honestly it was a hit or miss when he did. 

She pursed her lips together and remembered her own episodes of ballistic madness— "I may have gotten a tad too upset at some occasions, but you cannot expect me to always be mild-mannered—well people do expect you to be perfect and it's frustrating." She had told Queen Neo Anasthasia that and she did her best to live up to her own standards.

Rosalyn Lockhart didn't want to think of herself as a hypocrite.

She folded her hands together and cracked her knuckles before taking another gulp of air, "I honestly don't expect fools to understand, but that's enough complaints on my part—my head might explode if I vent too much." She eyed the Knight standing silently around and who had mostly taken all of her complaints in stride. "Do you not have anything else that you need to do, Gine?" He sometimes trained with the Soldiers in the barracks.

"No, all I need to do is to remain by your side, Your Majesty." He bowed his head. Once he looked up, a small smile formed on the Knight's face, "This is all for your sake."

She really wasn't supposed to be bothered about this at all—surely his presence had been a constant thing in her life for the past years, but she wished to be alone for a moment. Lest she get too ridden with her emotions again, the man's mere presence was enough to make her distracted. Why did he do it?

Even his own words at that time tried to reassure her when she brought his sword down.

Perhaps she should blame the Time Man actually—restricting her memories to only certain ones. What good did this do? Help her get a better ending? She only remembered being exiled by the King of Hearts when Alice arrived. The men that were enamored with her, among them the Hatter himself along with the protest of the people and then Gine killing her on the outskirts of their Kingdom.

And yet a lot of things were vague.

Smoke and fog clouded her thoughts and prevented her from remembering anything else.

If her memories were a mirror, she had shards of them but not enough to produce the complete reflection. She had her assumptions, if the King of Hearts had forced him to do it—an unlikely one. He did it to protect her? Possible, but was death really the option at that time? She pursed her lips together and rubbed her forehead.

Balancing daily duties while preparing for the future—she needed to ensure that what had happened in the past time didn't happen to her future now. Included among them was making sure that Julius didn't betray her now and not only befriending Alice's allies. Should she ask? She hadn't really remembered asking this before, and there had been no need for it before.

The Queen of Hearts had been secure at that time and what had happened in the past usually didn't come to her mind at all, but perhaps this was one of the first steps she could do in understanding the man more. More importantly she could have some more peace of mind, "Gine…?"

"Yes, Your Majesty?" He hadn't moved at all from his spot. 

"Before you've been my Knight, where did you come from exactly? I've never really asked it in the past." She tilted her head and tried to keep her tone light. This kind of question truly didn't come across her mind before. As a little girl, she was too focused on having the boy's presence around to entertain her and it was never discussed—why would a Noble care about someone below her status?

Julius Ginellevé's brows furrowed together, "I do not remember, Your Majesty. I was brought in to the Lockhart House at a young age to become a Knight—I can only assume that my parents would have thought that was the best decision for my future."

"Oh, well that does make sense." Rosalyn Lockhart pursed her lips together. Noble Houses were able to take in young men and women who were willing to serve the House in exchange for a better life when compared to the simple commoner's life. A servant of a Noble House was more well-paid than other commoners to some extent.

And yet it meant that Julius' background during his youth didn't affect the development in her past time. If there had been any other more nuances to his life, then she might have been able to get something. If there was only one substantial thing that she might have known, it was probably this. The Queen of Hearts sighed and rubbed the back of her neck, "I will be returning to the Lockhart House in a month's time or so—will you be accompanying me?"

Julius Ginellevé blinked before nodding, "O-of course, Your Majesty." The man had tensed slightly, if naught but a moment.

It was the only thing that she knew—when she had gone to participate for the crown and position, the man was left with her family. It was easy to figure out that he was probably mistreated because of her sake. The thought of it still irked her for both parties, if the man had wished to leave at that time then Julius could have already done that, but he hadn't.

And the man kept up his front that time when they were reunited.

Rosalyn Lockhart sighed, "I had been very naive when I was younger." Her own dream of obsessing over the King of Hearts was more likely to be a memory of her own infatuations that led her to her own demise at that time. But that wasn't the only occasion of naivety, there were much more.

"Your Majesty—"

"Do not console me, I know it." She frowned and glared at her table filled with documents to be checked and signed. And among them was even the need to send a letter to Marmoreal, she could not go there without any permission despite being the Queen. Once again, she was reminded of things that she could not change. "...if the Card Trial hadn't happened, or if there had been no victor, perhaps that might have been the only time that I deserve to be called lucky or fortunate by others."

Being a Noble Lady was a little less troublesome than being a Queen.

"Rosalyn," Julius called her. But he ended up not continuing at all and there was once again another familiar look in his eyes. Perhaps he knew that he could offer no words to comfort her or that this was once again another new kind of complaint to be listened to.

And he wouldn't dare say that she could not change it.

The man at least knew when Rosalyn Lockhart simply wished to be heard. There was no need to offer solutions or sympathetic words that only vexed her—all he needed to do was listen and that was enough for her. "Gine, will you please get Mary Ann to prepare me a light snack while I work?"

"I do not feel comfortable leaving your side—"

"Have a passing servant deliver the orders to her then." Rosalyn Lockhart shook her head. "Do I have to think of every solution myself, Gine? I know you are worried about my safety but if I was able to save myself at that time, I can do it again." 

"Of course, I will be leaving." Bowing one last time, the Knight soon departed to get her snack.

She sighed in relief and rubbed her aching shoulders. There were times when she appreciated the man and times when she wished that he could stop his excessive concern towards her—an addition to her own inability to find the answers for him killing her in the past.

But in the span of things, did it really matter when she had probably lost her life countless times over? Perhaps she shouldn't be too concerned about it, but it was Gine who did it and so she was occupied with the desire for an answer. She truly was dispensed to follow her own desires, wasn't she?