Villainess Of Hearts

In a palace that glistened like crystals, a young girl ran across the hallways and into one of the available drawing rooms. Her posture and etiquette lessons were completely forgotten when she ran, she almost toppled herself over on her dress. She slammed the doors open to find a handsome man seated on one of the available couches, clad in a traveller's cloak and with a basket beside him—the man looked like they had simply come out from a picnic.

"Mister Rosswall! You've visited again~" A young Lady squealed and eagerly plopped down on the floor, uncaring of the wrinkles that it caused to her gown. Her eyes twinkled when she gazed up at the man.

The man tugged down his hood and managed a small grin, "Ah, and it's you again… little princess was it?"

"I'm a Lady." She corrected him with a small frown. "Lady Rosalyn of the Lockhart House. Are you that forgetful?"

A sheepish smile crossed on his lips, "Of course, but you've always wanted to be a princess haven't you?" He rubbed his chin and gazed at her with a thoughtful expression. "Is that possible when your brother…" He cut himself and shook his head, "Your parents are gone again, aren't they? Right before I arrived, I think I saw a carriage head out."

Little Rosalyn gave a serious nod, "Yes. They're gone—are you waiting for them again, Mister Rosswall?"

"Indeed." He nodded back and relaxed back on the sofa. "I keep visiting, but it seems that they conveniently always go missing. What silly parents you have, I even come here unannounced but they still manage to get away." The man smiled. "Almost pathetic."

"Huh?" She raised a brow at him, unable to hear the last words mumbled from his lips. A small pout crossing her lips, she rested her chubby cheeks on her hands. "That sounds like Hide and Seek. I was playing that with Gine earlier—oh no, I left him." Her ruby eyes widened as she glanced behind her.

Although she really didn't make a move either.

The man rubbed the back of his neck, "Ah, that's one way to look at it—I'm not a very good Seeker then." He sighed, "I'm sure I'll catch them another time, but for now, this little princess will be the one hosting me, are you not?"

"Yes, I can host you! I think big brother is too busy."

"Well, I did bring a little something for you," A mischievous grin curled up on his face, "You'll keep it a secret again, won't you?"

"I swear it upon my name!" A fervent nod was her reply.

He chuckled. "That's too much, but here you go." He lifted the lid of the basket and reached into it. 

The sound of footsteps came tumbling right across the hallway. "Lady Rosalyn—"

A boy ended up right by the door, the young boy originally asked to play with the Lady was forgotten at the arrival of the Traveller that came. His amethyst eyes narrowed slightly at the man seated down on the couch and the sight of a pudgy little Lady gorging on tarts.

"Oh, isn't it the little Prince?"

. . .

He smiled, "I didn't exactly say when I'll leave, did I?"

The Queen of Hearts eyed the Joker in front of him and held back a sigh. "We are more than honoured to host you until the day you wish to leave, esteemed guest. The Hearts Kingdom are given the privilege to accommodate the Joker? What highest recognition could we even ask for?" 

If it weren't for the fact that this man was the one she had fondly remembered when she was younger—well, she would have ordered the guards to throw them out regardless of their position.

Even if she didn't like the Clover Kingdom, they at least had a reason for their stay.

But is the Joker still observing the King of Hearts and Queen of Clovers?

"You should lay off the sugar, Your Majesty of Hearts." The Joker covered his mouth with a hand, chuckling. "Even your words are laced in sweetness, even I can tell when someone's being excessively sugary."

Patience was a virtue.

… It wasn't exactly a virtue that the Queen of Hearts was known for. Alexander Hartsmichdt expected her to burst and explode, order her conveniently dining Knight to swoop down and cut the Joker's head off. But she didn't, and she even laughed. The King of Hearts truly felt like he had missed the humor in the words and even if he thought about it, it wasn't even funny to him.

Did he not have a funny bone in his body?

He inwardly sighed but hearing the Queen of Hearts laugh—a genuine one, not the evil cackles she sometimes gave, it was a strange experience. Truly a surreal one. He gazed slightly to the right and saw her relaxed expression… a look that he thought he would never actually live to see. He had honestly expected her to stay mad all throughout a month.

An outburst like that would have been normal.

She had claimed the Hatter as a friend of hers. Someone he could faintly remember angered her so much that she had the soldiers chase him out of the Castle. There really were a lot of unexpected changes that had happened to her and it was not out of his doing—he wasn't even involved in it at all.

Julius Ginellevé sipped his wine. 

"But ah, everyone here is honestly so quiet…" The Joker sighed and straightened up in his seat. "Is it because there's no desserts? What was the proper term to do to beat this silence… an ice breaker. Breaking the ice, because the atmosphere is indeed terribly cold."

… this person, someone who had antagonized the Lockhart House before. He was the only person capable of scaring the Noble House, the Knight could remember it clearly. And now it made complete sense on why they were afraid—the person being who they exactly were. Ginellevé had ignored his words before but now…. he might have always figured it out on his own without them.

"How about we start with our Prime Minister first—why not say something interesting about yourself?" The Joker asked.

Blyke Edelweiss who had thought he would get a quiet dinner bolted up from his chair, "M-Me?" The eyes of the Royals fell on him and he bit back a gulp. What time was it already? Shouldn't dinner be already over by now. "...I'm not really that interesting. Well, I do have a fondness for chess—"

"Boring." The Joker yawned. 

He literally yawned and eyed them with a look.

Blyke Edelweiss's lips curled into a frown, he placed his fork down. He has had it with all the people looking down on him, he was frightened of the Queen, terrified of the Knight and now this Joker was going to act like this? Even he had some trouble with the King in the earlier years. He rubbed his face. He was done with being treated like a lesser man in this place. "Did you want to hear about something interesting about me? I can see another world."

...a silence emanated from within the dining hall.

And it was what he expected.

The Queen of Clover dropped a glass—and it shattered on the floor. The Queen of Hearts glanced at him, stared at him with uncertainty. Everybody did. Did they even believe him? The King of Clovers narrowed his eyes at him. He was going to get retired from his position, wasn't he?

A small round of applause in the room.

"My, my—isn't that interesting indeed, Mister Edelweiss is it?" The Joker wiped the corner of his eye, a fake tear in his eyes. "The ability to see another world… wouldn't it have been more interesting if you could travel to another world? Alright, who's next—ah, Queen of Hearts. Do you have anything interesting to say? Magic from your bloodline? A secret gift. Do tell us, I need to catch up with you."

"...the blood is too thinned now." Rosalyn Lockhart frowned. She glanced at the Prime Minister, at the reactions of the people within the dining hall and then back to the Joker. Calling it magic? She had heard of it when it was younger, stories of old… "In this time and age, magic has dwindled—you must still be living in the past, Joker."

The Queen of Hearts managed a tight-lipped smile.

And yet what could she have called the Time Man's ability to turn back time? Wasn't that magic? Something greater? Chesire's capacity to appear whenever he wished—wasn't that a phenomena akin to miracles?

She had never considered it before, but her parents had kept her in the dark far too much.

Rosalyn Lockhart only believed them as fairy tales.

And looked at where that brought her?

Mister Rosswall sighed and motioned to her right, "The very Prime Minister beside you has a gift, the Diamond Kingdom mines crystals filled with magic—I don't see how you say it's dwindled. Less used? Perhaps. Untrained? Maybe. But isn't this what the Clovers Kingdom pride themselves in…? Luck. Magic. A rose by any other name is just as sweet—did I use that correctly, Alexander?"

"I think that's enough conversation for one evening." The King of Hearts said. "I doubt that anyone is famished at this point, I'm almost afraid that the Joker cannot hold his own alcohol, the same goes with the Prime Minister."

"I was drinking carrot—"

Alexander Hartsmichdt sighed and clapped his hands, "Too much intoxication, how terrible.. Let the servants clear up the dishes, we can't stay up too late." He pulled up to his feet and extended a hand to the Queen of Hearts, "Would you like to go on a walk with me, Your Majesty?"