Villainess Of Hearts

The Queen of Hearts knew that the Mad Hatter was busy—preparing hats for the Kingdom of Clover, thus it was with this intention that she decided to have tea with his two friends instead. They would end up as friends of Alice in the future, not as close with her as Nicholas, but it made sense that she needed to befriend them as well.

Bits and pieces, she started to unravel the picture on her own.

Rosalyn Lockhart had no complete memory of the past, but those information that she knew, those that she could recall, she used them to the best of her capacity. And it was for this reason that the Queen of Hearts made time to clear out her schedule and entertain them, even if she had to do it with Blyke Edelweiss beside her.

However, she had a notion that this man reported her doings to the King so it was best that he was here now in order for him to not have any wrong interpretations about her desires to meet up with the man's third cousin and what she could assume to be his partner. Rosalyn Lockhart had not much experience with love in of itself, but she could at least tell that Mallory and Harold shared a bond that might be similar to her and Gine. 

Speaking of which, she had managed to ask the Knight to deliver the current batch of tarts and tea that he got from Mary Ann before they parted ways here and was only awaiting the ones that she requested the servant after her conversation with the Prime Minister. For now her Knight stood by the pillars of the architecture. His gaze would guard her from anything.

But what was left now was—

"Y-Your Majesty!" Two men and one woman walked into the canopy of the gazebo. Two who looked quite similar to each other, Blyke Edelweiss and Harold along with Mallory, were accompanied by soldiers as escorts. 

A smile curled on her lips, "Ah, the two of you've come. Welcome."

Rosalyn Lockhart made no move to stand up or curtsy, but she inclined her head in greeting. She watched the Prime Minister take a seat along with the other two, Harold bumbling about as Mallory took a seat from across her. "Greetings to you y'er Majesty, is there a reason why you summoned us?"

The woman was straight to the point.

And yet that wasn't what Rosalyn Lockhart was going for in this moment. She nodded her head to the Prime Minister and he spoke up, "I've asked the Queen to join us for tea, although I was the one who invited you two. I felt the need to get in touch with my…" Blyke Edelweiss scrunched up his nose, looking at Harold. "Er, beloved relative that happened to be within a small distance only. Isn't that right, Harry?"

The man sniffed.

"His name is Harold." Mallory eyed the Prime Minister with a funny look and then back at the Queen. 

"The Prime Minister is quite a feeble-minded man." The Queen of Hearts couldn't help but sigh. If even a commoner could see past this ruse, then what was the use?

Blyke Edelweiss coughed but went along with it.

Rosalyn Lockhart knew that she couldn't summon them akin to the way that her Knight had brought the Hatter in—she still didn't even know how he did it, but regardless, she needed to do this within proper channels. Now that she knew that Harold was related to the Prime Minister, elevating the man's status to perhaps something around a Sir would be alright?

The Queen of Hearts could show no favor to no one, the King of Hearts was already known to get along with the commoners and she remained as the only who kept proper relationships with the other Nobility. She would like to think of herself as the glue that kept the country running together, with the King being her face. He was accepted and admired by the Nobles, but even they still held opinions about the Card Trial's verdict.

But she did not focus on that, Rosalyn Lockhart had other agendas.

If need be, she would elevate Harold and Mallory's status to make them presentable people in her high society. 

And once they were, it would be easy to invite them to events and even request them in her own name. Not only that, they could even bring along the Hatter… she wasn't sure how far the man could go along with being an entertainer. But this was what she had in mind to ensure her position would remain unharmed. 

So far, the events between Nobility and Royalty were little but the social season would be coming up soon, and she already knew that a strong Noble could overturn a Kingdom if they wished to.

It had already happened before.

And so preparations were a must. 

Her enmity not only lay with Alice in the future, not only with other Kingdoms that might have pushed their influence too hard during the Gathering of Suits but even those within her own Kingdom. 

It was always necessary to prune the rose bushes of thorns.

She eyed Blyke Edelweiss, there would be no more need for any middle man in the future. But for now she managed a smile, "How are the two of you faring?" Rosalyn Lockhart might have managed to get along well with other Nobles, but it was still a strange thing to be interacting with people like them.

"We're doing alright, Y'er Majesty." Mallory answered as Harold nodded along.

Now would have been the time that the woman would return the question back to her, or perhaps a Lady would have given a more superfluous answer. It was always within parameters for a Noble to talk about their estate, partner and even health when asked on how they were faring—but the short answer, and the lack of reciprocating the question left the Queen of Hearts at a stupor. 

What else was she supposed to say to that?

Rosalyn Lockhart coughed lightly, she would not be deterred by this situation. "I see, that is well to hear. How goes your business, Miss Mallory?"

"It's fine, Y'er Majesty."

She couldn't tell if this was intentional or not. The smaller and feisty woman said it without missing a beat. Rosalyn Lockhart fought the urge to frown and kept the smile on her face, "That is fortunate to hear about then. I presume the same goes with Mister Harold, you've been a little too quiet." She would have never done this for others, but she picked up the tea pot, "Would you like some tea?"

Harold froze before nodding, almost uncertain. "T-Thank you, Your Majesty."

He held out his cup.

Men were another story, they often came in two flavors. One would be silent as a ghost, more than willing for their spouse or partner to do all the talking like what Lord Warth Duke had with Lady Catherine Duke. But there were also those who talked a lot, shared a lot like His Majesty Francis le Diamant before.

Harold seemed to fall more on the former.

She began to pour him some tea.

Mallory sighed and clasped her hands together, "Did you summon us to talk about Nicholas, Y'er Majesty?"

"H-Hot!" Harold yelped.

Rosalyn Lockhart realized a second late that his drink had overflowed.