Villainess Of Hearts

"...but you favor the man, do you not? And that could make all the difference."

The Queen of Hearts was prepared to hear him apologize and accept that he was to blame for all of his incompetence—she wasn't ready for these words of his. Rosalyn Lockhart blinked, her lips stammered but nothing came out.

...She was at loss for words.

It took her a second before she recovered, the man was accusing her of something. Well, she refused to listen and instead narrowed her eyes at him, "It is true that I… have come to see him as a friend, but even so, I am aware of my position. I would not simply accept something that could be used against me."

"I assumed you had taken on another lover, Your Majesty." He looked at her with a small frown. 

He didn't sound apologetic at all.

Another? Rosalyn Lockhart tightened her hand against the edges of her gown. She fought back the urge to huff. So he knew about her Knight? Well, it was naive to think that he wouldn't know—but even so, she never expected him to pay more attention than what was necessary.

He wasn't like this in the last time, so what had changed? She still treated him the same way. Regardless, she refused to give him what he wanted. She smiled thinly, "Whatever I do is none of your business, Your Majesty."

He could go to his friend if he wanted to, she never made a noise about that, hadn't she?

"It's my business because it affects our Kingdom, as you said everything little things that we do are looked at by others."

"Oh, you are learning, Your Majesty?" Rosalyn fought back the urge to chuckle. "I assure you that nothing I do will do anything that will harm our Kingdom. All I did was visit a man who you put in prison for absolutely no reason. Honestly, compare it to your actions, mine have been nothing atrocious."

"Atrocious? Are you kidding me?" The King of Hearts gave her a look, "You strike fear into the hearts of everyone in the Castle, I have to rescind all of the orders of beheading that you did in the past years!"

She pursed her lips, that might have been a good one. She'd have to give that but, she wouldn't back down. The Queen of Hearts crossed her arms over her chest, "There's nothing wrong with instilling fear, besides, does the King truly think that one can run a Kingdom without tainting one's hands?" The thought of it made her smile. "It's a ludicrous idea, you have not a single clue—"

"Alright, let's stop with that." He averted his gaze, he mulled over for a second and once again looked at her. "Would you say the same thing for the King of Spades? That there's nothing wrong with…it?"

Rosalyn scrunched up her face, "Why are you bringing him up? You're the one who put him in Trial, not me—shouldn't you be the one ashamed of that?"

"I only did it because of the dagger and I assumed that—so what do you…" The King of Hearts trailed off and shook his head. A tired smile formed on his face, he weakly waved a hand at her. "Forget what I just said. I did not go there to accuse you or your friend, it was to check if you were safe and I overreacted as always."

She pursed her lips. Is this his way of changing the subject? The Queen of Hearts did not know if she were to trust him over this matter, but even so, she wasn't simply going to brush this over. He had caused her a lot of trouble and she wouldn't let him get away with it. "Is that so, Your Majesty? Then it seems like I owe you a word of gratitude—for the King of Hearts recklessly leaving the Castle to go after his Queen without even a single Soldier or piece of armor on your person."

"Alright, that was stupid, but I… the Joker said something and I got...uncomposed." He rubbed his face.

She raised a brow, she clicked her tongue. "What did he even say?" So it was about Mister Rosswall again? Still, the King didn't have to react this way, it was still too much. "And how were mere words able to disrupt you that much?" The man should be aware of the Joker's nature, he had spent time with the man during the Card Trial and yet he was still shaken up? 

It was a ridiculous notion.

"He gave us a prophecy." Alexander replied.

She stared at him, a frown curling down her lips. Did he think that was enough to change things? The Queen considered his words. "A prophecy… a prophetic gift, is the ability to foretell things that will occur in the future, is it not?" 

"That's correct. Prophet, Oracle? Diviner? Not sure what you call—I'm not sure how prominent it is nowadays, I haven't been able to see much writings in the library concerning this—"

His voice faded slightly as she focused on the revelation. The Joker's position, she thought it was only by name. Or that it was only given to him because of him living for a long time. But if his ability to speak of what was to come and for people to treat it like actual events happening… was it truly his power? What if it was related to Time? The Time Man had been able to send her back in the past, so surely he had the ability to know what would happen in what was to come?

Rosalyn had never considered it before.

"Magic, it's quite uncommon but does it even classify under that? I tried to look for—"

Still, if there was something that she took note of in the King's words, it wasn't all of his ruminations but instead these words of his: 'Didn't see much in the library?' 

Rosalyn looked at the man wildly gesturing around with his hands. He acted as if some kind of lecturer or scholar. Had he actually spent that much time in the library? She tried to focus back on his words again. It was a little… well, she didn't think he would study what was more than necessary. Or perhaps he preferred this over etiquette and history lessons.

"...But what he says, shall surely come to pass." He finished without missing a beat.

Had he even noticed that she wasn't paying attention?

The King who often looked disgruntled with the Joker placed the man's words above all. It was fitting, but she didn't know what to believe. "Really?"

"Yes, really."

Sometimes, her conversation with the King ebbed into something like this. The Queen of Hearts raised her head to the ceiling and sighed inwardly. She focused on something else. Previous conversations she could still recall played in the back of her mind. If the Joker truly had a gift then did the Joker see that she would marry a golden haired prince?

But it wasn't him who said that—it was her right?

And yet he simply smiled at that time and agreed.

Did this prophecy skill enable him to see the future completely? No. She doubted that. And yet how much of the things that happened to her were actually foretold? And how many of those that happened to her was the Joker making things actually come true as he said it?

If he knew what could happen, then he could influence it for his benefit.

It was exactly as she was doing right now, having seen what had happened to her before—trying to change what she did to differ the outcome. Yes, that was she could surmise. If the Joker was all-knowing then he wouldn't have bothered with administering the Trial with the King of Spades a week ago, he wouldn't miss the chance to proclaim a verdict. 

The Joker was able to identify some parts, but he didn't have the whole picture.

And yet who was she to believe him?

She looked at the King and crossed her arms over her chest, "What he foretold truly occurred to you and your friends? Are you sure that he is not simply mocking you? Proclaiming one thing and then you look back and think that he was right?" 

Who was to even say that the Joker was telling the truth? The man could have been lying all this time and the King and the other people had truly made it a self-fulfilling prophecy. She could say that one man would die tomorrow and make the events so if she wanted to.

Alexander Hartsmichdt grimaced, "It happened before, multiple times really, during the Card Trial." He folded his hands together, "And, whether we tried to prevent it from happening, it still did."

She didn't think that was the case, but the King believed it entirely. "I see, and that was what has made you worry?" The Queen didn't need to go back and forth with him over this matter—Rosalyn realized she had gotten carried away with this incident.

Was she neglecting her duties in lieu of listening to him ramble?

There were other people who could listen—

"A Kingdom shall fall and there is a traitor within our midst, it's hard not to worry about the people that came recently. What if the traitor, well, he said that the person was already in our midst and what if they were the ones who tried to assassinate you?"

She sighed, "The Lord Warth Duke is the one presiding over the case, is he not?"

"Is he to be trusted?"

The Queen of Hearts eyed the man. "Your paranoia is bubbling up again, Your Majesty. Please get a hold of yourself." She didn't think that she would ever hear those words come out of her lips, but she did it. She said it to someone else instead of receiving it herself.

The time has truly changed to some extent.