Villainess Of Hearts

There was a limited amount of time until she could have time to search for Alice's other companions—she could vaguely recall who they were and she was sure she could identify them once she saw them but other than that, she was at a loss. Although her situation with Alice's closest ally Nicholas was also something she needed to pay attention to as well.

But somehow, she gave him time.

Almost similar to how the King of Hearts made no move to have her at the dining hall.

Indeed, for the recent days that happened after the King and Queen of Clovers left—she had only seen her Knight and Mary Ann most often. Chesire had surely returned by now with Catherine Duke. She had left him milk and fish but he did not appear. And so there was no one else she could turn to for now.

Until the door swung open—

Mary Ann and the Queen of Hearts raised their head in surprise. And it was the Joker who appeared.

"...oh, you're still here?"

"Where would I be—you sound awfully disappointed, Your Majesty." The Joker, Mister Rosswall chuckled and he glanced around the room. "Where is your pretend Knight?"

The Queen clicked her tongue, "I do not appreciate that title—Gine is now an actual Knight. We only...had used that make-believe title when we were still children." She shook her head and then pulled up to her feet. "What can I do for you, Joker?"

Even if she forgot her manners, it did not change the fact that the man's position was the only one higher than hers. She did not like to count the King as higher-ranked, equal perhaps, but never higher.

He shrugged, "I am honestly bored, and ooh, are those the tarts that your handmaiden has made?" The man stepped forwards, somewhat distracted with the remainder of the tarts in her plate.

She gave him a look but motioned for Mary Ann to offer the dish.

Albeit standing with shaky-knees, the young woman did a great job at not buckling down when the Joker finally arrived in front of her. He took one piece and then bit into the pastry, a thoughtful expression forming on his face. "Huh, this is the tart that you've been bragging about to Time?"

His words were enough to trigger the memory.

Her cheeks heated up but she refused to look away, instead, she shot the man a look. What was he blabbering about now with Mary Ann in their presence? Something like this wasn't supposed to be—

"Father Time?" Mary Ann tilted her head.

Rosalyn Lockhart blinked.

It was a strange word to refer to the man and yet she couldn't find herself agreeing with the statement—even if she hadn't exactly seen what had been beneath his cloak.

However, someone had a reaction opposite of hers.

And it was the Joker.

The Joker lowered the tart in his hand and eyed the girl, somehow he seemed to have truly pondered over the girl's words. "I doubt it fits with what you have in mind—but someone once told me that a devilishly attractive man is called a daddy. A funny thing is it not?" An amused smile crossed on his lips, "I forgot from whom I had heard it from."

She knotted her brows together and she was in no doubt that Mary Ann was also confused. But the young woman only nodded. That might have been the only appropriate response to someone of a higher position. 

As for her, she did not know what to feel.

Her patience wasn't exactly being tested—being more confused than annoyed. But she still wondered why the man had come here, surely it wasn't for simply the tarts wasn't it? Or did he simply come here to remind her of her childish years?

"That is a certainly interesting anecdote, Joker." She replied with a raised brow. "Would you like to have a seat and join us for tea?"

He mirrored her with a raised brow of his own and scoffed, "It's almost quite close to dinner time, young Queen. It's quite atrocious to have dessert before dinner but I came here to see to it that you have dinner with the King and me. I think I've grown bored with His Majesty—having you around would complete the set. Even better to have your so-called Knight with you… oh wait, would you like to join us for dinner, Miss?"

Rosalyn Lockhart was willing to agree even with the man's whims… but having a servant dine with the King and Queen?

"I-I don't think it is appropriate, Sir Joker." 

"So you say but here I see you having tea with the Queen."

She gritted her teeth, "That is because I had invited her."

"Well, this time I'm the one inviting your servant to dinner—surely it is written down in some old historical book. Alas if you were only actually taught properly by your tutor that the Joker can bring a guest instead of other senseless things."

The Queen of Hearts narrowed her eyes at him. 

"What I say is true, would you like to wish to head to the library this very hour?" He smiled and tilted his head. This time he sounded a little patronizing, even a bit arrogant, the Joker motioning with the half-bitten tart in his hand. "I assure you that everything checks out. Perhaps if you read more of the front pages of your family's heirloom book then you would have also learned of it."

...And that was enough to make her pause.

How did he know that? Rosalyn Lockhart's brows furrowed together and she stared at him askance. Her brother didn't even—

A mischievous smile curled on his lips. Something that would have fitted a certain cat's grin but the Joker also drew upon it well. He might have flipped his hair as he lectured. "I was one of the people who wrote in it and ensured that each Noble and Royal had a copy like that. Alas most grew too complacent and burned the books. Some would survive the fire and yet others would find more use for it. It's an important copy and only those of the blood of the original inheritor can possess and open it."

There was no time to think about the presence of Mary Ann.

She frowned at the Joker, "I have read every single page in it—"

"Have you really?"

"Nearly almost every page of it!" She answered back. She frowned and made a move to her drawer. She would have to admit that she hadn't paid attention to every family tree line in the page but only those of remarkable stature… and despite the Joker's remarks, some of the pages had grown faint. 

Some families seemed to have been blotted out.

Family and bloodline that had become extinct, the very last of their Houses going down. Her fingers grew cold as she plucked out the book and hoped to ignore the presence of Mary Ann. Until she sighed and gave the woman a look, "It would be appreciated if you leave now and do not speak a word of what has happened—I have no wish to have you beheaded, but if you speak then your tongue would do."

Mary Ann fled after that.

She didn't even try to sound menacing because the Queen of Hearts was exhausted but there had been not much of a need to put up a fiery demeanor. A soft tsk escaped the lips of the Joker, and that was something she ignored.

"I would have thought that you grew a little nicer."

"I am only kind when I feel that is necessary or I find myself favoring them—but it does not mean I would turn a blind eye if they betray me once." She studied the man's face.

There was no hint of shame in it.

Perhaps Mister Rosswall the Traveller Bard and the man in front of her today were completely different people? She placed the black book on her desk and opened it through the jewel—she could feel the gaze of the Joker on her. "How did you figure out that I had this? Through some sort of spell or magical ability?" 

"Oh, it was only a guess~"

The Queen of Hearts froze in her place, barely leafing over the page as she looked at him again.

"I had wondered if your parents had burned it, but it is in perfect and in a well-kept shape. They truly value heirlooms and other items of the past that remind them of their prestige."

Rosalyn Lockhart said nothing.

Perhaps the phrase; 'absence made the heart grow fonder' did not apply to this man—she could almost hardly recall what had made him a beloved part of her childhood. Surely, she had only been blinded by gluttony back then as a child? The man in front of her had a penchant for getting on people's nerves.

Although he was telling the truth about her parents.

If not in an irritating manner.

Did he find enjoyment in needling with other's tempers? She wished she had seen it sooner.

"The hidden page on the 24th and the 25th," He said.

"What?"

"You'll see it in between the long and winded historical if not slightly aggrandize account of the Kingdom of the Four Suits—there is a way to show more information about the proper way of me. Finalized codes and rules in dealing with me in my position and the perks I have."

"Why is it hidden?"

"Your ancestors would have never agreed to sign a contract if they saw it?"

She stared at him.

"I once again recall another saying, it is said that one must read everything in the fine print."