Villainess Of Hearts

"No."

The Queen of Hearts received one of the first few refusals she had ever gotten in her entire life—the woman's lips parted open and she stared at him. "What?" Had she heard him correctly?

A flat out refusal and simply that…?

"Your request is denied, Your Majesty." His voice was flat and unwilling, and this time, his blue eyes stared at her with a touch of annoyance. Even parted by the table's distance between them, she could feel the irritation in his tone. "I cannot let another person bypass the rules and order of time, if I do it then—I will not do it again. That is final. You must recall our previous meeting where I promise to have non-interference with your world."

Rosalyn Lockhart's lips curled down into a frown, "And yet you've—!"

"There are exceptions, but not this." he shook his head. "This cannot be done, it's far too many people."

"But we'll just be two—"

"No." he sighed and looked at her once more. This time his voice was more quiet, but still held the same amount of authority in them. "Even if I were to do it and allow the Knight of yours to see what has happened before, would it really change anything?"

"Of course it would! I wouldn't be alone anymore!"

A soft mumble escaped from him, words that she didn't quite catch before he said. "What are the chances that the two of you shall have the same goals and not have a conflict between the two of you?"

She balled both of her fist and sat up, and the frown deepened on her face. He was being ridiculous right now with his suggestion. "Of course we would have the same goals, he is my Knight. He would follow me."

And yet there was a pang in her chest as she said it. She still didn't understand her Knight's most recent action, but it was more borne out of grief than it actually relating to her for sure—albeit it was possibly intertwined with one another… and yet her belief was still the same. Her Knight would not do anything that would directly harm her, perhaps by accident, but that was minor.

The Time Man let out a long sigh. His gaze was unflinching as he stared at her. It was as if he scrutinized every detail on her face, and then he shook his head. As if he was disappointed with what he had seen.

Even that particular action was enough to make her heart pound.

There was a smile in his voice as he said, "And here I thought that you have changed, but of course there would be things that would always be retained. There is a familiar saying that old habits do die hard, and if one's actions are difficult to change then how much more would one's way of thinking? Even a lack of complete memories shows your nature."

His words were…

Such statements would not affect her, they were all simply said to make her uneasy. She eyed him back and placed both of her hands on the table. She barely stopped herself from standing up to tower over him. "Forgive me, but I do not think that you are the governor of morality or anything close to it. As a matter of fact, you do not know who my Knight is compared to how I know him. I do not know him fully, that much is true, but I have known him my entire—"

"And yet time offers one a multitude of experience," he said with a simple tone. The man took a sip of his teacup, "A person learns through the events that happen in one's life. A child learns not to play with fire once they are burned by a flame, the scorch and the pain teach them not to repeat it. Perhaps you believe you know him more than I—but we've talked more with one another than the two of you ever did."

"What?"

"We've talked countless times—but even I for one cannot say that I truly know you inside out. Even now you surprise me, Your Majesty. Perhaps I am familiar with you, but how you would act and even how this story would end? I cannot tell how it would all play out. I may try to stir things slightly in ways that might be more beneficial to you, but even then—it is you who will take you to your ending, not me."

She stared at the man before her unsurely, then tried to comprehend his statements.

Revelations hidden with them.

And yet he would speak again, somehow being a conversationalist at this moment. "Although we will still meet each other again," he said. "But all I can simply hope is that when we meet again, it would be when you have lived a long and satisfying life where you no longer regret anything. That is all I would—rather, it is what you have desired for yourself and what I have agreed to help you with."

"You are not making sense!" she said. He refused to listen to her request, but wished for her to live a long and satisfying life? He was too confusing or rather inconsistent with his choices. She heard his words but...

He tilted his head at her, blue eyes sparkling in the moment. There was a touch of amusement in them, "You'll understand it in the end—but perhaps not. Although I had assumed that the Red Queen of Hearts would be much more understanding of what I am trying to say."

"And now you mock me?"

"No?"

She raised a hand to her forehead and rubbed it, "I have come here to ask for your assistance—because one way or another, you have made it a decision to help me for a reason that I cannot remember. However, when I come here with a solution to my problem, you refuse to do it because it is not allowed. My mere presence here is already not allowed from what I gather. How much more terrible would it be to add another person here if you've already done it for me?"

"A terrible one."

"... see?" she pouted at him. "I have made my point, but you insist I am wrong."

"It's simply because you are insistent that you are correct."

She stared into his eyes with another resigned look. The Queen of Hearts didn't think that she would end up in this situation where she would go back and forth with another individual—a battle of the wills essentially. She wished for her request to be granted. Or rather, she would demand it, even if it seemed to be a losing battle on her part.

He also seemed to have an iron will.

Rosalyn Lockhart crossed her arms over her chest, "And I would say the same for you—surely, you should know how it ends. Humor me and tell me if I'll ever have a good life as you wish that I have or will we be stuck in this senseless loop of me wishing to avenge myself and come fruitless?"

"..."

"Now what is that silence for?" she frowned.

"What is to come—it's not something that's meant to be discussed. If I tell you yes, then the future where I envisioned you having a good life will be changed because I told you. Surely you understand my refusal to speak?"

"... then did you just sentence me to a terrible life for explaining this in particular?" Rosalyn Lockhart raised a fork at him. She narrowed her eyes at him. "I won't forgive you if you just did. I can't hardly remember anything of what happened before, but I'll be sick if we go through this one more time—I'm doing excellent this time around."

Except in regards to her Knight.

… and possibly with the Hatter, too. She winced and lowered her fork, now considering if her words were actually true. It wasn't actually that well if she were to gauge things as an impartial observer.

"I assure you I did not do such a thing." he said. A soft sound escaped through what seemed to be his nose, a nasal sound that sounded like him stifling a laugh.

She huffed at the reaction and averted her gaze, "Good."

The man truly thought himself above her situation, didn't he? Her interaction with him was nothing more but a similar instance than how she communicated with the Joker now. And yet…

"Your Majesty, your face is a little red—I did not think that the temperature here would make you grow hot."

"Of course not!"

Comparing the two of them was not good. She already had made a mistake before when she was a child of being enthralled with Mister Rosswall when she was much younger, but where had that led her? Her shoulders stiffened slightly as she released a sigh. A memory swept through her head.

"But I believe I shall no longer waste anymore breath here with you—unless there is any smallest chance that I could change your mind?" she looked up at him hopefully. "Anything of value that I can give—the Joker once said that he'd bring your tarts here, and that means they can bring physical objects. I'll have him bring you something of worth if you agree."

"Unfortunately not, I will consider nothing." he sighed. "... Nothing at all."

She frowned at him and then looked down. A terrible sensation finally poured itself into her chest—a failing. Rosalyn had indeed decided to do more than just rewind time for her Knight's sake, it had been much more for her sake at success for the future… but it didn't mean that she was still looking forward to going back into the castle to see his state in bed.

It would still make her upset.

"Send me back, please."