Villainess Of Hearts

The Queen of Hearts chambers were—well, Blake Landrigan had already said it wasn't his room of choice for a meeting with Her Majesty. But where else would he get the chance for solitude and enough time for a chance to tell her the truth.

And yes, it was the entire truth that he wanted to speak.

The Chesire sat at one of the sofas much to the derision of the Informant, but he did not care about a cat that paid no alliances or neutrality any real heed. And yet to some extent, he still owed them for bringing him here.

Now all that was left to do was wait.

Hope that the Knight wouldn't come and kill him immediately—he was still kind of antsy. While also wishing that the King of Spades and the rest had forgotten he was supposed to be in his room. Most likely they did forget.

And that was fine.

But what he didn't expect to see was someone right outside the windows to Her Majesty of Heart's chambers. His entire heart might have leapt out of his chest, until he looked at the ridiculous looking man and the way that the Cat, Chesire approached the glass windows with a bit of scorn.

"Tsk, tsk there are now too many rats running about here."

Blake Landrigan rolled his eyes, but then tried to assess who the visitor was. If they were important then the Queen of Hearts would have mentioned and told him to keep tabs on this person, as they were not—he only watched the hatted man knock on the window.

"Fine!" Chesire growled and let the man inside like he had done so with Blake.

It appeared to him that there was too much going on in the Castle that he, himself—a renown Informant had failed to understand due to his long absence, no, to the mere fact that he had never met the Queen in person before except now.

Who were these men that seemed to have contented themselves to come here without any hint of respect to the Queen's private place. 

"Chesire… I did not know you had friends." Nicholas Hatter held a more serious tone as he eyed the Cat. The man did not know if the man held any memory about the previous time—well, it appeared not because he still had been able to carefreely approach Alice, unlike himself.

Blake Landrigan cleared his throat and offered a hand. "This is only a temporary alliance, at least I've managed to convince the cat that it is for the good of everyone that the King and Queen remain in power."

The Informant wanted to bite his tongue—this guy exuded an aura that almost wanted him to spill the entire amount of information he had been holding in for too long. And yet who were they?

Nicholas Hatter tipped his hat. "I am… someone who the Queen is indebted to."

Blake Landrigan stared for a good second.

Indebted?

What a joke—and yet the Chesire made no acknowledgement that it was so, and yet the Informant did not like the tone of the man. "If the Queen is indebted to you, then she would have already paid you by a great amount to cover the cost. Allowed you to inherit a piece of land and even become a small, humble Lord if that was the case. Then she would have not been indebted to you."

"I was not aware that there's someone who seems to know the Queen of Hearts by that much." Nicholas said, a touch wary but also resigned. The reason he had once again bypassed a great number of Guards and people by using the very entrance that Gine taught him was insane, but more or less…

He didn't know why he was here.

Nicholas didn't like the fact that there were two other men as well currently present in the Queen of Heart's room. It was kind of stupid that he went here, but there were other people in the Queen's waiting room and Nicholas swore that the Knight had seen him once before he could escape.

If that was true.

Then it meant that the man was searching right now for him to kill for trespassing once again.

And yet if it meant that this suspicious green-haired man also got arrested, murdered—then all the better. Maybe Nicholas Hatter would still survive and outrun the Knight. Yes, he had outlived almost everyone he knew at this point.

Blake Landrigan, unaware of the man's thoughts, took the comment as a compliment and raised his head. "I may have spoken with the Queen through correspondence."

Nicholas Hatter frowned. Letters? Did that mean that the Queen of Hearts had lied when she once told him that he was her first friend? Did she actually say that though or was he mixing things up now?

Before he could utter a reply, the door swung open.

.

.

.

Lightning and thunder crackled in the night sky at the exact same time that the ceremonial mallet struck the block of wood. The hammer thumped loudly and echoed against the already quiet and anxious hall already distressed by being summoned forth to this meeting.

No, to this trial.

Thwack.

The gavel struck one, struck two and then three. Each one loudly pierced their surroundings and called forth for attention. It was akin to the sound of an axe executing the wolf, of the time when the clock struck midnight, the girl drank the poison—and many more others.

Heavy rainfall that showered added to the mood of solemnity.

Everyone was antsy, especially those of the Noble Houses, the ones more likely to afford the chance to instigate an attack like this, unlike that of the lower class present in the room. There were very few instances where the Kingdom of Hearts rained so heavily that the entire sky cast a dome of dark clouds and poured out their rage and bothered the Queen of Hearts so much.

But this was it.

She had been dreading this event, but the clock had finally struck six in the evening and the Joker—Judge and possible Executioner could not wait any longer. 

Had been looking forward to this event.

The man's eyes gleamed with obvious chaos and glee.

For anybody else, a shudder went down their spines… but the Queen only steadied her nerves and ground her teeth. They were not in the throne room,but in the exact same place where the King of Spades was once persecuted to have attempted to kill her.

The man was seated beside her, and she wondered what went through his mind.

Alexander was not yet around.

She gazed about and found the entire castle's residents and guests from the humblest maid to the highest-ranking Nobleman stayed and sweated despite the sheer coldness of the wind.

The Queen of Hearts narrowed her gaze at Lord Marius, but then shifted her attention to those more worthy of attention.

She caught the look of her friend's face and was surprised.

Even the likes of Lord Warth Duke still in recovery was rested and propped up in a seat, currently protected by his own men and the presence of Lady Catherine Duke. There was a firm look in the woman's eyes that demanded and yearned for justice—and even of blood.

Yes, that was the only way with how things were done here.

Punishment of imprisonment was not enough. Blood for blood. Twice or thrice fold than what had already been shed.

Rosalyn Lockhart sat at the front of it all, closest to the Joker and kept her hands in her lap, if only in an attempt to keep others from seeing them twist her gown and twitch haphazardly. Alibi? The Queen didn't exactly have one save for the fact that the last of the Nobles knew and saw that she and Alexander were the last ones to leave.

Her Knight Gine had stayed at the barracks, separated from the soldiers and interacted with the Knights of Lockhart. They have one another to back their own statements and even the begrudging soldiers. 

These men and also the Lord Warth Duke's quick thinking had saved people.

"Is everyone truly here?" the Joker asked and assessed each of the individuals present with a keen eye. "Or rather, everyone that is involved and has been an unwilling victim to the events last night all present?"

Somehow, it was as if knew that the Chesire the Cat was not around—and even the lovely lady, young Alice, wasn't around. Not exactly hidden in the wardrobe. But still hidden from the sight of the entire crowd. And perhaps, by chance was Blake Landrigan.

King Alfred Villeuce happened to be around and was in the crowd much to susurration of the crowd—but what could they do? He had just arrived. And the man was relaxed and poised as can be. "Has there ever been a willing victim?"

"Someone who volunteered for it, possibly." Alexander Hartsmichdt said. The man plopped beside the Queen of Hearts and then nodded at the King of Spades. He had moved behind the Knight of the Queen as he took his seat, carrying an item in his hand.

His gaze snapped to the Joker once and inclined it slightly, "Apologies, I was late."

The Joker eyed the black book in the King's hand and only smiled. "I suppose people can make a grand entrance by being late."

It was there that Julius Ginellevé finally realized what the Joker had been talking about and he ground his teeth. He recognized it at once—the journal of Doctor Griphon. It was the reason why he had not been able to obtain it during the dawn when he had searched for it for the Queen's clues.

But the Knight at least hoped that the man was able to put it to use.

And so it would begin.

"Let the trial start its first session."

—-—-

Author's Note: Thank you so much for supporting this book for the entirety of this May 2021. If you've been around for a bit, then you'd probably notice that I had taken a sudden break before due to health circumstances. The same will happen for this June 2021 as I recuperate. Thank you for understanding.