Villainess Of Hearts

Warning: Uncomfortable description of mutilation and gore.

"Do you think that I will accept the duel from a man like you?"

"A coward wouldn't."

"Hah."

It was only the Joker sighing, but even that was enough of a response to the Lord's challenge to a duel. 

The sword of Lord Albert Lorie dropped to the ground with a terrible clang. His forearm still attached to it. A shriek of pain echoed and rang inside the entire courthall and filled the ears of all the Nobility. Hysterics started as the Lord stared at his amputated arm and he fell down to the ground with a large thump in pure shock.

"Albert!" His mother's voice caught in her throat as she clutched a hand over her chest. The old woman's heart couldn't take it. The numerous attendants beside her tried to calm the woman down, but the display shook the poor woman.

Lord Albert Lorie's brothers tried to stand up, hands on their swords—but the Joker's gaze was paralyzing. 

A man that could cut someone quickly down with mere words… how could steel and swords amount to it?

Even though the older brothers were established Knights of an order possibly bigger than even the Lockhart Knights—they hesitated and did not stand up for their brother's sake.

It was a pitiful sight. Of ignorance, weakness and with each person only out for themselves. The Queen of Hearts was very familiar with the scenario that played out in front of her, and yet she could not blame anyone. 

Or could she blame the Joker? 

Her heart tightened in response.

Their way of doing things was even worse than hers, but when she tried to gauge the reaction of the man to her right—only a look of wariness… a grimace, no, a look of thrill was evident in Alfred Villeuce's face. 

His life was not at stake, but like some sort of predator seeing another one of his kind take down a prey—it was like an itch.

Rosalyn Lockhart remembered how Olivia Deuce apologized for the King and she looked away. 

Thoughtless men who craved such dangerous situations for themselves were truly unbelievable. 

She once thought of him as respectable, a man who had given her a knife that saved her life… but it was only a gift that a King of Bloodshed could offer to her.

A sensation of uneasiness seeped into her, and she tried to close her eyes but was stopped by the sound of a shout. 

"Please stop!" A cry of a Lady started up, even while her sisters tried to pull her down and begged her to stop.

The man once known as Rosswall stared at the beautiful lady, his eyes gleaming a bright red—a calm smile on his face that held a hint of cruelty. "What did you say, Lady Therese of the Eris House?"

Frustrated tears sprang up in her eyes as she gazed back at the Joker seated and relaxed on the judge's pulpit. She clenched her fist on her dress and said,  "Lord… Lord Albert went to see me last night."

"Oh." the Joker said with a look of feigned surprise. He glanced down at the writhing man—all of the Nobilities were frozen in shock to even offer a hand—and smiled. "Why didn't you just say so, Lord Albert? That would have been quite simple."

"Bastard!" Lord Albert cursed him from his spot.

"Huh, I've been kind enough to not include your tongue." the Joker said with a touch of disappointment. "Unless you wish to be silenced as well?"

No longer waiting for another moment to elapse, he had already seen this far too many times—Alexander Hartsmichdt rushed forwards and looked wildly around. 

He was quick to demand his subjects. 

"Does anybody have a healing potion?!" There was no hint of a King in that moment, only of a young man that once tried to save his friends despite the odds.

His eyes searched their faces for any kind of help.

Everyone who had one was too afraid to venture forward and offer theirs.

The King of Hearts cursed himself and searched amongst the crowd, and finally ran up to one of the people that had been clutching a bag tightly. In a fit of rush, he tore it from the lady. "Give me that."

He was quick to throw the bag open and search for a potion. Even throwing the things aside, revealing her contents and gritting his teeth. "Surely I've seen people from last night who used it to nurse their wounds—you all have more than one bottle. If you have any pride left from being a person in the Heart Kingdom, then give up one now."

The Joker's gaze flickered momentarily on the King, but he only smiled and resumed looking at Lady Eris. "But very well then, now that the youngest son of House Lorie and the eldest daughter of Eris House have given their alibi. Who's next? Come, come let's not waste our time—I'll hear your pithy excuses."

Once his finger landed on a person, the man paled and fainted.

The Joker clicked his tongue. "Tch, now that wasn't me this time." His gaze flickered to hers and he inclined his head. "Believe me, Your Majesty… but very well then, let's move on to the next one. Give your testimony of innocence or lack of thereof."

The next person scrambled up to their feet and paid wholly attention to the Joker.

In the background, Alexander's hand was spurted in blood as he tried to calm the bleeding man. 

He had managed to press a hand to Lord Albert's chest in an attempt to keep him from moving and thrashing around—Lady Therese had already rushed forward from the seats and came up teary-eyed in an attempt to help them.

Give strength?

The Queen of Hearts did not know.

Rosalyn Lockhart hand trembled slightly, she clutched it with her arm. Why was she shaking when it was someone else? Her own position was safe and secure. But screams touched a certain part of her soul, even though she hardly knew the man.

Oh, she had known of the reports of the eldest daughter of Eris House and the youngest son of Lorie meeting, but she did not expect that the two of them had met up in secret. 

The woman's resolve reached the Queen's, even while the young woman from Eris House looked positively scared of the Joker—she faced him off, whereas Albert's mother had already passed out in shock.

It was a dreadful sight. 

Until she felt a touch on her shoulder—and glanced up to see Gine. While his expression held no amount of mercy for the young Lord, he was only here to reassure her, nothing more and nothing less.

Rosalyn Lockhart took in a shaky breath and looked up at Gine. She was surrounded by three men—one looked on with indifference, the other with a hint of unbridled thrill and yet the other had thrown away any amount of self-preservation to help the injured Lord.

And here she was, sitting down. The Queen of Hearts had nothing to offer, but surely she should have stood up to the Joker? No? Yes? This was the Joker's form of justice, be it petty or not—bring everything to a clear and undisputedly bright white light.

It revealed everything for everyone around whether they were unwilling to see and hear it.

Behold, these are the things that this person had hidden from everyone.

Do you bare witness to the sin? To the acts in the shadow?

Hidden from the light, now brought forth to it.

This was his justice. Seeped in both blood and open rebukes.

The Rosalyn Lockhart of before might have not batted an eye and watched in silence—perhaps with an amount of self-satisfaction like the King of Spades, or she would not feel anything like Gine except some mild distaste on how the blood stained the floors of her castle. This time she did not. This time things were different…?

But were they truly?

Rosalyn Lockhart saw another woman shriek in terror, and yet the Joker only had a look of mild annoyance in his face. 

"Have you not read the law, young woman? Surely, someone of your standing should have known that it is terrible to steal. Especially any of those that belong to the Royalty."

"Please don't cut my hand, spare me please!" The woman cried and shook in place. Even the lowliest person had to be interrogated. "I had to do it, my brother was terribly sick—"

The Nobility only looked at her this time in scorn. It wasn't one of them, but instead it was actually just a common maidservant in the Castle of Hearts. Whether one way or another, she had managed to pass through the series of interrogations that Lord Warth Duke had conducted.

Or perchance she committed the sin after it.

"Tell me, what did you steal?" the Joker narrowed his eyes at the woman. 

"It was a jewelled brooch, it was only small—the Queen of Hearts had never even noticed it was gone." Tears streamed down her face. "Please, I'll pay for it! I won't be able to help my family if anything were to happen to me!"

"Then you should have thought about it before committing such an act." the Joker smiled as if he had this conversation countless of times. "It is a grave sin to steal from the people that protect and take care of your Kingdom."

"Protect?" the maidservant stared at the Joker with a blank expression.

"Yes, yes." The Joker said with nothing more but a hint of smile. "The reason why there are Royals, Nobilities in your Kingdom is to oversee and take care of each and everyone of you. Do you betray the hands that govern these lands? "

This maid's tears had already dried up at this point. She still shook. But it was no longer shaking in fear, but something else. She may have decided there was no turning back at this point.

"If the King and Queen truly protect her people—then my brother would have not suffered! My parents should have stayed alive!"

The maidservant found a new strength to face the Nobility all around here, even while the other servants recoiled from her, afraid to be considered a part of her treachery.

"All of the Nobles here are wretched people who steal from hardworking people like me, forced to toil in the ground until our backs ache and can hardly even stand up. But not even earning enough to buy their own bread for the day… if there is any thief, then it's not just me but the rest of them!"

The maid servant cried. 

"If you punish me, then at least do it to everyone!"

Wet hot tears streamed down her face.

This was not Mary Ann. 

Nor was it anyone else she could barely remember. 

Rosalyn Lockhart truly didn't know her at all. She may have been just a victim of the time when the Lockhart House and others assailed the Joker and Hartsmichdt's forces for the throne. An uneasiness filled her chest at all those words made by the maidservant—she had an Informant who checked on the situation around her kingdom.

The man hadn't reported anything like that.

Was she telling the truth or overreacting?

Did her Informant fail to reach everywhere she asked for? Did it matter to the Queen?