Villainess Of Hearts

When the King of Hearts heard that his Queen had been attacked—unknowingly on his part, the young man cursed himself and rushed back to the Castle with only one thing on mind. It was to make sure that she truly was safe. 'Where was her beloved Knight during this time?' Alexander couldn't help it. His thoughts turned to the Knight that the Queen of Hearts brought with her when she ascended to the throne. Why had he failed his Queen now? 

Alexander Hartsmichdt rubbed his face, "It's my fault as much as it is his, I shouldn't have gotten too laxed. I should have increased the security instead of getting too caught up in the trade agreements—please be alright." There was not enough time to march or even leisurely walk to his destination, he ran. He didn't care whoever saw him right now.

His Prime Minister had a penchant for running so it wasn't bad if he did it as well.

But when had it all happened? The King pondered about the possibility of rebuts from other political opponents and none came to his mind. The other Kings had been with him during the Royal Conference Hall and he knew that Rosalyn left Catherine in charge of the Queens. Who would have such a vendetta—

Something, no, someone appeared in front of him. One minute he had been enraptured in his thoughts when a man arrived through the walls?! Alexander felt blood pound in his ears as he stepped towards them and pushed them back to the walls. He berated himself for not even checking if all the assassins had been apprehended in the first place. "Who are you and how did you get here?" The King of Hearts narrowed their eyes at him. 

He choked for a moment, "H-Hard to talk, Y-Your Majesty."

"Are you one of the assassins?" Alexander Hartsmichdt's arm jerked as he dug his hands deeper into their throat. He could crush their windpipe. He could do it. How many years had it been since the end of the Trial? Two? Three years? That didn't matter. Despite the passage of time, the tension coiled deep within his stomach waiting to be unleashed—

"M-Misunderstanding." The man spoke up, their lips quickly becoming pale.

Alexander noticed the man's arm twitch, and he jabbed a knee to their hand. If they were going to attack him then they needed to do a lot harder and faster than this. He couldn't just trust their words—he had learned that even before coming to the Castle of Hearts. "Is that so? Let me repeat my question. Who. Are. You?"

"A-A friend of the Queen!"

He blinked and loosened his grip, if only slightly, his senses coming back to him—no longer pushed by survival instincts alone. The King of Hearts assessed the man and found them to be someone who looked like they were from the Kingdom of Hearts. They were somewhat familiar though he couldn't be bothered to recall it now. "Speak. Explain yourself."

"Greetings, Your Majesty of Hearts—I am Nicholas Hatter, of the Mad Hatter's, and uh, I am the Queen… er, friend to your Queen is what I intended to say." A small hoarse laugh escaped the man's throat despite the situation.

Alexander Hartsmichdt kept his face blank.

The thought was completely preposterous. No one would dare say, 'I am a friend of the Queen' unless they wished to be beheaded for lies or at the least, have their tongues cut off. Alexander would be more prone to believe that the Prime Minister had a friend but not Queen. She wasn't that type of person, even he could tell that she merely tolerated Catherine—

And yet the rumors of the Queen frequenting the servant's kitchen was prominent.

A favorite cook or chef.

Never in a million years would the Queen of Hearts stoop so low to even visit another place unbefitting of her presence—and the King of Hearts never lived up to her expectations. But that wasn't important now, he eyed the man from head to toe and was positive that this was no cook. Their name already said what kind of profession he had.

Maybe they were mad.

Alexander could recall some catastrophic event that most Hatters experienced mercury poisoning. Although he wasn't sure if it applied to this specific person, erasing that, their eyes were a strange combination of color—although that might be a natural thing either. He inwardly said and bit his tongue. He waited for a couple more minutes—

"Er, Your Majesty. I'm not sure if you'd like your people to come across us at this very awkward position." The man, this Hatter announced with a stupendous grin on his face.

The King of Hearts froze for a moment and imagined the scene if someone had truly walked in this hallway. The Queen of Clover would have laughed at this scene but as for others, it would have been terrible to his reputation, subsequently, to the Queen of Hearts as well. He ground his teeth and released the man from his grip. Alexander Hartmsichdt took a step back and kept their gaze on the man, "It does not mean that I have acquitted you of your crimes from illegally trespassing through the Castle of Hearts through strange methods. Which you still have to explain."

If this man was able to bypass the gates through this method...would the assassins have done the exact same thing? It wasn't even to label them as an assassin, they were unarmed as far as he could tell. But even if they were not an assassin, the mere fact that they held such a knowledge like this was—

"Your Majesty, do you not know of the secret entrance in the Castle of Hearts?" Nicholas Hatter's voice was tinged with surprise.

Shit.

This was a bad conclusion for this man to have from his question, Alexander straightened his back and looked down at them, he mustered what he knew was a kingly aura. "Whether or not I know of this, which I do, what matters to me more is how you were able to discover this. This kind of secret is meant exclusively for the Royals and their family members. Who told you this?"

Did Rosalyn know of this? Is that how this man was able to discover it?

Did it prove that they were actually friends?

If she knew of this… why didn't she tell him in the first place? Alexander Hartsmichdt's thoughts swirled with thoughts, and each one of them brought him more frustrated than the last. Was it not enough that the Queen had the Knight as her lover? Did she need to include another man—no, she wouldn't do such a thing.

He didn't think of her that way.

But even so, why hadn't she told him of this passage? Was it because she didn't think of him as a true Heart? Alexander tried to ignore the tightness in his chest. He knew. He knew that he wasn't meant for the throne and that perhaps there was someone more suitable for the power… And maybe Rosalyn could have done it all by herself if she wanted to—but he didn't ask for this position.

Did she truly not care about him at all?

How much contempt could she hold for him? Alexander didn't know what he had done to receive this much loathing from her. He tried his best to respect her and not put himself in her ire while trying to do the right thing… was this truly just her nature?

"E-er… Your Majesty of Hearts, are you alright?" The hesitant voice of Nicholas Hatter sounded at last.

Alexander Hartsmichdt looked up and saw the man. He knew that in this man's eyes that he was a King to them, and the least that he could do was actually act and be a proper King. Forget about him choking the man in the first place. The King of Hearts cleared his throat and eyed his subject, "Even if you tell me now of who told you about the passage, there is only one way to verify this and that is by asking Her Majesty of Hearts is what you say is true."

"King Hartsmichdt, it was the Knight of Hearts who led me here before." This time, Nicholas took off his hat and bowed to him. "I-If this humble servant of yours could request, would it be possible to meet the Queen of Hearts? I am worried about her."

He frowned and raised a brow, "Why is that?"

"As you've misunderstood me as some assassin, Your Majesty. I am afraid that my assumption that more assassins had come here than when they visited my shop was right."

Drats. Drats.

The number was far larger than he imagined it to be and at the town adjacent to the Castle of Hearts as well? Did they have a much more frightening foe than he could imagine? Still, why would assassins search for the Queen and then hunt for this Hatter as well? He didn't get it. He needed to keep it together.

Which one was more important… of course the assassins triumphed over the Joker.

"Unless they're the one who did this." Alexander whispered to himself. He glanced at Nicholas Hatter and began to move, "I'm visiting my Queen right now, you can follow me. But if you try to do anything strange—you don't have to worry about the Queen's Knight or other Soldiers dealing with you, Hatter. I'll do it myself." He gave them a smile. 

"O-Of course, Your Majesty!"

Alexander didn't like the development of things but he could only adapt as he always did. He headed to the Queen of Heart's room. 

. . .

Nicholas Hatter had one thought—were all the people in the Castle of Hearts this frightening?