49 Running Out Of Time
Returning to her quarters seemed like the most suitable of choices at the moment and yet even she couldn't do that. Unlike the King of Hearts who had an excuse of allowing the other Kings to study the documents of the trade, she needed to return and check upon the Queen of Spades and Clover. Thankfully it seemed that the Queen of Diamonds would be preoccupied.
Fortunately or unfortunately, she had a certain person tailing her like a dog.
Sir Julius Ginellevé was now at her side as he had always been. But she couldn't help but wonder what he had been up to before he came back? She couldn't forget that he had left the Mad Hatter with her and dumped him while not returning himself. Rosalyn Lockhart was willing to look it over for him to go elsewhere but then the man nearly gave her a heart attack for sneaking up on her.
It made her recall his transgressions and yet she offered her hand towards him. But it wasn't like she had forgiven him… or rather there really was nothing to forgive at the moment.
He hadn't killed her yet at this time.
But she didn't plan on dying anytime either.
Plans. Decisions. Choices.
These all meant that she had to dedicate effort, time and using her head for this life of hers. Once again she tried not to sigh tiredly, she didn't fancy getting carried towards the Royal Doctor at a time like this. She was actually in the mood to eat and destress after the incident but it was also nearly lunch time wasn't it?
Her stomach had to wait.
"Greetings to Her Majesty of Hearts and to her personal Knight, Sir Ginellevé." A voice greeted suddenly and her eyes fleeted to a soldier. They were a young man who was respectfully bowing not only to her but greeted her Knight as well. It wasn't hard to guess that if they weren't scared of her personal Knight then admiration was the next option, or perhaps it was a mixture of both.
However she recognized this particular soldier, if only because she had ordered him to procure a pitcher of lemonade and something to snack on for the Queen of Clover, her lips curled into a frown, "Have you already fulfilled my orders?"
Sir Julius Ginellevé was already sneaking a glance at her from the corner of his eye. The man couldn't be appeased by even her personally extending a hand towards him—curiosity was apparent on what she could possibly have requested from the soldier. If this young man before her answered incorrectly, they might encounter some danger late in the night.
But the soldier was none the wiser. He kept his head respectfully down as he replied, "Yes, Your Majesty. I've asked your humble servant Mary Ann to bring them for Her Majesty of Clover."
"That's good—" The Queen of Hearts words were cut off abruptly.
Her feet already carried her forward, her heart was caught in her throat as she moved past the soldier and her Knight. Mary Ann had been the one to deliver them herself!? T-That was the most horrible of things to happen. She could hear the loud drumming within her ears as she sprinted across the hall and towards the soldier's courtyard.
Why did it have to be her?!
Couldn't it be anyone else?
She looked too much like Alice! It was too much for her to be comfortable about having the young woman meet the Hatter!
Rosalyn Lockhart didn't even have the inkling of time to reprimand the soldier or care for appearances as she bolted through the exit and arrived outside. There was the girl! And she was serving the Queen of Clover right now. Where was the Hatter—
"Your Majesty, you look like you've run all the way here?" A man's voice said right beside her.
She quickly turned her head and met Nicholas Hatter's gaze, relief flooded her chest as she stared at him. "You're here, Hatter." She breathed and let out a heavy sigh. It didn't look like he was stricken by love or anything of that matter and neither was there any sign or change of demeanor in the man.
Rosalyn Lockhart felt her heart pound madly.
Based on his initial gaining of his song called Fairfarren—it loomed in the back of her mind like some words of prophecy that assured her doom. 'We shall meet again', of course she and he would meet that bitch again. And yet despite that, the man before her didn't seem to at least make any connections or inference between the starking similarities between Alice and Mary Ann.
"Where else should I be, Your Majesty?" The man inclined his head and tipped his hat towards her as he returned her gaze with his own, the smallest hint of his eyes lit up in amusement, "The Queen of Hearts had after all asked me to be here."
"Of course." She couldn't say anything else now could she? 'I was afraid that you'd see Mary Ann and remember Alice or mistake the girl for her and then lead the Kingdom to riot against her?' Yeah, she couldn't possibly say that. She felt a little relieved now and felt the nervous energy go down little by little. "If you had left, it would have been your head that would be returned to me."
"A-Ah, well then it is good that I stayed." He laughed albeit shakily so.
Old habits die hard for her.
But she had panicked for naught.
And instead of getting upset over it, she after all had run across the halls to make her way here and prevent some catastrophe—there was nothing but gratitude in her chest as she gazed at the man before her. Everything was still fine.
"Your Majesty!" Another voice came right behind them.
Her white haired Knight came down the hallway, his brows furrowed together and amethyst eyes lit up with worry as they met hers. "Did something—are you alright, Your Majesty?" He had to play a role after all, asking such casual questions was something that he couldn't ask in public.
It was there that the other people within the courtyard began to take notice and pause. The Queen of Hearts had rushed in but all of the soldiers had been enamored with the lady taking center stage in the courtyard. The Queen of Spades, Olivia Deuce was engaged in a combat against a soldier from the Castle of Hearts—and they were prevailing, a javelin in their hand as they twisted and swung it back at a soldier that paused as they noticed that she had arrived.
"Greetings to Her Majesty of Hearts." They were quite late but she couldn't care about those now.
She managed a small smile, "Yes, I am alright."
But how long would such times like this one be?
