House of Cards

Ivan examined the girl standing in front of him for the fifth time. Pants, a shirt, boots, and long brown hair, tied up into a ponytail. She was not lowering her head like everyone else, who was shooting her sideways looks filled with disdain due to her appearance. In fact, she was not even directing her gaze at the king nor the others, instead just looking around with interest in that hall decorated with murals on the ceilings and fine paintings of the kingdom’s landscapes on the walls, tables with porcelain vases, golden chandeliers and a floor that might be more expensive than the house she used to live in. After having looked at her for a sixth time, Ivan finally dared to speak. “So you are the future queen,” he said, drawing her attention to himself. She averted the gaze of her green eyes from the extravagant decoration and showed a broad smile. “Yes, at least this was what I was told when the mark appeared on my foot,” she replied, giggling. The Jack of Clubs, who was standing a few meters behind the king, let out a sigh of annoyance. “I hope this is not some kind of fraud, this would not be the first time for someone to pretend to be the queen with a false mark,” Roderich commented, adjusting his glasses and slightly frowning. “It’s not, look, I really have it.” And with these words, the girl untied her bootlaces and tried to take one off, jumping on one foot. The rest of the court started to murmur. “This is not necessary, we believe you,” Ivan stopped her, trying to hold back his laughter. She lowered her foot again. “But what kind of education has this child received?” commented the jack, looking disapprovingly at the girl, who managed to hear that. “The right one to not let myself be put down by anyone,” she answered defiantly, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at Roderich, who raised both eyebrows, offended that a simple girl had dared to speak to him that way. “Do not be so harsh, Roderich, remember that from now on, you will be that lady's servant as well,” Ivan reminded him. However, the arrogance didn’t vanish from the jack’s face, while Elizabetha’s chest swelled up with pride at the fact that the King of Clubs himself was defending her. “Thanks, Ivan,” she said, making everyone gasp again. How could she dare to call the king by his name?! “So what? We’re going to get married anyway, so it would be strange to call him ‘Majesty’. Or would you rather prefer if I called him ‘dear’?” she laughed, baffling even Ivan himself, who hadn’t expected such an over familiar attitude. “I t-think that the lady is right, there is nothing wrong with her calling me by my name. After all, no one else does…” he said the last part with a hint of sadness. “The same goes for you, don’t call me ‘lady’, call me ‘Elizabetha’,” she asked him, grinning from ear to ear and ignoring the protests of the other nobles, who were whispering to each other about her boldness.  “Alright, Elizabetha. Everyone here, including me, welcomes you and hopes that you soon will get used to your new life. And of course we all wish that you enjoy your days in the palace as much as possible, I assure you that you will not lack anything,” said Ivan with his usual childish smile. “And naturally, you will be educated as well, a queen has to be worthy of her title,” added Roderich, glaring at Elizabetha, for whom these words seemed more like an insult than a simple comment. “No worries, Jack, I will wear that crown with as much dignity as I can,” she replied, not accepting any more offenses. “Very well, then we will get along, I think,” commented Ivan, wanting to put an end to that tense atmosphere that had built up in the room. Then he addressed the girl again, stretching out his hand. “Good, I hope that we will live together in peace, lad-... sorry, Elizabetha.” “So it will be, Ivan,” she responded, shaking his hand with much more strength than it was appropriate for a lady. With that gesture, Ivan thought to have sealed something that would be a long friendship. He didn’t think that he would fall in love with her or she with him, but as long as they could be friends, it was alright for him. As long as Elizabetha would stay by his side for the rest of his life and temporarily cure his loneliness, he was fine. Finally, the luck that had made him king and given him the kingdom with the most fertile land, the most stable economy and the best counselors, was offering him the opportunity to have an excellent queen and companion. And like this, they started living together, and their lives definitely changed. Elizabetha had basically made his palace take a 180-degree turn, especially Roderich, whom he had never seen angry before… until now. “No, no and no!” the jack was scolding the girl, who was sitting at a table and tousling her hair in frustration. “Yes! It is okay like this!” she protested, while Ivan was sitting at a desk and taking care of other issues, while listening to them argue. Something he had already gotten used to. “Young lady, if you want to challenge me all the time, then at least do it when you have valid arguments. Your answers are wrong, and you have to start anew,” Roderich, who was teaching her right now, decided. "No, Jack, you are just tormenting me like you always do every time you are giving me my lessons. No matter what I do, everything is wrong in your eyes!" she reproached him, crossing her arms and hiding her hands that were stained with ink due to all the times she had to answer Roderich's question papers. The results, however, were not that great. "I am not tormenting you, you are rather tormenting me," the servant replied, taking off his glasses to wipe them with his handkerchief. "Ivan, tell your servant that I don't need to study all that, I'll better learn by watching you work, after all, I'm going to be queen, not a teacher," she asked the king, who looked up from his own documents and saw the two of them angry and frustrated. "Sorry, Elizabetha, but this is necessary, I had to go through it as well. Roderich is a very strict teacher, so I recommend you to work hard," he said, laughing. The girl rested her head on the table. "But this is so boring, I think I'm going to die," she complained. "Young lady! How many times do I have to tell you to sit upright? Straighten your back, or the court will laugh at you, and you will also embarrass my lord," the jack continued scolding her. She obeyed, but not without giving him a death stare. "I'm sure you are enjoying my disgrace, aren't you? You have no soul." "Say what you want, but I am only doing my job, and right now my job as your teacher has ended, so please review everything you have learned today. Tomorrow, we will continue with the next book," he said, looking at the time on his pocket watch to make sure that Elizabetha's classes had, in fact, ended. "Just leave already, you executioner disguised as a jack, I also have important things to do," she shooed him away.  "My lord, just call me if you need something... and you, young lady, behave yourself in my absence," he said and left the room before she could object. "He's absolutely unbearable!" she screamed, slamming the book shut that was lying in front of her. Then she got up and headed to Ivan's desk, where the latter was still concentrating on his own stuff. "Just how can you stand him being near you the entire day?" she asked, sitting down on the desk. "It is not so bad, Roderich is a good person and an wonderful servant," responded Ivan and gave her a slightly nervous look. Elizabetha understood it as a sign that she probably shouldn't be sitting on his desk and hopped down, a bit embarrassed. "I find that hard to imagine... he's a tyrant to me, treating me as if I was stupid, always saying that I have to behave like a 'lady', correcting me all the time and always being aware of my errors, as though searching for pretexts to humiliate me," Elizabetha complained. "It is not to make you uncomfortable, he just wants you to become an excellent queen," Ivan explained with all the patience in the world, since it was not the first time they were having that conversation. "I can be an excellent queen... without having to change who I am," she murmured a bit angrily. "He doesn't want to change you, but to make you better," the king corrected her, placed his papers aside and his cheek on his palm, looking at the girl. "Did you have to be made better in order to be king?" she asked with curiosity, leaning against the desk. "I have always been king, Elizabetha, since the day of my birth everyone has done everything in their might to demand the best from me, so I am used to it," he answered, noticing that she was not really pleased with that reply. "Do you think that I am able to become the person the jack wants me to be and to shut up that sharp tongue of his?" the girl asked, frowning a bit as she remembered the latter again. "Of course. You are strong and intelligent, so you can take advantage of that and demonstrate to Roderich that you deserve the crown and not only due to the mark on your skin," Ivan said, smiling. "I will, Ivan! Thanks for your words!" She went around the desk and wrapped him up in a hug, something that was completely new to him... so this was what it felt like to be in someone's arms... not bad at all. "I will make the jack swallow each and every one of his words, and not only that, I will also make him call me 'my lady'. That villain will do it, you'll see!" She slightly separated from him, placing her hands on his shoulders and laughing with malice. "Still, you should get rid of that image of him, he is not a villain," the king recommended her with a nervous laugh. "Oh, of course he is, I have never met someone as evil and arrogant as him," she objected. "Until now, I haven't seen a single good thing about that person." "And if I show you one, will you stop considering him a villain?" Ivan suggested. Elizabetha looked at him, not believing that something like that was possible, but still accepted, wanting to see the king lose. That same evening, during dinner, another argument between the jack and the queen was taking place. He was criticizing her lack of table manners, and she his strict way of pointing out her mistakes. There was an endless series of reproaches, scoldings, and discussions that were divagating from the main topic, while Ivan was just calmly putting the food into his mouth and smiling from time to time. He had somehow started to enjoy all that noise and ruckus, completely different from his former cold and silent dinners at a kilometric table full of empty seats with him sitting at the head and only hearing the clanking sounds of his cutlery on the plate. "Enough! You lose, Ivan, there is nothing good about this man!" Elizabetha finally exploded, slamming down her fists so hard on the table that her plate and her glass jumped up in the air. “Young lady, stop demonstrating your lack of education, and please consume your meal properly,” said Roderich, unable to hold back his scoldings. “You really want me to snap your neck like a chicken, don’t you?” she spat at him, furious. “A lady should not say these kinds of comments, and certainly not at the table.” “I am not a lady! And neither a puppet you can manage at your will and force to behave like you want.” She got up and stood in front of Roderich, facing him. He couldn’t help but take a step back, with a deep wrinkle between his eyebrows showing his anger. “This is not like I want, but how you have to behave, young lady, you cannot arrive at the palace with the manners of a peasant and expect to just wear the crown like this. You have to learn protocols and get an education. Behave yourself! Or did you think that you will be well-received just for having the mark on your skin, and that it is everything you need to become a queen? No, young lady, understand once and for all that it is not enough to have a mark to occupy the throne, but to fill it out as well. And I doubt very much that you will manage it,” Roderich hissed at her. Elizabetha’s face became red from rage. “Jack, I will make you swallow each and every one of your words. Yes, I may have a humble origin and was not born among silk and diamonds, but I will become queen. The best one this kingdom ever had! I will be on par with you and even with Ivan, and will not allow you to humiliate me like this ever again.” And with that warning, she stormed out, snorting in order to move some strands of her hair from her face that had separated from her ponytail. “I think she is really mad now. Is it necessary to be so hard on her?” Ivan asked, laying his cutlery down, while Roderich was following Elizabetha’s back with his gaze. “It is, my lord. Now I am certain that lady Elizabetha will do her best,” he replied, showing a small Machiavellian, but slightly proud smile, knowing that she had left the dining room as a sixteen-year-old commoner, but would return as a woman, ready to become queen. This, however, didn't mean that their discussions had ended, on the contrary: they got even more intense. To such a point that screams were resounding through the entire palace. "Really, Ivan, I still cannot understand where you see a good side in that jack. I just don't manage to find it, no matter how I try," the girl said one day after another long and exhausting fight with Roderich. "Come with me, I will show it to you. However, it is not precisely his attitude." Ivan stretched out his arm, to let Elizabetha link hers with it, a bit mistrustfully. She followed him through another hallway of that huge building, one she had not entered before, since she never had the time to wander around due to her lessons. It was a slightly gloomy place, illuminated only by a few chandeliers hanging on the walls and filled with the melancholic melody of a piano. "Who is playing?" she whispered. Ivan placed his finger on his lips, indicating to her to be silent, while they kept walking towards a room. The music was getting louder, more intense, the more they approached it, and a thread of light entered through the slightly opened door. Ivan incited Elizabetha to come closer, careful to not be seen, while he himself would be waiting a few meters behind her. The girl tiptoed to the door and opened it with caution. What she encountered was the solemn image of the Jack of Clubs... but though he was still the same Roderich, he seemed like a completely different person at the same time. Sitting there on the bench and totally immersed in the piano, running his hands over the keyboard in such a natural way that it was almost looking like a reflex, an impulse. And all this with a tranquil smile on his face and slightly closed eyes, following his own music's rhythm from time to time with his body... Instead of the familiar brown-haired pedant, there was just a passionate man in that room right now, playing the piano and letting himself be carried away by notes whose meaning was only known to him. Elizabetha was stunned, completely unable to avert her gaze from Roderich who calmly stopped from one moment to the next. "Young lady, please come closer and listen properly," he said to her, but not in his usual authoritarian way, but in a gentle, kind tone. The girl got startled and turned around to Ivan, who made her understand with a movement of his hand that she could go ahead. So she obeyed, awkwardly entered the room and sat down on a chair to see and hear better... and though she was listening to the music, her heart was pounding with such force against her chest that it managed to become louder than the melody itself. And Ivan never noticed what he himself had started... But maybe his suspicion was aroused for the first time the day Elizabetha finally accepted to wear a dress. Well... maybe the word "accepted" wasn't really the right one in that case. "Ivan! Ivan!" she called her future husband, who was talking to one of his advisors. And right as the man was allowed to leave, the girl arrived almost running, followed by Roderich, who was holding a beautiful emerald dress, decorated with club symbols, in his arms. "What is the matter, why are you screaming like that?" asked the king. Elizabetha ran up to him, panting. "Tell the jack that I will wear that thing only over my dead body, and only to be cremated, so that my ashes can be spread over the whole kingdom," she said, pointing at the garment Roderich was carrying. "My lord, I tried to explain to the lady that it is necessary to change her way of dressing herself. She will be soon presented to society, and obviously cannot appear in the capital and in front of the other kings in this kind of clothes," Roderich explained, trying to regulate his breathing after having followed the girl, who was categorically against having to wear a dress. "Can't your tailors do something with my clothes? Let me at least wear pants!" she begged, knowing that Ivan was always on her side or negotiating with the jack. "I do not think that this is possible, Elizabetha. So why not better try it on? If you hate it, then I will see what I can do, but do not reject anything you have never tried, at least," Ivan reasoned, petting her head. The girl looked almost fearfully at the dress and then at Ivan, whose almost childlike smile managed to disarm her in the end. "Alright, but if I look bad and don't like it, I will not wear it and this is my final word," she declared, ripping the dress out of Roderich's hands and going to her room to get changed. Obviously, with the help of a servant, who would arrange all the accessories on that giant piece of cloth. Both Roderich and Ivan waited for her in the hall, while listening to the screams and protests coming from her room, which made the two of them think that putting on a dress had to be a really dangerous task. Finally, she appeared behind the door, walking with a slight difficulty and a completely red face, covering the pronounced décolleté with her hands. "Yes, I know that I look ridiculous," she said to the two men that were staring at her with wide open eyes, noticing that she had been hiding a beautiful shape under her loose clothes: a narrow waist, accentuated by the corset, well-proportioned hips and a bosom that... well... basically, she was a beautiful woman, not only regarding her face, but also her body. In that dress fitting the color of her eyes, she would perhaps be envied by all the other women of the court. "Let your hair loose, as well," asked Ivan. She had to remove her hands from her chest in order to do that, and untied her long wavy hair, letting it fall freely around her face. Elizabetha barely dared to look up, she was feeling weird, so feminine that she almost felt weak. She had never worn a dress like that, and thought that her organs would come out of her mouth or her breasts jump out of the décolleté any moment. And her loose hair was a symbol that she was a woman... yes, after all, she was one... The girl finally raised her gaze and saw Ivan, who was smiling at her like usual, and then the jack, who was averting his eyes while covering his mouth and face a bit over his nose. "Ivan, the jack is mocking me! I knew I would look ridiculous!" she exclaimed, almost on the brink of tears due to the humiliation. She may be a woman, but would never feel feminine nor beautiful like these elegant ladies who were sometimes walking on the streets and to which Roderich was so used to... she was just herself: a simple peasant. "Roderich, do not..." But before Ivan could finish his sentence, he noticed that Roderich wasn't laughing at all, but instead covering the violent blush on his face due to Elizabetha being dressed like that, as stunning as ever. "No... Roderich is not laughing..." muttered the king in a monotone voice. And despite the suspicions he started to perceive that moment, Ivan let it slide and allowed that little snowball to continue rolling and to grow. Elizabetha had finally resigned herself to having to wear a dress. She was walking to and fro, struggling with the long skirt that was wrapping itself around her feet, but still didn't give up her goal of becoming a great queen, even if that meant that she had to wear that damn thing every day and let her hair loose that made her swear from time to time due to getting into her face. "Here, Elizabetha, a small gift from King Francis," said Ivan, as Elizabetha was cursing at her hair for the tenth time and moving a strand of it behind her ear with annoyance. "From the King of Diamonds? Why?" she asked, taking the little jewelry box that for sure was more expensive that she could ever imagine, especially due to the small gems it was decorated with. It was incredible that the gift was in the box and not the box itself. "He said he wanted to give something to the future Queen of Clubs... or just continue to spend his fortune, as always," the king explained and watched Elizabetha take out a brooch shaped like a pink flower. "Oh, it's beautiful. Is it okay to accept it? Wouldn't it be too expensive?" she asked, examining the flower's center, which was a diamond, and the edges of the petals made out of gold. Ivan took the brooch from Elizabetha's hands and put it into her hair, to hold these strands in place that were annoying her so much. "It is. Not accepting a gift is considered rude," he replied, realizing that she looked even better than before with the discreet but expensive gift. "My lord, the ambassadors from the Kingdom of Spades are waiting for you," Roderich suddenly entered the room where the royal couple was, and his gaze fell on Elizabetha, noticing something different about her. "Thank you, Roderich, I will leave right away," said the king, leaving the two of them alone, who didn't say a word for a moment. They were just looking at each other, averting their gazes every time they met, thinking of something to say and break the silence. "Your brooch," began Roderich, pointing at his head, hinting at the place where Elizabetha was wearing her new accessory. "It looks good on you." She lifted her hand to the flower and smiled with a slight blush. "Thank you." She hadn't thought that Roderich would notice such insignificant details about her. "Ah... excuse me, I have to go with my lord," said Roderich, leaving his temporary trance after having seen an even prettier Elizabetha. "Wait, Jack, I will join you." "Excuse me, but these issues are no business for a lady," the jack apologized, really without wanting to offend her this time, but she didn't react like he had expected. "What? I think that each issue concerning my kingdom is my business," she contradicted angrily. "No, these problems concern only the king, you have nothing to do with them." "Then let me remind you that I am the future queen, so the king's problems are also mine," she snapped at him, raising her voice a bit and starting yet another discussion, just when they were having a truce. "Young lady, a lady should not get in the way of other people's discussions, so when I tell you that this issue concerns only the king, you have to understand this and stop arguing with me. A woman should not put on such a show, but just stay in the background and behave like her gender demands it from her," he replied, and Elizabetha felt as though she was about to explode at any moment. "And what is my gender demanding from me, Jack? To behave like a doll that is being locked away in a showcase, waiting for her husband and looking pretty while carrying the crown on her head and watching her days pass one after another?" She raised her skirt with disdain. "If you want to see it that way, then fine" Roderich answered and wanted to leave, but she didn't let him. "We, women, are not dolls!" Elizabetha screamed, standing in front of him with her eyes shining bright. "Understand once and for all that we are beings that think and have opinions and feelings! Our bodies react when they are touched!" Now, she was only mere centimeters away from the jack, who started blushing from the last comment. Being too immersed in her speech, Elizabetha took his hand and placed it on her chest, exactly at her bustline that could be seen due to her décolleté. "Feel it, realize that there is a beating heart, that we women have warm blood running through our veins! We are not only made of embroidery, dresses and good manners, we are more than just submissive wives and gems that become dusty and worn out with the time! We are the spirit and strength of a man, trapped in a corset!" she yelled with passion, her chest rising and falling rapidly with Roderich's warm hand on it. He widened his eyes, indeed, feeling her accelerated heartbeat. "I won't waste anything you have taught me, but I am not a doll and much less a woman who bends down so easily. I am a queen and will do my work as such!" She finally let go of the baffled and speechless Roderich's hand and left, raising her skirt to walk better. In the hallway, she encountered Ivan. "What a speech," he commented, having heard everything. "I told you, Ivan, that I will shut up the jack's sharp tongue one day," she said and walked away with him, not knowing that the snowball that Ivan didn't want to stop in the beginning, was turning into an avalanche of emotions. Finally, the day of Elizabetha's presentation to society had arrived, and everyone was in the palace located in the capital: the King of Spades, making Yao angry for not listening to him, the King of Diamonds, flirting with every lady who crossed his way, while Vash was just shaking his head and hoping that his lord didn't notice, the King of Hearts, loyally followed by Feliciano, and Ivan with Elizabetha, the latter holding on to his arm and feeling a bit insecure, being surrounded  by all the royalty. "Are you alright?" asked Ivan the girl, who was breathing fast due to her nervousness. "No, I think I'm going to vomit if I speak with one of them," she said, clinging to his arm and watching the King of Hearts, whose serious expression could intimidate anyone, apart from his jack, obviously. "This sounds bad... if you want, you can go outside and get some fresh air, before having to introduce yourself to every king. I will distract them," Ivan offered and smiled at her. She looked relieved and even let her shoulders fall that had been completely tense until now. "Thank you, Ivan, you are the best." She gently let go of him and stormed out into the garden. "Go with her, please, Roderich, we don't want her to escape due to the panic," the king joked. The jack just took a brief bow and obeyed, following Elizabetha, who was entering the garden with short but quick steps and breathing in as much fresh air as her lungs could take. She raised her gaze towards the cloudy sky that was predicting a storm, thinking that all this couldn't be real... she would soon be recognized by the other royals as the future Queen of Clubs. "Do not get nervous, young lady, otherwise the royals might confuse your nervousness with weakness," Roderich recommended, appearing behind the girl, who did a little jump. "I try, but am still unable to process it all, this situation feels so unreal..." she admitted, starting to walk, followed by the jack who was simply listening to her. "In just a few months I will marry Ivan and become queen, and I find it funny that, having even arrived to that point, I still wonder how my life could have turned out if I had never gotten that mark," she continued, arriving at a pavilion and sitting down, watching how little, discreet raindrops started to land on the nearby roses' petals. "...whether I would get married to someone out of love and not obligation," she added, while the rain was getting a bit heavier, expressing for the very first time that this issue she pretended to not care about... getting married without love, did affect her, after all. "Love is just nonsense distracting us from really important things, young lady... a feeling that does not bring the slightest benefit," Roderich interrupted her thoughts, making her suddenly open her eyes. "With all due respect, but I do not share this opinion, love is something that fulfills us... love is..." "A nuisance," completed Roderich, frowning, without averting his gaze from the landscape. "It makes us stupid and robs us of our sanity... love is not as wonderful as you think, it is only something for idealistic idiots," he raised his voice without even noticing, offending Elizabetha, who looked at him angrily. "Why? Why are you like this? With such a horrible way of thinking, a bitter man with a dried up heart," she spat. "I do not have a dried up heart, young lady, that you can be sure of." "I am having my doubts about that, a person with feelings could never say something like this. You do not know anything about romance," she affirmed, crossing her arms. "And what about you? Have you ever fallen in love to talk to me like that?" Roderich asked angrily. "Well... I..." she tried to respond. "If you do not have a clue what it feels like to suffer because of a stupid falling-in-love, do not dare to judge me and speak to me as if you knew me. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to return to my lord." And with these words, he left the pavilion, despite the now heavy rain. "Jack, wait!" Elizabetha shouted, still protected from the rain, but since he didn't stop, she had no other choice than to go after him, shuddering when she felt the cold water hitting her. "I told you to wait!" Her already heavy dress got soaked, and its weight became twice as much, besides, her hair got ruined, and she could barely walk on the now muddy and irregular ground. "Stop!" she commanded again, just as her foot got stuck in the mud, and she inevitably fell down, cushioning her fall only thanks to her pompous dress. Roderich, who despite being soaked and freezing to the bones, was walking away with his head held high, looked over his shoulder as he didn't hear Elizabetha's voice anymore, and saw her kneeling on the ground and trying to get up, with her dress full of mud and her hair made a mess. Fighting with himself, he couldn't defeat his inner gentleman and turned around to help her. He bent down in front of her, offering her his hand, but instead of standing up, she tugged at both of his arms, forcing him to fall to his knees as well, in order to be at the same height. "Tell me why! Why are you treating me like this? As though you were insisting on hating me each day!" she asked with raindrops running over her face, creating the impression as if she was crying. "All this time, I have done everything to the point of exhaustion to fulfill your expectations and exceed them, but it seems that you despise me for real, because you contradict me, and nothing I do ever seems to please you. Why, Roderich? I didn't do anything wrong!" She was still on the ground, grabbing the jack tightly, whose soaked hair was sticking to his face, even that strange rebellious curl had succumbed to the rain. Roderich was feeling her thin hands clutching his wet jacket. Elizabetha was shivering from the cold, her jaw also trembling and her nose a bit red, but her eyes that were always shining with determination and fierceness, now seemed to look at him with genuine doubt, almost expectantly and imploringly. And so, he couldn't hold back any longer and kissed her in a fit of madness, or at least tried to, just pressing his month against hers. She let out a stifled scream, feeling his icy and wet lips on her own, having him so close that she could count the raindrops running down his glasses. He even put his hands on her cheeks, approaching her even more, but without moving his lips, thinking anxiously that if his audacity was going to cost him his head, then it should at least be worth it... until they inevitably had to separate from each other. "I am treating you like this because I fell in love with you," he confessed, his hands still on her ice-cold cheeks, while she wasn't sure if she remembered how to breathe. "I have to force myself to maintain that distance, to almost hate you since I have hopelessly fallen for you, despite knowing that you are the future queen and my lord's wife," he continued in a quiet and sorrowful voice, lowering his head and resting his forehead against the chest of Elizabetha, who hasn't moved even a centimeter from the spot. "Roderich..." she said, returning to reality, calling him by his name for the second time, but since he didn't answer nor raise his head, she forced him to face her. "Why have you not said so earlier? I was already resigning myself to the fact that my feelings would never be returned." And she fearfully placed her mouth back on Roderich's, in a very shy and inexperienced kiss, but one making the servant think that his head was a fair price for those lips... and maybe someone was thinking the same. Ivan was watching them through one of the windows... with a smile as unshakable as always... but his hands clenched into fists with such force that his palms would be bleeding by now if he didn't have gloves on. "Your Majesty, it is time to present lady Elizabetha," one of the announcers informed him. Ivan didn't leave his spot, standing with his back to him. "Notify the guests that the ceremony will get canceled until further notice," the king ordered in his usual voice. "But Your Majesty..." "Please just do what I say, lady Elizabetha cannot be presented right now." Ivan turned around, and the servant trembled from head to toe at the sight of his macabre smile and the calmness of his voice. "As you wish, I will inform everyone right now." The announcer took a bow and almost ran away, while Ivan turned back to the window, watching how Roderich and Elizabetha got up to their feet, dirty and holding hands. "Come, Roderich, we have to talk to Ivan," she said, walking with his help, since her dress seemed to weigh several tons. "Right now?" he asked, baffled. "Of course, it has to be before I am going to be presented as the queen. Roderich, I want to be honest with Ivan and tell him that I cannot marry him, because I love someone else." "Young lady, I doubt that this is the right choice, you do not know His Majesty..." Roderich warned Elizabetha, trying to stop her, while she was walking towards the palace, stumbling. "I have spent enough time with him to know that he will understand, I know he will," she said with confidence, dragging Roderich along, who finally managed to make her stop. "No, you do not know him, His Majesty is not how you think he is, he will never agree to what you are planning to ask him," he told her, worried, but she just smiled, even despite the still pouring rain falling on the two of them. "Don't be such a pessimist, someone who is always smiling cannot be a bad person." She resumed her path, followed by Roderich. They decided to enter the palace through a back door, noticing that everyone was leaving and murmuring things, even the royals, which really surprised the new couple. The two of them sneaked through the hallways to the main hall, where they spotted the silhouette of the king still watching the rain drops fall against the window as though they could go through the glass any moment to soak him as well. "Ivan, what happened, why is everyone leaving?" asked Elizabetha, having to let go of Roderich, but not because she really wanted to, but rather because the latter insisted. "I ordered it," the king simply replied, having his hands behind his back and his happy expression on his face. "I think it would have been rude to present you with how you look now," he added, turning around to the young woman, who was wearing a wet, muddy dress and from whose hair rain was dripping on her face. She finally noticed her appearance and looked at herself, a bit ashamed for having shown herself like this in front of the king. "But I suppose you could not help looking like this after the moving scene in the garden. It is as if the weather had decided to play along with your little love demonstration." He let out a few giggles that made the jack feel as though his soul was leaving his body. "You saw it..." she said. "I saw it..." the king admitted, and both of them fell silent. Elizabetha moved back a strand of her wet hair and walked confidently towards Ivan, who didn't stop smiling, as if it was just a casual conversation. "I am not going to lie to you, Ivan." She took a deep breath and looked him directly into the eyes. "I love Roderich and he loves me." The jack was waiting for the king's reaction, but it didn't come. "Ivan, you have been very good and kind to me, you have given me everything material and even your comprehension, friendship and support, so please let me be capricious once again and take advantage of your kindness," she continued, taking his hands. Ivan just stared at them. "Please... I ask you to call off our engagement, let me be free with the man I love and do not tie yourself down to a marriage that could never be real. The same destiny that gave me that mark and dictated to me to become queen... has also put Roderich into my path and decided that I am not the person who should be by your side, so I beg you," she asked as humbly as she could. Ivan's smile got wider, making her think that he agreed with her, while Roderich became incredibly scared. The king giggled, causing Elizabetha, who didn't let go of his hands, joy, but then looked at her with his icy violet eyes. "Why would I do that?" he asked, still smiling, as though he was enjoying seeing her confused face. "Because I cannot marry you without love... because I want to be with Roderich," she answered, letting go of his hands, but before she could move away, he tightly grabbed her wrist and her face, pulling her roughly towards him. She let out a little scream, and the jack wanted to rush to her help, however, the king stopped him with a single death stare. "I will not let you go and allow you to abandon me like everyone else did," he said quietly, glaring at Elizabetha, who didn't recognize the man in front of her. "But you do not love me that way," she said, feeling Ivan's fingers painfully close around her wrist, while his other hand was firmly holding her face. "It doesn't matter, Elizabetha... this is our curse," he replied, and his smile became bitter. "We royals are cursed, and the mark on your skin is nothing but the proof of it." "You can break it... you can save me from it by giving me the opportunity to not become queen," she continued to insist, and Ivan broke out in laughter that made her shudder, still questioning herself, who that person in front of her really was. "Ah... my sweet Elizabetha, if I could do that, I would not be on the throne right now myself... and even if I could... I would not do it." He was enjoying the girl's baffled expression, and she trying to free herself, in vain. "Then we will run away!" she threatened, making Ivan let out that scary laugh again and move her closer to him, while she was looking in his cold eyes for the Ivan she knew... or maybe that person showing himself now was none other than the real King of Clubs. "My dear, your head will rather roll over the public square at sunrise than you managing to escape from here... Or do you know what would be better? To let it be Roderich's head for betraying his kingdom and his lord," he said with a sadistic grin, now looking at Roderich, who could sense the fear eating at him from inside. "No! You cannot do that!" "I am the king, I can do whatever I want to with my servants' lives and with yours as well. So I will not let you go, I will not let you leave me like everyone else in this palace has done, you will not leave me alone... you will not leave me... I do not want to be alone," he answered, hiding his eyes under the shadow of his bangs and holding her wrist even tighter, until he suddenly let go of her and shoved her, so that she would have fallen on her back if the jack hadn't caught her. Ivan turned his back to them, starting to walk away. "I think now is the right moment to add something I did not mention when you arrived here," he said before leaving the room, turning back to stare at Elizabetha who was trembling on the floor, being helped by Roderich. "Welcome to your damnation." The king wasn't smiling this time, but left with a grim expression on his face and empty eyes, without giving any punishment to the two of them. Knowing that having to live together for the rest of their lives without being able to be a couple and to be free to love each other was already enough... So without being able to escape her curse, Elizabetha became queen and carried the crown showing herself powerful and tough like only she could, without allowing the rest of the court to see her collapse, while looking with an overwhelming and desperate desire at the jack, as if she wanted to remove the ornament from her head and throw herself into his arms... But instead, she stayed firm like a statue and strong like a lioness, leaving behind her feelings of a woman in love. After all, she was not a normal woman anymore, but a queen. "My lady..." said Roderich, also maintaining his deadly serious expression, an actor better than could ever be found in any theater company... an actor of daily life. "Now that you are queen, I can swear you my eternal loyalty, you can be sure that I will be your most faithful servant." He took a deep bow, wishing to take her in his arms and escape with her from all that ridiculous and fake scene. "Look, Elizabetha," Ivan called her, sitting next to her, smiling. "What you promised back then, did come true: you managed to make Roderich call you 'my lady'," he said, obviously mocking her. She returned his smile and took his hand, as if they were the perfect married couple. "All of this thanks to you, dear," she replied in a sarcastic tone, and both of them laughed, as though reproaching something to each other, he her betrayal, and she his punishment he had imposed on her. Elizabetha felt the sun shining directly on her face... she had dreamt of the past, and it had been rather like living through all of it once again. Or could it be that Ivan was thinking of her right now? She stirred in bed, feeling her foot itch, just where the small emerald club was, and hugged the person lying beside her. "Elizabetha, I have told you thousands of times that you cannot sneak into my bed, it is too dangerous," Roderich scolded her, but didn't put up a lot of resistance as her thin arms were wrapping themselves around him. "Let me stay like this just a little longer," she said, burying her face into his chest and falling asleep again that very instant. The jack let out a long sigh, made sure that his lady was sleeping, and lifted her up in his arms, carrying her out of his room to bring her into her own. While doing that, he saw her feet hanging down and the stigma on one of them that had basically turned them into secret lovers... but no one could escape destiny, never. As well as he could, he opened the door and, trying to not make any sudden movements, walked through the hallway. "Did Elizabetha not have a good night?" inquired the Queen of Hearts and came closer, being accompanied by the Queen of Spades and their respective servants. Roderich could only lower his head, since he was still carrying her. "This is right, Your Majesty, and right now I am bringing her to her room," he replied without any explanations nor unnecessary pretexts, since he knew the Queen of Hearts' discretion all too well, because the latter had already caught them more than once during a lovers' adventure. "I hope she did not have a nightmare," said Kiku, looking at the young woman, curled up and taking long breaths in Roderich's arms. "Me too," the jack admitted. He couldn't help but cast her a loving gaze, remembering the time when she had still been just a teenager, and now she was already an adult. "Excuse me for my rudeness, but I have to carry her to her room." He lowered his head again and left the queens and their servants behind.  "These two are always so indiscreet, but I admit that they are sometimes fun to watch," Kiku commented, while Arthur was following the couple with his gaze. "Does that mean that you already know about... well..." tried to ask the latter, remembering that kiss he had witnessed. "Everyone knows, Arthur, it is like an open secret, but of course this issue never leaves the doors of the Kingdom of Clubs' palace nor our mouths," the Queen of Hearts replied rather as a warning than a simple comment. "And King Ivan does not do anything about it?" wondered Arthur. "This is the strangest thing... His Majesty Ivan has never seemed affected by it. However, we see many masks, without knowing what is really hidden behind them." The other took out his black fan once again, opened it and covered his face, creating the impression that he was putting on his own mask of imperturbable tranquility. "So this kind of relationship exists as well..." commented Arthur, and couldn't help but turn around to Yao, who immediately lowered his head as he noticed his lord's gaze. "Calm down, Arthur, King Alfred is a very honorable man, despite his young age, he perfectly knows what faithfulness is," the other queen said, startling Arthur who started blushing. "I have no clue why you are saying this, Majesty, I am sure that King Alfred is not a person who would just betray a vow of loyalty," he defended himself, wanting to hide his temporary distrust. "You sound so sure that it seems as if you knew His Majesty well," said Kiku, laughing behind his fan. "You may find it strange, Majesty... but on some days I am feeling as though I really knew him... as though we would live together every day, a very odd feeling," said Arthur, closing his eyes for a moment and seeing a detailed image of Alfred before his eyes, with his heroic smile and his bright blue eyes that were making his heart jump. "This is the reason," replied Kiku, closing his fan and stretching it out towards the other queen's side, pointing at the latter's mark. "This keeps us connected, no matter how far away we are from each other." He removed the fan, and Arthur placed his hand on said spot. "Connected?" he repeated, thinking of the king once again, of that feeling of closeness to someone he had never been nearer than ten meters. "Exactly. Have you ever had the sensation of having him by your side despite this not being the case, of suddenly hearing his voice in your ear, like a strange call?" "I... I have," Arthur responded, not able to deny having heard the king's voice calling for him from far away on some nights, perceiving a smell that he for some strange reason knew was His Majesty's, infected by that sincere smile... Was that all the mark's doing? Connecting them in such a supernatural way? "Are you feeling the same regarding my lord?" Feliciano suddenly asked, taking Arthur out of his thoughts. Everyone turned around to the jack, who instantly covered his mouth, realizing that he had interrupted a conversation between queens. Even Yao was looking at him disapprovingly. "Ve~ forgive me," he apologized, lowering his head, and the queens resumed their talk. "It is hard to get used to this... on some mornings when I wake up, I am sure that King Alfred is in the same room or that I would find him in the hallway," lamented Arthur, returning to the issue, without really knowing if he felt like this due to that strange excitement or rather the disappointment of not seeing the king welcoming him with that smile he sometimes managed to see. "I have no clue how you are able to bear this, Majesty, I am sometimes envying you so much," he admitted, letting out a deep sigh. "Why, Arthur?" asked Kiku, not having expected such a comment at all. "It is just that you sometimes seem as if nothing could faze you." "Do I really give that impression?" The Queen of Hearts opened his fan again, hiding his discreet smile behind it. "Ah... well... you just always seem so calm that I do not believe you to be able to lose control at all," answered the other royal, fearing that he may have offended him. "I am flattered that you think of me like this, Arthur, but even I have been carried away by my emotions," Kiku confessed, still having his face behind his accessory, not showing that his little smile was fading, while both of them fell silent. "I see... in that case, I can imagine that it had to be a really difficult moment for you, then," Arthur supposed, without seeing the light shudder running over Kiku's body. "Yes... it was a difficult one, indeed," the latter said, seeming to be slightly lost in thoughts behind his fan, being watched by Yao, who was standing a few steps behind them. Arthur unintentionally noticed the way his own jack was looking at Kiku, who had a lost gaze in his eyes, and realized that he had touched on a sensitive topic. "My lord!" Feliciano suddenly called, raising his voice more than he should and catching everyone's attention. But when he had the others' eyes on him, he seemed nervous all of a sudden. "Ah... I... have forgotten what I wanted to say, ve~" he admitted with a silly giggle, making the representatives of the Kingdom of Spades raise an eyebrow. How could the most serious and well-disciplined king of the entire nation have such an absent-minded servant? Kiku, however, smiled at his jack, pronouncing a silent "thank you" behind his fan, to what Feliciano bowed very briefly. He knew that even his queen had topics he didn't want to talk about, yes, Kiku also had painful memories, secrets that were still alive in that numbed heart of his. "By the way, Your Majesty, Lady Lilly has invited us for a cup of tea. Do you want to join us?" asked Arthur politely, trying to change the topic with all his might. "You will have to excuse me, Arthur, but I do not think that this is the right moment to drink tea, Lady Lilly seems to have it even harder than us now," replied the Queen of Hearts, looking at the garden, where the girl was sitting at one of the tables and, indeed, about to drink tea, while her jack was standing at her right side. Her green eyes were dull, and she looked tired, as if she hadn't slept in days. "Brother, do you really think that Francis is alright?" she asked with her soft voice, repeatedly caressing the mark on her wrist, hoping to get a reply from it. "Yes, even though he has been spoiled rotten, I suppose that he knows how to survive," answered Vash, trying to believe in that as well and hoping that his lord will receive a good lesson about humility during his disappearance. "I am not referring only to that..." Lilly continued, closing her eyes and placing her hand on her diamond. "Sometimes I am feeling as though Francis was distressed by something... I don't know, as if something was hurting him, but not physically. It is so difficult, since he is not here right now and has also never told me anything about himself." She sounded worried. "Hey, Lilly, if you keep talking like this, I will start thinking that you have fallen in love with my lord," said Vash, completely forgetting his position as the jack and returning to being an overprotective older brother, looking at her with suspicion. The girl did a jump on her seat and returned the look, blushing. "O-Of course not! I only want him to see me as an equal, not as a child," she defended herself, trying to calm down. "I know that I am still very young, but... I really am able to keep up with him." "His Majesty Francis has never underestimated you, Lilly, it is just that he is maybe protecting you too much," replied Vash with clenched teeth, as though it had cost him a tremendous effort to say this and his tongue was going to rot away simply by pronouncing these words. He hated the mere idea that someone apart from him was behaving like this towards his little sister. "Protecting me from what?" the girl inquired, a bit offended for being treated as if she was helpless. Her brother, however, shot her an indecipherable look, with his eternal frown and his poker face, without giving her an answer, because he, too, was protecting her, just like Francis... keeping her away from the reality she had entered when the queen's mark had appeared on her body. If they could keep her in their Cinderella-story as long as possible until she was old enough, it would be fine, they didn't want her to wake up from her dream like Elizabetha and Kiku had done, and maybe Arthur would one day as well... they wanted to maintain that fragile glass bubble for her sake. "I am strong, Vash, and I know that I am not living in a fantasy," added Lilly, upsetting her brother a bit, who was seeing his little sister in front of him with that fierce look they had perhaps both inherited from their father... them, the two warriors... "I have been part of the court that entire time and have seen with my own eyes what a royal's life looks like... and Francis' life as well... you do not have to protect me from something I already know," she said in a slightly calmer tone, returning to her usual sweet look. Vash was a bit baffled, feeling that his sister was getting out of his hand, sensing that almost paternal fear of witnessing how the cute Lilly was becoming an adult woman ahead of time, building a fortress that perhaps would have never been necessary in another situation... his sweet Lilly was growing up way too fast, and he couldn't do anything than trying to hold her back from his position as her jack. "Let us take care of you, Lilly... or, more precisely, let me take care of you, fulfill the wish of your jack, who is also your big brother," he asked her selfishly, caressing her head. She couldn't help but lower her head a bit due to the weight of his hand, and nodded... she would allow him to spoil her just for this time, for old times' sake. "Oh... I believe that it would be rude to interrupt their moment between siblings," said Arthur, watching the scene tenderly, since he had already noticed the blood ties between these two and also their similar appearance. But at the same time, he also perceived a slight nostalgia for his home and his own brothers, what he considered incredible, thinking of his endless fights with them. Well, he did love them, despite everything, though it was a shame that he realized this only now, when he couldn't be at their side anymore and share with them these dinners after work, where they were ending up fighting like hungry animals. He let out a little laugh at the memory, while Feliciano was also looking at the future queen and the jack of Diamonds. "Siblings..." he said so quietly that no one could hear him and took a deep breath, looking at the palace's ceiling where a big painting was showing the symbols of Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades. "If you were here right now, brother, what would you tell me?" he wondered in thought, closing his eyes and trying to imagine Lovino behind his eyelids. "Brother... now I need you more than ever..." he said to himself bitterly, envying the future queen and her servant for a moment, the ones who could continue to be together despite their condition. It was said that siblings were connected through something that exceeded mere logic, that they were sensing each other's feelings, almost being able to read each other's thoughts... "Lovino!" a young brown-haired man with green eyes called out to the Jack of Hearts' twin brother, who was lying on a thick tree branch. The latter opened his eyes and lowered his gaze to look at the other who was greeting him, waving his hand with a smile, while trying to carry a basket full of tomatoes in the other. "What are you doing there? Come, let's eat together!" he said, raising the basket. "Coming," answered Lovino, a bit annoyed due to having been interrupted from his daydreams. He looked back at the tops of the Kingdom of Hearts' palace's towers that could be seen from far away. "Feliciano... what's the matter with you right now?" he wondered, being aware that Feliciano wasn't in that palace at the moment, having gone to the capital because of the presentation of the new queen. However, he still couldn't help but look in that direction every time he was thinking of his brother. "Lovi, hurry!" the other rushed him, so Lovino skillfully jumped from the branch, grumbling, only to be welcomed with a little kiss on the lips. "I told you not to do that, Antonio, you idiot!" Lovino objected angrily and slightly shoved him. But Antonio just laughed and offered Lovino a tomato, which the latter took a violent bite of, looking at the palace once again. People are connected through a giant net of red threads that can get tangled up and stretched, but never break...