6 Emma Beischel

Emma Beischel, the ultimate and only princess of Corsia started her day off in her room, on her bed. She crossed her right leg on the left one as she began thinking. A knock, she heard from the door. Stunned, she got up and went to get it. Her stepmother, the king's wife, was an unwanted guest.

"Emma! Your father is looking for you." The queen consort nicely announced. Emma was holding the edge of the door which was barely opened.

"Well tell his majesty that him seeing me won't be possible," Emma said, emotionless.

"You have to go see him now." She insisted.

"No!" The queen consort felt disrespected by the young lady. She had to tune herself up a bit for the princess to listen.

"I'm not going to repeat myself, Emma, merge with me here, alright? Please." Emma took off her hand from the door and moved closer to the queen consort.

"Well then, let me repeat myself. I said - No!" She wasn't calm anymore. Her anger was slowly building up.

"Listen, Emma, I'm not here for trouble. The king is in need of you right now, it's urge -" Emma, with sharpness, grabbed the neck of her stepmother. The queen's eyeballs would have slipped out of shock if this was abnormal. It wasn't. She couldn't believe that this was happening for something so little.

"Oops! Look what you made me do." Emma sarcastically said, pretending to be sorrowful.

"Are you insane?" The queen used everything inside her to yell out her words. She could barely breathe. Emma enjoyed her pain. She took her hand away from her stepmother's neck and caressed her hair while smiling.

"Your neck was begging for a fist around it, I just responded, your Highness." She acted innocently. The queen was no stranger to Emma's abuse, verbal abuse. This time was out of reach. She never laid hands on her, all she could ever do was run her mouth, and that was about it. The queen consort gasped at how insane the princess looked, but all that did was make Emma laugh.

"Now go tell my father, I'm busy. You're choking on my peace, 'Mother'." She purposely emphasized the last word. That woman wasn't her mother, but that lady took her as her own. Emma stopped caressing her hair and moved back inside to hold the door, on the verge of closing it.

"You're going to hear from me again, be aware."

"Oh, I'm so scared, somebody please help me, I'm in danger - She chuckles - You're so funny."

Emma closed the door on the queen consort and went back to her bed, feeling unaltered by what had happened. The queen rushed to her husband, who was in his study, to tell him everything about what just happened. He seemed unfazed by the news. Instead of confronting Emma himself, he told his wife, the queen consort not to worry, that the princess was quite a handful, and not to bother her unless it was extremely urgent. He was the one who sent for her presence.

The queen was still angry at the previous event. She told the king that she won't be sitting there doing nothing, she won't let the princess get her way. She left the study and called out for the guards' indiscretion to drag the princess from her room to her. The guards were at first shocked and reconsidering, but it was an order, they had to do what was asked.

They quickly ran to the princess's room with their swords and picked her up.

"What the hell is going on?" They laid their hands on her, trying to bring her with them.

"We're sorry, Princess." One of the guards said.

"If you're sorry, leave me the hell alone." She used an inappropriate word. "Princess!!' The guard looked at her, unhappy by what she had said.

"What? One bad word, so what?" She raised her voice. They dragged her to the dungeon, where the queen consort was waiting. Not a soul noticed them on their way there. They slightly pushed her in front of the queen and left. They couldn't over-mistreat the princess.

"Oh, so it was you," Emma said as her knees were on the dirty floor, in front of the queen. She got up and wiped her knees.

"And you said, I was the crazy one." She chuckled at her stepmother. The queen consort got closer to her, she wanted to intimidate the princess.

"I've had enough of your rudeness, Emma. I didn't want to come to do this but I'll have to teach you a lesson." She continued to smile at her words. The princess couldn't care less.

"If you wanted to teach me a lesson, it would've been smart to let the guards stay, don't you think?" The queen left out a slight smile and murmured; "No witnesses, no proof." Emma started laughing at her efforts. "Also, nobody will help you." She murmured back.

"Help me?" The princess put her hand on the queen consort's shoulder, pushed her down to her knees, and stood in front of her.

"You're no match to me at all. - Haven't you heard? I'm crazy. You're not the only wife Father has titled 'Queen', why did you think dragging me to the dungeon will make me fear you? Now, look at what you've brought to yourself."

"What?" The queen consort didn't want to show her nervousness. Not yet.

"I guess I have to do this again."

"Do what?" She became more agitated, scared of what would happen in the next few seconds. Emma noticed the hesitant movements of the queen and said; "Are you scared?" The queen lifted her head, looked her stepdaughter in the eyes, and smiled for a second but it faded away. She couldn't be the better woman in this confrontation.

※

Francis walked into Margaret's room, uninvited. From the bathroom, she appeared to meet his eyes, and his gaze shocked her. "Your Majesty?" She said as she curtsied.

"Margaret! I'm sorry to have walked in here undemanded." He slightly inclined his head to apologize. Deep down, she didn't accept that apology but she went on and said; "Oh, no worries, your Majesty. Please sit." She directed him to the chair that was a few steps away from the bed.

"I'm suddenly here because I wanted to talk to you, to get to know you, if that's alright." He said as he sat down. Margaret followed him and sat on the bed.

"Get to know me? Of Course, I don't mind."

"First and foremost, how do you feel? Being in Greyland." He asked.

"Greyland is... Interesting." She bluntly responded.

"Interesting? Just interesting?" He wanted more as an answer.

"And beautiful, really mesmerizing." She said, to redeem herself.

"That's better." He smiled.

"What about you, your Majesty? How do you feel about me being here?"

"To be frank with you, I was a little worried at first. - I was worried about how you would feel around here if you would be as much pleased." What he said melted Margaret's expression.

"I'm more than pleased, your Majesty. This realm is spoiling me, it's really beautiful and admirable, especially with a king like you. Greyland deserves to be called the most eye-catching realm of all." She tried to reassure him about her thoughts about the kingdom.

"That's good to hear." She took advantage of the atmosphere and asked a question in return. "Why do you want me to be your queen?" Was she too straightforward with her question? She thought to herself.

"My Queen! - That sounds beautiful." He said, beaming. "Well, which king doesn't accept an elegant princess to be his queen?" He continued, looking deeply into her eyes from afar. She locked eyes with him and smiled. Not realizing it, her dull-witted heart was pounding. Why was her heart beating fast, was she nervous? She was probably shocked by what he had said, unlike his image. He got up from the chair, moved towards her, and sat next to her on the bed.

"Your Majesty? You can't sit here, it's -" She was taken aback by his sudden move.

"- Why can't I?" He interrupted.

"It's a bed." She confidently said, moving further away from him.

"It's my castle, and I'm not telling you not to be in it." He was slick.

"True, but -" He silenced her by putting his right index finger on her lips. "Why are you trying so hard, Princess?" He realized that she couldn't respond to him with his finger still laid on her lips and so he took it off. "Sorry!"

"Your Majesty? What is going on here?" She didn't understand what was going on, all she knew was that a man shouldn't be in a lady's bed.

"What is going on?" He repeated, asking her the same question. "What do you like, Margaret?" He continued.

"What do I like? Like what?" He changed the conversation as fast as lightning. She didn't realize it and went along.

"Your favourite song, favourite food, anything." A question right in her alley.

"Oh well, I like calming but cheerful music and I like any sort of food, I eat a lot, you know. I like roaming around in large spaces and having fun like no other. Oh, and what I love the most, the most important thing in my life, is my horse, Lili. She's great, a good horse, the best. I can't live without her. She once laid in mud, she was so dirty but I couldn't stop laughing about how silly she looked." She went on and on.

"Amazing." He said as he laughed.

"Oh dear, I talk too much, don't I, Your Majesty?" She felt embarrassed.

"No, of course not. I wanted to know you better and you provided me with just that, you're interesting, Princess Margaret." His gaze was soothing. "I can't wait to know more about my future queen, an elegant queen. - Hope to hear more about your story later. I must go, but I enjoyed having you as a chaperone, the best yet." He got up and moved towards the door. He opened it, turned around, and looked at her. He then smiled and turned back to leave.

"Insane," Margaret said, throwing herself on the bed.

※

"Insane." The queen of Corsia said, dirty on the floor of the dungeon. She slowly crawled towards the door but then got dragged by Emma once again.

"I've told you before, haven't I? I'm not one to mess with." Emma held a stick in her right hand. The queen got on her knees, both hands together, and begged.

"What are you doing?" Emma couldn't fathom what she was trying to do.

"Fine, I'm sorry. I won't bother you anymore, do whatever you want." That made Emma crazy. The queen apologizing and giving in lowered the princess' esteem.

"I don't need you to tell me what's obvious. - Why are you scared? I'm not going to do anything to the queen. Come on, I still have some decency as a princess." The queen got up from the floor, stood, and looked at Emma.

"You're just like your mother." She left out those words that were cruel to the princess' ears. Emma suddenly stopped smiling.

"I usually hate it when people talk about my mother but from your mouth, it seems like a compliment." It wasn't.

"How's that supposed to be a compliment?" The queen was too tired to even come back with something worse.

"Do you even know my mother? Do you know what she looks like, how she was, her personality?" The queen stayed silent. "I guess not." Emma continued.

"My beautiful mother was a good queen. She was loved, nicer, and a great human. I'm crazy, rude, a nightmare. How can you compare me to her?" Disappointment filled the queen's face.

"Decency, you say. How decent is it to torture the queen?"

"Wasn't that what you had planned to do to me? When you asked the guards to drag me in here."

"That's different. I had a reason and no I wasn't going to torture you but to talk sense into you." She tried to defend herself, to defend her actions.

"Sense? In a dungeon?" She backed away from the queen.

"Yes! Besides what did I ever do to you huh? Why do you hate me so much?"

"I didn't have a problem with you before, but you suddenly became annoying. What didn't you understand in 'Leave me alone?'" The atmosphere changed.

"I was being responsible, trying to be a mother to you."

"Oh! That right there was your mistake, I don't need a second mother. All I need is a queen next to my father, to have a better Corsia. If you can't handle just that and want more, then leave." The queen stayed silent for a second, looking at the young lady in front of her. She then turned around to leave. As she was leaving, she said one last thing to Emma; "Child, you need love, not a queen." She then left.

Emma crumpled on the ground and burst out crying. "I really can't have everything I want, can I?" She said to herself. "Well, I must fight for it. Right? Francis."