A Game Between Hearts and Spade

The Queen of Hearts tightened her fists underneath their table for a moment as she tried to reign in the flicker of irritation that was beginning to burn itself through her veins. She needed to think of happy things like… tarts and tea. Afternoon tea. Tarts for dinner. Both for breakfast. And something growled. Whether it was her stomach or her mouth, she looked up and curled her lips into a well-feigned smile. 

Bastard who thought they could bully her Kingdom—

She calmed herself for a moment. If he had wanted to play this kind of game then the two of them shall dance around with numbers and words. She'd make sure that she'd squeeze out every coin out of his purse strings for daring to coerce her into this. "I presume that you are willing to pay whatever the price that I'll set then, Your Majesty."

The King of Spades blinked for a moment as the realization dawned on his mind, perhaps a little far too late as he inclined his head. But it had been his own fault for underestimating the Queen of Hearts, it might have been much easier to twist the arm of the King but the Queen would set her own terms. 

Alfred Villeuce should have expected something like this.

He sighed for a moment and rested his cheek on his palm, if he were to glance at his left side, he could already see his assistant giving him a pointed look that said it was a bad deal. If the Queen would set the terms then they might charge him exorbitantly and he would have no say on the matter. 

But who were they to back out when they were the one who started it? He wasn't some coward that would back out, instead he returned the Queen's smile with one of his own, "Of course, I'm confident that House Lockhart will be worth the price." If his Queen had been around, they might have renegotiated or asked for a paper detailing the costs in weapon production but he was too unwilling to back down. 

Instead he would simply grin and bear with it.

"I'm looking forward to an amicable relationship with you, Your Majesty." He added with a smile that may have been a tad more flirtatious than it should be, but he continued with it. Enjoying the slight break of composure from the man that stood beside the Queen of Hearts, he would then add, "I've heard so much about you." Which was entirely true.

Rosalyn Lockhart paused for a moment, a frown formed on her lips before she wiped it away and arched a brow at him, "Is that so? I'm afraid that I haven't heard much about you, Your Majesty." She finished it with a bright smile.

The same obnoxious smile that she'd seen Alice sport as the clueless idiot she had been.

Now it may have been too much to say, a man's reputation was clearly important to them. She had directly attacked his ego but she frankly only cared about the Kingdom of Spades not setting its eyes on conquest of her Kingdom—the Royalty themselves were something she didn't pay much attention to except for the basics. She couldn't be asked to spend more than an iota of her day on senseless gossip and rumors, she was far too busy with her work.

Instead of finding offense, the King of Spades, Alfred Villeuce simply chuckled, "Your Majesty, then let me sincerely hope that during this agreement, the two of us may get to know each other in a more familiar manner."

Compared to the King of Diamonds that had tried to either insult the King of Hearts or try to get in good graces with her with an intricate jeweled necklace as a gift… the King of Spades somehow knew their way around with words and not only with swords. She'd reluctantly admit that as she tried not to smile, "Oh my, I wish to clarify something, it may not be to your knowledge, but the House Lockhart is handled not by me but my older brother, Your Majesty."

The man's brows furrowed together for a moment, displeasure apparent in his face. Or disgruntled rather. Unlike her who had been raised to never show their emotion, she was much more used to keeping a blank face—that was to say if she were to disregard her outbursts though. Still it was a little silly for them to assume that she'd give them time that was returned to her.

"Ah, so a visit to Marmoreal is still in schedule then." Alfred Villeuce ran his fingers through his hair, a sigh of defeat escaping his lips before he gazed at her, tilting his head a bit as he asked, "Do you not return to your manor and visit them at all, Your Majesty?"

Even without giving him any permission, the man was already asking him questions that not even the King of Hearts asked of her. She wondered if the King of Spades was even aware of that, they seemed to be more concerned about doing whatever they pleased and wanted. And for some reason, one of the things that he desired was becoming familiar with her?

It was such nonsense! 

A ridiculous idea that she had no idea where it stemmed from, she was aware of her reputation as a hot headed Queen that scared people. But considering the man as a King of Conquest, then it may have been all the reputation she needed to gain his attention after all. 

Rosalyn wasn't sure if she should be even happy about gaining that much appeal, feigned or otherwise. But regardless of the man's actual perception towards her character, she wouldn't give him even another second of her time. She didn't want to do anything with Royalty as she frowned slightly at the man who asked so carefreely.

It looked like they were still awaiting her answer once again.

A moment passed before Alfred Villeuce cleared his throat, "It seems I may have overstepped my boundaries, forgive my curiosity. But it looks like Her Majesty is in need of a vacation and perhaps a visit to her family manor might ease up the tension... it appears to me that you're quite stressed."

"Stressed?" She raised a brow. "I'm not sure how you can draw such a conclusion."

"Call it a warrior's instinct." He answered with a nod of his head before leaning back against his chair. 

And it was there that Rosalyn Lockhart realized that the entire Royal Conference Room had watched the two of them go back and forth. But it made her reconsider something, what was the reason she did not want to associate herself with other Royalty again? The answer of course was right beside her, it was a silly question to ask… and yet at the same time it wasn't silly. She was afraid of finding out whether the King of Spades or the other Royalty would turn out to be similar to the King of Hearts or perhaps put her in an uncomfortable state and position.

It was quite a pitiful fear to have.

She'd have to move on from it.