MAWBF 2

Chapter 2

***

As if searching her memory, Reina furrowed her brow.

"I..."

"Yes, you had an audience with the king."

"The king... Yes, that's right. I... my king..."

Only then did Reina's memories return in reverse order.

She had collapsed while attending the king. Her emaciated body couldn't endure a week of hunger strike.

She couldn't quite recall the expression on the king's face, her husband's face, the last time she saw him.

Had it been a frown?

Or had it been his usual expressionless face?

Instead of asking if he had come looking for her during that time, Reina asked something else.

"Carla, how long was I unconscious?"

She had long since given up on such hopes.

Carla lowered her eyes, unable to hide her utter despair.

"Two days, Your Majesty."

At that, Reina's lips parted in a dazed expression.

Two days. It wasn't just a brief lapse. It was a long time, perhaps long enough for everything to have ended already, without any chance to do anything more.

Reina gasped, feeling an ominous foreboding.

"So... what happened?"

Carla's face finally collapsed, utterly helpless.

"...That woman entered the palace."

Her ominous premonition never failed. Reina held her breath and slowly closed her eyes. Regaining her composure with difficulty, she asked.

"With the child?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"......"

Carla bowed her head deeply, and Reina remained silent.

Five years ago, at eighteen, Reina had married the king and become queen. And yet, she had still not borne him a child.

Thus, a disturbing rumor had been circulating throughout the capital, Elmaril.

That the king, longing for his dead brother's wife, Priscilla, would dethrone Queen Reina and take his brother's widow as his new queen. And that he would then name his own nephew as heir.

That dreadful rumor had spread throughout the castle, inevitably reaching Reina's ears.

Could the king be unaware of the rumor?

No, he couldn't possibly be unaware.

Yet, the king finally granted his brother's widow and nephew a separate palace.

What would people say now? Queen Reina could not accept the king's decision and began a hunger strike.

After a week, she was finally summoned by the king. But her weakened body was the problem. The hard-won opportunity slipped away.

Queen Reina, who had been quiet as if asleep for a while, suddenly opened her eyes.

"...You said two days have passed."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Once everything was decided, strangely, her pounding heart quickly calmed. She no longer felt angry; instead, her mind, which had been tangled and fragile, felt lighter. She could finally let go of the small hopes and expectations she had stubbornly clung to.

Reina tried to rise. Carla swiftly supported her, blinking in surprise.

"Your Majesty?"

"I must see the King."

"Your Majesty, you mustn't overexert yourself. The doctor said..."

"I can't bear it any longer."

Her voice was hoarse and barely audible, yet it was unmistakably a scream. The queen's maid was instantly struck dumb.

A brief silence followed.

After a moment, Reina lifted her dazed gaze and whispered to Carla, frozen in despair.

"I wish you could see me as I always was."

“…Yes, Your Majesty.”

Carla sensed what her mistress intended. Barely managing to compose her face, twisted as if ready to weep at any moment, she hurriedly summoned the maids.

Reina stared indifferently at her reflection in the mirror, suddenly recalling the first time the king had rejected her.

A husband who hadn't come to his wife after their wedding night.

Born into privilege, a haughty young lady who'd held everything in her grasp since birth, she found that humiliation unbearable.

At first, she stormed to his study, demanding to see him. She'd raged at his knights guarding the door, shouting, "How dare you block the Queen's path?" She must have screamed, slapping his cheeks, demanding, "Who are you lying to? The King would never reject me!"

And then, when she finally forced herself to share his bed, the misery she felt...

It was always like that after that.

She tried to force her way through those blocking the door, only to be roughly shoved aside and fall down in an embarrassing heap. That day, she returned to her room in such a state of shock and disarray that she wept like a fool all night long.

Was that already two years ago? That was probably the last time she sought out his bedroom.

"Your Majesty, you are ready."

While she was reminiscing about the past years, the dressing was complete.

Though many had labored to adorn her with only the most precious and valuable items, they couldn't completely hide her sickly pallor. In the mirror stood a woman worn and faded by five years.

Carla deftly moved her hand, adding color to Reina's gaunt cheeks.

"You look perfect as always, Your Majesty."

At the maid's deliberately reassuring words, Reina consciously lifted the corners of her mouth, rose, and left the room.

Her vision darkened and her legs trembled for a moment, but she gave no sign of it.

She had to see her husband immediately. If not now, she feared she would repeat another foolish act.

"Where is His Majesty?"

Even as she asked, her footsteps were already carrying her somewhere.

It was obvious where he would be. The study, or perhaps the training grounds or the reception hall.

Passing servants stopped abruptly, bowing their heads hastily, stealing quick glances at the Queen's rapidly receding back. Reina paid no heed to those looks.

The king's knights stood before the office. Reina knew she had come to the right place. Even seeing the knights turn toward her, seemingly ready to block an uninvited guest who had suddenly appeared at the king's office without any notice, she did not stop.

It was precisely then that the office door opened unexpectedly.

Reina reflexively looked up and stopped in her tracks without realizing it.

'Ah.'

It was because she had encountered an unexpected figure. Or rather, had she anticipated this situation somewhat when she heard the news that she had taken the secondary palace?

A woman with neatly pinned-up black hair and gray-brown eyes stopped abruptly as she was leaving the reception room.

The woman who should have become queen and mistress of this castle. Priscilla, Elijah’s sister-in-law, the wife of the late Prince Cassian.

Priscilla stared at Reina for a moment with an expressionless face, her thoughts unreadable, then promptly curtsied.

'...It's true. She really is in the palace... Yes.'

And the moment she encountered her brother-in-law's wife emerging from her husband's study at this late hour, Reina wanted to leave Elmaril immediately.

She walked right past Priscilla, who kept her head bowed. As if there were no more secrets to guard, the king's knights no longer blocked the queen's path.

Thud.

The sound of the door closing behind her echoed unusually loudly.

And finally, the figure of the man seated at the desk came into view.

Her husband, her king, Elijah.

As she approached him, Reina stopped involuntarily. He felt strangely unfamiliar all of a sudden. His pale platinum hair, his face slightly bowed, shadowed—there was no trace left of the shyness or youthful innocence of old.

Elijah lifted his gaze. He showed no sign of fluster or surprise, and the look in his eyes was far removed from that of a husband looking at his wife.

As always, they were cold, utterly emotionless eyes.

"What is it, Reina?"

Even though she had collapsed before him, he seemed unaware of it.

But to Reina, that no longer mattered. She was too worn and weathered to be disappointed or hurt by his every action anymore.

She had believed he would come back to her someday.

That someday, he would smile at her again like he used to.

But now, she had reached her limit.

She no longer wanted to wait for him.

She no longer wanted to cling to his love.

Elijah spoke.

"If you intend to discuss inviting guests to the palace, I suggest you stop."

Despite his tone, which seemed to cut off the conversation, Reina could respond without hesitation.

"The matter concerning Lady Priscilla is of no consequence."

But Elijah did not seem to believe her words.

"Using your family name won't help you."

During their five years of marriage, Elijah had spent three on the battlefield. Once a puppet king, now the king's soldiers vastly outnumbered the Duke of Dazbel's private army. The absurd joke that the Duke of Dazbel was a king above the king was now a thing of the past.

"I have no such intention."

But truthfully, Reina couldn't care less about such complicated matters. What she was about to tell the king was something she could never discuss with her father.

The Duke was strict. He would be ashamed of his weak daughter and would never permit her to flee the palace.

'But really, I just can't do this anymore.'

She had endured his rejection for a full five years. Hadn’t she done her best by now?

Reina was exhausted. She wanted to end this arduous process and escape this place as soon as possible.

Thus, she muttered in a rather impatient tone.

“I will leave.”

Reina hadn't come to ask Elijah to send Priscilla away from the palace.

"It's not Lady Priscilla, but I who will leave Elmaril. I believe Your Majesty would have wanted it this way too."

When she finally uttered her true purpose, a barely perceptible crack appeared on his expressionless face.

But it barely registered in Reina's utterly exhausted eyes.

"Please dismiss me now."

In that moment, she felt strangely relieved, and a faint smile slipped onto her lips without her realizing it.