The Vicious Queen

s i x

Mr. Yoshida glances at me afraid and he's as pale as a ghost. He stares at me for a split second with his eyes wide. Then he utters, his voice barely audible.

"Pri...Princess Eraya...?"

That's when I notice my hair pin of our family heritage lying in his frail hands. Princess Eraya is the only one in the entire world that could own it. My eyes are wide bulging in dismay.

Rune backs away from me and he looks at me as if he has seen a ghost. Then they all kneel down infront of me. "Our lady!"

Being greeted this way feels weird for the first time and I take a startled step back. "Please rise." I imply feeling like a princess once again.

They look like they would hesitate at first but they adhere my words. Mr. Yoshida gestures me to sit down on the table. I offer them to sit down with me and they do.

I study everybody's faces. Nobody looks at me, everyone's eyes are fixed on the table. They look so tensed and confused.

"Princess..." Mr. Yoshida finally looks at me. "We...we thought you died. The whole country thinks so." No wonder Rune looked at me as if he saw a ghost.

I stare at him unblinking. "What!?" I'm in complete shock. "Since when?"

"Since a week, princess." He claims with a look of worry.

"A week-!?" What in the world is going on!? "How long was I not awake?"

"Close to two weeks. Rune was the one who found you and he brought you to me and I treated you." I look at Rune and he only half smiles.

"What else do you know?"

"They announced that on the day of your wedding, when you found out your bridegroom was missing, you ran into the forest that night and you suicided."

What the hell?!

He continues "Prince Desmond said how much he will mourn for your death for a lifetime and so was a maid, your best friend? Uh, what was her name?" he looks at the others hoping for a response.

"Daliah." Azul mutters from his spot, barely raising his head.

Wow. Just wow. Well played, Daliah. I laugh in disbelief.

"Princess..." Azura speaks sounding small, the egoism in her voice suddenly vanished. "What really happened?"

"Desmond and Daliah, the ones that said they would 'mourn for my death for a lifetime' were the ones that tried to kill me on my wedding day." I laugh sarcastically, hiding the pain underneath and they freeze.

I sigh out loudly and I tell them everything from scratch. When I'm done, they stare at me big-eyed, completely shocked. Shocked of everyone's true faces.

"Princess-" Azul speaks.

I cut him off "Please address me as Kora Fox in order to keep my identity a secret and please don't treat me like a princess." I look them in the eye. "It's a request."

Mr. Yoshida hesitates, "But princess-"

"Please."

He's silent for a second staring at me as he hesitates but he finally nods.

"So, Kora" Rune voices. Got to love his confidence. "What you gonna do next?"

I look straight into their eyes.

"I need revenge."

They shift in their seats. I'm not surprised.

"So you're planning to take revenge on the soon-to-be-king of the most powerful kingdom?" Azura raises her eyebrows sarcastically.

"Sounds quite difficult." Rune adds with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes wide in a sarcastic way fixed on the table.

"Impossible." Azul decreed. And from the corner of my eyes, I see Azul and Azura exchange glances. I don't question.

"I agree." I affirm looking at him. "But you know, I got my reasons."

"How are you gonna do it though?" Azul questions, his voice sounding calm and mature as usual.

"I haven't thought about that yet..." I lie and I look at their faces if they've detected if I'm lying. I mean, I already have a plan but I don't know if I can trust anyone yet, right?

"Mhm..." Azura muses with her gaze fixed down on the table. And I feel like there's something she doesn't tell me.

We are in a long silence but then I break it. "I'm going to head out tomorrow first thing in the morning."

"But pri- Kora, I don't think it's a good idea..." Mr. Yoshida elaborates.

"Why not?"

"It will take at least a week for your wound to heal and your pain to disappear." He looks at me. "I know you want to get this done but Kora, if you aren't healed...I don't think your plan will succeed. So please, you can stay here."

I'm silent for a second as I ponder. He's right. "Yeah you're right" then I look up at him and smile softly. "Thank you for having me, Mr. Yoshida."

"It's an honor for us, Kora." He says and everyone nods along with soft smiles. It melts my heart.

Azura gets up lazily and changes the subject. "I think you would want to jump off that crumpled dress." She flicks a long finger up and down on my dress.

I look down at myself. Dirty and messy like I have never been before. "I really do."

Then she leads me to a dull room with a cathedral ceiling and a blub flickering from above. There are two small beds on the either sides of the room. She approaches her closet and holds it open, her eyes scanning through her clumsily folded clothes.

"That one is yours now."

"What?" I turn around to face her, surprised.

"Luckily, we have an extra bed. The one on the right is all yours."

"Oh. Uh. Thank you." I say startled quite surprised.

She tosses me two pairs of clothing. "And so is the closet."

I open my mouth to speak but then she adds. "Go take a shower. Grandpa always says that a warm shower and a good sleep will steal away all of your problems."

I smile with a shrug. "Thanks a lot, you know."

She returns my smile with a smirk. "Happy to serve." Then she pats my shoulder leaving me alone in the room.

I take a quick warm shower and hop into the loose pants and shirt Azura lended me. Sure enough, they fit quite well.

We soon finish dinner Mr. Yoshida prepared. The crackling and sizzling of the fireplace and everyone's soft chuckles lingers on my ears. The fire warms up the living area.

It feels weird because it's the first time I'm eating food that isn't inspected or checked by someone constantly.

Dozens of different well decorated food on expensive dishes aren't arranged on the table. The food aren't fancy or well prepared by one of the best chefs in the country like back in the palace.

It's prepared by an ordinary man in an ordinary household in an ordinary city. And it brings a smile to my face. It's nice. It feels comfortable. It feels cozy and home-like.

They keep on chatting and chuckling happily but my mind is occupied by thoughts of the lies about my existence. They really thought they got rid of me this easily?

Nah. I'm your karma, darling. I won't let go of this easily.

The dead princess is back.