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ZYLITH.

(Sigh!) How should I describe my state of mind at the moment? In a nutshell, if a clown invited me into the woods at this point, I would just go.

I realized my life was just like when you are holding your laundry and a sock falls and you bent down to pick it up and two more fall and eventually everything's on the floor.

Reuben's glowing eyes had a look of 'who are you trying to fool?', while Lord Gilbert was like 'Really? Is that the best you can do My Lady?', Queen Beatrice looked like she was watching a weird comical show and didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and the high priest...... well, he could be best described as an individual who wanted to turn back time to the point where he didn't have to witness the scene of me utterly degrading myself with my pathetic of an excuse, he also looked rather sweaty if I might add.

Being ogled by so many eccentric eyes, my sheepish face could win the Grammys for sheepishness if there ever was such a reward. I was utterly disgraced and wanted nothing more than to dig up my own grave right there and bury myself in with all of my withering embarrassment.

Reuben was attacked by his asthma again just to ease up the awkward air a bit and I decided to silently withdraw and hide behind my perverted mummy boss to save myself from further disgrace.

"So then, thank you for your warm reception today Queen mother, it was very kind of you, but we don't want to impose on you any longer and therefore, shall retire for the rest of the day." Reuben spoke very cordially to the Queen dowager, and I wanted to hug the guy in glee, for I wanted nothing more than to leave this blasted Queen's lair. Yes, go and be the man! Show her who's in charge. No wonder you are my knight in an aluminium foil.

"My! Dearest imperial son, what is the big hurry? This poor queen mother hardly ever gets time to spend with her son. Why don't you two stay for lunch. I have already made the necessary preparations." Her bright smile was like a poison to my eyes now, it was the kind of brightness that sears into your retinas making you close them for fear of going blind. It was so annoyingly dazzling that I was afraid that even if I had sunglasses on, I would still have to squint to see.

"No! We... We can't really inconvenience Her royal Majesty like that." I tried to try out my luck one last time even though I knew it would be as ineffective as whispering in the ears of a corpse.

"Come now, what are you saying dear queen Elizabeth. How could you inconvenience me when you two would just have lunch in my abode for an afternoon? If it were upto me, I would even go as far as to receive you for lunch every day." Her blinding smile never left her lips but for some strange reason, it seemed more and more sinister to me now. If a normal person were to hear her, they would think nothing of her words other than just the typical doting of a kind mother, but her underlying meaning in fact had me shuddering to my bones. She actually wanted me to accompany her everyday day from here on forth, most probably because she wanted to keep an eye on me, maybe even try and get me to work for her as her exclusive spy. This woman was really terrifying.

I timidly turned to look at Reuben for help. Reuben had his face bandaged like an archetypal mummy, so I could see no emotion that portrayed his current temperament. Normally, at times like these, I figure out his mood by the sound of his voice or his trifling gestures, but he wasn't saying a word at present. How was I supposed to know what he was thinking! I was freaking out inside as I didn't know how to answer this cunning viper queen. I really wanted to ignore her subtle hint, but I didn't know whether it would be a good idea to ignore her cues or not, and this aluminium foil knight's chainmail seemed to be corroding already.

"I-It would be an honour Your Majesty." I bowed my head down and muttered with gritted teeth.

"Oh great," She took my hands into her soft palms in utter glee and squeezed them hard while saying, "Now that we are a family, please do not address me with such reserve anymore dear. I would be very pleased if you would address me as Queen mother as well." I don't know if it was my hallucination or if her unwarranted gentleness was really sipping out of her frame without any constrain. She just looked like a scorching ball of sunshine to me, really the kind that is hard to handle. For a split second, the haughty woman from my first encounter seemed to be nothing more than some farfetched illusion that I had made up under the influence of severe stress at that time.

"O-Oh! As you command Your Majesty." My eyes averted away from her deceptive kind ones as they somehow made me very uncomfortable.

Reuben never spoke a word of rejection in the matter and as a result, we ended up spending the entire morning in the domain of queen Beatrice. I soon realized the extent of patience Reuben..... no, scratch that, both these two conniving mother and son possessed as we made small talk amongst ourselves.

"Now then, my dear imperial son, I have heard of some disturbing rumours lately." Queen Beatrice spoke in a soft languid voice as she took a sip of her delicate teacup. "Recently, the country of Theodore has been writhing around too much, don't you think so?"

"Yes queen mother, the matter has recently been brought to my notice." Reuben answered in a similar leisured tone.

"... So? What are you going to do about it?" She asked as she took another sip of her tea.

"You do not need to fuss over such matters queen mother. This son of yours is competent enough to take care of such small matters." I didn't know if it was just my imagination or if I actually saw Reuben's shoulders hunched up in an elusive shrugging gesture, but he seemed pretty laidback about this matter so as to speak(I was still unaware of what the two of them were speaking of, if you must know. So I didn't see it was fit for me to interfere).

"Oh of course I believe you can handle it just fine son, but you know, you still have to be careful. You never know, when and from where dangers might knock at your door." All the while, her face looked very serene, but at this moment, maybe just for a split second, I saw a subtlety in her lips, as if they were almost wrapped up in a sinister smile, and I felt the hairs on my skin rising. But the very next second, she seemed to have hidden her sadistic nature in the sip of her teacup. This woman.... her two-facedness really left me speechless. Looking at her, many fascinating thoughts came to me like, 'If I were to slap her, it would be hard to decide which face to attack first' or 'this woman is so fake, I wonder who would win if she were to compete with Barbie.'
In my dazed abruptness, I snapped my head to looked at Reuben beside me to check if he too saw what I think I just saw, but there was no abnormality in his bearing and I wasn't sure anymore if he really saw that underlying serpent smile of the queen dowager.

I, in turn drooped my head low to bury my face into my teacup for I feared my own anomaly would in turn be discovered.

"My dear Elizabeth." The queen's alleviating voice echoed in my ears and I visibly jumped out of my skin.

'Mother!!! If I don't get away from this Viperous Queen as soon as possible I'm afraid she's going to keep shortening my lifespan with her poisonous honey dripping voice.'

".....Yes queen mother." My timid voice had the hint of a quiver in it, but I somehow managed.

"On your wedding, I was not able to send any gifts of congratulation to the both of you. I recon you must be thinking that this queen mother had not prepared anything for you at all." Oh shit! I don't think I like where this is really going. "Fret not dear, I have not forgotten your wedding gifts."

Then she clapped her hands twice and the very next second, a hoard of young girls made their appearance into the room.

The looming essence of dread fell over me as the queen dowager presented these stash of girls in front of me. And my intuition was right, "My darling daughter-in-law, I have carefully prepared these maids of exquisite quality to serve your days in the harem. I humbly hope that you honor this queen mother of yours by accepting this little present." The way her lips lifted upward, it was like the sun opened its eager light to shine on her, only brightening her perfectly aligned teeth more. Anticipation and eagerness lit up her features and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

It was so blatantly obvious that she was positioning moles around me, but she did is so sleekly and with such confidence that I was left flabbergasted. Her tone resonated of her self-assurance over the manipulation of the situation. As if she already foresaw the end result. As if she had already figured me out and knew exactly how I would react, she seemed to have infallible confidence in the notion that I would not have the guts to reject her proposition.

I looked at my aluminium foil knight to save this maiden in distress, but he seemed to have gone offline, I was fuming in resentment as I felt this man really was as useless as a broken tool. 'Oh God, why did I have to go and sign a contract with this useless piece of crap? I just hope that the bus you threw me under, swerves to hit you on the sidewalk, you annoying prick!

In utter despair, I looked towards Lord Gilbert for help, but he too chose to close his eyes to my plight. At the end of it all, I just felt like I was being cornered into a concrete wall and there was no escape. I looked at the smiling face of this loathsome queen dowager and felt the raging panic that can grow or fade depending on what I do next. It would fade if I gave into the queen dowager's ploys and backed away, but then I will have to exert greater amount of energy to walk on egg shells around these moles. And the situation will be even more dire by then. However, I didn't have a valid reason to reject her so-called gift either. I gritted my teeth in sheer ire, this Viper Queen was really doing a number on me.

"..... I...." BANG!!!

The door to the chamber was suddenly burst open by what looked like a petite flaming redhead, and I was taken aback by the stimulated little girl that hustled into the room with stumbling steps.

She looked about a year or two younger than me, maybe a three. Very vivacious in her steps and had eyes as bright as the brilliant gold, gently rimmed with a tinge of brown sclera. She was in a black  maid outfit with white rims and looked to be a very bubbly individual, contrasting to the sophisticated air in the room.

"Liana! What is the meaning of this? What are you doing here?" The head maid of the queen dowager shrieked in absolute displeasure and the meek little girl's head shrank back a little under the peeved eyes of the people around.

"I.... mother, I am so so sorry to have barged into Her Majesty's quarters unannounced, but I really really wanted to be an appointed maid to the new queen. So... ah! I didn't know what else to do to be able to be chosen to be by Her Highness's side. I'm so sorry for causing all this ruckus but please, do consider me for once before dismissing me." She got on the floor and grovelled in plea, as I was left with the thought of 'What the Hell!? Did I become some kind of idol overnight after my marriage with the mummy King!? Why is this girl so adamant on risking her neck to be a mere maid in waiting?'

"I understand your fidelity and determination to be an appointed maid of queen Elizabeth, but you must understand that the palace is a system in itself, everything in here has a certain order and you cannot overstep your boundary little girl." The queen dowager's tone was soft to the ears, but no one could ignore the underlying warning in her words.

The head maid, Casandra fell to her knees and begged for mercy, "I beg for your forgiveness Your Majesty, please excuse this foolish child. She doesn't yet know right from wrong and is unable to make a better judgement." Casandra was shaking like a feeble rabbit and seemed to be on the verge of pitiful tears. I looked at her and was once again reminded of the laws of this dog eat dog world. I internally sighed at the dilemma of the poor and powerless in this cruel world. I could relate because just a few days ago I was in the exact same position as that of Casandra and her daughter, at the mercy of those above in the food chain.

"I understand your point of view Casandra, but the rules of the palace cannot be bent even in the face of an unintended mistake, a mistake is still a mistake and adequate punishment is a requisite for mistakes, or else, how would the palace further function?" The queen dowager's languid tone was quite adamant, sounding as if her word was the law.

Not that I wanted to refute her words but looking at the quivering young girl and the desperate mother in front of me, I couldn't help but speak up, "Queen mother! I am sorry if I offend you, but would it be alright if I were to decide the punishment for her blunder?"

Reuben's eyes seemed to squint a bit in amusement and the queen dowager looked quite surprised at my sudden intervention.

"Oh!? Why in the world would you want to bother yourself with these trifling matters dear Elizabeth? These small matters can be handled by the palace staff quite adequately, if you must know." Queen Beatrice spoke in her signature soft voice.

Okay! It's not like I was not anxious. In fact, my stomach full of tea was shifting uneasily and I noticed that my hands that were fisted into a firm grip were pinching into my skin. In other words, I was a nervous wreck. I released my hands, but then I couldn't figure out what to do with them, so instead they clasped and unclasped each other as if in constant need of a touch of reassurance. I swallowed hard to ease my dry throat and spoke, "Queen mother, I understand your notion but since this auspicious event was personally arranged for us and her disruption has caused us inconvenience, don't you think it's only fitting that I should be the one to decide her punishment?" Well, it was a plausible excuse if anything, I just hoped that the queen dowager took the bait.

"..... Hmm, now that you put it that way, it does seems quite appropriate for you to deal with this matter personally." She smiled a bit brighter at that, "Alright then, you may do as you please with this maid, Elizabeth. But in return, you shall have to promise me to come have tea with me every once in a while, hm?"
'Damnit! I should've known this sly Queen Viper wouldn't let any opportunity pass her by.'

"That is but obvious queen mother, this daughter-in-law shall comply to your wishes without qualms." I could only grind my teeth and nod in consent.

"Oh my! I am so glad to have such a filial daughter-in-law like you." She grasped my hands and squeezed gently in delight and I silently winced. I could already see my imminent doom just waiting around the corner.

"As for you, my imperial son," She looked at Reuben in comparable excitement, "Don't you worry dear, this mother of yours has not forgotten about your wedding gift."

She clapped her hands again and another servant made into the quarters with a shiny black rectangular box. The box was adorned on a golden tray, it was placed on top of a blood-red high-quality silk cloth, making it look very expensive indeed.

My eyes narrowed a bit in surprise and scrutiny. What was this sly queen planning now? Suspicions clouded my vision as she took the box off the golden tray to present it to Reuben.

My scepticism hit the bull's eyes when she opened the black box to show us its contents.

"This, my dearies, is called a ballpoint pen. It is used for writing and was made from the most resilient metal found in this continent, also, it is filled with dragon dregs ink. It is said to have been crafted by a wonderous wizard, the mechanism is of the most modern technology and can be accessed with this switch right at the end." She said as she demonstrated by clicking on the sliding switch of the pen to get out the nip and wrote her name on a piece of parchment paper. "See? And the best part of it all is that you don't have to wait for the ink to dry and you can carry it around anywhere and everywhere without much hassle. How do you like my present son?" Her eyes squinted in sheer exhilaration as she watched the reactions of us both with shining eyes of anticipation.

Reuben had a very blasé mien on, while I was trying pretty hard to hide my unnervingly pale demeanour. I could recognise that wretched pink ball pen anywhere. After all, I was the one who had it auctioned off myself.

I gawked at that glaring baby-pink ball pen in an ominous light rather than one of awe, for I knew what this thing was really for. A year ago, I was in dire need of money as I wanted to buy some new set of clothes and shoes and the detestable Ronales household didn't pay me a dime as they claimed that I was a bought slave and didn't have any rights to demand wages for my services(Yeah, I know. Shitty world). So, finding no other alternative, I asked around if I could sell some of my items for money, and my good friend Hilda took me to this auction house where I managed to make a little fortune with my special voice-recorder ball pen(Ah! The nostalgia of my adventurer days. Back then, I was always an excited ball of sunshine during my little endeavours, as the only adventures I had back home were visits to MC Donald's for ice cream at 2 am). Yes, you heard it right. A voice recording pen. I had bought that special pen in Amazon to record lectures in classes and...(Ahem!) other various miscellaneous purposes but had to sadly sell it off to make ends meet. However, never in my wildest dreams, had I imagined that this nostalgic piece of reminiscence would reappear in front of me like this.

"It is a very astounding item indeed, queen mother. I am utterly impressed, thank you very much for this marvellously rare gift." Reuben bobbed his head in pleasant gratitude as he let lord Gilbert collect the box from the queen dowager.

I, on the other hand, was sweating under my clothes. It was needless to say why the queen dowager choose this specific pen to gift to Reuben(P.S. all that crap about a wonderous wizard being the Craftsman and dragon whatever ink is utter bullshit, in case you are wondering). It was only my second encounter with this devious sly queen and I already wanted to run for the hills.
I was, only but a normal high school student from a peaceful world. All I ever did was play a few pranks on my peers now and then. Where was I a match for this two-faced gangster like viper queen! If I wasn't the owner of that recorder pen and didn't know its real functions, I fear we would have been over long before we had even started with this queen dowager. My feet were literally sweating in tension and I could hardly keep my façade on.

"Now then, it is almost noon and I think we should head for lunch; don't you think so children?" Queen Beatrice chimed in an elated voice.

"Yes, queen mother, let us go my Queen." Reuben ardently took my hand and followed behind the queen dowager and her servants.

The venue for lunch today was the inner palace garden. Beautiful white furniture and tables were set up in amidst the flowers and all kinds of lavish vegetables and meat decked the blemishless table.
Both of us sat