I sat up from the bed, tightly fisting the white blankets in my hands.

The expressions of pure relief when I awoke from the attacks, the way my enemies were her enemies, were something I could even imagine her feigning. "No, Regica wouldn't. She's not that kind of a person."

"I cannot believe I am telling you, of all people, this, Lady Helena," said Hanes with exaggerated slowness as if he were talking to a child, "but there is no such thing as 'that kind of a person'. Circumstances make people."

"People see the world the way they are," I responded through clenched teeth. "Not everyone is like you."

Wergel cleared his throat. "Perhaps I should take my leave for a while-"

"No, it's fine, Wergel. You seem to forget that I saved your life, Lady Helena." Hanes raised an eyebrow.

"I heard I shot myself in front of you. I don't remember anything, but that tells me something."

"Tells you what?" he asked, coldly.

"One. That I wanted you to see me die. Two. That perhaps, you made me want to pull the trigger."

Stifling silence fell over the room. My words seemed to hang heavy over our heads.

I wasn't even Helena Katrine. I was Alice Edwards, a cop living in 21st century New York City. Eventually I would have to find my way back to my life and my world. Eventually perhaps I would find myself back again. I just had to lay low and wait for that time.

Why was I getting so heated up, like this was really my life?

And what was this pang of guilt that I felt? I had no reason to feel guilt.

This man deserved no such emotion. Many had witnessed him kill his own biological brother, and after killing his older brother he'd risen to the throne. He'd even killed an innocent messenger in front of me, just to, perhaps, scare me into going to Irennia.

I saw it. How the words that had left my lips had torn him, hurt him. His eyes were the color of bruise, the color of pain.

But as quickly as it had appeared, the expression disappeared, and his face hardened, his lips upturned into a nonchalant smile. "Perhaps. Or you simply wanted to put me in a difficult situation. Aren't you pleased? About the rumour going around in this kingdom. That I am the one that shot you in the forest two months ago."

No. No, it wasn't true. That, I knew for sure. The way his hands were trembling by his sides, his fingers were shaking as they were gripping my wrist, the way he, without even taking a breath, asked if I had symptoms of poisoning after tea with Narcia, his eyes imploring for a 'no' as an answer. The way he sank down on the chair as if his knees had given way, when I said, "No."

He didn't want me to die. He didn't want Helena Katrine to die.

And it wasn't just because he didn't want to be misunderstood as her killer. No, this man didn't care a little bit for such rumours. He was unfazed by how the public, how others saw him.

I shook my head, and looked up at him, with that dispassionate, apathetic expression on his face. That face he always made, that mask he always put on. "You're as bad of a liar as I am, do you know that?"

Hanes flinched. "What?"

Just then, two, short raps came on the door. "Your Majesty. They are here."

Letting out a slow, quiet sigh, Hanes pressed his lips into a thin line, and then muttered, "Lady Helena. It would be a good idea for you to leave. We will investigate the matter."

"So that you can kill them?"

Rolling his knuckles against his eyebrow as if he was having a headache, Hanes looked at me in the eye. "To you, my lady, am I someone who just carries out senseless killing?"

"Have you proven to be otherwise?"

Hanes spread out his hands, his forehead creased into a quizzical look. "Then what gives you the intrepidity to speak against every single thing I say? Or do you not guard your life preciously, with the false belief you are somewhat immortal after that miraculous close return from near death?"

"I know you won't kill me."

"What makes you so sure?"

"...Well, I'm your wife." I almost blushed at my own words.

Hanes's blinked, and then he chuckled, lightly shaking his head. "You truly have improved in humour after the accident, Lady Helena."

The knocks came on the door again. "They're here, Your Majesty. Should I let them in?"

I pointed to the door. "Promise you won't kill them."

"If they did not do wrong, I will have no reason to kill them," he said pointedly.

"...Even if they did." The words left a sour taste in my mouth. Regica. "Don't kill them."

A light, amused smile touched the corners of his mouth. "Okay. I promise." And then, he raised his hand. "Let them in!"