Bowing her head in acquiesce, the general said, “Of course, Your Grace. It shall be done so immediately.” And so the general left, the shock still reeling in his mind. It was still too early to pass judgement, in his opinion. It could be nothing, it could be something. But it still wasn’t certain that the relationship between the king and queen was changing.

Nonetheless, she could only hope.

As General Sarah stalked the hallways, she ran into Chancellor Verus, who was returning towards the direction of the conference room.

Sarah had become a general, at the expense of Marian. Though not as charismatic as her predecessor, she was still sincere and meticulous. Soon enough, concerns about Marianne’s vacancy had dispelled and quickly settled down as Sarah took up her position as general.

The two of them exchanged greetings as soon as they neared each other.

“Are you off to see the King?” the general asked, and Chancellor Verus nodded…

“Why yes general.” the Chancellor answered, “Where is the king?”

“I’m afraid he’s off to the baths right now.”

“Well then, perhaps I shall come back at a later time.” And the chancellor began to retrace steps.

“For a moment chancellor,” the general called out, “I wasn’t planning on telling anyone, but you are the king’s most trusted chancellor, and as such, I thought you should know.”

“Oh?”

She wanted to share the news with anyone but didn’t want to end up compromising the king. Fortunately, Verus had proven to be a trustworthy person, and was knowledgeable about the real relationship between the king and his wife…

“The king, His Majesty, had just ordered me to prepare lunch with the queen,” she said, Chancellor Verus appeared pensive, but not at all surprised.

“Truly? Then perhaps he was finally taking Marianne’s advice.” the Chancellor mused, and Sarah immediately understood what he was implying.

“Perhaps, but it was the king himself who told me, without any prompting from Marianne.” she exclaimed in a rather excited manner. The glee in her tone and that twinkle in her eyes could not hide her excitement at the prospect. And for the chancellor, it was news indeed. 

Three years have passed since the king had married the queen. And in those three years, their union remained utterly fruitless.

“Indeed, it is a rare occasion.” the Chancellor said, “Thank you for sharing general. But I believe you have a royal lunch to prepare.”

“Yes, of course, chancellor.” Sarah said and bowed in respect before she left the chancellor on his own, completely missing the strange look upon his face as he watched Sarah’s retreating back.

‘Could it be that the king already knows of the queen’s sudden disappearance in his absence?’

He stood in the corridor in solitude. His thoughts battling in his mind. If he were to disregard the natural wickedness the queen possessed, even he would not wish for the king and Anika’s relationship to be acrimonious.

For the country’s future, and continued reign, the king must produce an heir soon. Even amongst spouses who never get along, a child is usually born early on, but that was the only extent of those spouses’ relation.

‘I’ll talk to him later.’

He turned and walked in the direction Sarah had gone.

*

*

*

Another day had finally passed, without any untoward incidents, except for the occasional encounter with the king. Eugene, in her current situation, had stayed up all night, overwrought at the mere prospect of having to face Kasser, and would demand of her to fulfill her duties as his wife.Fortunately for her, she was safe that morning.

Being queen gave her quite a leisurely position. None came to see or bother her, not even to remind her of any strict schedule she must follow.

Eugene spent her entire breakfast sifting through, and organizing her thoughts.

“What did Jin Anika do while she was a queen of the Hashi Kingdom?”’

In her novel, she remembered that Jin Anika’s character appeared quite late in the story. At first, she introduced a rather minor villain. This villain soon turned out to be acting upon the orders of the queen. And that was how Jin Anika was revealed to be the final boss. She appeared somewhere in the middle of the story to be specific.

“I should remember the details.” she muttered to herself. When she wrote the novel, ideas suddenly came popping to her head in disarray. Eugene gulped a nervous laugh, and goosebumps erupted from her skin as she realized something–it felt as if someone was dictating her to write such a strange novel.

It’s a little late to regret now that she found herself in the villain’s character.

Until a thought occurred to her.

“What if I remake it now since it’s my story anyway?” Yet, this was not feasible. 

So far, nothing had come to mind. Ever since Eugene entered the world she created, she felt as though she had ceased to become its author, and became one of the many pieces in the world called Mahar.

It didn’t help that she did not have much knowledge when it came to the Hashi Kingdom. While writing the story, she’d only ever gone as far as thinking about what it should be called and where it was located. 

Now that she was in it, the world no longer seemed like a plateau, gone was the way she saw the world in the flat lines of the pages. Now it appeared encompassing and round. 

Mulling over this, the thought of Seongdo or the Holy City, where Jin Anika came from, struck her. Could she find some sort of refuge there?

She also knew that outside the kingdom’s borders, there lie six other kingdoms.  

But to cross from Hashi to Seongdo, there was still the unavoidable obstacle in the form of a mountain range. And then proceed to traverse towards the Sloan Kingdom. In simpler terms, Hashi was the farthest kingdom from Seongdo. Whatever happens in the kingdom couldn’t really reach the other.

She was in an isolated kingdom, surrounded by strange people. What’s more, her fate was to die in the hands of Kasser, the very man whom Jin Anika married.

Presented with these challenges, Eugene took a deep breath. She still couldn’t understand how in the world she was transmigrated to a novel-world, not to mention, waking up in a villainess’ body.

But now, she was only sure of one thing.

She won’t back down.