"How dare you?"
Just monts ago, she had been the picture of calm composure, but at Miss Windsor's words, Queen Windsor's expression instantly changed. It seed everyone had their own secrets, just like Sigrid in that floral Mysterious Realm, who had also lost her composure over a trivial matter from her past.
For a split second, Jenkins thought she would lunge forward and strangle Miss Windsor, but she didn't.
"What do you know?"
"I know everything about you. Now, tell , how did Queen Isabella die?"
Miss Windsor asked again. This ti, Queen Windsor didn't refuse imdiately. She gasped for breath, staring at Miss Windsor, as if trying to read so clue from her face.
After a long mont, she finally answered softly:
"I killed her."
"I knew it..."
Jenkins thought to himself, while Magic Miss supported Miss Windsor to keep her from falling. Although Jenkins had tried to steel her just monts before, Miss Windsor still couldn't distinguish between reality and illusion as easily as Jenkins and Magic Miss. The mont Queen Windsor spoke the truth, it was as if she had truly seen "herself" kill Queen Isabella.
In this world of possibilities, the personalities and life experiences of people were largely the sa as their real-world counterparts. Windsor couldn't accept the fact that a version of herself could have killed Queen Isabella with her own hands.
"How did you kill her?"
Miss Windsor pressed on. Jenkins wanted to stop her from asking more, but she paid him no mind. She bit her lip, standing there resolutely, though she looked terrified of the answer she was about to receive.
"There's a potion that induces a half-dreaming, half-waking state. I had her take it regularly. That day, I intentionally applied a layer of wax to the floor at the top of the stairs, and then... pushed..."
Her voice trailed off, not because she was too ashad to continue, but out of confusion. The way the woman she was speaking to talked... it was so familiar.
Miss Windsor clutched her chest, her face contorted as if a sharp pain had pierced her heart.
Jenkins hurried over and took her arm. Although each ability could only be used once in this Mysterious Realm, after becoming a World Tree Seedling, manipulating the spirit of life had beco instinctual for him. This wasn't healing; he was simply channeling his own spirit into her body to soothe the turmoil in her spirit caused by the emotional upheaval.
It was an extrely dangerous sign. Enchanters witnessed too many truths and horrors of the worlds, making them more susceptible to madness. And a precursor to madness was the inability to control one's spirit.
"It's alright. She did this, not you. You are not her, and she is certainly not you."
He murmured, trying to soothe Miss Windsor.
"Take her outside. I'll handle the questions myself."
He looked up at Magic Miss, but Miss Windsor imdiately refused:
"No, I have to know why."
With that, she lifted her head and stared at Queen Windsor:
"Why did you do it?"
"Are you all performing so kind of farce?"
Queen Windsor asked sarcastically. She seed much more relaxed and confident now than when they had first barged in.
"Who are you? Don't tell you're so little girl Queen Isabella happened to save during one of her trips abroad, and that's why you're so concerned about her."
"Why did you kill her?"
Miss Windsor repeated the question, her right hand clutching her chest while her left snatched a fountain pen from the desk, brandishing it like a weapon. Her eyes, however, seed to glow:
[Oppressive Force].
But she was only a Level 0 Enchanter, and her ntal strength was not significantly greater than that of Queen Windsor, who had experienced far more, so it failed to intimidate her.
"I killed her because she deserved to die."
"What do you an?"
Jenkins was the one who asked.
"She was too old. She shouldn't have clung to that position. This era belongs to the young, not to so decaying old hag rotting on the throne."
"And that's your reason?"
"Yes."
"A lie."
The exchange was rapid-fire. When Jenkins called it a lie, Queen Windsor rely smiled at him, with no intention of explaining herself. Her face was flushed, a clear sign of extre agitation.
For her, too, this was not sothing easily forgotten.
"Queen Isabella was so good to you. She treated you like her own granddaughter. Why would you do this?"
"Her own granddaughter?"
Queen Windsor repeated Miss Windsor's words with a sneer:
"In her eyes, everyone was just a tool for her to control the kingdom. Treating like a granddaughter was just her way of ensuring I would continue her reign. She wanted to mold into another her. Do you have any idea what she did to ?"
"Did she try to marry you off to soone you didn't love?"
Jenkins interjected.
"Oh, sir, have you been reading a few too many courtly novels?"
Queen Windsor shot back sarcastically, then turned to Miss Windsor:
"Madam, you are not . You cannot possibly understand. Perhaps in your heart, Queen Isabella is a nearly perfect elder with a few minor flaws, but what you've seen is rely the facade she shows everyone. Are you truly certain you know what kind of person she was?"
Miss Windsor wanted to say "yes," but she wasn't sure. In a world without Magic Miss, what sort of absurd things could happen? After all, the "Jenkins" she had just seen was absurd enough. It was possible the Queen Isabella here was the complete opposite of the elder she knew.
"What did she do?"
"She knew she would die sooner or later, but she wanted her rule to be carried on by the next successor. So she chose , grooming to be a worthy heir."
This part was the sa as in reality.
"But she worried that the Fidektri Kingdom would no longer bear any trace of the royal Middleton family, that the Windsor family would beco the legitimate line."
This part was different from reality. In the real world, Queen Isabella had long since discovered the Williams family. With Jenkins Williams around, the Middleton family could never fall into decline. The old queen had seen this with great clarity. So, even though she still wanted Miss Windsor to succeed her, she had no worries about the Windsor family getting any improper ideas.
"What did she do?"
Miss Windsor asked, her face deathly pale. She nearly lost the strength to stand, but this ti, she didn't need Magic Miss's help, instead propping herself up with her arms on the desk.
"What did Her Majesty do?"
"My father, my mother, and most of my family are dead. They were killed in an 'accidental' train derailnt last autumn."
Queen Windsor closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Miss Windsor recognized the gesture—it was sothing she herself did to prevent others from reading the emotions in her eyes.
Queen Windsor let out a self-deprecating laugh, then looked at Jenkins:
"You over there, the gentleman who loves his courtly novels. Why don't you tell this lady what the reason for that might be?"
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