IWBQ 02

~Chapter 02~

#2. A Foolish Act

2023.08.02

Becoming a king required vast sums of money and countless people.

“It’s all right, Ellis. You’re doing this for me, aren’t you? I don’t think of it the way you do. You’re doing something noble. You’re rewriting history. I’m always grateful to you.”

Every time Chase took the money Ellis had prepared, he embraced her.
Ellis could only fall deeper into the warmth of his arms.

“My father’s illness is getting worse. I’m worried.”

Having lost his queen and banished his beloved firstborn son, the king lingered in his sickbed for quite a long time.

Chase seemed concerned, but his true intention was something else.

“Kill my father for me.”

Ellis bit her lower lip hard. Of all things, taking a life was something she could not bring herself to do.

In the end, while she hesitated, the king died.

“Ellis, I knew you’d do it for me.”

Chase believed she had arranged his father’s death. She hadn’t, but Ellis only gave him an awkward smile. She liked the sweet kisses he gave her too much…

And of course, Chase ascended the throne.

Now, they could marry. Ellis dreamed of it with a fluttering heart, but one year into his reign, Chase began to distance himself from her.

“Ellis, there’s so much I need to learn. So much I must do. Could you wait just a little longer?”

Hadn’t she already waited years?
Another year was hardly unbearable.

Instead, Chase gave her a chamber within the palace itself.

But the times he came to her dwindled drastically.

As Chase stopped seeking her, strange rumors began to spread.

That Chase and Iris enjoyed tea together. That Chase and Iris spent tender moments in the greenhouse. That Chase and Iris…

Ellis suffered deeply. To avoid hearing such things, she locked herself away in her room.

She wanted to ask him, but he had become a man nearly impossible to see.

As her memory carried her that far, Ellis’s chest tightened painfully. She clutched at her heart, gasping for air.

“Are you all right?”

Regina looked at her with concern. Ellis forced an awkward smile and straightened her posture. She could not afford to give anyone the slightest fault to seize upon.

There were many in the palace who disliked her.

Regina brightened her voice cheerfully.

“To think His Majesty would propose in Aubrey Hall, my lady! How romantic.”

Aubrey Hall was a sacred place housing the portraits of past kings and popes.

Only royalty, their closest attendants, senior clergy, and a very select few nobles were permitted entry. To be invited was considered an honor.

Before long, the two of them stood before Aubrey Hall.

The majestic hall loomed over Ellis.

“A proposal just a fortnight before the wedding. Late, perhaps, but in Aubrey Hall? That I can understand.”

It wasn’t Regina’s place to “understand,” but Ellis did not correct her. She quickened her steps instead.

Though she had pretended indifference before others, Ellis yearned to start a family with Chase as soon as possible.

Every time she heard of someone else’s marriage, envy gnawed at her.

Though she hid it well, she had been hurt that Chase had never proposed.

But after today, she would no longer envy anyone. She would no longer feel slighted by Chase.

A faint smile touched Ellis’s lips.

The knights guarding the door recognized her and bowed. But when Regina tried to follow, one knight blocked her path.

“She is my lady-in-waiting.”

“Only Lord Wharton is permitted inside.”

The guards were unusually strict today. Ellis narrowed her eyes.

She was a gentle soul, but she would not tolerate her own people being slighted.
She had already lost too many.

Or perhaps… I never had them to begin with.

Faces of those who had passed through her life flickered across her mind before she erased them.

“Stand down at once.”

Her voice turned cold, and Regina quickly interceded.

“My lady, please don’t. This is an important day. I’ll wait just here. It isn’t my place, after all.”

As Regina withdrew, she whispered at Ellis’s ear:

“His Majesty must want a private moment with you. He can be quite the romantic.”

Regina had been more eager than Ellis for the proposal, yet now…

“It is His Majesty’s will.”

Still hesitating, Ellis finally yielded—as always, because of Chase.

“If that is His Majesty’s will, then so be it.”

She looked back at Regina one last time. Regina now stood under the shade of a distant tree.

“Open the door.”

As the gates swung wide, the statues of a lioness and lion—symbols of queen and king—moved apart.

Ellis clasped her hands together. She hadn’t thought she was nervous, yet her hands trembled.

Clutching and releasing her skirts, she stepped slowly into Aubrey Hall.

“You’ve arrived, Lady Wharton.”

Ellis froze.

She had expected Chase alone. Yet the round chamber contained far more: the Sages of the Ivory Tower, the captain of the knights, and—most shockingly—her elder sister, Iris.

Of all people, Iris was the least fitting here.

Ellis’s eyes widened.

“Sister… what are you doing here?”

Iris smiled coolly and, with calculated grace, rested her hand on Chase’s arm.

“How have you been, Ellis?”

Ellis’s gaze shook violently.

“Show proper respect, as the Lady Wharton.”

Before she even gathered her wits, Ellis’s knees bent in practiced habit. Her etiquette masked her shock.

“Ellis Wharton, paying respects to His Majesty.”

Chase barely acknowledged her bow, his eyes averted. Instead, Iris looked directly at her and spoke:

“Lady Wharton, you are under arrest for high treason and regicide.”

“……!”

Ellis snapped her head up, horror flooding her face.

“As of this moment, all titles and privileges granted to Lady Wharton are revoked, and her estate is forfeit to the Ivory Tower. The criminal Ellis will be confined in the underground dungeons.”

It was a death sentence in all but name. Ellis’s face went pale.

“Y-Your Majesty…”

Her lips barely parted, the sound no more than a groan.

Clang.

The dungeon door locked behind her. Ellis was thrown inside like a bundle of rags.

A drop of water fell from above, splashing on her head. Her eyes blinked slowly.

At last, sensation returned.

The sound of water on stone, the cold of the floor seeping into her body…

“What in the world is happening…”

Her lips moved again. Her lost voice returned.

Without thinking, she acted on instinct.

“Open this door at once! I am Lady Ellis Wharton! The betrothed of His Majesty!”

She shook the bars violently, screaming until her throat tore. No answer came.

She was utterly alone.

This dungeon, reserved for only the most heinous criminals, had not even a single guard.

Ellis stepped back, one foot, then two. The narrow space forced her against the cold wall.

She slid down, collapsing to the floor.

She tried to think rationally, but it was impossible.

That night, she screamed until her voice broke—so piteously that had anyone heard, they could not have left her locked inside.

Thus, Ellis withered alone, in the cold and darkness.

The bars opened only after three full days.

By then, Ellis’s body was withered, her breath faint.

“Ellis Wharton—or rather, the criminal Ellis.”

Her bowed head lifted weakly.

Her pale yellow dress was stained beyond recognition, her once-elegant hair now a wild tangle.

Her body reeked, her palms torn raw from clutching the bars too hard.

“You’re a pitiful sight. Or perhaps you’ve finally returned to your true self.”

“Who…?”

She croaked the words.

“I am Gabriel, the one appointed to interrogate the criminal Ellis.”

“Gab… riel?”

Her heart lurched. Gabriel was one of Iris’s most devoted followers.

A former soldier, he had resigned and left with Iris when she departed the palace. Why was he here now?

“From this moment, the interrogation begins. Ellis Wharton, do you confess to assassinating the late king?”

Before she could even grasp the situation, the questioning began.

“…I did no such thing.”

She forced the words out.

“Confession recorded. Next: do you admit to colluding with Prince Tetris?”

“Wait! I said I didn’t! How can you say it’s a confession?”

The shock jolted her fully awake.

Summoning her last strength, she seized Gabriel’s collar, shaking him.

“Bring His Majesty here at once! He knows the truth! His Majesty—”

“You really don’t understand, do you?”

With a sneer, Gabriel shoved her hard against the wall.

“Agh!”

She collapsed.

“You’d best confess quietly. You’ll die anyway—at least keep your body intact.”

Crack. He stretched his knuckles ominously, making her shudder in terror.

“You keep bringing up His Majesty. Do you truly think he doesn’t know about all this?”

Her muscles froze. Gabriel laughed harshly at her expression.

Inside her, something vital snapped.

“His Majesty knows… everything?”

Her lips parted in hollow disbelief.