Despite Victoria's stay at the Alcazarian Castle for a month and 2 weeks now, Gwen and Queen Adalana were the only ones she spoke to aside from her dear Mallory (who had been very busy lately since the servants had warmed up to her and now let her be a part of their work) . Since there were no lessons today and the Queen had gone to spend the week at her personal estate to take care of some matters there, Victoria didn't have much to do, so she took a stroll through the gardens enjoying the fresh air and the scent of exotic flowers native to the Shadow Realm.
She found herself in a grass hedge maze at the western part of the Castle and paused when she heard Gwen muttering to herself at the entrance. Gwen had a habit of talking to herself while pacing whenever she was worried or nervous and she tended to do that a lot recently.
"Lady Gwen?" Victoria called as she approached her, Victoria's voice seemed to pull Gwen out of her trance almost immediately. "Is there a problem?"
Gwen bit her plump lips and looked down at her feet when she stopped pacing. "Haven't you heard?" She questioned. "King Alva will have dinner with me this evening."
That's right it was announced a few days ago that King Alvar, since he was less busy now, would be spending time with the women of his Selection and get to know them so he could later on be able to make his decision on who would be his Queen at the end of the season. But why was Gwen upset about it? This was a great opportunity for her! Not that it would matter anyway, the King would die by her hands.
"Are you nervous?" Victoria asked.
"Very," Gwen replied, then went to sit at the bench just outside of the green maze. "I feel like I'm about to vomit and faint at the same time! Whenever I think to myself, 'I can do this!' Anxiety takes over and I suddenly question myself again. Then I ask questions like what if my dress is ugly? What if my makeup makes me look like a goblin? What if I start saying complete nonsense while we're having a simple conversation? Or what if my mind goes blank and I can't say anything at all and just sit there looking like a a daft animal wearing a wig–"
"Lady Gwen."
"What if His Majesty prefers girls with pale skin instead? What if I slip and fall right in front of him?"
"Lady Gwen."
"Oh!" Gwen exclaimed, extremely horrified. "What if I lose control of my arms and splash wine all over his clothes or mine?! I have to pour a drink for him at some point, it's inevitable!"
"Lady Gwenivere Stohmount!"
It seems like if you use a person's full name, it tends to grab their attention a lot more than usual. Gwen had jumped and immediately silenced her rant at Victoria's loud tone.
"I'm sorry, Lady Victoria. That was very unladylike of me… I just–"
"It's okay, I understand that you are nervous but making yourself even more scared with all this absurd thoughts won't help you at all!" Victoria began, "You're usually so calm and collected, you're the most well behaved out of all of us, surely you know that those things won't happen…"
Gwen sighed and played with the jewels of her necklace as tears welled up in her eyes, "I do… I mean, I did. It's just Freya spoke to me earlier today and well… I haven't been able to stay calm anymore."
Victoria's gaze darkened at the thought of Freya's smug face. "What did that witch say?"
Tears welled up in Gwen's forest green eyes, "N…not much actually, just… she brought things up about my family's financial problems, and how the King would have nothing to gain by marrying me, she also said that I had nothing special to offer him except my body which the King can also get when I become his concubine. She basically just told me to give up and not put any effort at dinner since it'll all be useless at the end."
Freya… why would she say all those things to a girl that had been nothing but kind to everyone even her competitors? This had got to be the last straw!
"Lady Gwen…" Victoria placed a hand hesitantly on the other girls shoulder at an attempt to comfort her. "Lady Gwen, you know that's not true."
"You don't get it." Gwen responded, tears began streaming down her cheeks. "It is true, everything she said is true, I'm weak at my own element, I'm basically from a bankrupt home and I'm average at everything else! I have nothing to offer the King and I would be lucky if His Majesty even spares me a glance!"
Victoria only gaped at her, this was the first time she had ever seen Gwen raise her voice at anyone. Oh, when she got her hands on that smug blonde bitc–
"I'm useless…" Gwen said quietly this time, she sounded so tired, so dejected. Victoria never thought she could ever feel bad for an Acalzarian like she did now.
"You're not useless, Gwen." Victoria said, placing another hand on Gwen's other shoulder and getting her to face Victoria fully. "If anything, I think you're needed and you're focusing too much on your flaws instead of your strengths. You're so sweet and smart, and so kindhearted to the point that you would befriend someone from any enemy kingdom, you make me feel like a devil compared to you, and you're so well-versed in history and everything else! So who cares about what Lady Freya says? She's stupid! She's only saying that because she's trying to convince herself that she's better and she's still in top. Don't let her bring you down just so she can feel better about her sorry ass."
Gwen let out a smile at Victoria's crude words as she wiped her tears, 'ass' was one of the many words a respectable lady was never allowed to say, but Victoria wasn't a respectable lady, was she? "Thank you, Lady Victoria for your kind words, you're so amazing."
"Do you feel better now? Or do I have to go have a friendly conversation with Lady Freya?"
Gwen sniffed and blew her nose with her handkerchief, "friendly?"
"Should l set her gowns on fire?"
Gwen laughed, gods! She was even more beautiful when she laughed, which was rarely. "No!"
"What about her hair? Hair is flammable too."
"Nope." Gwen replied, still giggling. She was like a child, easy to hurt, easy to amuse.
"Then what should I do to her?" Victoria pressed, believe it or not, she was very serious about setting Freya's prized luscious golden locks ablaze. She had killed men before, setting hair on fire would be a breeze to her conscience.
"Nothing, just let her be." Gwen said. "I just hope she doesn't end up being Queen, I think the Realm would be better with anyone other than her as Queen. Let's just sit here and talk so I can take my mind off tonight, is that okay?"
"Of course." Victoria agreed, she had never expected to be close friends with an Alcazarian of all people during her stay at the shadow realm, but here she was…laughing at a joke Gwen had said about Freya's hair.
Unbeknownst to them, a middle aged Light Priest watched the exchange between Gwen and Victoria unfold with his magical basin filled with holy water back at the ruins known as Elveria, he was in no way impressed with the progress of Victoria's mission or lack thereof. Someone had to remind the girl of her quest.
"Get me the Seer's Goblet!" Father Ambrose angrily ordered and his apprentice immediately ran out of the dark room illuminated by the glow of the holy water. "If I do not contact her at this rate... We can kiss the little hope we have left goodbye!"