I Will Become the Queen of the Enemy Country

A lot of money and people were needed to become a king.

“It’s okay, Elise. It’s all for me. I don’t think so. You’re doing a noble job. You’re rewriting history. I’m always thankful to you.”

Chase hugged Elise every time he took the money she had prepared. Elise couldn’t help but fall deeper into his warmth.

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

The king, who had lost his queen and even expelled his beloved eldest son, suffered for quite a while but held his position for a long time.

Chase seemed worried, but he meant something else.

‘Kill my father.’

Elise bit her lower lip. Elise couldn’t kill a person.

Eventually, while she was hesitating, the king died.

“Elise, I knew you would do it for me.”

Chase believed that Elise had a hand in it. It wasn’t true, but Elise smiled awkwardly. She liked the sweet kisses he gave her…

Naturally, Chase ascended to the throne.

Now they could get married. Elise was inflated with dreams, but a year after becoming king, Chase distanced himself from her.

“Elise, there’s a lot to learn. There’s a lot to do. Can you wait a little?”

She had already waited for several years.

There was no reason she couldn’t wait just one more year.

Instead, Chase gave Elise a room in the palace to stay.

However, the number of times he visited Elise decreased significantly.

When Chase didn’t visit Elise, strange rumors circulated.

Chase and Iris enjoyed teatime, Chase and Iris spent a tender time in the greenhouse, Chase and Iris…

Elise was tormented and consciously holed up in her room to avoid hearing such words.

She wanted to ask Chase, but he had become a person who was hard to even see.

As her memory flowed to that point, Elise felt a pang. Elise clutched her chest and gasped.

“Are you okay?”

Regina looked after her. Elise smiled awkwardly and straightened her waist. She couldn’t afford to be caught in a small trap.

There were many people in the palace who didn’t like Elise.

Regina brightened her voice.

“Thinking of proposing in the Orville Hall, it’s really romantic.”

Orville Hall was a sacred place where portraits of the former king and the pope were collected.

Only the royal family, a few servants who directly assisted him, high priests, and a very small number of nobles could enter the Orville Hall, a place where it was an honor to be invited.

Before they knew it, the two were standing in front of Orville Hall.

The magnificent Orville Hall was looking down at Elise.

“Proposing with the ceremony only two weeks away. The proposal is a bit late, but I understand because you’re doing it in Orville Hall.”

It wasn’t a matter of whether Regina understood or not, but Elise quickened her pace instead of pointing it out.

In front of people, she pretended to be indifferent to marriage, but Elise wanted to start a family as soon as possible.

She was envious every time she heard news of someone else’s marriage.

She pretended it wasn’t, but she was also upset that Chase didn’t propose.

After today, she won’t have to envy others or feel upset with Chase.

A faint smile lingered on Elise’s lips.

The knights guarding the door of Orville Hall recognized Elise and saluted. One of them stopped Regina.

“Regina is my servant.”

“Only Lady Worton can enter.”

The knights were very strict today. Elise narrowed her eyes.

Elise was kind, but she didn’t tolerate people messing with her own.

She had lost too many people so far.

‘Was she a person who had nothing from the beginning.’

Elise briefly recalled those who had passed by her, but soon erased them.

“Put away your spears immediately.”

As Elise’s voice cooled, Regina stepped forward.

“My lady, don’t do that. It’s an important day. I’ll wait here. It’s not my place to interfere.”

As Regina retreated, she whispered in Elise’s ear.

“It seems you need some private time between lovers. His Majesty is quite the romanticist.”

Regina had been looking forward to the proposal more than her.

“It’s the will of His Majesty.”

Elise, who was hesitating, made a decision because of Chase.

“If that’s the will of His Majesty.”

Elise looked back at Regina. Regina was standing under the shade of a tree, far away.

“Open the door.”

The sculptures of a female lion and a male lion, symbolizing the king and queen, spread apart as soon as the door opened.

Elise clasped both her hands. She thought she wasn’t nervous, but she was.

She slowly entered the Orville Hall, clutching and releasing the hem of her dress.

“Have you arrived, Lady Worton?”

Elise stopped with a start.

She expected Chase to be alone. But there were more people in the circular Orville Hall than she expected.

The sages of the Ivory Tower, the knight commander, and even Elise’s sister Iris.

The most out-of-place person was Iris.

Elise’s eyes widened.

“Sister… why are you here?”

Iris hung a cool smile on her lips.

She boldly put her hand on Chase’s arm.

“Have you been well, Elise?”

Elise’s pupils shook from side to side.

“You must be polite, Lady Worton.”

Before Ellis could come to her senses, she bent down her knees. Thanks to the etiquette ingrained in her body, she was able to hide her confusion.

“Elise Worton sees His Majesty.”

Chase half-heartedly accepted her greeting and averted his gaze. Instead, Iris stared at her and said.

“Lady Worton, you are under arrest on charges of treason and rebellion against the royal family.”

“…!”

Ellis lifted her head. Her eyes were filled with horror.

“From this time on, all titles and rights given to Lady Worton are taken away, and the property is attributed to the Ivory Tower. The criminal Worton will be imprisoned in the underground dungeon.”

At the words equivalent to a death sentence, Elise’s face turned pale.

“Your, Your Majesty…”

Barely opening her lips, the call that flowed between them was close to a groan.

****

Click.

The door of the underground dungeon was locked. Elise was thrown inside it like a lump.

Drip, drip. Water droplets fell on Elise’s head. Elise’s eyes blinked slowly.

The senses that had disappeared began to return.

The sound of water droplets falling on the stone floor, the cold temperature of the stone making her seated buttocks cold, were recognized.

“What on earth is happening…”

Then her tightly closed lips opened. Her lost voice returned.

She moved instinctively without time to think.

“Open the door right now! I am Lady Elise Worton! I am Elise Worton, the fiancée of His Majesty!”

Elise shook the iron bars. She screamed until her voice tore. But there was no answer.

She was completely alone.

In the palace’s underground dungeon, where only the most brutal criminals were imprisoned, there was not a single guard.

Elise slowly moved one foot, then two feet away from the iron bars.

The narrow dungeon quickly brought her back against the cold wall.

Elise slid down the wall and slumped down.

She tried to think rationally, but it was impossible.

Elise howled all night. If anyone had heard, it would have been a desperate cry that couldn’t be endured without opening the door.

Thus Elise slowly wore out alone in the cold underground dungeon.

The iron bars opened after a full three days.

Elise’s body was completely dried up, and the door opened just before her breath was about to stop.

“Lady Elise Worton, no. Now we should call you Criminal Elise.”

Elise barely lifted her deeply bowed head.

Her light yellow dress was so dirty that it was hard to recognize its original color, and her neatly tied hair was disheveled.

Her body stank, and her palms were all peeled from how hard she had gripped and shaken the iron bars.

“You look terrible right now. Should I say you’ve regained your original appearance?”

“Who…”

Elise barely spat out a word.

“I am Gabriel, the interrogator for the Criminal Elise.”

“Gab…riel?”

Elise’s heart thumped. Gabriel was one of Iris’s followers.

He, a former soldier, had resigned and left when Iris left the palace, but why was he here?

“From now on, I will interrogate the Criminal Elise. Elise Worton, do you admit to the charge of assassinating the late His Majesty?”

The interrogation began before Elise could grasp the situation.

“…I’ve never done that.”

Elise barely managed to answer.

“Admitted. Next, do you admit to colluding with the Prince Tetris?”

“Wait! I said I’ve never done that. But you say it’s admitted?”

As if she had been hit with cold water, Elise’s mind snapped back.

She mustered her last strength and shook Gabriel’s lapel.

“Bring His Majesty right now. His Majesty knows the truth. His Majesty…”

“You don’t seem to understand the situation.”

Gabriel, with a vile smile, shook Elise’s shoulder.

“Ah.”

Ellis hit the wall and fell.

“It’s better to admit the charges quietly. You’re going to die anyway, so you should at least keep your body intact, right?”

Thud. Gabriel let go of his hand. Elise’s body trembled at the gesture that signaled violence.

“You keep mentioning His Majesty. Do you think His Majesty doesn’t know this situation?”

Ellis’s muscles stiffened. Gabriel laughed out loud, apparently liking her expression.

“His Majesty knows everything?”

Elise’s lips parted in despair.