Free Web NovelChapter 17: Episode 017: Mind Your Business
They were now alone in the throne room.
Caius, Tyara, and Gianna had left the space, as the wooden doors clicked shut behind them. Rue stood on one side of the massive meeting table. Tanith and Iris faced her. None of them was smiling. The silence felt incredibly thick. It pressed against Rue’s ears like water.
Then a bright, warm smile lit up on Iris’s face. It completely transformed her expression.
"Walk with us, Rue," Iris started. She stood up smoothly, her purple eyes shining with a gentle light.
Tanith opened her mouth to protest the idea. They could clearly stay here and talk so why does her sister want to walk?
Iris cut her off completely. "Tantan."
Tanith grumbled under her breath. The terrifying Queen of the Swamps immediately stood up like a scolded child. It was a bizarre sight.
Rue had no choice but to join them. She walked behind the two royal sisters down a long, echoing stone hallway. Torches flickered on the walls. Rue watched Iris’s back carefully. From the front, Iris looked incredibly soft and motherly.
But walking behind her, Rue noticed something else entirely. When Iris was serious, she held the coldest aura in the whole building. Staring at her back felt exactly like staring at the Grim Reaper. She was an apex predator, and yet when she wanted to be, she could be a saint.
They reached a different room at the very end of the hall. The air inside felt completely different from the rest of the damp palace. It smelled like oil paint, old paper, and dry dust. Sunlight poured in through a large skylight. It was a dedicated art room.
"You might not know this," Iris started, her voice dropping to a soft, respectful whisper. "But one of our youngest siblings, Zale, is a huge fan of art. Just like the water, it flows through him; his hobbies have been a way of expressing everything inside his head. This little room’s been a safe place for him to keep all these artworks."
Rue looked around the space. Dozens of canvases were stacked against the stone walls. Jars of crushed pigments lined the wooden tables. It was like walking into a Stone Age art museum, but a little bit advanced. freёwebnovel.com
"Tantan found no problem with it," Iris continued. "Because this room holds one of his most beautiful artworks. The Mother of the Beast World. Our mother."
Iris stopped in front of a massive painting. It was covered by a thin white cloth. She reached up and pulled the cloth away. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
Rue poked her head out from behind Iris’s back, and her jaw dropped open.
Right before her very eyes was the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen. The woman in the painting had bright green jewel eyes and thick, wavy black hair. She sat like a true Queen. She looked pure and kind. But looking closely into those painted eyes, Rue could see exactly how sassy the woman had been. Her feisty nature was perfectly captured on the canvas. It was in the tilt of her chin and the smirk on her lips.
A/N: check comments for the picture.
The painter must’ve known her on a deeply personal level to put such incredible detail into the art. To Rue, it felt exactly like Roxy was standing right in front of her, breathing the same air.
Rue stared at the painting. She felt an odd, pulling sense of familiarity washing over her. She began to wonder why Iris brought her here. She was just a random rabbit from a swamp cave. She didn’t belong in a royal family history lesson.
As if Iris read her mind, she turned to Rue.
"You might be wondering why we brought you here," Iris started quietly. "Soon you’ll understand. But just like our fathers who saw our mother as hope, we see you as our hope."
Rue frowned heavily. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest. Why did everyone want her to be the hope of something? Her own hope of living died a very long time ago. She didn’t sign up to save anyone’s world.
[Because you’re meant to live.]
The system text glowed brightly in her mind. It was completely unhelpful.
Rue pressed her lips into a hard, thin line. She ignored the blue screen completely.
Tanith stepped forward. Her black dress dragged silently across the stone floor. She looked like a shadow moving in the sunlight.
"Why die when you can live and give life?" Tanith asked. Her voice was cool and probing. "What if your life isn’t all that you think it is? What if you can genuinely live all your heart’s desires?"
Rue snapped her head to Tanith. Her frown deepened into a dark, defensive scowl. Her heart beat a little faster, but she kept her face completely flat. She wasn’t going to let them see her sweat.
"What do you even know about me?" Rue muttered in anger.
Tanith chuckled. It was a dry, highly amused sound. "How cute."
The basilisk walked right up to Rue. She reached out and tipped Rue’s chin up with one cold finger. She forced Rue to meet her hard, green-beaded stare.
"I know everything I need to know, Rue," Tanith said smoothly. She leaned down. Her lips hovered right next to Rue’s ear. "You don’t want to die, Rue Rossi. You want to live."
Pure, freezing fear consumed Rue’s heart. It paralysed her lungs. She ripped herself away from Tanith’s grip and stumbled backwards. She looked at the Queen in absolute horror.
How did this snake know her real name?
She hadn’t told a single soul in this world. She was Rue of the Rabbit Tribe. Rue Rossi died in New York. The system promised her a fresh start. Nobody was supposed to know the human girl who rotted away from cancer.
She backed up blindly. She bumped hard into Iris’s warm body.
Iris immediately wrapped her arms around Rue in a tight, protective hug.
"Don’t do that, Tantan," Iris scolded her sister sharply. Her purple eyes flashed with real warning.
Iris rubbed Rue’s shaking arms. She tried her best to calm the terrified rabbit down.
"Our Tantan can see through things that we can’t," Iris explained in a soothing voice. "Don’t worry. She doesn’t know everything about you. She only knows the things she’s allowed to know."
Rue didn’t know why that actually calmed her down. It made zero logical sense. But she was still going to be incredibly wary about Tanith. The basilisk Queen was incredibly dangerous. She saw way too much.
Rue just didn’t want to be entangled in anyone’s life. She was terrified of letting go. She was terrified of allowing herself the privilege of loving people, only for them to leave her again.
The hospital was lonely. Being left behind by the people who promised to stay was worse. She absolutely couldn’t experience that pain a second time. It was so much easier to be nothing to no one. If she didn’t care, they couldn’t hurt her.
She struggled against the hug. She wiggled hard and pushed herself out of Iris’s grasp. She backed away toward the open door. She looked at the two royal sisters as if she wanted to cry. Her chest felt incredibly tight.
"Sometimes you should mind your own business," Rue spat out furiously. Her voice shook, but she kept her words sharp. "I can’t be what you want me to be."
Before they could even form a response, Rue turned around and started running down the stone hallway.
"Rue!" Iris shouted after her. "Rue, be yourself!"
Rue kept running. She couldn’t help the hot tears running down her face. She wiped them away angrily, but they kept falling down her cheeks.
Why was everyone trying to be so nice to her?
I just wanted to rest in peace.
She didn’t want to rest in anyone’s warm embrace. Warmth was scary. She was practically a walking ghost. They were supposed to ignore her.
She ran blindly through the massive palace corridors. Her feet slapped against the cold stone. She passed tapestries and massive wooden doors. She was so distracted by her own panic that she didn’t look where she was going.
She ran straight into a solid wall of warm muscle.
Strong arms wrapped around her instantly. She smelled the familiar scent of wet earth and pine. It was Caius.
Relief flooded her veins like a drug. Her panic dialled down a fraction. She reached up and cupped his handsome face with both hands. She pulled him down and kissed him hard. She needed the physical contact to gain some kind of sanity back. She needed to ground herself in the present.
Caius froze for a second, totally shocked by the sudden affection. Then he kissed her back firmly. His large hands held her waist.
When she finally released his lips, she pressed her forehead against his chest. She took a ragged, uneven breath.
"Cai," Rue whispered, pain and anger filling her lungs. "Please let’s go home. I don’t want to be here anymore."
