Blaze sighed and said, "Thy art foreign to this world, therefore, a thorough explanation will be granted to thee."

After saying this, he motioned his hand towards Eli. The Prime Minister nodded his head in reply and turned to look at Alice, "Allow me to explain it."

All the attention was on the white rabbit. Coughing slightly, Eli's voice was devoid of any emotion as he explained instructively, "Just a few time periods ago, the castle of Hearts reigned over the entire territory: Amusement Park, the Clock Tower, and the Hatter Family's Territory. However, suddenly a huge clock appeared in the woods. From within the clock, few people claimed to represent the Duchess and created havoc in Wonderland. We have sent ambushes to defeat the Duchess, but to no avail. Not missing this chance, the other territories started to rebel against our reign. Now the lands are broken apart."

"Fie! Commoners call this blasphemous predicament as the Break Away. How preposterous! How dare they think that they can do whatever they want," an annoyed and slightly frustrated voice echoed throughout the throne room. Alice gulped and felt her body tense and her knees locked into place. Everything seemed to be so dark, so ominous, and she didn't doubt that it was coming from the crimson queen.

As if to break the binding spell on Alice, Roland exclaimed nonchalantly, "It is truly unforgivable to defy god's will, your majesty! Surely it is god's will for your majesty to rule the entire territory once again. Those who disobey Him will be thrown in the pits of endless fire and they shall rot in hell! Yes, just as many past sinners have defied god! Your majesty, this knight will do anything to please you and god for an entire lifetime and punish those sinners severely."

Blaze sighed again and waved off his knight in resignation, "Oh yes, yes. Do as thy wish." A clear sign to show that even the queen couldn't quite understand what his knight was saying.

Ignoring the other occupants in the room, Eli continued on with his explanation, "In our world, foreigners appear only when Wonderland is in need. Foreigners bring fortune to the territories they are residing in, whether that is good luck, brains, or something else. Because of this, all the roleholders want the foreigner to reside in their territories. Perhaps, you were brought here to set the loose screws back into place and once again bring peace to this world."

Alice tilted her head in confusion. When she first arrived to Wonderland, Nightmare had told her that everyone would come to love her. However, he never mentioned about this new bit of information. Perhaps, somehow the role of foreigners changed as time passed? Pursing her lip, she didn't like the fierce expectant look on Blaze's eyes, "But….I'm just a girl. I can't do something outrageous like bring peace or something."

"However, you, a foreigner is standing here. That already proves your existence and your abnormality. You are special and this uniqueness of yours will definitely benefit His majesty. So whether you like it or not, you will be staying here with us."

Alice was about to protest to Eli's statement when the queen's cold voice cut her off, "This meeting is finished. Thy art dismissed 'til further ado." By the finality of the voice, Alice knew she couldn't speak any further without risking her own life and was somberly escorted out of the throne room.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Finally releasing the tense muscles in her shoulders, Alice looked at Eli silently walking toward her assigned room, "So….what am I supposed to do while I'm waiting for Blaze to call?"

As if he had heard of this inquiry a thousand times, Eli let out a heavy sigh before replying, "You heard him. Just wait."

This obviously annoyed her. Not only does this ill-mannered man act like he is dealing with something troublesome, but she also has absolutely nothing to do. When Alice was still living with Julius in the Clock Tower, she also worked by cooking and doing the laundry. She was told by Julius that she didn't need to work or help him out, but her ego told her to do something, anything to be useful. Now she was going to apply the same thing while she stayed in the Heart Castle.

"That's a brilliant reply. Isn't there something I can do? Like cleaning or doing the laundry? I can't do anything grand, but maybe I can organize some paperwork too. Blaze seemed like he was busy himself with those papers." Her thoughts wandered to the teenage boy having a big frown upon his handsome face while staring at the stack of paper works. Somehow, Alice felt sorry for him. Well, despite his "lack of mercy" that is. He didn't seem to be enjoying his adolescence and was constantly cooped up in that hell hole. It was a matter of time before he would get sick from overwork. In that sense, Blaze seemed more like Julius.

"Well he is. Ever since he became the queen of hearts, there were movements of getting rid of the royalty all together." Alice looked at the man questioningly. Seeing the spirit of inquiry in her eyes, Eli merely shook his head. Whether in disappointment or resignation, Alice wasn't sure.

"You see; it's unheard of having a boy as the queen of hearts. Usually roleholders are picked with characteristics similar to the role. Nobody wants to be ruled over a kid who is just terrifically abnormal. That's why the territories are split."

It was strange to have a young boy as a queen, but it stilled puzzled the foreigner as she asked, "Why was Blaze hailed as a queen then?"

Eli opened his mouth to speak, but soon reluctantly closed it. Ultimately, sealing his lip and locking his jaw firmly. After a pregnant silence, he spoke in a solemn tone, "…..That's for another time. If I tell you right now, I'll have my head cut offed."

Alice merely tilted her head in puzzlement, but did not ask any more questions. Thinking of Blaze, she didn't want Eli to be killed because of her, no matter how unpleasant he was.

Stopping short, Eli opened one of the door and let Alice walk into the room. The assigned room was identical to many of the guest rooms in the Heart Castle, with intricately designed wall patterns and furnishes. After he closed the door, he turned to face Alice and spoke quietly, "I'll give advices if you want to survive here."

Although he spoke softly, Alice knew better than taking his words lightly. It was something about his eyes that made her listen without any ignorance, "One, don't mention the word 'girl' or other girly stuff. Two, don't talk about the king of hearts in front of Blaze. Three, I don't think people from other territories will hurt you because you're special, but just stay away from Duchess. They are crazy psycho and worse than Roland. Four, NEVER take off that mask in front of me or else I will nosebleed." Eli gave his most serious expression for his last statement, as if it was the direst of all the advices. Of course, Alice had covered her face securely with the given mask. It was not one of those ridiculous masks Eli gave her at their first encounter, but instead Blaze gave her a new one. According to him, the mask was just too distracting to talk about anything serious. The new mask had a simple design, a smooth white surface with only the red heart on the left cheek with golden lacing to accentuate the plain mask. It was a much better design than the previous one and the brunette was thankful for finally getting rid of the retched thing.

"Now any questions?"

Questions were exactly what she had in her messed up head. Actually she can bombard with millions of questions from just off the top of her head. However, Eli's abrupt manner from the previous conversation of "Blaze hailed as a queen," she knew that she couldn't ask too much. She tried to choose wisely from her lists of questions and decided to start off with something immediate, "Why can't I mention about the king of hearts to Blaze?"

"I'm not too sure about the detail either, but apparently there was a rumor going around saying that the king and queen were in love with each other. Blaze tried to ignore for a while, but you know how he is a little sensitive to the feminine side. So on one sunny day Blaze walked up to the king and killed him with his scythe. The end."

Alice gulped and said, "So….every time there is a new king of hearts….."

"A death sentence." The room temperature seemed to decrease quite a bit as none of them said a word. On the foreigner's part, it was from trepidation and also from total shock. On the white rabbit's part, it was just to fix his coat and look at the time from his pocket.

After checking the time, Eli turned around to leave the room. "Even with these advice, the queen is a quick tempered person so I suggest you to stay in your room quietly if you value your life," said the white haired man as he turned the door knob and left Alice in the locked room.

Hi I'm back from the virtual death. Sorry for taking up a suuuuper long vacation, but I enjoyed it. TwT Ok sorry really I know I was too lazy to type and somehow...it became this long. Thank you crazzy2000 for reminding me!