Wood creaks when the King leans back in his chair, setting down his glasses and rubbing the space between his brows.

Why was the sunset so slow today?

Tapping at the table and glancing at the now empty basket Sera brought, Lucien sighs, staring out the window in the direction of the gardens. 

"Pardon, Your Majesty?"

Lucien looks up to a large oval table surrounded by ministers who wait for his response. It seemed he'd accidentally muttered his thoughts aloud.

"No, carry on."

"Understood, Sire."

Again. The King was doing it again!

The ministers no longer bother glancing at each other each time he does this. Though Lucien would tell them he appreciated their bluntness in the meetings, if they pointed it out every time he got distracted thinking of his lady there would be no end.

The meeting continues, the ministers taking their turn and speaking the contents of the agenda. 

It was better for them to-

After a few seconds of rubbing his brows, Lucien sighs again and puts his glasses back on, nodding and begins giving his input here and there.

The King was different from the common man. He was just as sharp in these discussions as he was on the battlefield. Because his meeting style, much like his fighting style was blunt and efficient, they'd done away with the formalities that came with deciding governance and affairs. It took half the time to convene the meeting compared to the former King.

Thud. Thud. Thud-thud.

"Ergh."

THUD-THUD-THUD.

Groaning, Lucien clutches at his heart. The blood pumping through his body felt boiling hot, veins bulging in his neck while the pain galloped through his vessels.

This was a reaction that only came when he used too much of his magic..But normally using magic put more stress on his mental state than it did with his physical. Only with large magics, like the one imbued into the ring...

Lucien's eyes widen at the immediate realization.

Sera!

Something must have happened to her!

"Your Majesty!?"

Chairs clatter as the circle of ministers jump up from their seats.

"This meeting is convened."

Holding out a hand, Lucien ignores them, fingers digging into his shirt while he stumbles out of the room.

-------------

"LUCY!!!!!!"

Long blades of grass rustles and slaps against her makeshift pants; urging Sera on. Before Lucy did what Sera knew what she was planning on doing. 

She'd only fallen from a tree! Kids fell from trees all the time. Tree-climbing had been a big part of her childhood growing up in the countryside. Why was this young maid reacting so badly!?

It was a stroke a bad luck that Sera's shout only serves to make Lucy's face turn towards her, while the pale maid's hand continued to slice down towards her other wrist-

Sera reaches a hand forward, eyes fixed upon the large shears within the maid's trembling hand.

Bang!

She'd made it in time!

Knocking the shears out from Lucy's hand, Sera tumbles to the ground, the momentum sending her forward, dry-heaving at the sudden exertion.

"Why did you do that for!? I wasn't dead!! Foolish girl! You should have come and checked before declaring someone as dead!"

Using the remnants of the adrenaline thrumming through her body, Sera fishes out the shears from the grass and throws it away from Lucy, towards a flower pot that shatters upon impact.

Oops. She was aiming for the bush to hide it from Lucy, not the flowerpot. But never-mind that!

Feeling a trembling in her chest, Sera can feel the vein on her forehead growing close to bursting. Though she shouted at the top of her lungs the angry words didn't elicit any reaction from the maid.

"Why would you throw away your life like that! Don't demean yourself!!!"

Lucy was frozen, one hand grasping her wrist while she stood there like a tree planted in the ground.

"Don't do that! Ever again!!!"

Yelling between hard gasps, Sera continues to waggle her finger at Lucy, the young maid looking down at the Queen in tearful shock. Her face was a sorry sight to see, nose shiny with snot and brown hair sticking to her cheeks from all the tears she'd shed.

"You're worth a lot more than you think, Lucy!!" 

The adrenaline sprinting through Sera's body was gone, replaced by a fatigue that sunk down into her very bones. Which left Sera waggling her finger at Lucy, tree roots digging into her back from her position on the ground.

Sera was angry. Thinking back to her old world and this world. Both were the same. How many times had she been saddened to see on the news someone committing suicide "to take responsibility" because of a mistake they'd made. A scientist lying about a earth-shattering find. A corporate boss taking the blame for his company's bankruptcy. 

Sera hated the feeling of helplessness she'd experienced each time she heard the news of these strangers. Life wasn't always beautiful, but it wasn't always terrible.

She knew what it felt like to want to run away from it all. To feel nothing. Each breath reminding her of what she'd thrown away. To feel worthless, a mistake.

Until she realized those were the lies her depression was telling her.

So she didn't. Thinking of her parents' reactions to her death had stopped her. What would happen to Lucien, if he ever found out she was dead.. The feelings of the baby she'd abandoned, if he found out..

Sera never wanted to hurt the people in her life like that.

Suicide did nothing to solve the problem. It only made things worse for the people left behind. 

So why was this maid trying to commit suicide, thinking that she'd died!? At most, as Queen, Sera was like her boss. From the standpoint of her old world, no worker commits suicide just because the boss has an accident on the job, right?? 

Why did Lucy do that?

Sera grits her teeth, trying to calm her rough breaths.

"Y-your Majesty? You're alive?"

Another teardrop falls out of Lucy's right eye and drops onto the grass next to Sera's head. Relaxing her tensed shoulders, the maid releases her hold on her wrist, dropping both hands to her sides.

"I won't die that easily, Lucy. 

Lucy finally seemed to have processed the fact that the Queen wasn't dead. She was no longer sobbing great wails of terror, but staring with lower lip trembling at the Queen who lectured her from the ground.

Some more tears spatter on the ground and on Sera's chest, making Sera lower her tone. A quick glance at the tears-

Sara touches the crimson droplet that lands on her open palm.

The manicured grass was dotted with red!

Her own chest too!

Seeing Lucy's red hand, Sera raises her voice in surprise.

"Wai- Lucy! You're bleeding!!"

"SERA!!!!!!!!!!"

An anguished cry rends the air, the birds fleeing from the trees surrounding the clearing at the loud shout.