16 The Ingredient
Regina returned from the secret room to the king's bedroom. Fortunately, Leopold was still sleeping soundly. The brunette quietly undressed and lay back on the bed. She stared at the snoring man in front of her. She had never really understood her husband before, but he had never felt so distant and scary to her at the moment. How many unspeakable secrets are hidden under his tolerant and benevolent mask?
After another moment, Leopold rolled over and woke up. He blinked his eyes, turned around, and saw his wife lying quietly beside him with a start. Although they have been married for eight years, they rarely have the experience of sleeping in the same bed. "Why are you still here?" He faintly asked, a slight trace of embarrassment flashed across his face.
"You fell asleep, Your Majesty."
The king turned his face and glanced at the blood-red scratch on his shoulder. He was vaguely puzzled. He felt that his memories were blurry for some reason, but he couldn't tell why. "You should leave," he said dismissively.
These words were exactly what Regina wanted to hear. She hurriedly put on her clothes, all the while looking for any changes in her husband's expression secretly. After confirming that he hadn't suspected anything, she quickly left the king's chambers.
It was midnight, and there was no one in the secluded corridor. Her pretentious calm fell apart at this moment and Regina collapsed to the ground. Holding onto the cold wall, she started vomiting.
—⋆⋅ ⋅⋆—
Regina had forgotten how she returned to the bedroom. She was currently lying on the bed, wrapped in a thick duvet. The fireplace was crackling at its fullest, but she still shivered constantly. Even after leaving the secret room for a long time, the cold air in the cave seemed to have penetrated her bones, unable to dispel from her body. Too much anxiety churned in her chest, making her unable to get a wink of sleep.
Suddenly, there was a slight tinking sound from the window. Regina got out of bed in confusion and walked slowly towards the window sill. Through the glass, everything was pitch black. Just when she thought she had misheard, a woman's voice whispered, "It's me. Emma."
The queen was startled for a second, then she quickly opened the window, "I don't remember asking you to come to my room today."
"You didn't," the blonde woman dexterously stepped from the ladder to the window sill, dropping to the chamber floor easily. "But I have something important to tell you," she said solemnly, "I know what the words on the king's parchment are!"
"What?" Regina asked hoarsely. Watching Emma's troubled expression, she swallowed. This was by no means a pleasant conversation. For once, Emma's presence brought more pressure than comfort.
The blonde woman took a deep breath, "It is not just a list of items, but the ingredients for a curse."
—⋆⋅ ⋅⋆—
Sitting in a corner table of a dirty and noisy tavern, Emma gulped down tasteless barley wine like she hadn't drunk in a week.
The emissary sent by the king to the front should have brought her brother with him, but only bad news came back with the emissary — Emma's eldest brother disappeared after an encounter with the enemy. His body was not found on the battlefield, but he may have been captured or injured. He could've also run away wounded and died in a place no one knew of.
With all kinds of bad thoughts plaguing her mind, Emma simply took a day off, left the palace, hid in a tavern got herself drunk.
In addition to worrying about her elder brother, there was another layer of worries — if she can't save her elder brother, her betrayal to Regina would not only make her fall into self-blame and guilt… it will also be utterly meaningless.
Just as she brought the mug to her mouth again, a familiar voice suddenly interrupted her: "Oh I finally found you!"
Emma turned around with a hint of drunkness, and a familiar red hair broke into her sight — it was the girl who had helped her translate the elvish in the bookstore.
"You were looking for me?" Emma raised her eyebrows suspiciously. "If I remember correctly, I've already paid you more than enough." She was not bitter about paying the red-haired girl too much, but because of the money, she had readily sold the leopard's fangs to people with ulterior motives.
The red-haired girl glanced at the huntress's face that was reddened by alcohol and decided not to argue, "Yes, fifty gold coins, no more no less," she paused, "Actually I'm not the one who's looking for you, it's my grandfather. He said that if I ever met you again, I must take you to see him."
"Why is he looking for me?"
"Why don't you come with me and ask in person?"
Emma hesitated, then finally put down the mug in her hand down.
The huntress followed the red-haired girl back to the bookstore. On the way there, she learnedly that the girl's name is Belle.
The real owner of the bookstore was sitting at the counter this time. He was a very old man with a long white beard on his chin that is more luxuriant than the white hair on his head. When Belle was done translating the elvish text, she left a copy in the store. The old man was now holding the copy, his brows furrowed, and his expression complex.
"This is an incomplete list," he told Emma, a tremor in his old voice. After saying this, he sighed, "No, in fact, this is not an ordinary list, but the ingredients for an ancient curse."
"Curse?" The word made Emma suck in a breath, her drunken haze faded in that instant.
"I saw it on a tome of magic. The tome has been ruined, but I still remember this enchantment clearly. I wish I could be more specific if... if there is anything else on your list…?" The old man's milky eyes stared intently at the blonde woman.
"There is nothing else." Belle interjected, " I have copied all the text on the piece of fabric she gave me! I've told you this several times already!" Her voice was somewhat unhappy because of the old man's apparent lack of trust for her.
"This is dark magic young lady, it is not to be taken lightly. I have to know everything about the parchment. I don't want myself to be an accomplice of evil by accident." The old man gave his granddaughter a sideways glance and then turned to the huntress again, "Are you completely sure you gave my grandaughter all of the text?"
Emma nodded, "I am." She recalled the night she stole the parchment. Although the situation was extremely urgent, she was sure that she did not miss a word on the parchment.
The old man furrowed his eyebrows and looked confused, "Perhaps it is I who worry too much… I hope I was wrong, after all, this is dark magic. It is pure evil. No one should ever touch dark magic."
Emma's mind had already lost the effects of the wine and at that instant, she was completely sober. She has heard of dark magic before, but those were only rumors, and no one has seen it before. In fact, the king hated sorcery. Years ago he had ordered a boycott of witchcraft. Wizards, sorcerers, necromancers, seers, even the fake ones, were banished from the kingdom.
"If you're not wrong, what kind of curse is this?" she asked tentatively.
The old man glanced at the blond, parted his lips slightly, and answered her.
—⋆⋅ ⋅⋆—
"Curse? What curse?" Regina asked, frowning. The sense of wrongness occupying her heart was getting heavier and heavier.
Emma swallowed, and recited the words of the old man, "This is a spell crafted of dark magic to resurrect the undead."
Regina stood frozen. The mysterious parchment, the secret room, the corpse of the woman in red in the crystal coffin, all the pieces of the puzzle had fallen together and at this very moment, everything was clear. With the cloaked man's help, Leopold, her husband, was planning to use magic to revive the former queen, the only woman he loved, Eva.
Regina stood there stiffly, not moving, but the expression on her face had obviously frightened the huntress. "What's wrong?" Emma took a step forward, concerned, and asked softly.
Regina murmured, "Resurrected from the dead, of course, she is whom the king wants most."
"She? What are you talking about?" Emma looked at her questioningly. "Have you already understood the king's intentions?"
Regina closed her eyes and took a deep breath, telling her everything she saw in the secret room.
"Are you sure you saw it right?" Emma was flabbergasted.
Regina smiled bitterly, "I will never forget that face in my life." She walked back to the bed and sank down weakly, "I've always thought that my husband was the most heartless person in the world, but it was obviously not true. He was just unable to love me." To be fair, she had never loved him, but if Leopold had treated her a little gently, she might be willing to live as his wife peacefully for her entire life. But unknowingly she had fallen victim to the most failed marriage of all the realms. After marrying her for eight years, her husband was still obsessed with resurrecting his former wife. And a kingdom does not need two queens.
Emma understood Regina's embarrassment and humiliation, but this is not what she worries the most at the moment, "The curse still needs the most important ingredient..." She found it hard to speak, unwilling to make the already devastated brunette endure a more brutal blow. But this important secret had to be told.
Hearing the heaviness in her tone, Regina turned her face to look at her, sadness mixed with anxiety churning within her dark brown eyes.
—⋆⋅ ⋅⋆—
In the dark secret room, Regina, who's breath had gradually returned from her shocked stupor, finally tore her gaze away from the face of the female corpse in the crystal coffin. She saw a small altar at the front of the coffin. An exquisite box carved from ebony was resting on it. She hesitated and opened the box carefully. In the box was the missing half of the parchment.
The parchment was folded into a square, and Regina gently unfolded the paper. There were no words on it, only a simple illustration — it was a heart, pierced by a dagger. She doesn't know what paint was used to draw the illustration, but even on weathered parchment, faded with age, its bright crimson color shone like blood, making the eyes of the dark-haired woman sting.
—⋆⋅ ⋅⋆—
"Is it a heart?" Regina heard her trembling voice asking.
The huntress nodded, she swallowed, "Yes, a heart."
"Whose heart?"
Emma was silent for a second, and replied with difficulty, "The heart of the child of the sorceress who spun straw into gold."
—⋆⋅ ⋅⋆—
A/N: Sorry, the last bit was a mouthful, I have no idea how to translate it properly…
Next on Defection: Regina runs again.