Kaiser of the New World

Kai stared blankly at the sight before him, wondering what the hell was going on.

For starters, he hadn't been expecting the Third Queen to be the one delivering his secret meals, that was a surprise to him.

But he also had no idea why the hell she was bowing so deeply to him. She was a Queen after all, and he was someone that was technically in prison.

"What are you doing?"

The Third Queen did not lift her head, in fact, she seemed to shove it even more into the ice, making Kai cringe internally. He was sure that was going to leave a mark when she inevitably got up.

"Y-you are the apprentice of The Shifter, it would be disrespectful of me to not kneel."

... The Shifter?

Kai's eyes widened slightly at the Queen's words. She knew about his and The Ever-changing's relationship?

"How do you know that?"

The Third Queen still did not lift her head from the floor.

"The Shifter came to me in a dream. T-They marked me and told me that you would be sent to this Subdimension and to make sure that you remained safe."

Kai felt a little touched by his Master's kindness. Turns out, he hadn't been completetly abandoned by them, they had some sort of plan in mind.

... Only that plan hadn't really worked as The Third Queen had ran away every time she saw Kai, bar their first meeting and the time Kai touched her shoulder.

Kai smiled weakly.

"How's that going for you?"

Kai's smile quickly disappeared when he watched the Third Queen start trembling again. Maybe she wasn't a fan of his joke.

"I- I apologise, My Lord. I did not know it would come to this. I was merely advised to watch you from a distance and make sure you came to no harm."

Kai sighed. Well, that kind of explained why she ran away every time he saw her.

But then again, she hadn't exactly done a great job, considering Kai was trapped in a jail cell and nearly had a Bloodline injected into him last sleep, that didn't really seem like keeping him safe.

"You don't have to call me 'My Lord', just call me something else, anything else. And you can stop bowing, it's kind of weird."

The Third Queen stopped trembling before she slowly got up, remaining on her knees and not actually standing up.

It was then noticed that her face was deathly pale, her pupils dilated and her breathing incredibly erratic.

Seriously, why was she so scared of him?

Actually, maybe it wasn't him that she was scared of.

"W-what do you wish for me to call you?"

Kai sighed.

"Just something other than 'My Lord', please."

The Third Queen hesitated before opening her mouth. It looked as if she was about to say something beginning with 'K' before she decided to say:

"Is... Sir... fine?"

Kai held back another sigh.

"Sir is good enough."

Kai then shook his arm, jingling the chain of ice that was attached to it. Even though he didn't exactly have high hopes about the answer, he still had to ask it.

"Any chance you can get me out of here?"

The Third Queen's face paled even more than it already was, making Kai think she was about to pass out from blood loss.

"I cannot. Only Her Majesty can free you... as far as I know. I-i apologise for not being of use to you, if you wish to punish me, then-"

Kai held his free hand up, stopping her from continuing.

"Punishments? No need for all that, I wasn't really expecting anything when I asked you anyway."

The Third Queen averted her gaze. She bit her lower lip softly while gripping at the fabric of her robe.

Kai sighed again.

"I don't mean anything by that. It's not your fault, I just mean that I know the origins of this ice and all that. I was just wondering did you have any idea how to get out. As I said, it's not your fault."

He felt as if his words weren't actually getting through to her. The Third Queen was still trembling, still scared. It made Kai wonder what exactly The Ever-changing had said to her for her to be acting like this.

Or maybe it wasn't actually anything he said, maybe it was just that she had been in the presence of a God, and a God that had been imprisoned for who knows how long at that.

"But I still failed, Sir. When you broke me free of the mind hex-"

Kai's eyes widened slightly as he held his hand up to stop her again.

"How exactly did I break you free from the mind hex?"

The Third Queen took a deep breath, attempting to calm herself before she began speaking.

"I was subjected to the mind hex from the very beginning of my marriage. Her Majesty did not like me and decided I would be better off as a mindless trophy wife, hence why she put me under the hex and was going to have me act as a childbearer, that was my only purpose.

But then she found out I posses no Innate Ability. She revealed that to His Majesty and he threw me aside. But it was too late by then, we were already married.

So Her Majesty kept me under her hex and had me act as a lifeless husk. I was basically a maid, she just had me roam the castle, performing the odd job."

It wasn't that obvious, but Kai noticed The Third Queen's grip on her robe tighten. She obviously held a grudge against Anastasia, and she obviously didn't like Castillian either.

But the fact she was under the hex from the very beginning of her marriage...

"A few days before the Tutorial ended, the Shifter visited me in a dream.

They gave me a mission, to make sure you remained safe for the first six months, that was my mission.

But I failed."

The Third Queen bit her lower lip again, her body trembling, like she was holding back tears.

But just as Kai was about to console her, she kept speaking.

"Up until where I met The Shifter in my dream, I was under the hex.  Meeting them is what freed me.

I was... ecstatic, then terrified. So long had passed, and I had been unaware of all of it passing.

My life that had no meaning... I suddenly had a reason to live.

But after the bidding process was complete, Her Majesty went and performed a check of all that were under her hex, including me.

She then realised I had somehow broken free and quickly put me under it again.

I didn't even realise what happened until you freed me, the day you touched my shoulder.

After getting my memories back, I- I wasn't sure what to do, so I ran away, I ran away any time I saw you as I did not wish to accidently upset or offend you.

So I watched you. I made sure you were safe. I did notice that Her Majesty got you under her hex, but that was fine.

My plan was let her think you were hers to control, then the day you were allowed to leave here I was going to take you with me and not look back.

But I... I did not realise that you had already broken free until it was too late. And now you're here, and it's all my fault-"

For the third time, Kai held up his hand to stop her from hyperventilating and sighed.

"As I said, how can it be your fault when I had no idea what was actually going on. I handled the situation terribly, that's on me, no one else. So you can't blame yourself, if I just had a bit more restraint then we wouldn't be in this mess."

Kai sighed again, scratching his chin as he began thinking.

So he had one ally in this place, the Third Queen of this city. While that may seem like some good news, there was one problem with that.

"I remember Anastasia saying that you don't have any skills, you are a low level and you have no Innate Ability, was all of that true? She said you were cursed."

The Third Queen slowly nodded.

"It is partially true. Her Majesty's hex was the curse I was under. It prevented me from leveling up, and it prevented me from gaining any skills. I do possess a couple, but none of them are that useful or that practical.

And I... do not posses an Innate Ability."

Kai sighed again. That made things a little tougher. It would have been handy if she had something that she could have used to help, but all she had going for her was the plan that he himself had accidently messed up.

But then Kai frowned, remembering something that she had just said that he ended up glossing over.

"Wait... did you say that you got your memories back after breaking free from the hex?"

The Third Queen nodded her head.

"Yes, after a being breaks free from the hex, they get all their memories back from the time under the hex. You must have got all yours back... have you not?"