Moonlight Ball

“I’ve already heard the news of the incident regarding Miss Iris Elaine. I don’t know how to console your sorrow.” said the King, weary of this whole situation.

“Thank you, Your Grace.” Elaine bowed and his disciples followed suit. Iris almost fell to her knees, but she somehow managed to keep her composure. She was Queen Rosemary, and no longer Iris and she had to get her act together. I can do it. She decided that she could do anything now because her teacher was in front of her.

It wasn’t long before Elaine looked down at Iris. He was tall and Rosemary was much shorter, and he frowned at her swollen cheek. The blatant handprints seemed to have been made by the King. The person in this body was not Rosemary, it was Iris. Had it been Iris, she would’ve no doubt thrown a vase at the King if he’d slapped her. Iris must’ve been bewildered after being hit because she wouldn’t have known why he’d done that, and it saddened Elaine tremendously to think of her suffering. Furthermore, knowing that Iris was now trapped inside of the crazy Rosemary’s body, he was bitterly concerned about her. But he still wanted to say one thing to Rosemary.

“Your Majesty, I’m glad you are safe and…” For a moment Elaine stopped talking as tears built up and he had to swallow hard to keep them from spilling out of his gray eyes. He was remembering Iris, his daughter, and how she’d grown up and become his closest friend. They were true friends in every sense of the word. He’d been in despair when he thought he’d lost her. “I’m truly pleased.” That was all he could say further.

Iris could understand exactly what Elaine was thinking. They’d become perfect partners and had created the magic formulas they wanted, and beautiful and wonderful things used to unfold in their hands.

“I don’t care what you look like,” Elaine whispered.

Iris grinned at Elaine’s words and replied, “Thank you, Uncle.”

Sidrain frowned, looking at them with deeper suspicion. Now isn’t that peculiar?

The servant, who received Sidrain’s attention, looked at the Queen and the Great Wizard without bowing this time. It wasn’t long before he spoke to Sidrain and said, “I’ll find out what’s going on.”

Perhaps Elaine, the Great Wizard, was among the Queen’s numerous partners with whom she had affairs. If so, it would be an opportunity to discourage the momentum of the Magic Tower. The King was anxious to abandon her, so if he could discourage the tower, he would be able to get rid of her once and for all.

The eyes of the servant became watchful. Elaine and Iris, who’d stepped down from the King’s presence, headed towards the Queen’s room. They walked in silence and Iris glimpsed the women in uniform following them. There were two types of uniforms, one neat dress, and the other more formal, but they all looked like soldiers.

Rosemary was accompanied by men earlier, if it was a woman who was meant to serve her, who were the men who had served her earlier? Iris became curious, but she couldn’t answer that question right now and decided to figure it out later.

When they arrived at the room belonging to the Queen, he bowed to Iris with the symbol of the tower and asked, “May I have a private meeting, Your Majesty?”

News of the visit between Elaine and Queen Rosemary had spread quickly and everyone in the court knew of it, so people thought Rosemary would curse at that moment. But instead, she answered with a big smile because she was Iris, not Rosemary, “Of course, Uncle.”

“From which direction did the sun come up today?” Elaine joked.

Both the maids and the guards were shocked, but they did not show it. All at once, they bowed politely and walked away. Elaine’s disciples also stepped down and they were finally alone. Iris started to say the word ‘teacher’ but Elaine quickly covered her mouth with his hands and put his arm around her.

Slowly, as Iris opened her eyes in confusion, Elaine whispered in her ear, “People are listening to us.”

Iris stood dead still and kept quiet. People are listening to us? 

Elaine hugged her and patted her as he looked around uneasily. His warm, big hands comforted her and she knew everything was okay now and she slowly exhaled.

Elaine talked casually like an ordinary uncle, “I was surprised to hear that you almost drowned in the river.” And at the same time, he wrote the word ‘tonight’ with his finger across Iris’s back. She nodded in recognition as he looked down at her face.

“I’m sorry to have surprised you,” Iris replied, mindful of the people that might be listening outside the door. She knew that she had to say something.

“Iris was a very good child, My Queen.”

“Is that so?” Iris laughed her head off in the middle of saying this. She liked it when her teacher praised her, more than anything else in the world and she’d always tried to be someone he could praise. It was time for her to smile and rejoice.

Looking at her face, Elaine said, “Yes. I can never forgive the person who did this to my precious Iris.” Elaine paused for a moment as his fingers wrote more letters on Iris’ back, ‘Don’t go to sleep. Wait for me’.

Iris nodded again in acknowledgment. Suddenly, Elaine squeezed her shoulders while she was thinking about waiting for him without sleeping. He spoke seriously as she raised her head, and her shoulders hurt terribly. “I will never forgive that person. I swear to Rusna, that whoever did this will pay the price!”