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A woman sat in a room that overlooked the garden of a stone-walled palace.
Her name was Queen Victoria. She’d come to the unlit servant’s room, underneath a flag of Great Britain hung on the wall, to open a letter sent from the Liddell family. The plain white envelope was fixed with stamps for postage, but it showed no sign or receipt from the postal service itself.
That was because this letter had come directly from the sender, with no intermediary but the single deliveryman.
The Queen held the parchment up to a lamp, taking in the sight of the young girl’s charming handwriting.
“So, you were able to find the real Jack the Ripper, were you, Alice? But you hesitated to execute the first suspect when he came from under your own roof. It’s not exactly becoming of Great Britain’s most secret force of justice.”
Her Majesty had wished for Alice to execute Jack. It was the only way to ensure that a culprit never again resorted to other crimes.
His potential innocence was of no concern. Nothing mattered more than his silence in death. If only he’d confessed to the crime, then at the very least, the suspect could die knowing he’d sacrificed himself for the good of the kingdom.
The poverty-stricken East End and its low-paying jobs made it a hotbed for political opposition. The people believed the royal family and nobility to be monopolizing all the wealth for themselves, and so they became more interested in turning to crime than in working hard to earn an honest living.
The strange murder that occurred amid this turmoil was the perfect opportunity. Queen Victoria believed that once the culprit was captured, they could quickly be dispensed with divine justice, and the citizens would rethink turning to a life of crime as a result.
Everyone was to believe that they might be next on the chopping block.
But Alice defied the Queen’s wish. She investigated the case independently, uncovered new information, involved herself in the trial, and made a mockery of the court by exposing the true criminal. All the while, she received the support of the man whose engagement rumors Queen Victoria had helped spread herself—Earl Knightley.
She had believed the earl would marry Alice as soon as possible, command the knowledge that came with being part of the Liddell family, and form a new kind of system that remained in line with the Queen’s own desires.
“I miscalculated. I thought Alice and her life confined to darkness would be the perfect match for Knightley, considering the secret behind his birth. But if they continue to defy me, I’ll have no choice but to force them apart.”
“Break up the two lovebirds? That sounds downright demonic, Your Majesty.”
A young man sat at the window seat. He showed no formality or restraint in how he spoke to the Queen.
His black suit made him difficult to see in the darkness, but his pink hair and bright scarf made him resemble a mere head floating in midair.
The light caught the snake piercing he was wearing in one ear. Its glint was much like the glowing eyes of a cat in otherwise pitch darkness.
He was neither particularly feminine nor masculine in appearance, but this man had lived a life under many names. The Queen even took a liking to how he treated her, the highest power in the kingdom, as an equal. She thought of him like a son.
“Don’t compare me to something so horrid, Cheshire. Why don’t you be next in line to pair up with Alice? You’re the best actor in all the kingdom. Won’t you play the part of the perfect man and make Alice fall in love with you?”
“An interesting question…”
The young man placed his hand to his chin in thought. When he turned his head, his hair fell loosely around his face.
Those dark pink eyes went wide. The corners of his mouth pulled taut into a grin, and to an onlooker, it looked as if his face might split from ear to ear.
“I’ll think about it, but no promises. Cats only act on their own whims, or at least, that’s what all the textbooks said in boarding school. I’m a real good studier. If I wasn’t, how would I ever survive being stuck in between an angry lion and unicorn?”
“A cat with ferocious beasts at its service. It’s like something from a fairy tale.”
As the Queen chuckled, the embroidered flag at her back flapped in the breeze. The crest of a lion and unicorn guarding a shield was a symbol of Queen Victoria herself.
Her influence was impossible to ignore, even in a place like this.
“I’ll be on my way, then. If I don’t get to sleep soon, it’ll wreak havoc on my skin.”
With those parting words, the man left his seat at the window, and the Queen watched the natural color of his hair refuse to fade away into the dark veil of night. As for where he was going, who he’d be seeing, and how exactly he’d be getting to sleep…
“I don’t even want to know.”
Once she’d finished watching the man gracefully stroll off into the distance, the Queen lit a match and brought it to the girl’s letter. The parchment caught fire and turned to a mere pile of dust in the ashtray.
“Your life is only going to get more interesting from here, Alice. After all, you’re the heroine in this wonderful land, which so many people came together to create.”
Silently, in the dead of the night, the wheels of death began to turn.
The foolish Alice had yet to learn just how determined the Queen was to get her way.