in every universe (one shot-s) | JENLISA

robbed the throne and the queen's heart

Thieves. Nimble on their feet. Adept at hiding in the shadows, so much so that they would meld in with the darkness, become one and all, there but not there. Violence was not preferred, but if the situation called for it, they wouldn't hesitate to dispense one of the knives strapped on their bodies to defend themselves. Thieves would kill if they had to.

Good ones, that was. And Lisa... oh, Lisa was a good thief. She was the icon, the idol, the one whose seal of approval would drive another thief insane with pride, the one whose medal of shame would drive another thief to hide below ground and never resurface.

For more than a decade, Lisa was at the pleasure of the Beulg queen, sneaking in and out of countries to steal secrets and treasure, toppling nobles and snatching ministers.

Sometimes, even a husband or a wife if she was ever so bored. Mostly, Lisa was dispatched to Lamp, eavesdropping on state secrets and monitoring its monarch, the ever-manic Jackson Kim.

In essence, Lisa was a pest in Lamo. An annoyance. An itchy spot that couldn't be scratched away because of her swiftness.

That was, until Jackson Kim died and his sister ascended the throne, dry-eyed and cold-stoned. Unemotional and steel fist around the manage of her country. That was, until Lisa married the Beulg queen, and became an enemy of the state.

——

"It is a political move."

"Of course it is. Our queen wouldn't love a thief."

"Precisely."

——

"My queen."

"My queen."

"Kindly remove yourself from the beam."

"The view is nice here."

From below, Jennie, the queen who had unwittingly ascended the throne when everyone least expected it, only sighed.

Slightest smidgeon of an emotion. Otherwise, people – attendants and guards – wouldn't be able to tell that she was frustrated, given that she seemed to have perpetuated a stone-cold expression.

It was what made her so intimidating, from ministers to the little boy who had a tendency of running around the castle regardless of the warnings his mother had imposed upon him. No one could tell whether she was pleased or displeased. She could bestow rewards with the same expression; she could also sentence someone to the gallows with the same expression.

"Perhaps I should have chopped off your legs when I had the chance."

Hidden in the shadows unblessed by the sunlight, Lisa smiled, bemused at her wife's nonchalant remark. She could imagine that the attendants standing against the walls, the attendants who hated her oh so much while having no choice to serve her anyway, were gob-smacked at their monarch's unflappable threat.

Really, she couldn't understand how they were still shocked. The queen of Beulg had attained quite the reputation for herself in the short years since she'd been crowned.

Despite her wife's impassioned plea, Lisa remained perched on the beam, leaning against a supporting shaft, playing with the knife that she had refused to relinquish when she'd officially entered the country as the queen's fiancée, rather than the thief who had been a thorn in their side since Jennie ascended the throne.

"Funny that – I think I would have still married you if you did."

"I married you," Jennie enunciated, a hint of petulance at the tip of her tongue, though the others wouldn't have detected it.