"......"
The prime minister said nothing, yet his posture made his convictions plain.
"Ha."
Selena rested her chin in one hand, smiling.
"Why work yourself into such a state, Mother? If the question is who is fairest, we need only ask the magic mirror."
The moment those words left her lips, sharp intakes of breath rippled through the audience hall.
No one answered the princess. Instead, every gaze slid quietly toward the head throne.
From behind the curtain, the queen released a long, weary sigh.
"Once the mirror is consulted, there is no taking it back."
Snow White's delicate nose twitched as she gave a small sound of assent, then dipped into a bow.
"Ah, but I want to know right now, Mother: between the two of us, who is truly the fairest? Call it a small indulgence."
The queen rose and drifted in slow circles around her throne. Behind the heavy black veils, her face and expression remained unreadable, only a pair of clear, luminous silver eyes glowing faintly in the shadows.
At last, she extended an arm sheathed in a black silk glove up to the ring finger, and a floor-length mirror appeared before her, set in a frame of obsidian.
She asked, in a voice barely above a whisper:
"Mirror, mirror, tell me: who is the fairest in all this land?"
Every person in the hall fixed their eyes on the mirror and held their breath.
Those assembled were the pillars of the Kingdom of Wintertide, and they knew the truth of things. On ordinary days, this mirror was a mysterious artifact that delivered signs and revelations.
But in truth, the magic mirror was a creature born of the dragon's curse: a death knell, waiting to toll.
"Hmmm, hmm, hmm..."
After the queen posed her question, the mirror began to tremble softly, and then it let out a sharp, piercing voice:
"My queen, you are the fairest in all this land. And yet, Snow White surpasses even you in beauty."
The queen closed her eyes in pain, though she had not been entirely unprepared. Through the hall, the ministers stood ashen-faced, as though mourning the dead.
"Hmph. Ha, hahahahaha!"
What shattered that eerie silence was a young woman's quiet scoff, which swelled at once into bright, unrestrained laughter.
Snow White clapped her hands together and spun a graceful circle where she stood.
"You all heard it. The matter is settled. I am the fairest in all of Wintertide. Mother, I have surpassed you at last."
The tall, full-figured queen pressed one hand to her temple and nodded slowly, gazing at her daughter, whose beauty did not seem to belong to this world, as though looking at a reflection of her own younger self.
"The throne of Wintertide shall pass to Snow White, the fairest. Such is the ancient and unbreakable curse."
Arcturus spoke in a low, deliberate voice: "Your Highness, what is it you are actually trying to do? If your intent was to proclaim your right to commit regicide, you have succeeded. No one here can deny it."
"And then what? Your beauty will drive wave after wave of people to obsession. The people will rally behind you, overthrow the current court, and kill Her Majesty. Is that what satisfies you?"
Faced with the prime minister's relentless pressure, Selena's silver eyes gleamed with contempt. She crossed her arms.
"Ha? Are you barking at me, you wretch? How absurd. In this kingdom, no one has the standing to reproach me."
Snow White stepped forward, her cold gaze sweeping over the assembled ministers.
"Who is it that bears the dragon's deepest curse? Who is it that has sustained Wintertide's eternal summer through a lifetime of sacrifice? Who is it that has upheld the ancient legacy to the very end?"
"We may all be people of Wintertide, but that does not give you the right to sit in judgment of us. You have no right. None of you have any right."
Under Snow White's rebuke, every minister fell silent, hanging their heads in shame.
At last, Selena stepped before the curtain. She reached out and touched the black gauze, holding her mother's gaze through the veil.
Two pairs of mirrored silver eyes regarded each other for a long moment, carrying something between longing and reproach, between grief and sorrow, until Selena turned away.
"Kill me," she said, simply.
"What?"
The prime minister and the others looked up in surprise, unable to grasp the princess's meaning.
Snow White wound a lock of hair around her fingers near her shoulder.
"To go on living, to cling to power and authority, to turn on one's own mother: that kind of thing is... profoundly ugly."
"I am incapable of anything so ugly. If it would cost me the purity of my beauty, then better to let the ultimate beauty be fixed at its most brilliant moment."
Selena's smile dimmed the sun and moon both.
"You needn't all carry on as though someone has already died. There is only one person dying, and that is me. Surely that is enough."
Arcturus and the others bowed deeply.
"The people of Wintertide will not forget your great sacrifice, Your Highness..."
"Spare me the high-minded speeches. I am not doing this for any noble cause. Only... someone must be sacrificed, and between the two of us, Mother is the one who should live."
Selena glanced once more at the queen.
"After all, has Mother not done everything well? Whether holding back the empire's invasion or sheltering the land of Wintertide, she is the most fit queen there could be. As for me, well. So far, the only thing I can claim over her is beauty."
One of the ministers could not help letting out a soft lament.
"...All of this can only be blamed on the dragon's curse. Were it not for that, how could it ever have forced Her Majesty and Her Highness into such an impossible situation?"
The princess agreed. The ministers agreed. All that remained was the queen's word, and every gaze drifted inevitably toward the head throne.
Ever since she had questioned the mirror, the queen of Wintertide, robed and veiled in black, had been sitting in perfect stillness, like an exquisite statue.
But a decision had to be made. That was the burden of the crown.
The queen lifted her hand, then let it fall. She opened her mouth and closed it again. After what appeared to onlookers to be an agonizing inner struggle, she finally spoke.
"Not... not in front of me."
Arcturus responded at once.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I will make the arrangements. We will send Her Highness with the Wayfarers to the borderlands, beyond the reach of your sight, and there... there, the ceremony will take place."
Though her death sentence had just been pronounced, Selena showed not a trace of fear. She let her eyelids fall softly, almost with anticipation.
"Oh, a ceremony, then. It had better be grand. I want black-and-white butterfly flowers laid across my burial ground, the coffin must be valley-timber, the funeral dirge should be played in twelve movements..."
The prime minister cut in.
"Your Highness, every wish you have for the ceremony will be honored without question. But time is short. We should depart now. You can write down your requests along the way."
That the queen had finally given her word was better than anyone had dared hope, yet no one knew whether she might change her mind before morning. To prevent things from dragging on any longer, Arcturus intended to make it a settled fact without delay.
Selena shot a glance at the prime minister. His thinking was perfectly transparent to her.
"How tiresome... Very well. Then this is farewell, Mother."
The princess had no wish to linger, either. She was not entirely sure her own resolve would hold if she stayed. One hand over her heart, she gave the queen a solemn bow, and walked out of the audience hall.
Each step was steady and sure, like someone who had made up her mind.