Third person's POV

'JeongYeon, I don't want to force any decision on her.' Chaeyoung's voice can be heard,

'You took her from Macedon forcefully, you made her a slave and put her through many hardships, then you forcefully made her your personal maid. Everything was your decisions, so tell me, Chaeyoung, what choice did Mina have?' JeongYeon angrily asks,

Chaeyoung is stunned after hearing what JeongYeon just pointed out. She stays silent and just stares at the Vice Minister. So many different thoughts are going on inside her head, but the biggest question that is piercing into her heart right now is, 'What if it's true that she forced Mina into everything right from the beginning until now? It's the fact that Mina's family members got killed because of her, it's no denial that she is the one who destroyed Mina's home and dragged the innocent Princess away from her Kingdom. Chaeyoung loves Mina with all her heart but now she starts to question herself.... Is it true that she didn't actually give the girl she loves a... choice like she thought she always has been giving her?'

The Vice Minister is now like a jar without the lid, she is spilling out everything that she has been keeping inside, 'You made Mina your personal maid and took away my opportunity to get close to her. Chaeyoung, if I had a chance to show Mina my heart earlier, her answer today would be different...'

The Queen is just sitting there and looks at JeongYeon with so much sadness in her eyes. She isn't even trying to explain or defend herself anymore because she knows she needs to let JeongYeon pours out all of her long overdue frustration. But the more she listens to what her friend said, the more she knows their friendship is a lot harder to mend than she thought it would be,

'Chaeyoung, I love her first, Mina... she's my first love, but you took her away from me just like that. You already have everything in this world, you have Consort Tzuyu, Consort Sana and many many other women, so why? Why do you have to take the only woman that I love?' JeongYeon continues, her heart is hurting too much that she can't control her words anymore, 'You are so greedy!'

On the other side of the door, Dahyun just can not listen to those wrongful accusations any longer, she pushes the door open, 'Yoo JeongYeon, watch your words!' She yells at the Vice Minister while stepping inside,

Mina also steps in, she worriedly looks at Chaeyoung to check on her as she knows how much the Queen is hurting right now listening to all those piercing words,

Both Chaeyoung and JeongYeon turn their heads to look at Mina at the same time. The Queen stares at the girl she loves with a very hard to read expression on her face. She then stands up and walks away without speaking a word,

'Your Majesty! Your Majesty!' Mina calls out to Chaeyoung and immediately follows right behind her out of the office.

On the other hand, Dahyun has been looking at JeongYeon with an angry face. To her, a very close person to Chaeyoung, JeongYeon and even Mina, she has witnessed many things between them, and therefore she knows the whole situation better than anyone else. With all of those knowledges about this love triangle, Dahyun believes that everything which the Vice Minister said to the Queen was wrong on so many different levels,

The Vice Chief then walks over and throws a hard punch right on the side of the Vice Minister's face,

JeongYeon falls to the floor with a busted lip as a result. She looks at Dahyun but doesn't fight back, as deep down inside she's already regretting every word that she said to her best friend earlier,

'That punch, I did it on behalf of Chaeyoung.' Dahyun tells her, she's fuming at the moment, 'JeongYeon, how could you talk to Chaeyoung like that? She's not only your best friend but also your Queen.
Be thankful that Chaeyoung is so forgiving, if it's any other King or Queen, your head wouldn't still be on your neck.'

The Vice Minister is still sitting on the floor, listening to Dahyun's words while staring into nothingness,

'JeongYeon, stop blaming Chaeyoung for taking Mina from you, because it's not true. Your love for Mina is one sided, but the love between Chaeyoung and Mina is mutual, it is the purest love that I have ever seen.' Dahyun is now explaining to JeongYeon why all the things that the Vice Minister said to the Queen were so wrong, 'And you think Chaeyoung wants to have all these women? No, JeongYeon. It's because she's the Queen, and that naturally becomes her responsibility and... her obligation to have a royal heir, you... you should know that fact.'

JeongYeon has her hands holding her head, she herself knows that everything she said earlier was all from her point of view. She didn't even try to see things in Chaeyoung's point of view because her jealousy had her head in the clouds,

The Vice Chief continues, 'And you are so wrong about how you love Mina first. JeongYeon, what you don't know is that Chaeyoung's love for Mina started way before you even saw the girl. To be exact, it's actually on the day that Chaeyoung went to Macedon and learned about the deaths of her King and Queen parents. My father was there to witness it, he said it was love at first sight.'

'What?' That is all JeongYeon could utter, she now realised how wrong she was for holding a grudge against Chaeyoung all this time,

Dahyun crouches down and holds both of JeongYeon's shoulders with her hands, 'JeongYeon ah, have you ever wondered why with all these power that Chaeyoung has, but she hasn't made Mina hers yet? Yes, a big part is because she respects all of the government members's opinions, but the bigger part is that, she respects you, JeongYeon, she highly values our friendship and therefore she's wanting to heal the relationship with you first before taking the next step with the girl she loves.'

JeongYeon's tears are now falling one by one, she regretted what she did, she regretted what she said, she even regretted what she thought about Chaeyoung,

'So JeongYeon ah, you are now the one who need mend the crack between you and Chaeyoung. Do it before it's too late, because a friend like Chaeyoung is certainly... one in a million.' Dahyun ends her talk with a heartfelt advice for JeongYeon.

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On the other hand, The Queen just keeps walking despite how many times Mina has been calling her. She walks straight into her own room and closes the door behind her. Mina is worriedly knocking on the door nonstop, 'Your Majesty, please let me in! Your Majesty!'

Hearing no answer from the other side, Mina continues to knock, 'Your Majesty, are you alright? I... I'm so worried, so please let me see you, even for just a little bit.'

'Mina...' Chaeyoung finally replied, 'I have a lot in my mind right now, so... let me be by myself, just for tonight.'

Mina stops knocking, but she can't bring herself to leave as her heart is burning with worries right now,

'Mina, don't just stand there. You should go back to your room and rest now, you must be tired too.' No matter how messy her mind is, The Queen just can't stop herself from caring for the girl she loves,

Mina hesitates for a while, she doesn't want to leave but she knows right now, her being disobedient will just add another problem into the Queen's mind. So she obeys, 'Yes, Your Majesty.' Mina replied, then she sadly walks away, still looking back at that closed door a few more times until it's out of sight.

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The next morning, as usual, Mina is getting ready in her room before heading to the Queen's room to help her with the daily routine. And when she's about to walk out, Head Court Lady Nayeon together with JiHyo step in. The sadness is clearly displayed on their faces, together with their eyes looking a little red and puffy, Mina can tell that some tears were shed, 'Head Court Lady, JiHyo... are you alright? Is there... something wrong?' Mina worriedly asks,

Nayeon looks at Mina with her sad eyes, she sighs deeply before speaking up, 'Mina, I'm here to... relay a message from Her Majesty.'

'Re... relay?' Mina nervously asks, 'But... Her Majesty can just tell me herself. I'm about to go to her room now.'

'You don't have to come to her room anymore.' Head Court Lady tries to hold in her emotions,

'Wh... why?' Mina is on the verge of tears, she can sense something very very bad is happening,

'Mina, this is the message that Her Majesty wants me to relay to you...' Nayeon continues while placing a bag full of gold bars into Mina's hands, together with the message which is written on royal paper. Mina holds the paper up to read, her hands start to shake, 'Mina, from now on, you are no longer my personal maid. You are a free person, you are free to go to anywhere you want, you aren't being bound to Castlemaine anymore. This money is enough for you to live comfortably for the rest of your life, so you can go back to Macedon, you can build your own family, live a free, happy, peaceful life as you deserve. I'm sorry that I forcefully took you from your Kingdom, I'm sorry that I made you go through so many hardships, I'm sorry that I didn't give you a fair chance. But most importantly, I'm sorry that I made you choose between me and JeongYeon, because Mina, you don't only have two choices, but many many more. My Mina, from now on, your life is in your hands to decide, no one is allowed to make decisions on your life, including me. I know it's a little late but I want to put everything back to its original place, however I certainly can't give you back your family, and therefore I will live with that guilt for the rest of my life. But you Mina, you deserve to be happy, don't think about me too much as I'm... just a person who can't keep her promise. Take care of yourself, my National Treasure.'

Mina can literally feel her life is being drawn out of her body after reading Chaeyoung's message. With her shaky hands, she drops the bag of gold onto the floor, then she herself also falls down as her legs have turned into jelly,

'Your Highness, are you alright?' JiHyo runs over, she crouches down and has a hold of Mina's arm to support her,

Tears are now streaming down on Mina's delicate face, she shakes her head repeatedly, refusing to believe what is happening, 'No... no... this is not true! Her Majesty... she... won't do this to me.'

Nayeon is trying hard to hold in her tears while telling Mina, 'Mina, it's... a royal decree, so by now everybody in Castlemaine palace should have known about it. And that means you can just walk out of the palace gate right now and no one will dare to stop you.'

'I refuse to believe it.' Mina is in denial, 'I need to hear it directly from Her Majesty.' She picked herself up and about to run to the Queen's room,

But Nayeon and JiHyo stop her, 'Mina, calm down! You're no longer Her Majesty's personal maid, you are not allowed to enter Her Majesty's room without permission.'

'I don't care! I just want to see Her Majesty. Let go of me.' Mina is using all of her energy to try to break free.

'Mina! Mina!' Right then the Vice Minister hurriedly runs in, 'Thanks God you're still here.' She exclaims after seeing Mina,

But at this moment, JeongYeon is the very last person who Mina would want to see. Mina doesn't know the full reason behind Chaeyoung's heart breaking decision, but she's very sure half of the reasons are because of the sour conversation which The Queen and the Vice Minister had with each other yesterday.

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Author's note:

You might have questions about the part where The Queen's obligation is to have a royal heir and that's why she has so many women.

So this is the part where I said in the story description about how some parts won't fit in scientific facts. And in this fiction story, as women can marry women, women can make women pregnant too. It's a lot harder for a woman to make another woman pregnant but it's possible in this story 😊. Chaeyoung is the Queen, she needs a successor with her own bloodline, so yeah watch out for babies 😆.

P.S: I just want to clarify that Chaeyoung in this story is a normal woman, not an intersex or anything like that, so please don't think that way.

Because this is a fiction, so I just thought it would be great if two women can also have babies with each other, that's all. Please don't misunderstand.