The silence stretched across the entire hall.
Shawn didn't know what to say.
The queen's question kept echoing in his head.
"Are you afraid of the dark?"
'What kind of question is that?' Shawn thought, frowning inwardly.
It was a stupid question.
Completely stupid.
'Who the hell likes being in total darkness unless they're trying to sleep?!' he thought in frustration. 'Of course it had to be a vampire!'
Shawn kept walking slowly.
Very slowly.
He was careful not to trip over anything.
His hands were outstretched in front of him, groping the air.
His feet advanced step by step, testing the floor before committing.
The silence continued.
And then the queen's voice returned.
"Are you ignoring me?" she asked, her tone carrying a slight edge of annoyance.
Shawn froze.
"No!" he replied quickly. "I'm not ignoring you… Your Majesty."
Silence.
Shawn swallowed hard.
"It's just that…" he continued, feeling the words catch in his throat. "I don't like dark places…"
There it was.
He'd said it.
He braced for the queen to mock him.
Or get angry.
Or do something terrifying.
But instead, he heard something completely unexpected.
"What a coincidence," the queen said softly. "I don't like them either."
Shawn blinked into the darkness.
'What?' he thought, utterly confused.
If the queen didn't like dark places…
'Then why the hell is this place so dark?!' Shawn thought, frustration building.
It made no sense.
Absolutely no sense.
But Shawn decided not to question it.
Instead, he tried to get a better grasp of the situation.
"Your Majesty," he said carefully. "How are you feeling?"
Silence for a few seconds.
Then the queen cleared her throat.
"Ahem," she coughed lightly before speaking. "Lately I haven't been able to sleep well…"
Shawn listened closely.
"More and more, any noise bothers me," the queen continued. "The sound of other people's footsteps… the creaking of my own bones when I move…"
Shawn nodded in the darkness.
"Many times when I walk, I feel dizzy," she went on. "Thinking too much tires me out. Food has no taste anymore…"
The queen's voice grew more melancholic.
"And watching my red hair lose color day by day… it makes me feel old."
Shawn felt a pang of sympathy.
She sounded like someone who was suffering deeply.
But then the queen added something else.
"And if this continues," she said casually, "or gets worse in the coming weeks…"
She paused.
"I would seriously consider killing them all."
Shawn swallowed hard.
'What?!' he thought, panic surging back. 'I'm standing in front of a lunatic!'
'A lunatic with absolute power over the entire kingdom!'
The queen kept speaking as if she hadn't just said something horrifying.
"My eyes are starting to burn now too," she said tiredly. "Even those torches hanging high up there bother me."
Shawn looked up.
The torches barely gave off light.
They were weak blue flames that hardly illuminated anything.
'That bothers her?' Shawn thought in disbelief. 'You can barely see anything!'
"Tell me, little healer," the queen said. "Would it bother you if I decided to extinguish those torches? So I could be attended by you in a calmer atmosphere."
Panic spiked through Shawn.
'Extinguish the torches?!' he thought desperately. 'If she puts them out I won't be able to see a damn thing!'
"Your Majesty!" Shawn replied quickly. "I can barely see with the light we have now."
Silence.
Shawn kept talking, trying to convince her.
"I ask for your patience," he said pleadingly. "I need to find you first. Once I touch you, you'll feel all those discomforts and illnesses disappear."
Shawn paused to gather his thoughts and speak more clearly.
"I just need to touch you," he repeated. "And you'll be healed."
After saying those words, Shawn felt strange.
'I sound like one of those TV pitchmen from my world,' he thought, remembering the charlatans selling miracle cures. "Buy now and cure all your diseases!" "Just one touch and all your ailments vanish!"
Shawn shook his head.
'No, no, no,' he thought, trying to convince himself. 'My powers actually work. This is different.'
But still, he felt like a con artist.
At that moment, something changed in the hall.
Shawn noticed a glow in the darkness.
Two red points.
Bright.
Intense.
The queen's eyes.
She had been sitting on her throne the entire time.
Her posture was relaxed, almost lazy.
Her eyes had been half-closed.
But now they were fully open.
The queen began to rise from her throne.
She did so with effort.
Her movements were slow and heavy, as if every muscle in her body ached.
Shawn instinctively took a step back.
The sight of the queen rising sent a fresh wave of fear through him.
"What you said earlier…" the queen said in a more serious tone. "Is it true?"
Shawn nodded rapidly.
"Yes!" he answered quickly. "It's completely true, Your Majesty!"
The queen took a step forward.
"Can you really heal me with just… a touch?" she asked.
"Yes!" Shawn repeated, nodding even harder. "Just let me touch your body. In a very short time, you'll be back to one hundred percent."
Silence.
And then the queen let out a small laugh.
"Hehehe…" she laughed softly.
Shawn didn't know whether that was good or bad.
"Originally…" the queen said, slowly walking toward him, "I heard the rumor that with just the brush of your fingers you healed some knights."
Shawn nodded.
"That's right, Your Majesty," he confirmed.
The queen kept approaching.
"But if you insist so much on touching my body to heal me…" she said with a mocking tone.
She paused.
"Who am I to deny my new healer's request?"
Shawn blinked, confused.
And then he heard a sound.
The rustle of fabric.
The sound of clothing being removed.
Shawn froze.
'Wait,' he thought, his brain struggling to process what was happening. 'What is she doing?'
The sound continued.
More fabric falling.
More clothing coming off.
'She's undressing?!' Shawn thought in panic.