Reine sits back in the chair, the unfamiliarity of the outfit making her feel even more uncomfortable in this moment.

She doesn't know what she can say. Her entire life, Reine has held herself to an impossibly high standard of being a person made of light and hope.

But a judgment has been passed down upon her, and it has been deemed that she is corrupted by the darkness she thought she had stayed away from her entire life.

She has been deemed not worthy to be the Queen - not worthy to wield the weapon that can save them all.

"Reine," Hoseok's voice cuts into her inner thoughts and her eyes move from the necklace splayed out in front of her to the golden eyes of the Archangels. "Talk to us. Let us help you through it."

"How can I speak of something I do not know about?" Reine asks, her shoulders slumping. "I have no answers. I have no concrete reason why the dagger refuses to present itself to me. Is it because I opened the box in the first place? Maybe it was a double-edged sword; maybe because I opened the box, the dagger deemed me unworthy and maybe it will only work for the next Queen when she is born so she can use it. Maybe that is what this curse is all about. Maybe there is no redemption."

"No, Reine," Hoseok says, shaking his head. "We created the binds that held the Horsemen. We know there is always a chance for redemption within it. You can be given a second chance."

"I don't even know what caused me to need a second chance!" Reine snaps, standing as the chair she was sitting in falls backward onto the ground. "I don't know what is so wrong with me. What did I do that made it seem like my heart holds darkness?"

"Because it does," Namjoon says, staring calmly at Reine as his eyes glow brightly.

"But why?" Reine asks, her voice cracking.

"It's not because of the Horsemen," he explains, folding his hands together on the table. "It's not because you left your people. It's the reason you left."

Reine quietly pulls the chair upright, seating herself back as she picks the necklace up in her hands. Her fingers pull the chain back around her neck, clasping it back into its place as the three men watch her.

"The reason I left," Reine echoes. "My parents."

"Because you left to seek vengeance," Hoseok says. "The darkness that can spread when someone fixes their sights on revenge is like a plague, Reine. It can consume you until you're not even recognizable as who you once were."

Reine tries to make sense of the information as her brain fills with so many thoughts that she can't find it within herself to even speak.

The decision she made - the decision to go after the murderers - has darkened her heart.

All this time, while she knew it was a selfish decision, she never saw it as something negative. She went on the journey that she went on to bring justice to criminals; she wanted to find their identities and she wanted them to stand trial for their crimes.

Or did she?

Was there a part of her - no matter how small - that wished that she could bring about the same fate to the murderers that they handed her people? Did she want the Horsemen to kill them when she found them?

Reine's eyes fill with tears - tears of sadness, anger and defeat.

"All I can think of is the day they were killed," she says, her voice barely above a whisper. "The way the blood felt on my skin, the sounds of their voices as they rejoiced over their so-called victory... They were so proud. They were so genuinely happy with themselves for taking away so many lives that day."

Reine keeps her eyes locked on the diary below her, determined not to let her tears slide down her cheeks. "When I woke in my bed later that day, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to breathe without them. There was nothing in this world that I could do except sink to my knees and cry like a broken doll. Did you know that when I first saw the box, I wasn't going to open it? I ran away from it, like I ran away from the crown as it sat next to where my head rests at night. I couldn't breathe and I couldn't think so I ran away. But I stopped and I felt it: the anger. I had never felt such a thing before in my life. The way my chest ached and the way my fingertips tingled had me running back to the box with only one thought in my head: I needed them to pay.

"I don't know if I ever had the concrete thought of what I would do when or if I would find out who the killers are. I think I knew in the back of my mind what I wished I could do. I wanted them to die and bleed as my parents did. I wanted them to feel as helpless and alone as Claire felt. I wanted their happy celebration to be cut short as their cheers of victory turned to screams of pain as the people who watched the crown be placed on my head. More than anything, that is what I secretly wished.

"The Horsemen could give me that, but I felt so conflicted. I knew that what I wanted was not what I should do. It is not what a Queen who has always stood for light and hope would do, but I found myself feeling like two different people in the same mind. I fought with myself for what I should do. I was the Queen of Cendres and I was the heartbroken eighteen-year-old girl who lost everyone in the same moment.

"I wanted to ask my mother for advice. I wanted to have my father's strong, protective arms around me while I whispered my worries into his chest. I wanted Claire to brush out the stubborn tangles in my hair while I ranted to her about my internal struggles. All I had were these strangers - three of the four Horsemen - and the longer I stayed with them, the more I felt like I wasn't as alone anymore. I still didn't know what I should do. Or I knew what I should do, but I didn't know what I would do when I found the rebels who killed my family.

"I see now that this has darkened my heart, but even now, if I were to be asked to make a decision about the lives of the murderers, I would not have an answer," Reine says, her voice slowly going silent as she looks at the diary in shame.

She came from the same bloodline as Isabelle - a woman who was deemed so strong and resilient that she was asked to lead an entire kingdom. Now here Reine is, destroying everything that was built around her.

"The dagger will not present itself to you as long as you hold onto that darkness, Reine," Jungkook says quietly, breaking the silence. "You have to let go of that anger."

Reine's head slowly lifts, her teary eyes moving to lock onto his golden ones.

"How can I let go of it?" she asks, her voice shaking. "That would mean that-"

"You need to forgive them, Reine," Hoseok finishes her sentence.

Reine can't breathe at Hoseok's words. Her hands tremble, her tears shakily falling onto her cheeks as she glares at the men around her.

"They killed people," she says, her voice dangerously low. "They took everything from me, and because I am some savior of the world with this curse, I have to forgive them?"

"It is a role you were born into, and I am so sorry you were put into such a place," Jungkook says. "We cannot pretend to know the pain you feel, nor is it our place to tell you how to deal with that pain. All we know is what will drive the darkness from your heart so the Dagger of Redemption will present itself to you in its true form and you can imprison the Horsemen once again."

"You are asking me to let my family's murders go unpunished," Reine says, her voice rising as she stands again. "You are asking me to give those disgusting people freedom. How am I supposed to do that? How am I supposed to walk around with this necklace around my neck, knowing the person who wore it before me was killed in cold blood and I let the people who carried out the deed go free? What kind of Queen would I be? What kind of daughter would I be?"

"Sometimes, you must make painful decisions," Hoseok says in a steady, calming voice that does nothing to calm Reine. "Sometimes, you must make a difficult choice: the lesser of two evils. It is them or it is the world."

Reine's chin quivers, her chest aching so much that she can't seem to take a full breath. "They were my parents, Hoseok. My best friend. The others? They were the people who taught me everything I know and watched as I grew up. The people who helped me pick out my silly Princess outfits that were always a bit too big on me because our tailor's glasses were broken and she couldn't see well. These were the people who would sneak a cookie to my room sometimes, knowing how happy they made me. They wished to give me a moment of happiness in a world that was weighing heavily on me, watching me grow and expecting perfection. My parents did bad things but they were stepping down. They were done ruling the kingdom and they were still killed because they were protecting me. My best friend was killed while she was running to me. My peers were killed because they were gathered to watch me take the crown. I was supposed to be killed that day too, but I wasn't. It was fate that I lived because there needs to be someone who can stand up to them and show them that what they did is not something they will get away with."

"Reine, please," Jungkook whispers, his hands held in surrender as he stares at her. "Please."

Reine backs away from him, her chest heaving through her sobs now escaping her parted lips. "Don't ask me to forgive them ever again."

With that, Reine turns and runs out the door, leaving the three Archangels yelling her name as she backtracks through the tunnels.

Right.

She knows she is yet again making another selfish decision by not letting go of the anger and the pain, but it is not something she can smile and wish away. She can no longer be the perfect doll she was molded to be.

Asking her to forgive the people who took everything from her is too much. She has done so much for other people in her lifetime, giving up years of her childhood for studying to be the best Queen she could be someday, but this - this is too much.

She cannot bend herself to fit into the mold anymore.

Left.

Things have been so lost within Reine's mind for so long now; when she opened the box, she didn't know what she wanted the outcome to be. She didn't know if she wanted the criminals dead or alive.

She knows what she should want; she should want them to stand trial and answer fairly for their crimes in front of the entirety of the kingdom.

But the thought of them being in the dungeons of the same palace that they killed so many people in is something that makes Reine's stomach turn. She has been so afraid to admit something so dark out loud, but she wishes death upon them - as they wished death upon her.

Right.

She knows that wanting something like that makes her unworthy of the crown, but she has not felt like she deserved it for a long, long time. From the moment of her coronation, everything she touches becomes bloody and destroyed and she can't bear the thought of bringing an entire kingdom with her in the destruction.

Someone else should wear the crown - someone with strength and resilience. Someone who can be selfless all of the time and never has to question what is right and wrong. Someone who can always see the light and never feel tempted to fall into the shadows.

Left.

Reine listens for any echoing footsteps following behind her, but she can only hear her own as her heavy breaths escape her chapped lips. Reine guesses that they are giving her a few moments alone to sort her thoughts out in her chaotic mind as she runs through the tunnels.

The one thing she cannot do is the one thing she needs to do in this moment, and it makes her even more angry that it has turned out this way.

Left.

She is so angry that after years and years of basking in the light of hope with wonder in her eyes, she is now left with tears in her eyes as she runs through dirt-packed tunnels, her broken heart barely beating in her heaving chest.

All she sacrificed as a child - all she did to become the Queen she wanted to be - feels like it has gone to waste.

Everything is gone: her parents, her best friend, her light and her hope.

Right.

Now she is being asked to give even more, though she feels like she has nothing left.

Left.

Now she is being told that everything she has done is still not enough.

Right.

Now it is being proven, time and time again, that she is not worthy enough for the throne. It is being proven that all those times Reine felt like she could be a meaningful Queen to her people were nothing but false hopes.

In the past, Reine had so much hope and optimism for what was to come.

In the present - in this moment - she is lost, alone and utterly broken.

She doesn't even know if she has a future anymore. Without the Dagger of Redemption, she has no chance against the Horsemen herself. She has to let the Archangels fight her battle for her, wearing themselves until they are nearly dead for as long as it takes for the next heir of the throne to be born and take the crown away from the person who ruined everything.

Can she even do that right? Can she birth a daughter that will take this ruined kingdom and make it whole again? Can her daughter do what she cannot?

Right.

As Reine reaches the door to the entrance of the secret tunnels, she leans her forehead against the warm wood, hoping that maybe she can escape to her garden for a while to get some fresh air. She needs to feel something other than despair, and she hopes that the daisies and their light will bring some comfort to Reine's aching darkness seeping out of every pore in her skin.

More than anything, she wishes the daisies were her mother, reaching out to comfort her as she wept in her arms.

But she is alone, and as much as she wished to believe she had the Horsemen, they betrayed her and now here she is, crying and alone again while the Archangels continue to ask her to do the impossible.

Reine stands straight, easing herself into a pattern of normal breathing as she wipes the tears from her eyes. She doesn't want the whole world to see her crumbling. She doesn't want to take their hope away too.

After she feels like she has calmed enough to be presentable, she opens the door and steps out. Immediately, she freezes in her place, her hand still holding the door open as she stares into the faces of the Horsemen.

Jimin tilts his head downward, his eyes hidden beneath his unruly hair.

Yoongi sends her the smallest wave, his scarred face holding no light as it usually always did.

Taehyung watches her, his eyes roaming around her and landing on her stomach where Jimin's arrow previously pierced.

"Your Majesty," Seokjin speaks, staring at her with his hands clasped in front of him. "We have been searching for you."

Reine's eyes widen, and fear fills her heart as she wonders how many people they came in contact with while on the grounds of her palace.

As if he can read her mind, Yoongi speaks.

"We didn't hurt anyone, Reine," he says quietly as he shakes his head. "We made Seokjin promise us that he would leave everyone here alone."

"Don't call me that," Reine says, her voice as quiet as his. "You lost that right."

"We understand," Taehyung says, his eyes not leaving hers for a moment.

"Do you?" she asks, feeling that familiar burn of the anger in her chest. "Do you understand how I put my trust into the three of you, and one of you shot an arrow into my stomach while the rest stood by? Do you understand how I felt as your brother walked to me, ready to deal a blow of certain death, while people who I'd grown to care for let it happen?"

"Reine, we didn't want this," Yoongi says, taking a step forward but Reine holds her hand up to halt him in his tracks.

"Maybe you didn't," she admits. "Part of me wants to believe the bonds we had were genuine, but at the end of the day, I was betrayed, and that is not something I can forgive."

"If there was any other way," Jimin finally speaks, his eyes moving to lock onto hers, "we would keep you alive. You mean so much to us, Reine. Truly. But Seokjin is our family. You were willing to kill for your family, right? You would do anything for them. As much as we care for you, we will always choose our family. No matter how much it hurts to do it."

"I wonder if it hurts worse than an arrow to the stomach," Reine says, her cold gaze piercing into his before he lets his gaze fall back to the floor in shame.

"I made an agreement with my brothers, Your Majesty," Seokjin says, pulling Reine's attention to him. "They have informed me that they refuse to lay a finger on you."

"Too late," Reine says, her voice sounding stronger than she feels inside. "They already shattered me."

"Poetic," Seokjin says, his face staying passive as he studies Reine. "However, the compromise I gave is that they cannot intervene when I kill you - and I will kill you. It is necessary. We are trapped here until your death."

Reine nods her head, not knowing exactly what she can say. She is no match against them, and she has no weapon to even try.

"Where are those asshole angels?" Yoongi says, his voice shifting into one of disdain.

"Not here," she says.

"You are alone," Seokjin says, cocking his head to the side as he conjures his scythe. "How foolish of them to leave you alone for even a second. And here I was thinking this would be difficult."

"You're right," Reine whispers as she stands before the four Horsemen. "I am alone."