Her Majesty’s Secret Service

099. Request

A letter arrived a few days ago. It was a letter full of all kinds of rhetoric, and to summarize, it contained the following contents.

‘I want to meet you once. I’m planning to visit once, but when will I have time?’

After receiving the letter, I checked who the sender was and willingly invited them.

Five Scottish people, including the religious reformer John Knox, an envoy from Scotland.

“It’s an honor to meet you. I am the Earl of Angus… .”

“I am Macintosh, the leader of the Chatan Clan… .”

“McDonald’s in the Highlands… .”

“I would like to formally greet you. “My name is John Knox, who represents them, albeit weakly.”

The Scottish envoys who arrived just after lunch responded to my greeting, each revealing their names and family names.

After each person’s introduction, their representative, John Knox, who had a long, bushy beard, spoke to me.

“First of all, I would like to apologize for the rudeness of suddenly making an appointment. maybe… As you may have heard, Baron, just in case, we have appointed the Baron’s wife, Princess Jane, as the new owner of the Scottish Crown… .”

I had already heard from Robert all day yesterday about the situation in Scotland and the background to the Scottish envoys’ declaration that they would present the crown to the Queen of England, so even without hearing the story, I could guess why they had come to see me.

“I know why you came to me, so let’s not talk in circles and just get to the point.”

When I spoke in a stern tone to Nox, who was talking back and forth, Nox immediately responded.

“yes? The point is… ?”

“What are you pretending not to know? Let’s hear what you can offer me, or rather, what you are trying to offer me. “It’s obvious why you came to see me.”

“Umm… .”

Among the Scottish envoys sitting in front of me, except for Nox, their expressions harden. Their silence made my ears happy.

“haha… . Unlike other noble people in England… “The Baron has a somewhat direct personality.”

Nox, who was the only one among the envoys who did not react, spoke to me with an awkward smile.

“Well, maybe it’s just personality? As you can see, it looks different too. So, what can you give me?”

I smiled at Nox with a relaxed smile and calmly urged him to answer. To my laughter, Nox responded to me with an awkward smile still on his face.

“Is there anything else you would like, Baron?”

To Nox, who told me to ‘tell me what you want’ in a voice that seemed to have no choice, I took out the answer I had prepared in advance as if I had been waiting.

“Well, the right to convene and adjourn parliament. And I think it would be okay to just guarantee the right to submit special tax agendas to the National Assembly. Oh, what do the people behind you think?

Just in case, I am not asking you to guarantee me that power, but I am asking you to guarantee the power of parliament to my wife, Jane, who will be your queen. Why, this is a right that a king should have. “I’m sure you know what I mean.”

Yesterday, when Robert was explaining Scotland to me.

At that time, there was talk about Knox, and also about the power of parliament and the authority that the king should have.

I knew how important those rights were, having seen them since I worked as a cook in the old court.

Something like this happened once.

Members of the House of Lords who came to the Queen’s office begged and begged to open a parliament and attend, but the Queen held the parliament on the condition that the agenda she wanted be passed.

Although it is not exactly the same as the countries in the 21st century where I lived, the 16th century parliament was like the 21st century parliament, and the passed agenda immediately took legal effect.

Is that all? In such an open parliament, if a bill that is likely to be even slightly harmful to the Queen or the royal family is likely to be passed, a ‘consultation’ of its own is made by summoning several members separately and persuading them with lip service, such as promising benefits or offering support for the bill. He then declared the adjournment of the National Assembly, preventing the bill from being passed.

If it was beneficial to the queen herself or if the nobles who followed the queen thought it would be difficult to pass the agenda she wanted, she would postpone the parliament indefinitely or hold the opening of the parliament hostage to get the answer she wanted.

In this way, the queen controlled the nobles and made them loyal to her based on the right to open and close parliament. In order for Jane to become a ‘worry-free queen’ as I want, she must be guaranteed the authority regarding parliament to control the nobles. It is done.

“The Baron really loves his wife…” “It seems like you love me.”

I noticed Nox’s eyebrows twitching slightly when he heard my suggestion.

Perhaps because he was trying hard to control his expression, Nox continued to show an awkward smile on his face, but even so, the fact that his voice trembled a little, unlike before, showed how embarrassed he was.

I showed a very relaxed attitude toward Nox and smiled.

“Haha, do you see it that way? I won’t deny it. Okay, what’s the answer? “If we need time to discuss, I am willing to wait for some time.”

After saying that, I glanced at the expressions of the other envoys other than Nox. When I glanced at them, I saw that their expressions were a little more serious than before, and they seemed to be quite troubled.

How much time has passed like that? Nox remained silent for a while and looked worried, and then a rough voice came out of his mouth.

“As the Baron said, we acknowledge the authority of Princess Jane, or rather, ‘Her Majesty the Queen.’ “Is that okay?”

A voice saying that it would accept the conditions.

“Lord Knox!”

“What are you talking about?! Who can decide that kind of thing… !”

As the nuanced words of accepting my request flowed from Nox’s mouth, the envoys sitting behind called out to Nox in urgent voices.

Nox sighed briefly at their intense reaction, then turned to me and asked for my understanding.

“You said you would give us time to discuss, right? Could you please wait a moment? It really only takes a moment.”

“As convenient as you like.” “Could you please leave my seat for a moment?”

“Thank you, Baron.”

Apparently, consultation between envoys was necessary.

After answering that I understood what Nox said and getting up to leave the reception room, I glanced at the expressions of the other envoys once again. Each of the envoys was looking at Nox with a frown on their faces, so it seemed that Nox was trying to grant my ‘request’. It looked displeasing.

* * *

As soon as Logan left the drawing room, the Scottish envoys began spitting bitter words at Knox.

Of course, I couldn’t make a loud noise because the people outside the door might hear me, but I kept my voice quiet and low.

“What is this… without consultation?” . Just because we are cooperating with you, does that mean we are seen as your subordinates?”

“Lord Nox, you were a bit harsh this time. Doing such an important matter arbitrarily… .”

“I came today to find out what kind of person the Baron is, not to negotiate with him. “You were in too much of a hurry.”

Seeing the envoys making different complaints, Nox sighed and opened his mouth.

“Whoa… Everyone, still don’t know? “That’s why the Baron appears so confident.”

“The reason why I come out confident… ?”

Seeing the envoys questioning what that meant, Nox sighed once more and began to express his guesses to the envoys.

“Now that I think about it, there are one or two strange things. England has been aiming for our Scottish crown since the time of King Henry, Queen Mary’s father. “Right?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Keep listening. When we talked about giving Queen Mary of England her crown, she didn’t wear her crown herself because she was concerned about other countries. That’s why she probably wanted to send someone she could trust to replace her as our King of Scotland.

However, wasn’t Princess Jane, who was recommended by the Queen, too immature? “It’s as if they were telling us to ‘do whatever you want.’”

“surely… It was like that… .”

“Umm… It seemed easy to handle.”

“That’s right. With that in mind, as soon as he chose Princess Jane as his queen, what happened?”

“that… An unexpected baron appears… wait for a sec… Lord Knox, no way… .”

“It is as you think. yes. No matter how you think about it, there is a queen behind the baron. “Mary, Queen of England.”

At Nox’s words, the envoys’ expressions began to harden rapidly.

Looking at the envoys like that, Nox continued his explanation.

“At the last banquet, when we met face to face with the Queen, she said she would guarantee us ‘self-governance.’ From that point on, it was a trap. “She reassures us by promising us autonomy and showing us her foolish duchess, but it is clear that she is trying to use her barons to devour Scotland.”

“Then make someone else king now…” .”

“Have you forgotten what the Queen said in the banquet hall? “If we make Princess Jane our king, didn’t she promise to prevent French intervention and support us in the upcoming civil war?”

Knox and the envoys had assumed that civil war would inevitably break out from the moment they accepted Princess Elizabeth’s offer and declared in Edinburgh that they would offer the crown to England.

After the death of Marie de Guise, queen of the late King James V and regent from the Guise family of a powerful French family, the center of Scottish Catholic power was Mary, who moved to France at the age of six and never visited Scotland. Now that I am queen.

The fact that the Protestant forces controlling Edinburgh came together and decided to deny Mary, Queen of Scots and offer the crown to England was tantamount to declaring that they would eliminate the central point of the Catholic forces.

Therefore, when Mary of England spoke of preventing French intervention, she promised to willingly make Jane king.

It was difficult for the Protestant lords alone to defeat the Catholic lords who received support from France.

“So you’re saying that in the end, we have to accept the Baron’s demands?”

“… Is there anything else you can do? It may be an unreasonable suggestion, but isn’t it a request to recognize Princess Jane as king and guarantee her rights? There is no way one way or another. Since we have declared that we will establish a new king, we will disappear if we cannot overcome the Catholic lords.

first… Let’s deal with them later and then think about it. “Until we win the civil war, let us recognize the authority of Princess Jane, or rather, Her Majesty the Queen.”

Knox began to persuade the Protestant lords of Scotland who came with him as envoys, providing various reasons.

The persuasion that followed did not end until over an hour later, and in the end, the Scottish envoys had no choice but to agree to accept Logan’s demands.

He mistakenly thought that Mary was behind Logan.