The sun never sets rose

In early June, Britain and France signed the Treaty of Edinburgh and the Treaty of Leith, France stopped interfering in Scotland's internal affairs, and all remaining French troops withdrew from Scotland.

This greatly increased Elizabeth's prestige and temporarily guaranteed her national security, which not only consolidated her throne, but also made the surrounding countries dare not underestimate the queen, and a long list of names were added to the marriage proposal list.

She wanted to give herself a vacation, but when she saw the anxious face of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the expectant eyes of the Scottish envoy, and Cecil's hesitant expression...

There can never be a vacation in this life.

"Your Majesty, the Privy Council's salary can no longer be paid, and it will continue to be in arrears..." the financial officer, the Earl of Winchester, chased after the queen with a pile of bills, trying to keep up with her faster and faster pace.

Elizabeth waved her hand to signal him to shut up, and said coldly, "That's my debt, let them figure it out on their own."

The count was stunned for half a second, and followed her into the study.

"Have the taxes owed by the counties been recovered?" Walking to the table, flipping through the thick stack of naval financial reports, frowning more and more.

"Only about half of it has been recovered." The earl wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, seeing that the Queen had no intention of speaking, he continued: "At present, there are still Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Staffordshire... "

"Issuing an order to these sheriffs, they can take one-tenth of the tax collected as a reward, and return it within fifteen days after the tax is paid, at most one week from today, if anyone is overdue If you fail to pay, you will be dismissed and all property will be confiscated.”

"Yes…"

In the past two days, the Earl of Winchester, who is the chancellor of the exchequer, has suffered from sleepless nights because of money matters. Tax collection alone is not enough. Not to mention their ministers, I am afraid that even the queen will make a living as a seller.

Now there is only one word in the whole country, poor.

"The sailor you introduced to me last time..."

"Hawkins, Your Majesty, he is a good young man with rich experience in sea adventures. He has just returned from an ocean trip. Do you want to summon him?" The count seemed a little excited, and couldn't help interrupting the Queen's words, with anticipation in his eyes. Light.

Hanging his eyes, he paused while flipping through the report, and said in a deep thought: "Let him come to see me alone, tomorrow afternoon, at Guoyu."

"Yes."

Excited to rub hands together.

After sending the earl away, Elizabeth ordered someone to call her cousin and niece, Princess Catherine.There was a more important matter to be settled now than sea exploration and colonization.

"His Majesty."

The little girl bowed to her obediently, then stood without saying a word, with her head buried very low, but secretly glanced at her from time to time.

She was really scared last time, alas.

Elizabeth put down the report in her hand, glanced at her, and frowned: "Look up, don't be like a peasant woman."

"..."

Catherine was extremely aggrieved by hearing this, and raised her head carefully, seeing that her aunt's face was not looking well, she didn't dare to say anything, rubbing her small hands on her skirt.

"Katie."

"Huh...?" My nervous heart relaxed a little.

"Do you have someone you like?" Elizabeth eased her expression, got up and walked over, and supported her shoulders, "If there is, tell me which family's boy it is, and I will marry you."

Catherine had been married once before, and it was a marriage of pure benefit, because her sister, Princess Jane Gray, was pushed to the throne as a puppet, and everyone wanted to curry favor with the Gray family. However, after the "Nine Days Queen" incident, the Gray family lost power, and Catherine Afraid of being implicated, her husband's family kicked her out and refused to recognize the marriage. She is still single until now.

For Catherine, this was a blessing in disguise, because she didn't want to get married and wanted to stay with Elizabeth.

"How could I have a man I like? You know this better than me, don't you...?" Astonished, her sharp voice trembled with fear, and she had a premonition that bad news would come next.

The most fearful thing is being forced by someone you like to someone you don't like, and you have no choice, and you can't resist.

The queen would never treat her like this...

"It's fine if you don't have one." Sighing softly, avoiding her questioning gaze, she took a step back and let go of her shoulders as if there was some omen.

Turning around, with her back to her, a calm voice came: "England will form an alliance with the Scottish Protestant government. It needs a noble girl to marry the Earl of Murray. After preliminary discussions by the Privy Council and the Parliament, you is the most suitable candidate."

The deep breath stuck in her throat, Catherine was stunned for a few seconds, and then her eyes widened in horror, as if a thunderbolt from the blue sky caused her to be torn apart from head to toe, she let out that breath heavily, and when she smiled, her eyes turned red.

marriage...

And one, the bastard son of the king.

"Do you hate me that much...?" The mist in your eyes blurred your vision, and rolled down your immature face, looking at the back who was only a step away from her in front of her, tall, straight, with a repulsive look The outside is cold and tough, laughing and crying.

She grew up in Henry VIII's court, and she loved to cling to Elizabeth since she was a child. Although this princess always gave people a sense of indifference and alienation, she never gave up or was afraid.

After finally getting acquainted with each other, Elizabeth's frail younger brother died unfortunately, and her ambitious mother was involved in a conspiracy to usurp the throne, so she had to stand on the opposite side of Elizabeth.

When the conspiracy was shattered and the perpetrators executed, they never saw each other again until Elizabeth came to the throne.

Little Katie, who always followed behind the princess back then, turned out to be a slim girl. When she saw Elizabeth at the coronation ceremony, the "Litz" she wanted to blurt out was given by the shining golden crown. Suffocated and swallowed back.

She learned to call her "Your Majesty" and to accept the reality of a princess becoming a queen.

Then, some things never go back.

"I never thought of betraying you, nor did I participate in any conspiracy against you. I was only 13 years old at the time, and I really didn't know anything..." Weeping bitterly, trying to control my breathing but still trembling and hoarse Her voice exhausted her breath, she staggered to her knees, grabbed Elizabeth's skirt, panting: "Liz...please...don't let me get married...I won't marry him..."

"The wedding date will be set at..."

"I don't want it!" He cried and interrupted, shaking his head desperately, "Why me? You only see me among so many noble girls, what did I do wrong?"

"This is your destiny."

"No, it's just because you hate me, or because you are afraid, you married me to an illegitimate child, and went to such a remote and backward place, out of sight and out of sight, you just took revenge on me with all the hatred in your heart... "

"Shut up!" Sullen turned around, raised his hand and slapped her.

It only took five minutes of strength, but Catherine's body was staggered and staggered. The messy light golden hair spread out to cover her face, and the study room became quiet in an instant. There was no crying or screaming, only a low voice There was a low sob, and a sneer with tears in his eyes.

"I won't get married unless you kill me." He raised his head stubbornly, his tearful eyes were full of sadness and despair, and the pain on his cheek was not as good as his heart.

It's a pity that Elizabeth is a person who prefers softness to toughness, and her expression that eased suddenly became gloomy and terrifying, her eyes were sharp, and she said coldly: "This is an order, not a discussion, you have no choice."

After speaking, he resolutely left.

The irritability lingered in her heart, Elizabeth rubbed her forehead and wandered aimlessly, the insect-like noise in her head gradually receded, she calmed down, and slowed down her breathing.

She didn't hate Catherine, and the marriage was not out of so-called "revenge", but she didn't want to explain, not a word, because no one would understand.

She would rather be misunderstood by everyone than expose herself to the sun. Perhaps this is her loneliness and the price she must pay for sitting in this position.

Reminds me of "Little Rose"...

Will she understand her?

"His Majesty?"

Lost in thought, his face looked a little "miserable", and he almost bumped into the person in front of him. When he looked up, he saw Robert's handsome and handsome face.

Before he knew it, he walked near Whitehall.

She put away her emotions, and her indifferent gaze swept across the slightly excited face of the man, "What are you doing here?"

She almost forgot about her "gossip lover", she hadn't seen her for about a month, and she couldn't remember the last time she flirted with him.No wonder the ambassadors took turns to match her and introduce the princes and nobles of their own country. Maybe they thought she was tired of Robert and would start thinking about getting married.

In fact, Robert's "marriage shield" is quite useful.

"I... hang out."

"Does Robbie have free time too?" With a seductive smile on his lips, he raised his legs and walked towards his luxurious room. Robert's slender figure was in sight, and the latter's mind was a little confused.

Entering the outer room, there was no change in the layout of the room. Elizabeth walked around, looked around, and finally sat on the chair by the window, picked up the empty gold cup on the table, and frowned: "Where's the wine?"

Robert stood there in a daze for a few seconds, his eyes still wandering on her chest that rose and fell with her breathing, and suddenly a thought that expanded rapidly...

"I'll get it!" Turn around and run away like a gust of wind.

Just as if he wanted to flatter and had a chance, Elizabeth didn't care, her mind was thinking about her marriage to the Duke of France, and how to use Robert to fool him.

Marriage is impossible. Foreigners would never want to rule her country through marriage, and she has no interest in being a reproductive machine. However, if England wants to remain neutral, she can only adopt an ambiguous attitude in marriage and let France and Spain check each other.

She had to deal with the ministers in the country who were urging marriage while hanging on to those two big countries, and she was very tired.

"Your Majesty, this is the finest wine from Bordeaux." Robert held a beautiful silver pot decorated with various gemstones, walked over as if offering a treasure, and poured the wine for her himself, a little abnormally excited.

The clear scarlet liquid exuded a familiar mellow aroma. Elizabeth took it casually and took a sip, not caring about her "lady" image: "Cecile is urging marriage again, Robbie, what do you think I should do?"

Robert stared straight at her drinking action, his heart was beating wildly with nervousness, his palms were sweating, and a sly light flashed in his dark brown eyes...

"Who are you thinking about this time?"

"The younger brother of the King of France, the Duke of Anjou."

"Are you kidding, he's only ten years old!" His eyes widened with anger, and he was suddenly jealous, "You'd rather think about a little kid than..."

"Ok?"

"They don't even want to talk to me." After finishing the words cautiously, he saw that the glass was empty, so he quickly filled it up again, this time he was so nervous that his hands were shaking.

Elizabeth picked up the glass as if drinking water, and took a few sips. Her cold gray pupils were quietly stained with a hint of intoxication, and without realizing it, she smiled at the jealous man: "Of course I won't think about him, but I can't Reject directly, you know what I mean."

"Are you asking me to make a fuss in front of the ministers and the ambassador?"

"That's not a disturbance, it's because of..." Her cheeks were blushing, a little hot, before she finished speaking, she frowned, faintly feeling something was wrong.

Given that her drinking capacity is less than two glasses...

A hot feeling started to spread from the heart, spread throughout the whole body, a strong sense of dizziness invaded the perception of the brain, she held her forehead, her elbows gradually became weak, she fell heavily forward, and fell on the table, Shortness of breath | shortness of breath...

Hot, so hot.

"His Majesty…?"

Robert tentatively called out to her, his eyes were filled with joy. Under the double stimulation of tension and excitement, he stood up, pretended to support Elizabeth, and took half of her body into his arms, "What's wrong with you...? I'm not feeling well. Do you want to go to my bed and rest?"

"Bastard...you dare to take medicine..." Panting|heavy|heavy, his body burned like fire from his touch, "Don't touch me...get away..."

The limp limbs couldn't exert any strength, the more Elizabeth struggled, the closer she got to him, the effect of the drug stimulated her senses which became extremely sharp, and the strong male hormone breath made her addicted ...

Seeing the woman who wanted to conquer was panting in his arms, Robert's brain was completely paralyzed with a "buzz", and a certain sleeping desire in his body instantly awakened, so he hugged her sideways, and quickly Walk into the inner bedroom, throw it on the bed, and push it up.

He didn't know that the medicine was so effective, and it had such a good effect after just putting a small spoonful of it. He suddenly remembered what the Spanish ambassador said that made him angry that day, and he couldn't help feeling proud.

"Oh... Liz... It's God's will..." His hand brushed her flushed cheeks, swallowed, and his voice was trembling with excitement.

A strong sense of humiliation came to her heart accompanied by fear. Elizabeth gritted her teeth and desperately suppressed her breath, and struggled to utter broken words: "Today... if you dare to touch me... don't even think about... leaving the palace alive..."

Dazed, the hand that untied the skirt stopped instantly.

This is a capital crime, a capital crime...

Robert realized something, panicked, jumped out of bed, and backed away again and again: "I don't know...I didn't do anything...It's none of my business...Forgive me, Your Majesty...I..."

Turning around, he ran out without looking back.