monarch

O my love, you have wronged me,

Abandoned me you are unjust and heartless,

I've been in love with you, ah, for so long,

What a pleasure to have you by my side.

——British folk song "Greensleeves"

Whitehall Palace, London, January 1536, 1.

Queen Anne Boleyn felt the familiar pain in her stomach return for the fourth time since the King fell from his horse and fell into a coma for two hours six days ago.If the previous few times could be explained as worrying about the king, this time she no longer knew whether it was because of worry or fear.It was gloomy outside, a typical winter afternoon in England, but somehow it reminded me of Queen Catherine's last time at court a few years ago, the Spanish witch who was defeated by her and died tragically not long ago...Queen Anne Shaking his head, as if to use this to dispel the absurd thought in his mind.She raised her head to look at herself in the small Venetian mirror on the dressing table. Although the three years of hard work as a queen made this face look a bit sallow, it still had a charm, especially the eyes with wisdom, Jane Seymour, that silly vixen who can only pretend to be innocent, can't be compared in this life.She raised her head proudly and looked for that disgusting face among the maids in the room...

Jane Seymour was not in the room.

The queen's face became even more gloomy, and the discomfort in her stomach became more serious.

Lady Mary Boleyn, the queen's sister and former mistress of the king, was the only one who dared to speak to the queen at this hour.She walked up to the queen and curtseyed: "Is your Majesty feeling unwell?"

The queen glanced at her sister, and remembered that this woman had climbed onto the king's bed with this face a few years ago and gave birth to a daughter and a son. Repeated miscarriages, if the child in her womb cannot be kept or is still a girl... She suppressed the nausea and said to her sister patiently: "I'm fine, thank you, Mrs. Stafford, I just suddenly feel a little I miss Ms. Jane's singing voice. Her voice can be regarded as the best among my attendants. On such a gloomy day, I think we need such singing voice to bring us some cheerful atmosphere, don't we? "

The maids who were whispering in the room fell silent in an instant. The queen looked at her sister's face, which seemed a little distorted?She thought, the atmosphere in the whole room was so weird, the queen suddenly had some kind of ominous premonition, and she felt her belly drop...

"Mrs Stafford, I think you may happen to know the whereabouts of Lady Jane?" The queen tried her best to put on a pleasant face.

Mary Pauline, now Mrs. Mary Stafford raised her head and looked at her sister's pale face. If she knew, God bless, the child would probably be lost, which would be a disaster for the Pauline family, but this What does it have to do with her?She has always been the unnoticed one in this family, her only purpose is to find help for the family through marriage, her only shining moment is when she climbed into the king's bed, her father, the terrible uncle and the cold first Each husband had begun to be kind to her, and it came to a head when she became pregnant with the king's child.But when she emerged from the delivery room, everything turned upside down - her sister climbed into the king's bed.

When she went to question her family in a rage, her uncle, that terrible man, didn't even bother to look at him: "Dear Mary, of course we want to make sure that the king is safe during the period when you can't sleep." The heart is still with one of us, isn't it?"

"Yes, of course." It was the only thing she could say, and no one could have done better when faced with the Duke of Norfolk, a fearsome and powerful man.She and even her family are pawns of this man, what else can be said in this situation?She left the court, intending to live her own life, but when she fell in love with a little squire, her whole family disowned her except her sister, who had robbed her of her glory. He gave her some money and gave her the position of lady attendant.Her family got everything they wanted - the Duke of Norfolk became the king's first favorite, her father was an earl, her brother was a viscount, and her sister was queen queen of England, only she, just Mrs Stafford.But now things have changed, the king has obviously hated the Pauline family, and even their uncle seems to have to draw a line. Didn't you see that he came here a few days ago to tell the queen the news of the king's injury? She almost had a miscarriage.Now that she has reached this point, maybe it's time for her to leave a way out for herself...

Mary quickly suppressed her emotions, she raised her head, and tried her best to show just the right amount of panic on her face: "Ma'am, Ms. Jane is not present this afternoon." The smile on the Queen's face became even stiffer: "Perhaps you happened to know Why can't she be there? After all, she's still my lady-in-waiting, isn't she?"

Mary seemed to be hesitant to speak, and after a few seconds that seemed to last for centuries, she seemed to finally make up her mind: "Ms. Jane...is summoned by the king, Your Majesty..."

The queen's face turned pale, and she seemed to be suffering from severe discomfort.She straightened her back in the armchair, as if her whole body was stiff.All the ladies-in-waiting in the room bowed their heads for fear of being offended by the fiery temper she had learned in the French court.After about a minute, the queen stood up abruptly and rushed towards the door. The maids froze for a few seconds and followed like chickens behind a hen. A group of people rushed out of the queen's suite...

Whitehall Palace is like a beehive, and the 1500 rooms of Europe's largest palace are humming with whispers at all times, after all, talking is silly in court.But today, when the queen and her maids walked in the dark and crowded corridor, the surroundings instantly became silent.Everyone saluted as respectfully as possible.Gentlemen bent down as if they had the Atlas Mountains on their backs, and ladies curtseyed like kneeling on the ground.Apparently the whole court knew about the king's appointment with Lady Jane, and the queen was the last to know.All eyes were on Queen Anne rushing like a storm brewing on the North Sea to King Henry's flat in Yorkshire, tearing Miss Jane Seymour's canoe to pieces.

The Duke of Suffolk, Charles Brandon, and the King's Chief Secretary, Mr Thomas Cromwell, who were waiting in the King's meeting room, apparently did not expect to meet the Queen here, and when they tried to avoid it, the Queen had gone After entering the door of the meeting room, they could only bow and salute in spite of their dislike of the queen.Queen Anne looked at them coldly, these two most dangerous enemies of the Boleyn family, they were undoubtedly planning a conspiracy against her, maybe they were the ones who sent the Seymour bitch to the king The bed... She was about to say something when she heard a woman's coquettish laughter from the king's study across the wall. At this time, the queen's face turned green. Into the king's study.

King Henry VIII sat in a carved armchair made in Florence. He was over forty years old and had a slightly fatter figure, but he was still in the "strong" category.And Miss Jane Seymour is 28 years old, in the most attractive age of a woman. At this time, she is wearing a yellow silk skirt and sitting on the king's lap, looking at the king with a charming expression like a little girl.Although her face was a little stiff due to the excessive force of pretending to be pure, the king who was immersed in the sweet "love" obviously couldn't notice such trivial things, but the queen who broke in could see it clearly.

Queen Anne grabbed Miss Seymour's arm with her left hand, pulled her off the king's body like an octopus, and then gave her a loud slap with her right hand.Miss Seymour seemed to be frightened, she was stunned for a few seconds like a log, and then her almond eyes filled with tears, she knelt down in front of the queen, grabbed the skirt of the queen and kept apologizing, while her This action made the queen even more angry.Queen Anne has lost her mind. She insulted the king's new mistress in a mixture of English and French. There is no shortage of vulgar words such as "bitch" and "shameless", while Miss Seymour just knelt on the ground and cried.The ministers waiting for an audience did not dare to say a word outside, but they all pricked up their ears and wanted to hear what was going on inside the room as much as possible.

When the queen calmed down a little after a few minutes, she finally had a chance to look up at the king's face, but she was horrified to find that there was not a single trace of the handsome face that had grown fat but still showed traces of youth. The king's eyes stared at her coldly, which seemed a little familiar, but she couldn't think of the last time the king showed such a look.There was an awkward silence in the room, save for Miss Seymour's muffled sobs.

After almost half a minute, the queen finally broke the silence: "Your Majesty, I think you should give an explanation for what I saw?" She unconsciously lowered her posture, after all, the previous quarrel with the king was The king broke the silence first, but this time Henry didn't say a word for so long.

The king didn't seem to realize the softness in Anne's tone, and his face still had that inscrutable expression: "If you want to get my explanation on something, you'd better explain it clearly Come out, and not be so ambiguous, my dear lady."

The queen seemed a little irritated by the king's attitude: "As you wish, Your Majesty."

"I don't know if you would mind explaining why Ms. Jane appeared in His Majesty's study at this time, and made such an evil move with you?"

The king's face was a little stiff: "I think as a king, I have the right to summon whoever I want when I want."

"And let them sit on His Majesty's lap?"

The king's eyes narrowed slightly, and the cold look in his eyes made the queen tremble: "If I remember correctly, madam, I summoned you in the study a few years ago, and you accepted it happily. My invitation. And Queen Catherine didn't rush into this study, so I can only conclude that the Spanish court where Lady Catherine was born was obviously more traditional than the French court where you were educated, isn't it? Maybe in France Is there a tradition in the court where women can question the monarch at will? Or is it a tradition of a lady insulting other ladies?"

The queen stood there as if struck by lightning. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but she couldn't say a word.She searched all around as if she wanted to find something to rely on, but her maids were all standing outside the door, and she felt a little wet between her legs, what is this?She was a little dazed.Suddenly she seemed to think of something, the queen's pupils suddenly dilated, and a frightened expression appeared on her face...

"My child..." she moaned in French, the pain finally reached her mind, the queen finally couldn't stand and collapsed on the ground, the maids finally came to their senses, rushed into the room and tried to help Queen Anne up, but they were terrified I found a dark color appeared on the queen's light blue dress...

Henry VIII glanced at the dark color with disgust, his face could not hide his disappointment: "Send the queen back to her room, she needs to rest." Another miscarriage, maybe she will never have children again.He tore England apart, completely broke with the Holy See, and turned his daughter into an illegitimate daughter, just because he thought this woman could give him a boy, a future heir of England, thereby completely consolidating the rule of the Tudor royal family .And now she is obviously useless, after all this huge investment, all this woman brings is a princess.The king may have been blinded for a while, but now it's time to wake up.This woman and her queen-crazed family were useless, and King Henry had always been impatient with useless people.

The queen was helpless and walked towards the door with the help of the maid. She turned her head and tried to make a last-ditch effort: "Henry, I am your wife...for the sake of the past, for Elizabeth's sake...last chance ,Please……"

The king still had that cold look in his eyes. When that look disappeared behind the door, the queen finally remembered when she had seen the king's look in his eyes:

A few years ago, Queen Catherine's maid Anne Boleyn was favored by the king alone. When she was about to become queen, the king looked at Queen Catherine whom he detested in such a way.

……

The people outside also scattered after the Queen and Miss Seymour left one after another. The Duke of Suffolk and Lord Cromwell also left with the crowd.When they say goodbye, the two exchange a secret look, but the meaning of this look is very clear:

This woman is done.