monarch

At 06:30 in the evening, there is still half an hour left before the dinner at the city hall begins.Although the sun had already set for an hour, the square in front of the city hall was as bright as day. Numerous servants holding torches, like thousands of small moons, illuminated the entire square.Commoners crowded the square. They usually work at sunrise and rest at sunset, but today they also broke their usual habits, and they still went out with their families when it got dark, just like a carnival.

The well-informed citizens of London are already used to royal celebrations, but for the honest people of Winchester, many of them have seen such a scene for the first time in their lives, and it may very well be the last time seen.Therefore, from three or four-year-old children to old people with white hair and loose teeth, almost everyone in the city is unwilling to miss this grand event.

Ornately decorated carriages lined up in front of the city hall, where at the end of the red carpet, the waiting servants opened the doors decorated with various badges, the castles painted on the doors with gold powder, The shield, the lion and the migratory bird, glistened in the firelight and looked like golden waves on the water in the sun.

The passengers in the carriage stepped out of the carriage with the shoulders of the servants, the men adjusted their collars, and the ladies smoothed their skirts, and then they raised their heads, like charging cavalry, and charged Into that Vanity Fair.

In front of the stairs at the gate, they handed the invitation letter to a young servant. The boy took the invitation letter, looked at the name on it, and shouted at the tall man standing beside him. Out "Mr./Ms. so-and-so arrives".

The tall man was a popular pillar of the theater in the city, and he stood there upright, dressed more decently than usual on stage, looking as if an oak tree had planted its roots in the cracks in the marble of the steps .Hearing the child's voice, he took a deep breath, and called the name loudly, as if he was announcing the curtain.

"Mr./Ms. so-and-so is here!" There was a little trill at the end of the voice.

Like a stone being thrown into the water, the splashing ripples spread around, and the crowd whispered the message he shouted. It didn't take long before they were crowded in the corner of the square, looking towards the gate of the city hall with their feet on their feet. Those unlucky viewers also knew that the bald fat man who just stepped out of the red carriage was a certain lord, and the woman with the ostrich feathers on her head swaying with the fat on her body was The wife of a certain minister, and the funny little old man with the goatee is the ambassador of a certain country.

The city hall is a huge Gothic building. Hundreds of years have made the original beige wall black, and the texture on it looks like a creeper climbing up, covering the entire wall.Guests walked up the red-carpeted steps to the entrance, where they were greeted by the Lord Mayor.

The Mayor of Winchester, a stout, ruddy man, looked like a stubby willow waving in the wind in his frock coat that was too bulky for him, with all his medals. its branches.He showed a stylized smile towards every guest, and when the status of the guest in front of him was extremely prominent, the twitching of the already stiff muscles became more obvious.He bowed to the guests who entered the door, looking like a wind-up mechanical toy, saying those few polite words over and over again.After doing this, he turned to the next guest following him, and repeated the above set of actions.

After exchanging pleasantries with the mayor, the guests walked into the already crowded hall.Like other Gothic buildings, the hall has a high ceiling with chandeliers soaring above it that the candles appear brighter than they really are reflected in the Venetian crystal.The walls are hung with tapestries produced in Sevres, France. This gorgeous decoration was rented by the city government from the mansion of a certain gentleman in the county. It depicts Apollo and the Muses wandering in the mountains and forests. The characters looked as if they were about to walk off the wall, and the city hall officials couldn't help but sigh that the money was well worth the money.

There is a long table in the shape of a door in the middle of the hall. The table is covered with a silk tablecloth, and there are carved silver candlesticks placed at intervals on it, with whale oil candles as thick as a baby's arm inserted in it.All kinds of blooming flowers are placed between the candlesticks, making the table look more like a flower bed than a dining table.Some landowners who had never been out of the county couldn't help but secretly muttered in their hearts, thinking that the banquets in the palace were only for the guests to eat flowers.Opposite the king's throne, there is a huge ice sculpture. A crystal clear swan is fluttering its wings, and the feathers that seem to be made of textured ice are still emitting white gas.

Naturally, the guests all dressed themselves up like Christmas trees, and the whole hall was like a sea of ​​medals, gems and pearls. Those gorgeous medals hanging on their chests made the men appear to be more powerful than they actually were, and the ladies The necklaces on their chests and the diamond earrings on their ears made them look even more beautiful than they really were.

Under the leadership of the ceremonial officer, the guests sat down according to their status.Naturally, the closer the guest is to the throne, the higher the status of the guest.The only exception was the mayor of Winchester, whose seat was to the king's left, but only because he, as host, spoke mainly before dinner began.

The guests sat in their seats, looked around curiously like a pet dog newly arrived in a family, nodded to the people they saw, and then greeted each other with their dining companions on the left and right.After doing all this, he or she fixed his eyes firmly on the still empty throne, as if the chair had a mouth and sang the siren song, which would attract everyone who heard the song .Once something is tainted with a trace of power, it is worshiped as the embodiment of power like a holy object. There is nothing more absurd in this world than this.

Over their heads was a great clock tower, and as the great clock struck seven times above them, there was a blast of horns outside the door, followed by thunderous cheers from the square outside.

No one ordered, and the guests in the room stood up at the same time, the sound of dragging chairs, the friction of skirts and the clink of boots mixed together, almost covering the cheers outside.

After a few minutes, the figure of tonight's protagonist finally appeared at the entrance of the hall.Philip from Spain held his fiancée's arm stiffly, staring straight ahead with no expression on his face, as if he was sleepwalking.He looked like an outsider who was free from all this, as if he was not interested in all the sights and sounds around him, which naturally included his fiancée, who was holding Philip's arm at the moment, and glanced at him from time to time. Glance at each other's faces.Her footsteps were as vain as if she was stepping on cotton, the blush on her face was very obvious under the bright light, she looked as if she was drunk.

King Edward VI, who walked alongside them, also held the arm of his other sister, Princess Elizabeth.The king wore a light blue velvet gown, and Princess Elizabeth walked beside him in a white court dress, which contrasted with Philip and Mary's black gold thread gown and garnet red court dress.

King Edward smiled and nodded to the crowd, while Princess Elizabeth beside him kept a quiet smile, always careful not to steal the limelight from Her Majesty.She didn't wear too much jewelry, which would dilute her natural beauty.Many people compare her to a beautiful swan. Her slender and graceful neck and elegantly unfolded skirt make her look like a white swan about to fly.Those who saw Princess Elizabeth's demeanor also had a subtle change in the way they looked at the unmarried couple. Many people looked at Philip with a hint of schadenfreude.

Princess Mary's appearance was once considered beautiful, but that beauty was always concealed by her masculine tough temperament.She looked more like her father, Henry VIII, than her Spanish mother, except that her black hair was of Catherine of Aragon's Spanish descent.However, with the passage of time, like running water grinding granite into gravel, the years gradually faded away her beauty, leaving only seriousness and coldness, making her face look like a man's face.Her past is full of sadness, misfortune and hostility, and it is all these that have shaped Princess Marie today.When such a person puts on a posture of a little bird and a shy red face, it will naturally appear nondescript in the eyes of others.

As we all know, the Spaniards prefer Princess Elizabeth as Philip's fiancé than the already old Princess Mary. However, not only the king is dissatisfied with this, Princess Elizabeth also resolutely rejected the marriage.The irony of the fact that the younger sister treats her as a treasure while being abandoned by her younger sister makes many people reconsider their attitudes towards the two princesses.

The King took the lead on the throne adorned with the royal coat of arms, with Philip of Spain on his left and the Lord Mayor of Winchester on his right.At this moment, the fat mayor was smiling silly, looking straight at Edward, as if the king was strawberry pudding after dinner.

As the king sat down, the guests who had just stood up to welcome His Majesty returned to their chairs.

Edward nodded towards the mayor, "What a grand dinner, I would like to thank you for your hospitality, Your Excellency the mayor."

"All the citizens of Winchester, entrust me to convey my respects to Your Majesty." The mayor looked as if he was about to be strangled by his collar, gasping for breath, "We are very honored that your Majesty visited Winchester, I also wish His Majesty the King of Naples and Princess Mary a happy wedding."

Philip nodded lightly, indicating that he knew, while Princess Mary warmly thanked the mayor for his blessing. Her rare good mood surprised many people who saw this scene.

The mayor turned his head, took out a sweat-soaked silk handkerchief from his pocket, and waved it lightly at a servant behind him.

After half a minute, the horn sounded again, and all the guests stopped talking and looked in the direction of the throne one by one.

The mayor jumped up from his seat, first bowed to the king, looked as if the head waiter of the hotel was greeting the guests, and then he finally looked at the guests, holding a few speeches that appeared at some point in his hand .

"Gentlemen and ladies! Welcome to come tonight!" He said his opening remarks in English and Spanish respectively.His Spanish is clearly a crash version before the banquet, and the accent makes many Spanish speakers laugh.

In the next 5 minutes, the mayor expressed the reverence of the people of Winchester for His Majesty the King in a cadenced voice.There can be no doubt, he insisted, that at no other time in England's history had life been more peaceful and prosperous than it is now, and that all this was due to the great "Edward the Great."According to what he said, even if he visited nearly a hundred counties across the country, he could not find a place that loved their king as much as Winchester.Every citizen is willing to shed blood for the king, and everyone worships the king and God.I don't know whether it was intentional or not, but when he said this sentence, he put God before the king. Judging from the expression on the king's face, his sentence was undoubtedly the finishing touch.

In the next 5 minutes, he praised the fairy couple Philip and Princess Marie of Spain.In his opinion, there is no doubt that they are a match made in heaven, and in the rest of their lives, nothing but endless happiness awaits them.

Finally he raised his glass, "Let us drink to the health of His Majesty King Edward VI, and to the marriage of Princess Mary and His Majesty the King of Naples!"

"Long live the king!" The guests drank the wine glasses in their hands, and the men among them slammed on the table to express their agreement with these words.Except for Philip of Spain, who just touched the liquid in the glass with his lips and put it back as it was.There was a glass of clear water in his hand, he reached out to pick it up, and took a big sip, as if to wash off the little wine sticking to his lips.

The servants began serving the first course, soup steaming on white china dishes.The order of serving dishes starts with the king, and the dishes are served in order according to their status.And when the last person was served, the dishes on the king's plate were basically used up, but as long as the king put down the tableware, everyone in the room had to stop eating.Therefore, the monarchs always procrastinate for a while after the meal, as if they are still eating, so that the little people who are chatting with the last have time to gobble up a few mouthfuls.

Edward held the spoon in his hand, shaking it slightly in the soup bowl, and indicated to the servant standing behind him who was ready to remove the dish at any time that he was still eating. He looked at the end of the hall, and it seemed that the person sitting at the end of the table Having just started enjoying their soup, he decides to wait a little longer.

He turned his head and looked at Philip who was sitting aside. The soup in the bowl of the other party looked the same as when it was first served.

"Is this soup not to your liking?" Edward asked.

Philip looked as if he had been awakened from a daydream again. He gave the king a blank look, as if he was sure that the person opposite had just asked him a question.

"This soup is very delicious, but the spices in it are a bit too much for me." He pointed to his soup bowl, "In my opinion, these spices from the East are the products of pagans. It is really wrong for Christians to exchange our gold and products for these fallen products for the sake of appetite. I think this is a kind of temptation from the devil." He said and moved the tableware in front of him slightly further away Pushing it, it seemed that what was in it was not soup but poison, "God gave his people salt and let them use it to process food, and that's enough."

Edward rolled his eyes slightly, suddenly he was not interested in continuing the conversation.He raised his head and looked around the hall. Everyone watched his movements from the corner of their eyes from time to time.A tidal wave of boredom surrounded the king in an instant—is turning one's life into a never-ending performance, is this the price of power?The countless faces in the room all looked the same. Desire, ambition, and calculation made their faces look so boring, as if they were clay figurines fired in batches in a workshop.

Except for that one person.

Due to the particularity of today's occasion, Robert Dudley could only sit at a certain distance from the king.His gaze is also always on the king on the throne, but other people's gazes and faces can only make the king feel bored and irritated, but his gaze makes Edward feel at ease, just like a traveler in the desert sees not far away. Oasis is average.At this moment, Edward suddenly wished that he was not a king, but just an ordinary person, an ordinary person who had the freedom to choose who he shared a room with.

On the other side of Philip in Spain, Princess Mary seemed to be saying something. The king could no longer hear any meaningful information from that voice, but Edward had never heard that gentle voice.But judging from the expression on the husband's face, he seemed to be completely disinterested in it.How long will it take her to come to terms with the fact that her husband doesn't love her?The arrangement of fate is really ruthless. It arranges for the daughter the same path as the mother, a path that can be regarded as a lifelong nightmare for Princess Mary.

On the other side of the mayor, Princess Elizabeth seems to be listening to the mayor's frothy introduction of the local textile industry with great interest. Hue contrast.Elizabeth seemed to be in high spirits, and only small movements, such as tapping her fingertips on the table and twitching the corners of her eyes from time to time, revealed her impatience.A strange idea suddenly came to the king's mind. If Princess Elizabeth really got the throne one day, would she be so tired that she would be disappointed?

He put the knife and fork back on the plate with some powerlessness. Hearing the footsteps of the servants who came to remove the vegetables behind him, he closed his eyes slightly, calculating in his mind how long it would take for the banquet to end.