monarch

Edward slept peacefully one night amidst the low lullaby of the waves, and when he awoke the next morning, he was awakened by the crisp cry of puffins.Sunlight trickling through the sheer linen curtains like melted cream throughout the room brightens the suite's pastel-coloured décor and furnishings.

The king stepped barefoot on the thickly carpeted ground, walked to the window, opened the curtains, pushed the French window open, and walked to the small balcony outside, where the endless expanse of mist lay below.The golden sunlight fell on the sea surface, dancing with the waves, as if countless elves were dancing with the baton of Poseidon.At the entrance of the harbour, anchored a great ship of war, sent by the navy to keep His Majesty safe, she sweeps her dominion nobly now like a queen of the seas, and the yachts lean beside her as if she A docile servant, waiting for the queen of the sea to give orders.

Satisfied, he took a deep breath of fresh air, feeling the salty taste.

The king went back into the room, went back to the bed, rang the bell, sat down by the bed, and waited for the servant to come in.

The king didn't wait long, the door opened, and several of His Majesty's personal servants appeared in the room, holding trays in their hands containing His Majesty's dress, lemonade and toiletries.

"Good morning, Your Majesty." The leading servant smiled flatteringly, "Did you sleep well last night?"

"It's strange," said the king with a smile on his face, and he seemed to be in a good mood. "It seems that I haven't slept so well for a long time."

"I can't be more relieved than this news." The expression on the servant's face was exaggerated, like those overstretched actors in the country theater.

"What time is it?" The king looked at the height of the sun outside the window.

"Just after ten o'clock, Your Majesty. The wedding was at noon, if you remember."

The king nodded and signaled the servants to change his clothes. His Majesty chose a dark blue dress today, without any decorations, except for a diamond brooch on his chest.Just as the servants were fastening the pins for him, Robert Dudley appeared at the door of the room.

"I thought you would have breakfast with your father." The king looked surprised.

"He's gone to accompany the Duchess, and my mother has gone to Guildford's." Robert pulled an armchair from a corner of the room and sat down in front of the king.

"Your family is very happy." The king looked at his own appearance in the full-length mirror opposite, and nodded in satisfaction. He waved his hand, and the servants hurriedly packed their things and exited the room as quickly as possible.

"They are indeed very happy. Even I have to say that this marriage is indeed a match made in heaven." Robert glanced at the king cautiously.

"At least they love each other." The king straightened his collar in the mirror, "Mary's embarrassing wedding, I have enough to attend once."

He walked towards the door, and with a wink at Robert, beckoned him to follow.

The two walked out of the king's bedroom. Breakfast was already set up in the dining room outside. Most of the guests needed to dine in the big dining room downstairs or on the terrace, but His Majesty was obviously not among them.

The king sat in the seat nearest the window and looked at the clock in the corner of the room. It was pointing to ten forty.

"We're going down right after breakfast," he said.

The two of them had breakfast together as usual, and the servants stood quietly and waited on them.A few puffins outside the window landed on the railing of the balcony, and a pair of small mung bean-like eyes curiously looked at the creatures in the house through the window.

In the garden downstairs, the guests who had finished their breakfast were already seated on neatly arranged rattan chairs.In the rainy autumn, such good weather is very rare. The scene that the Duchess of Suffolk feared that the autumn rain would force the wedding to be held indoors seems to be unlikely to happen.The gentle sea breeze rustled the remaining leaves on the branches, rolling up a few yellow leaves from time to time and throwing them on the guests.

The guests did not have to wait long, and at a quarter past eleven the bridegroom, Guilford Dudley, surrounded by his parents and brothers, appeared between the hedges at the entrance to the wedding lawn.

Guilford Dudley did seem to be a man immersed in happiness, with a shy smile on his face, and his brisk steps were like stepping on a velvet cushion.When he saw the crowd waiting for him for the first time, the young man looked a little nervous, and a trace of panic and embarrassment flashed in his eyes.He smiled awkwardly towards the crowd, that smile looked a little silly, but the sincerity contained in it made it impossible to laugh at it.

The groom's father and mother followed behind, arm in arm.The chief minister took steady steps, and there was a smile from the heart on his usually overly serious face.He nodded to the guests already present, many of them were his friends, and naturally there were also a few high-ranking enemies, but on the surface, everyone seemed to be beaming, as if sincerely for the love of this young couple. Happiness and joy in general.

The Duchess, holding her husband's arm, looked like a leaky ship struggling through the waves, pulled by a tugboat.She was weaker than ten years ago. The white-haired old woman stood next to the muscular duke with gray beard and hair, she looked more like the duke's mother.There was also a smile on that waxy yellow face full of wrinkles, but that smile looked extremely weak, like a flickering candle flickering in the strong wind.She walked slowly, not so much walking as she was rubbing on the ground, as if she would faint under the weight of her body at any time.

The Duke supported his wife and sat down in the first row. He nodded to the groom waiting in front of the altar with an encouraging expression on his face.Then he turned to his colleagues around him and shook hands with them one by one.

After shaking hands, the Duke finally turned to Bishop Gardiner who was sitting behind him, "Welcome, Your Excellency, I hope you will have a pleasant two days here."

Bishop Gardner nodded condescendingly, and said in a shrill voice, "For a clergyman like me, witnessing two young souls make a sacred oath under the witness of God, I have no greater satisfaction than this. I wish your son and Miss Jane Grey all the best in life."

"You are very polite." The Duke nodded slightly.

When the duke was about to turn his head away, the bishop lost no time and said again: "At the same time, I also want to congratulate you, Your Excellency the duke."

"Congratulate me?" The Duke turned his head back again, "Why?"

"Of course I congratulate you on finding a good marriage for your son." Although the bishop was still smiling, his eyes seemed to be soaked with poisonous juice, "Now you and the Gray family have become a family, your descendant Doesn't it be worthy of my congratulations that one will flow with royal blood? If God blesses, you will soon have a grandson who will be fourth in line to the throne... the child will be Become the owner of your Duke of Northumberland, but maybe, his future is not limited to this, who can say for sure?"

Now on the Catholic side, the first heir to the throne, Princess Mary, seems unlikely to be pregnant, so if something happens to His Majesty, the future heir must come from among the Protestant Princess Elizabeth and Jane Gray.Many people have guessed in their hearts the real reason why the king resisted the marriage. If His Majesty really has nothing to show, he must choose an heir, and this heir is nothing more than these three ladies or their children.Miss Jane Gray would no doubt be a great hit with the Protestants when she conceived a child, and it was no wonder that Bishop Gardiner was so outraged.

The Duke nodded, as if he didn't notice Bishop Gardner's gun and stick: "Thank you for your congratulations. Everything I do is for the happiness of my son. As long as he lives a happy life, I am satisfied." He nodded to the bishop and turned his head—he had won the game, and winners are always magnanimous.Behind him, Bishop Gardner was staring fiercely at the back of the Duke's neck with red eyes. From the perspective of those around him, he seemed to be unable to resist the urge to pounce on the Duke and bite off the other's neck.

After almost a minute, the bishop finally calmed down. He slumped on the seat weakly, as if he had exhausted all his energy, and looked at the altar with blank eyes. There will undoubtedly be a lot of discussion here, but he doesn't seem to care at all.Bishop Gardner has been fighting in the political arena for decades, and now he is physically and mentally exhausted. Many people can see that his time to stay on this stage is numbered.

After another 10 minutes or so, His Majesty finally appeared at the wedding scene. He still looked official, but it was obvious that he looked much more natural than before at Princess Mary's wedding.

The chief minister stood up and walked forward to greet His Majesty.

"It is a great honor for our family to have you here." The Duke bowed deeply to the king, and the people around him inadvertently listened carefully to their conversation, "Everything in our family comes from your Ron, We can only repay your trust with blood and life." Tears welled up in his eyes, and the last few words were a little choked up because of being too excited.

"I don't doubt this at all." The king looked very sincere, and seemed to be moved by the Duke's emotional expression. He stretched out his hand to support the Duke, "Everyone in your family is my humerus." He said Glancing at Robert who was following behind him, the other party was looking at his brother standing in front of the altar.

The king walked towards the groom in front of the altar. The Duke of Guilford saw the king coming, and quickly stepped forward to bow to the king.

"Congratulations, Guilford." The king affectionately called Guilford Dudley's Christian name, and he patted the young man's arm lightly, feeling the tense muscles on that arm of. "Now that you are married to my cousin, we can be regarded as a family," he glanced at the chief minister, who seemed to be wearing a kind smile, but the fox-like eyes were only looking at the king's lips, "After all, as you know, my family doesn't have many children."

The chief minister's lips twitched a few times, but Lord Guilford's expression changed drastically.Although he is not interested in politics, but growing up in such a family, he can understand the king's overtones. However, this delicate and sensitive young man does not have the time to nourish his father, so the king's understatement beats him Let him be deeply touched.

He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could make a sound, he received his father's stopping gaze.

The chief minister cleared his throat, and stepped forward, like a bear protecting his son, trying to smooth things over for his son, but someone had already stepped in first.

"Speaking of heirs, I think of something that happened when I was young," Bishop Gardner quietly landed beside him like a vulture smelling of carrion at some point, "That was when I was young, my family The neighbor of the manor is an old squire, and this gentleman had several children, but they all died in infancy, so his heir became a distant cousin." He looked at it maliciously. A glance at the chief minister whose face had turned livid.

The king cast a sneering look at the bishop, "What happened next?" he asked coldly, as if he had already guessed the end of the story.

"Then when I was ten years old, that cousin came to visit the old squire, and a week later he died in bed, the cause of death being apoplexy... The gentleman has always been in good health, who knew that such a thing would happen." Bishop After a pause, "Stroke is a common disease these days. I heard a doctor say not long ago that not only the elderly, but also the young are at risk of stroke. Once it occurs, it can be fatal."

Now it's not only the chief minister alone, but everyone who heard this has changed their expressions drastically.After that farce a few years ago, the word "stroke" now sounds like murder.

The king looked at Bishop Gardiner with great interest. What he said today was a bit out of bounds, but it didn't sound unreasonable.He turned his head to look at the chief minister again, only to see that the other party's fists were clenched, and the stiff lines on his face showed that he was trying to control his anger.The question is, where does this anger come from?Is it because of unreasonable righteous indignation, or because of the anger that talks about the central matter?

The king uttered an inexplicable sneer, turned and walked towards the throne, and Robert followed him pale.Bishop Gardiner glanced triumphantly at the chief minister, and quickly slipped back to his seat, as if he was afraid that he would be punched in the nose by an angry opponent if he stayed a second longer.

The chief minister still stood where he was, and he took a few deep breaths to make himself look calmer.He patted Lord Guilford on the shoulder, motioning him to return to his place in front of the altar.Then he walked back to his seat and sat down, ignoring the worried eyes of his wife beside him.

The sun finally rose to the middle, and the bride whom everyone was looking forward to finally appeared holding his father's arm.She was bathed in the sunlight coming from her back, making it impossible to see her face clearly.

As she moves closer, the audience finally sees her clearly.Jane Gray looked like a beautiful white porcelain doll, her slender neck was so slender, and her elegant arms looked so delicate, it seemed that she was holding her father's fat arm and would touch her if she was careless. smash.Through the veil, she could see some excitement on her face, but unlike the equally excited groom, she didn't look nervous.

The Marquis of Dorset, who was holding his daughter on his arm, raised his head and stared straight at the altar in front of him, which was the embodiment of the word "pretentious".This man, who pulled his wife's skirt to climb up, barely gained a place on the political stage by relying on the shadow of his father-in-law, and the more he is like this, the more he has to put on airs to others, not so much for Showing your dignity in front of outsiders is more like appeasing your inner anxiety.

Beside them is the Duchess of Suffolk, the actual helm of the family. This ambitious woman is holding the arm of a distant relative at the moment, and this gentleman also looks ordinary. Its purpose seems to be to act as a living crutch for the Duchess.For the Duchess of Suffolk, Jane Gray was originally a pawn she planned to become the queen. However, the king has always been lukewarm about it. Although Miss Gray's reputation was not substantially damaged in the scandalous scandal at the former Queen Catherine Parr's house a few years ago, in the eyes of other potential suitors, she was already a flawless woman. .So the Duchess of Suffolk had to settle for the next best thing and find an heir to a great domestic nobleman as Jane Gray's husband-in-law, so naturally she hit it off with the chief minister who was trying to get involved with the royal family.

Miss Jane Gray winked playfully at her fiancé, and stood beside him at the altar.Unlike Princess Mary's Catholic marriage two weeks earlier, everything about the wedding was Protestant.

The host of the wedding was the local bishop. He presided over the ceremony with a smile, and skillfully delivered a series of congratulatory speeches. After asking those necessary questions for the wedding according to the usual practice, he waved his hand, and the assistant standing aside The bishop quickly took out a tray with two rings inside.

Guildford Dudley picked up a ring and cupped his fiancée's hand carefully, as if that hand was made of snow and would melt if he breathed hard enough.

He put the ring lightly on Miss Jane Gray's finger.

Now it was Miss Jane Gray's turn. When she grabbed Lord Guildford's hand, the young man immersed in happiness trembled from numbness all over. Miss Jane Gray squeezed his hand lightly, Let him calm down, and then put the ring on.

"I declare you husband and wife." The bishop's voice sounded again.

The king took the lead in applauding, and then the loud applause spread like a tide.

Lord Guilford kissed his wife's lips, the sun shone on them, and the great happiness wrapped them like a curtain, as if everything outside had nothing to do with them, and the only thing that mattered was each other.

The bishop opened his mouth again and began a long speech.

A petrel stood on the branch and looked at all this curiously. However, it didn't take long before it seemed to lose interest in all this. It flapped its wings and flew away without looking back amidst the bishop's speech.