monarch

Princess Elizabeth walked through the narrow corridors with a scowling face, shunned by everyone she met along the way, wishing she could hide behind the walls.

When she finally rushed into the Duke of Braganza's room, she was out of breath, and her hair was a little disheveled because of running, and a tuft of red hair hung on her sweaty forehead.

The Duke of Braganza was leaning over the table, studying a map spread out on the table. He frowned slightly when he heard the hurried footsteps breaking into the room, and put back the magnifying glass in his hand. on the table, then straightened up.

"What's the matter, Your Highness? Are you here to find me? Why are you in such a hurry?" He asked Princess Elizabeth kindly.

Elizabeth walked to an armchair by the window and sat down, her chest was heaving violently due to her rapid breathing, "You are very leisurely!" She glared at the Duke of Braganza viciously, "You And Leisure and Yizhi are here to study geography, without realizing that we are going to die!"

"Where did you say that?" the Duke of Braganza asked calmly.

"The final hour is coming: the king is dying!"

"Isn't this something everyone knows?" said the Duke of Bragança. "You persuaded him to make a will?"

"Yes, he did make a will." Elizabeth almost gritted her silver teeth, "but he left the throne to the Crown Prince of Spain, Prince Don Carlos!"

"Ah!" The Duke of Braganza's lips tightened slightly, "He really did this?"

"He told me just now." Princess Elizabeth got a little angry, "He also sent someone to invite the Spanish ambassador to meet him."

"What do you think is the reason why His Majesty the King is unwilling to leave the throne to his son and grandson, these two relatives who share the same surname with him, but wants his grandson, a prince with a different surname, to be the heir?" The Duke of Braganza looked at Princess Elizabeth playfully, and she shivered slightly, "You must admit, this is very strange, isn't it?"

"How would I know?" Elizabeth's voice became extremely sharp, "I don't understand this matter at all, I don't know anything!"

"Then why were you so anxious just now?" The smile on the Duke of Braganza's face was so disgusting in the eyes of the furious Princess Elizabeth, she wished to tear that smiling face off the other's skull, "I Think, Your Majesty finally knows your little secret like the other two hundred people in the court, right?"

"How dare you insult me ​​like this?"

"Since when has it become an insult to tell the truth, Your Highness?"

"I thought you were my friend, so I came to discuss with you." Princess Elizabeth looked aggrieved by the great insult, "Am I still with a friend?"

"Okay, okay, of course you are here with your friends." The Duke of Braganza waved his hand, "Since you value our friendship so much, let's stop talking about those unpleasant things... Let's Let's focus on the present, let's solve the current troubles together, what I need now is for you to calm down, do you think you can do it?"

Princess Elizabeth exhaled a few foul breaths, closed her eyes slightly, and opened them again after a few seconds, "I am calm now."

"Okay, then I want to ask you a question: When did His Majesty the King make his will?"

"When else could it be?" Princess Elizabeth sneered, "The night the palace held a party, he stayed in the room with his lawyer until midnight, and they must have been drafting that damn will."

"The day before leaving the city, then three days ago." The Duke of Braganza murmured, "Then where is this will now?"

"It must be with the king. He just sent someone to summon the Spanish ambassador, and it must be to hand over the will to him!" Princess Elizabeth said impatiently.

"But he couldn't find the Spanish ambassador for a while," said the Duke of Braganza.

"The Spanish ambassador has returned to the city temporarily." Elizabeth's breathing became heavy again because of anxiety, "but he will be back soon, his son..."

"His son has a cold." The Duke of Bragança took up the conversation.

Princess Elizabeth looked up at the Duke of Braganza in astonishment, "How do you know?"

"How do you think the child caught the cold?" Duke of Braganza said triumphantly.

"You did it?" Princess Elizabeth twitched nervously, "What did you do?"

"The tutor at the Spanish ambassador's family takes the child out for a walk for an hour every afternoon." The Duke of Braganza said in a low voice, "It's just that they went out 10 minutes later in the afternoon the day before yesterday, although the current weather It was a bit cold, but the child was still playing in the garden so happily that an hour later he begged the governess to stay and play for a while... The poor teacher couldn't resist the tears of the child, so she went outside The activity time was extended for another half an hour. The child was a little too excited, and he was covered in sweat. In this kind of weather, the child is easy to catch cold."

"So you see, no one is at fault for the whole thing, the child just wanted to play outside for a while, and the only mistake the poor female teacher made was being too soft-hearted, and no one can accuse her of anything, even if she was born The dissatisfied ambassador's wife is dismissed, and the gold coins I gave her are enough for her to spend the rest of her life, and the child will recover soon, which is nothing more than an annoying annoyance to everyone."

"An annoying thing, but it can change the rhythm of the wheel of history." Princess Elizabeth seemed to understand something, and her face glowed again.

"You are very correct." The Duke of Braganza nodded approvingly, "Since the king has written the will, the only thing we can do is to prevent the Spanish ambassador from getting it. If Mr. Ambassador is here , everything will become difficult, but when he comes here, it will be at least four hours later, and it will be dark by then."

"We still have four hours to turn things around." Elizabeth's face was pale. "What a short four hours, but it will determine my fate for the next 50 years."

"With all due respect." The Duke of Braganza shrugged, "If we can't reverse the situation, then you may not live for 50 years... What do you think the king plans to do with you?"

"He said he would leave me a castle for my retirement." Elizabeth sighed. "On the surface, it's a retreat, but it's actually a disguised form of house arrest."

"I don't think you will have such good luck," said the Duke of Braganza. "In my opinion, His Majesty the King just wants to keep you safe. Before he dies, he will kill you. Do you think Will he let you and the child in your womb live? When the Dauphin of Spain becomes King of Portugal, a fool can guess what happened. Then you will be the brand of shame on the de Avis family, Although this family is extinct, the king will not let the last page of record in the history book be a disgrace and a joke!"

"As long as you die, everything will be justified: the Dauphin can't govern, and he can't leave an heir. Even if he inherits the throne, the crown of Portugal is destined to fall into the hands of Philip and his son. They are the closest to the Dauphin. Relatives, and the heirs closest to him by blood, it is a logical thing to take over Portugal. This will also leave a fig leaf for the reputation of the de Aves dynasty, at least no one can produce evidence to refute the official conclusion of your death .”

"You will not go to the guillotine, and His Majesty will preserve what little of your reputation is left, because whether he likes it or not, you are the Crown Princess of Portugal, and your reputation is linked to the reputation of the royal family. He will let You die peacefully, and all you need is a cup of sweet poison, and you are an expert in this matter, and you should know better than I do."

Elizabeth also wanted to refute, "I am the princess of Britain, my brother..."

"Are you talking about the younger brother you were planning to kill two years ago?" The Duke of Braganza mercilessly said, "If I had such a sister, I would be very grateful for someone to help me with a decent There is no way to solve this trouble. If your scandal is made public, then the British princess will not be able to marry into a decent foreign royal family for 50 years!"

"You've been talking about me for so long, didn't you just want to tell me that I need you now?" Elizabeth looked at the Duke of Braganza with haughty eyes. Like a rock, after all no matter who is king, getting rid of you is far more trouble than gain. We only have four hours left, so please get straight to the point, what do you plan to get from me ? As long as you ask for a fair price, then I will agree immediately and never bargain, what do you think?"

"I don't want to get anything from you now, and I'm afraid you can't give me anything now. I just want you to remember that you owe me a favor, and that's enough." The Duke of Braganza said, " You're not an easy woman to get along with, and we're about to regent together, I just want to make our future cooperation a little bit more pleasant."

"I will remember how much I owe you." Elizabeth's hand tightly grasped the lace of her skirt, "Now please tell me how we will use the remaining four hours...I'm afraid there are only three hours left. It's been an hour and a half."

"If you don't want someone to see a document, there are two ways." The Duke of Braganza touched the tip of his beard with a smile. "The first is naturally to get rid of that person."

"You want to attack the Spanish ambassador on the road? This is tantamount to declaring war on them directly." Elizabeth shook her head quickly, "Besides, he is not the only diplomat in the Spanish embassy. The king can call his deputy over at any time."

"So that leaves the second option: we destroy that document."

"But the will is with the king! Are you going to let someone steal it? The king can write a new one without much effort?"

"Who talked about theft, Your Highness?" The Duke of Braganza waved his hand disdainfully, "I'm not going to steal, I'm going to take it openly."

Elizabeth's mouth opened into a circle, "You mean a coup d'état?"

"Keep your voice down, Your Highness!" the Duke of Braganza warned, "A coup d'etat is not a picnic, so there's no need to make it known to everyone."

Princess Elizabeth lowered her voice, "What are you going to do?"

"I have a property near here, and there are three hundred good men in full armor. It takes half an hour for me to send someone to deliver a message to them, and it takes another half an hour for them to come here."

"They'll be here in an hour?"

"No, it was 45 minutes later." The Duke of Braganza corrected, "You and the king's quarrel can be heard outside the room. At that time, I thought something was wrong, and I sent someone to inform them. That was about a quarter of an hour ago."

"Excellent!" Princess Elizabeth said excitedly, "then there is one last question left. There are 500 guards and bodyguards in the palace, but you only have [-] people under your command."

"They can strike by surprise, an advantage that has made or break countless battles."

"Don't you have any other insurance?" Princess Elizabeth asked.

"If we can convince the palace guards not to obstruct, then everything will go much smoother."

"It's impossible." Princess Elizabeth said contemptuously.

"On the contrary, it is almost a sure thing: the captain of the palace guard, Monsieur de Marinet, is mine."

Elizabeth's eyelids jumped suddenly, her face was mixed with shock and anxiety, "What you said is true?"

"He has a lover," said the Duke of Bragança, "but unfortunately he is not the King of Britain. If he does not want to die at the stake, he must do as I tell him."

Princess Elizabeth seemed to have finally realized the true energy of the person in front of her, and she became a little embarrassed.

"Very well, sir, I'm sure you know what you're doing . . . just do it."

The Duke of Braganza seemed very satisfied with the reaction his words had evoked on the Crown Princess, "Everything will be settled, Your Highness, and now there is one thing left: we need to inform Robert Dudley that since we are going to negotiate with Spain face, then we must secure Britain's support."

"Are you sure you can get it?" Elizabeth asked uneasily.

"As long as the price is fair, you can get anything." The Duke of Braganza said confidently.

After that, he went back to the table, still humming a little song that hunters often sing when they walk in the mountains and forests.