monarch

A thick night fog separates the water from the shore, just as a curtain separates the stage from the backstage. As soon as the "Lusina" sailed away from the pier, the silhouette of the coast had already merged with the fog, and the people on board could only see a little halo left by the lights that were still burning in the city, like The gradually smudged traces of color dripped on the canvas by a poor painter.

In the darkness, the boat went down the Tejo River, and the captain carefully watched the flow of the river in a dense fog to avoid dangerous shoals and reefs.

There were no navigation lights on the ship, which meant that it was impossible for other ships to notice the figure of the small ship in this cloud of fog. Although this measure reduced the probability of being intercepted by the Spaniards, it also made the danger of collision A substantial increase.The ship was like a swan swimming on the sea, and just a slight impact was enough to break her slender neck.

In the direction of Lisbon behind her, the midnight bell rang. Queen Elizabeth turned her head and looked in the direction of the bell from the glass window. The last light of the city was being swallowed by the salty sea fog.

"Your face is pale, Your Majesty." Robert kept watching Elizabeth's reaction, "Have you ever suffered from seasickness before?"

"I've never sailed in such a small boat before." Elizabeth shifted a few times in her bunk, letting her back rest on the thick velvet cushions, "how ironic that I'm riding in a gorgeously decorated boat. To come here on a warship like this, to get out of the country in disgrace on a boat like this."

She pointed in the direction of her husband, "Are you sure you gave him enough sleeping pills? I don't want him to wake up when we cross the blockade."

"I gave him enough doses for twelve hours, and I will give him the same dose after he wakes up. Except for the necessary eating and drinking time, he will remain lethargic...For the safety of all of us, or It would be good to let him go through this journey in a comatose state."

"Fortunately." Queen Elizabeth's voice was a little hoarse, and it sounded a little lower than usual, "If he stays awake, it will take less than three days. Either I have killed him, or I jumped to the hospital because I couldn't bear it anymore. In the Atlantic."

Sir Canning laughed dryly, but his laughter did not arouse the echo of others. On the contrary, both Robert and Elizabeth turned their heads to look at him with extremely indifferent eyes. He immediately stopped laughing, his whole face flushed. Like choking on pudding for dinner.

"If you want to start complaining about the injustice of fate, then I can only remind you that you chose all of this." Robert didn't look at Queen Elizabeth, he seemed too lazy to hide his impatience, "You You know what kind of person he is before you marry him, but you still choose to marry him, in order to gain the power that goes with him, just like those miners who dig mica mines in search of crystals. You are on the table, you If you lose your capital, then don't complain."

"I hope that when you lose everything, you can be as graceful as you say now." Elizabeth said softly, she stroked the bulkhead with her fingers, where the water vapor was condensing into tiny water droplets, "You Want to know what your father said when he died?"

"I don't want to know." Robert hid his body in the shadow cast by the curtain in the center of the room, "but I don't think you can resist the urge to tell me."

"Yes, you are right." Elizabeth sat up straight at once, her pupils reflected the flame of the candle, and the right corner of her mouth was slightly raised in a small arc, "He died at the last In a word, he wants to curse me and everyone else, although I’m afraid even he himself knows that he has to blame himself for getting to that point. A guilty person is always unwilling to admit that he is guilty, and he doesn’t like to be pointed out that he is guilty.”

"It seems that his curse has taken effect. You have indeed been unlucky for the past two years." Robert sneered.

"If a person can't do anything to me while he's alive, then what's the use of a few ridiculous babblings left by him before he dies?" Elizabeth shook her head disdainfully, and she gently stroked her belly, like It was the dragon who was poking at his treasure pile.

Robert was about to say something, but was interrupted by the captain who entered the cabin.

"Please put out the candles and keep quiet, we are approaching the Spanish blockade." The captain whispered.

Robert quickly blew out the candle, he followed behind the captain, and the two boarded the deck together.

As the captain said, in the thick fog not far away, there were several yellow lights shining, and they were about a few hundred feet apart, like groups of shining jellyfish in the sea.

The captain waved his hand, and the sailors immediately retracted the sails, and the boat drifted along the flow of the river toward the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.

The "Lusina" passed through the gap between the two Spanish warships, and Robert even heard the chatter and laughter of the Spanish watchmen coming from the fog. He couldn't help holding his breath because of nervousness, until the voice gradually Only when it disappeared did it dare to take a big breath again.

The sails were lowered again, and the wind immediately swelled. Like a flying fish, the "Lusina" left the Spanish blockade behind, jumped briskly on the top of the waves, and sailed into the rolling "Western" ocean".

Robert stayed on the deck for another hour. When he returned to the cabin, the cabin was so quiet that only the sound of the waves from outside could be heard. The rest of the passengers had already fallen asleep. Everyone was exhausted from the nervous escape just now. Unbearable.

Robert yawned. He took off his boots and lay down on his bunk. With the gentle waves of Theseus as his cradle, he fell asleep in a short while.

The next morning, Robert was awakened by the crew's call signs from the deck. When he opened his eyes, the grain of the wood above the bunk came into view.Due to being in a humid environment for a long time, there are already some small cracks on the wooden board, just like the small scars left on the hands of soldiers who have been fighting for many years.

The "Lusina" has left Lisbon for nearly [-] nautical miles, and now it is heading north along a route about [-] nautical miles from the coastline. All the sails on board are put down, and it is gliding on the sea at an amazing speed with the help of the wind. with.

The captain carefully drove the boat through the gaps in the waves. Compared with the battleship, the bulkhead of this boat was as thin as paper, and the keel was as fragile as a fish bone.It can't fight the waves head-on. The beating of big waves will not only greatly slow down the speed of the ship, but even crack the thin bulkheads and deform the fragile keel.

The meals on the ship were simple bread, cheese and salted fish, served with some lemon juice and citrus to prevent scurvy. The sailors ate with relish, but the passengers generally had no appetite, especially Queen Elizabeth, who had set sail since He suffered from seasickness from the very beginning, and even if he managed to eat something, he would vomit it all up in a short time.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye it was already the night of the third day. The captain observed the stars with a sextant and confirmed that the "Lusina" had completely left the northwest corner of the Iberian Peninsula behind. The little boat was no more than a speck of gravel, and she had slipped through the Spaniard's fingers, and to find her again would be a needle in a haystack.

Late in the night of the day, the speed of the ship slowed down, and the waves on the sea were gradually increasing, some even several feet high. Throw it around.

Queen Elizabeth never closed her eyes all night. When the sky in the distance was pale, she was too weak to get up from the bed.The dutiful maid waited on her and vomited all night, and by the end all she vomited was gastric juices.

During the daytime on the fourth day, the wind became stronger and stronger. Some beginners may feel that this wind can push the boat from behind, but the experienced captain does not think so, and he looks into the distance vigilantly The horizon, where the color is much darker than the rest of the sky, where a storm is brewing.

By dusk, the barometer on the ship had started beating wildly, like a frenzied livestock before an earthquake.This ingenious gadget is one of the most widely used inventions of the Royal Academy of Sciences, sponsored by King Edward, and the Italian academic who invented it was awarded a £[-] prize.Such violent air pressure fluctuations indicated that the storm had reached the steps in front of the door and was about to knock on the door.

According to the captain's order, the sails on the ship were half furled, the rigging was firmly fixed, and the entrances to the cabins were closed. The "Lusina" was originally intended to cross the Bay of Biscay, but now it can only sail eastward to avoid being too far away from the coast.

Passengers stayed in their own cabins. As the windows and doors were closed, the air in the cabin became more and more polluted every minute. Coupled with the increasingly violent turbulence, other passengers also wanted to escape. The urge to vomit.

The strong wind gathered bean-sized raindrops, which hit the deck of the ship like bullets, and the "Lusina" fluttered like a light feather among the surging waves.Those huge waves are as high as a small hill, and the boat can only be steered by the captain with superb steering skills to shuttle between the gaps between the waves.White waves hit the deck head and face. Although the cabin door was sealed, water still inevitably flowed into the cabin.On several occasions, the entire ship was engulfed by a huge wave, only to miraculously emerge from the other side.There was an uneasy creaking at the heels of the two slender masts, battered by spray and battered by the wind, which had not yet broken.

Robert lay on the bunk that was soaked by sea water. He closed his eyes, tried his best to let himself go, and tried his best to sleep for a while before dawn. After an unknown amount of time, he finally managed to force himself to fall asleep.

A shrill scream pulled Robert out of the arms of the sleeping god. He rubbed his eyes and felt sore all over his body. His back must have been bruised due to the bumps last night. Now that kind of stiff Pain was spreading from his lower back along the nerves in all directions.

He jumped out of the bed and found his feet in the cold sea water, the water on the ground had reached his ankles, and every time the boat was washed by the waves, the cold and salty water flowed from all Cracks poured into the tiny cabin.

Robert walked up to the curtain that separated the room. The voice came from the other side of the curtain. It sounded like Miss Wendell, maybe Queen Elizabeth, but it didn't make any difference.

"What happened?" Robert called across the curtain, "I heard someone screaming."

The only answer to him was the muffled loud noise of the waves, perhaps interspersed with a few women's sobs, but that sound was too insignificant compared to the roar of nature.

Viscount Canning also woke up. He didn't put on his shoes, and sat on his bunk, staring blankly at Robert, like a frightened boy. The only thing he could do was look at his parents.

No time to hesitate anymore, Robert grabbed the curtain and with a sudden force, there was a "hissing" sound from the ceiling as the fabric was torn apart, and he tore the curtain down entirely.

Queen Elizabeth looked like a corpse, her eyes staring blankly upward, while Miss Wendell knelt in the puddles beside her bed, her hands over her mouth, sobbing.

Robert's eyes were attracted by the dark stain on Miss Wendell's cuff, what was that?An ominous thought came to his mind, God, don't be like that, not at this time!

He lit a candle, went to Queen Elizabeth's bed, and found her sheets covered with the same stain, which was much darker than the stains left by the sea, and anyone had only to look at it The difference between the two can be found.

"What's the matter? What's the matter?" Behind Robert came Viscount Canning's bewildered voice. This old noble who was about to retire really didn't expect to experience such a scene at the end of his term.

"Her amniotic fluid broke." Robert calmly surprised even himself.

"The amniotic fluid broke?" Viscount Canning dumbfoundedly repeated Robert's words. He read these syllables mechanically, but he didn't seem to understand the meaning of combining them together.

"It means that she is going to have a baby now." Robert felt the sea water under his feet was so cold that it seemed to be freezing, "on this leaking boat."

Another big wave hit the boat, and countless water leaked down from the ceiling, covering everyone in the room.

The mercury column of the barometer in the corner of the room was still beating non-stop, and the storm showed no sign of stopping.

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Lucina is the goddess of childbirth in ancient Rome. Legend has it that without her blessing, women would have dystocia