monarch

Robert held Miss Wendell's arm and made her stand up from the ground. The girl was shaking violently from head to toe, perhaps from fear or from the cold.Her clothes were soaked in the icy sea water, clinging to her body like a shroud.The two pale hands rubbed each other unconsciously, almost rubbing off a layer of skin on the hands.

"Please calm down, okay?" Robert stared into Miss Wendell's eyes, "Please do as I said... Take a deep breath and then exhale, and do it again every five seconds. It's very simple, isn't it? You can do it Got it?"

Miss Wendell shook her neck stiffly up and down twice, and she began to take a deep breath. After repeating this three times, she looked much calmer than before.

"I'm sorry, my lord..." There was a cry in her voice, "I just..."

"You were shocked just now." Robert patted her shoulder lightly, "It's okay, we were all shocked."

"I'm much better now." The maid forced an ugly smile on her face.

"Okay." Robert nodded, "Now I have to ask you a question, please answer carefully: Do you know how to deliver babies?"

Miss Wendell looked a little embarrassed, "I... have seen other people deliver babies before, but I haven't done it myself, and it was many years ago."

"But you know what to do, don't you?"

"I think I know." Miss Wendell stared blankly at Robert, "But..."

"There is no other way, Miss." Robert pulled Miss Wendell to the bed, "Viscount Canning and I will go to the deck to ask someone to prepare what you need, and you will take care of Her Majesty, and tell me what you need thing."

Miss Wendell followed Robert's instructions and took several deep breaths, "Okay, my lord...I think I need clean scissors and knives, some spirits, a clean cloth, and hot water...I can now That's all I can think of."

Robert nodded, "We will do our best." He looked at Viscount Canning, who had become a statue, "Let's go, Viscount, let's go to the deck."

Viscount Canning followed Robert like sleepwalking.

Robert pushed open the cabin door, and a gust of seawater poured over his body, causing him to choke a few mouthfuls of water. Behind him came the scream of Viscount Canning, a 50-year-old fat man who could utter a soprano-like cry Sound, it must be a rare sight on weekdays.

"Pull the hem of my dress!" Robert shouted behind him.

The sailors and the captain were busy on the deck together, and the deck was bouncing up and down violently. Robert felt as if he had become a bean in the frying pan, as long as the chef in charge of the spoon was not paying attention, he would fly out of the pan.

He raised his head to look at the sky above, where countless dark clouds gathered, their edges were illuminated by the moonlight pouring down from above, forming silvery tassels.A bolt of lightning cut through the darkness from time to time, and the sound of thunder that should have followed behind it was drowned in the roar of the waves.This is the territory of Neptune, the king of the sea, and Jupiter's thunder will be overshadowed by the power of the sea god.

"What are you doing? Didn't I tell you to stay in the cabin?" The captain, covered in water, shouted at Robert while waving his hands frantically, "Go back to the cabin, it's too dangerous outside !"

"The queen is going to have a baby!" When the captain finally struggled to move to Robert's side, Robert shouted into his ear, "We need to prepare corresponding things!"

"Having a baby? Now? On this ship?" The captain's voice changed with alarm. "My God, it's a bad omen!"

"No time to talk nonsense!" Robert wiped the wanton rainwater on his face with his hands, "The maid will deliver her, and we need to provide her with clean scissors and knives, as well as some cloth and spirits , and she needs hot water."

"Scissors and knives can be ready immediately, and cloth and spirits are not a problem. There are spare sails on board and rum for the crew to dispel the cold, but where can I find hot water? I can't at this time It's too dangerous to fire a stove to boil water!"

"Then take cold water, but clean water, understand?" said Robert emphatically, "as hot as you can make it."

The captain nodded, and he blew a loud whistle to signal the sailors to gather on the foredeck.

He went up to the sailors, and whispered a few words to them, and all four had expressions of terror on their faces, and the youngest one was on the verge of tears.

The captain patted the young sailor on the shoulder, and he walked back to Robert with a troubled look on his face.

"They are all scared, my lord. It is already very unlucky to have a pregnant woman on board, but now she is going to give birth on board, and this terrible storm..."

"Do you think there is a connection between these things?" Robert felt that the rain had soaked his underwear, and the discomfort caused by the contact between the soaked cloth and the skin made him more anxious, "Do you think it is the queen's going to give birth that caused the this storm?"

"As I told you before, sailors are very superstitious." A wave came and the ship tilted to the left. The captain quickly reached out and grabbed a sail rope to maintain his balance. It is the work of pinning their heads to their waistbands, and their own will is nothing compared to the forces of nature that govern their destiny, just as the twilight of a firefly is nothing compared to the daylight at noon .That irresistible power is so elusive, so erratic, that it is up to the will of the gods to wield it... If you were a sailor, you would be just as superstitious!"

"But they are His Majesty's sailors." Robert's eyelashes were covered with sea water, and the salty water flowed into his eyes, creating a tingling sensation, reminding him of the sweat that flowed into his eyes under the scorching sun, "You are a Naval officers, they are all sailors in the Royal Navy, are you going to refuse to carry out orders because of superstition?"

"They will carry out your orders." The captain bowed his head. "They will try their best to prepare you what you want, but they would rather go to hell than enter that cabin. In other words, they are on deck. Give you the things, and you take them down."

"That's fine." Robert nodded in agreement.

"Also, please close the cabin door after you go back, and don't come out if there is no urgent matter." There was a trace of shame in the captain's voice, but this did not detract from the firmness in his sentence in the slightest.

He leaned into Robert's ear, "Those screams and bloody smell will affect the minds of the crew members. I hope that they will try not to notice that a pregnant woman is giving birth on board. Now we are in the middle of the storm, and I need each of them Put your best foot forward, if anyone messes up because of this, then we are all screwed... I may be a little bit offensive, but I think this is what I have to emphasize to adults."

Robert stretched out his hand and patted the captain's arm. "I fully understand that you are doing your job. I assure you that when we return to Britain, you will be rewarded by His Majesty for this."

The captain stood up straight on the sloping deck, "I'll let them prepare what you want."

Robert nodded, and he turned his head to look at Viscount Canning behind him. The old nobleman was so frightened that his face turned pale. Under the light of lightning, his face was like a wax mask that was melting, and his facial features had completely disappeared. Out of shape.He clutched at the hem of Robert's shirt piteously, looking like a terrified little animal worried about being abandoned by its mother.

"You go back to the cabin first." Robert said in a soothing voice, "I tore the curtain just now, please see if you can hang it up again, we have to leave some privacy for the queen."

Viscount Canning seemed to be pardoned, his hearing seemed to have a qualitative leap in an instant, and he didn't need Robert to repeat his order at all, he quickly slipped into the entrance leading to the cabin, like a frightened The sea snake scurried back into its burrow.

Robert still waited where he was, holding tight to the rope that connected the top of the mast to the side of the ship, and looked out of the ship.Countless waves rolled on the sea, their tops were as high as mountains, and the white waves gathered at the tips reminded Robert of the snow covering the tops of mountains.And the trough between the waves, like the abyss of Tartarus, seemed to lead to the depths of hell. The "Lusina" is like a doll played by the gods, sometimes it is lifted to the top, and sometimes it is thrown off the cliff.And every time he did this, the whole ship would be turned over several times, and there was a disturbing creaking sound from below the deck under his feet, like the ominous sound echoing on the hillside before the volcano erupted.

The structure of the ship has been damaged, and there is no need to do any inspections. Robert can also be sure that the keel of the ship has been deformed a lot.If the storm does not stop tomorrow, the poor little boat will be torn to pieces like a spoiled rag doll, and the crew and passengers will be buried in the belly of the fish.

A bearded sailor, carrying a parcel and a bucket in his hand, struggled his way to Robert, about a third of the water in the bucket spilled.

"This is what you want." He stuffed the package into Robert's arms, "May God bless you, may God bless us!"

He sighed and walked back to his post.

Robert clamped the package with his left arm, carried the bucket with his right hand, and moved to the entrance of the cabin with difficulty. When he was going down the stairs, the whole ship almost rolled ninety degrees due to a big wave.

He fell into the cabin in embarrassment, spilling more than half of the water in the bucket.

Robert felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, obviously sprained from the fall, but he didn't have time to take care of his injury at this time.

He stuffed the package and the bucket to Viscount Canning, and he struggled to close the hatch. The water no longer poured into the cabin from the door, but the water in the bilge had reached the calf, and the ship had become A patient suffering from edema.

He looked around the cabin again. Viscount Canning had hung the wet curtain in the middle of the room again. The poor piece of cloth was first torn off by Robert, and then soaked in the cold sea water. Water was still dripping from the ceiling.

Queen Elizabeth's scream came from the other side of the curtain. In Robert's memory, he seemed to have never heard such a painful cry. The sound reminded him of the torture chamber in the Tower of London, when those tortured were beaten When the tibia was broken, their screams were not so painful and desperate as this high-pitched sound.

A sense of ominous premonition floated in Robert's heart. He took the package from Viscount Canning into his arms, lifted the bucket, and knocked open the curtain that was much heavier than usual due to the absorption of water.

"Here is what you want." He unfolded the package on the table, inside were knives, scissors, a few pieces of clean linen canvas, and a small glass bottle, the aroma of rum was coming from Protruding from the gap between the bottle and the cork, "As for the hot water, I'm afraid I can't boil it right now. I asked them to prepare some clean water."

Miss Wendell groped her way to the table and tapped the tools.

Robert walked to Elizabeth's delivery bed, if this humble bunk could be called a delivery bed.

With the help of the faint light, he saw that Queen Elizabeth was trembling violently on the bunk, like a patient suffering from malaria, blue blood vessels burst on her forehead, like the long growth of those old trees sticking out of the ground. Roots covered with moss.Her face was covered with water, her clothes and sheets were soaked, some were sea water leaking in, and more were her own sweat.Her teeth were chattering against each other, and her bloodshot eyes were fixed on Robert.

Miss Wendell took a few tools and held the candlestick in her hand, and walked back to the bed. Robert noticed that her hands were covered with blood.

He lowered his head, and through the brightened candlelight, he saw that Queen Elizabeth's lower body clothes and sheets had been stained dark red with blood.

"What happened?" Robert asked Miss Wendell, but deep down he felt that he already knew the answer.

"Her Majesty seems to be... having a difficult labor." Miss Wendell's reply was just as Robert guessed, "I don't know what to do..." She gasped, "We need a doctor, God, I don't know what to do!"

Big tears were streaming from her eyes.

"She can't last until a doctor comes." Robert supported Miss Wendell, "You are the only one here who has seen others deliver babies, so you should regard yourself as a doctor."

Miss Wendell groaned; she seemed to be fainting.

Queen Elizabeth on the bed roared angrily. She seemed to have exhausted all her strength. She widened her eyes and looked at Miss Wendell, "You silly girl, do as he said...you are going to deliver my child , this is my order!"

"But, Your Majesty..."

"It's nothing!" Elizabeth's voice was hoarse, as if her throat was full of blood, "As long as you let my child be born safely, I will let your family live comfortably in this life, I don't care what you do , if you don’t know how to do it, start thinking now!”

Queen Elizabeth's words seemed to have some magical power. Miss Wendell still had the terrified expression on her face, but her two legs moved towards the bed involuntarily.

In time Robert returned to the other side of the curtain and put it back together.

He looked at Viscount Canning, the old nobleman leaning weakly on his bunk, looking like he was about to have a heart attack.

Next door to Viscount Canning, King João Manuel was sleeping soundly, with an angelic smile on his face, it seemed that neither the force of nature nor human trifles would interrupt him and his sleep in the slightest. A wonderful rendezvous between gods.

Robert sighed enviously, and walked back to his bunk. He felt that his eyelids seemed to have absorbed water and became as heavy as the curtains in the room.

He lay back on his bunk, this time even with the faint pain from his shoulder, he soon fell asleep again.