monarch

"It's so strange, we seem to be the same height, why your clothes look like a Roman toga on me." The king said to Robert while pulling the lace of the cuffs that had fallen down with his hands.

As night fell, Edward looked out the window, and the port behind him gradually changed from golden to blue-purple, and finally disappeared completely in the shadows.The moon had already risen in the sky, and the silver light sprinkled on the mirror-like sea surface, and the sparkling waves were like countless silver snakes, dancing on the sea surface.

"Then you should remember to bring some new clothes next time." Robert walked behind the king and kissed the top of the king's head lightly. The fluffy black hair smelled of rose water.

"Anyway, you won't wear those clothes for the second time, will you?" Robert gently helped His Majesty tie the collar tie on the back of his neck, "I heard that those nobles also followed suit...many adults They look glamorous on the surface, but in fact they have to find bankers to borrow money to buy gowns to wear in the palace."

"It's better to let them spend money on clothes and jewelry than to play politics with the money." The king yawned, "At least those textile workers can get a few more coppers in wages."

Robert grabbed the king's shoulders, made him stand up, and turned around. He looked at the clothes he put on for the king and nodded with satisfaction.

"Is Your Majesty hungry?" Robert asked, "There should be a kitchen on this ship, right? You just had some cold wind, so why don't you eat something warm?"

"There is a bell rope next to the door. If you pull it three times, someone will bring you dinner." The king closed the window as he said, and the cold sea fog was rising from the sea, and the sea breeze coming in from the window became damp and smooth. And cold, "But I think, before that, we need to tidy up this room. It looks like it was pierced by a few shells."

Even a fierce naval battle might not be able to cause such huge damage to this conference room, which was brand new a few hours ago.The nautical charts and decorative paintings hanging on the wall fell to the ground, half of the chairs were overturned, and the nautical chart on the table was already crumpled. gaps, while the southern coastline was soaked and wrinkled, and many places are still wet today.

Robert pinched the king's waist lightly, in exchange for a "hiss" from the other party, "Your Majesty's destructive power is really strong."

"My waist is blue." The king stretched out his hand and patted Robert's restless paw away. "Besides, it's all your fault... Why don't you use a good bed there?"

"It's all my fault." Robert grabbed the king's curly hair and kissed it lightly. "Your Majesty, go to bed and rest. I'll tidy up here."

"Leave no trace." The king gave him a hard look.

When Edward was about to go out the door, he turned around again, "If necessary, you can throw the unnecessary things into the sea."

Edward passed through the living room and entered the opposite bedroom. There was a four-poster bed made of oak in the bedroom. Due to the limitation of space, the bed was much smaller than the usual size on land. I'm afraid they will be crowded together.

He was half lying on the bed, with his feet on the ground and his back leaning on the soft pillow, feeling the slight shaking of the ship below him. The ship had already sailed into the open sea, and every sail was full. Wind, could reach Dover tomorrow morning.

It's just a one-night voyage, Edward thought, the natural moat that has sheltered Britain for thousands of years, a fleet can cross it in just one night.A year from now, the strait will be crowded with hundreds of warships and tens of thousands of sailors, and the sun will be clouded by the smoke of artillery fire.The fate of the nation will be on the table, as has happened countless times in history, at the mercy of the unquestionable will of fate.

At Salamis, the independence and freedom of the Greek city-states hang by a thread; at Actium, Antony and Octavian vie for power in the Roman world.The rise and fall of the empire was decided on the sea, and countless warships and crews were buried under the sea as sacrifices to the sea god.The sea is like a lucky girl. The ancient Persians, Athens, Romans, modern Venice and Spain have all been her lovers. She watched these suitors bite each other, and only the victors can get it. In her favor, temporarily wear the glorious crown of the Sea God until the next challenger appears on the horizon.

"One more year." Edward grabbed the sheets with his hands, looked up at the chandelier on the ceiling slowly swinging with the waves, and said to himself.

You will win, he heard a voice in his head say, your country is richer and stronger than the real historical kingdom of England, your fleet is bigger, if Elizabeth can beat the Spaniards, then why did you do Not yet?

But the outcome of war is always unpredictable. Another voice sounded in Edward's mind. When King Xerxes of Persia was watching the battle from the golden throne overlooking Salamis Bay, could he have expected the Greek fleet in a mess? Can it resist the will of the King of Kings?Didn't Antony and Cleopatra also feel confident when they came to Cape Actium?What if fate is against you, if you lose the war?

The bedroom door was pushed open, and Robert walked into the room, nodding at the king on the bed, "I've already packed it."

Antony and Cleopatra suddenly came to the king's mind. If we are destined to perish, let us be like them and be praised by the world after all ages.

"What are you laughing at?" Robert noticed the smile on the king's face, and he asked in a daze.

"Nothing." Edward waved his hand, "Did you ask someone to bring dinner?"

"Not yet, but I had them send something else," said Robert. "I'd like you to see it before we eat supper."

The king stretched himself on the bed, stood up with his hands on the mattress, "You sound serious, what is it?"

"It's the last gift from your two sisters." Robert's voice was as low as the night outside.

The king was silent. He walked quickly through the door and into the living room. There was a small box on the coffee table in the center of the room, and a two-foot-square wicker box beside the coffee table.

Robert opened the lid of the wicker box, and the fruity fragrance overflowed from the box, and soon the sweet smell filled the entire cabin.

"It's a pomegranate." Edward took out a ripe fruit from the crate. The skin of the pomegranate had turned as red as the seeds inside, just like the color of Princess Mary's favorite dress back then.

"And this." Robert carefully held a branch of myrtle, which Princess Mary broke off from the hedge of the Alhambra.

With a little force from Edward, the overripe pomegranate split open.He picked up a ruby-like pomegranate seed from it, put it in his mouth, and gently crushed it with the tip of his tongue.

"There are hundreds of seeds in a pomegranate, but she can't get even one of her own children." The king sighed.

He put the pomegranate back on the coffee table, took the withered flower branch from Robert, and looked at it carefully in front of the candle.

"News came from Spain ten days ago," Edward gently stroked the dark brown flower branch, "she is on her deathbed, perhaps as we speak, she has passed away."

"The French and Philip have reached a consensus. As soon as she dies, Philip and Princess Elizabeth of France will marry." The king's voice was slightly sad, "It seems that she is an obstacle to everyone... Everyone was waiting for her to take her curtain call and then take her off the stage like an outdated set and throw her in the trash."

"This is the result of her own choice." Robert put his hand on the king's shoulder lightly, "Each of us has to pay the price for our choice."

"How many people in this world know what their decision means when they make a choice?" Edward put his hand on Robert's hand on his shoulder, "How many people know what price they will pay in the future ? We are just a group of blindfolded boatmen, drifting along the long river of fate. As for the smooth sailing, or being smashed to pieces, it all depends on the will of fate.”

"Princess Mary asked me to tell you that today's ending is not what she expected. She wishes you good luck."

"This is not what I expected." Edward placed the flower branch next to the pomegranate, "But we are destined to come to this point, and neither of us can do anything about it."

"This box was given to you by Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth." Robert opened the box, and the room was filled with brilliance comparable to the moonlight outside the window.

The king was not dazzled by the brilliance of the jewels. He calmly grabbed a handful of jewels from the box, looked at them before his eyes, and threw them back into the box casually. The crisp crackling sound when it hits the glass window.

He opened the lower part of the box again, and looked at the bonds, stocks and cashier's checks. Many bankers' signatures on them were very familiar to His Majesty. It was hard to imagine that these thin papers were worth several boxes of gold coins.

"She will use the money to buy a ticket for her son to compete for the heir to the throne," Robert said. "The total amount of wealth in this box is about 300 million pounds."

"More than 1000 years ago, Julianus used 300 million sesterces to buy the seat of Roman emperor. In this way, [-] million pounds for a ticket is considered a fair price." Edward commented.

"It's not just this." Robert stepped forward, took out an open envelope from the bottom of the box, and handed it to Edward, "She also gave you another gift."

Edward opened the envelope and pulled out a piece of letter paper folded in four.

"She's right about one thing," the king said in a strange tone when he read the contents of the letter, and Robert even felt that there was some kind of respect in it. left its imprint on the history books."

"Perhaps." Robert nodded, "but I think most people would rather live under your rule than hers."

"For her, everyone is a tool in the struggle for power, a pawn on a chessboard, only black and white. But for you, everyone is a living person first, they are not just simple statistics or It's a few words in a document, not just a handy man or an obstacle that needs to be removed. They are people with the same joys and sorrows, they also have their own beliefs, people they love and people they hate , they are not cold pawns, but flesh and blood creatures. This is why Elizabeth lost to you. Maybe she can be a king with a long history, but there have been countless such kings in this world, and there will be more in the future Countless...and you are unique."

"I have never seen my mother." The king gently folded the precious document and hid it back at the bottom of the box. "Do you think she is the same person? Did she direct her own film like this?" Destruction? The daughter always repeats the fate of the mother, so is the son going to repeat the mistakes of the father? Maybe one day, I will also become the monster of power like my father in his later years. projection?"

Robert stretched out his arms and carefully embraced the king in his arms. He felt the young man in his arms trembling slightly.

"That will never be the end for you, because I will always be by your side." Robert felt the heartbeat of the young man from the other end of the fabric, "Even if my wings are burned by the scorching sun like Icarus, I will always be by your side." Use your last strength to fly towards the sun... because without the sun, this world is just a deserted wasteland."

Edward gently put his head on Robert's shoulder, "Let's go and see that child."

They came out of the suite door into a long corridor that ran the length of the ship, and walked ten feet down the corridor to the boy's bedroom.

Prince Sebastian's nurse, the Gascon woman, was dozing off in a chair by the door when she woke up suddenly when she heard the door open.

"My lord." She stood up and saluted Robert.

She looked at the king standing next to Robert again, as if guessing his identity.

"It is His Majesty the King," Robert explained to her, repeating it in French, as if afraid she would not understand.

The woman covered her mouth with her hands, and her eyes were stared into two standard circles. She knelt on the ground on one knee, took the king's hand, and kissed it reverently, as if making a wish.For the peasant class in various countries, any king is an existence between mortals and gods.

"How's the baby?" Edward smiled reassuringly at the woman.

"Your Highness has just had milk, and is now fast asleep." The wet nurse smiled from the bottom of her heart, obviously she already had feelings for this child.

"Great, go and eat something. Your Majesty and I will stay here with the little prince alone for a while." Robert ordered, and the nurse obediently left the room.

"Would it be too mean if I said he looks a bit ugly?" The king stood in front of the crib, looking down at Prince Sebastian who was sleeping soundly on the bed, "But a newborn baby probably looks like a look."

"You have the same reaction as that little French princess." Robert laughed, "and her mother wants to marry her to him!"

"Caterina de' Medici?" The king gently pinched the child's face, and a few bubbles spit out from the corner of the little prince's mouth, "That's a difficult opponent... What does she want?"

"She wants to deal with Mary Stuart with us," said Robert. "Obviously the relationship between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is not harmonious."

"Another family killing each other." The king took out a handkerchief and wiped the baby's drool on his hands.

"She seems to think that a civil war is about to break out in France, and she hopes that when the civil war breaks out, we will be on her side and help her deal with the extremists on both the Catholic and Protestant sides."

"It's funny that the Pope's niece advocates a policy of religious conciliation," said the king. "This is the embarrassment of the centrists, who are supported only by weaklings who are indecisive or speculators at both ends of the spectrum."

He looked at the sleeping Prince Sebastian again, the corner of the child's mouth curled up slightly, snoring comfortably.

"Do you think he looks like an heir to the throne?" whispered the king. "What kind of king would he be? A tyrant like my father, or a magister like his mother? St. Louis." saint, or a libertine?"

"When every child was born, God secretly cast the dice." Robert stood beside the king, also looking at the sleeping child, "but only when they grow up, the world will know the number of the dice."

"I hope I will never use the piece of paper left by his mother." The king held Robert's hand, and Robert noticed that his palm was a little wet, "but often what we want to avoid is the fate that will eventually come... Like Oedipus."

"I have already chosen a teacher for him, as well as someone to accompany him." The king continued, "I have taken into account the interests of all forces... I hope they will be satisfied for the time being."

"It looks like you threw him into a pack of lions," said Robert.

"Perhaps." The king shrugged his shoulders, "but if he can't even subdue academics and a group of children, how can he deal with these cunning nobles and officials?"

"Let's go to dinner." Robert gently took the king's arm, "Leave future matters to the future."

The king nodded, and the two walked out of the room together.