monarch

On March 1546, 1, the king's royal family left Edinburgh and embarked on a journey back to London.His Majesty made no secret of his distaste for this land, and he seemed unwilling to stay in this newly acquired kingdom for even a minute.According to the king's order, the royal driver marched day and night, crossing the border between England and Scotland in just two days and entering Northumberland in northeast England.After entering England, the king finally nodded and agreed to rest in Northumberland for three days, which made the nobles who were exhausted but did not dare to show the slightest thing in front of the king very happy.

On the afternoon of March [-]th, His Majesty's carriage drove into the gate of the Earl of Northumberland's manor. This most elegant mansion in the north was built with red bricks. The beautiful garden in front of the mansion was designed by a well-paid Italian architect. It is decorated with exotic flowers and plants shipped from Spain, France and Germany together with the soil.But even though it was early spring, the weather was still very cold, and the bare branches in the garden looked especially depressing under the leaden sky.

At the entrance of the mansion, a pale young man stood there alone, looking as if he was about to faint at any moment.The young Earl of Northumberland looked terribly unnatural, and his movements were as rigid as those of a street performer's puppet on strings.In front of the crowd, the young Earl Thomas Percy, like a little beast caught in a mousetrap cage, looked in horror at the familiar figure among the welcoming crowd—his guardian Thomas Tempest Sir, he barely calmed down until he received encouraging and comforting gazes from the other party.

The carriage painted with Tudor roses slowly stopped in front of the mansion. The door was opened, and soon several servants surrounded it. They supported the king, slowly moved out of the carriage door, and helped the king to lie down again. A Roman-style sedan chair.The palanquin was a padded chaise longue that could be carried and carried indoors by four servants—His Majesty was now half paralyzed.

The king lying on the soft sedan chair breathed a sigh of satisfaction, and looked at the young Earl of Northumberland standing in front of him. In the eyes of others, he looked like a lion looking at its prey.

"Your Majesty." The young earl saluted the king, with a stiff smile on his pale face, although the weather was still very cold, fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, "Welcome to Northumberland. "

The king didn't speak, just nodded, and looked at the young earl with playful eyes, thinking of the afternoon when he signed his father's death sentence-the father dared to plot rebellion, but the son was like a quail that just broke its shell. Things seem so ridiculous at times.

Suddenly the king remembered something, he turned his head, looked at his son, and couldn't help but feel a little relieved—Edward's mother, Anne Boleyn, almost married the former Earl of Northumberland. It was Edward who greeted him at the gate of the mansion.His Majesty wanted to laugh a little, but then there was a burst of sadness—everyone died, and those he loved and hated in his life had become dry bones in a marble tomb.

So he's dying too?

The king closed his eyes slightly and waved his hands. The attendants quickly lifted up the soft sedan chair and carried His Majesty into the warm hall.

……

The Earl of Northumberland's manor is worthy of the name of her most luxurious and comfortable residence in the whole north, and the whole court has settled here.His Majesty the King occupies the best room in the manor, the Crown Prince's room is next to the King's and is closest to the King, while the Queen's room is placed on the other side of the mansion, even farther away from His Majesty's room than the King's two daughters. This sparked a murmur.In a sense, the palace is quite similar to the real estate market, and the location determines everything.For many, the queen's asset is already showing signs of depreciation.

The queen's suite belonged to the previous Countess of Northumberland, and no one has lived in it for more than ten years. These ten years have cast a sad shadow on this gorgeous room.In front of the dressing table, the queen leaned wearily on an armchair, holding a gem-studded Venetian glass mirror in her hand, and looked at her own face in the mirror.The queen is not young anymore. Two marriages and decades of time have made her skin no longer fair and lustrous, and fine lines are also appearing in the corners of her eyes. Those expensive French cosmetics and veal masks are only a slight delay this process of decay.The queen looked at herself in the mirror, imagining what that face would look like ten years from now.Yet to her own surprise, she wasn't frightened or sad, just tired.

Overwhelmed by exhaustion, like farmland submerged after a levee burst.

There was a maid's knock on the door.

The queen shook her head slightly and forced herself to sit up straight. "Come in." She tried her best to make her voice sound moderate, but she couldn't hide the faint trace of exhaustion.

The maid came into the room and saluted the queen. "Sir Thomas Seymour begs to see you."

The queen's hand that held the mirror tightened sharply.After a few seconds, she let go of the mirror and put it on the dresser.

"Ask him to come in," said the queen, without looking back at the maid.

After half a minute, a deep male voice came from behind the queen. "His Majesty."

The queen was still sitting there, playing with the mirror she had just put down and picked up again. "How do you do, Sir Thomas, what can you do?"

The deep voice seemed a little lonely, "You didn't call me that before."

"Then what do you want me to call you, Mr. Vice Admiral?" The queen's voice was still calm, but there was a hint of sarcasm in it.

"Call me Thomas, as you called me." The voice was so close that the Queen felt the air blow behind her ears.She turned her head sharply, and the handsome face of Sir Thomas Seymour was very close at hand.

The queen jumped up as if on a spring, "Are you crazy!" She pushed hard, pushing the tall Sir Thomas back a few steps.She looked in horror at the door of the house—it was shut tightly.

The queen breathed a sigh of relief, she bit her lip, trying to calm herself down. "Do you remember what happened to the former queen? Do you want me to follow in the footsteps of Catherine Howard, who had my head chopped off in the Tower of London?"

"Forgive me." Sir bowed slightly.

"Do you still remember what happened to that unfortunate Mr. Dillham?" Seeing that the other party was indifferent, the queen's anger continued to grow. "The idiot who claimed to be betrothed to the former queen was disembowelled at Tyburn and his head was hung on London Bridge. Even if you don't think about me, you should save yourself from that fate .”

"I'm not like Francis Dereham." Sir Thomas looked at the queen, and held out his hand to her face, and the queen took a few steps back, and he let it go again. "Your Majesty knew that I was engaged to you before we married you, and no one lied to him, so no one will be charged with treason."

"No matter what happened in the past, I am now Your Majesty's queen. Please pay attention to your own identity in front of me, Your Excellency Vice Admiral." The queen raised her head proudly, like a swan stretching her neck gracefully on the lake .

"Or His Majesty's nurse," laughed Sir Thomas.

The queen's face turned red immediately: "How dare you!"

Sir Thomas walked to the sofa in the center of the room and sat down. "You were already a widow when you married His Majesty. Although you are still young and beautiful, you are far beyond the age that the king is interested in." He picked up the An orange on the table, and began to peel it with a small knife next to it, "You have quite a lot of experience in taking care of your ex-husband, if you want to find a nanny, you must naturally find someone who is familiar with this job, I am right Bar?"

The queen stared at him coldly, without saying a word.

Jazz shrugged his shoulders, "If you didn't know it before, the events of the past few days must be enough for you to understand your position." He began to eat oranges, "Your performance when the king was unconscious It makes him very dissatisfied, after all, he just passed out, and you set your sights on the regent's seat." He licked the orange juice on his fingers, "So what do you think His Majesty will think? Do you take it as some sort of threat?"

"As the queen, isn't it only natural for me to be regent when His Majesty is unable to govern?" The queen's face turned slightly pale, but she still managed to control herself.

"But are you the real queen?" The knight laughed, "Then why hasn't His Majesty held a coronation ceremony for you?"

The queen, as if struck by lightning, put one hand on the edge of the dresser to keep herself from falling.

"So you understand now." Sir ate the last of the orange.

"Did your brother ask you to come?" The queen looked at her old lover, "What does the Earl of Hertford want from me?"

"He just wants to make himself more friends."

The queen laughed, "He has become friends with the crown prince, what else do I need?"

"One more friend is better than many enemies."

"So your brother gets the Regent, and what do I get?"

"Safe. You need not continue to fear by His Majesty's side, and you will not be sent to the Tower of London for offending him. You are a rich widow, and you will have many suitors then."

"The former queen remarried?" The queen smiled self-deprecatingly, "The parliament will not agree."

"If it is a specific marriage partner, they will agree." The Sir stood up, walked in front of the Queen, and looked down at her. The Queen subconsciously tried to dodge back, but Sir Thomas grabbed her hand.

"You...you don't mean to..." The queen stared blankly at him.

"As the regent's younger brother, I'm not a bad marriage partner."

The queen raised her head and looked into his eyes. She opened her mouth slightly to say something, but in the end she didn't say anything.

"So what do you think?" asked Sir Thomas, laughing.

……

At the other end of the corridor is Princess Mary's room. This room is decorated in a simple and solemn manner according to Princess Mary's requirements, and has a strong religious color.

In the room at this time, Princess Mary was receiving Bishop Gardner.

"This is really a fascinating drink." Sir Gardner looked at the coffee in his cup, which was a gift from Spain from Princess Mary's cousin, Emperor Charles V.

"I'm glad you like it. I still have some here. Please take them all." Princess Mary sat there without touching the drink in the cup.

"Don't you like it?"

"That's not true." Princess Mary twirled the rosary in her hand, "However, it came from the Arabs, and I'm not interested in this pagan drink, let alone His Majesty the Pope calling it the devil's drink. "

Bishop Gardner put down the cup in his hand with some embarrassment, "Then I shouldn't continue drinking."

"You can do whatever you want." Princess Mary said coldly, "After all, you are not a Catholic."

"Yes, you are right. But I think you understand my religious inclinations—I have always been skeptical of the Reformation."

"But you didn't stick to your beliefs, did you?" Princess Mary smiled slightly, "You didn't become a martyr like Sir Thomas Moore and Bishop Fisher, but you served my father wisely , subtly control your opposition within the range my father can tolerate."

"To carry out a great cause requires not only martyrs, but also people like me who can understand current affairs." The bishop smiled, "After all, only by surviving first can we wait for the right time."

"What do you want to say?" Princess Mary looked at him coldly.

"Helping you get where you deserve."

"I already have the status I deserve. Your Majesty has restored my princess title."

"But if you're going to re-establish Catholicism in this land, the title of princess is not enough."

Princess Mary looked at Bishop Gardner opposite, "If what you expressed is what I think, then I don't think there is any need for our conversation to continue."

"Didn't I say what your mother expected?"

"My mother is dead." Princess Mary seemed a little irritated.

"Because of Anne Boleyn," said Bishop Gardiner, "your brother's mother."

"You have your birthright and I ask you not to waste it."

"There is no queen in the history of England, the parliament will not agree, and the nobles will not agree." Princess Mary said, "I will not tell anyone about today's conversation, and I hope you will never mention it to others .”

"Okay, I see." The Bishop sighed. "If you don't want to be an enemy of your younger brother, what about your stepmother?"

"Her?" Princess Mary's voice could not conceal the disgust, "What do you mean?".

"His Royal Highness doesn't have any preference for religion." Bishop Gardner said, "However, the Queen is just the opposite. She is the biggest proponent of Protestantism. As the king's wife and the prince's stepmother, she will cause great dissatisfaction to His Majesty or His Highness." Good influence. She is still writing books to promote radical religious reforms, and I don't think His Majesty will be happy about it...I think this is an opportunity to eradicate this bad influence...Without the Queen's interference you will be It can have a favorable influence on His Majesty and His Majesty, and I believe it can change their views on Catholicism and the Holy See..."

"After all, it's still for the regent's seat, right?" Princess Mary smiled.

Bishop Gardiner bowed slightly, "I believe that my becoming the leader of the Regency Council will be beneficial to you...or at least it will be more beneficial to you than the Earl of Hertford or the Queen's Regent."

Princess Mary was silent for a long time, when Bishop Gardner thought she might never speak again, Princess Mary finally opened her mouth.

"If you have any suggestions, I'd like to hear them."

Bishop Gardner smiled slightly, and the matter was considered half successful.