บท 8: 008 Fawn Hunting (Revised)
The Duke of Orville has been in a very bad temper these last few days, he has never been a pleasant man to be around, but in recent days he has been so unpredictable that it is frightening.
Ray's greatest fear these days is the sunrise, because he had to take over from other knight at dawn and attend to the Duke of Orville.
If the Duke was still asleep, that was fine, it would be just a fearful night watch.But if the Duke is still awake, he has to keep a hundred hearts and a tail between his legs and be an airy mess that comes and goes.
Orville's temper is even worse at royal gatherings. Yesterday a groom who was helping the Duke with his horse's rope slipped in the snow., so Orville's horse nearly tipped over on its side (Fortunately, the groom was experienced enough to balance the horse in time).
Without saying a word, Orville got off his horse and kicked the groom in the chest. The kick sent the man a few metres away and vomited out a mouthful of blood, which stained the white snow and stung the eyes.
The groom's life was not worth much, he was just a servant bought by the former Duke for a few silver coins. But this was, after all, in the heart of the royal city, on the Boulevard Anglais, and there were many eyes watching.
The poor groom had been carried off, Ray then had to step up and take over the groom's job. The snow was not easy to walk on. And It was a cold day, but Ray was sweating.Even an experienced knight like Ray, who was so careful and cautious, had been kicked by the Duke for nothing in the past few days. It was a good thing that the kick was on the hip, though he pain was solid, but fortunately it didn't really break any bones.
In the three or five days that he served the Duke in place of Chad, Ray felt he had lost weight. He actually ate as much as he used to, purely out of fear of Orville.
This made Ray admire Chad, too. He was amazed that she, a mute, had been able to serve the Duke for ten years. And she hadn't lost a single arm or leg, and the ass wasn't kicked in four by the Duke's boot
How remarkable!
Ray was quietly lost in thought, at that time Lionel came into the hall and bent down to report: "Lord Duke, there is news from the palace.The King was in the corridor half the night last night, so this morning he's been running a fever."
"Has the court physician been to see him?"
"Yes, he said it was dampness and cold. The physician prescribed some medicine, but even though the physician and the servants coaxed him, he refused to drink a single sip."
Orville sighed and tapped his brow: "What about the one at Kensington Palace?"
Lionel bowed his head and replied, "She has also recently fallen ill, suffering from a stroke, and is being tended to by her personal court lady."
The Queen Dowager of Wales had been ill in bed ever since her brother Spencer Ackerman's daughter was imprisoned. She had always loved her little niece more than her own son, closer to her niece than to her own son.
Unfortunately for her, her little niece has been unlucky this year, the girl got into trouble and happened to fall into the hands of Orville's men. Orville was always happy to see the Ackerman party suffer, so he was happy when the Queen Dowager of Wales was unhappy.
"Have the carriage prepared," Orville paused, and then suddenly looked thoughtful."I remembers that in early winter, a white deer was offered. Is the skin still there?"
Lionel replied, "It's in the storehouse."
Orville smiled, "Then have it brought in, wrap it up and send it to Kensington Palace. Say that I'm concerned for the health of the Queen Dowager, so sent it."
"Yes."
The white deer is an omen of good fortune. It is said that the night before the Duchess of Spencer gave birth to her daughter. Queen Dowager of Wales, who was then the Princess Royal, had a dream. A white deer suddenly appeared in the forest.
It opened its mouth and spoke human language and was very soulful.
The next day the young niece was born and the Empress gave her the name 'Elaine', which means 'little deer in the woods'.*
An hour later, Buckingham Palace.
The heating was buried all over the castle, the steam made the palace warm and sweet. Orville disliked the heating the most, preferring the fireplace, because he thought that the heating made the whole house feel like a steamer, so he ordered the palace maid to open the windows.
The king in his big, complicated bed recognised him by the sound of his footsteps, so peeped out of the goose feather quilt with a burning red face. "Brother Orville, I am cold."
"Only open a small window," Orville said in a softer tone, "Otherwise you'll be bored to death." With that, he reached for the king's forehead again, the king took the opportunity to grasp his wrist and whispered again, "Brother Orville ..."
"Why did you stand in the wind last night?"
The little king didn't say anything, he just grabbed his hand.
Orville drew back his hand, "And gambled not to drink the medicine, if you had been a good boy and drank it."The little king looked at him with displeasure. "If Idrank it, How can brother Orville would like to come and see me?"
Just then, the head servant knelt beside the king's bed with the glass bottle holding the medicinal soup, whispered, "Duke, majesty's medicine is prepared."
Orville took the vial, shook it and finally fed it into the Emperor's mouth.
The young king opened his mouth, drank it from the mouth of the bottle and immediately frowned, complaining, "It's bitter."
"Who was it that blew half the night last night on the porch?" Orville said deliberately, "I thought it was Majesty who liked the taste of bitterness.The cold wind blew on purpose because he wanted this bitter medicine."
The young king could not help laughing: "Brother Orville is still so fond of making jokes about me."
He paused for a moment after laughing, looked at Orville and said hesitantly:"Brother Orville... my mother has been ill for many days. It's been a long time since she got better, and I feel bad about it."
Orville hold the bottle of medicine: "Does Your Majesty mean to blame the doctors in the palace for being useless?"Orville pretended not to understand, continued to feed the king his medicine.
The young king turned his face away, looked sad: "Elaine is the only daughter in Uncle Spencer's family, and she has done something wrong and must be punished, but..."
"I know Majesty is in a difficult position," Orville said with a soft sigh, honestly. "It's just that Elaine's case is so well known throughout the city. The judge's trial is over, and the sentence has been passed in accordance with the law. If we were to change the result for no reason at all, wouldn't it be a disgrace to the royal family?", he continued, "Everyone knows that Elaine is Your Majesty's cousin and Queen Dowager's niece in Wales. If we were to show favouritism in this matter, would be a matter of criticism."
The young king was silent again. The words of Queen Dowager of Wales came to mind:" Orville's power in the palace was so great that he can easily get a few trumped-up charges against everybody, if he would like to...."
Orville looked him in the eye and said sincerely: "Not to mention the others. The Marquis of Clare has lost his only son. I heard that on the day of the funeral, the Marquis of Clare cried his heart out over the coffin. He loved his son so much that he would have been there on the day of the execution."
"My king," he whispered, "What would happen if the nobles' hearts were broken?"
Orville gently pushed the stray strands of hair that had fallen from the young king's temples behind his ears. The tone of his voice was intimate, It seems that he was thinking of king in every way.
The young king could only nod, remembered that the Marquis of Clare was the sole heir to the Stuart family, the oldest family of the founding vassals. Although the title was not high, because he was an old nobleman, the former vassal of his father's in Wales, so he was well known in aristocratic circles, so he can't 'let him down'.
So he subconsciously approached Orville, with his eyes red from illness, he tried to soften Orville's attitude.
"What then?" The young king was aggrieved. "My mother and uncle are pushing me these days, blaming me for seeing my sister about to be hanged but turning a blind eye."
Orville looked like he was thinking. After a few moments he finally gave in:"All right, Your Majesty, we'll spare her the hanging. How about we just reduce her to a commoner, deport her and forbid her from ever returning to the Imperial City?"
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CloudC
CloudC The errors in this article have been corrected: if you have more questions, please leave a comment and send it to me, thank you very much for your advice!
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