章節 13: Preys and predators
Priory Park, (Warwick) 10.30
The path of the hunting group continued. In the time when the young princess did not entertain her guests by clarifying every small animal of the forest Gilbert began to be taken by the thousand questions in his head, that at that moment seemed almost impossible to ignore. It was a bit like a curse to him, and every day he insulted his mind, that could not find peace, not even for some minutes or seconds.
He looked around himself trying to calm his thoughts with the calm and coolness that the colour green was supposed to bring to the human brain.The green of the the trees' leaves, the colour of calm, of peace. He heard the sweet sound of the leaves, which, pulled from the garment, rustling against each other. What had been called a "forest" by his young betrothed was actually a huge park with patches of trees here and there.
In the reality, Priory Park, or still known as the priory park, was enormously big for being a normal park. The man did not know exactly why it was called the priory park, since no priory organisation was in that place. The only barely visible structure was a small house built mostly of fir wood. It was not as huge as the castle, but it was within the territory of the English royal gardens anyway, and Gilbert knew exactly what it was built for. In fact, he knew, through experiences, made by his father, that usually certain small houses hidden in the woods and invisible to the human eye were often used by the nobles of the area to undertake love affairs without the the royal court knowing.
The general could not in any way judge the late king, he knew how hard the life of a sovereign was. There were many commitments and as many invitations and very often some inconveniences could lead to the vigil until late in the evening. Certainly a lot of energy was spent on these tasks and a lot of time was lost and in addition he was aware that sexual relationships with a royal wife were very limited. He did not judge him, and in fact, he did not know if in the same situations he would have done the same.
He didn't know if he too, sooner or later would have spent his free time with mistresses, he didn't even know what his future as a prince consort would bring him. Immediately after the wedding, his main goal would have been to put a child in the womb of the young princess and once this task was done, then the stressful and monotonous life of royals would have touch him.
That morning he had started the day with a decidedly negative approach and he couldn't help but think about the future. All he wanted to do was satisfy his senses, he wanted to be calm, just once, by listening to all those quiet and relaxing sounds that nature was giving him. He heard the sweet chirping of blackbirds, saw the green colour of the leaves, smelled the intoxicating scent of flowers, the whiff of grass and the dirty smell of the road they were riding on.
All this stillness was sometimes interrupted by the laughing of the Dustin twins. Gilbert listened carefully to what the two were saying and he heard nothing of his interest. The only thing that intrigued the man in that situation was that the voice of the two was completely the same, so in eavesdropping he had to pay more attention to who of the two was talking.
He remembered the arrival of the Dustin twins at the camp, almost a year had passed since that event, but their attitudes had particularly marked their arrival in the melee. It was clear from the very first days of the impudence of the two young men and their rebellious and at the same time mischievous attitudes. Even for being seventeen when they arrived, it was always clear at first glance who to blame if something went missing or problems arose at the camp. The Dustins had in fact won the record, during their first months of staying at the camp to be recalled three times by the commander.
In fact, many letters from the camp had been sent to their father, and the desperate Earl of southern Ireland had not in any way known how to appease the chaotic spirit of his two sons. Thinking about the his mates, his good friend Francis promptly came to his mind. Gilbert noticed that he was not present at the hunting trip that day. He knew strange things were happening in Warwick and he was stubborn, to the end if necessary, to find a spark of light in all the darkness that covered the castle.
-William, Dickon, say...have you two by chance noticed the presence of Francis Hoover this morning? - the general turned his face towards the two twins who, distracted by their talk, were struck by the tone of urgency and the timeliness of the question posed to them. The two brothers looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds and at the same time, almost as if guided by a strange force, shook their heads. It was then that Gilbert began to get suspicious. If not even the twins had heard of Francis since the banquet the night before, that situation was gradually becoming more and more strange.
The man already suspected that his angelic betrothed had somehow the ability to make the people around her lose their minds and began to have doubts about what might have happened to his friend.
-May I ask, my princess...- came out of his tight lips almost as a hidden whisper -why is Lieutenant Francis Hoover not present at today's hunt? -. A few seconds of silence intervened between the question and the answer, mostly because no one else in the group had thought that the lieutenant was not with them or was missing from the group. Isabelle let out a small chuckle from her lips, almost as if she had something to hide or some secret somehow.
-Your friend Francis had other plans for this morning, he could not to join us ... -.
-I see...- Gilbert sigh looking away from the princess. Certainly his suspicions were growing more and more, and he had already begun to imagine the worst for his dear friend, but on the other hand he could not afford to contradict or doubt the princess, so he continued to keep all his feelings to himself. He knew well that something deeper was hidden behind the innocent smile of the girl, and he knew that in due time everything would have been clarified.
Meanwhile their path continued in the part of the park that offered more and more trees. The general was quite tired. He had spent that night awake and also he was forced to get up at five in the morning and ride for more than six hours. Gilbert thought more and more of the mysterious aura that silently enveloped the castle walls and in any case he could not find calm as each participant of the group possessed a rifle on their shoulder.
He first of all he was scared for Prince Henry. In fact, he knew that the princess did not feel any kind of bond with her older half-brother, and indeed, it seemed that the only feeling she was able to feel for him was her hatred. He did not understand how this feeling was born or even if he had always been there.
As far as Gilbert could have known, the prince had always seemed to him to be quite a calm and thoughtful person. In any case he could not think of him as a person greedy for power or that he had ever committed any acts of wickedness towards his younger half-sister. The general began to believe that in reality those feelings of hostility might not actually have been born directly from the girl, but could have been something induced by a behaviour that she had learnt from another individual. That individual could well have been their late father, after starting the so-called English-French war against his wife's family and after the unfortunate death of the latter.
It would have been more than likely that, after those events, the ruler could have begun to neglect his young son, effectively taking away the possibility of succession to the throne, thus putting power in the hands of his younger daughter. Gilbert knew what power could lead to: to greed, to fear to the point of terror of losing one's place of privilege.
An innate, fear. Which in some cases could lead above all to hurting people who were next to her. She was able to drive her brother and cousin mad, for the only fear of being ousted. Gilbert's fear began to grow more and more. He knew well that once he would have became a prince consort, he would have to assist his young wife in very important decisions and he was immensely afraid that the desire for power of the girl could have brought him to an inglorious death.
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