Chapter 102 – A Silent Condemnation (1)
“Your Highness. Lady Mullaney has arrived and is waiting for you in the drawing room.”
Heinley was sitting on his bed and studying a property list. He looked up at McKenna, then set down his list with a frown.
“Who is Lady Mullaney?”
“The twelfth candidate for queen. You should meet her.”
Heinley sighed. His days were like this of late. McKenna would bring a young n.o.blewoman from a well-known and wise family and get them to meet. Heinley though that half of them seemed to come from the same family. As rumored, he was not interested in any of them.
“Isn’t it time to stop, McKenna?”
“We can stop once you have chosen a queen.”
Heinley sighed again but did not argue back. He knew better than anyone that McKenna’s reasons were justified.
“I don’t need to be married until another year or two.”
“Better if it was sooner, Your Highness.”
“…Maybe you’re right. Otherwise, my sister-in-law would be caught in the middle.”
There were many significant changes when a generational s.h.i.+ft occurred. Fortunately, people were the most open to change at this time, and it was a critical period when the new queen would organize the court in her own way. Heinley was close to Christa, and was accustomed to the system and methods she had established when she was queen. However, if Christa’s system remained for too long after Heinley became king, it would be difficult for the new queen to make changes. It was for this reason that McKenna was concerned.
Heinley stood up with a grim look on his face.
“Alright, I should go. Even if I say no, I should still see her. There’s no reason to create unnecessary grudges.”
“Of course.”
McKenna quickly helped Heinley pull on his jacket.
“But why did you keep looking at the property list?”
“To create a new knighthood t.i.tle.”
“t.i.tle?”
“Yes. It will have a nice name.”
“What?”
“And it will be given to the most courageous and loyal knights.”
“Will that be necessary? Aren’t there already many good knights?”
“We’re constantly in need of talent, McKenna. Who knows if in a few years, there will be so few knights you can count them on one hand?”
“I see.”
“If I create a highly desirable t.i.tle, the knights will compete with each other for it. One of the virtues will be loyalty, which is naturally beneficial for me.”
“Ah…”
“The question is how to make it desirable—”
Heinley suddenly halted, lifting his hand to signal McKenna to be quiet. McKenna had a bewildered expression on his face, but he soon realized what Heinley was up to.
As they talked, they soon arrived at the parlor room where Lady Mullaney was waiting. There were quiet voices coming from the room. Heinley crept up to the doorway.
“I didn’t say anything I couldn’t say, did I?”
“It was quite impertinent.”
“I’m sorry Christa, but you are no longer queen anymore, am I right?”
“The position is vacant, but I’m the closest one to it at the moment.”
“I don’t know. You’re the furthest away from it. None of the n.o.bles can sit on that throne.”
“No one can say otherwise to me until a new queen comes. And even if I had to take a step back, I would still be the former queen. Should I listen to such talk from you, Lady Mullaney?”
“You’re the one who came in first and gave me all kinds of orders.”
“I can say that to anyone who comes into my house.”
“This is not your house, is it, Christa?”
“…What?”
“You’re not the king’s mother, and if you continue to stay at the royal palace, you will feel uncomfortable about the new queen. You’ll continue to act like you’re the reigning queen.”
“Lady Mullaney!”
“In the old days, your predecessors went to Comps.h.i.+re’s mansion. That’s the custom.”
There seemed to be an argument between Lady Mullaney and Queen Christa. McKenna murmured in half awe and half astonishment.
“She truly is a n.o.ble’s daughter.”
When the new king inherited the throne after the previous king’s death, the previous queen’s position wasn’t ignored either. If she was the king’s mother, she would naturally be honored more than the king, but if she wasn’t the king’s mother, this policy’s purpose was to block the power of the previous queen. This was why Wharton III asked Heinley to take care of Christa, for fear of her clas.h.i.+ng with the one rising to the top.
“I feel sorry for Christa, but that is how power is distributed.”
Heinley tapped the door instead of answering McKenna. At the sound of the noise, the pair inside the room stopped talking immediately.
Heinley opened the door, and Lady Mullaney and Christa looked taken aback. Heinley greeted then both with his customary smile. McKenna glanced at Christa with a signal to leave, allowing only the other two to remain in the room. However, before Christa left, Heinley spoke to Lady Mullaney first.
“What you said Lady Mullaney. I heard it all.”
Lady Mullaney’s eyes widened in surprise, as well as Christa’s. McKenna opened his mouth to protest Heinley’s words, but Heinley continued before he could say a word.
“It is a realistic problem, Lady Mullaney. But it is not for you to worry about.”
He subtly sided with Christa.
Lady Mullany paused, then gave a murmured acquiescence and smiled again. She gave a formal bow and left.
However, the tension did not dissipate even after she exited the room. Christa seemed deeply embarra.s.sed, and McKenna gripped his hair and gave a frustrated groan. He didn’t seem to like the fact that Heinley let Lady Mullany go without even talking to her for five minutes.
“Your Highness, I’m telling you…you’re too much.”
“By letting her leave?”
“You can’t get Empress Navier out of your mind.”
“You say that, but you’re the one that can’t get the other n.o.blewomen out of your mind, can you?”
“Your Highness, for your sake—”
“Not for mine, but for the n.o.blewomen.”
“…”
“Although you are in a hurry to choose a queen, a few days won’t be enough to properly integrate her. Right now, I have the coronation and various other things to organize. Let’s take care of those first.”
Heinley patted McKenna on the shoulder several times and left the parlor room. He was likely going back to his bedroom to look at his property list again. McKenna caught up to Heinley’s side and dropped his voice to a whisper.
“If you want the Empress as your queen, you’ll have to wage war to have her.”
Heinley looked startled.
“Of course, war will someday happen. But the people will not welcome a queen who brought war to them.”
Heinley didn’t say a word back. He entered his bedroom, but instead of looking at the property list, he sat at his desk and took out a paper and pen.