𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟕𝟑: 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡
Is it appropriate to inquire in detail about the queen’s lover?
I had only been agreeing up to now, so it might be considered suspicious.
Here, I swallowed my doubt.
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“Foolish me, I could not bear the relationship between my husband and the royal concubine Anne, and continued a messy affair with that man. He was gentle and offered me unconditional love—or so I thought at the time.”
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Late at night, that man seemed to use a hidden passage to meet with the queen. As such, their relationship was never exposed, she say.
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“What shocked me the most was the royal concubine Anne’s pregnancy.”
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Not only obtaining the king’s love, but also acquiring the child that the queen most desired, seemed nothing but hateful.
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In such a situation, it is said that the queen’s lover whispered an outrageous proposal in the dead of night.
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“Shall we kill the royal concubine? he said. Hateful as she is, and as much as I wish her gone, I never once wished death upon another. That is true even now.”
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The queen speaks while looking straight into my eyes.
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“Thinking about it now, Lord Montyver earlier must have been worried that I would harm Mrs. Dosa. That’s why he showed such a restraining attitude, no doubt.”
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Apparently, Lord Montyver knows the queen’s weakness.
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“He thinks I’m plotting to kill him.”
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The queen declared, “It’s not me,” very clearly. Unfortunately, I had no ability to discern whether it was a lie or the truth.
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“The information Lord Montyver holds is a mighty sword. He just doesn’t swing it because he doesn’t want to. I’ve lived in fear of that sword.”
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Those who know only that Lord Montyver holds the mightiest sword insist it is nothing to fear.
“Lord Montyver, what exactly does he hold?”
“He should have been granted the first place in the line of succession. If he were to claim it publicly, everyone would acknowledge him as the next king.”
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The queen watches my reaction and mutters, “You knew Lord Montyver’s true identity.”
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“However, Prince Engelbert is the only child born to the king and the queen. There’s no need to worry about the succession order being shaken, I believe.”
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Usually, the right of succession is given only to the children of the king and queen.
It must be irregular for Lord Montyver and Prince Leonardo to have been granted it.
Why did he say Lord Montyver holds the strongest sword? I couldn’t understand.
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“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“Engelbert is. . . . . . . . . . . .an unworthy person for the first place in the line of succession.”
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Why on earth would she say such a thing?
The queen, pale as death, clung to me like a sinner confessing to a priest and said,
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“Engelbert is not the king’s child.”
“T, That’s impossible! Because―—”
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Prince Engelbert looks just like the king. If the two stood together, it would be obvious at first glance that they are related by blood.
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Even though I insisted that he was undoubtedly the king’s son, the queen shook her head.
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“Once a month, His Majesty would visit my bedchamber. However, counting back from the day the pregnancy was confirmed, it corresponded exactly to the month His Majesty hadn’t come at all.”
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The king had not noticed that fact.
Apparently, he didn’t know much about pregnancy.
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“His Majesty used to visit my room through the hidden passage. Hence, even the servants couldn’t grasp when we shared the bed.”
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In other words, during the period the queen was pregnant, she had only been with her lover.
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“His Majesty was pleased with the pregnancy. And yet, I alone was experiencing a hellish feeling.”
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The royal concubine Anne gave birth first.
She hoped it would be a princess. Whether that wish was granted or not, the child was a princess.
“But the king declared that he would grant the child the right to the throne.”
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Since it’s the first child, it seems like the desire to give something special has emerged.
Even if the child the queen gives birth to is male, if it’s revealed that it’s a child with a lover, the right to the throne will not be recognized, and the royal concubine Anne’s child will likely become the first in line for succession.
There were never any queens in Binemöer’s history, but if it’s the king’s only child, the surroundings would have to accept it.
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At that time, the queen was close to childbirth.
She went to see the king herself, enduring the pain of labor, she said.
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“I desperately pleaded with His Majesty not to grant the right of succession.”
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The queen’s wish was granted, and it was temporarily put on hold.
“After that, I gave birth to a child.”
It was a prince, something everyone in Binemöer had wished for.
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“His Majesty showed a smile like he had never shown me before, rejoicing that the face was so much like his own――”
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The queen, who had been suffering so much until now, was thinking of confessing honestly to the king.
Since she was pregnant and had given birth, she could have a child with the king next.
She was thinking like that.
But in front of the rejoicing king, she said she became unable to say anything.
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“It would not be an exaggeration to say that it was the moment when the last conscience inside me shattered.”
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As Prince Engelbert grew up, he began to resemble the king, she said.
Even in his childhood portraits, he looked just like him, and it seems to have been popular among his subjects.
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“Since Engelbert was born, the king’s feelings moved away from the royal concubine Anne just a little bit. The days when he came to me increased.”
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By repeating such days, the guilt that had been smoldering inside the queen seemed to fade.
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“Every day I spent with Engelbert and His Majesty as a family of three was truly happy. It was the peace that finally came to me.”
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She thought that happiness would last forever. Until the day the royal concubine Anne died.
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“The royal concubine Anne’s quiet child, Princess Marion, suddenly said she had something to talk about, and called His Majesty and me.”
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What was revealed then was that Princess Marion was actually male, and a prince.
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“He, who was born before Engelbert, was undoubtedly the legitimate successor with the first right to the throne.”
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The queen said she was so shocked that she fell ill and had to stay in bed.
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“I wonder if he felt sorry for me when he saw me like that. That man plotted to assassinate Princess Marion.”
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That man was the queen’s lover.
It seems that they did not break off the relationship even after Prince Engelbert was born.
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“He said it was for me, and targeted Princess Marion’s life. . . . . .”
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If Princess Marion being a prince became widely known, Prince Engelbert’s position might wobble.
When it was whispered, she said she became unable to say anything more.
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“After that, Marion, who changed his name to ‘Leon・Von・Montyver,’ became a knight and began to appear before us.”
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When the king proposed making Lord Montyver a knight for Prince Engelbert, she seems to have received a shock as if she had been sentenced to death.
Perhaps because she desperately stopped it, those around them began to whisper that there might be something wrong with Lord Montyver.
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“I think I did something bad to Lord Montyver. But to keep those two together, I thought I could not really tolerate it.”
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Since then, she seems to have spent her days fearing when Lord Montyver might reveal his true identity, claiming that he was born before Prince Engelbert.
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“So even though that man was targeting Lord Montyver’s life, I couldn’t say anything.”
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It’s true that she didn’t wish for Lord Montyver to die, but it seems that she couldn’t save his life either.
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“It was the first time Lord Montyver had picked a fight like that, and I was surprised.”
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Perhaps she vented all her anxieties to me, who had no deep relationship with her.
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“It must have been hard for you.”
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The queen nodded many times, tears streaming down her face.
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Even so, why did Prince Engelbert, who was not the king’s child, resemble him so much?
Suddenly, the face of a person who looked just like the king came to mind.
A chilling shiver ran through me at that moment.
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The father of Prince Engelbert and the man who had a relationship with the queen was――Prince Ghodrove.
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