Her Majesty’s Secret Service

050. Bolt from the Blue

—

Steve Gardner. An old man who once stood at the pinnacle of power in England as a close confidant of the Queen and as a Chief Justice. After he vanished like dew at the gallows, implicated in treason, it was Nicholas Heath, the Archbishop of York, who took his place.

Nicholas had long been rumored to be the successor to Bishop Steve.

Ordinarily, after Bishop Steve’s departure, there would have been competition for his position, but due to his involvement in Wyatt’s rebellion, there was a hasty need to fill the vacancy. Thus, Nicholas, the highest-ranking among the candidates, assumed the roles of Lord Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal.

Regardless of the circumstances, Nicholas was considered a rising power from the day he secured the position of Chief Justice without contest.

In reality, he was slightly overshadowed by the high-ranking financial officer, the Earl of William Paulet, who directly handled the budget. To the uninformed, it appeared as though Nicholas, like Bishop Steve, had won the Queen’s favor and secured the position of Chief Justice.

Though he was second to the high-ranking financial officer, it was still a position of power within the top echelons of England. An ordinary person might have been intoxicated by such immense power, but no such signs were evident in Nicholas.

In truth, Nicholas had hastily filled the void left by Bishop Steve’s downfall to avoid criticism from others, humbling himself. Yet, to those unaware, he seemed a humble and noble figure, knowing when to bow his head despite his power.

And so, today, as always, Bishop Nicholas maintained his humble demeanor while attending to his duties.

“Bishop Nicholas, I have brought a message from Her Majesty the Queen.”

“Come in.”

The one who entered Bishop Nicholas’s office was Logan, the head chef. Logan handed a letter to Bishop Nicholas and explained his reason for being there.

Bishop Nicholas’s face began to show signs of dismay as he found the news brought by Logan hard to believe.

“Let me ask you once more, what am I to prepare now?”

“Yes, it’s… the wedding of Her Majesty the Queen and His Grace, Duke Eric…”

“Still, negotiations are far from over. You say Her Majesty is pregnant! Then we must first settle the matter of succession before proceeding with the ceremony! Wait, why has the head chef come to deliver this message!”

“Yes… that… I’ve been put in charge of preparing the banquet.”

“This is madness. She’s already thinking about the banquet?”

Bishop Nicholas clutched his throbbing head and let out a deep sigh. After exhaling a long breath, he turned his gaze to Logan.

“In your opinion, does this schedule make any sense?”

“Uh… I don’t know much about it, but does it not make sense?”

“Is it not obvious?! Even if we dispatch messengers to the nobles in the provinces right away to announce Her Majesty’s marriage, it will take at least two weeks for them all to gather in London. And with the wedding gifts to prepare, one month is far too short.”

“Ah… The issue of the guests…”

As Logan let out a short exclamation of realization, Bishop Nicholas continued with a voice tinged with frustration.

“It seems an excessive rush, indeed. Sigh… ‘Late learners of thievery are the most fearsome,’ they say, but this is too much. Not even married, and how much have you… If you had kept within bounds, such a situation would not have…”

Nicholas inadvertently blurted out the harsh words and then looked at Logan with eyes full of sudden regret.

For some time now, rumors had spread within the palace that Logan, the head chef, this foreign knight, was the Queen’s secret ear. Whether the rumors were true or not, it was better to be cautious.

“Hmm, hmm. Let’s pretend I did not say that. Out of concern for Her Majesty…”

“Yes? Oh, well, such things can happen.”

“Thank you, phew… This is the first time I’ve encountered such a thing in my 53 years of life. Royalty with a premarital pregnancy… The minstrels will starve. Such an unbelievable tale unfolding in reality.”

“Haha…”

“Anyway, one month is too short. I must go to Her Majesty and… no, let’s go together. Could you guide me to where Her Majesty is? I must tell her that what cannot be done, cannot be done.”

“Me? Oh, yes, follow me. She should still be in her office.”

Bishop Nicholas and Logan headed towards Mary’s office, seemingly to persuade the Queen who had tasked them with the impossible.

Whether it was possible or not, they had to buy time somehow.

* * *

Three days had passed since Mary learned of her own pregnancy. She sat in her office now, her face a mix of embarrassment and joy.

‘Could it have happened two months ago? The timing seems about right… And yet, my belly hasn’t swollen…’

Mary and Eric had been intimate only three times over the past year.

The most recent was two months ago, or rather, about six weeks ago. Since April, her monthly bleeding had been strangely late, and now there was a reason.

Throughout the history of England, or perhaps all of Europe, there had never been a case of a wedding being hastened due to a premarital pregnancy, except for her own.

—

“Surely, one cannot simply hold a feast with a full belly. The feast must end before the belly swells…”

Mary, like her own father, except in special cases, was it not a once-in-a-lifetime wedding? Of course, this excludes the possibility of one spouse dying or, somehow, a divorce due to a falling out.

Considering the age difference between herself and Eric, Mary thought this would be her first and last ceremony in her life.

Mary was a queen. A queen and yet a woman.

As a woman before a queen, she couldn’t help but want to finish her once-in-a-lifetime ceremony beautifully. That’s why she wanted to hold the ceremony before her belly swelled.

“I’m not swollen yet… but inside here, there’s a child of mine and Eric’s? Hmm… It feels somewhat strange…”

She was lost in thought, gently stroking her lower abdomen with her right hand.

“Your Majesty, Bishop Nicholas…”

At the mention of Bishop Nicholas seeking her, the queen made an uncomfortable face. Even she thought the schedule was tight. Probably he had come to argue about that.

“Let him in.”

Mary decided not to avoid Bishop Nicholas. It wasn’t something to be avoided. If he had come to her despite Logan conveying her wishes, she had to persuade him herself.

* * *

It wasn’t just Bishop Nicholas who started to suffer from headaches at Mary’s declaration to move up the wedding schedule.

“Damn it! Just three times, only three times! And the two times last year weren’t by my will! About two months ago, in a drunken stupor, I unknowingly…! No, is she really pregnant?! No, they told me I definitely couldn’t conceive!”

“Prince, please calm down. What’s done is done.”

“Calm down? If you had handled the succession issue properly, would I be in such a frenzy now!”

Eric was venting his anger, ruminating over what he had lost due to his mistake.

Joran Persson, Eric’s aide who had accompanied him from the delegation, tried to calm Eric down, but instead of calming, Eric raised his voice even more.

By impregnating Mary, what Eric had lost was the crown of England itself.

After the wedding, Eric would formally ascend as a duke, sitting in the position of a co-sovereign with the queen. In other words, if the queen died without an heir, the most likely to claim the crown of England was Eric.

—

Elizabeth, Jane Grey, and others were alive as heirs, but before questioning legitimacy, weren’t they both women? Even if Eric was a foreigner and gained succession rights by marrying the queen, the difference between a male and a female successor was a significant distinction in inheritance.

“The matter of succession… you know it’s inevitable. What can we do if the wedding date is suddenly moved up? Since they conceded first, we should have compromised too…”

“We should have held out! Don’t you know why I recruited that chef?”

“I know. You intended to use Logan as a stepping stone to ascend to the dukedom and then to recruit other nobles.”

“Yoran, knowing so well, how could you squander the succession rights? Did Johan put you up to this? To mess things up and then come?”

“Sigh… Why bring up Prince Johan now? If I had intended to, I would have done so already. And nothing is certain yet.”

“What’s not certain?!”

“Well, Her Majesty the Queen is nearly forty. She’s not showing yet, and I’ve met with the physician who treated Her Majesty separately. They can’t be sure if it’s a pregnancy. It’s only speculation until the belly grows.”

At Yoran’s words, Eric’s annoyed expression softened slightly.

“Speculation…? Well… that’s possible…”

“Besides, we’ve salvaged something…”

“Salvaged what?”

“Yes, if something unfortunate happens to Her Majesty right after the heir in her womb is born, we’ve agreed that the education will take place in Sweden. Otherwise, in England. And if both happen, also in England. But… it’s unlikely that you, Prince, would pass before Her Majesty, right?”

“That… are you talking about if Mary dies before me?”

“If I must say… yes, that’s it. It’s not uncommon for young women to die in childbirth, is it?”

Hearing Yoran’s words, Eric opened his mouth with a grim expression.

“Death during childbirth? Indeed, it’s a significant possibility…”

“Exactly, to be honest, what’s the use of taking the English throne if we can’t make proper use of it? Fighting with great houses like the Plantagenets will only increase our troubles. Perhaps it’s better to educate the heir as a friendly figure on our side and place them on the English throne.”

“Hmm… Still, the thought of her dying while bearing my child is troubling. Dying of old age is one thing, but…”

“Prince, what are you saying now…”

“No, not at all. It was just a bit awkward.”

Listening to Yoran’s words, Eric felt an inexplicable irritation. It had started when he heard that the queen could die during childbirth.

At first, he had not been fond of the old and unattractive Mary. Compared to the mistresses he had left behind in his homeland, Mary was old and shabby.

However, after the marriage negotiations were successfully concluded with the help of Head Chef Logan, and he learned of Mary’s way of ruling, she began to feel a bit more familiar to him.

Only trustworthy subjects could ever set foot in Mary’s court. It was the kind of governance Eric had dreamed of. The governance he had hoped to implement one day when he ascended the throne was already being practiced by the Queen of England.

From that day on, Eric began to initiate conversations with Mary. She always responded to Eric’s words with a smile, and her answers were nothing but sincere. Regardless of age, he thought Mary could be a good friend.

So, for the past few months, Eric had been observing Mary.

He saw her secretly swallow tears when betrayed by a close aide, and he saw her instill trust in the peasants who came to protect her.

Now, as time had passed, Eric no longer felt that Mary’s appearance was shabby.

“It can’t be pregnancy. Mary has never lied to me.”

Saying this, Eric wore a subtle expression and sighed.

He couldn’t quite grasp what he wanted. The annoyance he felt upon hearing that Mary might die was strangely more intense than when he heard he had missed out on the crown of England.

* * *

“June 25th, then…”

“Still, it’s better than June 10th, isn’t it?”

“That may be so…”

Bishop Nicholas and I were just coming out from negotiating with the queen.

The queen wanted to advance the wedding date by any means, while the bishop wanted to delay it.

To the queen, who insisted on a date within a month, Bishop Nicholas almost pleaded, saying that it would take more than a month just to inform the local lords about the wedding and for them to travel to London and prepare their gifts for the queen.

After persistent persuasion by Bishop Nicholas, the queen finally nodded. It seemed significant that more than half of the local lords would not be able to make the journey.

And even the queen thought a wedding with more than half the guests missing was a bit off, so with a look of resignation, she firmly decided to change the wedding date from the previously announced June 10th to June 25th.

“Well then, I must be off. I need to write invitations for the local lords… Hmm, the schedule is tight. You take care as well. Ah, I’m looking forward to the feast you’ll prepare for the wedding banquet.”

“Yes. Well, the wine for the ceremony will be supplied by our usual vendor, so that’s settled… You mean the banquet’s cuisine, right? I’ll do my best.”

“Good. Then, work hard!”

Bishop Nicholas returned to his office with a much lighter face. Probably because the pressure of the schedule that had been troubling him was gone.

Now it was my turn to wrap my head around it.

Instead of shortening the schedule, the queen had ordered me to present a special dish on the day of the banquet. A special dish to shine at her own wedding.

“All I know how to make is bachelor’s cooking…”

Considering the culinary standards of this era, that would have been enough to pretend to be a first-class chef, but in the end, it’s just bachelor’s cooking. Suitable for a meal, but not for a ceremony.

A special dish made for the ceremony, what on earth should I present?

My head, my head began to hurt.

Footnote:

*The Keepers of the Great Seal (국새상서) differed from the Keepers of the Privy Seal in England, as they were in charge of the national seal. It was a position that usually went along with the office of the Chief Justice, and unlike the Keepers of the Privy Seal, the Keepers of the Great Seal had real power.