Her Majesty’s Secret Service

009. First Intervention

The queen glared at Bishop Steve sitting before her.

She knew this old bishop to be a loyal confidant, but sometimes, when he opposed her will, she doubted that fact.

“Steve. Must it really come to this?”

Dropping the usual title of ‘Bishop,’ the queen’s voice addressing Steve was as sharp as a frosty blade.

“Your Majesty, no matter how many times you ask, my answer remains the same. Execute her.”

Despite feeling the sharp edge in the queen’s voice, Bishop Steve, sitting opposite her, expressed his conviction without a change in his facial expression.

His voice, calling for the execution, was clear and unwavering.

“Your Majesty, all of this is for your sake. As long as Jane Grey lives, the traitors will surely rally around her once more…”

Before Bishop Steve could finish, the queen’s sharp voice cut him off.

“I am well aware, so there is no need to repeat yourself. Didn’t I say earlier that I would convert the child so that the traitors cannot use her again? If the child follows the true faith, the traitors will have no reason to cling to her.”

“Did you just refer to the traitor as ‘the child’? Surely, Your Majesty does not feel compassion for the pretender to the throne? And conversion, has she assured you of her conversion?”

With a stern face, Steve’s voice seemed to crash down upon the queen.

The queen faltered slightly, stuttering in her speech.

“That… That is not a feeling of warmth. You know as well, don’t you, that she is wronged. Have not all the traitors spoken with one voice! They say that it was due to the coercion of the vile John Dudley and Henry Grey that the child was made to usurp the throne.

Did you not hear? On the day the child usurped the throne, the true queen, I, Mary Tudor, was proclaimed.”

Having protested thus, the queen took a breath before speaking again.

“Yes. As you say, I have not yet received a firm answer that the child will convert. However, if asked, she will surely renounce her false beliefs. It is only natural, considering she came to hold those beliefs due to those vile men.”

Hearing the queen’s words, Steve closed his eyes briefly and sighed softly, then handed a piece of paper to the queen.

“Your Majesty, would you look at this?”

“What is that?”

The paper Steve handed over was a sort of declaration. A declaration to abandon false beliefs and follow the true faith.

And at the end of this declaration was the clear signature of ‘Jane Grey.’ Along with the words, ‘I do not forsake my faith.’

“This… This must be some mistake. How could the child choose death? Was it you? Did you coerce an innocent child into signing this?”

“Your Majesty, do not see her as too frail. She follows her misguided beliefs of her own volition.”

The queen sighed deeply at Bishop Steve’s words.

Jane Grey was a prisoner whom the queen herself wished to save.

No matter how much Bishop Steve opposed her will, she knew well that he was not disloyal enough to manipulate a prisoner she wished to save.

Therefore, she had no choice but to acknowledge that the signature on this declaration was written by Jane Grey’s own will, yet at the same time, she did not want to accept this fact.

“Enough… Let us withdraw for now, this matter… Let us speak again after dawn tomorrow.”

“As you wish.”

Looking at the queen’s deeply saddened expression, Bishop Steve bowed to her. Then, he said he would take his leave.

* * *

Before I could utter a word, the door burst open from within the room.

Bishop Steve, with a grave expression, emerged from inside.

“You, how long have you been standing here?”

“Not long. I’ve just arrived.”

“Then that’s fortunate. You remember what I told you before, don’t you? Be careful with your words, always be cautious.”

“Ah, yes. Of course.”

“Good, um… Before it gets any later, deliver the meal to His Majesty. He must be getting hungry by now.”

What Bishop Steve had told me was to erase from my memory all that I learned in the royal court.

It was an implicit threat, suggesting that it was the only way to live long, so I could only nod in silence.

As I passed Bishop Steve and entered the Queen’s chamber, his voice reached me once again from behind.

“Speaking of my portion of the meal, after the Queen has finished eating, either distribute it among the guards or feel free to have it yourself. The Queen will dine alone today.”

“Ah… Yes…”

It was the first time I had seen this in the two weeks I had been working at the palace.

Bishop Steve always dined with the Queen when they were alone. But today, the Queen was to dine alone.

It seemed there must have been some issue between Bishop Steve and the Queen.

With that thought, I entered the room.

Immediately upon entering, I saw the Queen, clutching her head in her hand.

Sensing someone’s presence, the Queen looked in my direction and spoke.

“Ah, Logan. Is it you?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Has Bishop Steve’s meal been prepared as well?”

“It has, Your Majesty.”

“Is that so? I fear we have troubled you needlessly. My apologies.”

“Not at all, Your Majesty. It was no trouble.”

Queen Mary showed me a different side of herself every day. Rather, she was shattering my prejudices.

She would call everyone in the court by their name, from the lowest servant to her closest confidants, and never treated even the lowliest servant with disrespect.

The infamous ‘Bloody Queen’ was surprisingly generous.

I set down the meal I had brought to the Queen’s table.

She glanced at the dish on the table before promptly scooping up some noodles with a spoon.

Ever since learning that the cream pasta was made with ‘stew,’ the Queen had taken to using a spoon whenever she ate pasta.

The Queen, who was in the midst of her meal, showed an unusual demeanor today. Normally, she would have finished the entire bowl, but today she put down her spoon without even eating half.

The Queen sighed deeply after putting down her spoon. Seeing this, I inadvertently spoke to her.

Regardless of how history judged her, the woman I had observed over the past two weeks bore no resemblance to a tyrant.

“Your Majesty, if I may be so bold, is there something troubling you…?”

The Queen’s eyes sparkled upon hearing my words. As she was about to speak, she shook her head and closed her mouth.

“No, it’s nothing. It’s not something you can involve yourself in…”

Her voice trailed off as she picked up her spoon again and carefully started eating a few strands of noodles.

“Logan, I have a few questions for you.”

* * *

Mary did not fully believe that this foreign chef had ‘amnesia.’ Probably, Bishop Steve who brought the man didn’t believe it either.

The simple peasants might fully believe his words, but Mary was not a peasant; she was a queen.

It was a contradiction that he remembered his surname but not his first name, and claimed to have amnesia while fluently speaking English.

She thought there must be some story behind it. A story worth hiding one’s real name for.

That’s why Mary did not bother to pry into his real name. Whatever it was, the meals he made were delicious, and ever since he entered the royal kitchen, the skills of the royal chefs had improved significantly.

In Mary’s mind, this foreigner, ‘Logan Lee,’ was either a royal chef from a distant land or a chef from a noble family.

To Mary, his culinary skills were not something an ordinary chef could possess. Hadn’t he proven it with a stew that was far superior in taste to those made by the royal chefs?

While dining just before, Mary pondered how she could save her cousin once removed, ‘Jane Grey.’

In the midst of this, the foreign chef, who must have been a noble’s chef, spoke as if he knew something, and she found herself speaking to him without realizing it.

“Tell me honestly, I am in a difficult situation.”

“Ah… Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Before I speak of this matter, know that it is absolutely secret. You must not tell anyone. Naturally, this includes Bishop Steven.”

“I will keep it in mind.”

In truth, Mary was reluctant to seek advice from Logan.

She wasn’t sure if he could offer the solution she wanted. She regretted blurting it out, yet she continued to speak.

Who knows, perhaps the knowledge of someone from a faraway place could save the child.

* * *

The queen asks me, how can ‘Jane Grey’ be saved?

The queen explained to me the situation Jane Grey was in.

To put it simply, Jane Grey could become the focal point of the Anglican faction, and whether by force or by choice, she was in danger of being executed as a pretender to the throne.

And personally, she was, what, the queen’s fifth cousin?

“Do you understand? That child has been used all her life. Even if it is the way of the nobility… Think about it. She is now sixteen. At the prime of her youth. She can’t be allowed to vanish like dew at the gallows without ever having had a happy family or her own child.”

As I listened to the queen’s words, I tried to recall Jane Grey, but all that came to mind was that she was queen for nine days and executed by Queen Mary.

It was today that I learned Jane Grey was only sixteen.

“If what Your Majesty says is true, then… that Jane Grey…”

I was surprised even as I spoke. To address someone with honorifics… It seemed I was gradually getting used to life here without realizing it.

“Feel free to call her Jane. You are not accustomed to our etiquette, are you? I permit it.”

“Ah, yes. Even if Your Majesty wishes to save Jane, if she does not convert, there is no way to save her, is that what you mean?”

“That’s right. Do you have any good ideas?”

Even if she asked me for a good idea, none came to mind. No, even if there was a way to save her, to throw away one’s life because of religion… It’s beyond my understanding.

“I asked a needless question. You need not answer. Ah… If only the child were pregnant…”

The queen sighed without waiting for my answer. But why bring up pregnancy?

“Your Majesty, what do you mean by…”

“What do you mean?”

“That… if she were pregnant…”

“Ah, that? I do not know where you come from, but here, we do not execute pregnant women. That’s why I said it, you need not worry any further. And… forget everything that happened here. This is not a request, but an order.”

The queen’s face was no different than usual, but disappointment seeped through her voice. One can control their facial expressions, but not their voice, it seems.

But, what did the queen just say? That pregnant prisoners are not killed?

Suddenly, a way to save Jane Grey popped into my head. There was an easier path than expected.