King Christophe sits by candlelight in his personal study after evening prayers, putting the final touches on an official order for the Vyrennes to be cleared of bandits. He knows he has been blessed with fairly competent Royal Ministers, but some things he feels are best and most efficiently accomplished on his own, such as this official order. However, his thoughts are abruptly scattered by the creaking of his study door.
"Who goes there?!" he demands, jolting his desk as he turns to face the door, thereby ruining the flourish on his signature.
"A thousand pardons, Your Majesty, for disturbing you at this hour," one of the myriad pages of the Palace of Roses snivels near the door. Evidently he is the creator of the creaking.
"Aloïc let you in here, I hope." The King is less than displeased by this interruption, which came without so much as a knock.
"Yes, Your Majesty. He was not going to, but I have a message addressed to you from the Grand Chancellor of Khandazar. It just arrived moments ago, and I.... We felt that whatever tidings are enclosed here could not wait."
"Likely you are right, though I suspect these will be less than gladsome tidings. Where is the letter?"
"Here, Your Majesty." The page places a letter and a small but heavy drawstring purse on the King's desk with an elaborate gesture. "Do you wish anything else of me, Your Majesty?"
"I wish that you would take your leave, please."
"Of course, Your Majesty." The page bows and exits the room, much to the King' relief. Only once he is certain that his solitude has been restored does King Christophe open the letter. Then he sighs in frustration; it is written in Khandazarian, which he reads only when forced and with great difficulty.
"Drat those inconsiderate knaves," the King grumbles. He digs a Khandazarian-to-Vyrunian dictionary, prepared for him long ago by his father's court linguist, out of his desk drawer and sets to work on translating the letter, knowing that his own court linguist is likely already in bed and unwilling to disturb his subordinates as he has been disturbed.
To His Royal Majesty, King Christophe of Vyrunia,
I offer you ten thousand apologies for the conduct of my former ambassadors to your court towards your Queen. These former ambassadors, through the fault of some hapless subordinates of mine, were not appropriately trained for the positions they occupied. You will no doubt be pleased to know that these aforementioned hapless subordinates have been duly punished for their incompetence, which in no way excuses the conduct of the former ambassadors. I in no way fault you for the execution of the one—I would have done much the same in your place—and indeed, we recommend that you execute the other as well, for failing to stop his former colleague from his regrettable course of action. He is officially banished from Khandazar and will be executed if he returns to this country.
You should find enclosed the monetary restitution you required for the crimes of these ambassadors. I am committed to making whatever additional restitution you feel necessary to atone for their actions, as well as whatever efforts might lead you to once again considering an alliance between our two countries sealed by a marriage between myself and the Princess Mireille. I have been too long a bachelor and am eager to obtain such comforts as I am told a wife can bring, and my people have deep-seated affections for the trappings of monarchy. Though my subordinates and I seek to bring them a more enlightened way of life, apart from such traditions which we find—and no offense meant to you by saying so—rather antiquated, we feel that my marriage to a Princess, particularly one so beautiful and charming as your daughter is rumored to be, would make our people more agreeable to the ideals we seek to implement. There is not a match for her among the eligible ladies of the Continent, nor another alliance I have greater wish to cultivate.
I apologize if my words offend you. I am overcome with my desire for the advancement of my country, and I may have let that desire run away with me, though I know you have every right, in light of those former ambassadors' conduct, to spurn my apologies and entreaties. I cannot honestly say I would be much disposed to entertain any requests from me, if I were in your place. Nevertheless, I must try, for the sake of all Khandazar. Let the blood of the former ambassadors be counted as atonement for their actions, and let us once again open negotiations for a mutually beneficial alliance between our countries.
Sincerely,
His Eminence, the Grand Chancellor of Khandazar
King Christophe stares at the fruits of his labor, utterly dumbfounded by the translation he has created. He never would have dreamed that the Grand Chancellor could be so bold, so fixated on his own aims without so much as an inquiry about Queen Généviève's well-being after the attack. That he is so cold towards his former ambassadors the King expected, after his interrogation of Nagren.
"Perhaps I should not be sending him with Monique and the others to retrieve his family," King Christophe mutters to himself, wondering what the odds are that Nagren will be captured and executed during the brief amount of time that he will be in Khandazar. "I cannot wait to see what my Royal Ministers will have to say about this, once I have had the translation checked." He has no doubt that they will come to the same conclusions he has: that the Grand Chancellor is a few wheat-stalks short of a sheave; that the Grand Chancellor has not met their demands regarding restitution, given that he has again pressed for a treaty that includes a betrothal contract (although he has not yet investigated the contents of the heavy drawstring purse to confirm that their monetary demands were, in fact, met); that the Grand Chancellor has assumed that, because of King Christophe's reputation for kindness, he will give the Grand Chancellor another chance, in spite of the Khandazarian's evident inability to see justice as anything other than bloody; and that, in light of all this, the letter ought to be ignored entirely. Perhaps he will send us another, more desperate plea, or perhaps he will wait for a reply until after the Midsummer's Eve Ball has taken place and all his aims are frustrated, King Christophe hopes. Whatever he chooses to do, as long as it does not include declaring war, should either bring us peace from that quarter or some degree of entertainment. In the meantime, we will simply continue to be vigilant against spies and intruders and do all we can to keep ourselves safe.
YOU ARE READING
Her Rightful Place
FantasyAll she wants is to live her life in peace. But a series of unfortunate events places her on a whirlwind journey, and she must determine who she is and how much of a difference she can make... Mireille is a young, orphaned seamstress of great skill...
