Chapter 115
After walking straight inside, Isaac found a royal protocol officer about his own age waiting for him. When the officer saw Isaac, he bowed his head lightly in a courteous greeting. Isaac returned the gesture in kind.
The protocol officer soon gestured for him to follow and began walking ahead. This was not the entrance used by ordinary visitors, but one reserved only for guests who had received a special invitation from the royal family. On either side of the door stood guards in red uniforms, every one of their faces stiff and rigid.
“Please hand over any belongings you brought with you here. We will keep them in storage.”
Isaac familiarly removed his hat and gloves, as well as the pistol at his waist. A young court attendant standing beside the protocol officer received Isaac’s belongings.
Isaac followed the protocol officer inside once more. As he walked, he looked around with a somewhat distant feeling. The ceiling soared so high it seemed to pierce the sky, and everywhere was nothing but gold and gleaming marble. Portraits of the royal family hung on the corridor walls, a sight not much different from when Isaac had first come here.
“Her Majesty is waiting.”
The protocol officer spoke as if urging him on.
They walked along the polished marble floor, their footsteps echoing softly down the long corridor.
Soon, the protocol officer stopped before a door.
“As this is not your first visit, I am sure you remember, but I will explain once more just in case. From this point on, even stricter etiquette is required. Do not raise your head until Her Majesty speaks, and answer only the questions asked of you.”
Isaac obediently nodded. Only after seeing that did the protocol officer turn again and walk ahead to guide him.
At last, they had walked into the innermost part of the main palace. It was the place where guests waited briefly before meeting the queen.
Normally, other guests would have been seated in their respective places, but today, Isaac was alone.
“Please wait here for a moment. When you are called in shortly, take three steps forward, bow deeply, and maintain that posture until Her Majesty speaks.”
Although Isaac was probably the only guest, he had to wait another fifteen minutes or so after the protocol officer went in. That time felt like an eternity.
Isaac could not shake off thoughts of Sasha, who had been unable to come with him and had parted from him on the way. The queen was widely known for her fastidious nature. It was something he could not forget even if he tried, as he had been warned about it several times when he had come for the medal ceremony. But even setting that aside, it was a little strange that he had not been allowed to bring his spouse with him.
This was a world where even the smallest treatment was inflated as though it were something tremendous and overinterpreted. As the person concerned, Isaac had every right to feel somewhat displeased. Did it not look as if the royal family refused to acknowledge their marriage?
If even Isaac felt uneasy about it, there was no way Sasha, who knew far more about this ecosystem than he did, had failed to notice. Feeling unsettled in more ways than one, Isaac sat in his chair and quietly waited for his name to be called.
“Captain Isaac Fincher, son of the Earl of Fincher, of the Fourth Infantry Regiment!”
All of a sudden, the door opened, and the protocol officer clearly announced his name and title. Isaac rose from his seat as if he had been waiting for it.
As the protocol officer had instructed, he took three steps into the room, then bent at the waist nearly ninety degrees. He drew his right foot back and brought his left hand behind his back.
“You may rise, Captain Fincher.”
The queen’s voice reached him.
Only then did Isaac raise his head and look up at the queen. It was the second time he had seen her. In truth, Isaac could not clearly remember what her face had looked like the first time. Though it was certainly the second time he was seeing her, it felt as if they were meeting for the first time.
The queen sat in a chair adorned with blue damask cloth, a footstool beneath her feet. It was not excessively splendid, but it was filled with dignity.
“Captain, your father has served me faithfully.”
The queen spoke in a voice as smooth as flowing water.
“And you have achieved many merits in wars whose names alone are known to all. Your courage is worthy of praise. I hope you will govern your territory well with the same courage and wisdom you showed on the battlefield.”
The queen fell silent for a moment.
Then she turned her head toward the royal secretary seated to her right. The secretary held a thin parchment document and handed it to the queen. The queen accepted it, took up a quill, and signed the document.
“With this, I grant Captain Isaac Fincher the authority to inherit the title of Earl of Fincher, along with all lands, rights, and privileges attached thereto. From the moment your father retires, you shall become the new Earl of Fincher.”
The queen declared, and the secretary took back the document, stamped it with the royal seal, and tied it with a red ribbon. Then he approached Isaac and respectfully handed it to him.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Isaac bowed to the queen once more.
“I hope your house will continue to give its loyalty to the royal family, Captain Fincher.”
The queen said. It was a natural dismissal.
Isaac took three steps back again, then turned toward the door. As soon as he returned to the waiting room, Isaac hastily drew in the breath that had been caught in his chest.
“Congratulations, my lord.”
The protocol officer said to him with a smile. Isaac nodded and had just answered, “Thank you.”
The closed door opened again, and a court attendant carefully whispered something into the protocol officer’s ear. The protocol officer soon tilted his head as if puzzled, then said to Isaac,
“Would you please wait a moment? It seems Her Majesty has something she wishes to discuss with you privately, my lord.”
With no other choice, Isaac sat back down in the chair and once again had to wait endlessly for the queen to call him.
It was about thirty minutes later that the queen summoned him again. Following behind the protocol officer, he came back out into the corridor, and the officer walked straight in the opposite direction from the way they had come earlier.
As they walked, there was a door leading outside. To be precise, it was a door leading to the inner garden of the palace. It was a secluded place only members of the royal family, or those the queen cherished to a degree equivalent to them, could come and go. The queen was seated at a table where an awning blocked out all the sunlight.
When Isaac tried to observe the same old-fashioned etiquette as before, the queen raised her hand as if to say there was no need.
“Sit here, Captain.”
It was midday, the time of day when the sunlight was hottest. Somehow, it had already become that late.
Despite the sultry weather, the queen leisurely drank her tea without shedding a single drop of sweat. Isaac could not possibly bring himself to drink the tea placed before him, and did not even pretend to take hold of the teacup.
“There is no poison in it.”
Seeing that, the queen spoke in a joking tone.
Unlike inside, the atmosphere was much more relaxed, but Isaac could not feel that at all. Either way, he was equally uncomfortable, and with a stiff face, he said honestly, “I am too nervous. I do not think the tea would go down well.”
At Isaac’s candid answer, the queen raised her eyebrows for a moment as if surprised. Then she smiled. And she stared intently at Isaac.
As if taking his measure.
“I heard you were married not long ago. About a week ago, was it?”
“Yes. About that.”
Isaac was so nervous that he let slip an ambiguous answer he would never normally have given, much less in front of the queen. The queen smiled as if she found that side of him pleasing instead.
As if it were nothing that she had brought up marriage, the queen soon changed the subject. Just then, refreshments to go with the black tea were brought to the table. The queen spoke to Isaac about this and that. Isaac talked about the medal ceremony he barely remembered, and she also asked after the superiors who had received medals with him at that time.
At least it was a comfortable topic. Isaac’s shoulders, which had been stiff with tension, relaxed somewhat. Each time the queen asked, Isaac immediately and honestly answered within the limits of what he knew.
But when General Churston came up, he could not manage his expression at all, and with a hardened face, he only barely answered, “I believe so.”
The queen still stared intently at Isaac as if taking his measure.
“I have spoken too much only of matters on this side. How is married life? Is this not the time when you should be at your happiest? Sasha Grayson, was it? The niece of that Duke Grayson.”
The direction of the conversation sprang once again toward Isaac’s marriage. Isaac found the topic uncomfortable in many ways, but just as before, he honestly spoke about Sasha within the limits of what he knew. That she was Duke Grayson’s niece, and the only granddaughter whom the dowager duchess had raised with the utmost devotion. He spoke as though reciting facts everyone knew.
But separate from how cautious he became the more he spoke, for some reason his emotions swelled, and Isaac said that she was a very kind and good person. As with most people, when a conversation flowed toward marriage, the question of “So why did you decide to marry that person?” naturally followed, so he spoke as if cutting it off in advance.
The queen seemed to listen even more closely to that story. Listening to him with a face far more attentive than before, she smiled softly as she watched Isaac’s face, his eyes shining far more brightly without his realizing it.
“It is like seeing Lord Gosford and me when we were newlyweds. You are truly a fine pair. Hearing you speak has made me rather curious about your wife, Captain.”
It was a somewhat peculiar thing to say.
But the queen still wore a smile that looked much more relaxed than before.
“I wondered if perhaps there was some kind of interest involved in your marriage. A much more political interest, I mean.”
Before he knew it, Isaac’s face had stiffened.
Having already learned from this brief conversation just how upright and even innocent the man before her was, the queen went on without concern.
“As you know, Captain, you and your wife are each deeply connected to splendid figures—a general and a duke.”
“……”
“I, too, have a special connection with those two.”
At a glance, her tone seemed affectionate, but the expression on her face was anything but. It was an aversion that felt shudderingly familiar. Even Isaac, as a third party, could sense the unmistakable regret that flashed across the queen’s face for an instant.
“Your respected Majesty. Forgive me, but……”
Isaac, who had been listening with a face that said, What on earth is she talking about, carefully opened his mouth to speak.
“Captain.”
The queen quietly called him.
Then, after staring through him without a word for a moment, she smiled again.
“Captain, it seems you need to pay more attention to what is going on outside in many ways.”
Then she abruptly said this.
“You must have had a hard time coming such a long way, and I apologize for keeping you for so long. Your beautiful and kind wife must be waiting.”
It was another dismissal. Isaac carefully rose from his seat and prepared to leave.
“In truth, I was the one who wished to see your wife, Captain. But as you know, the palace’s old regulations allow no exceptions for anyone…… As things stand, I could not possibly let her in. Quite apart from my curiosity about the circumstances, I cannot allow someone of uncertain status inside.”
His reaction was slow.
Isaac, already standing, stared blankly at the queen.
“……Pardon?”