Her Majesty’s Secret Service

084. Office workers’ dreams

June 2nd, New Year.

… At banquets in England, unlike Joseon, the table was not set for each person, but food was placed on a large plate and each person ate a portion.

What was truly strange was that when they picked up and ate meat, they did not use separate spoons but ate it with their bare hands. Later, when I asked Jonghyung, he said that this came from the teachings of Jesus.

When asked if Jonghyeong also eats meat with his bare hands, he answered that he makes his own chopsticks when eating in private and that he has no choice but to use his bare hands at banquets.

When asked if Jonghyeong also followed the Catholic teachings of Jesus, he answered, “If you want to be treated as a noble in this country, it is inevitable.”

* * *

After reuniting with Jane, I went into the room with her. In a corner of the still large room, there was a bed that I had never seen before, and a child was sleeping in that bed.

“This child… “It’s our child, right?”

“yes. that’s right. “He named me Richard.”

As if to prove that he was Jane and I’s child, Richard’s hair was light brown, like a mixture of Jane’s hair color and mine.

I don’t know who it looked like, but round eyes and cheeks weren’t usually cute.

“Logan, give me a hug. “You’re my dad, right?”

“that… may I. I’m sleeping… .”

“Because it’s okay.”

Following Jane’s words to give him a hug, I very carefully extended my hand towards Richard.

At the touch of my hand, Richard, who had been sleeping just a moment ago, opened his eyes.

“Mom!! “Mommy!!!”

When Richard made eye contact with me, he cried loudly and called Jane. Jane looked at Richard like that and shook her head as if she had no choice, and she took Richard from me.

“Okay, okay, mom is here. Richard, don’t cry, okay?”

After a while, when Richard stopped crying and fell asleep from exhaustion, Jane put him back on the bed and came to me.

“yet… “I guess you’re not used to it.”

“It can’t be helped. Because this is my first time seeing it since I was born… .”

“Soon, Richard will get used to it.”

“I hope so. however… “Are you not using a separate nanny?”

“Oh, that’s… .”

For a woman of Jane’s status, wouldn’t a nanny be essential for raising children? She was not on bad terms with the Queen, and she said that the Queen took the initiative to offer to provide her with a nanny. In addition, they said they would assign Richard a separate room.

“But why…” “Why didn’t you just take it when they said they would?”

“Hehe, if you take it, you’ll have to live here forever, right?”

Jane said that when I return, she wants to move out of the palace and live in a mansion in the countryside. Aside from the frustration, she said that staying in the palace makes her reminisce about old times. The memory of that time when it was used as a tool for power.

“Of course, Logan, you can just live here if you want. “I don’t necessarily want to hold you back.”

“No, I’m already tired of the palace. “I will tell Her Majesty the Queen immediately after today’s banquet.”

What I decided to do while listening to Richard cry a little while ago was that I would never again take on the task of traveling abroad every year.

I am a person without great ambitions. I have never had the desire to intervene in history and change the future, or to leave my name in history, and I will never have such thoughts in the future.

Living in the 21st century before falling here, I was one of the young people scattered across the Republic of Korea. An ordinary man in his 20s who had just left the military and was worried about his future.

At the time, I had grandiose dreams, and simple dreams. Building a happy family without being ignored by anyone.

It was my dream to have a normal family like the one I grew up in and live happily.

But for some reason I fell in the 16th century, and my dreams changed a little after I fell in 1553. To survive in this world, to live in this world at least without starving.

After falling into that pub, Ye Old Miter in 1553, and starting my own struggle to somehow survive, I somehow got lucky and ended up here.

I no longer wanted a high position. In this era, it has been a long time since I earned enough money to live on, and my status has long since ceased to be something that can be ignored.

My dream, which changed in the 16th century, had long since come true without me even knowing. Now it was time to achieve the forgotten dream of the 21st century.

Now that I have a child who looks like my wife, Jane, and have started a family, I plan to spend the money I earn normally and enjoy the rest of my life very happily.

I am already thirty-three. I fell here in 1553 at the age of twenty-five, and now, eight years later, I am now in my mid-thirties.

“Are you really going to do that?”

“yes. “Really.”

Jane’s eyes trembled slightly when she heard my answer. I don’t know why, but I was slightly teary-eyed and I opened my mouth in surprise, wondering if I had said something wrong.

“Why are you crying Jane?”

“No, I’m not crying. What… It’s just that, after talking to you for the first time in two years, I felt a little, yes, a little. What should I say? “Logan, you look even better today.”

Perhaps it was my mistake, but Jane, who was quickly hiding her tears, approached me. She felt Jane’s soft hands fold into mine.

“Jane… ?”

Jane took my hand and walked to our couple’s bed, a little away from Richard’s bed.

“Why, there’s still a little bit of time left until the banquet, right?”

“Jane? Wait a minute… .”

I couldn’t continue my words.

* * *

Excluding the period when it was docked, I spent about a year and a half on the ship, and now that I am lying in such a high-quality bed, it feels like time is melting away.

“Baron, are you inside, Princess? It’s soon banquet time. You have to come out… .”

Isn’t the servant’s voice coming from outside proof of that? I thought I had been lying there for about an hour or two, but it seemed like three hours had passed at most since the outside of the window was already turning red.

“eww… hmm… “Logan, what’s going on?”

Jane, who is lying next to me, wakes up, rubbing her sleepy eyes. I could feel Jane’s warm body temperature under the blanket.

“ah. “It looks like they came to get us because the banquet time is almost over.”

“Is it already so late?”

Jane, who had been sleepy a moment ago, was startled and got out of bed and started getting dressed.

When I once again heard a knock on the door and a voice searching for my husband and I, Richard woke up and started crying. He was beside himself with crying and crying for Jane.

“Can you please be quiet while we’re inside?! “The child broke it!!”

“I’m sorry, Baron, but… Time is really running out… .”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get ready and head out soon!”

“Yes, then I will wait outside. “Baron.”

While I was talking with the palace attendant, Jane, who was getting dressed, was comforting Richard, who was crying and half dressed. She said she had personally looked after Richard for two years, and it seemed like that wasn’t a lie.

“Logan, on top of that, could you please bring Jessica over? Until now, Jessica has looked after Richard when I am away for a while. And I have to ask for help with getting dressed.”

“Jessica? Was she still working at the court?”

“What… It’s a problem that I’m a bit cheap-mouthed, but I’m a good person. “They take such good care of our Richard too.”

It was a bit surprising that the maid, who had been rumored to be cheap-mouthed when I first entered the palace, was still working. It was even more surprising that the maid was close to Jane.

Anyway, we asked the servant waiting for us outside the door to bring Jessica to us. After a while, Jessica came in and said hello to me and Jane.

I put on clothes roughly suited to the banquet, and Jane put on a banquet dress with Jessica’s help.

After leaving Richard in the care of Jessica, we followed the attendant waiting for us outside and headed to the banquet hall.

* * *

The three envoys of the Joseon Dynasty, who arrived at the banquet hall under the guidance of the servant, Jeong Jong-yeong, Vice Minister Kang Kang-seong, and Secretary Lee I, were constantly expressing admiration at the luxuriously decorated banquet hall and the exotic music coming from the banquet hall.

“Huh… Although it is a different rhythm from the Joseon Dynasty, this rhythm is also quite… .”

“The interior of the palace is decorated extravagantly, which seems to be more than, not less than, the palace.”

“Ibo. What do you call the instrument that musician over there is playing? Oh, lute and viol? Hmm, that’s an unusual name. What Chinese characters should I use for this… .”

While the magistrates and magistrates were talking to each other, Ii, the chief secretary, went around asking about the music of the banquet and the names of the dishes.

“Why are you asking about this and that when you don’t have anything in your hands, except your brushes and books?”

“yes? “Can’t you just remember what you put in and use it when you go back to your room?”

“What… ?”

Jeong Jong-yeong, the courtier, said something to Yulgok, who was walking around the banquet hall without holding anything in his hand and asking various questions, but when Yulgok returned, he looked at him with a puzzled expression.

Then, he remembered that the person he was talking to was Yulgok, the author of the Book of Cheondo, and looked at Yulgok with disapproving eyes.

“Look, no matter how intelligent you are, you take matters of the country so lightly… .”

Even though he held the position of ‘Secretary’, who had to record every detail of the envoys’ affairs, Jeong Jong-yeong, who thought that Yulgok only believed in his own head and spouted arrogant words, finally opened his mouth and tried to scold Yulgok.

“Lord Logan Lee, Baron Grinstead, and his wife, Lady Jane Gray, Princess of Suffolk, are entering!”

A sound was heard from the entrance of the banquet hall. The eyes of all the nobles present at the banquet hall were focused on the entrance, and Jeong Jong-yeong, who was about to scold Yulgok, also closed his mouth and looked away.

As Logan and Jane walked into the banquet hall wearing clothes that were foreign to the Joseon delegation, but extravagant to English nobles, the nobles attending the banquet showed respect to Logan and Jane.

As the Logan couple entered the banquet hall, responding to the greeting, they heard the attendant’s shout once again.

“Her Majesty the Queen is entering!”

The nobles, including the Logan couple who had just entered, bowed politely to Mary as she entered the banquet hall. The queen also briefly answered yes, then entered the banquet hall and opened her mouth with a bright smile.

“Today, we celebrate the success of Eastern trade… .”

Mary began her speech explaining the reason for holding the banquet and praising the work of Baron Logan of Grinstead, and the speech went on for quite some time.

“… “I hope everyone enjoys it to the fullest.”

After finishing her speech, Mary approached the Logan couple. The Logans bowed once again to Mary as they approached and began sharing her story with her.

Mary exchanged a few words with the two men and soon walked with Logan to where the Korean delegation was. Seeing Mary like that, her mistress and adjutant seemed a little taken aback.

“No, didn’t we decide to watch separately after the banquet?”

“well. Look at Yulgok. “How did this happen?”

“I… I don’t know either. why… .”

Mary walked right in front of the three who were so embarrassed and opened her mouth with a bright smile.

“So, are you envoys from Joseon? Nice to meet you. Oh, are you a relative of Logan? As I heard, there is an uncanny resemblance.”

This was the first meeting between the Joseon envoy and Queen Mary of England.