monarch

Chapter 106 The Marriage Bed

The clock struck midnight, yet the all-night feast at Whitehall Palace looked in no way over.After the grand banquet, there was a ball comparable in size to the king's coronation ball a few years ago. According to the usual situation, I am afraid that it will not end until the next morning.

Princess Mary and Philip danced together at the beginning of the ball to open the ball.Dancing is a compulsory skill for noble men and women nowadays, but the couple did not dance very well.Philip's movements were too rigid, as if his joints were so rusted that they could not bend, and could only bounce around stiffly like a puppet manipulated in a puppet show.For Princess Mary, the last time she danced was more than ten years ago, and she is already a little unfamiliar with dance steps and movements in middle age.So to outsiders, these two people are not so much dancing together as two wrestlers wrestling with each other.

After this dance, the husband and wife return to their seats and sit down, as if to say "we have done our duty, then do as you like".Princess Mary looked at the dance floor from time to time with great interest, as if watching an interesting drama, while Philip of Spain looked completely bored.Sinking deep in a velvet armchair, he raised his head and stared blankly at the ceiling. From time to time, he stretched out his hand to grab a few grapes from the silver plate beside him and stuffed them into his mouth. Seconds later, he turned his head and spit the grape skin back into the silver plate.

The king on his throne didn't look much in the mood for dancing either, spending the evening with his favorite, Robert Dudley, watching the crowd without saying a word.Now even the most foolish people could see that the King was in a bad mood, so a no-man's-land was naturally formed around the throne, and no one wanted to touch the King's bad luck.

No sooner had the clock struck midnight than the king stood up without hesitation, and left the hall with his guardian knight.So the dance was forced to suspend, and the happy men and women on the dance floor hurriedly stood aside to send His Majesty off the stage respectfully.

Princess Mary and Philip exchanged glances with each other, stood up, and seemed impatient to follow the king and left the ballroom, leaving only the full audience looking at each other in the hall.

The music began to reverberate among the marble pillars again, but the haze left by the nobles who left the venue, like the black veil hanging at a funeral, enveloped the entire ballroom for the rest of the ball, making those who planned to stay The guests who arrived at dawn couldn't breathe, and it didn't take long for them to leave.

Princess Mary held Philip's arm as she walked through the maze-like corridors of Whitehall Palace.She felt the muscles in the other's arm tense, so she spread her palm and took the other's hand with her own, causing a tremor in that arm.She looked at her husband's face, which was full of uncomfortable expressions.

"Please forgive me if I make you feel uncomfortable." Princess Mary felt that something was emptied deep in her heart. For a moment, she suddenly had a strange feeling, as if she was standing on the edge of a cliff, with Bottomless canyon. "However, I think since we are already a husband and wife, there is nothing wrong with having some more intimate actions than polite touch." Her eyes were firmly locked on Philip's face.

Philip noticed Princess Mary's probing eyes, which in the dim light reminded him of some feline eyes.He pursed his lips slightly, "What you said makes sense, and I completely agree." He paused for a moment, then said firmly, "Thank you for your reminder, my dear wife."

Princess Mary felt satisfied that the muscles in the arm she was holding relaxed a lot, and she held the other's hand even tighter.

Climbing up a marble staircase, the two came to a door on the second floor. This was the bedroom prepared for them, where maids and servants in Spanish-style palace costumes were already waiting for them.Inside the gate is a rather gorgeous living room, with green wallpaper on the wall and a painting on the ceiling of Zeus incarnate as a bull carrying the abducted beautiful girl Europa across the ocean, which seems quite suitable for the occasion.

The room is filled with a refreshing aroma, which comes from rose perfume imported from Spain. Right above the fireplace, there is a statue of the Madonna made of gold.Princess Mary walked up to the statue of the Virgin Mary, knelt down on one knee, crossed herself on her chest, and silently recited a few rosaries.Then she got up, kissed the icon lightly, and when she turned she noticed with satisfaction that Philip had just finished his prayers too.

Princess Mary pointed to the two silk satin armchairs on the opposite side, motioning for Philip to sit down together.

Beside the armchair was a small, fine coffee table of brazilian wood, on which stood a silver jug ​​and two silver cups.

Princess Mary filled two glasses with the wine in the jug, then picked up a glass and handed it to Philip.Her face was crimson like sunset, as if she was already drunk before drinking.

Philip hesitated for a moment, then reached for the glass.

Princess Mary looked very satisfied, and she picked up her glass of wine. "To your health, my husband," she said in a soft voice that had never come out of her mouth.

Philip didn't speak, but just raised his glass, then tilted his neck, and drank the liquid in the glass, as if this fine Bordeaux wine was some kind of bitter soup.

Princess Mary covered her mouth with one hand and held her wine glass with the other.When she finished drinking, she casually placed the cup on the table, the crimson color had spread from her cheeks to her entire face, and even her pupils were glowing like small burning flames.

"I feel a little tired. Today's ceremony is really exhausting." She yawned deliberately, "If you have no objection, we might as well go to bed now."

Philip looked up, with a hint of playfulness in his eyes. In Princess Mary's memory, this was the first time he showed his feelings.Princess Mary met that gaze, and she heard her heart rumbling like a drum of war.

The silence lasted five seconds, but to Princess Mary it was like five centuries.Finally, Philip seemed to be tired of the awkward silence, "I'm a little tired too, you're right, such a big ceremony really drains one's energy." He stood up, "If you don't mind, I will Go change clothes first."

"Then we'll see you later." Princess Mary curtseyed, lowering her head so that others would not see her elated expression.

When Philip's figure disappeared behind the secret door leading to his small dressing room on the right side of the fireplace, Princess Mary seemed relieved and relaxed.She turned around and walked towards another secret door on the left side of the fireplace. Two of her personal maids quickly lifted up their skirts and followed closely behind her.

Princess Mary's dressing room is a small hexagonal room. One door leads to the small living room, while the other door leads directly to the husband and wife's bedroom.In fact, when the chief steward of the Whitehall Palace renovated the suite, he originally planned to prepare a separate bedroom for Philip, which was only separated from Princess Mary's bedroom by a door. It stopped, and in its place was a nursery, complete with a crib and a nanny's couch.In the eyes of many people, this move was too hasty, but no one was willing to touch Princess Mary's back scales, so the suite was decorated according to her requirements.

This small dressing room uses Princess Mary's favorite garnet red hue, but the effect is not satisfactory-the dressing room has no windows, and under the candlelight, the whole room looks like a murder scene.The servants privately called this room the "House of Blood", and the walls of the room did indeed look as if they had been smeared with blood, and a statue of the Virgin on the wall not only did not dilute the eerie atmosphere , On the contrary, it made the atmosphere in this room look even weirder.

When they walked into the room, the two maids seemed to tremble more or less, obviously the room made them feel very uncomfortable.Only Princess Mary didn't seem to notice it, went straight to the dressing table and sat down, untied the hood on her head, and let it fall casually on the thick Persian carpet on the ground.

One maid went to tidy up the hood that had fallen on the floor, while the other picked up the ivory comb on the table and tidied Princess Mary's hair.

Princess Mary looked at her own face reflected in the mirror.Under the dim candlelight, the color of this face looked more sallow than usual, as if there was no life at all.She sighed, stretched out her hand, and stroked the loose skin on her face.The slender fingers brushed over the fine lines growing rapidly like creepers at the corners of the eyes, touched the increasingly sharp cheekbones, and finally stopped on the already obvious nasolabial folds around the mouth.

The maid who combed her hair in the mirror seemed to have seen something that surprised her, and then pretended to be nonchalant, and then carefully arranged Princess Mary's already somewhat dry hair with an ivory comb.

"Pull off that white hair." Princess Mary said in Spanish, her voice was very low, apparently the maid's movements could not escape her gaze, and she clearly knew that the other party was trying to cover up something.

"Yes, Your Highness." The maid slightly bent her knees, suddenly she seemed to think of something, and quickly changed her words, "I mean Your Majesty, I'm sorry, Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty?" Princess Mary whispered the word softly.

"You are now Her Majesty the Queen of Naples." The maid whispered.

"The queen of Naples?" Princess Mary looked at herself in the mirror, as if speaking to the person in the mirror, "Yes, I am the queen." She closed her eyes slightly, and opened them again after a while, "But We are in England, and my primary identity is still the eldest princess of this country, so the title should remain the same as before."

"Pull out that white hair." She stretched out a finger and pointed to her head.

The maid hurriedly picked up a silver tweezers and gently pulled out the white hair. Princess Mary hardly felt anything.The maid, with her silvery white hair between her legs, approached Princess Mary.Princess Mary picked up the white hair with great interest and looked at it carefully.

"What number is this month?"

"The fifth root, Your Royal Highness."

"There will be more in the future." Princess Mary lightly opened her fingers pinching the strand of hair, which fluttered in the air like a dandelion seed, and soon disappeared. "I'm 36 years old, and it's time for my hair to grow gray."

"You look very young," said the maid timidly.

Princess Mary looked at the other person's face, she suddenly burst into laughter, and the maid couldn't help but pushed back a step in fright.Suddenly, Princess Mary grabbed her arm and pulled her towards her.

"Look at your arm, how white and shiny it is, like an ivory..." Princess Mary whispered, her hand gently stroked the maid's arm, as if she was playing with an ornament.The maid was trembling all over, trying to resist the urge to pull her arms back, her lips were trembling, and that stiff smile made her look like she was wearing a clown mask, but it didn't look funny at all It just looks weird.

"Look at your face." Princess Mary raised her head and looked at the maid's face, "You are so beautiful, with a straight nose, sapphire-like eyes, and pomegranate-like red lips... How old are you this year? La?"

"Sixteen years old, Your Highness."

"15 years younger than me." Princess Mary shrugged, stretched out one of her arms, and put it together with the other's arm.Comparing the two, Princess Mary's arm looks like the color of the pages of an old book, and the skin on the arm has shown signs of loosening. The blue blood vessels look very obvious, like a tree trunk. Thick vines.

"Look at my arm." She still had a faint smile on her face, "Look at my face." She stretched out a finger to point her cheek, and pressed a deep The imprint has not bounced back for a long time. "I am old and ugly, and the eyes of men will no longer stay for me. I have had many fiancés. At that time, my face still had a girlish luster, as if it had just been taken out of the clam shell. Pearls." She looked towards the far end of the room, as if she was looking at herself more than ten years ago through time and space, "However, more than ten years have passed, but I have never been married. When I really become someone's When I was married to my wife, I found out that my husband was the son of one of my previous fiancés!"

"Fate is really ruthless. Now in anyone's eyes, I am a ridiculous old lady, ridiculously chasing the tail of youth, sticking to her husband in vain, deceiving myself that I still have a chance to win To win a man's heart. Isn't that what you guys want?" Her face worked up, her thin eyebrows drawn so tight that they looked like drawn bowstrings.

"I have absolutely no intention of doing so, Your Highness... Please believe me..." The maid was so frightened that she almost cried out, she quickly knelt down, and the other maid in the room saw that the situation was not good, so she also knelt down .

Princess Mary didn't look at them, but said to herself, "Everyone compares me to her." She sneered, "Everyone compares her to a budding rose, but I'm Withered flowers and willows, even my husband is far more interested in her than I am... But so what, he will always be my husband! I am the future Queen of Spain, the most noble woman in Christendom... ..."

She laughed wildly a few times, but the shrill laughter was full of desolation.Suddenly, her body went limp and she fell on the back of the chair.

The two maids hurried forward to help her up, only to see her tired face, weak and depressed.

"Help me change my clothes." Her voice sounded hoarse.

The maids quickly changed into her pajamas.When the dressing was completed, Princess Mary seemed to have regained a bit of strength. She stared at herself in the mirror quietly, shook her head with some disappointment, stood up, and walked to the door leading to the bedroom.

The light in the bedroom was dimmer than in the dressing room, and the curtains in the room were drawn tightly.A few candles were scattered and lit in the room, which looked like a few flickering lighthouses on the sea, flickering on and off, flickering on and off.In the very center of the room stood a huge four-poster bed, also hung with scarlet hangings.The two ends of the room are hung with the portraits of the hostess and hostess of the room, which look a bit gloomy due to the dim light. The eyes hidden in the shadows of the people in the paintings seem to be staring at every visitor who enters the room from behind, letting them I can't help but feel a chill down my back.

The maids lifted the bed curtain, and Princess Mary took off her robe and slippers, climbed onto the bed, and sank into the soft cushions.

She lay there quietly waiting, her eyes fixed on the other little door leading to the master's dressing room.

Princess Mary didn't wait long. With the creak of the hinges, the small door popped open, and Philip's figure emerged from the corridor behind the door.He was also wearing a loose robe, with the pale skin on his chest exposed from the loose collar.He nodded towards Princess Mary, walked to the other side of the bed, and quickly climbed onto the bed.

The maids saluted them and lowered the curtain.Then they put away the few candles in the house and exited the room.

There was darkness inside the curtain. Princess Mary heard a man's heavy breathing from beside her. Accompanied by her heartbeat, she suddenly felt a little nausea. Could this be what she had been expecting for a long time?

"Let's start." Philip's voice broke the silence, and he reached out to undo his belt. "But before that, we should pray first."

"Pray for what?" Princess Mary murmured.

"Pray that God will give us an heir." Philip's burning breath fell into Princess Mary's ear.

Princess Mary nodded, although in the dark, she was not sure that the other party could see.She began to whisper the rosary, and when the strange pain came, she was absolutely sure that God heard her prayers, that tonight she would get what she wanted, that she had a husband, and A son—she was absolutely sure that it would be a beautiful son.

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