Human dimension reduction

Seeing that all the guests had arrived, the Duke of Gloucester, dressed in fine clothes, raised the silver spoon and tapped the crystal cup lightly.

Under the crisp sound, everyone fell silent, smiling and waiting for the opening speech of the most noble person present.

—no one inquired unwisely why it was not His Majesty the King who spoke, as if Gloucester's behavior was perfectly social.

Looking at their soft, restrained and expectant smiles, the little king on the top lowered his eyes indifferently, with a polite arc on his mouth, qualified to play the role of a speechless puppet, or—a mascot.

William Stuart, as the leader of the king and the most popular governor of North Gaul, naturally has a status no less than that of Gloucester. He is talking about the customs of North Gaul with the lady beside him. Hearing that Gloucester It was only with a special voice that he raised his head, and at the same time quickly glanced at the king who was only an arm's length away from him.

After such a glance, he thought with some doubts... Why did he have to visit the little king for no reason?

"Dear gentlemen and ladies, it is a great pleasure to gather here under the blessing of His Majesty the King..." Gloucester smiled at everyone at the table while holding a wine glass. The long table in the banquet hall can accommodate dozens of people. The shining jewels on the women's bodies and the light of the gas lamps complement each other, making people feel as if they have come to a bright heaven.

Edward's eyes kept falling on the rippling red wine in front of him. Anyone could tell that their king was distracted. It was very impolite, but no one would be foolish to point out this fact.

The little king who is in a daze is thinking about a question: to what extent can the plot allow him to make changes?

Since the real Edward was replaced, collapses and mutations have already occurred, but this change is subtle and long-lasting, and it may not necessarily show up until the original Edward is about to die. The effect is that the world finally collapses , they don't know where the error is.

Stealth is high enough, but it lacks interest.

Isn't playing games all about looking for excitement and the pleasure of stepping on a tightrope?Setting a trap and watching the other party step into it but being unable to come out to claim the results, that would be too embarrassing!Qiao Zhou fully understands why those bad guys would excitedly shake off their plots in front of the protagonist group after they have done their bad deeds. This is the same reason why artists want to share with others after creating a perfect work!

Maybe, he can try to test the bottom line of the plot, give some plausible clues, and play an interesting enough game with everyone?

An excellent game producer must be good at discovering games, enjoying games, and sharing games. Qiao Zhou watched the red wine in the glass with small ripples, and smiled slightly. The theme of this game is what is it then……

Ah, yes, let's call it "Who is the Betrayer"!

After the dinner party is the ball. According to the usual practice, the king and queen should dance the opening dance, but their little king has not yet married the queen, and there is no noble princess on the scene. No princess has been born in the two generations of the York family, and the blood relationship is the closest. The one with the title of princess is Mary, the illegitimate daughter of Edward V's great-grandfather. Her title is Countess of Hanover. She didn't have the ceremonial title of princess until she got married. This princess is 45 years old this year, which is appropriate in this era. Proper old age.

So... the dress was luxurious, and Edward V, wearing a crown, looked around for a week. The gentlemen who were caught by his gaze lowered their heads slightly, and the ladies opened various hand fans to cover half of their faces and smiled at him. The young unmarried ladies raised their heavy and gorgeous skirts and curtseyed reservedly, their brightly decorated faces were full of clear desire.

Everyone hopes to get the glory of the king's first dance, which is enough for the young ladies to occupy a favorable position in the social arena. Even if they can't become queens, maybe they can become the king's mistress?

Gloucester stood not far away. Behind him was the Duchess and his daughter Mary. Mary was already five years older than the king this year, but this was not a problem worth worrying about. She was already at a fertile age. .

When his nephew turned his gaze to this side, Gloucester moved aside to let his daughter show up. The meaning of this movement was obvious, and the little king on the opposite side obviously received it.

He stood there for a while, and for a moment, the immature and tall young man was like a fragile poplar tree that was about to be broken by a storm, even his emerald eyes looked pitiful.

Ladies love this kind of beautiful boy most, such as Nahisus by the water or the eternal God of love. The traditional blond hair and blue eyes add a divine brilliance to the king. Some people privately call the king "the glory of London." "Jewel", which was a good title when he was the Prince of Wales, but when he ascended the throne, it seemed out of place, with a little more strange intimacy.

And... You know, the nobles have always been vegetarians in matters related to sex, and have inherited the crazy chaos of ancient Rome. Dare to put it on the table, this is one of the effective means to control the future monarch, and it has a long history.

The eyes of Edward and Gloucester met in mid-air, and after a while, under the watchful eyes of everyone, the king came from the side, and the ladies from other directions understood who the king would choose with a glance, and looked at each other tacitly, A mocking smile appeared on the corner of his mouth to cover up the loss and dissatisfaction in his heart.

"Mary...the Duke doesn't seem to have any intention of finding her a husband...just waiting for the king? But she is five years older than the king."

"Otherwise, who else? He wants to be the king's younger brother, the king's uncle, the king's grandfather... Hehe... Does he also want to have the title of 'Kingmaker'?"

"What does age matter? When Anne of Burgundy married Root I, there was a 12-year age difference between the two, but Anne eventually became Queen of Gaul."

There is a saying that the bitter ladies put in their mouths: Gloucester may prefer to be a king himself than to make his daughter a queen.

Edward took a few steps forward and stopped in front of a girl in a sky-blue dress. Everyone's eyes widened, and someone gasped slightly. The eyes went back and forth between Mary and Edward and Gloucester.

"Beautiful lady, can I have the honor to invite you to dance with me?" Edward bent down according to the etiquette, and reached out his hand to the girl who was half a head taller than himself.

The young girl was at a loss for a moment, she shrank her feet, and her first reaction was to back away, to avoid everyone's gossiping and curious eyes, and the hand in front of her - this hand is no different from a soldering iron at this moment , concentrated acid, or anything bothersome and dangerous.

There was a line of sight shot from obliquely in front, like a sharp iron arrow, if it had a substance, the girl believed that she must have pierced her heart and died here at this moment.

She raised her head slightly, and found that the gaze really came from Princess Mary.

The brightly dressed lady's chest is heaving violently now, her big eyes are almost sparkling, and her blushing face that was confident and shy a moment ago is now pale and blue. If she has a sword in her hand, she Sure to cut that lucky guy in half.

The Duke of Gloucester never showed any superfluous expression on his face. He just watched his nephew's bold disobedience with that kind of deep and calm gaze, his eyes were cold.

He thought more than his own daughter, and almost realized something was wrong when he saw Edward stop in front of the girl, and when he remembered who she was, the secret rage almost overwhelmed him.

Gloucester raised his eyelids, looked around calmly, and found the slender and tall black-haired man, who also happened to look over. He raised the corner of his mouth to this side, showing a cold and perfunctory smile.

Gloucester's face twitched, and his eyes became more gloomy.

Stuart -

Gloucester took two seconds to remember the girl's name... No, the name doesn't matter, whether it's Anne or Elizabeth or Mary or Margaret, he didn't have a deep impression on this girl's face, which means she There is not a pair of parents who are influential enough to be in and out of the court frequently, but she can participate in royal banquets, which shows that she has a good enough surname.

Thinking of this, Gloucester remembered her last name.

Stuart, her name is Stuart.

The Duchess lowered her voice and quickly informed her husband of the girl's identity, with a slight look of surprise on her face.

A subsidiary of the Stuart family, Catherine Stuart, the granddaughter of Uncle William Stuart, whose grandfather is an earl and mother is the daughter of a viscount, has nothing but a Stuart surname What commendable merit--and the King should choose her over his own daughter Mary?

Rejecting the king's invitation is something a fool would do, so even though her heart was full of reluctance, Catherine bit the bullet and pulled out a happy smile, curtseyed, and then put on the lace The gloved hand was placed on the king's hand.

Seeing the king and the Stuart girl sliding onto the dance floor, everyone began to wink at each other, those who gloated at Mary York's expression, and the nobles who thought more began to secretly observe Gloucester And Stuart's look.

However, the expression management of these two people has done a good job, and no outsiders can see any clues.

But most people's minds are still active. They don't know whether the king's choice of Catherine is his own initiative or William Stuart's instigation. If it's the latter... Could it be that Stuart also got involved?

At the same time, they remembered that before the death of the king, he had mentioned that Stuart should be the king's guide. Today seems to be the first day that William enters the palace to give lectures?

Thinking of this, many nobles' thoughts of trying to fall to the Duke of Gloucester have faded a lot. Standing in line is a matter that requires enough wisdom and patience. Before seeing the chips of both sides, it is a fool to rush to stand in line. things.

Catherine's sky-blue skirt bloomed into a huge flower on the dance floor. Edward held her and spun around with one hand, and at the same time quickly took the opportunity of changing positions to observe everyone's expressions.

After turning around, he met Stuart who was standing in a secluded place.

The black-haired Duke Stuart didn't wear glasses like he did in the morning. His dark blue pupils were as hard and cold as a snow mountain. His thin face was facing this way. His attire is austere, and his height stands out enough without the need for high heels.

Still like an academic, but this time an academic who studies dangerous objects and disciplines.

For the little king who pulled himself out as a shield, William acted calmly, as if he knew about it a long time ago and was not being used abruptly, and smiled softly at Edward.

However, when he saw this innocent smile, the alarm in Edward's mind sounded all of a sudden.

An elderly lady covered her mouth with a feather fan and asked her husband softly, "Is this what the king and Stuart negotiated? Will Stuart support the king?"

Her husband curled his lips, glanced at Gloucester, and replied softly: "Perhaps, after all, a young and powerful protector is too much of a threat to Northern Gaul. And... it's best that the king discuss it with him Yes, otherwise the king's future may not be so good."

The older lady raised her eyebrows: "What does this mean?"

"What do you think Stuart is a good thing? Can it be pulled out and used at will?" The nobleman looked around and found that no one was paying attention here, so he said softly, "Northern Gaul, for him Nicknamed 'Paranoid' 'Mad William'."

In their eyes, William Stuart by the dance floor was facing the little king with a gentle smile without any exception.