But… the play was long… and Louise has gotten tired in the course of time too. Then sleepiness took over her and she slowly closed her eyelids.
It was not possible to endure after all and… she leant her head against Saito's shoulder… she started to watch another play in dream land… Louise began to row a boat.
There was another visitor who wasn’t looking at the play as well. It was the same middle-aged noble whose seat Saito took by mistake. He was sitting next to a merchant and was having a secret talk with him.
This talk's content… were the things they heard from Tristain generals. The extremely secret Tristain’s military was the object of the gossip.
“F-fleet’s construction?”
The merchant asked.
“It will take half a year at least.”
The noble answered.
There were more whispers throughout the talk… In exchange for such secret information regarding Royal matters, the merchant passed a small bag to the noble. The noble peeked inside and saw it was tightly packed with golden coins.
The merchant whispered,
“However… why contact each other in the theater?”
“What? To have a secret talk among the crowd of people. It is natural to tell a whispering story here. Therefore – a theater. If you would do that in a small room, one would get suspicious that you are plotting something not good.”
“Haha. I am sure that His Highness the Emperor will be greatly interested in lord’s information. He might even give you a medal if you would come above the clouds.”
“This Albion’s person has a cold heart.”
“What, this whole land will be called by this name, sooner or later. Thank you for your cooperation.”
After saying this, the merchant tried to stand up. The nobleman stopped him.
“What more?”
“Why don’t you act slowly? Wait till the last minute of the play.”
The stony floor of Tristain’s Royal palace echoed the sound of boots as a lone young female knight walked. She had shortly-cut blond hair and clear blue eyes. A protective chain hemp garment with sheet metal parts was wrapped around her body, in addition to a robe with a lily coat of arms painted on it.
Yet there was no wand at her lower waist… instead a long, thin sword.
Coming and going, noble's mage bodyguards halted and stared at her surprised, as it was unusual to see a fencer in the royal palace.
Mages saw a sword at her waist and the chain-mail that she wore, and started whispering among themselves.
“Fuun! Commoner woman!”
“She must have some grand permission to walk in palace dressed up like that… oh dear, different times!”
“Moreover, this woman is a Protestant! Giving a Chevalier's title to such a harmful insect… I feel ashamed for our young majesty!”
Despite the impudent glances and rude comments about her, the young woman kept on walking straight, without sparing a single look at them.
At the end of the passage… she headed towards Henrietta’s office. She was stopped at the door by a magical guard member with a royal crest on his chest, not allowing her to visit her majesty.
“Her Majesty is in the middle of a conference right now. Come again later.”
The mage guard declared coldly, not even trying to hide his contempt for the female knight.
“Please tell her that Agnes came. I have permission to visit Her Majesty anytime.”
The guard scowled then opened the door and disappeared into the office. After that, he came back, granting Agnes permission to enter the room.
As Agnes entered the office, Henrietta was in the middle of conference with Richmon from the High Court of Justice.
What is the High Court of Justice? That’s the organization that rules the administration of justice in the kingdom. Whenever the privileged class disagreed… judgement is brought in. They inspected literature works, operas or plays in theaters, or supervised commoner’s markets and frequently took care of conflicts within the monarchic government prefecture administration.
Henrietta who noticed Agnes, smiled with the edge of her lips, and told Richmon to break off the conference.
“But Your Highness… Raising taxes any further will make resentment among the commoners grow. This will cause disorder. Other countries may use it against us.”
“It’s an emergency. Despite our citizen's poverty…”
“Construction of 50 warships! 20,000 mercenaries! Equipping 15,000 lords army-men! Food to feed officers and men and our allied forces! Where can you get so much money? Building of a scout army and so on, just give it up, please.”
“The overthrow of Albion is now a national priority of Tristain.”
“But Your Majesty, though former Kings of Halkeginia with united forces attacked Albion on countless occasions… they were always defeated. Going into a campaign across the sky has more difficulties than one can imagine.”
Richmon declared, adding a hoity-toity gesture.
“I know. However I also know that the finances minister reported that ‘The procurement of these war expenditures is not impossible.’ Are you dissatisfied that you won’t be able to enjoy your former luxuries? As a matter of fact, I wonder how much you've saved since you started working?”
Henrietta said sarcastically, looking at the gorgeous clothes that Richmon was wearing.
“I myself prohibited imperial guard knights to wear the chain of silver that decorated the cane to show an example to others. There are no nobles, commoners nor royal family members. We are united now, Richmon.”
Henrietta watched Richmon. He bowed his head.
“You got me with this. I know, Your Majesty. However, the council of the High Court of Justice consists of many people and it is not possible that they would agree with this campaign. I would like you to acknowledge it as a reality.”
“We will reach consensus, with the cardinal’s and my own work. I have confidence that we will be able to persuade the council.”
Richmon watched Henrietta, who declared this with dazzling eyes.
“…Something wrong?”
“No… I just admired.”
“Admired?”
“That’s right. This Richmon, served ten years for Philip the Great, thirty years ago. By the time you were born, I knew more about Your Majesty than Your Majesty yourself.”
“Oh, well.”
“Though you might not remember, the King and Queen were really happy about Your Majesty’s birth! Though it was scary to lift your tiny body in one’s arms, I was still honored to rock and bathe Your Majesty once or twice.”
“My mother said you served well.”
Henrietta said smiling.
“You are too kind. Just a while ago I was giving rude comments not thinking about the mother country.”
“You are a real patriot, I know that very well.”
“Anyway, I’ll say no more. Though Your Highness was such a crybaby before, she became a splendid woman now. There’s nothing for me to regret.”
“I am still… a crybaby. Please lend your power for the mother country, Richmon.”
Richmon bowed, asking for permission to leave the room. Henrietta nodded.
Agnes, who stood next to the door, watched Richmon leave.
Finally Agnes turned to Henrietta, who sat in her chair, and kneeled down, bowing her head.
“Agnes Chevalier de Milan, welcome.”
Looking up, Henrietta urged.
“Did you finish the investigation?”
“Yes.”
Agnes took a letter out of her cleavage and handed it to Henrietta. The Queen took it and looked inside.
This was… Henrietta ordered to this female knight to investigate that ominous night's events. The night where an abductor from Albion… a revived Wales, snuck into the royal palace following someone’s written plan.