11 A Date with James:
Morning in the household of the Earl of Bourbon dawned with fresh sunshine and the birds singing. I opened
heavy eyelids to see Hannah grasping her handkerchief with a bright red face
and her eyes filled with tears,
‘Miss, you’re amazing. I would
never have imagined you would have shot and fired at a Prince!’
First thing in the morning, sighed.
I had woken up in the finest spring bed. The
sheets and covers were silk linen that slipped when I moved; it felt like they
were stroking my skin.
‘Oh Hannah, it is nothing like you
imagine. Don’t get your expectations up because this is just a whim of that
person.’
‘But young Miss, even if it is on a
whim, it doesn’t matter. I would be relieved when Miss gets married safely.
Please capture Prince James.’
With bright red eyes, Hannah helped
me wash and put on a pale yellow dress with the prerequisite frills. My hair
was arranged half up and tied with a ribbon the same colour of my dress. After
a light breakfast, I went to the sun room to read a book.
There were many books in the Earl’s
library, and there were many of them I wanted to read. But sitting in the
solarium, the book I was reading wasn’t getting absorbed. All I could think of
was last night.
James stuck to me all evening, so I
had no change to meet any other men. The Earl and Countess Bourbon had been
surprised when they met Prince James, who escorted me back to their house. But they
were overjoyed that their daughter had been chosen as one of the candidates for
the Duke, so they accepted it easily.
But I know better, Prince James is not in
love with me. It is evident in his eyes; he is obsessed with the Duke. I’m not
sure if the sentiment was a form of love, [1] but I am sure the core
of this whole matter is the Duke.
As for the Duke, from his
expression last night, he was very angry with me; which is not surprising. It’s
probably the first time he had ever been coerced into doing those kinds of
things by a woman. But it was a punishment on behalf of women for making them
cry. He hated women. He just had to accept it, I am on the side of all women…but
I can’t deny the feeling that I got overwhelmed with passion that time. Hence,
it was necessary to avoid any damage to the Viscount title of the Hermiata
family, so I had to pretend to be James’ girlfriend in front of the Duke.
Because of this, I had to put
aside my dream of finding my destined man in the Kingdom for the time being.
(Zuben: It was rather improbable) until the Duke got into a
better mood and forgave me. Hopefully Prince James could introduce me to a good man
later, since he is a Prince of the Basseterre Kingdom.
Even so, the sight of the angry
Duke made me scared from the bottom of my heart. It was the first time I realised
when beauty got angry, it was a terrible form. Let’s not make him angry again.
And because of my interference, the Duke was being forced to date these three
women. He had to decide on one of them within three months; that was the edict
from the King. The Duke must be very angry with me now, because I caused him to
have to interact and marry a woman, and he hated women. I could only imagine
what suffering he was going through, thinking this way; I could not help but
feel like I had done something bad.
But was it a case of a man who only
liked men having to marry a woman? Or was it like a man marrying a man but can
only love a woman? In any case, the fact that he is being put in a situation
where he could not refuse was rather painful. If I was told I had to marry a
woman; I would just faint and get myself to a church quick sharpish and become
a nun.
How could I get the Duke out of
this predicament and at the same time find my true love? (Zuben: Oh the irony)
I fell deep into my thoughts.
‘What’s wrong, my dear? There are
wrinkles between your eyes, my princess.’
I jumped at the voice. I saw James’
face in front of mine. As usual he had a gentle smile on his face but his gaze
was also puzzled. He was very well dressed today. He took my hand and kissed it
with perfect manners. I was surprised by his sudden appearance. I had been
indulging in my thoughts in this luxurious garden created with by the greatly skilled gardener employed by the Earl.
‘Prince James! Why are you here?’
‘How cold! Isn’t it good for me to
come and see my beloved? Well, I like cute Julia, you’re so charming.’
I stared at him coldly; you only
need to pretend to by my suitor in front of the duke.
But James did not care about my
coldness, he shook his head and his chestnut hair swayed fluffily. He took my
hands gently like they were precious and said,
‘Come, let’s go for a ride, I would
show you something entertaining.’
‘No thanks, I have a previous
appointment today-‘
‘Oh! Miss! I wonder what kind of
place the Prince wants to take you! We’ve been looking forward to it!’ Hannah
said over me, pushing out of the bushes.
She really wanted me to marry
James.
I had noticed she was hiding there
earlier, since the leaves of the bushes were swaying strangely. I had never
thought she would show up in such a dramatic way. I’m sure James would be
shocked…Huh?
He still had gentle smile on his
face, not only that he was having an eye to eye conversation with Hannah. What
was going on here?
‘Hannah is a very nice lady. She
told me a lot of things as she brought me here. So thanks to her, I love you
even more. No matter where I look, I could not find a woman like you.’ He said
as he took my hands and pulled me out of my seat.
I looked back at Hannah in
trepidation, she had a doya[2]
face on; very pleased with herself. Before I knew it I was out of the house and
boarding a luxurious carriage without a by your leave!
12 James’ Plot
The Prince’s carriage was made with polished oak. The workmanship was
precise and delicate, with gold accents around the corners, doors and windows.
It was so spacious six people could sit comfortably. So why did he have to sit so
close holding my hand? I looked at Prince James beside me.
He was watching me and our eyes met. The colour of his eyes was truly
beautiful; like the blue-green of the sea in summer tinged with indigo, they seemed
to draw me in.
Perhaps he has gained a lot of wisdom in his life, which was why he had
such a gentle character; always with a smile, and a calm aura around him.
In the vague position of the third Prince of Basseterre, he was being kept hostage
in a friendly nation, so it was a necessity for him to play a harmless man.
Currently, the first and second Princes of Basseterre were contesting the
throne, but Prince James could not take any side. So here he was; a slender
elegant fascinating man who looked like he was not thinking of anything on the
surface. Even with his kindly face, his thoughts were hidden.
‘Is Prince James close with the Duke of Magnaria? You call each other by name.’
‘Yes. I have been in the Bosch Kingdom since I was seven. Henry often came
to the castle to play. It is a twenty year friendship. So you could say I know
him better than anyone else.’
...this, I wonder if he is probing to see whether I know the Duke, which
would be strange. He knows very well I know nothing about the Duke; so why does
he need me?
‘Then can you tell me about the Duke? I want to know why he turned to
hostile to me.’
Well, mostly because I sexually harassed him, and forced him to drink my
saliva and his own emissions. But James didn’t know that, but I wanted to suss
out James’ real intentions by seeing how he answered the question.
James laughed out loud.
‘Do you really not know, Julia? Poor Henry, he has become so pitiful but
interesting, don’t you think? How amusing.’ (Zuben: Hmmm, does he know…?)
I don’t know at all…
“Pitiful but interesting”?!
What are you trying to say? No matter how much more I asked James would not
let me interrogate him, so I had to give up my pursuit of his motives. I guess
he was a man who could not be coerced regardless of his appearance. In the meantime,
we chatted about mundane things as we rode the carriage. It took twenty minutes
to reach our destination.
It was Vondel Park, which was a very popular spot for the nobility to be
seen because it was close to the royal castle. It was also a popular place to
come to on a date. It had been beautifully landscaped, a veritable rainbow of
flowers and plants have been cultivated here. It was treated like a mini-green
city. There was also a large lake for boating. Today the weather was fine, so
it was a perfect day for a date.
I had heard about the park back home, but I had never been here before so
my heart was excited like a child.
James took my hand and helped me alight from the carriage onto a carpet of
flowers as far as the eyes could see. Geraniums, clematis, begonias…I took in
the beautiful scenery that displayed the colours and scents that existed all
over the world. (Zuben: That’s a lot)
‘Beautiful…lovely…!’ I exclaimed left and right.
The walkways amongst the flowers were paved with obsidian tiles (Zuben:
expensive and fragile.). It was a park created for the nobility, no expense was
spared; that much was evident. No more words came from me as I moved along
spellbound by the sight. But I caught a sight that just blew me away. I
immediately ran to the promenade near where delicate star shaped flowers had
been cultivated,
‘These are Angraecum!’ I exclaimed, ‘They are very rare. They were made
famous because they helped Darwin prove his theory! They are characteristically
star-shaped. How amazing, it is the first time I’ve seen so many blooming!’
(Zuben: What is with this ham-fisted lecture? They are real flowers btw and did
no such thing with Darwin in our reality actually Darwin used his theory of evolution to hypothesise what kind of polinator this flowers would have, see Jeff's comment below)
James had a look of confusion, but he immediately returned to his smiling
countenance as he came to stand near me,
‘Julia is different. I would never have imagined a noble’s daughter would
know the name of such a minor flower or even about Darwinian Theory.’
‘Oh! Pardon me, Prince James. I just got so excited…’ I said feeling contrite. I
had run leaving behind my escort. It was rather discourteous and unbecoming of
a noble miss. But I never would have dreamed I would see angraecum here.
I turned to James; he did not look like he was angry with me. Contrary to
that, he looked at me with his usual indulgent smile, but he pulled my arm and
started walking me deeper into the park,
‘We can admire the flowers later. We are here to witness something a lot
more interesting.’ He said with a mischievous smile. We walked through a dense
copse of trees out into a grassy field and beyond that, the lake. A number of
small boats were already sailing, each bearing gaily dressed pairs. It looked
like flowers were blooming on the lake, it was a beautiful sight.
‘Julia, come quickly.’ James called. He was at the pier renting a boat. He
paid the pier-master money and got on. I saw James put a finger on his lip,
instructing him not to speak to me.
I got into the small boat with James’ assistance, and sat at one end. The
sun was now high, and the light reflecting off the surface of the water was dazzling. I opened my parasol that Hannah had made be bring, shading mine and
James’ eyes as he rowed. He gave me his thanks and after that the only sound
was of James’ oars cutting the water.
James brought us downwind of another boat moving with the wind. I adjusted
my parasol so that the occupants of the other boat did not see my face. It
looked like James wanted us to eavesdrop on the people on the other boat. James
was a Prince, was it alright to be doing such a thing? Yet, I was also
interested, so I went along with James and listened while hiding under the
parasol.
[1] その感情が私の2番目の婿養子候補だった彼のような愛の形なのかどうかは分からないが、
[2] doya-gao:
More on Angraecum and Darwin's Moth; a reminder that one's knowledge is not all encompassing and to read shit properly.
I like how these two are partners in eavesdropping
ReplyDeleteWell it's like a parallel universe or some sort. I mean it's obvious since the names of the countries and everything else are fiction.
ReplyDeleteWell, we don't know what the theory is, could be about cross-pollination or something, and the name is coincidental. The point is, she is out of character for a noble girl, being educated in things James didn't expect her to know anything bout.
ReplyDeleteI'll be your 10 second lecturer for this evening. After that flower was discovered, darwin used his then ongoing theory of evolution to predict an undiscoveted moth pollinated these flowers. He was only proven correct 2 decades after his death, and his theory was supported. (Darwin's moth)
ReplyDeleteI see! Thank you for enlightning us. (〃・ω・)ノ~☆・゚+。*゚・.+
ReplyDelete