Keith must have sensed that the Earl of Downing was about to take a step forward, for he shouted again.
“Withdraw now! This is a royal order! Withdraw, please!”
Keith was dripping with sweat, probably because he had been manning the reins the whole ride, urging his horse along. With heaving breaths, he pulled out a rolled piece of parchment from inside his jacket and quickly unfurled it. The parchment bore a large signature from the king, as well as the sovereign’s seal.
“The chancellor, the Duke of Collette, and the treasury minister, the Count of Bygott, have both approved the negotiations with the Fairy Merchants Guild! Reginald Stowe, representative for the guild, is to appear for an audience at the royal castle along with the coffin, by order of His Majesty the King!”
Keith held the parchment up high to show off the royal seal.
Approved?
Anne stood there in the middle of the garden, in front of a row of soldiers, stunned as she listened to Keith’s words.
The Earl of Downing pushed his way through the soldiers and hurried over to the driver’s platform where Keith was standing.
“What is the meaning of this, Powell?!”
As he tried to steady his ragged breathing, Keith answered, “Regarding the matter of the fairy in the Fairy Merchants Guild’s possession and their terms of exchange…the Silver Sugar Viscount wrote directly to His Majesty to ask for instructions… I delivered that letter to the king…and this is his response.”
The Earl of Downing snatched the parchment from Keith’s hands and took a long, hard look at it. His face went pale.
“His Majesty…wrote something like this despite knowing of my decision?”
Dragging his injured leg, Hugh walked over to stand beside the Earl of Downing.
“He knows. I took the liberty of writing a letter informing him of your course of action and that you were already moving to execute it.”
“Telling him you disapproved of my decision. Is that it?”
“I merely wrote that the Earl of Downing has his own ideas about the limits of his authority.”
Keith seemed to have finally steadied his breathing. Next, he pulled a sealed letter out from inside his jacket. When he spoke again, his expression was severe.
“This is for you, my lord. It was entrusted to me.”
The Earl of Downing accepted the letter and smiled bitterly at Hugh.
“The limits of my own authority, hmm…? Implying that I myself might turn traitor if His Majesty’s will differed from my own. Mercury, you bastard… You’ve ruined me.”
“If His Majesty’s will was in accordance with yours, then I would be the one branded a traitor. Things would have turned out exactly as you’d scripted them. This was a gamble for me, too.” Hugh’s tone was sympathetic.
Finally, Anne grasped the situation.
Keith must have taken Hugh’s letter to Lewiston. Even if he was carrying a letter from the Silver Sugar Viscount, it was no easy task for a mere candy crafter to pass through the gates into the royal castle. But Keith was the son of the former Silver Sugar Viscount, Edward Powell. It had been only two years since the former Viscount’s passing. Keith’s face was known around the castle, and if he’d shown up bearing a letter from the Silver Sugar Viscount, it would have been possible for him to get an audience with the king on short notice.
Keith had then given the letter to His Majesty, King Edmond II, and informed him of the Earl of Downing’s actions.
“His Majesty… But why?”
The old retainer sounded exhausted, and Hugh answered him quietly.
“He must have thought it over himself.”
The Earl of Downing was a senior statesman who had backed the current king’s ascension and commanded the same respect as a member of the royal family. Hugh, on the other hand, hadn’t even been Silver Sugar Viscount for two whole years. The Earl of Downing clearly had much more influence over the king.
Hugh was not in a good position to question the earl’s judgment. There had been a good chance Edmond II would accept the earl’s way of handling things and strictly punish Hugh for his insubordination. That must have been why Hugh had called it a gamble.
But His Majesty didn’t choose the easy path.
Anne recalled the king’s face and his kind blue eyes.
If he had wanted to shirk his responsibility and leave the thinking up to others, he could have easily accepted the Earl of Downing’s decisions out of hand. But Edmond II must have considered the issue for himself. He’d thought it over and drawn his own conclusion.
He had judged the Earl of Downing’s decision to be wrong.
Thank you so much.
Anne wanted to kneel before the king in respect, but he was far off in Lewiston at the moment.
“His Majesty…” As he spoke, the Earl of Downing gave a tired smile. “Well then…I’m sure His Majesty will have some choice words for me, traitor that I am.”
He opened the envelope and looked down at the letter. His hands trembled. The earl stood fixed to the spot, staring at the paper in his hands. Then he squeezed his eyes tightly shut for a moment, and his shoulders drooped with exhaustion.
The letter fell from his grasp. The wind picked it up, and the paper danced lightly through the air, landing at Anne’s feet.
When she looked down, she saw that she could read it. It had been written in an elegant, flowing hand.
Downing. I am sorry for causing you such ceaseless worry. It seems that on this occasion, too, you made your decision with great care and difficulty. You have looked after me since I was a young child. And I’m sure that in this case, as always, you acted in order to protect myself and the kingdom. But I am king, and I am no longer a child. I am the one who must make these decisions; I mustn’t burden you with such responsibilities. I’d like you to leave this matter in my hands. I am grateful for all your hard work.
That was it. Words of gratitude and resolve.
The garden was quiet, as if the earlier mayhem had been some kind of mistake.
Two white butterflies frolicked, flying all around the soldiers.
The Earl of Downing didn’t move. For some reason, Anne thought he seemed almost pitiful.
She picked up the letter at her feet and walked over to the earl.
“These are His Majesty’s feelings. It would be terrible if they got lost.”
She held the letter out, and the Earl of Downing slowly raised his head and took it. Then he looked back and forth between Anne and Hugh and put on a sarcastic smile.
“His Majesty states he is no longer a child. In that case, I suppose I’ve grown old… His Majesty is of the same mind as you all. I do not understand it.”
“It’s not because you’ve gotten old. It’s because you know fear,” Anne said. “My lord, you were an adult at the time of the civil war, and you had responsibilities then. You went to the battlefield. You personally fought and suffered. It’s only natural you fear that outcome more intensely than we do. It’s just that we don’t feel as much fear, so we have more paths to choose from.”
It was understandable that a person who had lost his beloved son on the battlefield, as well as so many of his fellows, would never want to experience that again. Anne was certain the Earl of Downing was truly a compassionate person and that was why he was so terribly afraid of the possibility of another war.
“You all are unafraid. I’d forgotten that the young know no fear. I’d forgotten, too, how that can help us forge new paths. And that means I am old. Don’t you agree, Mercury?”
Hearing his name called, Hugh answered with his usual generous smile. “Perhaps…”
“I won’t apologize. I followed my convictions. But…heal up quickly. It will be some time before a new guardian for the Silver Sugar Viscount can be chosen. Until then, you must recover your health.”
“Did you say a new guardian for the Silver Sugar Viscount, my lord?”
“Surely, someone too old to align with His Majesty’s spirit can no longer serve as his right hand. I will suggest to His Majesty that it is time I retire.”
“But that means—”
“That is my way of taking responsibility,” the earl asserted. “This is my last order as your guardian. Silver Sugar Viscount, in accordance with His Majesty’s wishes, present Reginald Stowe, the leader of the Fairy Merchants Guild, at the royal castle. Make sure that you take the fairy’s coffin with you. Then follow the orders given by His Majesty and continue the work of training silver sugar fairies. That is all. I will withdraw.”
The Earl of Downing turned on his heel and raised his voice toward the soldiers. “Withdraw! The soldiers of the Earl of Tasso are to return to the prefectural castle. My troops are to return to Westol!”
At the earl’s orders, the soldiers all wheeled their horses about. The door to the earl’s carriage opened to usher him in. Without thinking, Anne called out after him as he walked away.