The Opposite Of Indifference - Chapter 7

***

Rubert Mulally was waiting at the gates of the royal palace. His sandy blond hair stood out against the black night sky.

“You haven’t been here to complain lately, Millie.” He greeted Millicent with sarcasm. “Anyway, it’s good.”

Then he suddenly even offered her some bergamot berries.

“The last time we met, you complained that you were having too much trouble, so I got some of these too.”

“People would think I’d make a very big deal out of it if they heard.” Millicent sulkily accepted the Barrie’s.

“It’s true, isn’t it?” Rubert said. “Once every two days, you complain you would die from confusion about whether you were a maid or an assassin…”

“Let’s just fill our bellies first, Your Highness Cardinal,” Millicent cut him off.

She took the lead, jangling her pocket of gold coins.

“The more polite you are, the creepier it gets,” said Rubert, who was polite at best but fed up with the insolence.

“I’m starving. Let’s go quickly.” Millicent grumbled.

“Where did the money come from?” Rubert  looked suspiciously at the jangling pocket of money.

Millicent shrugged, “I made good use of my special skills.”

Rubert chuckled at this. His green eyes bent beneath the sandy blonde hair that softly covered his  forehead. It was a familiar laugh that he gave every Millicent whenever she said nonsense.

“Wait a minute,” said Rubert, putting on a black cloak over his red priest’s uniform. As they left the palace and walked through downtown Metropolitan Cathedral, Millicent saw only the back of Rubert Mulally.

He was a large man, the bishop of the cathedral diocese and ordained cardinal last year. In fact, his tall height and broad shoulders were more suited at the church door than a priest.

At the same time, he was a pale-skinned young man who sometimes blushed as red as the tip of his nose. If Rubert had been born a nobleman, he would have been the head of knights, wearing shiny armor.

Unfortunately, he was born the second son of a butcher of the Mulally family. He hunted in the morning, helped his father cut meat during the day, and read books at night. Well, he still belonged to the axis where life was better than where he came from.

“Where should we go?”

Rubert glanced back as he entered a familiar alley.

“You know where we’re going to meet.”

Millicent pointed with her chin to a familiar brewery.

It was dark, even with the lights on. The farmers were grouped together, not washing the dirt from their hands. Some men and women, cloaks covering their heads, were whispering to each other, as if they were meeting in secret.

Millicent and Rubert took their place in a corner.

“May I have some fruit and ale, please?” Rubert said to a waiter who approached him with a sour expression.

“And some bread too, please,” Millicent quickly interrupted. “If you have eggs, could you boil them? Just enough heat with runny yolks. And some grilled pheasant, too. And if you don’t have any, could you please prepare some bacon to sell for tomorrow’s breakfast? Oh, and don’t forget the butter for the bread. Strawberry jam would be nice, too.”

The freckled waiter mumbled Millicent’s order and walked away.

“You do know it’s almost midnight, right?” Rubert clicked his tongue.

“You want me to last until tomorrow morning on fruit and ale?”

“Have you stopped calling me Highness Cardinal?”

“Didn’t you say it’s creepy?” Millicent raised an eyebrow. “And because we’re outside the palace.”

“I guess,” Rubert chuckled. “It’s already been a month since I introduced you to the queen as a good assassin,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Is your work getting any better?”

“I just caught a fish,” Millicent said. “More like a foolish crucian carp adorned with pink scales.”

She spoke broadly of her recent developments and Charlotte Brennan’s approach.

“By the way, Rup,”  Millicent asked. What is your relationship to Queen Jadalin?”

“Me and the queen?” Rupert replied, “The woman asked me to find an assassin.”

“And the Queen trusts you?” After a few moments of pondering, Millicent snarled.

“Yes. The queen doesn’t believe anyone. She doesn’t even pretend to believe,” Rubert nodded quietly. “Queen Jadalin and I have formed a sort of alliance, that’s all. To protect each other in times of need.”

“Alliance?”

“Because we’re afraid of His Majesty the King.” Rubert said half jokingly. “Jadalin is a foreign woman isolated in the royal court, and I am a son of a butcher who has made enemies of nobles united by a lineage greater than mine.”

“Wasn’t King Frederick who appointed you, a non-aristocrat, to that high position?” Millicent raised an eyebrow.

Rubert Mulally, a butcher, saw the light of day thanks to his innate passion for learning and his honest lifestyle. He received a scholarship to study theology at the school and was appointed priest of the court chapel, much to the delight of his professors. He then came to the attention of Frederick, who was a prince then.

He attended Mass and exchanged words with Rubert. He was impressed by the young priest’s remarkable insight. After a debate that lasted until dawn, Rubert was given the glory of becoming the prince’s personal teacher.

A few years later, Frederick, who acceded to the throne, appointed Rubert a judge and then a royal advisor.

“I heard King Frederick really likes you,” Millicent said. There was even talk that nothing of state could be accomplished without going through the young cardinal, the so-called ‘king’s mirror. ‘

“That’s why I’m afraid.”

But Rubert did not even seem inclined to flaunt this. “For all my foundations are laid by His Majesty,” he said. “His Majesty can always take it back at any time.”

The conversation was interrupted for a moment by Millicent’s preoccupation with other matters. The waiter had come back with a table full of food.

Her mouth watered. Although they didn’t cook the eggs to her liking, she quickly ate them as they were quite delicious.

“The cardinal must be very hungry.” The boy who had successfully carried out the order rubbed his hands on his apron and spoke. “Certainly, you must eat a lot to maintain a body that size.”

Rubert shrugged. “No, this is all for the lovely young lady here.”

He took a drink of ale.

“If I tried to take even a piece of bread, she would stab me with a fork.”

Millicent was too busy mixing and spreading butter and jam to reply. The waiter was stunned.

“Really, anyone in the capital would recognize you.”

“Yes, even I’ve gone to extra trouble.” Rubert pointed to the black cloak he wore to cover his red priest’s uniform.

“Clothes are not the problem,” Millicent laughed. “You should have hidden your height from the other men. You’re one head taller with shiny blonde hair.”

Rubert growled, “I’m not even that big.”

He added with annoyance. “I’m just as tall as the King.”

“What ahanahama wjnahk?” (*can’t speak with food in her mouth)

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. Finish eating then talk.”

However, Millicent quickly forgot the question she was about to ask as she quickly devoured the jam-covered bread.

“Millie, are you confident?” Rubert asked as Millicent was about to turn her attention to the grilled meat. “I can take care of you. You claimed to have died but revived. I can explain to the Queen.”

He said, unsettled. “Perhaps you could kill the ladies at court and make an escape. But if you are caught red-handed, I cannot help you then. I will not be able to save you if you are taken to the Cathedral Tower, where criminals are imprisoned and tortured, then hanged after a trial.”

Suddenly his worry turned into a terrifying warning.

“No, if you are caught and taken into the Cathedral Tower, Queen Jadalin will use her hands first, and I will not be able to stop that.”

“I don’t need your help.” Millicent stabbed the red meat with a fork. “Because I’m good at killing.”

“If you say so, I’m glad.” Rubert gave a worried sigh but generally nodded.

“What is His Majesty the King like?” Millicent remembered her earlier question. “I heard he’s God’s perfect creation.”

“Yes.They also say he is the best king on the five continents. Rubert smiled. “He is skilled in the art of spearmanship and wizardry, and a natural born strategist.”

“He fights every day?” Millicent asked indifferently.

“Well, he’s had to do that for a while,” Rubert said.

The Holy Kingdom of Kintland was not originally a country with a strong king. Rather, it was closer to a form of joint rule in which powerful families established a nominal king and ruled jointly with reference to the will of the Great Temple.

But even then, they fought each other.

The reign of the previous king, Frederick II, who ascended to the throne amidst the clash of nobles, was naturally dark. One war after another broke out. People had no idea who they should be loyal to in order to survive. But the situation was turned upside down when Prince Frederick grew up.

He marched with the banner of Grisch, with the gray azalea, the symbol of the royal family. All traitors were executed. Numerous nobles and knights died. Only those loyal to the crown remained. After his coronation as King Frederick III, the calm accelerated. The foundation of an absolute monarch was almost complete.

“The kingdom has almost regained its stability. The aftermath of the civil war still lingers,” Rubert said.

“I heard His Majesty’s been busy on the border for a while?”

She remembered a few months ago, when the girls sprinkled rose petals in the cathedral city to congratulate the king as he marched with his army. Millicent had also sneaked around the gaudy procession, hoping to get some watery soup.

“Yes. I thought he was going to fight a few more times…” Rubert had a suspicious look on his face. “Somehow he came back earlier than people expected.”

He muttered. “He’s always an unexpected person, but….”

“There’s news of victory, but there’s no party in the capital?”

Millicent, who did not care about the king, held only the hope of being treated to bread and beer to be scattered around the country.

“Aren’t the palace servants working hard to prepare the banquet?

Rubert pointed out a reality Millicent had forgotten. She then remembered her hideous maid disguise.

“But, martial arts are not everything to His Majesty.” While breaking people’s hopes, Rubert continued. “He’s very intelligent. He has written several books. He  showed them to me first, and I was surprised when I read them.”

“Why?”

“Because they were excellent.”

He answered, clicking his tongue as if Millicent had asked a stupid question.

“Besides, His Majesty is a good sonnet dancer, and sometimes he composes great tunes and has the choir sing them.”

“The flattery is too much, eh?” Millicent didn’t believe him at all.

“You’ll see later,” Rubert said, not bothering to persuade her to believe him. “You’ll believe when you see it in person.”

After Millicent had finished her ale and her meal, they stood up.

***