shadow of britain

Chapter 793 Hastings' Plan to Break Up a Couple

As a seasoned former senior Scotland Yard officer, Arthur was well-versed in political maneuvering such as framing and had used these tactics against his unscrupulous opponents on more than one occasion.

However, it is obvious that Lord Elphinstone is a completely different person from his previous opponents.

Before Elphinstone, Arthur's approach to dealing with enemies was always to frame them without any regard for the aftermath.

However, for an opponent who was highly regarded by William IV, had a powerful family background, and was quite famous, those less-than-honorable methods could not be used openly. Otherwise, if an investigation were to be conducted later, Arthur, who had eagerly run to be a pawn, would most likely be the first to be killed as a sacrifice to appease the public.

In other words, even if Elfenstone is to be targeted, it should be done from a perspective that the public can understand.

Furthermore, Arthur was not keen on personally taking action. He wanted the benefits but was unwilling to take the risks. In short, the knight wanted to reap the rewards.

In Arthur's view, he was definitely not the only one who didn't want Elphinstone and Victoria to be in a relationship.

If this news is made public, Kensington Palace will definitely vote against it on this issue.

The Whig Party also could not accept Victoria losing her right to the inheritance.

Within the Tory Party, the mainstream, led by party leader Peale, was largely unable to accept the Duke of Cumberland.

As for King William IV, Arthur felt that the sailor king's attitude was quite ambiguous.

Although it seems that William IV has fully accepted the reality that Victoria will inherit the throne, and he and Queen Adelaide are very fond of their niece, since Victoria officially entered the social circle this year, William IV and the Queen have invited Victoria to attend various salon balls held at Buckingham Palace, St. James's Palace and Windsor Castle on many occasions.

However... considering William IV's volatile temper and his intense dislike for the Duchess of Kent, it cannot be ruled out that the old king might have been blinded by hatred and, in order to take revenge on the Duchess of Kent, insisted on facilitating the relationship and marriage between Victoria and Elphinstone.

However, even if William IV were to do so, given his straightforward nature, he would most likely arrange the meeting openly or honestly, rather than resorting to underhanded tactics.

However, once the King's brother, the Duke of Cumberland, second in line to the British throne and first in line to the Hanoverian throne, learns of this potential royal scandal, who knows what he might do.

It's not that Arthur was wary of the Duke of Cumberland; rather, the prince had a terrible reputation in England.

In recent years, there have been as many as three murders involving the Duke of Cumberland.

The first incident occurred 25 years ago. The case was not particularly complicated. It stemmed from the Duke of Cumberland's long-standing mistreatment of his servant, Celis, which fueled Celis's resentment. Finally, unable to endure it any longer, Celis chose to attack the Duke one night while he slept. During the struggle, Celis struck the Duke's head severely and slashed his thigh with a military knife. After the incident, Celis fled to a storage room and committed suicide.

Of course, this is the Duke of Cumberland's version of events. At the time, this case shocked all of Britain. Although the court ultimately upheld the Duke of Cumberland's account, finding that Celis committed the murder and then committed suicide out of guilt, the British public generally blamed the Duke of Cumberland for Celis's death.

As a result, numerous conspiracy theories circulated in London. Some believed that Celis assassinated the Duke because the Duke of Cumberland had slept with his wife. Even more extreme theories suggested that the Duke of Cumberland and Celis were homosexual lovers, and that Celis committed the murder because he discovered the Duke's infidelity.

However, Arthur felt that the second viewpoint was unreliable. He argued that the Duke of Cumberland's steadfast religious faith and the subsequent two murders definitively established that he was heterosexual.

In 1813, the Duke of Cumberland fell in love with his cousin, Madame Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

The problem was that Frederica was a married woman; she was the wife of Prince William of Solms-Braunfels and the widow of Prince Louis of Prussia. However, their marriage was unhappy, and the couple was discussing divorce, though religious rules made the process lengthy.

Therefore, the Duke of Cumberland made an agreement with Frederica that they would marry once she completed her divorce proceedings.

However, in 1814, the following year, Prince William, in the prime of his life, suddenly died, leading many to believe that his death was too coincidental and suspect that Frederica had poisoned her husband in order to regain her freedom as soon as possible.

Lord Graves's suicide due to depression in 1830 has also been portrayed by Fleet Street as being related to the Duke of Cumberland, because there have been rumors that Lady Graves and the Duke of Cumberland had an affair.

Of course, it would be a stretch to say that the Duke of Cumberland was involved in these three murders.

However, it is certain that the Duke of Cumberland did slap the Countess at a banquet hosted by the Earl of Lindhurst, and was therefore "invited" out of the venue by the enraged Earl of Lindhurst.

Just recently, two young women accused the Duke of Cumberland of attempting to knock them down on horseback. Although the Duke of Cumberland had ample evidence that he had not left his home that day and confirmed that it was one of his attendants who had ridden out that day, and that the attendant himself had stated that he had never seen the two women, this did not prevent Fleet Street from making a big deal out of it.

At this point, even a discerning person might have noticed something amiss.

Even though the Duke of Cumberland did have a number of bad deeds, many of the charges against him were still unfounded.

If you carefully examine the timing of these negative news reports, you will easily discover a fact: the timing of these scandals all coincided with the Duke of Cumberland's residence in England. The Duke of Cumberland had never been involved in any scandals during his more than ten years in Germany. These scandals only emerged on a large scale when he announced his plans to return to England.

As for who is leaking information and smearing him, it's not too hard to guess.

Who else but the Whig Party?

Perhaps, the influence of the former king, George IV, the Duke of Cumberland's elder brother, also played a part, as he too disliked his younger brother. As for the reason... it is said that the Duke of Cumberland had made advances toward several of his sisters.

To be fair, setting aside the Duke of Cumberland's equally chaotic private life and extremely conservative political views, he was undoubtedly a diligent nobleman. Since his return to England in 1829, the Duke of Cumberland had been the first to arrive and the last to leave the House of Lords, and this was not an occasional pretense, but a daily occurrence.

But perhaps it was precisely because he was so diligent that the Whig Party became increasingly afraid that he would one day ascend the throne.

You can have extremely conservative political views, or you can be extremely hardworking, but if you have both, the Whig Party won't stand for it.

For this reason, Arthur felt that the Whigs might be more worried than he was about Victoria losing her right to the throne.

Although Lord Elphinstone is a rising star in the Whig Party and comes from a powerful family, if he insists on standing in the way of the succession to the throne, the Whig Party will almost certainly launch a purge against him.

Now, Kensington Palace and the Whig Party are both firmly on his side.

The only problem lies in how to subtly imply to the Whigs that the succession to the throne might be in jeopardy, and to direct the blame towards Elfenstone. After all, the radical faction, represented by Lord Brougham and Earl Dalamore, has already been identified within the Whig party as a force that needs to be downplayed, so this channel is definitely not an option. If they did,…

In addition, Arthur needs to secure the support of the Conservative Party so that they won't hinder the Whigs when they are determined to eliminate Elfenstone.

To win over the Conservative Party, one must first win over the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel.

As for what these two are most worried about...

Perhaps, all they can do is believe that the Duke of Cumberland's ascension to the throne will affect national stability.

In this regard, Arthur had some "unique" ideas. Anyway, the Duke of Cumberland's reputation was already bad enough, so what difference would it make if there was a new turd, even if it was a rather heavy one.

London, Kensington, the cozy Dacha Cottage café.

As soon as the door opened, a wave of hot air carrying the aroma of toasted bread and pepper rushed in, keeping out the chill of the misty rain outside.

Sir Arthur Hastings stepped into the café, his cloak still on, but water droplets were already silently dripping from the hem of his garment onto the Russian carpet.

The man by the window, who had been reading the Morning Post, quietly put the newspaper down, revealing a pair of sharp blue eyes. The waiter at the bar, who was wiping glasses, also paused almost imperceptibly for a moment.

Seeing this, Arthur gently pressed his top hat down, as if to say hello to the plainclothes officers.

"Sir." The young man who looked like a waiter quickly approached and whispered in a voice so low that only he could hear, "Miss Fiona has arrived and is waiting for you in the private room on the east side of the second floor."

"understood."

Arthur went up to the second floor, pushed open the door to the private room, casually took off his gloves, and tossed them onto the sofa by the window.

The air was filled with the aroma of cinnamon and tobacco, and oak wood burned in the fireplace, its flames illuminating the box in a golden glow.

Fiona Ivan, the most powerful lady in London's underworld, reclines in a wicker chair by the window, draped in a boldly tailored black velvet robe with a gold brooch around her neck. Her left index finger deftly circles a strand of hair, while her right hand holds a glass of golden Sauternes.

Seeing Arthur enter, she raised her eyes with a half-smile and said, "You're late, darling. I sat for thirteen minutes at the time you asked, just enough time for me to think things through. If you dare to stand me up again, even if you kneel down and beg me, I won't risk losing my head to do your dirty work."

Arthur smiled nonchalantly, sat down on the sofa, picked up the silver teapot on the table, and poured himself a cup of tea.

Before he could even pour his tea, Fiona pressed him for an answer: "Someone told me that they saw you go to Huang Chunju Street a couple of days ago and pass by Pope's Head Alley. You'd better tell me that's not true."

Arthur squeezed a slice of lemon into his teacup: "Then you might be disappointed. I did go there, and I had a lot of fun."

Fiona thought that even if Arthur really went, he would definitely deny it. In fact, she would rather Arthur lie about it, so that she would at least have a reason to deceive herself.

She had imagined a million possible answers from Arthur, but she never expected him to be so generous and admit it so readily.

Fiona's smile froze: "Are you... sure? Darling, I think you were half asleep that day? Or, oh, I know, you're probably just joking with me again, you naughty guy."

Arthur raised an eyebrow at her: "Why would I joke like that with you? Ridley and I really had a lot of fun that day."

“Rydley?” Fiona was struck dumb: “You…”

Of course she knew about Ridley's little hobby; after all, she was the one who told Arthur that Ridley's sexual orientation was unconventional.

But she never imagined that this information would one day backfire on her.

“Rydley?!” she repeated through gritted teeth, her voice so loud that even the waiter downstairs couldn’t help but look up towards the private room. “You mean, you took that pretty little rascal to Huang Chunju Street? And you two had a good time?”

"Don't make it sound so scary, Fiona. I just want to see if he's as timid as you say."

“Dare?” Fiona’s eyes practically spit fire. “I think you’re trying to test if I have a heart condition! Arthur Hastings, I’m telling you Ridley has that kind of fetish, not so you can bring him to do a live demonstration! I swear to God, if that bastard Ridley King dares to step into Nightingale’s Mansion again, I’ll have the girls block his front and back doors!”

"You actually...you actually took Ridley to Huang Chunju Street!" Fiona's face had turned purple. She gritted her teeth, the veins on her forehead throbbing, and she looked like a powder keg about to explode. "Arthur Hastings, I could tolerate you going to the worst brothel in SoHo and playing dirty games with some cousin's maid! But you actually brought a man to my inn! You're spitting in my face and shitting on my head!"

“Fiona.” Arthur casually put down his teacup, his tone as calm as ever, as if he were talking about the weather: “I didn’t do anything with him.”

"You! You! How dare you say that!" Fiona's hand was pressed against the dagger hidden in her waistband. "You took him to Old Lady's Palm and did nothing? Do you think I've been in London all these years for nothing? Did you two go on a group picnic to Old Lady's Palm?!"

"Let me finish." Sensing danger, Arthur slowly stood up, realizing his joke might have gone a bit too far: "I just asked Ridley to make a connection with someone."

"Is it really necessary to go to Huang Chunju Street to talk about this?" Fiona's emotions persuaded her to believe her, but her rationality told her that she absolutely could not let this guy get away with it: "You're not going to deny it today!"

Arthur sighed, reached into his coat pocket, pulled out a small piece of paper, unfolded it, and handed it over.

Fiona took the note with suspicion and immediately noticed the name at the top—Thomas Garth.

"What are you..."

“Don’t you also agree that intelligence trading requires a good match and similar interests?” Arthur said. “Thomas Garth Jr. is a regular at Nightingale’s Mansion. You know him. He doesn’t believe in God, doesn’t listen to the police, and doesn’t lack money or care about money. But if you’re fair-skinned, well-dressed, and can wink at him twice, he’ll even hand over his grandmother’s birth certificate.”

Fiona frowned, her heart easing slightly: "So you're sending Ridley up there to his death? I know that little bastard Thomas Garth all too well. Are you sure Ridley can handle him?"

(End of this chapter)