shadow of britain

Chapter 818 Until death do we part
The cruise ship slowly sailed out from the south estuary of the Thames, accompanied by the deep rumble of its horn, its bow carving out milky white ripples on the water.

This is a passenger ship that can carry 300 people. Although it does not belong exclusively to the royal family, its ticket price is not affordable for the working class.

According to Conroy's travel plan, Kensington Palace's summer tour maintained a moderately approachable image on the surface, with royal entourage and some members of the public traveling together. However, the rest area inside the cabins was divided into several special zones for Kensington Palace staff only.

The aft cabin is equipped with a partition curtain for Kensington Palace’s exclusive use, while the forward cabin and open deck are shared by ordinary passengers.

Arthur was sitting in that semi-enclosed observation cabin.

Before him was an open window, through which he could hear children screaming, middle-class ladies exclaiming in amazement at the view, and one or two young men with heavy accents secretly discussing which of the Kensington Palace staff was Princess Victoria.

Unfortunately, all their guesses were wrong, because Victoria hadn't left the cabin since boarding the ship all day.

Victoria was no longer the radiant woman she had been six months ago. Her face was pale, her lips were dry, and her once glossy chestnut hair had lost its shine. Just as Flora had said, she had been seriously ill for the past six months.

She hadn't spoken to anyone other than Leather in Kensington Palace for quite some time, not because others wouldn't talk to her, but because Victoria had deliberately refused all greetings, including from her mother, the Duchess of Kent.

The last time she spoke was yesterday at Windsor Castle when she attended her uncle William IV's birthday dinner.

She recalled that 100 royal guests sat in a row at the front of the table, ready to enjoy the birthday dinner, their figures silhouetted against the candlelight.

His mother sat to his right, and his aunt, Princess Sofia, sat to his left.

Uncle William finished his drink, his cheeks flushed slightly, and his large belly was tightly bound by a corset.

Then, before everyone, he rose and spoke: “I pray that God will allow me to live another 12 months. If I die then, there will be no regent. I will be able to hand over the authority of the monarchy to the young lady who is the heir to the throne, not to this man beside me, who is surrounded by advisors with ulterior motives and who is incapable of fulfilling the requirements of a regent. I can say without hesitation that I have suffered greatly and continuously humiliated by this man, but I am determined not to tolerate any further disrespect towards me. Of all the things that have displeased me, I am most indignant that the young lady, my niece, my beloved Deline, has been forced to keep her distance from my court. She has been repeatedly forbidden from entering my reception room, where she should always be… I am the King, and I am determined to ensure that my authority is respected. In the future, I will insist that Princess Victoria be present in my palace on all occasions, for it is her duty and her right.”

As soon as William IV finished speaking, Victoria couldn't help but burst into tears. She admitted that she had indeed been somewhat afraid of this seemingly rude king, but she also had to admit that Uncle William always had such a warm heart.

During her most difficult time, it was Uncle William who stood up for her and made decisions for her.

William IV's explosive remarks naturally attracted the attention of the guests. Everyone was stealing glances at the Duchess of Kent, whose cheeks were flushed. Clearly, she was thinking of her rebuttal, but had not yet uttered it.

Before long, the Kensington Palace retinue, led by the Duchess of Kent, quickly left their seats, leaving the strawberry jelly, sponge cake, and liqueur-soaked pudding on the table untouched.

Then, early this morning, they took Victoria on a summer cruise.

Arthur, of course, also learned from Miss Flora Hastings about what happened at Windsor Castle the previous night.

To be honest, he never expected that William IV would humiliate the Duchess of Kent in such a public manner.

However, on the other hand, William IV may have truly realized that his days were numbered, so he did not even intend to leave Kensington Palace with the last bit of restraint and royal decorum.

The fact that Flora came to the Duchess of Kent's house early this morning to wake her up shows that the Duchess was truly panicked, because apart from her own people at Kensington Palace, she suddenly realized that it seemed like no one was on her side.

Over the past six months, she has made several attempts to ease the tension with her daughter, even going so far as to bring her son, Prince Karl Leiningen, Victoria's half-brother, from Germany to London to help mediate the conflict.

However, Prince Carl Leiningen, 32, was deeply shocked upon learning of his sister's ordeal, and equally appalled by Conroy's intense hatred and brutal treatment of Letsen. But because his mother, the Duchess of Kent, had been speaking favorably of Conroy, Prince Leiningen began, with some skepticism, to try and mediate between Conroy and Letsen, and to do his utmost to appease his sister, Victoria.

Unfortunately, Prince Leiningen was 15 years older than Victoria, and there was a generational gap between them. In addition, they did not spend much time together when they were young.

Prince of Leiningen inherited the title of Grand Duke of Leiningen from his father when he was 10 years old. After his mother remarried in England, he went to Switzerland to attend secondary school. After graduating from secondary school, he immediately entered the University of Göttingen to study under the great German jurist Karl Friedrich Eichhorn. After completing his studies, he immediately returned to his small state to become the de facto monarch.

His relationship with his sister Victoria was limited to their annual summer visits, so their friendship could hardly be described as deep.

Although Victoria was willing to exchange a few words with her older brother, that was all she did.

Prince Leiningen, realizing that things were not so simple, did not force his sister too much, because he discovered that his mother actually wanted him to write to his uncle Leopold and ask him to ask Victoria to extend the regent's term from 18 to 21.

So after a brief conversation with Baron Stockmay and learning just how murky things were, Prince Leiningen promptly cut short his family visit and fled back to Germany overnight.

After enduring so many blows, the Duchess of Kent was understandably panicked.

She began publicly criticizing Victoria, reminding her of her youth and telling her that all her success was due to her mother's good reputation. She repeatedly emphasized that she was a long-suffering mother who had given up a comfortable life in another country to dedicate herself to raising her daughter to be a queen. However, the Duchess of Kent's self-indulgent victimhood narrative clearly became increasingly unpopular with Victoria.

Although Victoria would listen quietly to her mother's complaints, she still didn't say a word to her mother.

Otherwise, Kensington Palace’s summer parade this year would never have added a seat for someone to accompany Victoria and chat with her to keep her entertained.

Seeing that Arthur had clearly lifted Victoria's spirits, Arthur looked at her red eyes and asked with a smile in a low voice, "Who upset you again?"

“No, no.” Victoria shook her head. “I’m not unhappy, I’m just too happy, that’s why I’m crying. I have to apologize to Uncle William. Although I always thought he was a kind and good person, I still underestimated how kind he was. I hope God will bless him and help him get better, because he is a devout, humble, and loving Christian.”

“If His Majesty the King knew about this, he would be very pleased,” Arthur recalled. “I remember His Majesty once said at a banquet that when he was young, he believed in nothing but pleasure-seeking and reckless behavior. But after he encountered a storm at sea and witnessed the miracles of the ocean, he became a believer and a devout Christian. He even joked that if he ever went to see God, he hoped that the old man would forgive his youthful folly.”

“God will.” Victoria nodded seriously. “He’s a good man, and no one deserves to go to heaven more than him.”

Looking at her almost pious expression, Arthur casually remarked, as if speaking from the heart, "Your Highness, it seems you have truly suffered these past few days."

Victoria had been just looking down and playing with the white lace handkerchief in her hand, but upon hearing those words, it was as if a nerve had been suddenly tugged at.

She was taken aback at first, and then stopped what she was doing.

Silence lingered on her lips for a few seconds, then she bit her lower lip almost imperceptibly, as if still hesitating whether to respond to this not-so-deliberate expression of concern. Then, her shoulders trembled slightly, as if the heavy weight pressing down on her heart had finally been released.

“I…” Her throat tightened, and her voice was hoarse: “I’ve endured this for far too long.”

After saying that, she could no longer hold back, sniffed, and then turned away, tears streaming down her face like a burst dam.

She tried her best to maintain a semblance of dignity, but she couldn't suppress the emotional surge that had been suppressed for so long and was suddenly released.

She cried not like a crown prince, but more like an ordinary girl helpless in the dead of night.

The sobbing was intermittent, then it turned into a real, uncontrollable weeping.

Arthur neither tried to persuade her nor approached her. He simply sat there quietly, gently closing the window to shut out the laughter of the children playing on the deck outside, silently witnessing this belated weeping.

After a few minutes, Victoria finally calmed down a bit.

She still had her back to Arthur, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, Sir Arthur, I'm just... too tired."

Arthur handed her a glass of water, his tone as gentle as ever: "You don't need to apologize. On this ship, and throughout the entire United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, no one has the right to ask you to suppress your emotions."

Victoria took the water, took a small sip, wiped her nose, and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "Thank you."

As the atmosphere quieted down, Arthur didn't immediately change the subject, but waited for her to calm down on her own.

After about half a cup of tea's time, he spoke in a low voice, as if merely continuing the unfinished topic from before: "So... have you seen Elphinstone again recently?"

Victoria's fingers tightened, and the water in the glass almost spilled.

She slowly raised her head, tears still glistening in her eyes.

"No," she answered softly, paused, and then repeated almost through gritted teeth, "No."

"Really not?" Arthur's tone was not doubtful, but rather tentative.

“I can’t even receive his letters.” She opened the window and looked out, her gaze falling on the distant river mist. “Yesterday at Windsor Castle, he left me a letter, but I didn’t open it. Conroy took it, and I don’t even know where it is now.”

"Hmm..." Arthur closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, as if he were thinking about something: "Your Highness."

"Ok?"

Arthur took a deep breath, as if he had made a great decision, and reached into his pocket to pull out a letter: "You have three minutes. After you finish reading it, give it back to me immediately. I'm going to destroy it."

Victoria stared blankly at the letter, a thick letter folded from old-fashioned parchment, the seal broken but the folds still neat, signed: Lord John Elfenstone.

"How...how did you get this letter?"

“Conroy and Flora disposed of the letter,” Arthur replied succinctly. “But she didn’t give it to Lyzen or Conroy; she gave it to me, because she sympathized with you greatly.”

Victoria's fingertips trembled slightly, and after a moment, she finally took the letter and gently unfolded it.

She read it very quickly; to be precise, she had already rehearsed this letter countless times in her mind.

My dearest princess, my dearest Delina:

By the time you read this letter, I will have already left the coast of my home country and boarded a mail ship bound for a foreign land.

From this day forward, I will no longer be the young man who often strolled with you in the garden, discussing politics and poetry with you, but the Chief Executive of the Indian colony, a colonial bureaucrat beneath the crown and outside the royal family. I have received my new appointment as Governor-General of Madras, India, which I have accepted, or rather, I have no power to refuse.

I don't know if Conroy will allow you to open this letter. If he doesn't, then perhaps it's just lying in some locked drawer, quietly buried by some self-proclaimed loyal maid. But I hope you will eventually see it.

I didn't come to say goodbye because I couldn't face you alone. Even a silent glance from you wouldn't have been enough for me. I always thought of myself as a coward, until you said those words—that what you feared wasn't giving up, but the pressure from others. Yes, Delina, what I feared was never the distance, but staying behind.

I love you.

I finally dared to write this sentence out.

But I also know that you don't deserve to remember these words. The fate on your shoulders no longer allows a man to comfort you with "companionship," but only to disguise his love with "surrender."

So I left, I left this land.

But I will remember you, remember that evening when you whispered in my palm, "If only I weren't a member of the royal family."

May you, under the crown of the future, not forget the self who briefly possessed freedom.

Your loyal servant until death and slave of love.

John Elfenstone

13th Lord Elphinstone

(End of this chapter)