Chapter Sixty-Three
It was honestly fun being a Prince-Consort. Especially with the current King still being alive. Although the one in charge was at the present time Joseph, most of the nobles of Gallia looked up to Charles for solutions to their problems. It was pretty obvious how a troublesome civil war could start if something went wrong during the division of power, but I could hope things kept themselves as low key as possible. For the rest, I mastered the art of being the trophy-husband, leaving everything that didn't directly require me in the hands of my lady wife.
She might have been young, but truly...she was a shark. Perhaps, due to the fact that I gave her the responsibilities rather than simply let her have all of the fun in the world, or perhaps because she had been given land to administer-she wasn't bored. She was never bored.
I, on the other hand, had to actively find stuff to do in order not to bore myself to death, although as long as I had quill and parchment, I was set up for life. Parties and celebrations happened with a near weekly timetable, if with different nobles, and for different purposes. Whoever said royalty had more free time than the rest should have been shot dead. I wasn't proper royalty, but pretty darn close to it, so all of the rules applied.
Which included forks, and spoons, and no outwardly show of most of the basic human emotions needed to appear as a normal human.
"I'm not really in love with formalities," Joseph said one day as he called me into his office within the palace, a small crown over his head signaling his status as a regent, "So, frankly, I've been told it would be best to give you something to do lest you drink the royal cellars empty," I scoffed, rolling my eyes. I hadn't as much as touched the cellars once, so this was quite the low blow, Joseph. "I know, I know, they're fools thinking you could manage such a feat alone, even I am not that mad," here Joseph chuckled, and then filched from the top of his desk a hefty looking parchment, "So, here you go. Stuff to do. Go do it as much as you want, or as little as you want. I don't care."
I raised an eyebrow, and then grabbed the parchment in question. "Oh well, if it isn't the County of Brittany, the area filled with problematic Protestants," I hummed, "Having me hunt Fire Dragons in the Fire Dragons Mountains was too easy for me to handle?"
"The difference is that I like fire dragons, but I'm not an enthusiast on religious matters," Joseph said with a snort, "I don't care if you crucify half the population and burn up the other half. Seriously, just as long as they stop prattling to me that something must be done-I'll tell them it's your responsibility now."
I nodded, "Them being? The local lords of the area?"
"And the priests," Joseph grumbled. "And the village heads, and pretty much every single lord that lives in those lands is tired of the commoners fighting each other over gold bits on clothes and not."
I hummed, looking at the parchment and mentally counting the plots of land I actually had the right to investigate and give orders to and..."I'm going to need men for this."
"Sure, take the knights of the East Lily, they're pretty flowers, but they can work if you plant them correctly," Joseph spoke with a smirk on his face, only for me to shake my head in answer.
"No, not knights," I said. "I want commoners. Cavalry and muskets," I turned thoughtful. "No other knight, or mage, if not me. If the commoners see magic coming their way, they must know it is mine and mine alone, or belonging to their lords."
"Oh, very well, have your theatrics," Joseph said with a huff, "No pikemen?" he asked next, curious about my lack of mention of the main commoner force within an army.
"Pikes in villages are simply trouble, give a musketeer a bayonet and he'll be useful no matter where he is," I answered plainly, and to that Joseph nodded and wrote on another piece of paper before apposing his signature and royal symbol upon it. From within his desk, he actually pulled out a small baton of sorts, with small staves decorated over it.
"There you go, now make sure I have less headaches to suffer from," Joseph remarked, passing me over a parchment and the baton that apparently marked me as a new Marshal of Gallia, and to that I nodded and bowed once before leaving. "Also, how about we have a drink together when you get back?"
"Then I'll endeavor to finish this quickly," I answered with a smile, waving with the baton before closing the door behind me soon after. The hallways of the palace of Lutece were wide, tall and long. Mostly, there were rich carpets softening the footsteps and paintings of blue-haired royalty standing in poses across most of the corridors, but decorative suits of armor and stuffed exotic or magical animals weren't that uncommon either.
"This mission is shifty," Raven cawed from the nearest window, his beak clacking once as he shared my thoughts. "The Henry Inquisition-they will never expect it!"
"Yeah, yeah," I nodded towards him, making the baton twirl gently with my fingers as a tiny light appeared at the far end of it by my command. I reckoned it could act as a makeshift staff of sorts, but I preferred my swordwand. "Isabella?"
"Learning magic! The Pink Room with Teapots! Third floor, second corridor, fourth door," Raven cawed, and as I grinned and patted his feathered head as thanks, I began to walk my way there. Flying out of the window and then knocking at the right height was considered crass, rude, uncouth and definitely non-royalty approved, thus I couldn't do it.
I knocked at the door in question, and then politely entered once invited inside.
"Ah!" Isabella exclaimed, quickly standing up with a smile on her face, "my love!" Joseph dared give me the theatrics bullshit, but his daughter was pretty much permanently fixed in such a state where she'd act like a cheap B-movie actress trying to interpret the role of a loving wife. If it weren't for her earnestness in doing such things as holding my hands and looking up at me with wide star-filled eyes, I'd think she was playing me for the fool.
On the other hand, this Isabella was quite earnest, so she was honest about her actions.
"Hello there, my dear," I answered with a smile of my own. In the corner, the private instructor stood up from her chair and bowed, the your highness pretty much obvious. "I won't take much of your time," I continued. "I just thought it would be best to tell you ahead of time that I'll be leaving for the County of Brittany to deal with its religious problems."
Isabella balked slightly at my words, and then she looked at the baton resting under my arm. "Did father...did he nominate you a Marshal?" she looked back up at me, "Is the situation so bad there is a need to mobilize the army?"
"No," I answered with a grin of my own, "Nothing but strongly worded letters yet, but I rather prefer to carry with me a big gun and not have to use it, than go unarmed and face hostilities. Also, he did say I could torch the countryside down if I so wished...but I'm not going to do that. You wouldn't like ruling over torched grounds, would you?"
"I most certainly wouldn't care," Isabella said with a sigh of relief, "As long as you're kept safe, you can tell the soldiers to do whatever they want with the commoners. If father's fine with burning them down, then just do that if they oppose you too much."
I blinked, and then inclined my head, "That's...not going to happen," I said quite gently. "Commoners they may be, but...it would be too cruel."
Isabella exhaled and shook her head, smiling softly. "Maybe so! But I don't like this-" she huffed, "will you be taking the knights of the Eastern Parterre, or those of the South Parterre?"
I shook my head in answer, "No knights, only part of the army. I do not want this to be seen as the nobles oppressing the religious views of the commoners, so I'll have commoners capture the troublemakers."
"I don't approve!" Isabella yelled, much to my wincing, she planted a hand right against my chest, "At the very least, you need a honor guard of sorts! Going without any is foolish!" she narrowed her eyes, "I'll have some knights prepared and ready to follow you by tomorrow. You will not go without proper escorts."
"Just as long as they're few in numbers, dear," I said. "You tend to exaggerate sometimes."
"I do not," Isabella huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest and looking sideways, her chin raised high.
"When I cut myself with paper, you wished to see the head of the servant who brought the blank parchments to me detached from his neck," I said with a drawl. "That, my dear, is exaggerating."
"Still," she grumbled, "You're too lax. That's why I have to worry for you too. If I don't, then you'll fall head first in a pit or something, and probably laugh rather than cry for help. I'm sure you'd even excuse the guy who made the pit in the first place, you and your bleeding heart."
"I am a soft-hearted person," I said with a nod of acknowledgement, "But this and that are two different things, Isabella."
"I have lessons to attend to," Isabella said in a murmur, "But I expect you in the gardens to keep me company before dinner, since you won't be here by tomorrow."
I bowed, and gingerly claimed her hand for a kiss on the back of it, "Very well," I said with a smile. "It will be my pleasure."
And with that, I left Isabella to her own devices.
Honestly, I had done this to see if she had already acquired the command of the knights of the North Parterre or not, and not simply because I didn't want a knight guard. On the plus side, the travel to the County of Brittany would take a few weeks by foot that would bring me away from most of the complications of court. While I could reach it by flight, the army that I needed to rally would march by foot for the most part, and thus I couldn't outrun them.
Although, it might take even more than that. When I said that I'd get a few soldiers, I meant that I had to spend most of the day sending servants to the barracks, to the royal armory, and then get more along the way.
I wanted to put the fear of the Gods into those imbeciles that thought that fighting over decorative ornaments was worth the risk of getting crucified, or burned to the stake. Even worse, if the Pope felt like it, he could ask for a squad of mage knight to deal with the problem personally. The only reason it hadn't happened had been because somehow, Joseph didn't care about the Pope, and in Gallia, his word was law.
I didn't feel the same for Charles however, which was quite the pity.
Charles believed wholeheartedly in the cause of the Gods, in the Promised Land, in making Gallia great and in so doing, he stood amidst those firmly in the camp of the Pope's beloved. Joseph was more of a Protestant, but largely because he believed that if a priest wants to hold mass, then he needs only his voice, and not also the wealth associated with it.
It was a unfortunate situation, but if I managed to solve this with minimum fuss and lack of bloodshed, then perhaps I might get some support, which in turn translated to giving Joseph support for the crown.
If one is stupid, after all, then he must simply surround himself with smart underlings.
Oh hell.
Since when did I start rallying for Joseph?
