It was a quiet night, and so was Jenkins' bedroom on the second floor of St. George's Street.
The maid lady who walked in quietly was not wearing a normal maid uniform. Julia's ordinary uniform is the kind of thick one that makes you want to sweat at a glance in summer. It is a dirty-resistant clothes that are really used for work. .
Tonight she is wearing a very light, very fabric-saving maid uniform. Although it saves fabric, this dress is definitely expensive, because there are a lot of decorative lace and tulle designs on it, which makes Jenkins sigh, even if the productivity level is not as good as his original world, but the designers of this world Thoughts and vision are also quite superb.
"That... is there something wrong?"
In his room, only the gas lamp by the bed was turned on. He was leaning on the pillow and reading a book just now, "The Collection of Elegant Echoes". Although the title of the book sounds like a collection of poems, it is actually an ancient fortune teller collected by Miss Audrey. For the manuscript, Jenkins needs to read and submit the reading notes within a week.
"Yes, there is something."
Julia's face was very red. Although she was a decisive and elegant maid on weekdays, she was not the kind of thick-skinned girl. Turning around and closing the door, the moonlight and the light of the bedside gas lamp made it easy for Jenkins to appreciate the beauty of the maid outfit with few fabrics that seemed to have crossed the era.
It's not that he doesn't understand what Julia means. In fact, he has already had intimate relationships with three different girls. He is no longer the young man who didn't understand anything, but...
"Did Dolores send you here?"
As he put down his book and put on his slippers and left the bed, Julia tried to answer, but Jenkins didn't give her the chance:
"I know you won't betray Dolores. The question I asked you just now will really embarrass you, so there's no need to answer it. You don't need this, no matter who asked you to come, this kind of thing... um..."
The organizational language he's struggling with:
"You will definitely be upset about this kind of thing. You don't have to, Julia. I respect you very much, so you don't have to come to see me in such a cool dress."
From Jenkins' point of view, this is probably the young princess, seeing other women sneaking into Jenkins' house, she was a little jealous but helpless, so she asked her maid to take her "position" temporarily. This kind of thinking is easy to understand. Jenkins All court novels seen in this world are written in this way.
"I… "
Before Julia finished speaking, Jenkins casually took the clothes he had put on the chair and draped them over her shoulders. The maid outfit was too destructive, and Jenkins didn't want to damage his and Julia's reputation because of a piece of clothing.
"Go back to sleep, if Dolores asks later, I'll explain."
After saying that, he couldn't help but take the hand of the maid and walked out of the bedroom, then said good night to her politely, and then closed the door of his room.
The maid in the corridor was still flushed. She didn't leave the door, but leaned against the wall in Jenkins' coat, as if she wanted the cold wall to absorb the heat in her heart.
He suddenly held down his heart, and every beat of that heart contained throbbing that involved the soul. This is not a heart disease, the maid probably understands how she feels at the moment.
Tonight's action is half Dolores' hint and half voluntary. Dolores regards her as a relative, and of course she will not force her to do such a thing. Julia has a certain affection for Jenkins, so she voluntarily did this Do.
Before entering the room behind her, she thought of many possibilities, but she did not expect Jenkins to make this choice-but if she had talked to Britney in advance, she would have been able to foresee Jenkins' actions just now.
In some respects, although Jenkins' actions are indeed not innocent, he still retains the values that belong to Jenkins. For example, Dolores is sixteen, so she can't do anything; for example, he won't sleep with Julia, who he thinks has been forced into his room.
These are eccentric behaviors that the people of this world cannot understand.
"His Royal Highness has chosen the right person."
The maid blushed and thought in her heart, looking at the door next to her, she had the urge to knock on it again. But Julia is still thin-skinned, and finally leaves the wall to take a shower before going to bed, and at the same time forget about Jenkins who was blushing and bewildered just now.
But at this time, footsteps came, and Hathaway, who was walking from the first floor to the second floor with a teacup in pajamas and slippers, appeared in the corridor, just in time to see Jenkins at the door of the bedroom, wearing a black and white lace "simple" maid costume, wearing a Julia in the Jenkins coat.
"Oh~"
The red-haired girl sighed, thinking that she only knew about Jenkins and Britney on the train not long ago, and based on what she knew about Jenkins, she guessed what happened here just now.
Hathaway didn't laugh at Julia. Hathaway's mentality was very stable. She even stared at the "beautiful" maid outfit intently. She sized her up from bottom to top with very explicit eyes, and finally blew at Julia. After whistling, he returned to his room with the cup as if he hadn't seen anything.
Miss Maid now wants to jump directly from the second floor to the depths of the ground.
During breakfast on Wednesday, the family sitting around the dining table didn't show any abnormality, as if they didn't know what happened last night. But in fact, even Britney heard Hathaway talk about it, but the two girls didn't care.
In their view, Dolores was definitely going to enter the house, so what happened to Julia and Jenkins as her personal maids was also reasonable. They all grew up in aristocratic families, and their concepts are very different from those of Mr. Writer in another world. This is one of the reasons why Mr. Writer bravely stated that he wanted everything, but still did not collapse.
Today is the day for the meeting of the three kings. Although we all know that this day will come sooner or later, when it really comes, there is a sense of unreality. Jenkins will be one of the members of the royal family to accompany him to attend the talks, so he got up early to choose the right clothes with the help of the three girls.
Jenkins thought that Julia would rush back to Dolores and help her choose clothes, but Julia said that there were many maids around Dolores.
"If my head maid is gone, they won't be able to perform their duties, so what will Her Royal Highness keep them for?"
The maid asked back.
Although it is a meeting of the three kings, it is not three kings hiding in a small black room and three people negotiating. The entire negotiation session is planned to last for one week, during which various issues including war, financial reform, territorial disputes, environmental governance, and steam technology sharing will be discussed. The seven days are an estimated schedule only, and meetings can last longer if necessary.
And the joint meeting of the Church of the Twelve Righteous Gods will be held after this meeting, which will last at least another week, and then there will be the final negotiation with the believers of lies.
Those who participated in the Three Kings Talks were all political elites from various countries. Jenkins is not a political elite, in fact he dare not even say he understands politics. It's just that the meeting needed his identity, so he had to run over as a background board.
Although he is now considered to be the most likely successor of Fidik Terry, he has never participated in government affairs, so it would be strange for him to speak.
Today is the first day, that is, the opening ceremony. As the beginning of a once-in-a-millennium meeting, the Nolan City Hall and the Fidetictli Kingdom racked their brains to arrange the celebration.
The venue of the meeting was of course Nolan Town Hall, and the square in front of the town hall was crowded with horse-drawn carriages from the morning. After Jenkins arrived, he had to walk in from the corner of the street. Fortunately, he met Miss Windsor, who arrived one step earlier, and passed the crowd smoothly under her guidance.
He didn't do anything all morning, interviews, speeches, photos and handshakes, Jenkins didn't know how the time passed so slowly. He has never experienced such a meaningless morning, and today's weather is extremely hot, even if there is that strange layer of fog lingering on the street, it can't stop the temperature from continuing to rise.
The cat lying on Jenkins' shoulder has woken up and fell asleep countless times. Once it fell asleep and even climbed on top of Jenkins' head. Jenkins doesn't mind the cat doing this, but Queen Isabella sternly asks Jenkins to take the cat down:
"It's a formal occasion now, what's the matter with your image?"
Therefore, although what she said was not wrong, the narrow-minded cat still held a grudge against this woman.
After lunch, formal talks began in the afternoon. Those unimportant people were cleared away, and the first closed-door meeting officially began. The presence of the three kings at this meeting can be regarded as setting the general tone for this meeting.
As an unimportant background board-like figure, Jenkins sat very far back in the conference hall, and in the middle of the conference hall was a long table for those participants who needed to speak.
He looked around while listening to people talking. The Stuarts were all present, and everyone was listening attentively. The Proud One of Cheslan also brought his own royal family members. Although he didn't bring almost all the children with the ability to govern like Salhi II, he also brought at least the second and third successors. two princes.
After all, the two countries are still at war, and it is very understandable for him to do so.
Everyone except Jenkins and his cat seemed to be listening attentively and taking notes from time to time. The translators are sweating profusely doing real-time translation work, which is not an easy task.
"I remember hearing Miss Windsor or Alexia say that real-time translation is billed by the hour, and you can get half a pound an hour. It is really a great job."
He quickly lost his mind, and although he was still subconsciously listening to people's speech, he was actually thinking about completely unrelated things.
"I can also be considered a rich person now. Britney said a few days ago that I was too stingy with myself, and I didn't have many clothes in my closet. So, should I be generous... such as increasing the food expenses for chocolates ?”
He completely regards his cat as a part of himself, and will increase the food expenses for the cat, counting it as his own consumption. The cat "heard" Jenkins' unconscious thoughts, his eyes lit up, and he almost nodded violently.
"Meow~"
It raised its head and cried eagerly, and Jenkins immediately touched the cat's little head, and now he can't make a sound casually.
Unconsciously looking around, Queen Isabella asked 10 nobles who are eligible to inherit as background boards to participate in this meeting. In addition to those heirs who were originally qualified to come because of government affairs, there are at least 15 heirs of Fidiktli present here.
Jenkins' eyes saw Miss Windsor, who was also invited by Queen Isabella, sitting not far in front of Jenkins. Even if you only look at the back, you can see that Miss Windsor is recording and listening carefully.
This made Jenkins feel guilty that he was wasting his time, but this feeling disappeared in an instant with the shaking of the ground.
"No, earthquake!"
Startled, he quickly stood up and stuffed the cat lying on his lap into his pocket.
"Don't panic, leave in order!"
At the same time, Salhi II, who was speaking just now, said loudly that the intensity of the earthquake was not large, but the epicenter was definitely in the urban area of Nolan. Even if you are sitting still, you can feel the shaking of the ground, so most people from other places are a little panicked.
The earthquake temporarily interrupted today's meeting, but fortunately, the building quality of the city hall is quite good. Except for the crowding when rushing out, the earthquake did not cause casualties.
It's almost four o'clock now, and when everyone arrives at the square in front of the city hall, no one can be sure whether there will be aftershocks. Therefore, after a brief discussion, today's meeting is temporarily over. If the situation permits, the meeting and negotiations will continue tomorrow.
"Norland earthquakes have occurred frequently in the past six months, which is very normal."
Mr. Sachs Ruto, the mayor of Nolan City, squeezed in front of Queen Isabella and explained while wiping his sweat. But no one cared about him. On the contrary, some superstitious people believed that the earthquake happened on the first day of the Three Kings Talks, which probably indicated that the talks would not end well.
Originally, after the first day of the meeting, a grand reception was held to celebrate this event. But in view of the possibility of aftershocks tonight, the reception has also been postponed.
Queen Isabella invited Jenkins to her house for dinner. Jenkins actually wanted to go home and eat with the girls, but Miss Windsor, who was standing next to him and brought out of the city hall by his hand He agreed directly for him.
While talking to the Queen, Miss Windsor shook her head slightly at Jenkins. Knowing that this was an unavoidable dinner, Jenkins could only nod in agreement.
After returning home, she changed her clothes and went to the banquet. There were only Queen Isabella and Jenkins on the dinner table. The dining room of the mansion was huge, but because of the accidental earthquake, the nearby gas pipe broke down, so there was only one person in the restaurant. The three candlesticks on the table were still giving light.
Jenkins and the silver-haired old man, who were sitting at the two ends of the long dining table, could only see a blurry black figure sitting across from them. The servants who served them carefully bent over and pushed the dining cart, walking in the darkness.
It's a bit like something that happened in a spooky old house in a horror story. Jenkins slapped the cat's little paw on the table in the dark, and picked up the knife and fork to cut the steak.
"So, why not light some more candles?"
Finally he asked, breaking the silence since the dinner began, and he was curious about it.
"Soon the moon will emerge from behind the clouds and it will be bright."
The old man on the opposite side said, also picked up the knife and fork. She was old and her teeth couldn't handle steak, so she ate different food than Jenkins.
"So let me just ask the question directly. You invited me to be a guest, shouldn't it be just to treat me to dinner?"
he asked as he cut the sauced steak, the eyes of the cat staring at the piece of food with its front paws on the edge of the table glowed in the dark.
"Jenkins, you shouldn't ask questions directly at this time, but you should be more patient with me in the dark, and then wait for the other party to speak first."
Queen Isabella's old voice fit perfectly with the dark and weird atmosphere in the restaurant.
"Is this a special rule?"
He asked knowingly.
"It's not an expressly stipulated rule. This is the etiquette recognized by the nobles for thousands of years. I know that you grew up in a commoner family. Some things are not clear just by talking. You need to learn by yourself."
Salhi II said similar things yesterday, so Jenkins just nodded, but realized that the old man on the opposite side might not have good eyesight, so he said:
"I see."
The cat scuttled onto the table without a sound, as Jenkins put the first cut of veal on a side plate. According to the rules of eating at home, this belongs to chocolate.
"It's not a big deal to find you today. It's just the official start of the Three Kings' Talks. After that, I intend to announce to the whole country my chosen successor."
Her voice was still so flat, as if what she just said was an evaluation of the food on the dinner plate, Jenkins raised his eyes, and then continued to deal with his dinner:
"Yes, I understand."
"Aren't you curious?"
"Even if I am curious, I don't think you will tell me the result in your heart."
Jenkins said.
"Your performance now is much better than before."
There was a smile in the voice of the dark figure across the way, but Jenkins thought it was fake.
"I'm going to choose you."
Lies, this is a lie.
The corners of Jenkins' mouth curled up slightly, laughing at the behavior of the old man opposite him. But she's doing pretty well. If it wasn't for the priesthood of lies and Miss Windsor's reminder, maybe he should have a small chance to really think that he is the lucky one who was appointed.
"Then why not choose Ms. Windsor? If I am not one of the participants, from an onlooker's point of view, she is superior to me in every aspect except blood, so she is a better choice."
he asked.
"Is this testing me, Jenkins?"
The voice on the other side was still unhurried, but still answered Jenkins' doubts:
"No, I won't choose Jessica, she is indeed very nice, but unfortunately she is a girl."
This sentence actually caused a reaction from the Cleric of Lies, which was beyond Jenkins' expectations:
"Which viewpoint is problematic? Could it be... Miss Windsor is actually a male?"
He was amused by his own thoughts, but thinking about the sentence just now, it seemed that there was only one point that would trigger a lie—"I would not choose Jessica."
Jenkins frowned. There were too many possibilities. Maybe there was a woman named Jessica among the heirs, maybe even Miss Windsor was cheated by Queen Isabella.
But it can't be that Miss Windsor has been lying to Jenkins from beginning to end, and Jenkins is confident that he, as the god of lies, will not be deceived.
Thinking of the reminder from Salhi II last night, he opened his mouth to say something to make further explorations, but when he looked up at the other end of the long table, he heard the old man say "uh uh uh~" There was a strange sound, and at the same time, he seemed to make a throat-choking motion.
"What's going on... It's terrible!"
Suddenly he stood up and ran around the table to the old man, shouting loudly at the same time:
"Come on, Her Majesty is poisoned!"
The servants standing outside the door hesitated at first when they heard the voice, but when they heard the sound of the porcelain plate falling to the ground and being broken, they immediately rushed in with candlesticks. They arrived near Queen Isabella at about the same time as Jenkins. At this time, Her Majesty was already lying on the table in pain. Jenkins carefully raised her head in the dim light. Amid the old man's painful hum, He tried his breath and felt the pulse on his neck.
"What are you doing in a daze? Don't tell me there is no doctor here!"
He yelled at the servants nearby, and someone ran out the door to call the doctor. During this period, Jenkins commanded the servants to induce vomiting to Queen Isabella, and at the same time asked people to seal up all the meals on the spot, and then ordered the chefs and servants who were in charge of cooking tonight to take care of them.
At the same time, he ordered Queen Isabella's personal attendants to invite Duke Douglas Gerald to come over as soon as possible, and then asked the captain of the royal guard in the courtyard of the mansion to come and ask him to seal off the entire mansion and prevent anyone from entering or leaving without permission.
"Do you want to notify Carfax Yard?"
asked the resolute-looking former Army officer, standing upright in front of Jenkins with a serious expression on his face.
"First go to the six dukes who are currently in Nolan, and then go to the mayor, Mr. Sax Ruto, and ask them to call the police. Remember, this matter is not allowed to be rumored, at least not until His Majesty wakes up."
Jenkins ordered.
While Jenkins was arranging these things, the doctor from Beldyland, along with the Queen, arrived with his medical kit. He first asked people to transfer Her Majesty to the bedroom, then made a simple diagnosis, and finally concluded that I got the same conclusion as Jenkins' naked eye observation:
"It's poisoning."
Dr. Larry De is a middle-aged man in his forties with a square face who looks elegant and handsome. He is the kind of person who looks very reliable. Although his professional skills are very strong, but limited by the tools and means of this era, he cannot immediately diagnose what kind of toxin it is. Therefore, he could only follow the traditional method to continue Jenkins' vomiting just now, and at the same time, he used bloodletting in an attempt to let the toxins flowing in the blood flow out. Of course, he did not forget to ask the servants to prepare milk. Although Dr. Larry was not aware of heavy metals, he also knew that some poisonings could use milk to relieve symptoms.
I don't know whether it's because the amount of toxin is very small, or the timely vomiting has an effect. Before the arrival of the dukes, the mayor and the police, Her Majesty the Queen managed to wake up once. But her face was still blue, obviously not all right. This awakening doesn't look like it will be very long, the old man's condition is very bad.
"It's nine forty-five, and you've been unconscious for twenty-one minutes."
Seeing her wake up, Jenkins, pinching his pocket watch, said immediately.
"Your typical symptoms of poisoning, but don't worry, you'll be fine."
Dr. Larry, dripping with sweat, then added.
Queen Isabella, who had just woken up, looked around the bed, and then listened to Jenkins' arrangement just now, with a forced smile on her face:
"Your arrangement is very good."
She said in a low voice, the wrinkles on her face were piled up like hills, and she hardly saw such wrinkles on her face on weekdays.
"Everyone lean in, everyone lean in."
She suddenly shouted into the room again, when there was the sound of anxious walking at the door, and it turned out to be the Duke of Rochester, the youngest surviving Duke in the country at this time.
"Am I the first to arrive?"
He was sweating profusely as he spoke, his whole face flushed red, as if he had just run in.
"Come here, Your Majesty has something to say."
Jenkins greeted.
Everyone gathered around the bed, including the doctor, the servant, the Duke, Jenkins, and the cat, and the frail old man lying on his back said:
"In order to prevent accidents, as witnesses, please listen to me now making my will: I, Isabella Jane Middleton, hereby declare that the matter tonight has nothing to do with Jenkins Williams. My guest, there is no chance to poison me. If I have the misfortune to go to death for this despicable act, then my throne will be inherited by Jenkins Redandpoort William, a scion of the honorable Middleton family... "
After that, Jenkins didn't listen carefully to the somewhat long-winded distribution of personal property. While stroking the cat on his shoulder, he felt suspicious in his heart.
First of all, there is no need for any doubt that the old man in front of him has no intention of passing the throne to Jenkins in the past and now. Today's poisoning incident was particularly strange, and when the will was made, if the Duke of Rochester was not present, then the witnesses here would not be enough, but the Duke of Rochester arrived first.
Although Jenkins didn't know where the Duke lived, he had only met the young Duke on the pier welcoming the Southland delegation, but he came so quickly, it was indeed suspicious, but it seemed reasonable to insist on explaining .
At this moment, Jenkins was listening to the long-winded will, looking at the dying old man, and thinking of the assassination on the pier not long ago.
Thinking about it now, it is particularly suspicious that the then Queen Isabella insisted on holding the welcome ceremony according to the original plan before Miss Windsor persuaded her, and it happened to be the Duke of Rochester who supported him at the time. As for the assassination, there is now enough evidence to prove that it has nothing to do with the other people present, so when you think about it carefully, no one on the pier that day, except Jenkins, the gunman in the dark and the kind pigeon in the sky, should know who the real target of the gunman is Jenkins.
After all, the person who was shot was the dead Viktorm, who was obviously injured by innocent people because of the brief confusion caused by the cat.
"So, at that time, Queen Isabella kept everyone behind unreasonably, not because she wanted to use this method to put me to death. She didn't know that the shooter was targeting me. And when she didn't know the shooter's real target Next, her purpose is..."
Judging from the position and common sense at the time, once the gunman appeared, the real target of the gunman should be the most valuable person on the pier at that time, which of course was Queen Isabella herself. It just so happened that Jenkins was standing next to Her Majesty the Queen that day, and Viktorm, who was shot, might have "unfortunately" blocked the gun for Jenkins, or he might have blocked the gun for the Queen.
The shooting was not arranged by Queen Isabella. She subconsciously thought that she was the target, which is also very possible.
"So... she wants to get herself shot?"
Without today's events, Jenkins would not have come to this conclusion. Although the "poisoning" incident that is happening now seems reasonable, it is more suspicious than the Queen's actions to maintain the status quo when there was a shooting on the pier.
Although "poison killing" is common in various court novels, it is actually not common to use this method to assassinate. Not to mention, the security around Queen Isabella has always been quite good. From the time she took the throne to the present, as far as Jenkins got the history from the memory of the original owner, there has never been a poisoning incident around her.
Now that she came to Nolan, she happened to be poisoned when she took the initiative to invite Jenkins to dinner, so there is reason to suspect that this was arranged by herself. The Duke of Rochester, who happened to arrive, seemed to have learned the news in advance, and came here as a witness to hear the "will". As for how to prove this...
"Duke, you didn't come running here, did you? I see that your face is covered with sweat. Do you need ice water? Be careful not to get heatstroke."
At this time, the old man had finished dictating the will and fell into a coma again. The people in the room were panicked, the doctor checked the situation again, and Jenkins whispered to the young Duke beside him.
"Yes, I rushed over when I heard the news, this is..."
The latter words are not important, because the first sentence is a lie. Therefore, the duke's identity as the "witness tool person" in this incident is confirmed. Although it is also possible that the duke poisoned him, it is obviously not good for him at all. As far as Jenkins knows from Miss Windsor, this The Duke is loyal to Queen Isabella, and unless he is insane, it is only possible that he colluded in advance to know about this matter, so that he could appear by such a coincidence.
"Thus, although the first time was not intentionally arranged, the queen intended to 'encounter her life in danger' in front of me twice in a row. During the first time, the Duke of Rochester spoke for her, indicating that the two had already arranged for the second time." The second time started smoothly, but what was it for? He was seriously injured in front of me, and he made a will on purpose... The will is to win my trust , this is certain, but what is the reason for this... "
PS: Only use this chapter to commemorate that the book has reached 8,000 average subscriptions (those who jumped to this data this morning, now updating this chapter is estimated to be more than 7,000).
When this book was put on the shelves, the first order was more than 1,000, and the average order was more than 900. As of today, it is the 672nd day after it was put on the shelves. After two years, although it has never rushed into the top ten of any list, But it finally reached 8,000 average bookings. Near the end of the book, there is no further possibility, which is probably the highest achievement this book can have. Although it is far inferior to those bigwigs who have been on the shelves and ordered various lists, this achievement is also very satisfying.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been able to see here for their support. In the last volume of this book, the author will try his best to make a perfect ending for Jenkins' story.