Vol 2 Chapter 9 (1/2)
Jus Primae Noctis Volume 2, Chapter 9
Portland’s life had been dismal, and in death, his fate was equally wretched. At Walker's insistence, Wilts.h.i.+re had informed the old butler in his hometown of his death and requested that he come to organize his funeral but even until the day that Wilts.h.i.+re and he left Paris, Joseph still had not shown up at his wake.
Château Fairmont was located in the western outskirts of Brest, quite some distance from Paris. It was only after Wilts.h.i.+re had spent quite a bit of money that he was able to find out the exact location of Château Fairmont --- the Earl had inherited this estate from his maternal grandmother, and not many people knew of it.
Even after they had departed and were on their way towards Brest, Walker was still feeling a little bit glum. The painful circ.u.mstances of Earl Portland as he lay on his deathbed had left their mark on Walker's heart, and the mysteries of the entire affair was still a puzzle that he could not make sense of in his mind.
How could there be such a coincidence? Joseph had already been sick for so long, why was it that once we got to Paris, almost immediately, he was visited by good fortune?
Every indicator pointed to the Marquess having all of the answers, but Walker wasn't willing to open his mouth and ask --- to have such a devious and scheming lover, who did not hesitate to destroy somebody else’s happiness for the sake of achieving his aims. He did not wish to hear Wilts.h.i.+re admit to such a thing, nor did he wish to hear him lie to his face, therefore he could only let this matter drop.
Seemingly also feeling guilty over the Baron's death, the Marquess noticeably did not stick as closely to Walker as he had done during their previous travels. But the result of his exercising a little bit of moderation was merely that they stopped making love in the car, but every time they stopped at a hotel for a rest, the Marquess would, as was usual, press the Scotsman down upon the different large beds and they would have a tumble between the sheets. And on the following day, as they were travelling in the coach, he would dote on his tired body with meticulously affectionate care.
Perhaps it was because he had a premonition that this journey --- the most special in his life --- was drawing to a close, the Marquess did not plan their itinerary to be at all hectic. However, no matter how much he might have tried to prolong their journey, the two of them still arrived at Château Fairmont before the end of summer.
The scale of Fairmont wasn't as large as they had imagined, the white castle was erected on a hill that overlooked the sea, so beautiful that it seemed to be but a fantastical mirage. Against the backdrop of the azure ocean, the ancient castle appeared even more like something that was beyond the mundane world.
With no trace of politeness or ceremony, Wilts.h.i.+re barged into the Château with Walker in tow. The result of his flas.h.i.+ng the insignia he was bearing, designating him as a secret envoy of the Prince Regent, was that Wainwright, who was in semi-seclusion, quickly appeared before the two of them.
“May I know what business my Lord Marquess has here?” Wainwright was actually not very old, but the scraggly goatee he was sporting gave people the impression that he was not forthright enough.
“We've heard that the Lord Earl, together with Baron Portland, once accompanied Princess Caroline of my country to France, is that true?” Wilts.h.i.+re stared at the man opposite him with bright eyes, as though he wanted to read some clues from his face.
“Yes, but after Simon and I had accompanied the Princess to France, I parted ways with them. I have no way of knowing where the Princess headed off to afterwards.” Wainwright's att.i.tude was very calm, but a barely discernible hint of panic flashed across his eyes.
However, Wilts.h.i.+re seemed to have overlooked that trace of panic, with regret written all over his face, he shook his head and said: “Ah… what terrible luck! The Princess’s disappearance has caused the Prince Regent great worry; if the Lord Earl happens to hear of any news in future, please do send word to us immediately.”
Wainwright was very obviously relieved, but he still maintained his composure as he squired the two of them from the large building where the drawing room was.
From Walker's understanding of Wilts.h.i.+re, of course he knew that he would not give up so easily, but he did not think that he would actually pull himself to hide in an empty room by the side once Wainwright's back was turned.
“You…” Wilts.h.i.+re's audacity gave Walker a scare, but when he saw that he was climbing out of the window with rapid movements to the outside of the main house [1], he had to give up his plan to give him a lecture on the spot and hide with him in the bushes that lined the two sides of the walkway.
Sometimes Walker really did admire Wilts.h.i.+re's intuition, which was as keen as an animal's, very much. Sure enough, after about ten minutes, Earl Wainwright did indeed emerge by himself from the main building. With a wary expression, he walked toward the white tower that was built on the other side, where the cliff rose to a greater height.
“What a stupid, romantic man!” Walker heard Wilts.h.i.+re grouse in a low voice. “I could tell from a hundred yards away where he had hidden the Princess.”
Indeed, that tall white tower did really resemble the places where evil dragons imprisoned princesses in fairy tales; he really could not say whether Wainwright was excessively romantic or excessively stupid.
They waited until Wainwright's silhouette had completely disappeared, only then did Wilts.h.i.+re crawl out from the bushes and go up the path to the tower.
“Who’s there…” There were two sentries standing guard at the door to the tower, by the time they saw the two men, they did not even have enough time to sound the alarm before they had been struck down by Wilts.h.i.+re's dagger. There were two sentries standing guard at the door to the tower, by the time they saw the two men, they did not even have enough time to sound the alarm before they had been struck down by the flat of Wilts.h.i.+re's dagger. Drawing out the swords that the two guards had on them, the Marquess handed one of them to the Scotsman, before securely tying up the two guards, stuffing a gag into their mouths and then tossing them into the woods by the side of the tower. After that, he nimbly leapt up the stairs that led to the tower.
Probably because he had too much confidence in the remoteness and isolation of Fairmont, or perhaps he did not want too many people to know that a Princess of Great Britain was being imprisoned in that place, but there was actually n.o.body else who had been a.s.signed to guard the building. The two of them successfully ascended to the very top of the tower, even before they had gotten to the door at the end of the corridor, they could hear the sound of a woman weeping inside.
Wilts.h.i.+re gave Walker a hand gesture signalling their victory and rushed towards the white coloured door, and kicked it in hard --- Wainwright, who was in the middle of dragging around a young lady wearing a long pink dress, looked up and his face immediately turned ghastly pale.
“You two…” His expression was very ferocious, as different as can be from the calm, elegant, puissant Earl they had encountered earlier.
The young lady's hair was in a mess and her whole face was streaked with tears but even with just one glance, Walker could recognise that she was indeed the Princess Caroline who they had worked so hard to find for the last several months --- just like in the miniature portrait, she was a beautiful, slender girl who was also very young; she appeared to be just like a rose, a Princess who had stepped out of the pages of a fairy tale.
“Save me! Save me! I beg you, please save me!” At this point, the Princess did not have even the slightest bit of n.o.ble deportment left to her; she desperately clung onto the post of the bed, not allowing Wainwright to drag her away. All the while, she was calling out to the Marquess and Walker, begging them for a.s.sistance.
“My Lord Earl, you are really the romantic… Locking up a Princess in a tower, don't you think that it makes it too easy for others to find her?” Wilts.h.i.+re pointed his longsword at the Earl, while motioning for Walker to help the Princess over.
How would Wainwright willingly allow that to happen? He pulled a longsword that was hanging on the wall of the room for decorative purposes. a.s.suming a duelling stance, he faced Walker, not letting him draw near.
“Let me.” Although he had taught Walker swordplay, Wilts.h.i.+re was still worried that he, who was still inexperienced at using a sword, would get hurt in a duel. Indicating that Walker should stand to the side, he caught the Earl's sword with the tip of his own blade, and adopted a challenging posture.
The Earl's inky blue eyes were blazing with a scathingly murderous intent; he shed his jacket and threw it on the floor, howling derisively with his lips: “You c.o.c.ky b.a.s.t.a.r.d, if you want to take the Princess away, then be prepared to leave your own life here!”
Compared to his agitation, Wilts.h.i.+re appeared to be much calmer. The hand that he held his sword with showed no sign of unsteadiness, as though he were facing not a murder weapon, but a toy being held in the hands of a child.
Taking advantage of Wainwright concentrating his attention on the Marquess, Walker brought the Princess to his side, the better to protect her. As he did so, he was comforting the Princess, who was crying without interruption due to fear, with gentle words.
“Wh.o.r.e! If I had known this would happen, I would have obeyed instructions, and murdered you once we arrived in France! What are you crying for, you ungrateful, stinking wh.o.r.e!” So hard pressed by the Marquess's sword was he that the Earl was nearly unable to breathe. As he was backing up, he was chewing out Princess Caroline, who was weeping continuously in Walker's arms.
Although he knew that the Marquess was adept at sword fighting, but when he saw that Wainwright's sword had nearly pierced him several times, and the sounds of clas.h.i.+ng metal as the two sharp blades met kept ringing in his ears, Walker's anxiety was no less than the Princess's.
Wilts.h.i.+re and the Earl attacked each other with swift and fierce sword strikes as the circled each other with fluid movements --- the Earl did not seem to be some nondescript neophyte, he had obviously been specially drilled in knowing when to advance or to retreat. The blade of his sword nearly managed to cut down Wilts.h.i.+re quite a few times; fortunately, he managed to narrowly escape, thanks to his quick agility and honed skills, although it had to be said that luck was also on his side.
The Marquess curbed the superior att.i.tude with which he had approached the combat at the start, and began to concentrate on going on the offensive. He seemed to forget about everything else, only caring to continuously make fierce attacks, as the speed of his strikes got faster and faster; Walker could almost clearly hear the Earl panting --- after all, he was older than Wilts.h.i.+re by a good ten years or more, and although Earl Wainwright was proficient in fencing, but his physical fitness obviously could not be mentioned in the same breath as that of the young Marquess.
After a sequence of brilliant attacks that dazzled the beholder, Wilts.h.i.+re ended the long contest with a divine move that struck home --- the point of the longsword was against the Earl's neck, forcing him to toss away the sword in his hand.
“Who instructed you to bring the Princess to France?” Wilts.h.i.+re's green eyes flashed with a fierce light, the sword in his hand again moved forward infinitesimally, pressing firmly against the Earl's flesh, causing beads of blood to slowly seep out.
The Earl gave a scornful snort and suddenly, beyond anyone's expectations, he threw himself onto Wilts.h.i.+re's sword. The Marquess turned pale with fright, but it was already too late for him to retract his sword and he could only look on as the sharp point of the sword pieced straight through Earl Wainwright's neck, ending his life with frightening speed --- as the Earl toppled onto the floor, the Princess began to cry out in fear uncontrollably.
“Let’s leave fast.” Fearing that the Princess's cries would attract the attention of the estate's guards, Wilts.h.i.+re had Walker help the Princess down the stairs while he hid the Earl's body under the bed inside the room and gave the scene a cursory clean-up, after which he rushed off in the direction where the two of them had headed off to.