Chris's very dissatisfied expression seemed to indicate that Elliot wanted to secretly take Wayne out to play alone.
"Don't even think about leaving me alone at home, huh."
"..." Miss sister, can you be more mature?
Pushing Chris's arm that was blocking his path away, Wayne coaxed softly: "Little Chris, be good~ We are going out to handle official business, and we will be back soon."
Chrissy looked at him with contempt. "Are you coaxing ghosts? What official duties do you have?"
She mercilessly exposed this lame excuse.
Seeing this, Elliot shook his head slightly and said helplessly: "I really can't take you there today. Let's go out together as a family when we have the chance next time."
Realizing that she couldn't change their minds, Chris became visibly unhappy.
But she didn't say anything else, but warned: "Then, you must come back early."
"I know, I know."
Wayne smiled and reached out to touch her head, and she gave her an angry backhand punch.
As a result, Chris became the first obstacle on the road today.
Fortunately, it was resolved smoothly in the end.
The meeting place arranged with Simon was located in a private tea room.
The place is quiet and there are few pedestrians coming and going, but in fact, this teahouse is a preferred leisure place for the high-ranking officials and nobles in the royal capital.
In addition to tea, the store also thoughtfully provides a series of additional services.
Such as fishing and so on.
"Sometimes, I come here with my friends to sit."
After getting off the carriage, Elliot took the initiative to introduce to Wayne. "Although it doesn't look unassuming from the outside, there is a secret inside. If necessary, our whereabouts can be kept secret."
"Well..." Wayne didn't understand this, so he could only nod in agreement.
A maid in uniform uniform came up to him in time.
"Two guests, do you have a reservation?"
After Elliot handed over his reservation number, Wayne and he were introduced into a beautifully decorated box inside the tea room.
Bright sunlight shines through the glass on the soft carpet indoors, and a small pool in the yard can be seen from the window.
The broad banana leaves are lush and green.
"That's a plant from the southern region." Seeing Wayne staring at the pond thoughtfully, Elliot said.
"It was transplanted to the royal capital more than ten years ago, and it seems to be growing well."
It seems that he is also a regular customer here.
Although Simon agreed to the Wenche family's invitation, perhaps because he left a little early, he has not shown up yet.
"Does the owner of this tearoom have anything to do with our family?" Wayne asked with some curiosity.
"A little bit, it's an estate owned by an old friend of my father's. However, he has been keen on traveling to various countries in recent years and has not returned to Lownes for a long time." Elliot admired the scenery outside the window for a while. He lost interest and sat back at the tea table.
"Because the owner of the teahouse has contacts in many countries, this place can always get some rare local specialties or novel drinks."
He said generously, "Just order whatever you want."
So Wayne also sat down opposite him, and while waiting boredly, he casually talked to him about some things that happened in the academy.
"Prince Lawrence wants to hold a concert..." Elliot pondered for a while after learning about this.
"Did he ever mention that he wanted to invite a few members of the audience in particular?"
What he meant was that he probably wanted to ask Lawrence if he had said that he hoped to invite the king and queen to appear...
Wayne shook his head.
"He seemed to just want to get this thing done, and he never revealed that he wanted to invite the audience."
"That's right." Elliot fell silent.
It didn't take long for him to talk about the past many years ago. "The relationship between the king and the queen is not close."
Probably because Elliot really trusted the safe environment of this tea room, he didn't shy away from it at all.
"In fact, His Majesty the King, who was still the Crown Prince at the time, would marry this Stuart princess entirely due to the arrangement of the previous King."
Upon hearing these secrets, Wayne's eyes flashed with surprise.
The previous king could be called a very wise and brave king, and he was highly regarded throughout the kingdom.
But Wien has reservations.
After all, in order to obtain military support from other countries, it still sounds very uncomfortable to have to sacrifice a prince from a young age and send him abroad as a hostage.
Although under the circumstances at that time, it was probably a helpless move.
"At that time, the late king said that the Stuart princess had always been very virtuous and could ask to be married as the future queen of our country." Elliot smiled, "Originally, the Stuart royal family did not agree."
"Because, they think-"
The Duke's next words were extremely offensive, "The royal family of Lownes is too weak."
Although these things are indeed facts that have happened, no one has ever dared to talk about them publicly.
"However, during the negotiations on the alliance treaty, the late king agreed to make huge concessions for the first time. The only requirement was that the marriage must be exchanged."
Elliot chuckled, "Maybe the Stuart royal family felt that the price was sincere, but later changed their original mind and agreed."
"In other words, His Majesty the King's marriage is actually a part of the alliance and friendship treaty. However... it was too unpleasant to say it like this, so it was hidden from the paper."
Wayne felt even more uncomfortable.
Could it be that for those people, family affection and love are all bargaining chips used in exchange for interests?
He frowned and said, "Is it worth making such a big sacrifice?"
In exchange for victory in a war that already had a high chance of winning, he had to please the church and foreign countries. In the end, he even had to risk the happiness of his own descendants... Isn't this a loss of blood?
"In our opinion, of course it's not worth it." Elliot lowered his eyes and narrowed his gaze.
"But judging from the situation faced by the Lornes royal family back then, maybe this is the best solution."
"Masefield's biggest problem is not outside...but within."
Elliot's tone is light when he talks about these things.
It's like telling a story that has nothing to do with you.
"At that time, almost all the power of the country was in the hands of a few big families. Without the consent of our families, any decision could not be implemented even if you were the king..." There was no bragging at all, he just stated plainly. A fact.
But precisely because of this natural statement, it makes people feel even more frightened.
