11 A Date with James.
Morning in the household of the Earl of Bourbon dawned with fresh sunshine and the birds singing. I opened heavy eyelids to see Hannah grasping her handkerchief with a bright red face and her eyes filled with tears,
‘Miss, you’re amazing. I would never have imagined you would have shot and fired at a Prince!’
First thing in the morning, sighed.
I had woken up in the finest spring bed. The sheets and covers were silk linen that slipped when I moved; it felt like they were stroking my skin.
‘Oh Hannah, it is nothing like you imagine. Don’t get your expectations up because this is just a whim of that person.’
‘But young Miss, even if it is on a whim, it doesn’t matter. I would be relieved when Miss gets married safely. Please capture Prince James.’
With bright red eyes, Hannah helped me wash and put on a pale yellow dress with the prerequisite frills. My hair was arranged half up and tied with a ribbon the same colour of my dress. After a light breakfast, I went to the sun room to read a book.
There were many books in the Earl’s library, and there were many of them I wanted to read. But sitting in the solarium, the book I was reading wasn’t getting absorbed. All I could think of was last night.
James stuck to me all evening, so I had no change to meet any other men. The Earl and Countess Bourbon had been surprised when they met Prince James, who escorted me back to their house. But they were overjoyed that their daughter had been chosen as one of the candidates for the Duke, so they accepted it easily.
But I know better, Prince James is not in love with me. It is evident in his eyes; he is obsessed with the Duke. I’m not sure if the sentiment was a form of love, [1] but I am sure the core of this whole matter is the Duke.
As for the Duke, from his expression last night, he was very angry with me; which is not surprising. It’s probably the first time he had ever been coerced into doing those kinds of things by a woman. But it was a punishment on behalf of women for making them cry. He hated women. He just had to accept it, I am on the side of all women…but I can’t deny the feeling that I got overwhelmed with passion that time. Hence, it was necessary to avoid any damage to the Viscount title of the Hermiata family, so I had to pretend to be James’ girlfriend in front of the Duke.
Because of this, I have to put aside my dream of finding my destined man in the Kingdom for the time being. (Zuben: It was rather improbable) until the Duke gets into a better mood and forgives me. Hopefully Prince James could introduce me to a good man later, since he is a Prince of the Basseterre Kingdom.
Even so, the sight of the angry Duke made me scared from the bottom of my heart. It was the first time I realised when beauty got angry, it was a terrible form. Let’s not make him angry again. And because of my interference, the Duke is being forced to date these three women. He has to decide on one of them within three months; that was the edict from the King. The Duke must be very angry with me now, because I caused him to have to interact and marry a woman, and he hated women. I could only imagine what suffering he was going through, thinking this way; I could not help but feel like I had done something bad.
But was it a case of a man who only liked men having to marry a woman? Or was it like a man marrying a man but can only love a woman? In any case, the fact that he is being put in a situation where he could not refuse was rather painful. If I was told I had to marry a woman; I would just faint and get myself to a church quick sharpish and become a nun.
How could I get the Duke out of this predicament and at the same time find my true love? (Zuben: Oh the irony)
I fell deep into my thoughts.
‘What’s wrong, my dear? There are wrinkles between your eyes, my princess.’
I jumped at the voice. I saw James’ face in front of mine. As usual he had a gentle smile on his face but his gaze was also puzzled. He was very well dressed today. He took my hand and kissed it with perfect manners. I was surprised by his sudden appearance. I had been indulging in my thoughts in this luxurious garden created with by the greatly skilled gardener employed by the Earl.
‘Prince James! Why are you here?’
‘How cold! Isn’t it good for me to come and see my beloved? Well, I like cute Julia, you’re so charming.’
I stared at him coldly; you only need to pretend to by my suitor in front of the duke.
But James did not care about my coldness, he shook his head and his chestnut hair swayed fluffily. He took my hands gently like they were precious and said,
‘Come, let’s go for a ride, I would show you something entertaining.’
‘No thanks, I have a previous appointment today-‘
‘Oh! Miss! I wonder what kind of place the Prince wants to take you! We’ve been looking forward to it!’ Hannah said over me, pushing out of the bushes.
She really wanted me to marry James.
I had noticed she was hiding there earlier, since the leaves of the bushes were swaying strangely. I had never thought she would show up in such a dramatic way. I’m sure James would be shocked…Huh?
He still had gentle smile on his face, not only that he was having an eye to eye conversation with Hannah. What was going on here?
‘Hannah is a very nice lady. She told me a lot of things as she brought me here. So thanks to her, I love you even more. No matter where I look, I could not find a woman like you.’ He said as he took my hands and pulled me out of my seat.
I looked back at Hannah in trepidation, she had a doya[2] face on; very pleased with herself. Before I knew it I was out of the house and boarding a luxurious carriage without a by your leave!
12 James’ Plot
The Prince’s carriage was made with polished oak. The workmanship was precise and delicate, with gold accents around the corners, doors and windows. It was spacious; six people could sit comfortably. So why did he have to sit so close holding my hand? I looked at Prince James beside me.
He was watching me and our eyes met. The colour of his eyes was truly beautiful; like the blue of the sea in summer tinged with indigo, they seemed to draw me in.
Perhaps he has gained a lot of wisdom in his life, which was why he had such a gentle character; always with a smile, and a calm aura around him.
In the vague position of the third Prince of Basseterre, he is kept hostage in a friendly nation, so it was a necessity for him to play a harmless man. Currently, the first and second Princes of Basseterre were contesting the throne, but Prince James could not take any side. So here he was; a slender elegant fascinating man who looked like he was not thinking of anything on the surface. Even with his kindly face, his thoughts were hidden.
‘Is Prince James close with the Duke of Magnaria? You call each other by name.’
‘Yes. I have been in the Bosch Kingdom since I was seven. Henry often came to the castle to play. It is a twenty year friendship. So you could say I know him better than anyone else.’
...this, I wonder if he is probing to see whether I know the Duke, which would be strange. He knows very well I know nothing about the Duke; so why does he need me?
‘Then can you tell me about the Duke? I want to know why he turned to hostile to me.’
Well, mostly because I sexually harassed him, and forced him to drink my saliva and his own emissions. But James didn’t know that, but I wanted to suss out James’ real intentions by seeing how he answered the question.
James laughed out loud.
‘Do you really not know, Julia? Poor Henry, he has become so pitiful but interesting, don’t you think? How amusing.’ (Zuben: Hmmm, does he know…?)
I don’t know at all…
“Pitiful but interesting”?!
What are you trying to say? No matter how much more I asked James would not let me interrogate him, so I had to give up my pursuit of his motives. I guess he was a man who could not be coerced regardless of his appearance. In the meantime, we chatted about mundane things as we rode the carriage. It took twenty minutes to reach our destination.
It was Vondel Park, which was a very popular spot for the nobility to be seen because it was close to the royal castle. It was also a popular place to come to on a date. It had been beautifully landscaped, a veritable rainbow of flowers and plants have been cultivated here. It was treated like a mini-green city. There was also a large lake for boating. Today the weather was fine, so it was a perfect day for a date.
I had heard about the park back home, but I had never been here before so my heart was excited like a child.
James took my hand and helped me alight from the carriage onto a carpet of flowers as far as the eyes could see. Geraniums, clematis, begonias…I took in the beautiful scenery that displayed the colours and scents that existed all over the world. (Zuben: That’s a lot)
‘Beautiful…lovely…!’ I exclaimed left and right.
The walkways amongst the flowers were paved with obsidian tiles (Zuben: expensive and fragile.). It was a park created for the nobility, no expense was spared; that much was evident. No more words came from me as I moved along spellbound by the sight. But I caught a sight that just blew me away. I immediately ran to the promenade near where delicate star shaped flowers had been cultivated,
‘These are Angraecum!’ I exclaimed, ‘They are very rare. They were made famous because they helped Darwin prove his theory! They are characteristically star-shaped. How amazing, it is the first time I’ve seen so many blooming!’ (Zuben: What is with this ham-fisted lecture? They are real flowers btw and did no such thing with Darwin in our reality)
James had a look of confusion, but he immediately returned to his smiling countenance as he came to stand near me,
‘Julia is different. I would never have imagined a noble’s daughter would know the name of such a minor flower or even about Darwinian Theory.’
‘Oh! Pardon me, James. I just got so excited…’ I said feeling contrite. I had run leaving behind my escort. It was rather discourteous and unbecoming of a noble miss. But I never would have dreamed I would see angraecum here.
I turned to James; he did not look like he was angry with me. Contrary to that, he looked at me with his usual indulgent smile, but he pulled my arm and started walking me deeper into the park,
‘We can admire the flowers later. We are here to witness something a lot more interesting.’ He said with a mischievous smile. We walked through a dense copse of trees out into a grassy field and beyond that, the lake. A number of small boats were already sailing, each bearing gaily dressed pairs. It looked like flowers were blooming on the lake, it was a beautiful sight.
‘Julia, come quickly.’ James called. He was at the pier renting a boat. He paid the pier-master money and got on. I saw James put a finger on his lip, instructing him not to speak to me.
I got into the small boat with James’ assistance, and sat at one end. The sun was now high, and the light reflecting off the surface of the water was dazzling. I opened my parasol that Hannah had made be bring, shading mine and James’ eyes as he rowed. He gave me his thanks and after that the only sound was of James’ oars cutting the water.
James brought us downwind of another boat moving with the wind. I adjusted my parasol so that the occupants of the other boat did not see my face. It looked like James wanted us to eavesdrop on the people on the other boat. James was a Prince, was it alright to be doing such a thing? Yet, I was also interested, so I went along with James and listened while hiding under the parasol.