RLQ - Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Dancing with Wolves
“I apologize for my rash suspicion.” Dalton released the gun and knelt on one knee again. “But, Your Majesty, if soldiers are abandoned by their monarch, who would dare to serve you wholeheartedly again?”
He hadn't expected this reaction before stepping into the rose garden.
However, her fury and tears didn't seem feigned, and a slap was better than the betrayer being the Queen herself.
“Then you shouldn't break the hearts of those who trust you,” Adele replied. “How could you accuse me of such a shameful crime as 'traitor'? Don't you know that Roland values 'honor' above life?”
Dalton realized where the Queen's anger stemmed from.
The motto of the Roland royal family was "Above Glory." Betraying allies and breaking faith would stain their crest, earning them scorn and condemnation from the world. In the three years of Adele's reign, she had strived to uphold this.
“They wish to meet at the Summer Palace for peace talks,” Dalton said. “What are your thoughts?”
The Queen's emotions calmed. She extended her hand to Dalton again. “I trust your arrangements.”
Dalton kissed the back of her hand.
They had reached a reconciliation of sorts.
After Dalton left with the handprint on his face, Madam Kelly returned to the Queen's side. She knelt beside the Queen, gently examining the hand that had just slapped Dalton. The Queen felt hot tears fall onto the back of her hand.
“My dear, I wasn't the one who was slapped,” she reminded her, amused.
“You...”
Kelly's tears fell even harder. How much the Queen had valued honor, how firm and noble her character had been!
“Don't worry,” the Queen sighed. “I've long since become a viper myself.”
“But...” Madam Kelly couldn't help but cry out, “This isn't what you should have to bear.”
Why had kindness, fairness, mercy, and justice become fatal flaws? Weren't these qualities praised and protected by God?
“Don't worry,” the Queen gently touched her hair. “I know what I'm doing.”
She was wading through the mud, only so that one day, she could return to glory.
The Summer Palace, also known as the "Hall of Glory."
The first monarch of the Roland family was crowned here, and on the night of the mutiny, the Queen escaped from here with Dalton's help. Later, it was occupied by the rebels. As an important condition for reconciliation, the Queen would return to the Summer Palace. However, before that, Dalton had conducted a series of tedious negotiations with the noble representatives.
It wasn't until the first day of August that the agreement was finalized, and both sides, including the Queen, met at the Summer Palace.
The rebellious nobles would swear allegiance to the Queen again at the Summer Palace, and the Queen would forgive their previous acts of usurpation. The National Assembly and the nobles had to accept Dalton as the new "Imperial Marshal."
“God will forgive your mistakes, and I follow God's will.”
Adele wore a low-cut, square-necked gown embroidered with roses in gold and silver thread. Her flawless arms emerged from wide sleeves with pearl-trimmed slits. She sat on a velvet and silk throne, and as each reinstated noble stepped forward, she extended her hand for them to kiss the royal ring on her finger.
Her voice was amiable, and she smiled, as if she had truly forgotten all the previous unpleasantness.
Some nobles, full of doubts, found their suspicions somewhat dispelled upon seeing her smile. After all, in the past three years, Adele Roland had consistently had a reputation for tolerance and kindness. More than the Queen herself, the nobles were concerned about the person standing beside her.
Robert Dalton.
“Look!” the Minister of Finance stood beside Heinrich and complained, “He's practically surrounding her, damn it! Are we going to need the approval of a mud-blood to see the Queen from now on?”
From the moment the Queen arrived at the Summer Palace in her gilded royal carriage, Dalton himself was almost inseparable from her. The Queen's personal guards had been entirely replaced by Dalton's men, which made some gentlemen who had previously served as the Queen's close guards particularly unhappy—though they were powerless to do anything about it now.
Heinrich didn't speak.
He stood behind a candelabra, his face flickering between light and shadow.
He was watching the Queen and the young officer standing beside her.
Dalton was wearing a dark red short jacket of fine satin today, with a black cape outside adorned with two rows of glittering silver buttons, and his knee-high boots were exceptionally polished. On his chest, he wore the dazzling gemstone badge symbolizing the "Imperial Marshal." In the intervals between the rebels stepping forward, the Queen would turn her head and smile as she spoke to him, and Dalton would occasionally lean down and whisper something to the Queen.
He had always been the one standing beside the Queen, reminding her.
At that time, he had never thought that position was precious, but when someone else took his place, Heinrich felt a snake bite him in the heart—that snake was named "jealousy."
This was his nature.
The Heinrich family crest was a two-headed snake, and in fact, they were a group known as the "Viper Family," possessing all the characteristics of snakes—coldness, greed, and possessiveness over what belonged to them. When Dalton looked over, Heinrich nodded at him, but in his heart, he was thinking about those secret letters.
Did he think he could truly stand in that position safely?
Heinrich thought maliciously, his student had now become a venomous snake that could bite.
But then, he couldn't help but wonder, even if Dalton disappeared from that position, could he truly regain it?
He stopped his train of thought, not wanting to consider what the answer might be.
Beside the throne, the young officer leaned close to the exceptionally beautiful Queen's ear, his posture intimate.
“Your mentor is watching you,” Dalton said. “He doesn't look happy at all—as your mentor, shouldn't he be delighted that you've returned to the throne?”
“You should know,” Adele extended her hand to the last official stepping forward, without turning her head, “the place you are standing now originally belonged to him.”
“Then he's about to get even angrier.”
Dalton laughed.
The tedious process finally came to an end. The Archbishop stepped forward and read the long contract, witnessing the reconciliation between monarch and subjects in the name of God. From this moment on, the Queen and the nobles buried the hatchet. After the Archbishop finished reading, Adele stood up. She surveyed the hall and spoke in a cordial tone.
“Gentlemen, taking advantage of this joyous occasion, I ask you to bear valuable witness to what is about to happen—”
Dalton stepped forward and knelt on one knee before the throne.
Adele took the royal sword from a nearby attendant and placed it on Dalton's shoulder: “Robert Dalton, in the name of the Queen of the Roland Empire, I knight you as a Knight of Merit. I command you to fight for me with your sword, and to defend me with your shield.”
The moment the Queen drew the sword, the nobles present changed color. A significant point of their attack against Dalton had always been his humble birth, but now that the Queen had knighted him as a Knight of Merit, he had overcome his biggest fatal flaw. At the same time, he would be granted a fief according to Imperial law—this meant that the ancient noble families would face new changes and challenges.
However, as rebels who had just been pardoned, they had nothing to say.
“My sword is your sword, my shield is your shield.”
Dalton swore his oath.
“I appoint you Knight Commander. From today onwards, you shall be the staunchest protector of me and my castle.” Adele affectionately brushed his collar.
This was something that had not been discussed at all during the previous negotiations—she was appointing Dalton as the new Knight Commander. This would grant him a room in the palace, and he would be responsible for the Queen's security and major royal events.
“Your Majesty, she...”
The Minister of Finance turned to discuss this change with Heinrich, but was startled and stepped back by the terrifying shadow on his face.
The peace talks concluded, and as night fell, a lavish banquet was held in the Summer Palace hall.
At the banquet, former enemies buried the hatchet and danced together. Heinrich finally found an opportunity to speak with the Queen.
The melody of the Tatt Waltz was soft and graceful, and the light from a thousand candles was like a nebula, illuminating the hall magnificently. Adele placed her hand on Heinrich's shoulder, and they moved gently to the rhythm of the music.
“You used me.”
Heinrich pointed out.
The reason he had sided with Adele again was because the Queen had pointed out that if the rebellion dragged on, and the Yage Kingdom fleet landed, the Heinrich family's assets would be destroyed in the war. And she had promised to grant the Heinrich family special privileges in maritime trade after the rebellion was quelled.
Originally, Heinrich had subconsciously assumed that after the rebellion was settled, Adele would surely join forces with the Heinrich family to eliminate Dalton. But now, Adele had promoted and heavily relied on Dalton, whom she had seemingly betrayed.
The truth was already clear.
She used him to check Dalton, and then used Dalton to check the nobles. She pardoned the nobles while valuing Dalton, solely to create a standoff between the two sides, from which she would seek an opportunity to regain full power.
Those secret letters, the target, had never been just Dalton alone from the start.
“Isn't this what you always taught me?” Adele said softly, the candlelight falling on her face, her expression completely unfamiliar to Heinrich. “To stop at nothing for profit, to abandon justice, morality, and shame. What was your family's motto again—Everything has a price?”
“Dalton won't be a loyal knight,” Heinrich said. “He's a jackal.”
“And what about you? I once loved and respected you like a father, and what was the result?” Adele tilted her head to look at him, smiling. “If there's profit to be made, why not dance with wolves?”
At a high note in the music, Adele twirled away, her skirt blooming like petals. As they passed each other, Heinrich smelled the faint fragrance in her hair. On the next note, Heinrich took her hand, drawing her back into his embrace.
“Aren't you worried I'll hand the secret letters over to Dalton?”
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