"Your Highness! The ambassador of the Kingdom wishes to see Your Highness immediately."
Carlo, Renato's close aide, rushed in.
"Let him in."
The ambassador, his forehead sweating, presented Renato and Mariabelle each with an envelope with the kingdom's coat of arms stamped on the wax seal.
"You are very quick."
Renato did not accept the envelopes immediately, but let Carlo take them instead.
Carlo, who had also received Mariabelle's envelope, put on a white glove and carefully opened the letter.
The royal family is always in danger of assassination.
At any moment, one must carefully examine the letter to see if it is coated with poison.
No, it is precisely in times of unrest such as these that they are in danger.
The slightest carelessness can lead to death.
Carlo carefully examined the contents of the letter to make sure everything was in order, and then handed it to Renato.
"The news does not look good," he said.
If good news arrived at this time, it would be strange. Perhaps that is what His Highness expected.
Renato read the letter and scoffed.
"I knew he'd make it difficult for me."
James said he had the king's permission, but as expected, there was no way he would allow Mariabelle to become the crown princess of the empire without any consultation.
Moreover, she would make the granary her dowry.
It was easy to imagine that the kingdom would have something to say about it.
"What do you have to say about this Mariabelle?"
With her face completely pale, Mariabelle handed the letter to Renato with a trembling hand.
After a quick check of the contents, Renato said, "Out of the question," and handed the letter back to Carlo, not to Mariabelle.
"Quite out of the question. By the way, Ambassador, do you know a Simon Lent?"
The ambassador, suddenly asked to speak, wiped away his sweat and tilted his head, wondering why he wanted to ask such a question.
"He is the crown prince's brother," the ambassador replied. "I believe he is the third son of a count."
"Do you know what kind of person he is?"
"I am not at liberty to say... But I am sure you know what he is. Other than being the crown prince's baby brother, he is a man of no particular prominence."
"I see."
Carlo exchanged glances with Renato and then addressed the ambassador smilingly.
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to wait in the other room so I can review the contents of your letter before I write my reply. Someone please escort the ambassador to the other room."
The ambassador, who had been entrusted with the letter by the kingdom's courier who had suddenly arrived, had no idea what was going on and wanted to ask for an explanation, but he had no choice if that was what he was told.
There were many questions he wanted to ask, such as why he was asked about Simon, but the ambassador reluctantly left the room.
Renato saw him off and gave him one instruction after another.
"If the letter was written after the Marquis Berkeley arrived in the King's Landing, it would not reach us until much later. In other words, he did not intend to interrogate the Marquis de Berkeley. Find out immediately if the Marquis de Berkeley is safe."
It was only a short time ago that Renato heard that the Marquis de Berkeley had been taken to the capital.
The kingdom's messenger could not have brought the news earlier than the soldiers of the empire.
This would mean that the letter had already been entrusted to the Marquis de Berkeley before he was taken away.
That means that they were not willing to listen to what the Marquis de Berkeley had to say when they brought him in.
He was already engaged to Mariabelle.
"You think my engagement with Mariabelle is invalid because she has a fiancée? What are you talking about? And she's only the third daughter of a duke. You have underestimated me."
Renato's eyes were burning with anger as he spat this out.