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Chapter Eighteen: Plotting, Plots, and Plotters
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Madrid – Antigua casa y el orden de los Caballeros Templarios
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12th October 1825
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The gathered men made great efforts not to frown at their agent's last proposal.
- Who gave you the mandate to act for us?
- You, answered the man who was better known as Roberto Mureno y Diaz Solumbra but whose real name was Robert de Montfroy, Knight Templar and Special Envoy of the Central Committee. The day you pushed me into de Godoy's serveice. And I won't make excuses for having grasped the opportunity of a lifetime.
- The Bennet Women are witches, hissed Godefroy de Malar, the Order's First Vicar.
- And our last formal Grand Master has been burned on the scaffold because the King of France had his religious lackeys condemn him for sorcery, countered Robert de Montfroy. We have been accused of using Witchcraft for centuries now…
- The Bennet women are the real thing, insisted de Malar. They should be burnt.
- Said Bennet Women have the best protectors available on the whole planet. Should we make the mistake to act against them what's left of us will be slaughtered within a week.
- We are everywhere, said de Malar who was an excellent manager but a very poor diplomat. They would have difficulties to get us all.
- That's enough, said de Guzmann de Hararra, the current Grand Master of the Order. The Order is not interested in becoming the favored enemy of the most influential people the Earth is currently hosting.
He looked at Robert.
- Why did you take that initiative…
- Because de Godoy is plotting to change the current Dynasty on Spain's Throne and his plot is not only good but full of interesting subplots that could bring one of us on the Throne of Spain.
- We fight for God, not Earthly Power, grumbled de Malar.
The Grand Master shot him a warning glance. He and de Malar were old, trusted friends, but even old friends do, from time to time, get on your nerves.
- None of us can take the Throne without reneging his vows of celibacy.
- One of us has not yet taken his vows and he would be the perfect candidate.
- Rodrigo will, someday, find it in him to take his vows, said Guzmann de Hararra. It is only a question of time!
The Grand Master was quite protective of his little brother.
- Well, I hope that day never comes because I really hope that we will soon all admit that Rodrigo's reluctance has everything to do with God's wish to see him do something else with his life.
- Rodrigo has what it needs to be a perfect Knight of the Order.
- I agree with you but the reluctance he's shown till today shows that deep down there are still a few doubts in his heart. And I believe that those doubts have been placed there by God to keep him in reserve for a higher goal.
Anselme de Beaujeu, couldn't help but snort.
- Becoming King of Spain? What's there to yearn for? Those Kings have been the Church's puppets for centuries and I'm quite sure that even a new dynasty will immediately be surrounded and besieged by the Church's dignitaries.
- Of course, it will! But that's where de Godoy's plot plays in our hands. This new King, should he have a Darcy wife at his side, will have the whole might of the Darcy Clan to help him.
Robert let out a long sight.
- And you all know how efficient said Clan's impact has been to thwart the Church's influence. The Pope hasn't even dared to launch a crusade against the Bennet Clan whose Witches benefit of the outspoken Protection of the Anglican Church. It has been only twenty-five years since the infamous d'Arcy walked out of the Shadows and they have, today, not only a political power nobody would have thought possible, but they have the wealth they need to yield such power efficiently and, for some of them, quite ruthlessly.
- Napoleon is a Tyrant, hissed Wilhelm de Pratz.
- And d'Arcy's an assassin, smiled Robert. But I challenge you all to deny that what happened in France hasn't been greeted in your hearts with quite a lot of pleasure. And the beheading of the King of France had the sweet fragrance of revenge…
- So, you want us to convince Rodrigo to go on with your plot.
- I want you to not stop him when the invitation comes, said Robert. Everything will depend on the Darcy girl, so, nothing's sure. But I have done about her what I have done about him. Whatever I have been able to learn about her I have in my files. I know what type of food she loves, what type of sports she likes, what she finds unbearable with a pretender… He'll have more ammunition than any of his competitors…
- Will there even be a competition?
- I hope so, said Robert. If there isn't then it means that the Darcys know about de Godoy's plot and I'm not sure how they will react.
- You are plotting to put one of theirs on the Throne of Spain, who would frown at that?
- People who have already all the power they need and who don't need to risk a member of their family to enter what has been for too long an awful mess…
- They could look at it as a Challenge, said de Plaissis. It's like the Augean Stables.
- Worse than that, said Guzzman. Here we have the Church to add filth whenever it is possible.
- Said filth has been very welcomed for the last centuries, said de Jocha. It has hidden us and our efforts for quite a long time.
- And if going on surviving without having any real influence on the world ever again is our goal, said Robert, then we should indeed stop it here.
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Finca Guzzman de Harrara
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- I don't want to marry and I don't want to be King of Spain.
Robert nodded while hiding an ironic smile.
Rodrigo Guzzman de Harrara was a tall dark man who had quite a few of the features that were Fitzwilliam Darcy's physical traits. The second he would enter LIT's great hall everybody would see him and wonder where that member of the Darcy family had been hidden all these years.
- I know but what do you want to be? That's the real question…
- A Knight…
- You are sure about that? You are twenty-seven and you could have been a Knight for at least ten years. Your repeated refusals make me feel as if you were looking for something else.
- I just wasn't ready…
- Which is a sign, isn't it? You know that the Order has spent the last five centuries being stuck in the past! Not ready to evolve and not ready either to do what we have dreamt for centuries to do: take revenge from those fucking clerics who sold us to the King of France for a part of the loot.
- I've studied the archives; the Pope was a lot more scared than greedy. He was sure that the Order had taken measures to topple the Church form the Holy Seat.
- But had we?
- The circumstances were pointing at such an outcome. The only thing that had stopped the brothers was Guillaume de Beaujeu's undecidedness. The brothers had been preparing for years, but the Grand Master wouldn't find it in him to make the right decision.
- He paid it with his life… And his death wasn't an easy one since he died fighting a losing battle in Saint Jean d'Acre.
- He got it way too easy, hissed Rodrigo. A few hundred of our brothers paid later because him.
- A lot more got away. The infrastructure that the Order had prepared to fight the Church was used to get most of the Brothers into safe countries. Almost all those who weren't in Paris at the time of the arrest got away.
- None would have died had the Grand Masters not spent two years dithering. They all knew that the Church's hierarchy was rotten to the core and we had the written proof that those fornicating swine had doctored the Gospel. It was their duty to act.
- Duty is a multilayered concept, son. Had the Order taken the measures the Council wanted to take; the Church would have been in great trouble. What about Christianity? Would it have survived?
- Of course, it would have…
- I'm not so sure, son, the Muslims were the rising force at the time. Jacques de Molay was a very smart man who had been, the last years of his reign, able to stop the most hotheaded Brothers to make too many mistakes. But they still did mistakes who warned the Church's hierarchy that the Order was preparing something.
- Had he given the signal; we would have won…
- Would we have? Jacques de Molay had a knack when it came to understand the overall political situation. He knew that a civil war between the Order and the Head of the Church would have had dire consequences. It would have fatally wounded the Faith! And a damaged Faith could very well have been overrun by the Muslim Horde, son.
- We had almost destroyed them in Palestine…
- The keyword here is almost! The fact is that we've been ousted from said countries. And at the beginning of the fourteenth century, when we had been forced to abandon the Holy Land, Islam was on the move and the revelations we could still have made would have triggered a civil war all over the West! Look what happened two centuries later with the Reform! It pushed Europe into a war that weakened the Faith in such a way that the Turks and their Ottoman Leaders were at an inch from taking Vienna forty years after the end of the Great Christian War. In 1314, the West was not ready to stop a major Muslim onslaught.
- Because the Church backstabbed and destroyed us!
- When you discover that your worst deeds have been unearthed and are about to be revealed, there is only one thing to do: you stop playing nice and you do what must be done to get rid of those who threaten your survival.
- You do as if it had been our fault…
- In my opinion, it clearly had been the Order's fault. Once the proof had been found and recognized as legitimate there was only one justifiable possibility: a swift military action against the rotten Church Hierarchy. They had no idea about what we found in Jerusalem. They were in the dark, they wouldn't have seen us coming. Had we hit immediately, we would have won and taken over the Church without anybody being able to react and support the Church.
Robert let out a long sigh.
- And what did we do? Guillaume de Beaujeu spent the next fifteen years squabbling with the rest of the Council about what to do! Of course, the Church's spies within the Order soon informed the Pope and he began to take measures to destroy us… I'd have done the same, son. So, the Church began to look for solutions. And the most evident of those was to bribe the Muslims to push them into attacking us in Saint Jean d'Acre with the promise that Papal spies would open a door to let the Muslims in. And when we were finally besieged there, the Church's Hierarchy forgot to call for a general mobilization to send reinforcements and ordered her priests to betray us. The rest is History.
Rodrigo couldn't help but cry out his frustration.
- They backstabbed us!
- They backstabbed us because we couldn't find it in us to do what needed to be done, son. God gave us the means to cleanse the Faith and we proved to be unable to act! God clearly never forgives indecisiveness.
He looked his young friend in the eyes.
- But clearly God rewards courage and decidedness. Look at what the Darcys were able to build in less than two decades. It is with them that the future lies. And you could enter that success story just by being yourself and forgetting the lies you've been telling yourself for the last decades.
- What lies?
- Those about becoming a Knight. The time of Knighthood is long gone, son. The time of technology and space travel has begun. I don't say that a man with the traits of a real Knight is no longer of use but being a Knight within a secret little cove of old bitter men thinking about a past that will never come back is a huge waste of time. And the fact that you refused to join them for the last seven years is proof enough that you already know that. Becoming King of Spain on the other hand and building a new modern and sparkling Kingdom could be something worth of a man who in old times would have been recognized as a Paladin of the Faith.
Rodrigo couldn't help but smile at his friend's huge skill in manipulating him.
- Tell me more about that plot.
- With pleasure, said Robert while taking out a book. First of all, a few pictures, what they call photographs now, to give you a real image of the family.
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Pemberley – Nursery Central Hub
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12th October 1825
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- Erase those innocent airs form you faces, I know that you are not the lovely youngsters you play.
- Hello, sister, said Charles. What can we do for you?
- I need intel…
- We are but…
- Don't get me the five years old crap, cut in Janet. I know that you are quite a lot more mature than you want the world to know. And I know that you are spying on everything around here…
Charles let out a long sigh.
- That's a common error around here. We do not spy on anyone! We hear things imprudent persons are constantly broadcasting around them.
- Which comes down to the same result, doesn't it?
- There's no bad intend. We are like the grass that can do nothing against being wet when it rains.
- Yeah, I've heard that one already. It is fitting but still I believe that you do more than moving in the wind.
- What do you want to know?
- There's something up and I can't get the feeling out of my mind that I'm in the center of said something. Mom and Aunt Jane have been quarreling and since the quarrel Mom's a lot more hovering over me than it had happened for a very long time.
Charles snorted once.
- There is indeed something and you are the center of said something, but that's the whole of what we are going to confess. We haven't, officially, been informed and, because of that, we cannot add anything without admitting that we know a lot more than we should…
- Everybody knows that you are the Spider at Pemberley's Center, hissed Janet. They don't speak about it because nobody wants to face the consequences of what it means to have a bunch of five-years-old who have seized the power in your House.
- That's gross, said Charlotte! We haven't seized anything, we just happen to have means nobody else has. Will you condemn the sun because he is the only one who's able to warm the Earth?
Janet let out a long sigh.
- Nice one, that one… You have a collection?
- We are working on it, said Charles. We've noticed that normals have less problems to understand us when we use metaphors.
- So, for you I'm a normal? What about the upgrade?
- It gives you a small advantage, but you've clearly not been taught how to really use all the pot…
- What about me and what is happening around me, interrupted Janet. I know that you know and I want to know.
- There's a plot to marry you, said Charlotte who had already decided that telling Janet was a sisterly duty. It's an interesting plot you should support since it gives you the ultimate say in what happens in the end.
- And that's the whole of what you learn from us. Try Mamma Jane or Mom. They both know the whole story and they even quarreled about the outcome they wish.
- Which one wants me to marry?
- Mamma…
- Not to us to say…
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- Why do you want me to marry?
Jane looked up from the report she was reading and sighed.
- Because you are of age and I don't see a more satisfactory status for a woman your age but to be married to a fine gentleman who has proven that he loves you.
- Do I know the fine gentleman in question?
- Not yet, answered Jane without hesitating a second.
- And why is Mom against said marriage? A week ago, she was heavily hinting at the happiness marriage could / should / would bring to a woman… So, she clearly isn't against the institution of marriage, so I suppose it is because of the gentleman's identity that you have quarreled.
- We haven't quarreled! We are not, on this very point, totally of the same opinion.
- Which happens once every decade, Aunt Jane! What is it with the pretender that makes Mom forget her usual insistence about girls a certain age having to do what is necessary to get a husband?
- Will you accept my word that it has nothing to do with the pretenders' identities but everything with why said pretenders will be sent here?
- Of course, I will accept your word since I know that you, being the worst liar of the whole family, I'd know should you lie to me! But still if I'm at the center of the whole thing why can't I be informed of what is happening? And you spoke of pretenders… Will there be more than one?
- Indeed, it will, and, even if Lizzy and I we have our favorites, speaking with you about them would be a bad game changer. Just know that you will be under no pressure to make a choice or even to accept what will be proposed. Whatever Lizzy thinks, it's not a trap since you will be able to easily avoid being a part of the whole scheme. But I really think that, should you find an interest to the whole thing, it will be in your favor.
- When you say find an interested to the whole thing, you mean find the man that will be sent, pleasant and in harmony with what I think a husband should be?
- Of course, that's what I mean, Jannie.
- Do you think he will be?
- I do,at least for my favorite, but I've never met him in person, so, I still could be wrong. You know that I'm a person who gets a real feeling only when facing somebody. Pictures are all very fine but in the end, it's all about gut-feelings.
- Will he be at the Great Hubbub?
- Should your mother decide to invite him, yes…
- And if she doesn't?
- Well, said Jane with a mischievous smile, then we will have to organize a little trip to my new Estate in Minorca. I think most of the restoration work will be done in January and we'll use the opportunity to have a housewarming party. If you are interested let me know, I'll do what's necessary to invite a few youngsters to give everybody an opportunity to have activities in accordance with their age…
- Won't there be a ball?
- Probably not a ball, as you well know, I'm not good at organizing that sort of event, but we'll have a dance floor, and we'll hire some local musicians to live up the party. It should be interesting. Not as interesting as the great Hubbub but the guests will be easier to approach.
- And should Mamma invite some interesting parties, how are we going to met? That thing at the LIT is huge and unmanageable.
- Lizzy is very good when it comes to manage the unmanageable… But to be sure you should perhaps ask your younger siblings to take over the whole operation and to make sure that the people who need to meet have a chance to meet…
- You know about them?
- Of course, I know, they are my babies, they hide nothing from me.
- They give me the creep…
- They live in another world and, with Lionel's help, they have reached another dimension of Human activities.
- Lionel's help?
- He's very good when it comes to understand them, you know. And he's been their real enticement to stay on the Human side of their creature. Without Lionel, who has a knack when it comes to relate with other freaks, we would probably have lost them to some extraordinary deed only superhuman Beings would have been able to understand. Lionel stopped them and explained to them what they were about to forsake.
A huge, satisfied smile blossomed on Jane's face.
- He's perhaps a freak but his heart is huge, bigger even then mine, and if he is unable to have any normal social relations with what the brood calls normals, he's very empathic with people and creatures who feel themselves out of synch with their environment. We, the parents of that last batch, we owe him a lot! I already loved him before but now he's taught me why you should never allow judgments to cloud your feelings. Our little brilliant and aloof genius taught me to be a better Human and I really owe him for that.
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London – Private Royal Parlor
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14th October 1825
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- Why did you come to London, cousin? Other than to share with me the best croissants of the Commonwealth?
- I need your help with mamma and Aunt Jane…
- Do our mothers have problems?
- They quarreled! Because of me…
William frowned and put his croissant back on his plate. Being upgraded was a boon if, like him and Betty, you were a little bit addicted to sugar and pastries. The bug was the best ally a man with a smooth tooth could get. He still trained twice a day because if the bug did get rid of fat, it did nothing to build a real musculature.
- I've heard about the quarrel, said he finally, and I must admit that I didn't believe the report. And what did you do to make them quarrel, cousin?
- I did nothing, but there is something that is brewing around us and I'm at the weather system's center…
- You do meteorological metaphors, now?
- We all do metaphors, now. It is because of the Awful Dozen who believes that we dimwits will understand them more easily if they use easy to understand metaphors when telling us things.
William frowned and finally smiled at his cousin.
- You are right they do it all the time when they advise me…
- They advise you? Willy, we are speaking of five years old kids…
- Let's say that it is *Link* that advises me. And *Link* has a huge computing power when it comes to make fast synthesis of political and social situations.
- And they spy on everybody and its neighbors, hissed Janet. You do know that we have them listening to our thoughts day and night?
- When I'm in London, I believe that I'm out of their range, said William with a smile. But you are right I know what they do, and I've discussed it with our parents and we've reached the conclusion that there is nothing to do but let Dad teach us the techniques he had learned when he was at the Temple. They can't read him, you know that don't you?
- That's what they say, and I wouldn't dare to think that they are not capable of lying when it suits them.
- They know perfectly how to lie, believe me, I've proof of that, but they are family and it's important for them. Even *Link*, who is the nearest thing to a neutral sentient being we will ever meet, feels himself related with the family.
- When they are in that *Link* collective they creep me out.
- They are still our sisters and brothers, cousin… When they are disconnected from the collective, they are almost normal kids. Kids with skills they shouldn't have had time to learn but still kids who love to be with people who love them. Mamma is sure that love is the key to their Humanity. That's why she's done it her duty to be with them as often as possible.
- Which brought her at an inch of collapsing.
- She knows the risks now and so do we. Next week Papa and Maureen are taking her, without anybody else but the Crew of the Mars Rower, to stay a week in orbit.
He let himself smile and wriggle with his eyebrows.
- Officially it is because Dad wants to learn how to move in zero-G gravity. And I'm quite sure that they will be taught just that, but the real reason they return up there is because Mamma wants to test making love outside of Earth's Gravity. She's been fantasizing about that since their accidental move in orbit last year. And if I get the right information, I'm quite sure that I will have to convince my wife that zero-G swimming, moving, whatever is an essential skill every member of the family needs to master.
Janet couldn't help but frown at her cousin.
- You are the King, you should be more cautious. If something happens while you are up there, there's nothing that will be able to save you.
William's smile disappeared.
- You've heard about the Foudre and it's encounter with an interstellar stone field?
- I did even if Napoleon's staff did everything int their power to hide the incident.
- The whole crew died up there, Janet. More than two hundred different rocks passed through the Foudre and not a single part of it wasn't vacuumed within seconds.
- But there was the Captain. He survived. I have seen his interview after the Lancet got to the wreck and saved him.
- He was, like everybody else aboard, exposed to the void and the near absolute zero temperature that reigns outside of an atmosphere. But for one thing: he was upgraded. And the bug just put him into catatonics and waited the time necessary for the temperature to be normal again. And then he relived his host. I've read the report about his revival, it has been a time of excruciating pain but nevertheless the bug maintained him till he could revive him.
William shook his head in a weird up and down left and right movement.
- We are extremely difficult to kill, cousin. Those who would want to get rid of us will have to come with quite a lot of destructive means.
- I'm quite sure that some will still make an attempt but with *Link* at the looking glass searching for enemies I'm quite sure that none of them will be able to come near enough to be of any efficiency.
- Yes… *Link* and that reminds me of our mothers' quarrel. You didn't really say what you wanted me to do for you.
- I wanted to know if you know what is currently being prepared for me within the family?
- Apart from convincing you to look for a husband, but not look for one at the same time?
- My future marriage seems to be at the center of the whole plot, and I wanted to know if you have some knowledge about somebody important -as in near a Throne important- who is interested in me.
- There is, of course, a list of would-be pretenders who still believe that having a link to the family is the only path to…
He sighed.
- Whatever they want! And I'm quite sure that you've already been introduced at least once, to everyone of them. Last time I studied the reports about your reaction, it wasn't very promising for any of them.
- You are studying reports about me?
- I'm studying reports about a lot of people, cousin! Your reports are on my desk because I want to be the only one to peek into your life. But you are the last maiden of the family, currently of marriageable age, who's still on the marriage market. I do have a few ideas about who I would like you to marry to reinforce certain links with certain Royal families, but I will never force you if, as it seemed to be the case, you don't like the pretenders. I think we are about to reach the point where, because there's nobody else who could enter the category, you'll be officially released from familial duties to get the right to chose who you want.
- But, there seems to be somebody, Willy. I've spoken with my siblings while they were linked and I've spoken with mamma Jane and what has emerged from those conversations has given me the impression that they are believing, your mother being sure of it, that there is an interesting player still out there who could, would, should, whatever, be able to sweep me from my feet…
William's frown was back.
- You've already been introduced to every possible high-titled Aristocrat who has a link with a reigning family. There's nobody els…
Here he stopped and his frown was back. Not the angry frown or the disapproving frown, but the frown she could remember seeing on his brow each time he did find out what Betty -because most of the time it had been Betty- or another member of the Gang had organized to make him look silly.
- You've found something?
- It's perhaps far-fetched but it could be a possibility if the equation is turned around!
- You are speaking like Lionel and like him you are not easy to understand.
- That's because, said William with an ironic smile, we males have the brain while you females have the heart. One cannot ha…
He fetched the honey pot flying towards him in a smooth and elegant move but put it back on the other side of his breakfast table.
- I'll have to look into the problem with a few of my advisors. But you are probably right that something is brewing and that you are at the center of the plot. But to be sure I need to send a few investigators along certain paths.
- But you'll inform me, won't you?
- I've already given you everything you need to know to find out what is really being prepared. Just remember, if I am right, it is the reverse of what is done usually. Go upwards from the achieved goal and you'll see where they turned the tide.
- Who turned the tide, William!
- Use your brain, even if it is not in your habit, use your brain. Look at the world and try to guess who really would need you in the immediate vicinity of the Throne.
- William d'Arcy, it is not funny!
William snatched his croissant and bit in it with gusto.
- Yeth, it ith, couthin, yeth, it ith …
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London – House of Parliament – Imperial Party Head Quarter
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14th October 1825
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- Why did you come to London, niece?
Catherine de Bourgh had been free to receive her niece and they were both sipping at a cup of excellent Burmese Tea wit a cloud of milk.
The Countess' relationship with Janet's mother had never really healed to the point where they would relax in each other's company, but that hadn't stopped the old Dragon to be at the girls disposal whenever they needed to be advised or sponsored.
- I came to see Willy to ask for his help…
- You need the King's help? Something happened?
- Something's about to happen and I'm quite sure to be at the center of it, answered Janet.
- And William's answers didn't please you?
- He was vague, sarcastic and misogynistic…
- Typical male behavior, acknowledged Catherine de Bourgh. Could you be a little more precise about your problem, dear?
Janet nodded and began to tell her Aunt the story.
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- Well, William could have avoided the misogynistic comments, that's for sure but all in all, I think he was right!
- How can he be right, he didn't say anything of use!
- He was right to give you the clues and not the answer, girl. It is always better to find your own solution by using your fine mind than just taking over another's solution.
She took a sip of her tea.
- Women have won quite a lot of battles these last decades, girl. And you are a lot better prepared than we were at your age…
She stopped Janet's incoming remark.
- Don't be impertinent, girl. Twenty years ago, a woman's fate was, when she wasn't a pauper who was forced to work twelve hours a day to feed her numerous kids, to be married, if possible with a rich man and to beget children aplenty! It wasn't slavery, that's not what I say, but it wasn't at all how it is today.
She shook her head.
- I don't have the least doubt that with your mother you'd have had a lot more freedom than the rest of the daughters around you. She's always been a free spirit and a rebel. But thanks to your Aunt who is at the same time very smart and very discreet in her endeavors the women's cause has been supported with alacrity and efficiency. And, today, you are the ones who will harvest the fruits of our work. Which means that it is even more important for you to use your brain to be worthy of your elders' hard labor.
- We know that we owe everything to you and them, Aunt…
- Don't try to teach an old monkey how to make grimaces, girl! Your mother does, perhaps, believe that impertinence is a virtue, I don't! We've worked hard to get our daughters where they are and you need to work even harder to stay where we've put you. If you begin to believe that you've reached the top, you'll become like those silly feminists of the Freedom party. Those stupid cows have no idea what they are doing by trying to push their policy.
- We women are still a minority everywhere where it counts…
- As I said: the arguments of stupid cows!
Janet who was as rebellious as her mother had ever been, forced herself not to react. Everybody in the family knew that fighting against the Dragon got you always scorched and, from time to time, utterly destroyed.
- Minority where it counts? Utter nonsense, girl! We have the majority where it really counts, niece! It's us who deal with the children's education and it's us who deal with household's management, it's us who look after the sick and the poor. We are where we are needed for the good of the family and the society! We don't need to be CEO of famous companies or at the head of well-known ministries. That's where men like to be. That's where we let them be to express their need to show off. While we do what must be done to protect our families and to maintain the family's wealth, we let them play the power game.
- We could be as good as them at those places, insisted Janet.
- Of course, we could, but why would we want to enter those areas of severe rivalry and utter backstabbing? That's not how most of us work! Most of us, like your Aunt Jane, who is the perfect example of what a woman can do to become a celebrity without ever playing against her gender, like to cooperate to make things happen. Most of us hate confrontation and infighting. Why would we force our sisters to enter the men's field? Just to mimic men's most stupid moves?
She let out a long sigh.
- Some of us are fighters. Look at me, I'm one of them. I blossom when I'm forced to fight and pummel an idiot who believes that the size of his testicles are a valuable replacement for his lack of brains. But that's me and, in a more subtle way, that's Anne. But most women just want to be treated fairly by society. They don't want to take the men's place. They are happy with being a mother and the pivot of their family. Give them, when they are young, the opportunity to make the choices they believe important and they will be happy. Force them to enter the men's world and they will lose themselves like those stupid cows have lost themselves in a swamp where they have none of the necessary skills to survive. And since even they are not so stupid as not to have noticed that they don't have what it takes to be where they have wandered to, they've found the supreme scam and are asking for parity! Those foolish brainless hens want now to have quotas… They want us to send idiot females to badly do the job competent skilled men would do in a much better way.
Catherine de Bourgh couldn't help but snicker.
- You cannot imagine how I love to shred them into crying wrecks each time they try to come up with that shit. And since I am what I am they cannot accuse me of being the men's lackey or a tame follower of male supremacists. They have seen how I've destroyed the males stupid enough to fight me on my turf! And each time they open their stupid mouths to utter their suicidal comments, I crush them under my heel until they flee like the poor sods they are!
She looked her niece in the eyes.
- We don't need as many women in society as there are men, we just need the smart ones to reach the places where they can influence the society. Where they are and happy and efficient. We don't need a few stupid cows to ruin our efforts by uttering cringing remarks who push even the decent men to hate females because they can't stand those sows' stupid endeavor.
- You are not very kind to women who fight for our rights, Aunt…
- They fight for themselves and they lie about it. They are too stupid to see that we women have the best places in the society and since they are stupid and jealous of what the men seem to have achieved, they want to have a place at the men's table. Which is moronic and suicidal. What they will get is push the men to fight back and in history when genders have fought it has always been the brawny half of Mankind who has clobbered the brainy part! That's why it is the duty of those women who have a clear understanding of how a society must work to eliminate those stupid sows and their even stupider ideas.
Catherine de Bourgh looked into her niece's eyes and could see that the rebellious part was taking over and refusing to understand the truth. She would have to speak with Fitzwilliam to point him in the right direction.
- Let's come back to your problem, girl. As you probably know by now, men aren't smarter than females, but their intelligence uses other means to get where they need to be. You know that William has, just by listening to your tale, fathomed what was happening with you and the little plot you've sniffed. So, you clearly have what's needed to find the solution to your little crucible. Let's go backwards from what looks like the target.
She upped her eyebrows and waited.
- Well, what do you believe is the target?
- Me married…
- Good… Anything more precise you could use to walk the path to your answer?
- Not married to a nobody that's for sure! But since I've already seen and spoken to quite every titled man in Europe and the world and since, if I can believe Aunt Jane, the one who's her favorite is not a man I know, I need to think about somebody else.
- Somebody who needs you at his side… Why would he need you? What superb skills do you have nobody else has?
Janet shot her Aunt a scorching glance.
- It's no skill, it's probably my name and the relation said name brings with it.
- Probably, agreed Catherine de Bourgh. But to be honest you would marry a cobbler out of Trout Street, he would still highly benefit from his marriage to a Darcy girl. I'm quite sure that he would sell twice or thrice as many shoes. Would said cobbler have the clout to launch a plot to meet you at the LIT ball?
Once more she waited on Janet's comment.
- No, he wouldn't, said finally Janet. Such a plot will have been launched by somebody a lot higher in the society's hierarchy. And it must be someone who's confident that his plot won't push the whole family to look out for him and destroy him.
- Why would you say that?
- Because even if some House father doesn't like sends a son or nephew to woe me, he will stay polite and civil. Should the same House launch a hidden plot like the one I suspect, he would react a lot less politely.
- Indeed, and since he hasn't reacted badly, who do you suspect to have been at the plot's origins?
- France is out of the question Lexi would have warned me…
She upped a second finger.
- Russia is not yet as open as France but Elizabeth would have spoken to William and he wouldn't have been surprised. So, not Russia!
- Who's left amongst the great Houses?
- China, the Sultanate and Spain…
- And?
Janet shook her head.
- China's out of the question since Yongling Emperor I know and he has, very rudely, informed me that I'm way too ugly to be considered a decent spouse for even one of his lesser Nobles.
Janet could hear the Dragon rumble at her side.
- Charming young man… Does he come this December? I just discovered that I'd like to have a word with him…
- He's invited but he hasn't yet confirmed that he'll be there. He still has the aftermath of the second civil war to deal with. It is as messy as it is possible.
- So, you have the Sultanate and Spain…
Janet focused and made all the mental adjustments needed.
- It could only be Spain but Carlos the Fourth is married with no Heirs… How could he…
Once more she stopped to think about the solution.
After a few seconds, Catherine de Bourgh lost patience.
- Remember what William said: try it the reverse way!
That was enough to steer Janet on the right path.
- It won't be the Heir that will woe me, it will be the one who woes me who will become the Heir. I will decide who the next King of Spain will be.
- As I said, girl, it is at the right place to make the right decisions that we need the smart women, not everywhere taking the places of smarter men.
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Next chapter soon to come… A Chapter about secret wooing whose no longer secret at all…
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