Chapter 4:

A week after finalizing the divorce papers of the King and Queen Jane, Thomas Cranmer had finally been able to return to a more normal routine. The divorce between Queen Jane and King Henry had been a shocked as the two had only been married for less than two years but it was quite a change from his past two marriages as he and the Queen had decided to amicably divorce.

As it were, immediately after the King and Queen signed their papers, the Lady Jane, now the Duchess of Surrey had left to reside in her new home in Surrey. Her brother Edward had been stripped of his higher titles as Lady Jane had requested him to collect the titles of the lands and properties and titles given to him by the King ever since she had been courted by the King and was sent to Scotland to serve King Henry's niece, Mary I and was to escort her on her journey to France in the future.

Thomas Seymour and John Seymour had returned to Wolf hall indefinitely and the King had been in a better mood and life at court seemed to have felt normal once more.

Currently, Thomas Cranmer was archiving several contracts that Sir Thomas Cromwell had left and those that he himself had written which included those that had occurred between the marriage of King Henry to he Duchess of Surrey and was preparing it for filing and archiving.

As he flitted about his office, he had seen several of the marriage contracts between Prince Arthur and Queen Katherine and the documents that had approved Katherine's second marriage to King Henry and soon he came upon the evidences showing of the voidability of said marriage and then the divorce papers that were left unsigned by the late dowager princess, Katherine of Aragon.

He filed them away and then came across the documents where Thomas Cromwell had relinquished his duties as secretary and returned all of his possessions and titles that had been given to him by the King after he was dismissed and banished from court. He died two weeks later as the people had beat him up on the streets of London on his way to his home. The people hated him for closing down so many just religious houses, this was why the King had dismissed him from his service.

As Master Cranmer finished filing his other documents, he had come across the files of the Former Queen Anne Boleyn, as he flitted through her files, he found several documents about her from her ascension as the Marquess of Pembroke and her Queenship and marriage to the King. However it was one piece of document that had him startled and surprised.

There in his hands were the divorce paper signed by the Lady Anne herself, but on the other side, the King's signature had remained unsigned.

Master Cranmer then began searching the rest of the documents piled up in his office- the former office of Thomas Cromwell- and soon found another copy of the divorce paper this time signed but the King and not by Anne Boleyn. As he read through both of the contracts, he found that both had been signed at the same day which had been impossible as the Lady Anne upon the agreement made between the King and her, she had immediately left for Pembroke nad had requested Cromwell and the King to just have a messenger deliver the papers for her to sign. Cranmer remembered that day very well as he was in the room with them when she requested it.

Flashback:

"Well then, it seems all the necessary conditions for the contract has been met, Once the divorce papers are signed, the Queen will gain custody of the Princess Elizabeth as her place of residence will become the official residence of the princess until such time she must move to Wales as the Heiress apparent of the throne of England should the King not have a male heir." Cromwell said, "Also, upon this agreement, the Queen will become the Duchess of Pembroke and may reside with her daughter, the Princess Elizabeth on the condition that she will never return to London or contact the King of England directly or indirectly. The Queen is also granted a pension of 10,000 crowns per year as well as her right to retain the properties and jewels-save for the crown jewels- she has acquired that is rightfully given to her by the King." Cromwell ended.

Nodding, Anne and the King told him that they had understood the arrangements and are satisfied with it. As Cromwell and Cranmer began to pack up and leave, Anne spoke, "Actually, with your permission your majesty," she said, "I shall like to visit Pembroke Castle before we sign the papers. I shall like to make sure that everything is in order myself for Elizabeth's arrival. I'm sure it is of no bother to have someone deliver me the papers to sign as I will surely be residing in Pembroke Castle by the time the contracts are finalized." Anne had never been one to back down, but this whole ordeal with Henry had tired her out, she loved Henry so much and still does, but she could no longer keep fighting and getting hurt too, She just wanted the pain to stop. She knew that if she stayed and held on to her title as long as she could, her father and uncle would only berate her for giving up, but they did not know what Anne knew, Anne knew that her husband could go as far as to execute her with trumped up charges if he really wanted to be rid of her and she did not want to lose her head and for Elizabeth to lose her mother so early and be tainted with false charges so Anne had decided to leave as dignified as she could, to leave as a Queen instead of leaving Whitehall as a Duchess.

Realizing that Anne had wanted to leave Whitehall before she necessarily had to which meant that he could have Jane all to himself without Anne's judging looks, Henry immediately agreed, "Very well if you wish to leave before you should, then you are welcome to do so. Cromwell will have someone deliver the papers to you and I expect you to sign it and hand it over as soon as it arrives."

Nodding, Anne stood and curtsied, "Very well, your majesty. I shall leave as soon as possible."

As Anne exited the King's office, Master Cranmer and Master Cromwell were left and soon they also left the King alone.

It seemed to Master Cranmer that Master Cromwell may have erred when he had sent a messenger to Anne's household with the contract that had not been completely revised while Cromwell had the King sign the final contract. How Cromwell had not noticed that he did not know but he must have overlooked it as he must not have gotten the chance to file it like everything else since he had been dismissed immediately a week after and was killed by the people.

It was why Master Cranmer had been filling in his place as the King's secretary and filing everything in his office so that he could figure out the things he needed to work on. He knew Cromwell was an efficient man but he had no clue how he did it because his office was quite a mess of documents!

Master Cranmer looked over the contracts again and soon he realized one thing: King Henry and the Lady Anne Boleyn had failed to sign their divorce papers accordingly which meant that the Lady Anne Boleyn and King Henry were, in a legal sense, still married.

Days after Master Cranmer found out of the discrepancy in the divorce contract, he had made several inquiries regarding the issue and what it could entail, he had also looked into the log books of who had delivered the contract only to be disappointed to see that said messenger had passed away due to a brawl in a nearby tavern.

Seeing that he had to report this matter to the King, Master Cranmer made his way to the King's study.

As Master Cromwell entered the King's office, he found that the King was in a meeting with his Privy council, he had decided to wait to bring up his findings and instead waited until they finished their meeting.

"Your majesty, for the good of the country, you must consider remarrying. We have already compiled a list of possible princesses and royal ladies that we can extend a betrothal to, all you must do is choose one." said one of the council.

"I have just gotten out of a divorce last week, I shall like to stay unmarried for a while. Marriage is such a hard thing to keep!" the King said as he tried to lighten up the mood of his council men, he knew he needed to remarry but so far his marriages had failed to work, he lived in sin by pretending to be married to his sister's widow, he had divorced the first woman he had ever loved so fiercely and he again divorced the woman who had interested Henry due to her inability to carry a child.

Seeing that his councilmen will not relent on this, he took the list and spoke, "Very well, I shall look into this list and see if one of them interests me. You may all leave." he said as he dismissed them, soon the councilmen began to disperse and when the King was now alone, Thomas Cranmer entered the room.

When the last of the councilmen had left, King Henry ordered the page boy to close the door and spoke, "The Privy council is pushing me to marry so soon after my divorce, they think I do not know that not all of these maidens are royals but some of them are of their kin." The King said as he dropped the folder with the list of maidens he could choose from for a betrothal with him, shaking his head, he raised his head and looked at Master Cranmer.

"What is it you wish to speak to me with, Master Cranmer?" The King asked, master Cranmer knew he would have to be careful.

"I was going through the documents and contracts that Master Cromwell had left behind and was going through the process of archiving them when I came across a most distressing document." Master Cranmer said as he approached the King and held the folder in his arms tighter, as if not wanting to show it to the king. "As I did more research about the document, I find that there had been an error in the signing of the documents, in turn failing to dissolve the said relationship." he added.

Curious, the king looked at the folder in Master Cranmer's arms and surmised that it contained the said documents, he held out his arms and waited for Cranmer to hand the folder over, when Master Cranmer reluctantly handed it over, King Henry began to read through the contract and all Master Cranmer could do was to keep silent and watch the King's expression change as he realize what contract he held in his hands.

"What is the meaning of this?!" King Henry said as he realized that he had just read the divorce agreements between himself and Anne Boleyn, the two contracts had been signed but only one for each of them and it seemed that the contract he had signed was not signed by Anne.

"It seems, your majesty, that at some point when the contract was being finalized and signed, someone had delivered the wrong paper to the Lady Anne, which is why her signature in on the last draft and yours on the final contract." Master Cranmer said, "I had thought to raise this matter to you before I take any measures to correct the situation." Master Cranmer had said, as the King's red face began to return to a normal color.

"Very well, Master Cranmer. It is good that you have seen this. Inform the Lady Anne of this news and inform her that we are in the process of correcting this mistake." King Henry said as he dismissed Cranmer.

Understanding his dismissal from the King's presence, Master Cranmer immediately left, leaving the folder with the contracts with the King and made his way back to his office.

On his way back, little did he realise that there was someone in the hall and he realised this too late as his body collided, rather painfully with someone else, immediately, Master Cranmer apologised as he stood up only to see that he had bumped into one Lord George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford and the former Queen and current Duchess of Pembroke's brother.

"Please accept my apologies, Lord Rochford, I was not looking where I was going." Master Cranmer said as he looked at George Boleyn.

"It is alright, Master Cranmer, I too was in a hurry and was not looking where I was going" George said, "Did you happen to just come from the King's study? I am on my way there now." he said.

"Yes, I am afraid the King is in a rather foul mood, perhaps you should see him another time when he has calmed down a bit." Master Cranmer said, not only was the King in a foul mood, he looked as if he felt so tired.

"Well, I suppose it is not something I haven't been used to." George said as he went on his way to the King's Study, ever since the King's failed marriage to his sister, the King had always shown his disappointment to the Boleyn men, "I best be going Master Cranmer, it would not do to keep his majesty waiting in his state as you say."

"Of Course, Lord Rochford. I bid you good day." Cranmer said as he side stepped so taht George could pass.

"I just hope that the King will like what I have to say" he heard George mutter to himself before he heard George bid him a good day too.

As Master Cranmer made his way back to his study, he wondered, what could George tell the King that he believed the King will want to hear?

AN: I feel like these past chapters are mostly written in a POV style, I don't mind, this writing style is quite new to me and its a bit of a challenge to keep myself in the character's shoes while I write them, but I feel like I understand them a bit more when I write them this way. What do you think? Can you guess who's point of view I'll be writing in next? :)

Thank you so much for the reviews! I never thought I'd get so many positive reviews for this story! :) Thank you as well to everyone who wished me luck on my starting law school! I have no idea how I'm gonna survive this but I will do my best! :)

Can you guess who is the next featured person for next chapter? I'm currently doing chapter 6 so I think when I said that this might be just 10-15 chapters long, I might not be so sure anymore. So I've decided to just finish when I finish it on whatever chapter that will be! :)

xx

unamedhpauthor

PS: As usual, I do not own the tudors.