Henry VIII and Catherine from Spain

If someone really bullied her maid, Mary Stuart would absolutely never swallow her anger.

"I just feel bad for you, Your Majesty..."

Seton's eyes turn red, and she almost cries. She says loudly, "...I feel bad for you. It's okay for the Queen Mother and the Majesty Charles, but for a whole half month, the Duke of Guise didn't come to visit you even once, and didn't even send someone to comfort you! God, when the Majesty Francis II was still alive, you said a lot of good things to him for the Guise family! How could he not be grateful?"

"Oh, don't worry about this, Seton. I believe that my uncle will remember me, visit me, and comfort me sooner or later. After all, I am still the Queen of Scotland." Mary Stuart says peacefully with a smile.

Mary Stuart, who had seen countless vicissitudes of life in her previous life, really does not take the inconsistent attitude of the Guise family to heart. For the struggle for power, the so-called kinship is probably not even as good as waste paper.

As expected, after more than half of the forty-day mourning period has passed, the Duke of Guise finally comes late to visit Mary Stuart, the poor niece who has just become a widow.

"Oh, my unfortunate child, may God bless you." The Duke of Guise lovingly embraces Mary Stuart in his arms and touches her forehead with a ring with a gem, as if to detect her body temperature.

"My body has recovered for many days, my uncle." Mary Stuart says, hugging the Duke of Guise tightly, and then quickly separates.

"I have always been thinking about you, Mary. When I heard that you had a high fever, I didn't know how worried I was. Now that I see you in good health, I feel that a burden has fallen from my heart." The Duke of Guise says sincerely.

Then, the Duke of Guise worriedly and guiltily talks about why he has not visited Mary Stuart for so long. It was nothing more than Catherine Medici's mischief, and the tense situation in the Louvre made him unable to get away.

"I know, dear uncle, I know everything."

Mary Stuart says with a smile, sitting on a chair with her uncle, her eyes also full of gentleness and trust.

If it was her in her previous life, she might really be moved by the Duke of Guise's sincere statement and put all the grudges in her heart behind her.

But now it is different. She can completely see through the Duke of Guise's hypocrisy. Not only can she see through it, but she can also play along with him.

It's just a competition of acting skills, she can do it.

After another warm and affectionate chat, the Duke of Guise makes it clear why he comes this time.

Since he hopes that Mary Stuart will marry Charles IX, who has just ascends the throne.

The child who is only ten years old.

The Duke of Guise is able to say such a thing, of course, not out of imagination, but after careful and serious consideration.

In this era, if a woman chooses to get married, then everything she has will belong to her husband from now on, and she will have no right to dispose of it.

This is an unfair rule, which may be unbearable in the eyes of future generations, but now it is a matter of course.

If this woman happens to be the owner of a territory, then the husband who marries her will also have the right to rule side by side, and even have more rights than the original mistress. After all, in the eyes of many people, men are always wiser and more trustworthy.

Just like Anne, the Duchess of Brittany a century ago, the poor woman was forcibly married by two French kings and got pregnant sixteen times like ovulation, just because of the coveted duchy.

The Stuart family is dwindling, and Mary Stuart is the only heir who survived the legal marriage, and she inherits the throne of Scotland undisputedly.

What does this mean?

This also means that anyone who marries Mary Stuart will immediately obtain the title of King of Scotland.

No matter how poor and weak it is, Scotland is still a kingdom, which is far richer than any dowry. More importantly, thanks to the complicated marriage, Mary Stuart also has the legal right to inherit the throne of England.

In a sense, it is even more legitimate than the current English monarch Elizabeth I, which means that as long as there is a chance, France after the marriage can "legally" obtain the throne of England.

This is Mary Stuart's innate capital, and it is also the reason why Henry II made a decisive decision to let Mary Stuart marry his crown prince before.

With all these things, the Duke of Guise really does not believe that other French people will not be tempted.

The Duke of Guise sits by the bed and says sincerely,

"As long as this marriage is successful, my dear niece, you can certainly continue to stay in France and be the hostess of this first-class court in Europe! And the children born in the future can also inherit a country with a wider territory, a powerful country that combines your ancestral kingdom with the whole of France, and even further, own the whole of England!

Mary, just think how glorious it will be, so glorious that it will make the illegitimate daughter Elizabeth jealous to death!"

And he can continue to use his identity as the guardian of the queen to take over the power of the whole of France alone before Charles IX comes of age.

Of course, this is not without benefits for Mary Stuart. The Duke of Guise dares to swear to God that he sincerely believes that his naïve and reckless niece has no political talent at all and could not do anything. If she was asked to govern a country, she would definitely mess everything up.

In this case, it would be better to stay in the French court and be a stable and noble lady, which would be worthy of his dead sister.

After finishing talking, the Duke of Guise waits to see Mary Stuart's jubilant reaction, but he only sees an unusually calm face, with dark eyes flickering slightly in the sunlight, like black crystals frozen in ice and snow, not like her usual appearance at all.

"This marriage will not succeed, my uncle, don't forget that Francois is the brother of Charles IX." Mary Stuart shakes her head and says peacefully.

"So what, there is a precedent in Europe for a brother to marry a widowed sister-in-law, such as Henry VIII and Catherine from Spain. We just need to follow suit and write a letter to the Pope to let him announce that you still haven't consummated your marriage." The Duke of Guise says indifferently.

Mary Stuart frowns at the comparison made by the Duke of Guise and says,

"Please don't say that, my uncle. Queen Catherine's ending was not very good, as we all know. Women may not care about the age and aging of men, but men must care whether women are young and beautiful. The six-year age difference made Henry VIII quickly tired of Queen Catherine, and later deposed his wife and drove her away. I am eight years older than Charles right now, and I don't want to end up like that."

The Duke of Guise touches the thick beard on his chin and says with a smile,

"Oh, dear Mary, you are such an innocent child. Why did Henry VIII depose Queen Catherine? Because she was old and ugly?

No, because Queen Catherine did not give birth to a son. But this has never happened in our Guise family. Your father also had a lot of illegitimate children... well... well, anyway, you will definitely give birth to a lot of healthy children with your husband in the future.

Besides, Mary, your beauty is praised by poets throughout the court. Believe your uncle, when the Majesty Charles grows up and understands beauty and ugliness, he will not only not dislike you, but will be obsessed with you to death."

However, Mary Stuart insists on her own opinion and points out the biggest hidden danger that the Duke of Guise ignored, saying seriously,

"So what, even if you can convince everyone in the Louvre, you can't convince the Medici Queen Mother who truly doesn't like me. We have been at odds for a long time, and she will definitely do her best to obstruct this invisible marriage."

Next moment, even the Duke of Guise gets silent...