The Pearl Of Great Price

Chapter 9: My Pearl

Charles departed Westhrope Hall on a cold, humid day. The sky was brewing up a typical English storm. The castle at Hampton Court loomed large like a shadowy figure under cover of darkness. It seemed a lifetime ago, but he remembers how the palace was a haven, a refuge from reality, from the gloom of life that lost its shimmer. It always protected vice and virtue the same.

In those days of court life, it became hard to tell the difference between virtue and vice. Anyone could become so easily misled by greed and lust, which the palace has in droves. To not give in and retain true integrity, one needs to be like the palace itself, having stone walls around the heart. Not giving in to the temptations it let enter.

And life was fun during those times. It was glorious! There was a certain kind of energy there. The castle was alive with music, dancing, riches, feasting, tournaments, and women— lots of women. In truth, that was not so long ago but as recent as the year before. Now Charles has changed, as has the palace itself. It's older and more decrepit in manner and appeal.

Grand on the outside but empty within— dank, dark, and dingy. It's full of avarice and selfishness. The selfishness of power, fortune, life, gluttony, and lust. There's no virtue to be found, and what little there was to spare left with Queen Catherine. Now it's just walls, no longer the lively place to be--- the center of the world, his old world. That place brings out the worst in people; the court does, just like its owner.

The King's mind is obsessed. And when the King is obsessed with something, it's best to stay away or out of the way. Obsession is a dangerous weakness. It makes you keep coming back and coming back expecting a different result, but in the end, you keep getting the same thing. This is similar to insanity. It's a harmful passion that completely contradicts Charles's devotion to Mary. Love is about others, but obsession is about yourself.

The Duke's mind started changing and seeing the palace differently before he married his new wife. It began when marrying Henry's sister. Charles started noticing his friend in a different light when he was banished from court. He was expelled from his vices and left alone with only Margaret for company. And the thing about that is, even though he was with her, he was still alone. She made him feel isolated with harsh remarks such as "If it weren't for you, I'd still be the Queen of Portugal." That only played into the many insecurities of inferiority.

Drunk, foolish lust mixed with anger is not love. Charles knows love now, and that wasn't it. His mind changed further when he saw the treatment of the Queen. The irony is that he wasn't thinking about Princess Mary. She wasn't on his mind at that time, having not thought about her in years until the task of wedding her.

Now the woman is all he thinks about. She is his most significant care and priority. The truth about his wife is she was banished too. His sweet, gentle, lovable girl had been made to be alone. And the thing about that is Mary wasn't just alone. She was lonely and silently suffering. Forgetting that Henry is his best friend, how can any father dismiss their child so easily? A child who hasn't done anything but give love? He will never do that with any of their own children. Never!

Mary had been asleep inside, a waking sleep. A sleeping beauty. She fears being forgotten because everyone has left at some point. That's hard for the Duke to comprehend, yet he understands it because he has also felt the sting of exile and loneliness. It's easy to discern, even though Mary has never voiced these sentiments out loud.

Charles is gifted in the skill of discernment. He's never cared to use it before because vices took priority over the virtues of responsibility and reason. But his wife's biggest fear is not loneliness. No. It's feeling like no one cares. He sensed that during their nighttime conversations.