Page 15

The Shadow of Regret

King Louis paced the King’s Cabinet and fidgeted with a small mechanical lock. The clack and thunk of the lock opening and closing echoed through the otherwise silent room. The hearth blazed, heating the room to the point of sweat beads gathering on Rollant’s brow.

He had given his report and stared beyond Louis to the mirrored wall.

Though short in duration, the ride back to Versailles had been long.

He should never have stopped again in Faubourg Saint-Antoine.

It had done nothing but depress both élise and himself.

More so élise—her life wasn’t guaranteed. He would live on.

Louis muttered about the lies spreading about the Queen, his movements erratic as he crossed the room.

“It’s far worse than I imagined,” Louis yelled, collapsing into his high-backed dark oak chair.

His body slumped, and the well-fed belly protruded beneath his royal attire. “What do I do?” He turned his eyes, full of disbelief and fear, to Rollant.

“As I have said, Your Majesty.” Rollant took a deep breath. “Be the absolute monarch, institute the reforms, and enforce them with military backing. The people will see you on their side and make their voices heard.”

“I have not raised taxes to keep their burdens light,” Louis muttered, shaking his head.

“My king, I saw poverty in the Parisian streets, and anger fuels their survival.” Rollant ignored Louis’ impatient sigh.

“They don’t care that you haven’t raised taxes—they want you to hear their concerns and take action.

They are crying out because the tax burden is already too heavy, and they are hungry.

They think the nobility hoards bread and cattle, unaware that famine, drought, and overseas rebellions contribute to their suffering.

They blame you for failing to provide relief.

They see their hard-earned wages going to you, with little returned besides the lamplighters and street cleaners, which they hardly care about. ”

Louis scoffed. “Don’t they see I’m trying to make their lives easier? I even gave them the legal right to practice their faith of choice.”

“No, they don’t because they are starving and sick.

” Rollant shook his head and said against his better judgment.

“You want to be a king of the people, then listen to them. Be their king. Engage with them directly. Show them you will act on their behalf. Tax the nobility and clergy, and use the military to enforce it.”

“That is enough, Rollant,” Louis snapped. “I will not use the French military to enforce a tax on the nobility and clergy like a reckless tyrant.”

“You are king; be a king,” Rollant urged, holding his voice steady, knowing this conversation would not have happened even three hundred years prior.

“Leave me,” Louis said and hunkered down in his chair.

A rising surge of frustration pressed against his tight chest. He was vested after his day with élise.

The people’s struggles and élise’s circumstances had sliced through his indifferent facade.

With a deep breath, he settled himself and gathered his thoughts as he walked to the door.

This was not him. He was the silent relic, the king’s bodyguard.

He never wanted to be an advisor. He spun on his heels.

“My apologies, Your Majesty. My tone was uncalled for. I beg your royal pardon. I shall keep my silence as I always have.”

Louis leaned forward on the table and dropped his head into his hands. “Chevalier Rollant de Montvieux,” he said after a sweeping breath. “You will never need to ask my pardon.”

Rollant approached the table. His golden rapier bounced at his hip in stride. “The people grow restless, Your Majesty. There is truth in their whispers, but you are not beyond saving.”

Louis chuckled. “My passions are in locksmithing, not in governance.”

He uncovered his face and massaged his temple with two fingers. “Minister Brienne has already failed again at instituting his universal land tax. He insists on calling the Estates-General.”

Rollant shook his head. “My King, if I may,” he said, pausing to wait for permission, which came through a small wave of Louis’ hand.

“Do not call an Estates-General. Instead, engage directly with the Third Estate. Hear their concerns, establish goodwill, and soften their demands. Given the political and environmental conditions, let them see you are trying. Releasing a small amount of power now may prevent an outright revolt and solidify the crown.”

Louis’ brow furrowed. “If memory serves,” he softly bounced a closed fist on his forehead, “You had told me to rule with absolute authority.”

“Yes,” Rollant said, with eyes lighting up. The king had heard him. “I did, and I still urge the same.”

“But engaging directly with the Third Estate would be ceding authority, as you said, ‘releasing power’?”

Rollant dipped his head in acknowledgment of the king’s hesitation.

Had the king done what he had said to do ten years ago, perhaps their predicament would have been nonexistent.

“Your authority remains absolute, but power, your power, is influence. By engaging directly with the kingdom’s people, they will feel a part of it and respect your authority again. ”

Louis considered Rollant’s words with lips tightly pressed. “But why not through an Estates-General?”

“Because, Your Majesty,” Rollant said, resisting the urge to shake his head.

“You bypass the nobility by going directly to the people. You present the crown untainted by the nobility’s greed.

Show the people you are their king and are working for them.

Bypass the Parlements and enforce your land tax.

Save your people, and they will save your crown. ”

Louis sighed. “You have been away for too long. I have tried to bypass the Parlements with Minister Brienne, but the reforms are rejected and not upheld.”

“Then enforce it with the military.” Rollant made a fist. “To show the power of the king.”

“Oh, Chevalier, we are past the Crusades.” Louis leaned back with weary eyes. “We are not kings of the medieval ages anymore. We are an advanced people of diplomacy and democratic approaches.”

Rollant suppressed the urge to yell and kept his voice steady, though his fist rested on the hilt of his rapier. “If I may, Your Majesty, throughout the centuries, I have seen hunger drive the most docile man to violence. Already, your people speak of acting where you fail to provide relief.”

“I have not failed. I have prevented further tax raises!” Louis said, slamming his hands on the table.

Rollant bit back a sigh, wishing his immortality came with the ability to rewind time. He had chosen the wrong words to say, and they were back at the beginning of their cyclical conversation.

“You have indeed, my King, and done so mightily!” Rollant said, resigning himself to be just a guard. He took place at the edge of the room, hands by his side, back straight, stare unfocused with a steady breath.

The world of present problems would be gone in a hundred years. It didn’t matter.

Louis dropped his head back, his shoulders sagging. “Oh, Father, thou art in Heaven,” he prayed. “Show me what I must do.”

Rollant closed his eyes as he waited for the king to finish, knowing the path he needed to take was right before him. He only had to decide and proceed on the road to the crown’s salvation.

He thought of élise, and for her sake, he stepped forward once more with softer words and reframed his advice.

“Your Majesty, the solution is not simple, and no one has all the answers. But your people, the hungry, the poor, are not enemies. Listen to them without the Parlements’ interference and the nobles’ interests skewing their needs.

Let them see you as their protector. Your willingness to show you understand their plight will prevent far worse. ”

Rollant paused, holding Louis’s gaze with an intensity softened with humility.

Louis’s fingers drummed against the table; his gaze drifted below Rollant’s shoulder and filled with heavy thought. “I want to be the people’s king, Rollant, yet every day, I feel that dream slipping away.”

Rollant leaned forward. “Then let it not slip, Sire. With a single decision, you can reclaim it. Engage with the people’s leaders sincerely and directly. This is not ceding power—it is ruling in a way they will respect.”

Louis bounced his hand on his thigh before folding his hands behind his back. “I will . . . consider it further.”