Chapter 2396 - 315: A True Knight Cannot Be Bought_2

However, Victoria, who was in the Whig Court, thought the letter was very foolish. Because of the way her mother forwarded it and the wording in the letter, she deemed it provocative, and returned the letter intact and wordlessly to the Duchess of Kent.

Feeling unwell and deeply ashamed because of her daughter’s predicament, the Old Hastings Marchioness wrote to Viscount Melbourne, demanding the dismissal of the misdiagnosing Dr. Clark and severe punishment of Lady Leisen for fueling the situation. However, Melbourne replied that her request was unprecedented and would easily meet opposition.

This was an extremely embarrassing incident for which Prime Minister Viscount Melbourne could not excuse himself.

Whether due to personal grievance or party distinction, he still irresponsibly continued to stir gossip, catering to Victoria’s loathing of anything related to her mother.

Privy Council Clerk Greville felt profoundly repulsed: "It is utterly incomprehensible how Melbourne could allow such a shameful and harmful scandal to occur; it only damages the Royal Family’s image in the eyes of the world, and neither the youth nor inexperience of the Queen can pardon her involvement."

Yet the destabilization of the King’s Power was merely one of the effects of the Flora Hastings scandal.

In the years that followed, the repercussions of this incident continued.

The downfall of the Melbourne Cabinet, the change of the ruling party, palace crises, the decline and division of the Whig Party, the rise of the Liberal Party...

It’s difficult to quantify the impact of the Flora Hastings incident or to analyze how much effort Arthur Hastings exerted behind these events.

Arthur Hastings fell back to his post-1832 status due to this incident, which may have been intentional, a stage in accumulating strength for the next significant leap, a crucial element in his long-term planning.

Or perhaps, it was merely out of simple sympathy, unwilling to see the one he loved suffer such unjust circumstances.

Regardless of the truth, we can be certain that when the Peel Cabinet takes office three years later, Arthur Hastings will ascend the first step of ultimate power, appearing on White Hall’s stage for the first time as the department’s highest civil servant.

——Stephen Zweig, "Arthur Hastings: The Ambition of a Rational Prisoner Driven"

The carriage traveled over Waterloo Bridge; the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral loomed faintly in the fog, and the Thames River appeared indistinct in the mist, dark and silent like a mirror that reflected nothing.

Arthur sat deep within the carriage, the silver head of his cane pressed against the floor, the finely carved cane gently quivering amidst the carriage’s jostling.

He looked out the window; all was blurred by fog, the palace spires, the corner gas lamps, the occasional passing pedestrian—all melted into the white chaos.

He instinctively reached towards his chest area, feeling the sound of his heartbeat through the flannel, lining; dull yet powerful.

In the past few days, he had traveled to many places.

He not only went to Kensington Palace to stabilize the Duchess of Kent’s position, but also made a special trip to Fleet Street to visit various newspaper editors, issuing a gag order via one penny journalist David Lewis to key industry figures while securing the Conservative Party leaders’ support for the Hastings family...

However, even though he had used all available resources to maintain strict defensive measures, he still could not prevent the information from leaking.

Such explosive news naturally attracts some fearless press willing to blatantly challenge Imperial Publishing’s authority for sales.

Once one takes the lead, other newspapers and one penny journalists swarm in as if sensing blood, and news floods like a dam breaking, sweeping across the headlines of major papers with irrefutable momentum.

Perhaps due to fear of Arthur’s power, many newspapers deliberately omitted his name when reporting, referring to him instead as "a certain palace close aide," "a White Hall senior official," or "a noble illegitimate son," using ambiguous titles.

Even more boldly, whether intentionally or accidentally, they replaced the male protagonist of the incident from "Arthur Hastings" to "John Conroy."

Behind these news reports, "well-informed insiders" and "palace sources" emerged one after another.

As a seasoned veteran in publishing for nearly a decade, Arthur naturally understood that someone must be pushing this from behind.

Moreover, it was absolutely not just one party involved in this scandal; there could very likely be two or even three forces.

Considering the ugly nature of politics, Arthur even had reason to suspect that the Conservative Party, which explicitly supported the Hastings family, might also be involved.

Because the bigger the scandal, the more they can use it to belittle the Whig Party and undermine their advantage in the Lower House.

Compared to the attack from Fleet Street, Arthur was more concerned about Buckingham Palace’s silence.

Days ago, he had already requested an audience with Victoria, yet he still hadn’t received consent, and when he inquired about the audience arrangements with the new Palace Minister’s Office, their response was equally unusually cold.

Arthur didn’t need to think hard to know that it must be the new Lord Chamberlain, Duke of Argyle, playing tricks.

Though the previous Lord Chamberlain, Marquis of Cunningham, was also a Whig Party member, Arthur considered them good acquaintances, as he had escorted him and the Archbishop of Canterbury to Kensington Palace last year when King William IV passed away.