Dressed in his only pair of traveling clothes, Illiam has prepared from the boat ride to the mainland. His parents saw him off, with his mother unable to hold in her tears. She didn’t even cry like this when Illiam had home to study, he felt as if he was being sent to his death. He probably was, this whole affair reminded him of the tales of daughters being sent off to marry the monster in hopes of saving their village. He was the sacrificial bride to save the island, except he couldn’t even get enough respect to be a bride. 

 Illiam was told the boat ride would take several hours and that he would be staying at the northern palace near the city they were docking at for the night before setting off to the capital. Although Illiam had left his home before, he’s never actually been on the mainland. He studied on the continent since the isles that make up the Kingdom of Angleterre had very little outside knowledge. The scholars within the kingdom worked off of the small amount of information that was brought over by the continental nobles and things that they discovered themselves. So Illiam decided to study medicine from scholars that were not simply working off of religious superstitions or magics that elders insist can cure all. Those years of studying were for naught it seems since he highly doubts he’d be able to continue his work. Illiam was sure he’d simply live and die ignored by all in a harem of various other concubines. He had packed various books and scrolls he had collected but he was sure he’d finish reading them before long. Perhaps he would be allowed to purchase new ones, they would be expensive but it would not be as difficult a task as it once was so the king would be able to afford it. 

 His thoughts were interrupted with a crashing sound from behind him that was followed by cursing. 

“My fucking leg,” the sailor yelled. 

“Let me see it.” Illiam ran over to the man who was clutching his knee. 

 He gently pulled the fabric of the sailor’s pants up to see the injured knee. Despite the sailor's objections the physician examined it, checking to see if any bones needed to be set or not. Fortunately from what Illiam could tell it wasn’t a serious injury and simple rest will lively fix it. 

“It’s not fractured so I recommend you rest for the remainder of the trip.” 

“Not sure I can do that, I have work.”

“Can you walk?”

“Well, I don’t-”

“Then you’ll rest, you can’t work if you can’t walk.” 

“Y-yes my lord” 

 Illiam helped the larger man up and assisted him to a spot where he could sit. 

“You’re a lot smaller than I thought you’d be.” the man said not thinking. 

Illiam smirked, “am I, I guess you thought I’d be a gallant knight.” 

“Nah, just thought you’d be a bit taller and uhhh more plump. You’re a noble and all.” 

“I haven’t lived a noble life in years, I used to live in a monastery.” 

“You were a monk?” the sailor said in disbelief. 

“Not quite, I’m a physician.” He sighed, “Should have become a monk though, I wouldn’t be made a concubine if I was.”  

“I just always assumed you were one.” The man scratched his head, “My mum mentioned that the youngest Cowley son never got married even though he was almost 40.”

“I’m not that old.” He laughed. 

 Illiam Cowley was an oddity among nobles, he was 34 and not married. Although this wasn’t that strange for commoners (even though it was on the older side) it was for nobles. Most people simply assumed he had become a monk. He was the youngest son who likely won’t end up with any inheritance, a noble of his status becoming a monk was fairly normal. 

“Seems like I’ll never be married either.” He chuckled. 

“Aren’t you becoming a wife of the king?”

“Concubine, not wife.” 

“What’s the difference?” 

“A wife has status within the household, a concubine is just one of many partners for the king to perhaps entertain himself with.” 

“Is this something that this king learned from those nobles on the continent?”
“Perhaps, or he looked into history and discovered that the chiefs used to take women.”  

“...that used to happen?”

Illiam nodded, “That was centuries ago though before the northern warlords invaded us. Not much is written about it but from what I have been able to gather is that it’s almost the same as what those warlords practiced. But that is not important anymore.” He stood up and looked out into the distance. “I do not know if I will survive long enough to find out the reason for all of this.”