"I had a strange dream last night."
"A strange dream? What was it about?"
"...A dream where I died."
At those words, Margaret closed her mouth, and the Queen gazed at the ceiling with weary eyes.
The Queen was now a 72-year-old woman.
"Since that dream, I've had a strange feeling. As if I'm not... really alive."
"Don't say such things."
"No, that's not what I mean. It's just... I feel like I'm living far beyond the age I was supposed to live..."
"..."
"...Does that sound strange too?"
"...Yes."
At Margaret's response, Elizabeth, who was destined to die about two years ago, gives a bitter smile.
In her dream, she was laid in a lead coffin.
Horses draped in black velvet carried her coffin, and atop it stood a wax effigy recreating her appearance in life. The crowd who saw the effigy wept more sorrowfully.
In the procession that followed, Raleigh led the royal guard, holding halberds upside down in mourning for her death. He too shed tears.
