The room grew quiet as Columbus entered. A thousand jealous stares, he felt, were upon him. Disregarding them, he walked to the king and queen and greeted them. The banquet was organized in his honour of returning from a successful voyage from Asia.

Though Asia it was not, but no one knew of it at that time.

They said the gold he brought was stolen from the natives.

They lamented the ocean didn’t swallow him, neither his crew kill him.

They laughed at him when he proposed the voyage. Now he has returned successfully, yet they refused to acknowledge him.

Even being in the banquet which was held in its honor, he felt an uninvited stranger.

Jealous they were.

But he had shrugged it off, for the most part anyway.

The queen respected him, and so did the king. That was enough for him.

To hell with the haters.

__________________

“Lord Columbus”, a lord commented, “hadn’t done anything worthy of your attention your majesty.” It was obvious that he was drunk. The queen didn’t seem pleased with the comment, but the king seem to not mind it. The lord’s courage only grew.

“He acts all high and mighty, but the only thing he did is find a longer route to Asia!!”

“Without which”, the queen interrupted, “our empire’s trade routes shall collapse! Are you suggesting the empire’s welfare...