Chapter 78: Golden Ouroboros (Twenty-Six)
◎Deeply ill and dark water◎
Twenty years ago, Roman Court.
The young queen walked through the quiet corridor with the two-year-old princess, without any maids following behind them. Everyone in the country knew that their king did not value this queen from a foreign country, even though she brought him a crown.
After ascending the throne, Laf XI was a pleasure-loving king. He was keen to lavish his excessive passion on any woman except his legal wife. He changed mistresses faster than the nobles' dresses. Some people joked that there were only two kinds of women in the Roman court, the king's women and the queen.
Tonight is another noisy night. The music in the Flower Hall Palace is so loud that it can be heard in half of the palace. The women's laughter mixed with the mellow aroma of wine spreads everywhere. The nobles come to the banquet with their wives and daughters. They do not think it is shameful for their wives to become the king's mistresses.
The king was not a stingy man. He would grant his mistresses a lot of wealth, and give their husbands titles and lands. He would not forget to comfort them after they parted ways. If they could have children - that would be even better. When the queen was unable to give birth to a legitimate child, the king's eldest son, even if he was an illegitimate child, would very likely inherit the throne in the future.
Just think about what an honor that would be!
Amenla listened attentively to the laughter in the Flower Hall Palace for a while and accurately recognized the voice of her husband.
The young queen stood in the shadow, like a cold and stiff plaster statue. The young and ignorant little princess didn't quite understand what was happening. As long as she was held by her beloved mother, she didn't pay much attention to what was happening outside. At this moment, she was focusing all her attention on a passing ant.
Yamanla stood there expressionlessly, thinking quietly.
The first thing that needs to be confirmed is that she never expected this marriage.
The marriage, arranged when she was fourteen, was entirely out of duty, country and similar reasons. In short, it was the Assyrian princess who needed to be queen, not the individual "Amenra", and Amenra was able to clearly distinguish the difference between the two.
As an Assyrian princess, she needed to fulfill her responsibilities as a future queen, connect the relationship between Roman and Assyria, and at the same time, according to the previous prenuptial agreement, give birth to a legitimate heir for the Roman monarch to take over the two supreme crowns of Roman and Assyria.
Among all these responsibilities and obligations, there has never been any warm words like "love" and "care".
So Amenla never expected to receive her husband's "love".
But when she really faced all this, her instinct as a woman still made her a little stunned.
King Laf XI's cold treatment was too obvious, and there was a kind of strange and inexplicable hatred in it. Amenla had no idea where this strangeness came from until one day when she saw the drunk king staring at Sangxia. She suddenly realized something creepy in that suspicious and disgusted look.
Perhaps Raphael's birth was not as complete a secret as she had once believed.
In the subsequent secret tests, Amenla finally confirmed this fact.
Love XI heard everything that happened at Saint Sandin's estate.
How could he know?
Who told him?
Raphael's disappearance...is it related to him?
Amenla was sure that the servants she brought into the Saint Sandin Manor were all her confidants. Her father had exhausted all his energy for her unexpected birth and tried every means to keep this secret. She knew that the servants in the manor were moved to other places one after another shortly after Raphael was born, and it was even more impossible for them to communicate with the outside world. How could Raf XI, who was far away in Rome,
Know all this?
Five years after Raphael's disappearance, Amenra finally found the culprit.
Her current husband, the father of her daughter, had taken—and most likely killed—her eldest son.
A fragile baby was kidnapped by someone who hated him. Can we still hope that person would show mercy to the weak baby?
The young mother cried silently in the night, mourning for her child who had died in an unknown place and had rotted in the earth.
Love XI was not a stupid fool. He obviously realized from these subtle temptations that what he had done had been exposed. The noble couple did not foolishly argue with each other face to face, but only they themselves knew that their hostility and hatred towards their partner had reached the highest point.
A wife who betrayed him before marriage and gave birth to an illegitimate child with another man.
A husband who cruelly took away his wife's innocent newborn baby and constantly tortured and humiliated her in their marriage.
Even the most imaginative dramatist could not have created such an absurd and ridiculous play.
Due to the diplomatic relations between Roman and Assyria, the king and queen still maintained appropriate courtesy and politeness in front of outsiders, but privately the two had reached the point of a life-and-death feud.
Rav XI began to try to kill his wife in an inconspicuous way. The Assyrian crown could be inherited by Sancha, and when the little queen was still a minor, this huge empire could undoubtedly only be regented by her father. He could also wash away his shame. This was a win-win situation with no harm.
Amenla was not to be outdone. Although Raf XI was very amorous in the hope of giving birth to a son to replace Sancha as heir to the throne as soon as possible, none of the mistresses could successfully give birth to Raf XI's child due to Amenla's harsh and secretive methods.
No matter how wary of his wife Laf XI was, he even refused to eat at the same table with Amen-Ra, refused to let anyone related to Amen-Ra enter his kitchen, and changed all the tableware every day. But no matter how careful he was, Amen-Ra still succeeded in putting chronic toxins into his diet.
The fight took place silently, and no one except the people most trusted by the king and queen knew that such a horrific murder had taken place in the Roman court.
However, the Holy Lord may have had mercy on this poor mother. In the year 1069 of the Catholic calendar, twelve years after she lost her child, a letter came from the Papal States.
The Pope found a child named Raphael in the slums and enrolled him in the Florence Seminary.
In the silent Roman court, it was just an ordinary late night. The young queen, struggling in the whirlpool of malice, held the letter and cried loudly. She tore her hair, wishing she could dig out her heart and kiss the organ that was still flowing with hot blood, as if she was holding up the newborn baby many years ago.
How tender, how small, how soft.
His bones had not yet fully grown, and when he was held in her arms, he felt like a ball of cotton, a cloud that would dissipate at the slightest touch.
He is twelve years old now. He has grown from a crying baby in his mother's arms to a young boy. How is he now? How high is it? Does she look like her? How did he spend these years? Does he have parents and siblings who love him? Does he like riding as much as she does? Or does he love literature like his father? Did he ever doubt his biological mother whom he had never met?
Amenla gave double love to Sangxia, two goodnight kisses, two bedtime stories, two nursery rhymes, two roses, two toys and two birthday gifts. Her little angel died in the middle of the night twelve years ago. The sun in the daytime had no way of knowing the source of this abundant love, until tonight, when the dead angel returned to the world again.
Amen-Ra called upon the names of all the holy spirits she knew, and for the first time, the ruthless politician and ever-rational queen devoted herself so devoutly to the empty religion for the sake of her lost and found eldest son.
During these twelve years, she spared no effort to support the charitable work of the monastery and welfare home. She built houses for the orphanage and hired caregivers. A few years later, when Raphael was old enough to go to school, she renovated the monastery's library, leveled the horse farm, and prepared durable clothes for the children. When she looked at each child, it was as if she saw her own dead Raphael.
How wonderful it was that her Raphael was still alive, just like every other child she had seen, growing up to be found by his father.
Laf XI, whose brain and body were corroded by chronic toxins, glared at his wife with hatred. Unprecedented hatred struck his mind along with the footsteps of death, so he turned his attention to the man who had seduced his wife.
The useless traitor failed to kill a baby, but instead made him grow up because of his unnecessary pity and sympathy. Then let this waste kill his best friend! Betrayal never happens only once!
The news of Delacroix's death made King Lav XI feel happy for the first time in a long time. Although he was paralyzed in bed, he still expressed his extreme joy to Amenra with his eyes.
Amenra, who had become the queen and regent, sat on the bench beside the bed, holding a letter with the obituary of the Holy See in her hand, staring at the long-lost name on it, feeling dazed.
The love of her youth had long been worn away by Raphael's disappearance and long separation. She had long forgotten the fire of love that burned in her back then, but it was undeniable that she still felt a little melancholy facing the passing of the man who carried all the love and hate of her girlhood.
The queen slowly folded the letter and stared at her husband who was wheezing and laughing hoarsely on the bed. Her eyes swept coldly over his hanging flesh, as if she was looking at a humble and tiny insect.
Now was not the time for his death, she needed to wait until she had a more stable control over Roman before taking action.
Two years later, on a stormy night, the queen personally tied the rope around the king's neck.
Under the light, the queen's face seemed to be coated with a layer of graceful gold, her light golden skin was more gorgeous than the most expensive silk in the world, her long golden brown hair was still covered with water vapor from the bath, and her eyes, brighter than sapphires, flickered with the flame of revenge. When she leaned over, it was as if the wind in the wilderness blew the fragrance of roses down from the sky, and the stars and the Milky Way poured down from the sky. Even Laf XI, who hated her so much, felt his heart shaken and trance.
There was no expression on Amenla's face. The torture between them was too long. They were closer than anyone else, yet more distant than anyone else. No words could describe this complicated relationship. She turned her wrist and tightened the fatal rope.
"May the Lord grant you rest in peace." In the end, Amenla just said this calmly.
The king, gasping for breath in the pain of suffocation, rolled his eyes, fine foam dripped from the corners of his mouth. He gasped loudly, trying to make a sound, and finally swallowed his last breath with reluctance and hatred.
Amenra maintained that posture slowly for a while, until Laf XI completely stopped moving, then he slowly untied the noose.
She stared at the ugly, twisted face on the bed and suddenly felt tired and empty.
Her lover, her husband, everyone she loved and everyone she hated were all dead. The life of "Amenra" ended completely on this day.
The queen raised her head, blew out the candle beside the bed, and quietly walked out of the room.
Raphael suddenly woke up from his dream.
The next second, a hand reached out from his side to his forehead, and a mellow fragrance came to his face. Long iron-gray hair fell densely on Raphael's face like a spider web, and the icy touch made him realize that he was in reality.
Julius withdrew his hand and exhaled from his chest. There was fatigue in the Secretary-General's eyes that could not be concealed. He took off his glasses, pinched the bridge of his nose, and his voice was a little hoarse due to lack of sleep: "...If you don't wake up, the cardinals will secretly collude to elect a new Holy See."
His words were obviously exaggerated jokes. Raphael turned his head to look at him, twitching his lips and trying to smile. Julius brought a glass of warm water to the side and helped Raphael drink a few sips. He heard the Pope, who had just recovered from a serious illness, say in a soft and somewhat erratic voice: "Then I authorize my secretary general to deprive them of their cardinal titles."
Julius paused.
The two men quickly passed over this sentence with full knowledge, and Julius began to recount the important matters during the time when the Pope was in a coma. The first of course was the former Duke François who they had rescued from the brink of death, and then the current situation of the Queen of Assyria - the intelligence that followed proved that the Queen's death was just a rumor.
Raphael sighed: "Although I guessed that this is probably just a rumor..."
This rumor caused a slight rift in relations between the Papal States and Calais.
Although they all knew that there could be no true friendship between countries, openly protecting the pretender to the throne was a bit too blatant. ◇
If time was not so tight, Raphael would have many ways to handle the matter more beautifully and smoothly instead of confronting the little emperor face to face.
But he did not regret it. This incident sounded a wake-up call for him about the relationship between Calais, Roman and Assyria...
A new angle he had never thought of before -
"If... the Assyrian rebellion is quelled and the country is successfully unified..." Raphael suddenly muttered to himself without any context, "Who is the most afraid person?"
The Pope and the Secretary General looked at each other, and a hint of shock flashed in their eyes at the same time.
Julius stood up suddenly, and Raphael said at the same time: "Give me my seal..."
Before he could finish, Julius had already walked quickly to the table, picked up the quill, dipped it in ink, and began to write quickly.
After writing a few words, he returned to the bedside with the Pope's personal ring, allowing Raphael to leave his mark at the end.
"Send to Assyria as quickly as possible."
Raphael watched Julius take the letter out, then he leaned back on the pillow, closed his eyes slightly, and tried to recall the past. Most of the things in his previous life could no longer be used as a reference. He only remembered that the war had not ended until his death. Two years later, the queen would die in Assyria, followed by his own death. At that time, the Papal State and Roman had not formed an alliance, so he had no way of knowing more news.
Calais has always had the upper hand among the three kingdoms. The civil strife in Assyria was caused by Calais, and the marriage between Amenra and Lav XI was also to resist Calais' coercion. Imagine if Assyria was pacified, Amenra completely controlled the Assyrian Empire, and her daughter sat on the stable and unified Roman Empire, who would be the most afraid?
Who would most want to break up this natural alliance?
The reason why Calais, Roman and Assyria can coexist peacefully now is entirely because Assyria is in chaos and cannot pose too much of a threat to Calais, but at the same time it can work with Roman to check and balance Calais. If Assyria returns to its heyday...
Now it seems that there may be more secrets behind the queen's death.
Raphael crossed his hands, gently pressed them against his lips, and prayed in his heart, hoping that his guess was wrong, but his calm reason reminded him that his speculation was never wrong.
If everything is as he expected, then the key turning point of this war should be two years later, otherwise Calais would not have taken action at that time. It seems that they still have plenty of time, but... he has changed a lot of things. Will this matter develop as before?
For the first time, Raphael felt a little confused and inexplicably sad.
The author has something to say:
There are really many small details and hints in the previous article. I don’t know how many treasures have been discovered hahahaha. Some facts are still not written down. You can add them according to the details~ For example, how did Laf XI know about the affair between Amenra and Delacroix? And has anyone ever wondered why Laf XI disliked his wife and daughter so much? The previous article hinted that he had a lot of malice towards Amenra from the beginning, not only because of the throne, but also because he was cuckolded hahahaha…
…
A colleague of mine is getting married tomorrow and I'm going to attend the wedding and spend the whole day there!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
