Chapter 82: Golden Ouroboros (Thirty)
◎Will◎
Raphael lowered his eyes for a long moment before whispering again, "Revenge?"
He was silent for a long time, trying to smile, but the smile ultimately failed to take shape, and was quickly broken when the arc was halfway formed.
"Can."
Compared with Ashur's suppressed and painful begging, his agreement was almost nonchalant, making people doubt whether he had made up his mind.
But no one is better at weighing the pros and cons than Raphael.
After receiving this answer, Ashur seemed to have lost all her strength. She knelt on the ground, the hidden blade in her hand fell on the soft carpet, and spots of blood were scattered around. She opened her hands and casually wiped the bloodstains with the hem of her skirt, ignoring the fresh blood that was constantly flowing out. She rolled up a corner of her cloak to wrap the wound, and carefully took out something tightly wrapped in oil paper from her underwear.
She stared at it, solemnly holding it in her palms with both hands, raising it high above her head, while bending down deeply.
"This is the will left by the Queen, in full."
Raphael took the roll of oil paper, hesitated for a moment, looked at Ashur cautiously, opened it, and revealed the closely guarded will inside.
But he did not open the parchment immediately. Instead, he paused for a moment: "...Are you sure you want me to be the first person to read the will? You know what this means."
The will was not read out in public, and even Sangxia, the legal heir, was not present, so the legality of the will might be questioned.
Ashur moved the corners of her mouth, and her expression was a little strange for a moment, but she quickly returned to her expressionless face: "Please trust my judgment."
Raphael no longer insisted, unfolded the parchment, lowered his head and began to read it quickly, but his expression soon became shocked - this was rare, he had long been accustomed to being a pope who never showed his emotions, and did not show any expression that would arouse speculation except for a smile, but what did he see? !
"This is impossible." Raphael's eyes widened and he denied it instinctively, while beginning to examine the text in his hand.
"That's impossible... Are you sure it's the original? I mean, it never left your hands?"
Ashur said firmly: "I am sure that I will be the writer when Her Majesty completes it."
Raphael stopped and was silent for a while: "So, you really didn't do anything you shouldn't do?"
For example, secretly forging a will?
Raphael originally didn't think Ashur would do such a thing, but after he realized that Ashur was willing to give everything to avenge Amenra, he had to consider this possibility.
"...I won't," Ashur retorted, unable to bear it any longer. "I won't blaspheme the Queen's reputation and will. Please believe that all of this is Her Majesty the Queen's own choice!"
Raphael returned his gaze to the parchment and whispered, "But this is impossible..."
Ashur asked back: "Why not? You are questioning the Queen's love for you, but the fact is that she has never thought of abandoning you, nor has she ever denied your existence - it's just that she has never found a suitable opportunity to admit it all, and this is all she wants to give you."
The queen's remaining lady-in-waiting bent down with her forehead touching the ground and her palms facing upwards, an Assyrian etiquette reserved for the most honorable.
"——Your Highness the Grand Duke."
Raphael's pupils suddenly contracted, reflecting the sharp handwriting on the parchment.
"I, Amenra Sargon, daughter of King Zhena and Queen Hesh, am the eighth ruler of the Sargonid dynasty of Assyria, and I hereby declare the following:
"If I were to suffer the greatest misfortune in the world, I would divide all my possessions as follows: All the private property of Amenra Sargon would be equally inherited by my eldest son, Rafael Garcia, and my second daughter, Sancha Isabella Gondola Romanina.
“…Here, I need to solemnly declare and publicize that the Pope of Florence, Saint Sistine I Rafael Garcia, was born to the late Saint Vitalian III Delacroix de Portia, and his mother was the Assyrian Queen Amenra Sargon. He was born on February 4, 1057 in the Florentine calendar at the Assyrian Saint Sandin Manor. In accordance with the Eternal Heaven’s love and protection for all lives, his birth was legal, reasonable, and appropriate, and was unanimously recognized and welcomed by the Assyrian royal family headed by me and my father.
“…According to this, Rafael Garcia possesses all the virtues of a man and a monarch. In view of the complex geographical and political issues that cannot be ignored between Roman and Assyria, he will be my first heir and inherit the throne of the Assyrian monarch. On the day this will is made public, he will automatically obtain the title of Grand Duke of Assyria and serve as the Assyrian Crown Prince until he is ready to become the ninth Assyrian monarch after me. Before the birth of his first heir, Sancha will always retain the title of Grand Duchess of Assyria.
"If he dies before he succeeds to the throne, or dies without an heir, then the throne of Assyria shall pass to Samsha.
"If he refuses to accept, the Assyrian throne will be inherited by Sansha, and this clause will be kept secret forever and will not be made public."
Every word was written in the common language, but Raphael felt as if he couldn't understand the text at all for a moment.
Ashur raised his face and stared at him quietly: "Your Highness."
Ever since she met Raphael, she had not addressed him as "Your Majesty", until now, she chose to call him "Your Highness", which was the title for the Crown Prince of Assyria.
According to Amenra's will, he was already the default crown prince of Assyria from the first moment he saw the will.
And if he wanted, he could even announce at this very second that he would take over the Assyrian throne and become the ninth legitimate Assyrian monarch.
Judging from this will, it was the result of Amenra's careful consideration. Indeed, although the ultimate goal of the marriage between Roman and Assyrian was to obtain a powerful and unified empire, from the perspective of politics, economy or religion, Roman and Assyria, which were separated by a vast ocean, were not suitable to become a common empire.
The most important question is, as the monarch of this unified country, should he rule in Roman or in Assyria?
In this era when transportation was still inconvenient, if the lord left his territory for more than three months, there would be a danger of rebellion in the territory, not to mention that this was a huge country with a vast territory.
Sangxia has always been considered the heir to the two huge empires of Roman and Assyria in the future. She herself might even think so. After all, Amenra is the only child of her, and the Assyrian royal family has always been sparsely populated. In Amenra's generation, except for her, all direct bloodlines have been cut off, and the collateral bloodlines are so far away that they cannot be further away. One even needs to trace back to Amenra's great-grandfather to find relatives. $
But no one knew that the queen had never made such a decision.
It was not until Sangxia successfully inherited the Roman Empire and sat on the throne of Queen that Amenla finally put this imminent issue on the agenda.
She couldn't put all the complicated affairs of the two conflicting countries of Roman and Assyria on Sangxia's shoulders.
She had suffered enough of this during the years she had ruled for Sangxia.
The high priest said that she had left her homeland long ago and was "the wife of Romans" rather than "the daughter of Assyria"; the Romans always regarded her as an outsider.
Sangxia has been living in Roman since she was born. She has never set foot on Assyrian soil. How could the Assyrians, who are naturally unruly, easily accept such a ruler?
Even if she was the offspring of their most respected Queen Amenra.
So… or was it Raphael?
"Now that the queen has passed away, we have no way of knowing what kind of psychological struggle she went through at the time, nor do we know how she was sure that her eldest son, who had never actually ruled a country, could shoulder the heavy burden of Assyria. You know, compared to the harmonious, unified, loyal, and docile Roman she left to her daughter, what she left to her eldest son was a real mess, a chaotic powder keg, a muddy land in the mud, where the unruly Assyrians could point their spears at the monarch they did not trust, and all the countries in the world were frantically fishing for the benefits they wanted - this is the country the queen left to her son.
"...Even before she handed this heavy responsibility to Saint Sistine I, he was still completely unaware of it. From the records of Ms. Bianchi and the memoirs of some Papal Palace staff of the same period, we can see that, using an Eastern slang, we can say with certainty that Saint Sistine I at that time was completely 'a disaster for the people sitting at home', and before that, the whole world had no way of knowing about this crazy decision.
“Even the most imaginative person could not have linked the Queen of Assyria with the biological mother of Saint Sistine I. All people knew at the time was that Saint Sistine I was born in a branch of the Portia family, and his parents were both unknown people. However, there was a rumor in Florence at the time that he was the illegitimate son of Saint Vitalian III. The origin of this rumor can be traced back to Duke Rederick. As the legitimate eldest son of Saint Vitalian III, his malice towards Saint Sistine I came without reason and continued without end. At that time, some people speculated that Saint Sistine I might really be the illegitimate son of the Pope, and his mother must be a prostitute. No one could and no one dared to link the Queen of Assyria with that prostitute. Except for reality.
“So when this will was made public, the uproar it caused was comparable to the current president of Country M claiming that he and the queen of Country J had a child, and that child is now the Pope of Florence. You can imagine how shocked and difficult it was for people to accept at the time - the people who found it most difficult to accept were the devout believers.
"They couldn't understand how their Holy See had become an illegitimate child who was not blessed by the Holy Lord. But in addition to this small problem, the more serious issue was political, because the Queen's will led to a new question - as the Holy Lord's shepherd on earth, the Pope, who had sworn to give up all wealth, titles and power in the world before taking office as the Holy See, could he really become a monarch on earth again? As the Pope, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, if he accepted the throne, would it mean that his sacredness and transcendence as the Pope would be completely eliminated?
"No one has ever thought about this question before, but history and reality have undoubtedly put it in front of Saint Sistine I at the time. We have no way of knowing what this outstanding monarch who transcended his time was thinking and how he reacted. What we can confirm from history is that the queen definitely made the most wise and courageous decision in her life."
Later history books used a whole chapter to explore this story that happened in distant history, and told all the speculations with relish. Finally, it printed a line of words in clear black text on the snow-white paper.
"She brought one of the best monarchs to this world."
Compared with the imaginations and speculations of later generations, the situation Raphael faced was definitely much more difficult and complicated.
The will brought by Ashur was like a bomb filled with gunpowder, which exploded in front of Raphael and made his face burst into pieces. Even Raphael, who was always quick and responsive, couldn't react in the first time.
His brain
Everything in his body was mixed into a paste. From how could this be possible to whether he was dreaming, he could only stare at Ashur blankly for a while.
The Queen left a will publicly acknowledging his identity? She acknowledged that he was her child? She also gave Ashur to him - she thought he could be her heir?
Raphael was well aware of Amenra's obsession with Assyria.
Unlike Roman, who was ruled by the queen, she was the one who ruled Roman from beginning to end on behalf of her daughter. No matter how suspicious the outside world was of Amenra, Amenra never had too many thoughts about Roman. In her heart, she was always just the queen of Assyria, and Assyria was the territory that this mother wolf had enclosed under her protection.
And now, she handed over the country that she cared about most to him?
This shock was even more shocking than when Raphael knew that he had suddenly become the monarch of Assyria. This crown that fell from the sky gave him mixed feelings. To put it simply, it was...
He had never received such a generous gift - a gift from his parents.
All children grow up with gifts from their parents, whether it's a toy, a flower, or a mansion and servants, but Raphael didn't.
Old Aaron was not his father. They were just two homeless people who had to travel together to survive. Old Aaron taught him how to steal, and he gave the stolen property to Old Aaron in exchange for food. And Leah, Leah gave him hugs and kisses, but this was just a kind woman's sympathy for the poor homeless child.
After being brought back from the slums by St. Vitalian III, Raphael had a new surname, which had nothing to do with Delacroix. He still could not call his father father. The Pope had his own family, his own wife and his own children. The person who could legally stand beside him at the banquet was not Raphael. Raphael could only exist as his secretary, assistant and distant nephew.
There wasn't much warmth between Delacroix and Raphael at that time.
Raphael, who crawled out of the slums, was fed up with the miserable days of being poorly clothed and hungry. He was afraid that one day he would be abandoned again. He was scared to death of this, so he used all his talents and wisdom to please everyone around him and show them the side of him that they most wanted to see.
In front of Delacroix, he was a clever, lively and wild son; in front of Julius, he was a smart and sensitive student who was in tune with him; in front of the doctor, he was a patient and obedient patient; in front of Delacroix's wife who hated him to death, he was a timid, incompetent, low-profile illegitimate son who would never hinder her sons...
He acted so well that no one could see through the anxiety and fear in his heart.
Naturally, in order to play the role of an illegitimate son who would not be a nuisance to the lady, he could not be too close to Delacroix, and Delacroix would not invest too much emotion in him - this father gave him a good education and living conditions, but these were what his children should have. If Raphael had not been stranded outside, but was successfully taken to Florence by his knights, his life now should be similar to that of Frederick.
But those extra gifts?
Raphael "sensibly" refused.
As he grows up and passes the age when he should receive gifts, no one will think of giving him gifts anymore.
By that time, he had become an indispensable right-hand man of the Pope, reviewing top-secret documents in the Papal Palace and handling obscure political affairs. No one treated him as a child anymore. He was their ally or enemy. Later, when Delacroix died, his name was not included in the published will.
But today, when he no longer cared about all that, his mother told him, you are the heir to my vast territory and the recipient of all glory.
For Raphael, this was just... just too much.
The young Pope was in a state of confusion. He had not even considered the series of political changes that would follow from this will. As a religious leader, could he obtain actual ruling power over a country with a vast territory? There were too many issues involved, enough to create shock waves between the Papal States and all countries. This also involved the affiliation of hundreds of millions of believers. With such a vast land, would the Pope still be content to be a religious leader? If he had called on the believers, how many would have rushed to Calais without hesitation?
Raphael's eyes turned slightly.
The words on the parchment gradually became blurred, and a word that he had read in his youth but had forgotten in his memory inexplicably appeared before him again.
Kingdom of God on earth.
This has been the dream of many popes. During the most glorious heyday of the Holy See, the Pope's flag flew on every ship and every city, the name of the Holy See was engraved on bronze plates and stone tablets, and the voices chanting their holy names resounded across ocean and land.
If he could recreate this glory -
Raphael thought vaguely.
——If he could establish a true kingdom of God on earth——
Can he truly gain the power to fight against fate?
The author has something to say:
I am really speechless about yesterday’s blind date. Are there no normal men in the blind date market? There are so many little thoughts. He said he wanted to take me to a scenic spot near him, which was nearly 20 kilometers away from where I was. At the last minute, he told me that he didn't have a car. I sent him a question mark, and he said, "You can take a taxi." I was stunned. He saw that I didn't seem happy, so he said, "Then I'll call you a car." He took me to have dessert for dinner, a piece of mango lasagna and a cup of coffee, and then took me to walk around the scenic spot for three hours without stopping. I thanked him, and the amount of exercise met the standard:)
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