Chapter 85 Hope Blue Diamond (Part 2)
◎Chase◎
In early July, the news of the death of Assyrian Queen Amenra spread across the world like a frightened bird with wings, and the chain reaction it caused is difficult to describe.
First of all, the Assyrian Sargon dynasty was on the verge of collapse due to the death of its monarch. Since the queen did not leave a clear will, many evil people emerged to prove that they had the legal right to inherit the throne. Everyone held a family genealogy chart in his hand, trying to make people believe that he was the person closest to Amenra by blood besides Sancha.
Of course, all claimants to the throne unanimously excluded Sancha's right of inheritance. The reasons they used were similar. As the queen of Roman, Sancha should not obtain the throne of Assyria. The two countries were far apart, and such a rule would only lead to the old path of civil strife in Assyria again.
This group of people were in a mess, fighting each other to the death for the rich property left by the Sargon dynasty, and frantically dividing the legacy left by Amenra. In a very short period of time, the army, land and wealth were given the names of various new lords. In different towns, six people who called themselves "successors to the throne of the Sargon dynasty" appeared. They established the "Post-Sargonic Dynasty" based in different cities. For a time, there was a spectacle of six "Sargonic dynasties" side by side in Assyria.
Even the Pilgrimage Alliance did not know which "Sargon Dynasty" to attack first.
The Assyrians laughed at themselves sarcastically, but unexpectedly, the Pilgrim Alliance did not take advantage of the situation. Instead, they chose a more cautious approach: to establish a base in the north, expand outward slowly but steadily, and consolidate their rule.
As for the south...those "kings" will fight among themselves and consume each other's strength. By the later stage, it will be effortless for the Pilgrimage Alliance to seize the fruits of victory.
At the same time, Raphael left Florence in a low-key manner with the will, preparing to go to Roman to meet Sanxia.
This meeting was more thrilling than any previous one.
He never hesitated to speculate on the evil of human nature. There were no complete saints in the world. There were only ordinary people who had not received a sufficient price. And for a country... this price could be said to be unique in the world.
As the only heir of Amenla for more than 20 years, how will Sangxia react to such a will?
Even Raphael, who had been corresponding with her for many years, couldn't be sure.
But he had to make this trip if he wanted to gain allies, if he wanted to eliminate all worries - all benefits are accompanied by risks, but this time what he wanted was too big, so he had to put his life on the table.
But he was not a stupid man. He went on his way even though he knew there were dangers ahead. Although he traveled light and looked very low-key, he brought with him Leshert and the most elite members of the Knights Templar, as well as Ferrante and most of the members of the Arbitration Bureau who were good at assassination and concealing their whereabouts. Of course, the routes they took had been repeatedly checked by the Holy Crows to ensure their safety along the way.
After Ferrante's crazy expansion, even Raphael was no longer sure how many people the Arbitration Bureau, formerly the Inquisition, had accommodated. The inns and taverns they passed by might be guarded by members of the Holy Crow. Only Ferrante could hold this huge net in his hands.
On July 10, he arrived at the Roman border. In order to cover up his trip, Sang Xia used the excuse of inspecting the border and went to the border city of Roman at the same time. The matter they were going to discuss this time was too sensitive, and no one wanted to be discovered.
On the evening of the 11th, Sangxia left the patrol team and came to the inn where Raphael was staying with several servants. This inn belonged to the Holy Crow and had been cleared out. No one was allowed to stay here except Sangxia and Raphael.
As for outside the inn, the Pope's guards and the Queen's confidants were facing each other in such a tense manner for the first time, listening attentively to the movements inside.
They didn't know what the two noble monarchs were talking about, but they instinctively sensed danger, and this time they might really face the dilemma of swords. All it took was a signal...
However, the atmosphere inside the hotel was not as solemn and serious as outside.
The queen was wearing a large black cloak that covered her entire body. She was wearing a simple round-necked long dress underneath. The snow-white collar was decorated with pleated satin that fell softly. There were no gemstones on her clothes. Her long golden brown curly hair was loose. It was obvious that she had hurried out of the bedroom after pretending to fall asleep.
The Pope sitting opposite her looked much more solemn, at least he was wearing a long coat.
The two sat opposite each other across a table, and no one spoke for a long time.
This was not the first time they met, but before that neither of them knew each other's identity. With the death of Amenra, they suddenly went from being orphans in this world to each other's only relatives, and even blood-related siblings. Such a change was really exciting.
"...I never knew I had a brother," Sang Xia was the first to speak. The girl who had become the queen had gotten rid of the soft and lively sweetness of the princess period and became more calm and cautious. The death of her mother obviously made her feel extremely painful. She was much thinner, and her cheeks were sharper. The hardness in her bones, similar to that of Amenla, was revealed unprecedentedly. "I never thought that person would be you."
There was a hint of calm scrutiny in her blue eyes, as if she was seeing Raphael for the first time, or perhaps she wanted to see something from him - what did she want to see? She herself wasn't quite sure. Maybe she was looking for some traces similar to her own to prove that this blood connection did exist?
Sang Xia was silent for a while: "Actually, I'm not particularly surprised."
Raphael showed a slightly surprised look, which meant "Please continue."
"...Mother once mentioned that I could trust you. She was very happy when the news of your coronation came out. Although I didn't know why she was so happy at the time, she was in a very good mood. Even the application to amend the Succession Act was rejected by the parliament again did not make her angry. I just didn't know why at the time. Now that I think about it, it might be this incident." Sang Xia said softly.
"Mother rarely trusts anyone, especially since you hadn't even met her at the time. She asked me to bring you the dagger inlaid with the 'Glorious Ocean'. I asked mother for that gem once, but she didn't give it to me."
The girl's voice was very gentle and soft. Perhaps when people miss their loved ones, they will subconsciously use their softest voice.
Raphael did not speak. He could not join in this conversation, this conversation in memory of his mother, because in his poor memories, there was no "unique" Amenra that he could share with Sancha.
He sat here, but seemed to be out of the picture.
If he had to join in Sangxia's conversation, he could only talk to her about his infinite admiration for his mother when he was young, and Leah who had once given him warmth. But even he knew that such conversation was very inappropriate.
So he could only remain silent, listening quietly to Sang Xia's words, trying to remember every word, trying to piece them together into a mother that belonged to him.
The silence between them lasted for a long time. No one mentioned the will. They seemed to be thinking a lot, but also seemed to be thinking nothing.
Finally, the Queen stood up, retied the loose strings of her cloak, and prepared to leave.
Raphael stood up to see her off. The door of the inn opened, and Sanxia said, "I'll have someone arrange a suitable identity for you to join my tour team. Maybe we need to spend some time together."
Raphael smiled. This matter was of great importance and this meeting would definitely not be concluded in a short time. He had already arranged the relevant affairs of Florence. With Julius' cover, at least his departure would not be discovered quickly.
"Actually," Sang Xia put on the hood of her cloak before stepping out of the hotel. The soft cloth covered most of her face. The girl's soft voice came from under the hood. She hesitated for a moment, and then said softly, "...Actually, I'm very happy that you are my brother."
The girl turned her face, and under the hood, a faint light flashed in her blue eyes.
"...At least we're not alone anymore."
Raphael didn't react for a moment, and watched Sangxia quickly step into the carriage parked at the door. It took him a long time to come back to his senses. He couldn't tell how he felt. Perhaps he was not as brave as Sangxia, and did not have the courage to trust others.
Raphael took a few knights and disguised themselves as the queen's accompanying merchants, and secretly joined the queen's travel team. They were few in number and did not feel out of place among the huge entourage, and did not attract anyone's attention from beginning to end.
Except for the first day's meeting which ended in a hurry, they did not talk about unnecessary things in the following meetings. After they had calmed down, both Sanxia and Raphael were qualified politicians and conspirators.
It is true that a good conspirator will not hesitate to use some small tricks, such as playing the emotional card, to achieve his goals. They just happen to have the most suitable prerequisites for using this method, but they all ignore this point.
After seven days of intermittent confrontation, they finally reached an agreement on some of the most important things.
A basic consensus was reached, and due to time constraints, the remaining less important issues could only be resolved through correspondence later - this was not something to worry about.
At noon on July 19th, just like when he came, Raphael and his men quietly evacuated the Queen's motorcade. Sangxia's traveling team was huge, with all kinds of entourage, entourage's entourage, clever speculators, and unemployed vagrants who liked to watch the fun. People came and left every day. The departure of Raphael and his party did not attract any attention - that's what he thought.
Two days later, they were on their way back to the Papal States at full speed, but were ambushed by a large number of assassins at the border between Romanesque, Calais and the Papal States.
Raphael admitted that he had let his guard down.
He focused all his vigilance on this interview itself, and during the long meeting, he was sure of Sang Xia's sincerity in cooperating. In addition, he always kept a low profile, so he never thought that danger would come after everything was over.
This shouldn't be.
This group of people couldn't possibly be Sangxia's. She had no reason to do this. Raphael was protected by Leshert in front of him. He was shaking awkwardly on the horse, but his brain was still working calmly and quickly.
There was only one possibility, they were the assassins from Calais.
After attacking Amenla, the little emperor attacked Raphael.
But this is also very strange. This murderous intent seems to be unreasonable, unless... unless he knew the contents of the will and he was unwilling to let Raphael take over Assyria.
This is a very reasonable guess. Putting himself in Raphael's shoes, he felt that if he were Emperor Calais, he would not be happy to see Assyria have a true and legitimate heir. A chaotic Assyria would be in his best interest. Of course, if the heir was Sancha it would be a different matter. As his fiancée, Sancha's acquisition of Assyria would be equivalent to his acquisition of Assyria.
Who leaked the secret?
Raphael was struggling to think in the painful bumpy ride, his joints were almost broken. In order to dodge the arrows, the Knight Commander used his best horsemanship, which was too exciting for Raphael.
Almost no one in the Papal States knew about this. Raphael did not even tell Julius about it. The Secretary General thought that he went to Roman only to discuss the alliance between the Papal States and Roman after the death of the Queen of Assyria. Perhaps the damn traitor was in Roman's caravan.
After all, the Queen's motorcade is a mixed bag, so it's not surprising that there are spies from Calais among them. As long as they bribe the Queen's aide-de-camp and get a few words -
Raphael covered his bruised forehead and cursed in his heart again.
The assassins chose a very advantageous ambush location where the terrain was flat. The Holy Crows who were secretly protecting Raphael had fallen too far away to arrive in time. The knights tried their best to stop the assassins, but facing the opponent's fearless attack, such resistance was just a drop in the bucket.
Leshet and Raphael fought and fled, trying to bypass the hills and return to the Papal States as soon as possible, but the other party seemed to see through their intentions and chased them faster and faster. Leshet dealt with them for a while, and soon even Raphael saw through their purpose.
"They are driving us towards Calais," Raphael and Leshert said at the same time.
It was difficult to talk while riding a horse. If you were not careful, you would bite your tongue. None of them said much, but they all confirmed the same thing: these assassins were indeed quietly closing the encirclement and driving them towards the border of Calais.
Perhaps they wanted to capture Raphael alive rather than his death.
A living Pope is indeed more useful than a dead one. Does François want to create another "Shame of Florence" and establish a Holy See in Calais to control faith?
This kind of thing has happened before. Raphael thought of the unfortunate Pope who was captured and taken to Tonga after the fall of the Knights Templar. He was in charge of faith in a foreign country, but who didn't know that he was just a puppet? The Vatican's history books do not recognize his rule at all, even though he was indeed legally crowned in Florence.
Raphael didn't want to be the second "captive Riley".
But the current situation does not seem to allow him to make more choices.
"Then let's go to Calais. I want to see what he wants to do." Raphael bit the tip of his tongue and trembled in pain. Because he spoke against the wind, his throat was filled with a dry and bloody taste. He shouted orders to Leshert.
"To Calais!"
The loyal Knight Commander did not utter a word to question the Holy See. He quickly changed direction and rode towards the Calais border.
Leshet was the best knight in the Knights Templar. He took Raphael and used horses to escape from the pursuers' sight. Then, in a very short time, he changed his clothes and appearance, mixed in the crowd and entered a border city, and then reached Bethel with the help of the river. Of course, as the primary target of the pursuit, Raphael also made considerable sacrifices.
For example, he pretended to be Miss Eulalia, the sister of his impoverished noble brother, Sir Leslie.
When the name came out of his mouth, Leshert's expression was a little frozen and distorted, and Raphael apologized insincerely to his secretary-general who was working diligently in the Papal States.
In short, even though he apologized, he would not abandon this name.
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