Chapter 89 Hope Blue Diamond (VI)
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Francois tore off the cumbersome silk scarf from his neck, swept through the corridor like a whirlwind, and was swept into the bustling dance hall. There was a happy atmosphere there and everyone had a smile on their face. However, Francois was not infected by such harmony. He almost coldly pushed away a girl who tried to snuggle up to him, and swept his sharp eyes across the hall and quickly found his target.
The mayor is in a good mood for the upcoming tryst. He pinches his curly beard and chats with a country squire. The squire hears that Anthony is about to return to Dudley, so he wants to give his eldest daughter to Anthony as a lover in order to get the opportunity to let the whole family enter Dudley.
Anthony nodded nonchalantly, while thinking about what gift to bring to his tryst lover.
Francois walked over and asked directly: "Where is the lady with purple eyes?"
Anthony was stunned at first, then he became alert in an instant. He thought that the officer from Dudley also liked the girl, so he subconsciously tried to fool her: "What lady? All the girls are here, who are you looking for?"
Francois felt that his patience was about to reach its limit. He grabbed Anthony's collar with one hand and ordered politely: "Don't make me repeat it a second time, idiot, answer."
Francois's words were extremely impolite. Anthony was furious. Although he wanted to please the officer, it did not mean that he would endure such an insult. The mayor said angrily, "I'm sorry, I don't know what you are talking about, sir. The person in front of you is Mayor Berthe, who was appointed by His Majesty the Emperor himself. You need to show me respect and -"
Before he could finish his words, François rolled up the scarf he had torn off and calmly and slowly stuffed it into Anthony's open mouth, blocking his chattering mouth.
"Well, for the sake of me not remembering when I 'personally' appointed you as the goddamned mayor, tell me, where is she?"
After François stuffed Anthony's mouth, he did not retract his hand immediately. Instead, he grabbed the other's neck and spoke in a low voice.
Anthony watched his eyes change from anger to confusion, and then the fog in his head caused by the alcohol suddenly dissipated. He suddenly remembered the familiar flash of inspiration that had flashed through his brain many times before but was interrupted.
The face of this young officer was very familiar, but this familiarity was not because he had seen him somewhere before, but because a portrait that was extremely similar to his was hanging in the lobby of the City Hall, right in front of the door!
The young man in the portrait has a handsome face, long curly hair that is fluffy like wool, and smiling light brown eyes. He is wearing a black uniform, and a scarlet-edged ribbon is hung on his chest, which is covered with medals of the Calais Empire. A cloak with sable fur on the edge is tilted over his shoulders, covering half of his body, revealing the hilt of the sword at his waist. He is standing beside a high round table, holding the edge of the table with his left hand. On the table is the imperial crown, symbolizing his status.
That is the official portrait of Emperor Francis IV of Calais. There is such a portrait in all government agencies and aristocratic mansions, but seeing a portrait every day is completely different from seeing the real person. After all, portraits are still retouched and polished. Who would feel that the person in the portrait is walking in front of them?
Anthony opened his eyes wide in horror - he never thought that his eyes would be able to open so wide one day. Once he figured out the source of this familiar feeling, the mayor's legs went limp. Instead of the excitement and joy of meeting the Emperor, he felt more fear and uneasiness.
François' reputation in the aristocratic circle is not very good. He raised his butcher knife to everyone equally. In the previous Duke's rebellion and the Battle of Dudle, many nobles died at the hands of the emperor. Some of them did participate in the rebellion, and some... Who knows what they did to make the emperor unhappy?
François patted his head impatiently, as if he were patting a stupid, fat dog: "Answer!"
This time Anthony didn't dare to hide it. Could he dare to compete with an emperor - especially a madman who didn't care about anything - for a woman?
He whimpered and nodded and shook his head, and Francois squeezed the last bit of patience from his lungs and pulled the scarf out, frowning in disgust at the wet marks on it.
Anthony got the right to speak, and immediately confessed without hesitation: "She just danced with me, and then left. I don't know where she went, but it seems that she went in the direction of the back garden."③
The mayor was also a bit quick-witted. He cleverly concealed the tryst and told the other party about his whereabouts. However, his little trick could not be hidden from Francois. The little emperor stared at him like a snake, and asked after a long while: "The back garden? Is that where you met?"
Anthony didn't dare to nod. He could feel the emperor's growing anger and was so scared that he was about to pee. He could only lower his head in fear and remain silent.
François uttered an inarticulate curse in his throat and noticed another detail: "You danced? You invited her?"
"No, no," Anthony quickly denied this question, which was much safer than the last one, "She invited me."
But his answer seemed to be wrong.
Mayor Berserk was disappointed to find that the emperor's expression had become even uglier.
"Oh," Francois laughed, perhaps because he was too angry. He said softly, "Since you like dancing and want to go back to Dudley, then go to the court dance company. This time, I personally appointed you to this position."
He left Anthony, who had a livid face, lying on the ground, and turned to look at the guards who had followed him at the door.
"Wake up everyone and chase them out of the city."
Francois knew very well that his soul mate was not some pleasure-seeking fool. He had definitely seen that he was here. He dared to take such a big risk to talk to the mayor, which could only mean that he had a way to get away from Berser immediately. And he was close to the mayor...
Francois deadpanned and kicked the newly minted dancer in the waist, the idiot had definitely lost the mayoral seal.
In this case, there is no point in blockading Besser.
Francois raised his eyes. It was dark outside. He thought for a moment and decided to order some people to search the entire city overnight for safety reasons: "…pay special attention to the hotels and bars in the downtown area. Don't miss any corner."
He stepped out of the door, and the cold night breeze outside immediately took away most of the heat from his body. This temperature made François feel happy.
Ever since he ordered the blockade of Beuse and began searching for Raphael along the Calais border, they have been stuck in a life-and-death feud. The previous disguise of harmony has been torn apart. Hunting and searching for a Pope is an unforgivable crime. François does not think there is anything difficult about it. He wanted to do it, so he did it. It was that simple for him.
But as an emperor, he knew very well that he could never let Raphael return to Florence.
Men in the royal family of Calais may all have some mental illness. François is actually not afraid to admit this fact. When he was young, he had a father and an elder brother above him. After a group of heirs died inexplicably, the throne suddenly fell on him. He began to be controlled by his ambitious uncle. From the time he wore the crown at the age of eighteen to the time he completely drove his uncle out of Calais at the age of twenty-five, for a full seven years, he turned himself into a psychopath.
He does whatever he wants, is moody, suspicious, and has his own ideas... If he is not the emperor
Emperor, he should now be on display as a model in a monastery somewhere that specializes in treating the mentally ill.
François likes to watch "new and interesting things". A life that is too dull would scare him. He actually doesn't like killing people that much, but he enjoys the process of chasing, and death is just the price the other party needs to pay when the game ends.
He always follows the rules of the game.
In this unilateral game he started, he set up the maze, and then the most enjoyable chase time came.
As for the purpose of his doing these things...you can say that he is ambitious and wants to unify several empires, or you can say that he was acting on a whim, but to him, everything is just a game, and he is just looking for fun in it.
"Tell Florence that we can start now." François walked down the steps, grabbed the cloak brought up by the silent guard beside him, shook it open and casually draped it over his shoulders, turned over and jumped onto the horse that had just been brought, shook the reins, and rushed away in an instant.
In Florence, the Papal State, a shocking piece of news quietly spread in private. No one knew where the news came from, nor how true it was, but because it was too shocking, it did not seem to be false.
It is said that Pope Saint Sistine I has passed away, and there is no Pope in the Papal Palace now. The person in power is Secretary General Julius Portia.
This is a secret conspiracy and assassination!
Although there was no clear indication in the words, the strong connection made the Secretary-General the only suspect.
Julius noticed the rumor on the first day it appeared, but the bad thing was that he really had no way to expose this ridiculous lie.
Because the Holy See is really not in the Papal States at the moment, and he doesn't even know where the other party is.
How can he prove the survival of a missing person?
Ferrante left Florence for Calais on the first day after the Pope was assassinated and disappeared. The common people of Florence supported and loved Saint Sistine I. Because of this, they were the most unable to accept this rumor. They flocked to the church to beg for the truth and asked Saint Sistine I to come forward to break this ridiculous rumor. Undoubtedly, their request was not responded to.
Someone suggested that Julius find someone to impersonate the Holy See to at least calm down the turbulent people. However, the person who made this suggestion was immediately kicked out of the Papal Palace by Julius.
Once the impersonation was exposed, it would be equivalent to proving the truth of the rumor, and this door must never be opened. Julius was keenly aware that there was a mastermind behind this.
His helplessness obviously excited the other party. After the rampant rumors, another proposal soon came up: If Julius had no way to prove that the Holy See was still alive, did it mean that the Holy See had indeed encountered an accident at this moment?
This is an almost sophistry reverse reasoning method, but it is very consistent with people's thinking.
Even without evidence, Julius could be sure that from Raphael's assassination to the current undercurrents in Florence, there must be Calais's push behind it, and there must be Calais's people in the Vatican. He didn't even need to think too much to guess that person's next move.
It is nothing more than proving that the Holy See has passed away and he, as the perpetrator, has been expelled. Then the next step is naturally to start the election of a new Pope.
There is always someone who covets the dazzling throne of Saint Leah.
As he expected, a few days later, voices of discussion about the cardinals could be heard in the streets. They were all strong contenders and candidates for the next Pope. If Raphael really died, one of them would wear the crown of St. Leah.
Julius seemed to be deaf and completely ignored these discussions. With his intentional or unintentional indulgence, similar discussions became rampant. Even the poor people in the downtown area who were least informed could say names such as "Cardinal Lombardi" and "Cardinal Laurenzo".
Julius no longer stayed in the Papal Palace often, but moved his residence back to the heavily guarded Portia Palace, anxiously and patiently waiting for Raphael to return.
Of course Raphael would come back, he was absolutely sure of that.
Thirteen days later, Pope Sistine I, who had been missing for half a month, reappeared in front of the world. He looked calm and confident, and announced that he was just making a temporary incognito visit. Except that he looked much thinner, he was no different from any previous time.
This public prayer was very brief. The Holy See sat in the carriage from beginning to end and did not get out. He also received the cardinals in Florence. The cardinals, each with their own thoughts, looked at the Pope with suspicion and inquiry. They realized that there was something wrong with the Pope's behavior of not standing up, but no one could prove where the problem came from.
After all the activities were over, Raphael returned to the Papal Palace. The carriage drove directly into the courtyard. Julius carried the Pope out of the carriage. Under the heavy hem of his clothes, the Pope's legs hung like a puppet.
Leshet was not with him. In order to avoid François's tight pursuit, the loyal and upright Knight Commander escorted the Pope deep into the inland cities of Calais and traveled through most of Calais in half a month. François could block the border, but he could not block every city. The two pretended to be bards, beggars, businessmen, and circus members. Their relationship changed every day, from siblings, friends to husband and wife, and brothers. If their route was drawn on paper, it would be a scene that even the best survival experts and escape experts would be ashamed of.
Thanks to Raphael's excellent foresight and planning, and Leschert's superb execution ability, the two managed to escape from Calais despite François's crazy large-scale search.
The most dangerous time was when François led people to search the streets. They had no way to go. Raphael rushed into a nearby shop and jumped into the river from the fourth floor. The scene shocked everyone present. François led people to cast nets in the river to save people. Leschert had to hide from them while looking for Raphael. The two finally met with difficulty three days later. Raphael's legs completely lost the ability to move after two days and two nights of being soaked in cold water.
Only then did Leshert finally realize that Raphael had such an old illness. His situation was strangely similar to that of Julius many years ago. Every day, he tried his best to massage and warm Raphael, trying to restore some mobility in his legs.
However, the conditions along the way were too rough, and Raphael's legs were still only occasionally sensitive until they returned to Florence.
Raphael was unusually calm about this. After being put on the bed, he also told Julius: "Bring me the official documents for this period of time, as well as the movement reports of all the Holy Ravens in Calais - let Ferrante come as well."
Lesherte had also suffered many injuries while escorting him back to Florence, and was now still lying in bed, unable to get out of bed, so Raphael temporarily ignored the Knights Templar.
Julius remained silent for a long while before he said softly, "Before that, I would like to hear your explanation as to why you insisted on going to Roman and encountered such great danger."
Raphael suddenly fell silent.
He remembered that he had not yet told Julius about the Queen's will. Thinking of this, he felt inexplicably guilty and his eyes subconsciously shifted a little to the side.
This guilty feeling did not escape Julius's eyes. The Secretary General bent down, pulled up the quilt for Raphael, and gave the young Pope a kiss on the forehead as a symbol of blessing.
They had been close before, but never this close—Raphael was stunned.
Julius' lips slid gently across Raphael's cheek, like another meaningful and lingering kiss.
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