Mary returned to the palace the next day earlier than usual, usually she returned to the palace on time in the afternoon when it was almost dinner time, and the fact that she had been observing the time for nearly two years had made people take it for granted, so when the news that Mary had returned to the city early in the morning reached the palace, it was very confusing for some people.

Several young women who usually did not appear at the court for a long time left the palace in a hurry, and the most beautiful of them were disheveled because they ran out of the king's bedroom, so they were disheveled and almost tripped over their skirts on the road.

For Manuel I to have a mistress, both Maria and her dead sister Isabella are actually well aware, but they are smart not to expose this matter, these wisdom is learned from their mother, when I heard that Ferdinand II and the Countess of Penletion not only had a hot fight, but even gave birth to 2 illegitimate children, Queen Isabella did not become angry because of this and then questioned her husband, but pretended to be completely unaware, while carefully guarding her position, This seemed to be a sign of weakness to the woman, but in fact Isabella was very aware of her status and knew that she was irreplaceable, and in fact, it didn't take long for Ferdinand II to quickly get tired of the aging Countess of Porat Ang.

Maria learned these clever techniques from her mother, and used them quite well, and although Manuel I had a constant relationship with some women, it was true that he only coveted their beauty and freshness, and never thought of a woman to replace her as queen, and in this respect Manuel was much more reliable than his future brother-in-law, Henry VIII of England.

When Manuel, who had received the report, couldn't help but worry that his stealing might be exposed, Maria had already arrived outside the king's room, and although she politely ordered the maid to report it inside, she couldn't wait for the king's permission to break in directly.

This made Manuel I, who was already weak-hearted, even more shocked, as a king who was lucky enough to inherit the throne purely because of the unexpected death of the crown prince, Manuel I lacked that kind of strong courage and composure that had been cultivated for many years, even if he had been a king for many years, but he sometimes involuntarily showed a certain kind of uncontrollable or inexplicable cowardice, which is probably the reason why he was dissatisfied with Maria's tough attitude, but never dared to express it.

"There's a man coming to Rome," Maria's words made Manuel stunned, he didn't know what his cheating had to do with the people from Rome, but from the queen's demeanor, he could see that it didn't seem to be because of his idea, which made the king breathe a sigh of relief, and at this time Maria had already continued, "It's the Pope's cronies, his daughter Lucrezia's lover, the Count of Montina, but I heard that he is now the Duke of Rometesia." ”

"Oh." Manuel answered, then tilted his head slightly to his wife with an inquiring expression.

"Oh? That's your answer? Don't you wonder why that person came to Portugal and came to Lisbon? Maria asked, a little annoyed.

"So this ...... Why did the Duke of Rometesia come here? Manuel was a little relieved at this time, since it wasn't for him, he seemed to be in a lack of interest, speaking of which Iberia was too far away from Rome, although they were unusually religious, but here it always felt as if Rome was on the edge of the sky, as for what was happening in the Vatican Holy See, sometimes when the news came, it was already unexpected, so Manuel didn't care very much.

"Because of a miracle my majesty, it is a miracle!" Maria was annoyed and didn't know what to say, although she did have a lot of affection for her mother country, but she was also the queen of Portugal after all, so when she heard that the Pope's son-in-law suddenly quietly arrived in Lisbon, Maria's mind couldn't help but move, although she did not have the same ambition as her mother to try to create Castile as a new holy land and a heavenly kingdom on earth, but she was always keen to make Portugal the most pious model of Christendom.

"This is a rare opportunity for the Duke of Rometesia to see what we do, the pious people, the kings and queens who lead them to protect Christendom, the magnificent cathedral, and the Lisbon court, which is more religious than anywhere else in Europe." Maria said excitedly, and she had become accustomed to walking back and forth in front of the king and talking to herself, and every time she did it meant that the matter was settled and could not be changed.

Manuel's nervousness at first for fear of being caught cheating, he first looked at Maria cautiously, and found that she really seemed to be worried about the matter, so he spoke: "But where is this duke now, if we want him to know what we have done, at least we have to see his people." ”

Hearing this, Maria's face changed slightly, and when she heard from that Tiergo that the Duke of Rometesia had actually visited her cousin, Maria instantly sensed that things seemed to be going unexpectedly, and she immediately asked the Duke what the purpose of doing this was, but she did not get anything more useful from Tiergo.

This made Maria understand, after all, a businessman could not know so much, but even this was enough to make her think about it, and even Maria carefully recalled who else she knew of those people around Juana who had a close relationship with the Vatican.

However, after thinking about it all night without coming up with any answer, Maria finally decided to invite the duke directly to the palace, although his current status was more like that of a secret envoy for a private visit, but this did not prevent him from meeting with the hospitable Queen of Portugal.

"That duke is said to be in Lisbon right now, and can be found with a little effort, but because he was ordered by the Pope to examine miracles, perhaps he won't be willing to let others know his real name." Mary said.

In fact, she had learned from Tiego that the duke, under the alias "Count of Agri, George Mordillo", was now living in a house not too far from the palace.

Thiego would have known this, supposedly because he had heard about it the other day when he was doing business in Rome, and it seemed that the Vatican was still making a lot of noise about the miracles of the Iberian Peninsula.

Maria, of course, was aware of her mother's ambition to become king of the Holy Land, so it was natural for the Vatican to react so much, since the Pope was from the Borgia family of Valencia, which made any reaction by Alexander VI to what happened on the Iberian Peninsula a cause for concern and controversy.

"We must show the duke what is happening in Portugal, and remind him that whatever my cousin has promised him is useless," said Maria, whose face sank, and she had decided to invite the duke to the court as soon as possible.

As for Juana, she felt that letting her know that the Duke had accepted the invitation to be a guest at court would be enough to dispel her nonsense.

Manuel I listened from the beginning to the end, knowing full well that Maria was always unquestionably adamant about her decision on matters of faith and Juana, and in this case he simply gave up dissenting opinions, and he was somewhat curious about what kind of man the Duke of Rometesia was.

Even in Portugal, Alexander's name spread to the Iberian Peninsula in the southwestern corner of Europe, especially after the Battle of Bucharest.

The Portuguese rejoiced in the war that had defended Christendom, even because the Reconquista had only passed so long, and the Iberians, who had been ruled by the Moors for many years and had felt the same way for the Balkans, were more rejoicing than the rest of the world.

So Manuel I was not disgusted by Alexander's arrival, although the identity of the papal envoy sounded a little conspiratorial, but thinking about what his mother-in-law did in Castile, Manuel somewhat understood that the Vatican did this for various reasons.

After all, a miracle pops up every once in a while, and even any place may find a manger like the one Jesus installed when he was born, and many places are considered to be similar or exactly the same places as the villages and cities that Jesus Christ once visited.

"Then invite the duke to come, and as for Juana, I think she may just want to complain to the Vatican." Manuel said casually, he didn't think much about Juana, after all, helping the princess cost Portugal a lot in the first place, and even later he married two Castilian princesses because of this.

"What does she have to complain about, does she still want to change her current situation by filing a complaint with the Vatican?" Maria was resentful that she thought that perhaps she would be too kind to her cousin, and that it would be nice if she could deal with Juana as her mother did with Enrique.

Manuel shook his head wordlessly, he didn't want to say much about this, but it was Maria's next words that caught his attention.

"I heard the merchant Tiego say that there seems to be a Genoese named James Columbus in the Duke's retinue, and this man seems to be the brother of Christopher Columbus," said Maria, glancing at Manuel, "I wonder why this man came with the duke." ”

Manuel I immediately showed a look full of interest, he had naturally heard of Columbus, and was also very interested in the new route to India announced by Columbus, but the great success of Vasco da Gama's discovery of the new route made him temporarily ignore the news from Castile.

Now that he suddenly heard the news about Columbus, even if it was only his brother, he was still very interested.

Maria knew that the topic would draw her husband's attention to the duke, and as Queen of Portugal, she was eager for Portugal to become part of the new holy land of the future.

Sure enough, Manuel I immediately seemed excited.

"We can send someone to invite the duke to the castle, and it would be better to bring that one named Columbus is an entourage, I am looking forward to meeting him now."

Maria nodded reservedly, she felt that what her husband should have said was almost enough, and after snorting slightly, sniffing the vague ambiguous smell of the room, she frowned and let out a slight nasal "hum", she barely maintained the calm on her face and saluted the king slightly, and then turned her head and stiffened and walked out of the room.

Alexandre lives in a house on the Grand Market Square, just two blocks from the Château de São Jorge, and not so far from Boulevard Enrique, just a short walk through a small alley to the street, and then a little more to the current residence of Tiego.

Alexander did not want to hide his relationship with Tiego, or even the fact that he visited Juana, because he knew that it was impossible to hide it for a long time under Maria's nose, after all, although the surveillance of Juana was much looser, it never stopped, so it was only a matter of time before Maria discovered the connection between him and Juana.

So in this case, it is better to take the initiative to disclose the news to Maria or Manuel, maybe this can also have unexpected gains.

James Columbus has not been heard from since he left Florence, and even some people around Alexander have almost forgotten about him.

However, in fact, James Columbus never severed his ties with Alexander, especially in the past two years, although he was not on the European continent, but the European continent still has his legend.

For the past two years, with the journal of his brother Christopher Columbus, James has traveled to Africa and to the New World, which is considered the east coast of India, but instead of using his own real name, he uses names such as Barbolo Roberts and Jack Sparrow.

There was only one reason why James would be so willing to take part in one seafaring adventure after another, and that was that Alexander provided him with all the necessary financial support for his voyage, and at the same time offered him a generous offer of half of all the riches.

And even Columbus couldn't have gotten so much from Queen Isabella.

And there is one thing that makes James most excited, that is, incognito allows him to do some things at sea that a decent person can never do.

And his contact on land was Tiego, who, after cashing in on a large number of expeditions, or rather plunders, the wealth he had made was already a wealthy man at sea.

Now James was sitting across from Alexander, his somewhat fat body now looking much stronger than it had been, and his face was no longer the unhealthy white, but a shiny dark brown peculiar to years at sea.

On the table, there is an open letter, on which the eye-catching three-cross emblem indicates the noble identity of the letter.

Looking at the letter, James's eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked at Alexander with an interested look, as if waiting for him to speak.

"An invitation from the Queen," said Alexander to himself with a smile, picking up the letter and holding it in his hand, and then the smile on his face faded, and his gaze swept over the faces of his men sitting around the long table, "let us present the most precious gift to the noble queen." ”