The Archon of Andalusia, Fernando Carolé, walked back and forth with some anxiety, and an emissary he had sent to Bujaranse stood with a sleepy face waiting for his inquiry.

"No, you're saying no one knows where he went?" Carolet asked the messenger with a gloomy face, "He is an old man, and it is said that his legs are no longer able to walk, where can such a man go?" ”

"My lord, I have inquired everywhere, and no one knows where the duke has gone," said the messenger helplessly, "and the locals say that he has not left his castle for a long time, and that even the people of the city of Bukharanse have not been seen of him for a long time. ”

"And then he disappeared like that for no apparent reason?" Carolet asked angrily, although he also knew that the envoy could not be blamed at all, but suddenly there was no news of Don Bavi, which made Carolet feel extremely uneasy, and he walked back and forth twice and stopped to stare at the envoy, "What else do you know?" Don't tell me you don't know anything. ”

"There is news that the people of Bukharançe say that a duke, who seems to have come from the Vatican, has gone to see the Duke of Don Bavi," the messenger replied at once, "and the duke's name seems to be that of the Duke of Rometesia." ”

"What?" Carolet's fat face showed a hint of astonishment, he had also heard of this duke, the queen's personal priest Thomas Tongomada had written to him to inform him of this man's arrival, although because he was far away in Seville felt that this man should have nothing to do with him, but Carolet still had an impression of this duke from Rome.

Now he suddenly heard that this man had actually appeared in Buharanse, and this could not but surprise the consul.

"What is he doing in Bukharanse?"

"Supposedly to review a miracle incident."

"And then, Don Bavi disappeared?"

Carolet began to think that things were not so simple, and although he couldn't say why he thought that the Duke from Rome had something to do with Don Bavi's disappearance, he didn't think it would be so coincidental.

Carolet was not a fortunate courtier, unlike previous kings who had always sent their favored cronies to the position.

Those people would often rely on the king's favor to make a fortune in those territories, and then, after being flattered by the local lords and nobles, these fat-hearted fellows would return to the court a few years later.

Carolet, however, was a man who really had high hopes from Isabella, and he knew what he was coming to Andalusia for, and he knew how much it meant to the queen.

If the petty nobles he had dealt with by various means were only a prelude to this great drama, then solving Don Bavi's problem was his ultimate goal in Andalusia.

And this was the most important task that Isabella gave him, and from the very beginning, his target was Don Bavi, the most prominent nobleman in Castile.

Now that he suddenly heard that a nobleman from the Vatican had appeared, and that Don Bavi had disappeared, Carolet immediately realized that things might not be so simple, and the thought that Don Bavi might collude with the Vatican made Carolet a little worried.

Although the Vatican no longer has the supreme authority and prestige it had centuries ago, it is still a formidable behemoth of the entire Christian world, and its transcendent status and the majesty that has gradually accumulated and precipitated over more than a decade are by no means easily challenged by anyone.

Although Carolet did not know that only a few decades later, Western Christendom would face the most serious and even tragic rupture since the Great Schism between the East and West centuries ago, and even almost directly shook the foundations of Western Catholicism, at least in Carolet's eyes now, the intervention from the Vatican is still worrying.

"A holy miracle?" Carolet seemed to suddenly sense the crux of the matter: "Can you know what the miracle is?" Shouldn't all the miracles be reported to the archdiocese first? That Duke of Rometesia hadn't been Valladod before, so why did he suddenly go to Bukhalanse? ”

The archon's series of questions made the messenger look embarrassed, and looking at the messenger's blank eyes, Carolet, who knew that he couldn't ask anything, waved his hand and sent him away.

The sudden accident left the consul a little confused, and Carolet had never despised Don Bavi, he knew that this old man not only had great prestige among the nobles, but even the queen herself had a complicated attitude towards the duke.

As far as Carolet knew, Isabella wanted Don Bavi to give up her territory, and she even vaguely revealed to Don Bavi that if he could help her fulfill her wish to reclaim the territory from the nobles, she could give her supporter the title of "Vice-King" and "Protector of the Kingdom".

It can be seen that Isabella is well aware of Don Bavi's strength and influence, and hopes to get his help in trying not to change drastically, so as to achieve the unity of power in the kingdom.

But now it seems that things are much more troublesome than thought.

The sudden disappearance of Don Bavi gave Carolet a premonition that the deep estrangement between the queen and the important retainers of the kingdom she had always relied on was finally turning into an irreparable abyss that could only swallow one of the others.

Thinking about this, Carolet felt that he could not be careless about this matter, and he took out a pen and paper and began to write a letter to the queen, because there were so many hidden things involved that he could not even ask the clerk to write for him.

"Your Majesty, allow me to report to you that there are some things that are happening in Andalusia that worry me......"

While Carolet was writing to his queen, Isabella was facing something that made her unusually annoyed and angry.

The Portuguese were becoming more and more active in the Atlantic, which made Isabella feel threatened, but that was not the worst of it, the news from Lisbon was what made Isabella angry.

Although she had heard that Manuel and Maria seemed to have a deep conflict before, Isabella didn't care very much, she would think this way of course not because she thought that the couple had a strong relationship, in fact, even the union between her and Ferdinand, if it was because of love, Isabella herself would scoff at it.

She would have thought that it was only because there was a powerful United Kingdom and a tough king standing behind Maria, and she thought that Manuel knew what to do in the end, so she didn't have to worry about what was going on in Portugal at all.

But as if to satirize her, Isabella had just received an urgent letter from the ambassador to Portugal, the contents of which surprised Isabella.

"The queen has been sent to a convent in Lisbon, and I am worried to tell you that Princess Juana is also in this convent."

The ambassador's letter surprised Isabella, who had already learned from Maria that Manuel had allowed Juana to move to the supposedly remote convent, and although this did catch Isabella's attention at first, she was no longer so concerned about having her daughter in Portugal.

After all, Enrique has been dead for a long time, and Juana has ended up betraying her relatives after losing the battle for the throne, and seeing that there is no chance to turn over in this life, it seems that she doesn't need to be too distracted by a doomed loser.

But now the letter made Isabella realize that things seemed to have taken an unexpected turn.

What had previously been a conflict between husband and wife had turned into a war, and Manuel's seemingly unflinching actions towards the United Kingdom had become a prelude to the possibility of a real conflict.

The act of sending Mary to the convent could well be seen as a provocation to the two kings, and the choice of place is even more intriguing.

What will Manuel do next, simply release Juana from the convent?

If so, it is self-evident what this means.

When did the Portuguese become so bold?

The thought crossed Isabella's mind, she felt that something must be wrong here, otherwise how could so many things suddenly happen.

"Maybe Carlos should be brought back." The thought crossed Isabella's mind, and the trust she had in her husband over the years was Ferdinand, but it was only a brief flash before disappearing.

Isabella knew that Ferdinand would not have an easy time in Aragon, and although the two countries were moving towards reunification, there had been opposition to it.

Although this opposition has diminished as the couple's power has stabilized, that doesn't mean everything is going well.

The opponents only hid themselves, but they never stopped destroying the unity of the two countries, but their actions became more secretive.

Isabella felt that she wasn't as good as she used to be, and it made her a little scared.

She was not afraid of death, and sometimes when she recalled her previous life, she was surprised that she had survived and achieved such a great achievement, and she had even accomplished a feat that the ancestors of the Rastamara family had not been able to achieve, and took a crucial step towards completing unification!

Thinking about this, Isabella felt that she should be satisfied with this life, but when she thought of death, she worried about her offspring.

She remembers the helplessness of her son, Juan, when he became terminally ill a few years ago, and will never forget the loss of her son and the subsequent uneasiness and panic caused by the vacancy of the crown prince's throne.

Isabella's fears were not unfounded, and among her daughters, whether Maria or Catherine, they were current or future queens because of their marriages to Portugal and England respectively, but this status also meant that they had to relinquish the future throne of the United Kingdom, or the future Spain would be in danger of being annexed.

This is something Isabella definitely doesn't want to see.

So in comparison, the only one who meets the conditions for inheriting the throne is Juana.

But Juana's condition was so worrisome that according to the court doctors' diagnosis, Juana's spirit had sometimes reached the point where she could not control herself, and she did not even know what she had done.

Juana's terrible situation made Isabella not at ease at all.

What worries her even more is another Juana.

Isabella didn't dare to imagine what kind of uproar would be caused if Juana had an accident, after all, at that time, Juana, who was far away in Lisbon, could justifiably claim the throne.

The nobles of Castile would never allow Maria and Catherine or their children to become their queens.

At that time, it seems that Enrique's daughter has become the only option to continue the Castilian royal family.

Just thinking about this, Isabella felt that she was walking on thin ice, and she even considered whether to write a letter to the master in Portugal so that he could solve Juana's huge hidden danger once and for all, but Isabella couldn't help but hesitate to think about the trouble that might come from doing so at this time when her relationship with Portugal was quite sensitive.

There was a soft knock on the door, and an attendant walked briskly into the room with a box, and after checking that the wax seal was intact, Isabella opened the box and took out a secret letter from inside.

The letter was written by the naval commander sent by Isabella to the new colony, and the writer's urgency was evident from the very scribbled handwriting.

"Your Majesty, allow me to report to you that one of our fleets in the Azores has been brutally attacked by the Portuguese......"

Seeing only this beginning, Isabella's face changed instantly.

The Azores, an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, was the gateway to the new colonies.

This vast archipelago was first discovered by the Portuguese decades ago, and while it did cause a stir at the time, no one really realized what the archipelago would mean for the future.

With the discovery of the new colonies, people gradually realized that the Azores would be a hub between the old and new worlds, especially with the several expeditions of Columbus, and the great wealth of the new colonies made the Castilians, led by Isabella, realize the important geographical and military value of this archipelago in the depths of the Atlantic.

So Isabella sent her fleet and generals and began to infiltrate the Azores.

Isabella, of course, knew that such a move could easily provoke a violent reaction from the Portuguese, so she was always careful not to provoke the Portuguese, hoping to gradually turn the Arthur Islands into an important maritime transportation hub for Spain in the Atlantic.

Isabella clearly had a remarkable vision and an eye that was difficult for others to match, while the Portuguese were a little slower to react in this regard, paying so much attention to the new route to the East that all eyes were on it.

The papal meridian drawn by Alexander VI at the beginning made them focus all their energy on finding a sea route to the East through Africa, so although they were wary of Isabella's actions in the Azores, they were not able to react quickly.

Because of this, when Isabella received a report from her admiral, she quickly realized the seriousness of the situation.

Thinking of Maria's situation in Portugal during this time, Isabella suddenly felt a sense of anxiety and uneasiness rise from the bottom of her heart.

She hadn't felt that way in a long time, and the last time she had heard of Ferdinand having an illegitimate child with an Aragonese heiress.

Now, feeling the feeling that had made her nervous again, Isabella quickly gave the order to summon the minister, and after a moment of hesitation, she nevertheless ordered Philip to be summoned.

Isabella was not satisfied with Philip's, and her only fear now was that if she died one day, perhaps Philip and Ferdinand would inevitably have a huge conflict.

Isabella believed that this was not her own thoughts, and she saw her husband's ambitions and Philip's plans equally clearly.

But she also knew that the Castilian nobles could not accept a Portuguese or English heir to wear a crown, nor could they accept Ferdinand as their king, so that Juana would be the only hope, and Philip would inevitably get into Castile dominance.

Isabella felt a headache, it was because of the obvious failure of her body in the past two years that she was even more worried about the future, and now the unexpected move of the Portuguese gave her a strong sense of crisis, and she felt that she had to make the best arrangements for the future while she could still control it.

Philip was a little surprised by Isabella's summons, since he came to Valladód, his position had become awkward, he was Juana's husband, but he had no other identity here than that, although everyone had flattered him suspiciously precisely because of his status, but he always felt that he was an outsider.

In addition, he also had a strong wariness of his father-in-law, because whether it was his father's warning or his own feelings, Philip felt that Ferdinand seemed to regard him as an obstacle to ruling Castile, so in order to dispel Ferdinand's wariness, he had nothing to do but find women every day, but Juana's nonsense made him tired of it.

So when he heard that Isabella had summoned him to the Council of State, Philip was both excited and cautious.

What Philip didn't expect was that what Isabella wanted to discuss was actually about the relationship with Portugal.

"I have to respond strongly, and it would be an insult to me as Queen of Castile to let this happen." Isabella told the ministers standing before her that although she was no longer young, she was still as straight as she had ever been, and even though it made her feel uncomfortable, she refused to bend down.

"But your Majesty, this may lead to a change in our relations with Portugal," said one of the ministers, with a slight concern, "and we have heard that Manuel seems to be in frequent contact with the French, and this cannot but lead us to be cautious in our actions." ”

"French?" Isabella's gaze swept over the faces of the ministers, and finally fell on Philippe's: "Louis is now at war with the emperor in Rome, do you think the French have the extra strength to intervene in our dispute with Portugal at this time?" ”

Isabella's question made the ministers turn their attention to Philip.

Facing those questioning eyes, Philip finally spoke after a little hesitation: "Your Majesty, please rest assured, I believe that the Emperor's army will never give Louis any respite. ”

"In that case, let's prepare for the worst," Isabella's gaze quickly swept over everyone's faces, "Believe me, I have a hunch that Manuel may become my enemy, so are we going to declare war on this next?" ”