It is no secret that Maria de Luna, on the eve of her departure from Rome, had met the prefect of the Count of Montina.

Although no one knows what Ullius came to visit the noble widow for, it is certainly related to his master, Alexander.

This naturally makes many people somewhat curious.

But Maria de Luna left Rome in a hurry the day after her visit to Ulliu, and she went in such a hurry that she did not even have time to say goodbye to her sister-in-law, Lucrezia, with whom she had always been on good terms, except to meet the Pope.

Of course, this is inevitably a cause for concern, but Maria de Luna has left and does not seem to have any intention of returning, and many believe that it is unlikely that she will ever see the Duchess of Gandino again in her lifetime.

So despite all the curiosity, people quickly forgot about it, after all, all kinds of strange things happened every day in the city of Rome, and the sudden departure of a duchess caused a sensation for a few days at most, even if she was the daughter-in-law of the Pope.

It's just that people didn't expect that just when people were about to forget about it, Ulliu's visit to Skop aroused people's curiosity again.

The Roman herald seemed to have been surprised by the Moorish arrival, and although he tried to make himself appear calm, people noticed that the herald's expression could not be calmed down.

Later, Skop simply gave up his reluctant pretense, beckoned his nephew to send the guests out of his house, and when he was alone, he had Uliuu taken to one of his rooms on the second floor.

The room was empty, except for a long line of hot and cold weapons on the weapon racks on the walls, not even a chair.

"I've heard you can use a musket, and you're good at it," said Skop, plucking a slightly rough, but black-holed, musket from the shelf, looking a little unsettling, as he said as he poured the gunpowder from the horn cartridge that matched the musket into the barrel of the gun, and then skillfully tamped the bullet and the strip of cloth with the strip, and then he poured the rest of the powder into the gun's pool, and finally he picked up the lit cloth twist and plugged the gap in the lid of the tank.

Having done all this, Skop raised his slowly burning musket and aimed it at Ulliu.

"Listen, if you can't come up with a proper reason before the fuse burns out, I don't care if I'm here to kill you." Skop's eyes burst out with ferocity that he had never felt before, which was completely different from the impression he usually gave a big grin: "For the sake of your master's face, I chose a fuse that is quite long enough, but I advise you to make a long story short." ”

The letter burned rapidly with a faint smoke, and there was a slight stench in the air, and Ulliu stared at the musket in Skop's hand, he knew that the herald was not joking, with the power of this gun, he could even pierce a knight in full armor at close range, and it was not difficult to make a hole in him at this distance.

"Madame Maria already knows that you instigated Cadron to approach her," Ullius thought it would be better to make it clear that it was not the time to be a hero, and he would not be stupid enough to think of snatching a musket from the old mercenary's hands, "She already knows that you are doing this to get her to support Madame Juilliard in running his business in Rome for the Pope." ”

The lead was almost burning to the edge of the musket pool, and sweat was pouring from his forehead, and he secretly clenched his fists and prepared to fall to the side, while he wondered whether to jump out of the window desperately after he threw himself out, although it seemed a bit dangerous to think about this height......

Skop's eyes fell from above the barrel of the sparkling musket to Ulliu, and his face was cloudy, as if he was thinking about how to deal with the Moorish man in front of him who had suddenly caused him trouble.

The burning of the lead seemed to cause a huge explosion in the room at any moment, and it was only when the lead was about to burn out that Skop suddenly reached out and removed the little lead that was left.

There was an imperceptible grunt in Uliu's throat, which he thought was the sound of his heart sinking, and only then did he feel as if there was a stone in his throat, and he couldn't breathe at all.

Ulliu ignored Skop on the other side, clutched his throat and coughed violently, and after a while, when he straightened up, he saw Skop handkerchief handed him a handkerchief.

"Thank you, sir." Uliuu wiped his saliva from coughing with a handkerchief, and after a while he gasped and slowly stood up.

"You're frightened," Skop seemed pleased with Ulliu's performance, and he did at the door to the man guarding the door, and after a while a servant came in with a tray full of two glasses full of wine, "Don't worry, I don't have Cantarella in my wine," Skop joked at first, and then said with a heavy expression, "In fact I can kill you with one shot without hesitation, knowing that your master is in Naples now, and as far as I know, he has a lot of troubles, And I don't believe that Montina or Pisa will openly enmity with Giulia Farne for your sake. ”

If that were the case, I believe that my master would avenge me. Uliuu whispered to himself in a voice that only he could hear, but he didn't want to get tangled up with Skop about it: "My lord, when my master was investigating the cause of Duke Gandino's death, he discovered that someone was trying to steal the triple crown, and the Duke was assassinated because he discovered this secret. ”

"Oh, that's true, the Jews, but we don't know where they hid the triple crown, do we, I think it's a clue that your master lost, doesn't it?" Skop asked rhetorically, a little angrily.

"That's true," Ullius did not contradict Skop's cross-examination, "but you should not forget that, as I said before, all the business of the Pope in Rome was in the hands of the Farnes, and that Madame Maria de Luna had opposed this decision in the first place, believing that it should be in the hands of the Borgia herself, or rather by Giovanni, the eldest son of the Pope, and she thought so until Cadron appeared, and now she knew that you had instructed Cadron to do so. ”

"But what does this have to do with the triple crown?" Skop asked, somewhat annoyed, "Does your master think that I stole the Triple Crown with those Jews?" ”

"Of course not, but you must admit that the Jews are very close to you, especially their usury business, and your wife, Madame Farnay the Elder, makes a lot of money in it."

Skop's face slowly darkened, even when he gave up shooting just now, he still maintained a posture that seemed to be high up and could decide the fate of the Moors in front of him at any time, but now the expression on his face became a little gloomy and incomprehensible.

"What are you going to do?" Skop asked coldly, "I know you won't take such a risk just to tell this, what do you want from me, I don't think your master cares, then what does he want me to do for him, but say it in advance, I won't do it for others." ”

Ulliu was a little surprised by Scoop's superiority, and he looked at the herald in amazement, who always seemed unreliable, trying to see from his face whether this man had some tricks, but what he saw was that Skup seemed impatient.

"Don't look at me like that, we all know that Cambrai didn't send you to see me just so you could blackmail me." Skop said nonchalantly, "The fact that he will send you shows that he has no intention of letting the Pope know about this, I think the Duchess of Gandino leaving Rome in such a hurry has something to do with it, I don't care what she promised you, now tell me your purpose." ”

Skop's words made Ulliu secretly shake his head, he didn't think about it until now, the master once said that this Skop was not simple.

Although he was lucky enough to have a rich woman who could give birth to him, Madame Farne, the man apparently did not think that he should be loyal to either the Borgia or the Farnes, even if he did thrive on them.

"So, my lord, please suggest to Madame Farne, that she say a few kind words for the Queen of Naples before the Pope, and of course it is better not to let Madame know that the Lord himself is involved."

"Of course I know this, speaking of which, the Count of Montina is still the enemy of the Farne family, but who will care about this now, we all know that your lord has made a lot of money, and what the Farne family lacks now is a profitable business."

"Regarding this, I can take the place of my lord to make some decisions, we all know that Madame Farne and Madame Lucrezia are very good friends, I believe that Madame will also like the honorable Duchess of Estles, in this case, I suggest that Madame Farne can send someone to Pisa for help, I believe that Madame Lucrezia will definitely do her best for her good friend, as for you, I believe it will not suffer."

Ulliu's last sentence, which finally showed a little smile on his face, Scopop snorted with a little satisfaction, and then he said slowly: "Then let's talk about it now, what does your master want to do with all this painstaking effort?" ”

Hearing Skop's question, Uli's swarthy face showed a strange look as if he had bitten his tongue, he pursed his lips, and finally said the true purpose of this trip: "My master wants to obtain from the Pope the recognition of the merger of the two Sicilian crowns into one. ”

"What did you say?!" Skop was a little stunned for a moment to look at the Moor, who also felt a little embarrassed after saying this, and saw the Moore nodding, but Skop asked a little overwhelmed: "That Gombray, is he crazy?" ”

The Kingdom of Naples was nearly wiped out in two French invasions, the first of which might have been destroyed by Charles VIII without the assistance of Aragon and numerous city-state alliances.

And this second time was not much better, although there was support from Montina and Cosenza, but this time the Kingdom of Naples without Aragonese reinforcements had to avoid the French, and simply followed the example of Ferdinand last time, and fled Naples and hid in Biliselli without waiting for the arrival of the French.

But such a Kingdom of Naples suddenly proposed to merge the two Sicilies at this time, which could not help but make Skop feel not only unbelievable, but even a little ridiculous.

"Is the Queen of Naples going to invade Sicily?" Skop felt that he had heard probably the last and funniest joke of the century, after all, the 16th century would be in a few months.

"No, it's my master," Ulliu, correcting Skop's statement with all seriousness, "My master, as the keeper of the Sicilian Lighthouse, thinks it is necessary to merge the two Sicilies into one, so that the Sicilian crown can have the majesty and dignity it deserves. ”

Skop looked at Ulius silently, knowing that the Moorish man was not going to lie, but he always felt that the suggestion sounded so untrue.

However, while the idea did seem incredible, Scoop understood why Ulliu had gone to such great lengths to gain the support of the Farnes.

Thinking about the fact that Uliu was running around in Rome almost non-stop during this time, Skop couldn't help but gradually calm down and seriously consider how possible this suggestion that sounded really untrue.

Obviously, it is not a simple matter to get the support or recognition of the Vatican in this matter, there are too many things and people involved, and the different interests that will be touched are even more complicated, so even as a good son-in-law who is cheap for Alexander VI and will make money for him, he needs to get as many people as possible to support him.

The Farne family is now not only the Pope's spokesperson in Rome, but also because they have been managing the huge property of the Borgia family, and have run an unusual circle of interests in Rome.

Regardless, Skop sensed that Alexander seemed to be intent on accomplishing this seemingly impossible goal, and he wondered if Alexander was really sure that he would do so.

Skop was not satisfied with living on his wife's property in the future, he longed for a chance to make the surname Skop a well-known nobleman in Rome and even in Europe.

It's just that there are too few such opportunities.

Compared to him, the surname Combrai was now famous, which made Skop a little jealous and unwilling, and he also wanted to get ahead, rather than rely on the Farne family to be a herald in Rome forever.

Thinking about the miracle that Alexander created in just a few years, Skop was a little tempted.

"The support of the Farner family is very important, which means that the Borgia family is all supporting my lord." Ulius explained to Skop why he had to get the support of the Farnes, and this reason made Skop even more sure that Alexander was sure that this seemingly absurd idea was actually very sure, otherwise he would not have been so enthusiastic that he would even involve Maria de Luna.

Skop wondered how Alexander knew about Cadron's relationship with Maria de Luna, and how he knew that it was all at his instigation.

It was not a twist or turn, and after discovering that Maria de Luna was trying to influence her husband Giovanni to take away the financial power of the Borgia from the Farnes, he could not allow the Farnes to relinquish this power, either for the benefit of the Farnes or for the sake of their deep ties and interests with the Jewish usurers.

It's just that his influence in the Borgia family cannot be compared to that Duchess of Gandino, and it was then that he noticed that Pedro Caderon.

The young man's ambition was so obvious that it didn't even take a few temptations for Skop to stir up his secret pursuit of Maria de Luna.

Skop's goal was to get this beautiful squire to find a way to charm Maria de Luna and eventually influence her decision.

It's just that Skop didn't expect Giovanni to die suddenly, so that his plan ended almost before it could be implemented, and he almost slowly forgot about it.

But he didn't expect that Ulliu would appear in front of him one day, not only to reopen the matter, but even to tell him that Maria de Luna already knew that he was behind it.

When Skop woke up from the initial accident, he felt real fear.

He was thinking of the strange act of Maria de Luna's sudden departure from Rome.

It was not too strange for a noblewoman to have a lover, although it might have made Alexander VI furious, or severely punished the unbelievable Caderon, but it should not have frightened Maria de Luna into fleeing Rome in a hurry.

What could have scared the Duchess of Gandino into fleeing?

Thinking about it, only Giovanni's death would scare Duchess of Gandino like that, and thinking about who would be the suspect in that murder would make Maria de Luna so panicked, and Skop, who understood this, had already broken out in a cold sweat in an instant!

Skop knew that it was not that he was willing to help Alexander in this matter, but that he had no way out, otherwise if the Pope knew that he had something to do with Giovanni's death, maybe he would be the next to drink Cantarella.

Thinking about this, Skop didn't ask anymore, he knew that he was now on Alexander's ship, and now what he had to do was not to find a way to get off the ship, but to find a good place for himself while there were not too many passengers on this ship.

"Tell the Count that I will make a proposal to Madame Farne, but for greater certainty, I hope that he will prove as soon as possible that his idea will indeed succeed."

"Please rest assured, my master is now preparing for this, and I believe it will soon prove to you and everyone." Uliu said with confidence.

Although Skop was a little skeptical, he could only choose to believe more at this time.

But before Skop could find an opportunity to make this suggestion to Giulia Farne, a piece of news from Sicily reminded the whole of Rome of the nightmare of being ruled by a certain Aragonese general three years ago.

Gonzalo de Córdoba, with the army given to him by King Ferdinand II of Aragon.