Prince Miguel died.

The 2-year-old was the only child of Manuel and Isabella of Aragon, and if nothing else happened, he would be the future king of Portugal.

But now, when he was 2 years old, the little prince died suddenly, and the whole kingdom of Portugal was shaken.

All sorts of speculation and gossip raged in Lisbon and then spread to the rest of the kingdom at an alarming rate, and the most striking keywords of these rumours were: queen, food, and crown prince.

Miguel as the eldest son is the natural heir to the crown prince's status, as long as Miguel is in one day, Queen Maria's children are destined to be deprived of the throne, and now Prince Miguel died suddenly, then even if Maria has no boy in the future, her 1-year-old daughter will be the heir to the throne, and according to some rumors, Prince Miguel suddenly fell ill after eating the food seen by Queen Maria, and then the news of the prince's poisoning was exposed.

It seemed clear all at once that the poor prince, the jealous stepmother, the greed for the throne, and perhaps even the feud between the sisters in their early years at the court of Aragon, had gradually overshadowed the need to know what the facts were, or that people never wanted to know what the facts were, but only what they wanted to see and hear.

The court of Lisbon was shaken, and the ministers became more cautious than ever, and it was known that the death of the prince was an unusually great blow to Manuel I, and that the blow even broke the king's spirits, and he refused to speak to anyone, but shut himself up in the prince's room and watched the empty cot for hours.

And Manuel also refused to see the queen, although he was not angry, but directly asked the guards to block the maid sent by the queen to deliver his message, this signal was very obvious, which made Maria angry, she decided to go to see Manuel in person, but when she was about to go outside Prince Miguel's room, she saw the guards standing at the door, Maria hesitated.

She was afraid that Manuel would simply order the soldiers to block her drive, and if that would happen she would be completely trampled under her feet in public, and she would not dare to take the risk.

After a moment of hesitation, Mary turned away.

Rumors were still circulating everywhere, and there was a tendency to get worse, and I don't know when, some people began to shout the slogan "Depose the Queen", although at first this slogan was only shouted by a few people, but when they found that no one seemed to say what to do with them, these people became more and more emboldened.

It has been 2 years since Maria became the queen of Portugal, and compared with her sister Isabella of Aragon, Maria obviously has a firmer personality and a more responsible sense of responsibility as a queen, which is a good thing, but this character is a little too firm and the sense of responsibility is too strong, and her background is destined to be hostile in Portugal.

So in comparison, her sister is actually more suitable for the role of Queen of Portugal, at least in Isabella's short 2-year queenship, it is obvious that the Portuguese have gone from hostile to moderate their attitude towards her.

But Maria never wanted to compromise with the aristocracy, and she stubbornly believed that she had come to Portugal with a strong faith and a mission to change relations between the two countries, rather than as a wife, which made her inexplicably hostile to all the Portuguese, including her husband, from the beginning.

If Prince Miguel hadn't died suddenly, if Manuel hadn't shown a keen interest in the new colony, or if Alexander hadn't shown up, Maria would not have suffered these changes, and would have died of an unexpected cold after having seven children with Manuel, and then Manuel would have missed her sister as much as she missed, and married the daughter of her other sister, Juana, who was only 13 years old at the time.

But it was all if, and now for a reason she could never have imagined, Maria's position as Queen of Portugal was in jeopardy.

When he heard the news of Prince Miguel's sudden death, Alexander was discussing some details of the voyage with da Gama, and although Manuel seemed to be hesitant at the critical moment, they both knew that it was not up to the king to decide whether or not to explore the Atlantic.

The lure of huge profits and the huge investments that have already been made have driven Reibs themselves crazy, and the eyes of both the powerful aristocrat and the wealthy businessman are now fixed on the two new routes that will make them richer.

The route to India brought gold, ivory, precious stones, and pepper, and that mysterious new colony was said to hold more curiosities than had ever been seen before, enough to make anyone who was in a position to participate get carried away.

So even though Manuel was still a little nervous at the last minute, it didn't affect the adventurers' strong interest in exploring.

The one who brought the news was Ferdinand Magellan, Don Antonio's student at the nautical office.

When he heard that Prince Miguel had died suddenly, da Gama exclaimed unexpectedly, although Miguel was too young, but the identity of the king's eldest son naturally attracted him attention.

Now the prince died suddenly, and this could not but shake everyone.

Alexander was also accidental, and even more so than da Gama.

Alexander knew that the future king of Portugal in history would be the son of Maria and not Prince Milge, but he did not know when the prince died.

Now that he suddenly heard the news, Alexander couldn't help but feel a strange feeling in his heart.

Eriodore Don Antonio soon arrived, he looked a little strange, and after casually greeting da Gama, he motioned to talk to Alexander alone, and then as soon as da Gama left, he suddenly drew his short sword at his waist and pointed it at Alexander!

"Did you do that?!" Don Antonio gasped and his body trembled, his already gray beard trembled with anger and excitement, and the tip of the sword in his hand trembled, "You just proposed to make that Juana queen, Prince Miguel died, and now everyone is saying that the murderer is Maria, is this your plan?" Assassinating the prince and then putting the blame on the queen would remove two obstacles at once, wouldn't it? ”

Seeing that Don Antonio couldn't help but shout despite trying to suppress his voice, Alexander stretched out his hand to signal him not to get excited, and at the same time gave Schell, who was already standing in the doorway and aimed his musket at him in the back.

"I didn't do it, I can swear to God," Alexander said slowly, he simply sat down and looked at Don Antonio, "I do have a plan to make Juana queen, but you said that it was an insult to me to murder a child who was only 2 years old for this." ”

"But the prince was poisoned and died, and he is the future king of Portugal!" Don Antonio took a step forward angrily, the edge of his dagger almost touching Alexander's chest.

"So you think I did it? First murdering a prince, and then planting the blame on his stepmother, when his stepmother is deposed or even imprisoned for this, then the one I support can be put on the throne of the queen, so that not only will Maria be eradicated, but even the future children of Juana will inherit the Portuguese throne, which is indeed the best plan. ”

"You did it!" Listening to Alexander's words, Don Antonio suddenly became excited, and he stepped forward to try to grab Alexander's chest, but then he was grabbed from behind, and then he was thrown to the ground.

"My lord, I think you're too excited," Alexander shook his head as he looked at Don Antonio, who was pressed to the ground by several hunters, he crouched down to look at the old man, and then he suddenly smiled again, "Or maybe you yourself know that I didn't do it, otherwise how could you come alone to meet a man who murdered the prince, or else, you don't really care about it?" ”

With that, Alexander waved his hand to the hunters and told them to let Don Antonio go.

Don Antonio slowly got up from the ground, his eyes fixed on Alexander, and then sat down opposite Alexander, who had knocked him down.

"Tell me who it is, then," Don Antonio asked in a dull voice.

"I don't know," Alexander shook his head a little helplessly, "we all know that although the death of the prince was indeed a very unexpected and sad event, it is indeed good for us, isn't it?" ”

Don Antonio's eyes narrowed.

As Alexander said, he would come alone to see the murderer in his mouth, just because although he was surprised and shocked by the death of Prince Miguel, in fact, deep down there was a voice that kept saying that it was not bad.

Miguel is the son of Maria's sister and the grandson of Queen Isabella, and in this respect it means the same to Portugal regardless of which of the sisters' sons and daughters succeed to the throne.

For the Portuguese aristocracy, such as Eriodor Don Antonio, the hope was always to free Portugal from the threat and influence of the couple.

Because of this, although Prince Miguel's death shook the entire kingdom, I don't know why, but in the hearts of many people, there is an inexplicable ease and release.

The death of a prince with a double lineage and the suspicion of a queen with the same lineage left many Portuguese with a vague sense that things weren't so bad.

Of course, this kind of thinking must not be made public, so Eleodore Don Antonio used such anger to hide his true thoughts.

Only now, he also felt that there was no need to hide anything.

"But there is no forgiveness for doing so," Don Antonio said to Alexander, "the prince is still a child after all, and it is not the time when the royal family could be murdered wantonly, which is a terrible crime." ”

"I repeat, I didn't do it." Alexander shook his head, he didn't want Don Antonio to believe that he had just murdered a 2-year-old child, even if no one really cared, but Alexander still didn't want to make himself guilty of such a crime, "Maybe I'll find the murderer in the future, but that's not what we should be talking about now." ”

Don Antonio was silent, and finally nodded: "Indeed, it's time for us to talk about what to do next." ”

Maria sat in a daze in front of the semicircular bay window in the corner of her room, her favorite spot, from which she could see a low hill in the distance of Lisbon and, if the weather was nice, a shallow lake beyond.

Maria likes to sit at the window and look out, which is also the time of the day when she makes herself look less deliberately imitating her mother.

But today, her expression was blank, and she looked out the window in a daze, but she didn't seem to see anything.

All night, Maria did not close her eyes, she stayed by Miguel's side, watching the doctor treat him, watching her stepson and nephew moaning in pain.

Mary prayed to God, to Jesus Christ and Mary, to all the divine beings she knew.

She was an aunt and mother at the moment, and it can be said that she hadn't thought much about it for at least some time.

But when the morning came, Maria was told that Prince Miguel had left this world and gone to heaven.

At the same time, what she did not expect was that Manuel did not let her look at the poor prince again, but told her to "go back to her room".

Manuel's appearance was terrible at that time, and Maria swore that she had never seen a king like that, and Maria, who had refused as she usually would, finally chose to compromise, knowing that she could not anger Manuel at this time.

But even so, Maria still only thinks that it is just a grieving gaffe of a father who has lost his beloved son, so she is ready to wait until Manuel calms down before comforting her.

And after calming down a little, Maria's mind inevitably thought about the succession to the throne of Portugal after the loss of Miguel.

Although she repeatedly told herself in her heart that she shouldn't think about this, at least not so quickly, she was still vaguely excited about Miguel's death in her heart.

But it didn't take long for the hidden excitement to turn into panic, and the next day a servant panicked to report to her the terrible rumors that were circulating inside and outside the palace, and Mary finally realized that she had been caught up in a great conspiracy.

It was only then that she was alarmed to find that she had been placed under house arrest, that her armed retinue had been replaced at some point, that the guards outside the door were strange and hostile, and that when she insisted on going out of the room to meet her husband, the guards immediately and unceremoniously blocked her back.

Maria was completely panicked, she didn't know how it had come to this, she didn't even understand what had gone wrong.

Her angry rebuke at the guards was met with indifferent disregard, and just as she was furious because she had nothing to do, some of the people around her began to be forcibly taken away for interrogation.

Maria felt as if the whole world was about to collapse, and she began to ask the officials to send a message to the king, but the Portuguese, who were usually humble and respectful to her, only replied in a seemingly polite but rather cold tone: "Your Majesty is grieving the death of Prince Miguel, so I beg your pardon for being unreasonable and unable to convey your request to you." ”

By this time, Maria knew that she was in danger.

Manuel's refusal to see her was a dangerous sign.

Maria believed that she would still be able to defend herself if she could meet, but Manuel's attitude made her aware of the real danger.

By this time she had realized that she was caught in a great conspiracy, and Manuel's actions had made her even more frightened.

Mary may not have been as good as her mother, but she was the daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand II, and a descendant of the House of Mastarama.

Although the rumors outside are not in her favor, Maria does not think that she has no chance to clarify everything and prove her innocence, but Manuel does not even give her a chance to meet her, which makes Maria realize that Manuel is not so much suspicious as he does not want to see her, but more like "he wants" to believe that she is the mastermind of Prince Miguel's murder.

The thought of this sent chills to Maria's whole body, and of course she knew that Manuel could not have murdered his only son, but he didn't seem to mind taking advantage of it and blaming her for everything.

Maria never thought that her husband would hate her so much, or that Manuel would dare to do anything to her.

But this time, for a very unexpected and special reason, it gave Manuel a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Miguel is not only the prince of Portugal, he is also the only child of the eldest daughter of the two Spanish kings, and is their grandson.

Just this identity is enough to make the couple face this dilemma.

His daughter is suspected of murdering her grandson, which would put the couple in a difficult position anyway, and whatever their response seems inappropriate.

The door behind her opened, and from the outside room came a low, but rather fierce quarrel, and Maria moved, looking back at the maid standing behind her: "What happened?" ”

"Your Majesty, they are going to take Dr. Hudoka away." The maid whispered, seeing Maria's angry expression, and the maid whispered, "They have brought several soldiers." ”

Maria closed her eyes slightly, she tried to calm the anger that was about to erupt in her chest, and after thinking for a moment, she waved her hand: "Let Dr. Hudoka go with them, I will let everyone know that I am innocent." ”

The lady's complexion changed slightly, Dr. Hudoka was Maria's personal physician, and the death of Isabella of Aragon grieved the couple, and they feared that Maria would suffer the same fate, so they specially arranged for a skilled personal doctor to follow her to the Portuguese court.

Maria trusted this Dr. Hudoka, not only as her physician but also as her advisor and confidant.

Before, it was only a few servants who had been taken away, but now when they heard that the Portuguese were going to take Doctor Hudoka, the people around Maria panicked.

They knew that they would probably be the ones who would be taken next, and as fellow Iberians with similar customs and experiences, they knew very well what the Portuguese would do to them.

Maria could sense the panic of those around her, but there was nothing she could do about it.

She wondered if she could find someone in the court who could help her, but now she had no way of knowing what was going on outside, which left her at a loss.

In fact, there were still many supporters of Maria at court, either close to Castile or Aragon, or fearful of provoking a violent reaction from the powerful neighbors, who strongly opposed the house arrest of the queen and demanded that Manuel find the "real murderer" as soon as possible.

This statement, which directly excluded Maria from the outset, caused outrage among many people, and a heated debate broke out throughout the Lisbon court.

It was at this time that Alexander entered the Palazzo Neuf.

His arrival as an emissary of the Pope immediately attracted attention, and many people tried to preemptively present their views to the Roman duke, which led to Alexander being surrounded as soon as he appeared.

But Manuel had apparently thought of this, so when the king's stapling appeared, one had to watch Alexander be ushered into the king's room.

Don Antonio remained outside, and he first went to the most reliable nobles and whispered to them, and after gaining everyone's approval, they began to conspire in all directions.

Of course, Don Antonio's actions could not be concealed from others, so the nobles who supported the queen also immediately took action,

Everyone wanted to try to pull the people who passed in front of them to tell each other their opinions, hoping to get the support of the other party, and for a time the court was full of whispers and bargaining.

Alexander was a little surprised when he saw Manuel, but he didn't see him for 2 days, Manuel seemed to be much older, his face was unhealthy gray, a pair of eyes were cloudy, when looking at Alexander, his eyes were completely unresponsive, until Alexander whispered greetings to him, and seemed to come to his senses.

"Duke, please tell me, what will be the reaction of the Holy See if I were to get a divorce?"

As soon as Manuel opened his mouth, Alexander was secretly surprised, and the plan that he thought would be a little frustrated seemed to have become extremely easy because of Manuel's words.

It's just that Alexander knew that he must not act rashly at this time, and he replied cautiously: "Your Majesty, I can't answer your question, but I can ask the Vatican for you." ”

Manuel nodded silently, and then he turned to look at his son, who was lying on the bed, already dressed in a gorgeous robe, but without a trace of life.

Alexander stood there looking at the king's back for a long time, then he bowed silently and withdrew from the room.

Alexander, who came out of the new palace, frowned at the cloud floating overhead, as he told Don Antonio, Prince Miguel was indeed not killed by him.

Alexander could do that to Frederick and his son in Naples, but he couldn't do that to a 2-year-old child.

But who murdered Prince Miguel, and why, at this time?

Alexander returned to his lodgings, and the servant brought him a letter.

There was only one sentence in the letter: "Do you want to know who killed the prince?" ”