Flomenza did not follow the advice of his young lady and arrested Alexander, knowing that he could no longer do so.

Knowing that Gonzalo had accepted Alexander's offer to occupy Crete, Flormenza realized that things were no longer within his control.

For the first time, he saw the terrible power of money and power, which involved a powerful minister in his hands, and in the face of this power Flomenza felt that even a king should think twice.

Flomenza knew that all he could do was refuse, he didn't know what Alexander's real purpose was in offering him a loan, but he knew that there should be a conspiracy hidden behind this seemingly only good gift that he was not aware of, like Pandora's box, and when it was opened, disaster would come.

Instead of thinking that he was thinking nonsense, but guessing from all the signs, Flomenza decided, after much thought, to take the second suggestion made by his wife, and to get rid of the Count of Montina, who seemed to be in great trouble.

The Governor thought that at least he could do it.

Speaking of which, since coming from Gonzalo, Flomenza clearly felt that he was being constrained, especially as Gonzalo had frequent contacts with those Sicilian nobles, and he had clearly noticed that those nobles who had been honest before seemed to be restless again.

This made Flomenza suddenly think that maybe it might not be a good thing to let Gonzalo go early, and as for whether he was going to attack Naples or conquer Crete, Flomenza no longer cared.

Alexander received an ultimatum from the Doge's Palace in the evening, the red sunset and the wine in the glass, and when he saw the Governor's text message full of official rhetoric, Alexander groaned, wrote a sentence in the blank space under the letter, and then asked the messenger to bring the letter back to the Governor.

"Shel, get ready, we have to leave." Alexander's tone showed no frustration or disappointment, he just calmly instructed the guard officer to pack his luggage, and when he came to the tailor's shop below and saw Osborne at work, he asked the tailor directly, "Do you want to leave with me, then?" ”

Osborne thought about it, he knew that it was important to him, if no one knew that he was doing things for Alexander before, now almost all of Sicily knew about his relationship with Alexander, so if Alexander left Sicily, he could only leave with Alexander if he didn't want to be retaliated against by the governor.

But Osborne has his own unknown concerns.

If he could still play a role in Sicily, what could he do once he was at Alexander's side?

Be Montina's royal tailor?

But if he stays, what awaits him once Alexander leaves?

Seeing Osborne's inner struggle, Alexander nodded, he could understand the tailor's mind now, and he also knew that this was still a very difficult choice for him, seeing that Osborne was still silent, Alexander did not ask any more questions, but walked outside the store.

"It's in this city," said Alexander, standing at the door of the tailor's shop, to Schell, "the Count is here, and the men who robbed him, who are watching me secretly." ”

"Do you mean the people who kidnapped Count Mordillo?"

"I mean all of them, Scheer, all of them." Alexander deliberately accentuated the tone of "everyone", and then he looked at Osborne, who had sent off a group of customers and took the time to walk outside the store to rest a little, "If you don't want to leave, I can guarantee your safety here, you must know that although this is the second time he has been kicked out of Sicily, you must know that this time is different." ”

Osborne nodded slowly, he knew that Alexander was right, he was driven away because he was no longer useful, and this time, it was because of fear of him.

"You have to think about it, if you decide to stay, you may be in a lot of trouble," Alexander reminded Osborne, "the Doge's men may not dare to harm you directly, for I will publicly declare that you and your shop are under my protection, but they will send people to spy on you and send people to harass you, and the people you have worked so hard to gather may be useless because of this, which means that you must start from scratch, and I can only protect you until the peace with Sicily ends, When one day I decide to unite the two Sicilies, your situation may become dangerous, so now it is up to you to decide. ”

Osborne's drooping eyelids, which had been a little tired from years of examining the ruler, suddenly twitched, and he looked at Alexander with his eyes slightly wide, as if he wanted to know whether what he said was true or false.

"Yes, my uncle, Count Mordillo, had a lifelong wish to reunite the two Sicilies, and I think it is not just a wish, but a complete fulfillment, and I promise you that perhaps I will do more."

Osborne's head nodded slightly, he knew that it was time to make a decision, either to leave with Alexander, and live a stable and prosperous life from now on, but he could only go so far, or stay in Sicily, maybe as Alexander said, there will be many unexpected troubles and even dangers in the future, but if he succeeds, maybe what awaits him is a reward that he never dreamed of before.

"I stay," Osborne finally decided, "I will wait for you to come to Sicily for the third time, and I believe that will be the time when you will fulfill your promise." ”

Alexander laughed, he didn't mean to ask Osborne to stay, from the bottom of his heart, he wanted Osborne to leave with him.

He will never forget the help the tailor had given him, and when he was in the most difficult and helpless, unable to protect even the girl he loved, Osborne reached out to help him, for whatever reason, Alexander felt that he could not repay this kindness for the rest of his life.

"Don't worry," Alexander said he hugged Osborne with open arms, "I said I would do it if I would keep you safe, and I promise you that if Flomenza dares to touch you, I will make the Sicilians pay for the damage done to you a hundredfold." ”

Osborne's hand trembled slightly, and then he also patted Alexander's back hard: "Don't worry, Earl, don't forget that I am Osborne, the tailor of Palermo, and even before you came to this city, I was already a famous person here, do you think I am so easy to be killed, and I also want to be the royal tailor in the future Sicilian court." ”

"I promise, this position will always be reserved for you." Alexander also hugged him hard, and then he took two steps back and looked up at the small two-story building of the tailor's shop, "This is really a fate for me, the first time I saw this house was when I just came out of the palace dungeon, it was cold and hungry, you took me and Sophia here together, and the first thing I thought of when I saw this little building was home." ”

Alexander's words made Osborne feel inexplicable, he never thought that the pair of down-and-out young men and women who were just saved in his heart at the beginning had now become a figure that he could not look up to, that girl wore the laurel crown of Wallachia, and this young man, just now, was so confident that he wanted to unify the two Sicilian kingdoms.

"It's crazy." Osborne said something in his heart, and he didn't know if it was about Alexander, or about himself who had decided to help the young man and woman.

But it didn't matter anymore, Osborne knew that his relationship with Alexander had changed from now on.

If they had been close more because of their previous friendship, now he had publicly sworn allegiance to Alexander, and from this moment on, if Alexander went to glory, he would also succeed, and on the contrary, his fate would have been bleak and bleak.

It didn't take long for the news of the Doge's request for the Count of Montina to leave Sicily within three days spread throughout the city of Palermo.

Although they were surprised, people were not surprised.

On the contrary, some were surprised that it had taken so long for Flomenza to decide to expel Alexander.

It is also a strange story that the same person, in the same place, was driven out by two completely different rulers.

The report brought back to the Governor by the man who monitored the tailor's shop made Flomenza angry.

After the news of the deadline spread, the "business" of the tailor's shop, which was already very hot, was too good to be described, and the merchants who did not care about it simply stopped letting their wives and daughters pretend to be making clothes, but went into battle themselves, and the waves of people crowded the tailor shop for a while, and it seemed that all the merchants in Palermo were eager to finish the clothes for the next few years in these three days.

And the real climax was Gonzalo's arrival.

The soldier, who was known for his self-serving and unruly manners, did not bother to even cover it up at the last moment, and went straight to the tailor's shop and offered to meet Alexander, who he said in front of many people: "Alexander is indispensable to you." Such a sentence made Flomenza gnash his teeth.

Thinking about what Alexander had written on his ultimatum, Flomenza had already made up his mind to settle accounts with Osborne once Alexander left, and he couldn't help but waver a little.

In three days, the Sicilian merchants came, the bishops of the church came, some of Bochum's men, who had been driven out of the city defenses, and later, with the visit of Camus, the Sicilian nobles finally gave up their reserve and began to rush to the tailor shop.

Three days was a rush for Alexander, and he didn't even have time to eat alone, so much so that when Massimo was about to talk to him alone after the bishops of the church had visited, he was interrupted several times by Schell knocking on the door from outside, much to Mashimo's annoyance and frustration, because every visitor who could get Schell to knock on the door was not small.

This even made Massimo secretly swear that one day he would become the pope, and then see who would dare to interrupt his conversation with others.

During these three days, too, Flomenza lived like a year, fearing that Alexander would take advantage of the occasion to stir up the people of Palermo, as he had done on the night of blood a few years earlier.

Flomenza has always believed that the events of the Bloody Night on Santa Rosaria had something to do with Alexander, and that he may even have instigated it.

Although his guess was not correct, it was also true that the Bloody Night gave Alexander a rare opportunity.

Fortunately, what Flomenza feared most did not happen, although people came with restless emotions, but when they left, they were not provoked to be full of anger and desire for destruction, on the contrary, many people were more excited and smiled, which gradually made Flomenza realize that what Alexander wanted those people to do was not to take up arms and do something, but to obediently open their pockets.

For three days, Flomenza listened to his men about the Count of Montina when he received another report that made him uneasy.

The Sicilian merchants spent more and more money during these days, many of them either directly or as collateral for the goods they could use, and they provided Gonzalo's army with enough resources to carry out a major expedition.

This made Flomenza really start to worry, he was afraid that even if Gonzalo had no ambition to go on like this, Sicily would not be able to withstand such a huge outflow of funds, not to mention that in this case, who could guarantee that a general with soldiers and money in his hands would not have any other thoughts?

Florencea's suspicious heart made him unable to sit still, and he suddenly thought that it might be a good idea to send Gonzalo away early, let him go to fight his enemy, it is better to go far, if he wants to go to Crete and follow him, even if he wants to recover Constantinople, it is nothing, as long as he can leave Sicily!

Once such a thought appeared, Flomenza felt a lot more relaxed, and he even regretted a little why he was so stubborn in arguing with that soldier before, knowing that the king sent him on an expedition to Naples in order to drive him away from him, since it was all for this purpose, why should he care where he was going.

Flomenza was glad to have at last figured out a solution to the problem at hand, and when he heard that Gonzalo had decided to leave Sicily after the departure of the Count of Montina, he was even more convinced that the two men had some secret that no stranger could know.

"Your Majesty, allow me to report to you with great trepidation that the situation in Sicily is much more complicated than I had previously thought," Flormenza had to admit reluctantly in his letter to Ferdinand, "some of this complexity comes from Sicily, which has changed since my arrival, but recent events have made my previous efforts completely meaningless, some of them from our enemies, and some from your general, Gonzalo de Córdoba......"

A large ship came to rest quietly at the end of the pier jutting out of the shore, and the boat was so high that it looked like a behemoth compared to the various galleys that had long been used in the Mediterranean.

Standing on the pier, Alexander looked at the majestic ship with interest, looking at the arched bow specially reinforced for the two functions of foresail and ramming, Alexander secretly sighed in his heart for the extraordinary skill of the people of this era, and at the same time secretly shook his head for the enemy he was about to face.

The kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, the future Spain, the first real world empire in history, always seemed a little too unreal to be the enemy of someone of such great power.

But Alexander knew that since he had taken this step, there was no reason to stop, and he couldn't stop.

Could it be that giving up the unification of Sicily and the seizure of the crown of Castile would be in exchange for Ferdinand halting his ambitions to annex Naples? So what should Jisha do? What about those who follow them?

Alexander shook his head unconsciously. Shake out the powerlessness caused by thinking of a powerful enemy.

Then he turned to look at the dock on land.

There were a lot of people there, and they all came to see him off.

"Schel, when I was first driven out of Sicily, I was accompanied by only Sophia and Ulliu, and no one came to see me off at the pier," Alexander said as he waved his hand to the crowd in the distance, and in an instant there was a cheer in the distance, "I swore to Sophia that one day I would let her return to Sicily with great glory, and then I would let the Sicilians prostrate at her feet." ”

"My lord, your love for Her Royal Highness is truly enviable." Schell said a word and then stopped talking, for he thought that this enviable love didn't seem to be the only one.

Alexander did not notice the strange look on the guard officer's face, and he continued, slightly self-deprecatingly, "But I returned to Sicily myself before I could take her, and was once again driven from the island. ”

"Your Excellency, you know that this is not the case, if you want, just give the order that we can even attack the palace directly during these three days!" Schelle's face flushed.

"No, Schel, it's not yet time," Alexander waved his hand to stop him from continuing, "Gonzalo's Aragonese army is always a great danger, maybe we will not care if we fight against Flomenza, but if we attack the palace or even try to expel Flomenza, then he will do it against us, and do not forget that he is Isabella's favorite after all, and Ferdinand is Isabella's husband." ”

Looking at the somewhat frustrated Scheer, Alexander raised his hand and patted the guard officer on the shoulder: "Don't worry, I said it's just not time." Next time, next time I will come back with Sophia, I will fulfill my promise to her, I will make all Sicilians prostrate before her crown, and then even Gonzalo will not be able to stop me. ”

With that, Alexander took a stride towards the Caravel galleon.

"Hunters!"

As Schell gave orders with a slightly strange accent, the Balkan soldiers assembled on the long pier began to gather to board the ship, and as Alexander stepped onto the deck, a triangular badge flag was raised.

The Caravel ship slowly left the dock and sailed out of the port of Palermo under the gaze of countless people, and as the sea breeze blew more and more fiercely, under the command of one after another, Caravel began to raise the sails one after another.

"Finally left, I just don't know what it will be like when he comes back next time." Camus, who unexpectedly appeared on the dock, sat in a wheelchair and looked at the distant sail shadow and sighed, he waved his hand with a little effort to signal the servant to push him back.

Just then, a merchant who had just disembarked from a boat on the other side of the pier approached him from afar.

The man, who seemed to have some problems with his legs, carried in his hand a thick wooden cane of fine workmanship, embellished with jewels with gold-painted floral ornaments.

When he came to a place not far from Camus, the man stopped and bowed slightly: "It is a pleasure to see you here, Lord Consul, I see many people bidding farewell to the Count of Montina, and you are the most respected of them. ”

"No, I'm only the oldest of them all, and the closest to heaven, if I can enter heaven when I die," Camus replied vaguely, as he looked the man up and down and nodded, "Then the Count said it was you, what do you call it?" ”

Even in front of this almost hundred-year-old man, the man still looked calm, he bowed again, and then smiled slightly: "My lord, I am Grogenin from the lowlands, and I am willing to serve you and Sicily. ”