When Osborne hurried to the Cathedral of Monreale, the sun was already high, and the choir boys had just finished singing the fourth hymn and had paused for a while, and several children were swaying drowsily in the procession because they had risen too early, and the fifth hymn became clear and ethereal again as the wooden stick in the hand of the leading priest brought a gust of wind in the air.

Alfonso stood on the wooden platform to the left of the main altar and looked at the crowd below, in front of which were several bishops and priests in robes, and later a group of nobles in gorgeous costumes, among which the palace minister Gomez's costume was the most luxurious and conspicuous, it was a short-sleeved shirt completely covered with peacock feathers, and a striped trouser that set off his fat and strong legs, the image of the palace minister became outstanding and full of inexplicable joy.

Compared to the palace, his wife was obviously more tasteful, although no less ornate, except for a few tufts of dark green feathers on her hair ornament, her dress was more modest and maintained in the Aragonese style, which made her look steady and noble.

The tailor stood at the door of the church and looked inside, though he was very pampered, but he did not dare to make a mistake at this time, and listened to the deep and distant voice of the priest as he preached echoed through the church, and Osborne looked everywhere in the crowd.

Soon he saw the person he was looking for.

Ding Mu stood a little further back in the group of nobles, and he preferred to stand with the commoners, but Madame Neodora was obviously not happy with him doing so, so he had to stand with Madame and her husband.

He could feel it, and the eyes cast around him were a little strange, especially those noble ladies.

But it's understandable to think about it, it's strange enough to think about this combination, the husband is on the left, the wife is in the middle, and he is on the right, and the three of them still look so in love with each other.

"I know they're jealous," Lady Neodora didn't care about the fact that her husband was right next to her, and she stretched out her hand and gently took Ding Mu's arm, "haven't you even noticed the way they look at you, it's just a pack of hungry wolves." ”

You yourself are the head of this group of wolves, Ding Mu wanted to move down, but next to him was a noble lady, and he could feel that the young lady seemed to be willing to lean over by himself.

"Monsieur Zioni," said Madame Neodora, who turned her head to look at her husband, and received a courteous nod in reply before she continued, "I have just received a copy of the creed from a bookseller, which is said to belong to Roman times, but we know nothing about it, so if you have time, you can come to my house and help us appreciate it." ”

Is it to appreciate the creed or to appreciate you, Ding Mu is not without malice in his heart, he really admires Mr. Zioni a little, why not be a great gardener with such a broad mind, that can make green spread all over the earth to benefit more people?

"I've heard that a priest can become a bishop after the conference of the bishopric, right?"

Lady Neodora suddenly asked in a lower voice, her lips almost touching Ding Mu's earlobe, which made the eyes cast around her even hotter, but Ding Mu admitted that the topic was not only much more normal, but also worth discussing.

"Madam, I'm just a caretaker of the library," said this, and as soon as Madame Neodora looked disappointed, Ding Mu had already continued, "but I have heard some news, and it seems that the bishops' conference has some objections to the succession of priests to the bishop of Palermo. ”

Madame Neodora was surprised, she looked at the backs of the bishops who had just arrived from all over Sicily, and asked in a lower voice: "Then do you hear of anyone else who has a chance to become bishop of Palermo?" As he spoke, Madame squeezed forward again, and Ding Muli felt a rolling mountain begin to rise at his side, "You know that the creed is very important to Monsieur Zioni, and if you are willing to wait until the end of the Mass, we will go and see it." ”

Ding Mu coughed slightly to remind Lady Neodora, but he didn't expect it to work, but to his surprise, Madame actually gave way to the side, and then he saw the tailor squeezing to the other side of him.

It's a strange four people, this is embarrassing, Ding Mu feels a little embarrassed.

"I'm glad that you and Madame are in love with each other," the tailor also lowered his voice, and his eyes looked at Ding Mu differently than before, and seemed to have a little inexplicable heat, which made Ding Mu immediately think of Madame Neodora on the other side, "But I want to know if you have anything to tell me these days?" ”

A week had passed since that day of coming out of the palace dungeons, and the bishops from all over Sicily had arrived, except for a few who were still on the road too far, and the eleven bishops of the Sicilian province had reached seven.

However, things seemed to have turned out differently than had been imagined, and as Timmu had told Madame Niodora, there had been a serious disagreement among the bishops who had arrived, and after a banquet the previous night, a heated argument had erupted among the bishops, the main point of which was whether Alfonso could succeed him as bishop of Palermo, or whether he could be appointed another master.

The news reached the palace that night, and Ding Mu had no doubt that there were other undercover agents in the bishop's palace besides him, but he still passed the news to the palace through several guards for the sake of Sophia.

Of course, his news was not worthless, because just as he was packing up his library, he overheard something that others might not have known about.

Several bishops wandered around the courtyard to discuss whether they could consider sending a plea to Rome asking the Pope to send from Rome a "bishop worthy of respect."

When Ding Mu spread the news, he attached a note asking to see Sophia, believing that the news was important enough.

"Let's go outside and talk."

While Alfonso's sermon was over, the tailor walked out of the church alone, he waited in the courtyard first, and when he saw Ding Mu come out, he continued to walk slowly.

"How's Sophia?" Ding Mu, who came up, opened his mouth to ask, he was actually not interested in whether Alfonso would be a bishop, especially when he found out what Orleans and Fiche seemed to be planning, and he felt that compared to those, whether Alfonso could wear the crown of bishop was purely a trivial matter.

"She's fine," said the tailor perfunctorily, and then paused, and said in a tone that seemed to be a negotiation or pleading, "I don't think you'd better care too much about the bohemian woman, for you may be able to talk about it if you are not suitable for her...... Anyway, you have a lot of good prospects ahead of you. ”

"You don't have to worry about this," Ding Mu said coldly, he knew what attitude to use towards this tailor, "I did this for Sophia, and you don't want me to be a person who doesn't miss old loves." ”

Osborne opened his mouth but couldn't refute it, he knew that Ding Mu was right, if Ding Mu was completely ruthless to Sophia, the tailor would have to consider whether it was worth betting on him.

"Okay, whatever you want," Osborne waved his hand helplessly, "but the palace minister wants to know, how much of the fact that you said that several bishops tried to ask the Pope to send a bishop from Rome, is Alfonso aware of this?" ”

Ding Mu shook his head, his mind in the past few days was completely focused on the book that was taken away by Ficher, although he had some vague impressions in his heart, but after all, he still couldn't completely sort out some clues just by memory, so he soaked with Michelangelo these days, and studied the architectural history of the ancient city of Palermo with him.

Seeing that Ding Mu seemed to be absent-minded, Osborne thought that he was thinking about Sophia, although he didn't think so, he couldn't say anything, so he could only continue: "Originally, the palace minister thought that the resistance would come from Messina," Seeing Ding Mu's questioning eyes, the tailor explained, "The Bishop of Messina has been coveting the position of Archbishop of Sicily, but according to the regulations, if he can't become the Bishop of Palermo, he won't have the opportunity to become the Archbishop." ”

"The previous Bishop of Malejo was not an archbishop either." Ding Mu was a little strange.

"Malejo, his reputation is so stinky," Osborne pouted disdainfully, "even the Pope does not want to smell him, though the Pope himself tastes about it." ”

Ding Mu coughed lightly and selectively ignored the obvious disrespect for the Pope in the tailor's words, although he thought he knew better than the Pope's bastard children about what kind of person Pope Alexander VI was today, but now was not the time to say this.

"The Lord wants to know what the priest has planned, or what he has already started," Osborne lowered his voice, "You probably don't know, although the priest and the wife of the palace minister are both from the famous families of Aragon, they are closer to the nobles of Castile. ”

The tailor's words made Ding Mu stunned, he didn't know why Osborne told him this, but he thought that the tailor wouldn't say anything casually.

Seeing Ding Muruo's slight nod of understanding, the tailor put a smile on his face that seemed to be pleased and flattering, and then he looked at the door of the church, pondering that the time was almost up, and continued: "The palace minister wants to know which bishops are opposed to the priest's successor bishop, and wants to know who wants to be appointed by Rome, if you can talk to the more important people among them, maybe the matter will have a satisfactory result for everyone, so before the palace minister returns to Palermo, if you can complete this matter, He'll consider letting you see your wife. ”

Speaking of this, Osborne licked his lips, and saw that Ding Mu was listening very carefully, so he tilted his shoulders slightly and said helplessly: "If I advise you not to take risks for a bohemian woman, you probably won't listen to me, but I warn you to be careful, the priest is a very powerful person." Believe me, even the cardinals in Rome may not be more scheming than him, so you should be careful. ”

"I know this," looking at the crowd that had gradually come out of the church gate, Ding Muluo waved his hand to say hello, "take care of Sophia for me, tell her to wait for me, and I will rescue her." ”

It's not hard to figure out who is strongly opposed to Alfonso, but it's not easy to get Osborne to meet them.

Every bishop is the focus of attention, especially at a time when the Archbishop of Sicily is hanging in the throne, and whoever becomes the Bishop of Palermo is likely to have the opportunity to enter the Archbishopric's throne.

And once you can become an archbishop, as long as you live long enough, cardinals and even cardinals may not be without opportunities.

In the face of such a good opportunity, each bishop not only exerted his own strength, but also his subordinates were also highly motivated and energetic, and did not hesitate to fight their opponents.

A carriage slowly climbed up from the bottom of the mountain, and Ding Mu habitually gave way to the side, but he didn't expect the carriage to stop beside him.

"What a coincidence, Treasurer," Kunto's suspected brother Krian nodded to Ding Mu as he sat in the carriage.

"Mr. Clarion," Ding Mu also nodded slightly, and he looked at the carriage full of goods, "It seems that the bishopric meeting has made you a lot of money." ”

"It's all God's grace," said Cleion, drawing a cross on his chest, and then went on with a smile, "and it depends on the care of the priest, and of course it would be better if you would say a few more kind words for me in the presence of the priest, treasurer." ”

"Well said." Ding Mu deliberately straightened his chest, revealing a posture of taking care of everything.

However, after watching Krion's carriage enter the east hall of the church through the side door, Ding Mu's face slowly sank.

I don't know if it's an illusion, Ding Mu feels that this Krion is not only much more difficult to deal with than Kunto, but his completely ordinary appearance also makes Ding Mu feel uneasy, as if there is always something hidden.

In the end, the palace minister was unable to meet with a certain bishop.

Not only that, but that night, something happened that surprised everyone.

The former Bishop of Palermo, Malecgio, who was under house arrest in the Château de Monreale, not far from the cathedral, suddenly disappeared for no apparent reason.

This incident shook Palermo!

Although it was deliberately covered up in order to prevent rumors and sweepers, the news of the disappearance of the former bishop spread throughout the city like wings.

All of a sudden, rumours began to circulate in the streets, and more and more bizarre rumors became the only topic of conversation among Palermons.

In a low, messy house not far from the Palermo Cathedral, a man with sloppy hair tickles and sits under a broken awning and basks in the sun.

When he saw someone coming, he would hide for a while, and then when he saw that it was not a soldier or a priest, he would sit down lazily.

"What's going on, what's going on on the street?"

Looking at the people coming and going in a hurry, the old man asked in the room behind him in confusion.

A woman came out of the house, and she looked at the man angrily: "You still drink on Sundays, and if you get caught, you will have to go to the station cage to suffer, you think this is a country place like Kalibo." ”

"What's there to be afraid of, don't talk about the smell of wine, the fishy smell on my body is enough to make people smell enough, don't you just like the smell on my body."

Jonini laughed and looked the woman up and down, then he reached out and screwed it on the face of the pretending annoyed woman.

But when he was about to continue to tease the woman, Giannini suddenly stopped, he frowned and looked into the distance and muttered: "I don't know anyone in Palermo, but how did I see an acquaintance just now?" ”