From the outside of the city, the Great Gates of Rome are not visible.

This is not because something is blocking the view, but because the gate is simply too "big".

Or rather, it's just a huge gap in the entire city wall that has been directly chiseled away.

Except for the Romanesque columns that symbolically stand at both ends of the city wall, which are not visible to each other at all, this gap in the entire city wall is completely missing, which looks a little strange when you look at it.

The reason why there is such a strange gate is because the city wall during the Roman Empire was indeed demolished artificially.

The rise of the Goths was a nightmare for the Romans, who waged war after war against Rome as they went from the beginning of a little encroachment to the final end of one of the most glorious empires in ancient Europe.

The Great City Gate was forcibly dismantled by the Goths after another Roman defeat in one of these wars.

But the Romans have always been proud, and this pride has continued from ancient times to the present day, from the Romans to the Goths, who later became conquerors, who would proudly claim to others to be "Romans".

It is not surprising that Rome is the greatest and most magnificent city in Europe, and Rome carries not only a long and impressive history, but also the soul of the entire Christian world in Europe.

It's just that Joanna, Queen of Naples, apparently doesn't feel these innumerable exclamations, or she doesn't care to express her feelings about a city made of stones, and she is always nervous and even apprehensive after entering the French-occupied territory.

Joanna's uneasiness was not because she was worried that the French would be against her, but she knew very well that once she had passed the place where the two armies were in confrontation, she would be much safer even though she was in the occupied zone of the French, after all, the French would not dare to openly disadvantage her, the queen of Naples.

She was worried about those who had assassinated Cardinal Monteiro's emissary.

She wondered if these people were spying on her, or if they were plotting to assassinate her?

Joanna was terrified at the thought of this, so she had Alexander called to her carriage and whispered to him to be careful.

Alexander was a little helpless, of course he knew that there was no such thing as a conspirator trying to assassinate the queen, because he was the one who killed the cardinals' emissaries.

Although he did feel a little guilty when he killed them, he didn't know them, and he only did it so that he could have an excuse to enter Rome, but he still kept remembering the terrified faces of those people before they were killed.

No one is innocent and innocent, including me.

Alexander whispered to himself, and when he inadvertently raised his head, he couldn't help but be slightly startled when he saw a statue standing under the wall of the Great City Gate that he was about to pass by.

The statue knelt humiliatingly on the ground, its arms were wrapped in chains carved by skilled craftsmen, its face was full of pain, its mouth wide open as if it was about to accuse something, and the expression frozen in stone at that moment made people feel a kind of suppressed oppression.

"The sins of the Romans," Joanna said, as if sensing Alexander's stunned expression, poked her head out of the carriage to look at the statue, explaining "that it was a crime committed to punish the Romans in the first place." ”

Alexander nodded silently, of course he knew the statue, even though it was already half missing from the last time he saw it.

A group of Frenchmen passed by, and Alexander couldn't help but look at them.

Seeing the flag of the king of Naples, many soldiers were at a loss in their eyes, it was obvious that they did not know this flag that belonged to their enemy at all, after all, for the vast majority of soldiers, those complicated and troublesome family coats of arms were too far away from them, in fact, in addition to those special heraldic officers, even the nobles often couldn't tell who was who in the various coats of arms.

Another group of French people came coming, but this time Alexander vaguely noticed the difference, he looked at the other party, looking at the Frenchman walking in front of him, who was not tall but very strong, Alexander couldn't help but gently touch the hilt of the sword at his waist.

The queen, who was also aware of the abnormality, immediately retracted her head back into the car, and then looked nervously again.

Not far from Alexander, the Frenchman raised his hand to signal the procession to stop, and then he led his horse forward and walked slowly.

"In the name of the King of the French, stop!"

The Frenchman had a loud voice, and when he shouted loudly, it seemed that his voice could be heard by the whole street

"I am the Knight of Franry, the entourage of His Majesty King Charles," the Frenchman continued, proclaiming loudly, "I ask you, in the name of His Majesty Charles, to lower that flag at once, which is a provocation to the Kings of France and Naples, and absolutely inadmissible." ”

Alexander looked back slightly at the queen's carriage, he knew that Joanna must be staring at this side at this time, and just as he wondered if the queen was trembling and trembling, the carriage door suddenly opened.

Joanna unexpectedly stepped out of the carriage.

Alexander noticed that the Queen of Naples' face was flushed, perhaps the double blow of anger and humiliation had finally overcome fear, and in the company of the attendants, Joanna desperately passed through the front of the retinue and came to the front of the line.

"I'm Joanna of Naples, are you going to threaten the queen of Naples?"

Joanna questioned the Frenchman loudly, and she stared at the man angrily, her body trembling slightly with anger made her look not only more majestic because of the anger, but rather a little pitiful.

It's just that she fell into Alexander's eyes like this, but it was another impression.

An arrogant and stupid woman.

The thought crossed Alexander's mind that he had never had a good impression of the queen, of course because the woman was too arrogant, but even more because he thought the woman was too greedy.

The Frenchman seemed a little surprised by Joanna's sudden appearance, his short neck slightly straightened to the middle, and a pair of eyes fixed on Joanna, and then he slowly bowed his head and saluted.

"I apologize to you for offending you, but as an official of the King of France, I must uphold the majesty of my sovereign, and if you insist on holding this banner, I can only be rude for my king."

The Frenchman, who called himself the Knight of Franry, raised his hand, and with his movements, the French soldiers behind him quickly spread out from the middle of the street to both sides.

"Protect the Queen!"

Alexander shouted loudly, and the Agri soldiers around him immediately rushed forward, while Carlo protected the pale Joanna and retreated to the back of the group.

The crowd, who had been watching the excitement from afar, immediately panicked.

As the center of Europe, Rome was never short of intrigue and murder while it was also infinitely splendid.

So those people don't have the slightest suspicion that there will be a street massacre next.

Alexander's gaze quickly swept over the men opposite, and then he was sure that they were not carrying firearms.

Because of their bulkiness and inconvenience, firearms were far less popular at this time than swords or even crossbows, especially in the cities, where conflicts often occurred suddenly, and there was no time to light the arquebus, so people preferred to carry swords or short swords.

Alexander pondered in his heart, of course, he did not want to expose his cards just for the sake of the conflict in front of him, for him, the short muskets that the Agri carried with him were his real trustworthy reliance.

As for the royal banner of Naples, he never expected such a coat of arms to be his shield.

Alexander's hand rested on the hilt of his sword, and he knew it wasn't time for him to draw it, and he stared at the Frenchman opposite, wondering if he needed to make a hole in the Frenchman if necessary.

"Hey, stop!"

A young voice suddenly came from a nearby alley, and as two young men on horseback rushed to the middle of the two teams of people facing each other, everyone's eyes couldn't help but cast their eyes on the two uninvited guests.

It was a pair of gorgeously dressed and equally young and beautiful young men, both dressed in the most popular coats in Rome and Florence today, with smooth tassels and dazzling colors, paired with the same intricately patterned vests worn by the knights' crotch mounts, making them look even more fashionable.

But despite this, the difference can still be seen in their small movements.

Alexander had already recognized one of the two young men as the young nobleman of the Rovere family named Clermont whom he had seen outside Rome, and the young man who followed him was a stranger.

The young man circled back and forth in the open space between the two sides of the confrontation with his mount, and when he had separated the two sides of the tension in this way, he turned his horse's head and came to the Neapolitan ranks, jumped off his horse with a sharp leap of his horse, then took off his broad-brimmed hat with a large white swan feather on his head, and knelt down on one knee towards Joanna's carriage.

"Forgive me for not being able to meet you in time, your honorable majesty," exclaimed the young man, his voice was very loud, unlike that of the Frenchman named Franry, whose voice was loud but not unpleasant, and which sounded very peculiar to a certain local tone, "My name is Constantine della Roverre, and your majesty, allow me to show you the way." ”

The young man raised his head after speaking, and his gaze passed over the tight line of guards in front of him, and fell on the faintly visible carriage behind, and his gaze was so hot that it was clear that it was a pair of eyes that were clearly caught in the whirlpool of love.

When the young man came to his house, the eyes of many people immediately became hot, especially the Frenchman, who, when he heard the name, as if to hear his next words carefully, straightened his short neck to the center again, and then he walked towards the young man.

"The man of Ravelle's house should not be here," said the Frenchman in a low voice, "the king and the bishop of Genoa are the closest friends, and you must know this in detail. ”

"Of course I know, just as I often dine with His Majesty the Bishop."

The young man inadvertently uttered something that stunned the Frenchman.

The knight looked at the young man with some hesitation, and then suddenly remembered something and asked, "My lord, may I ask if you have ever participated in a knight's competition in Loire?" ”

"Not only did I take part in the races, but I got enough trophies there," replied the young man with a smile, and his voice was loud, of course, so that Joanna in the carriage might hear him, and then he put his sheathed sword on the ground and said to the Frenchman, "Although the Bishop has a great friendship with the King, I will use my sword to protect the dignity of the lady whom I have sworn to protect." ”

The Frenchman's face was bruised, and he still seemed to want to hold on to the way and refuse to get out of the way, but looking at this young man named Constantine de la Rovere, it seemed that he could not muster up the courage.

"My lord, I must say that your actions will make it difficult for the Bishop."

At last the Frenchman gave up his last efforts, and he bowed to the young man, then to Joanna's carriage, and then turned without looking back through the procession behind him, and led his men down the street into the distance.

Joanna had already gotten out of the carriage again, and she stood in front of the carriage and looked at the young man in front of the line, and couldn't help but show a curious look.

"Where did this male peacock come from?" Carlo muttered in annoyance, he had been ready to fight the Frenchmen, but the sudden appearance of this young man had ruined his plans.

"Are you asking who he is?"

Alexander asked, smiling lightly at the back of the young man who was slowly walking through the line to Joanna and then kneeling down again.

"If I'm not mistaken, Constantin della Rovere is supposed to be the son of Giuliano della Roverre, Archbishop of Genoa."

Seeing Carlo's mouth open in astonishment, and then closed silently, Alexander played with the hilt of his sword, which had been sheathed, and whispered: "There is nothing particularly unusual about this, compared with the venerable Pope now, the Archbishop of Genoa is a model of piety and poverty." ”

Carlo's mouth opened again, he obviously didn't expect Alexander to dare to publicly attack the Pope so brazenly.

Then his face turned pale, and he noticed that the young nobleman named Constantine della Rovere seemed to have heard Alexander's words.

He glanced back as he stood up.

Then Carlo saw that he looked at Alexander with the same smile in his eyes.