"My dear friend, you may not imagine what I have been through," said Camus, sitting in the drawing-room, even though it was the beginning of August, Camus still asked the servant to drape a blanket over his lap, "If it were anyone else, probably no one else would have seen you again by this time, or that he had already gone to see God by this time." ”

The old man had no confidence in his voice, and his voice sounded a little indistinct, so Count Mordillo had to sit closer to Camus, and leaned forward to listen to him.

Then the Count nodded to the Archon, raised his voice slightly and said to him, "I really can't imagine it, for at first I even heard that you were thrown into prison. ”

Modillo's words did not make Camus angry, but laughed, a bit like a naughty child.

"Oh, you're right, and it's actually worse than you say, they have prepared a special gallows, according to the palace minister at the time, because I am the head of the rebels, I am entitled to a special gallows for myself, you know, the gallows is very high."

Camus said with some difficulty raising his hand and gesturing to a corner of the room, only then did Count Mordillo notice a model of a gallows on the floor in the corner of the room.

"I had people pick it up from the ruins of the dismantled gallows, and the craftsman who made it was the one who prepared the real gallows for me."

Even Mordillo couldn't help but be stunned by Camus's somewhat strange behavior, and Camusi seemed to enjoy the surprise of others, and he immediately laughed again.

It wasn't until he gasped, perhaps from laughing a little too much, that Camusi reluctantly stopped, beckoned to Modillo to hold him, and then slowly walked towards the gallows model.

The two men stood in front of the "gallows", looking at the noose ring hanging from the scale, and after a moment of silence Camus looked back at Modillo, his cloudy eyes looked a little dazed, but he was very clear and whispered: "Okay, tell me why you suddenly came to Sicily." ”

Mordillo helped Camus to his seat, and the Count of Naples at this time did not have the slightest hint of cynicism or arrogance, his demeanor was very respectful, and there was a humility rarely seen in him.

"I'm here to get your help, and I know you're the only one who can help me in Sicily."

Camusi did not respond to Modillo immediately, his eyes seemed to be looking for something in the room, and after a while he groped his way to the table and reached out to stroke a candlestick that looked to be many years old.

The ruling was obviously in a bad sight, but he seemed familiar with the wax table, so his hand avoided the sharp pins on the wax lamp tray that held the candles in place, and finally his hand stroked the blurred handwriting engraved on the bottom of the pedestal.

Modillo didn't look at the handwriting, but he knew the origin of the candlestick, so he knew that it was inscribed with a line of French: "I have nothing to fear, for God is with me."

"It is said that this is the candlestick that accompanied the chaste saint for the last night," Camusi looked back at Modillo "Some people say that the British deliberately put this terrible weapon within her reach at that time, just to tempt her to choose suicide for fear of being burned at the stake the next day, so that she could justifiably declare herself a witch, but the British were obviously wrong, and the brave woman chose to face the cruel burning at the stake to prove her innocence, It is said that she cried out the name of Jesus Christ six times in a row during her execution, and each time the flame diminished with her cry, forcing the executioners to add firewood to the extinguished fire six times, which frightened even the executioners, who felt that they were persecuting a saint who had performed a miracle before he died. ”

"Joan of Arc."

Count Mordilo whispered.

Of course, he knew of this legendary woman, who was first regarded as a bewitch by the British, and then by the French as a saint.

And because Camus had participated in the century-old war between Britain and France, he obviously had more fierce reverence and even worship for the legendary heroine who could be said to have saved France.

"You know, when I first got this candlestick, I was almost penniless, after all, I was still young, the war was over, but I didn't get any loot on the battlefield, but when I learned the origin of this candlestick, I bought it with all my savings." Camusi smiled strangely at Mordillo as he spoke, his eyes, which were almost blind due to cataracts, moved dazedly, and as his eyeballs rolled, his drooping eyelids also agitated, "Many people think that I bought this thing because I thought it could be regarded as the last relic of the saint, but do you know why I bought it?" ”

"You just want to collect a murder weapon that almost tempted the saint to commit suicide." Modillo looked at the pins on the candlesticks that were so sharpened that they could easily pierce a person's throat and heart, even after decades.

From those smooth and sharp pins, Modillo believes that this candle holder must have been taken care of regularly over the years.

"Hehehe......"

Camusi's laughter rang out in the room, and he beckoned Mordillo again to help him back to his chair and sit down.

"Let's imagine if Joan of Arc had committed suicide with this candlestick the night before, fearing the cruelty of the stake," Camusi stabbed her throat with her hands, "would they have cleared her name and cleared her name, even if the French were victorious?" Would she still be seen as a martyr and not a witch? If so, wouldn't everything she had done before become meaningless? ”

"Maybe not," said Modillo, shrugging indifferently, "but perhaps the French will still be desperate to build up her image, and even the stories about her are debatable whether they really happened now, but the French still choose to see her as a saint who is favored by God, is it really that special that she was once and what she was all about?" ”

Listening quietly to the Count's words, Camus did not argue with Mordillo on this matter, his cloudy eyes swept roughly in the direction of Modillo, and then said to the vague and flickering shadow in front of him: "I will leave this candlestick, just to remind myself at any time that even heroes can make wrong choices because of a moment of confusion and despair, just like when we quelled the riots of the bloody night, we were not able to take advantage of the situation to develop our advantages beyond Palermo, we were too cautious and too self-righteous, We thought that we could follow orders as long as we had the rest of Palermo, but we were obviously wrong, and immediately after the arrival of the new minister, we declared that our noble council was not only illegal, but even an anti-king organization composed of a group of rebels, and many people were punished, some of them were exiled, many people were implicated, and you know, at that time, including me, the court appointed by the palace minister had decided to sentence 27 people, each of whom had been a prominent figure on the island, Also used to be the most powerful man in Sicily, and my name is in the second. ”

"Oh?" Although he had already heard about it, Modillo still asked, "Who is the first one?" ”

"You know." Camus smiled slightly.

"Alexander." Modillo whispered his name.

"That's right, Alexandre Giulian Cambrai, the lighthouse keeper of Sicily, is said to be the real mastermind behind the Bloody Night, and even the real culprit behind the death of the Sicilian Bishop Alfonso in Rome," Camury paused to look at the still vague figure of Mordillo, "and he's your nephew." ”

"You already know everything?" Modillo asked in a low voice.

"I don't know some things yet, but I can guess that this is one of your plans," Camury said in a somewhat exclamatory tone, "that young man strikes me incredible, but I still remember how many years ago you spoke to me about your great dreams, when you were almost a child, almost as old as that Alexander, but you surprised me then, and even now I have to admit that you are the most ambitious and patient man I have ever met. At that time, you said that you hoped I could help you, but at that time, I never imagined that you would spend so many years doing all kinds of preparations, you are such an unbelievable person. ”

Listening to Camus's praise, Modillo did not show a smug look, he shook his head disapprerovingly, and then his eyes flickered, and he leaned forward slightly to approach Camus.

"Archon, I'm actually more interested in the fact that you not only escaped punishment in the end, but even regained the trust of the new courtier, and even more incredibly later, you even restored the Council of Nobles, although you did not rule the island as you did after the bloody night, but what you did was enough to feel like a miracle," Mordillo looked at Camus's face seriously from a very close distance, "Can you tell me how you did it?" ”

The old archon let out a muffled laugh that sounded like a mischievous child rejoicing in his prank, or an attempt to dodge questions they would not answer.

"Tell me, Archon, what made you regain all this?" Mordillo's eyes sharpened, and he reached out and pressed his hand on Camus's shoulder, and the increasing force made the old man begin to moan from the discomfort.

"Well, I'll tell you." Camusi finally couldn't bear Modillo's persecution, he gasped slightly and leaned back in his chair, his eyes looked at Modillo in front of him with a little blank eyes, "I revealed those friends of yours to Ferdinand through his connections in Zaragoza, he was very interested in them, and I promised the king that I would be loyal to him, you know that this is actually a very normal thing, Sicily has always been loyal to the Kingdom of Aragon." ”

Modillo listened calmly, even when he heard that Camuri had betrayed to Ferdinand all the people he had worked so hard to arrange in Castile, he did not show an angry look until he saw that Camus seemed to have finished speaking, and then he slowly nodded and sat back in his chair.

"So Ferdinand started reusing you after a purge in Castile?" Modillo looked at Camus, and when he saw the consul waving his hand casually, he let out a cold sneer, "I don't know very well what happened in Castile recently, you must know that they always seem very closed, now please tell me what happened." ”

"They found out about the Brotherhood and thought it was heresy, they went around hunting heretics and witches, and in order to judge those people they held a special Inquisition, which they called the Inquisition," Camus said, slapping the blanket on the arm of the chair as if there was something dirty on it, "They killed a lot of people and punished many more, but they obviously didn't think that this Inquisition was a terrible start, and many people began to bite other people indiscriminately in order to survive, Others tried to mitigate their own guilt in this way, so in the past two years, Ferdinand found that the heresy he wanted to catch had not decreased, but rather increased, but it was actually a good thing for him. Interestingly, not long ago, he discovered that the minister he once trusted was also involved in a case of heresy, and for this he had to recall the minister back to Aragorn. ”

"That's a good thing," Modillo nodded thoughtfully, he was well aware of a lot of what was happening in the Iberian Peninsula, and that was why when Camuri told him that Ferdinand was in the Confederacy of Castile and Aragon was in a hurry to catch the witches, Modilo had almost understood Ferdinand's purpose in doing so.

Perhaps the one he had left behind in Castile and the one he had secretly joined would not allow those two kings, but Ferdinand's fanfare was actually for another purpose.

"And you've regained the king's favor by uncovering a conspiracy hidden within the kingdom?" Modillo asked Camus quietly.

Camus seemed to say something, but first he moved and tilted his head as if to listen to something, and then let out that naughty whisper.

Modillo's expression darkened, and he heard heavy footsteps coming from far and near outside the room.

"In fact, I have regained the king's trust by discovering and exposing a conspiracy in Sicily," said Camuse, leaning over in the direction of Modillo, "Welcome to Sicily, Count. ”