One day in mid-April, as night began to cover the sea, a small boat slowly docked in front of the stone steps of the pier protruding into the water.

A burly figure in a thick cloak jumped ashore from the ship, and when his feet hit the ground, the man looked back at the distant sea in the night, where a large ship that had just been sent to him was afloat, and although the man on the boat did his best to make his journey as comfortable as possible, the man swore never to go to the sea again to suffer.

A carriage was already waiting on the shore, and four sturdy horses were snorting and kicking their hooves impatiently.

"Go to the cathedral." The man who had just gotten into the car immediately said to the driver.

The carriage passed through the streets in the silence of the night, startling the wild dogs that had returned to their dens, and the town was filled with barking one after another.

The man in the carriage had already closed his eyes and was napping by this time, he had indeed suffered from the bumps along the way, although it was nothing compared to his previous experience, but it was something else that made him really tired.

There was some distance from the docks to the cathedral, which gave him plenty of time to get a little bit of information, after all, he had to look energetic and even a little arrogant when he was going to appear in front of people.

Haven't you always been like this, an arrogant and domineering person who is extremely extravagant?

The corners of the man's mouth twitched as he leaned back in the chair with his eyes closed, revealing a smile that he didn't know whether it was mockery or helplessness.

Although it was late at night, the lights had already been lit in the Valencian Cathedral, and the expensive butter candles illuminated the church, and the Archbishop of Valencia, dressed in white robes, sat in his chair, looking at the bishops on the side, waiting for them to speak.

"How do we greet this duke?"

One of the bishops asked in a tentative tone, he felt that he was unlucky, that he had come to Valencia to report to the archbishop, and that if he had not coveted a woman, he would have returned to his diocese in the daytime, but now he had to stay here with the archbishop to meet the troublesome man.

The archbishop glanced at the bishops beside him, he knew that none of them really wanted to get involved in this obviously thankless task, but now he had no choice, after all, he had already received the news a few days ago that Gonzalo was going to land in Valencia, and according to the person who had returned to report earlier, the San Salvador carrying Gonzalo had docked in the port of Valencia.

The archbishop had mixed feelings about Gonzalo, who was close to the king, and knew very well that although he had given him important responsibilities and handed over the command of the Aragonese expeditionary force to him several times, Ferdinand actually did not like Gonzalo as a person, and even had a taboo against him.

The archbishop even knew very well that Ferdinand had sent Gonzalo on several expeditions to Italy, just to transfer him from Castile, after all, this man had a high reputation among the Castilian nobility, and he was a real power figure in control of the army, which was a great obstacle for Ferdinand to eradicate his opposition in Castile.

And sending him far away from Iberia to Italy, and commanding his own Aragonese army, was enough to ensure that this guy who was always in trouble would not make trouble for him.

After all, Gonzalo was Isabella's favorite courtier, and the method of burning him at the stake or throwing him to death in the inquisition on the last charge of heresy obviously didn't work for this person.

Only now Gonzalo has suddenly returned, although this is the queen's order, but it is enough for the Archbishop of Valencia to be a little scrambling.

Remembering the man's unruliness, and the fact that he was said to have publicly reprimanded the Pope, the archbishop felt that this was a bad person to deal with.

"Gonzalo de Córdoba was an important figure on whom both monarchs relied and whose heroism in the battle against the pagans and his defense of Christendom from inviolability were sufficient to give him the attention and courtesy he deserved."

The archbishop felt that it was better to be cautious, although the rumors that were circulating at the court of Zaragoza were not good for the queen's favorite, and there were even rumors that he was involved in a conspiracy against Ferdinand, and that not long ago the rebellion of Don Bavi had broken out in the south of Castile, but the archbishop thought that it was better to be careful, after all, it was a very naïve move to rashly show hostility and alienation when the situation was still unclear.

Who knows if this famous Castilian general, who has been deeply tabooed by the king, will have a chance to regain trust?

The carriage had already entered the city, and to Gonzalo's surprise, all the street lamps in the square outside the cathedral were still on, even though it was late at night.

He knew that it was obviously not the negligence of the street lamp keepers, so it must be the Valencian Cathedral that greeted him in this way.

Gonzalo smiled, but it was full of sarcasm, he was not moved by the stirring welcome, but rather saw the deep taboo that came from Zaragoza.

While still in Venice, he had already heard rumors of his involvement in the conspiracy against Ferdinand, which led the Aragonese generals to try to strip him of his command and even arrest him.

However, these plots collapsed under his heavy-handed tactics and leaving the army to face the threat of the Ottomans on its own.

The Aragonese generals knew that they would not be able to fight the Ottomans without Gonzalo, and in desperation, they had no choice but to compromise and continue to obey his command.

However, Gonzalo also knew that this was really just a stopgap measure, and the news about him in the country was becoming more and more unfavorable, which made him even secretly calculate whether to flee or not.

It's just that the trust in the queen and the concern for the family's honor make him unable to make up his mind, after all, once he flees, the reputation of the Córdoba family will be ruined, which he definitely does not want to see.

So although he was far away in Italy, Gonzalo kept a close eye on what was happening in Iberia until he heard of a rebellion in Andalusia in the south.

Gonzalo saw hope, he knew that Don Bavi was a difficult man to deal with, this old man could be called a living proof of the late Reconquista, he had participated in almost all the wars of the last decades of the Reconquista, and his rich war experience was not inferior to his own.

Gonzalo felt that there was no one better suited to be Don Bavi's opponent, and with the Venetians' successive defeats at sea, they had gradually abandoned all their colonies in the Aegean and Adriatic overseas, leaving Gonzalo's army helpless.

This made Gonzalo feel that it was indeed time to leave.

What's more, he had already made a lot of money in this war, and just a few times for his support of Crete, he received a large and staggering amount of money from the beautiful Queen Regent of Naples.

And both the Venetians, who upset him, and Taranto, who was also supported by him, paid him so generously that the bottom compartment of his ship, the San Salvador, was so full that he had to throw away a lot of ballast.

With that being the case with him nothing to be remembered in Italy, Gonzalo began to wait for an opportunity to escape from the bad place's reputation.

To his undisappointed insight, the queen's order finally came, and the day after he received the appointment to quell the rebellion in the south, Gonzalo, who had already packed his belongings and was ready to put things on board, handed over the command to the Aragonese generals, and then boarded the ship and left Buccia, Venice's last overseas port in the Adriatic.

After a few bumps, Gonzalo landed in Valencia, and the reason why he chose this place instead of Barcelona, which is closer to Zaragoza, was because he had an extra heart.

Although he believed that the queen would protect him, Gonzalo was very wary of Ferdinand.

He feared that Ferdinand would desperately try to eliminate him because of his taboo against him, and the rumors of his involvement in the plot against Ferdinand were so alarmist that Gonzalo could not help but worry that the queen might be seduced by Ferdinand.

Or it's not impossible for Ferdinand to just come and play, after all, it's still a long way from Castile.

And he chose Valencia for another reason, that is, he heard from the Queen of Naples that there was a merchant named Tiego, who seemed to be in Valencia now.

When he first discussed business with Alexander in Rome, Gonzalo didn't pay much attention to it, but later he was surprised to find that the perfume business brought him a lot of money, and starting with this perfume, rum and cane sugar from Crete made him a lot of money in his hometown in Iberia.

This almost made Gonzalo one of the richest nobles of the Iberian nobility, and the business was handled by the local merchants of Tiego.

And this is why Gonzalo spared no effort to relieve the siege of Crete, which was threatened by the Ottomans, because his own interests were deeply involved.

Gonzalo believed that since Thiego could make such a big business, he should have a lot of connections, so he decided to stop in Valencia for a while, so he could take the opportunity to inquire about the latest news.

The carriage slowly stopped in front of the cathedral, but Gonzalo slowly got out of the carriage after the archbishops who had been waiting for him to step forward and greet him.

Seeing the vague anger that the archbishop still showed in his temper as much as possible, Gonzalo's mouth was accustomed to a sneer.

He knew that these people didn't like him, and they were even more jealous of him, but it didn't matter, he believed that as long as the queen still favored him, Ferdinand would have nothing to do with him for a while.

Therefore, no matter how arrogant and domineering she is, as long as the queen believes that she is safe, and even if necessary, because only in this way can Ferdinand, who is very suspicious, reassure herself.

"Welcome, Duke, God bless our heroes, it was your feat that prevented the invasion of the infidels."

"Dear Archbishop, God's assurance has blessed me, at least not for me to die in a foreign land because of the lack of soldiers," Gonzalo stepped forward and looked with a provocative look at the clergy, who was said to be one of Ferdinand's cronies, "I have asked the king more than once to give me more troops, but his reply to me has been nothing but empty promises, and I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that it is the merit of God and myself that I have achieved the results I have achieved today, for your king has started a pitiful little army, Didn't give me the slightest bit of practical help. ”

Gonzalo ignored the stunned archbishop and walked to the church alone.

The Archbishop of Valencia stood on the steps with an ugly face, and the bishops of the dioceses next to him were also dumbfounded, they did not expect Gonzalo to say such things that would be extremely embarrassing to everyone as soon as they met.

The archbishop turned to follow Gonzalo with a gloomy face, and when he saw him respectfully kneeling down and kissing the cross on his chest before entering the church, the archbishop walked quickly up to him and held out his hand to him with suppressed anger.

Gonzalo kissed the archbishop's hand respectfully, but then he stood up impatiently, looked at the tall entrance of the church and exclaimed: "This is truly a masterpiece of God, but I promised to keep this God-favored land, and now it seems that all the people here should thank me for my kindness for the safety I have brought to them, isn't it the archbishop?" ”

The archbishop's face was indescribably ugly, and he felt that this man was even more arrogant and rude than he had been rumored, especially now that he probably knew why Queen Isabella was so desperate to summon him back, which made him even more unscrupulous.

"The king wants you to get to Zaragoza as soon as possible, and he wants to hear for himself what you have to do in Sicily."

The archbishop deliberately spoke of Sicily very seriously, and he was reminding Gonzalo not to forget that he had taken the initiative to participate in the war of the Venetians, and that it was not over.

Gonzalo picked up the archbishop's warning hint, stroked his large chin, and smiled at the archbishop.

"Then you think I should go to the king?"

"It's a courtier's obligation, isn't it?" The archbishop's face was already gloomy, and he clinged to the jewels on the cross, and said in a tone full of inquiry, "God has given the monarchs the power to rule, and this authority is inviolable, and anyone who tries to do it should be punished, don't you think, duke?" ”

"Of course, but at least the monarch should be respected, otherwise the authority could easily turn into a bluff," Gompati's merciless retort gave the archbishop a look of disbelief, but he refused to give up, but continued, "I once sent back a large amount of booty to Aragon on my first expedition to Naples, and the king had not only respect me but also enough friendship at that time, but this time he kept accusing me, I think it's just because I didn't satisfy someone's selfish desire to extract wealth from me, how could such a person of questionable character be respected by me. ”

The archbishop opened his mouth slightly, he wanted to say something, but found that he could not say it at all.

He really couldn't have imagined that Gonzalo would be so arrogant as to directly accuse Ferdinand with such unreasonable words and deeds.

"So it is impossible for me to grovel before such a king," Gonzalo glanced at the archbishop, who knew that soon his words would reach Ferdinand, but he had already decided to go directly to Valriadod, although Isabella did not directly state it in her letter, but Gonzalo still sensed the queen's anxiety between the lines, "so I will write a report on everything in Venice, but I myself have no time to delay here." ”

Gonzalo gave a perfunctory salute to the archbishop, then turned and walked towards the carriage that had stopped at the foot of the steps.

From the beginning to the end, he did not enter the Cathedral of Valencia.

Behind him, the archbishop stared at the back of the Castilian, and by this time he could not help but admit that there was a reason why the king had gone to great lengths to send him away.

Gonzalo, though arrogant, was not arrogant, and he had a keen sense that he could not stay in Aragon for long, and after meeting Tiego, his fears were confirmed.

To Gonzalo's surprise, the place where Tiego met him was actually a villa of the Duchess of Gandino, Maria de Luna, just outside Valencia.

What he didn't expect was that the duchess seemed to have some kind of inhumane relationship with Tiego.

This aroused Gonzalo's curiosity, but soon María de Luna revealed a piece of information to him that made him less inclined to inquire about the mess.

"It is clear that there are people in the court of Zaragoza who are trying to turn against you."

Maria de Luna looked at Gonzalo on the other side with a frown, of course she knew this favored retainer in front of Isabella, Gonzalo had been impressed by Gonzalo's unruliness in Rome when he faced Alexander VI, but now she looked at this man with a sense of overlook.

Strange to say, this feeling actually came from the Balearic merchant next to her, whom she had previously disdained.

It was this man who took advantage of her affair to threaten her and secretly spread bad news about Gonzalo at the court of Zaragoza.

Rumors, true and false, grew suspicious of Gonzalo at Zaragoza's court.

Because of this, Maria de Luna knew exactly how far Ferdinand had become jealous of Gonzalo, and that was exactly what Thiegor had been trying so hard to achieve.

Now, Gonzalo was in front of her, but it was such a beloved general who was favored by Isabella, but she had no idea that she had been played with by the seemingly respectful and polite businessman next to her.

Maria de Luna suddenly felt at this moment that this Balearic merchant had a charm that she could not resist, and compared to this seemingly inconspicuous man who could pry the courts of two kingdoms alive, that Pedro Caderon seemed so contrived and powerless, even if he had the audacity to murder Giovanni, it was nothing compared to this man.

This man made both monarchs his prey.

At the thought of this, Maria de Luna's heart suddenly throbbed, and she remembered that although Tiego had such a great skill, it all came from the Duke of Rome Thesia in the end.

So what kind of astonishing ambition does that person have?

It was only then that Gonzalo's words interrupted Maria de Luna's reverie.

"Then tell me your advice," Gonzalo said to Tiego, "I have decided to leave Aragon at once, but do you really think that Ferdinand will be against me?" ”

"Then why don't you just go ashore in Barcelona, or are you not at ease with Ferdinand yourself?" Tiego did not show the slightest cowardice because of Gonzalo's status, and the only thing that could make him feel awe-inspiring was the brother and sister, "Duke, Ferdinand's hostility towards you is obvious, so what you can do now is not only to leave Aragon immediately, but even if necessary, you should go directly to Andalusia instead of Valladod to meet the queen." ”

"What did you say?"

Gonzalo's eyes narrowed, and a look of danger flashed in his gaze.

"Don't worry, Duke, I'm not trying to stir up trouble between you and the Queen," Thiego waved his hand, "On the contrary, I think this is a sign of your loyalty to the Queen, you must know that Ferdinand is now trying to use this excuse to interfere with the rule of Castile under the pretext that his peace talks with the French have harmed the interests of Aragon, and for this reason even Queen Isabella cannot refuse him, so do you think it will be a big problem for the Queen if he punishes you for your unreasonableness at this time?" ”

Gonzalo's expression slowly turned grim.

He knew that Thieg's words were not impossible, at least Ferdinand's ambitions were unquestionable,

So if that really happens, even if he has always believed in the queen's favor for him, but between her husband and her favored courtiers, Gonzalo really doesn't know who Isabella will choose.

"So now the only ones who can help you are the rebels of Andalusia," Tiego smiled at Gonzalo, knowing that he had succeeded in impressing Isabella's beloved general, "As long as they exist, you are not only safe, but also irreplaceable, so your best option now is to go straight to Andalusia, which will not only benefit you, but also save the queen a lot of trouble." ”

Gonzalo's jaw seemed to tremble, and his gaze was fixed on Tiego's face for a long time, and then he asked sullenly, "Tell me, what is your purpose, I know that you are thinking so much about me and definitely not just for the little business you say, so what do you or your master want to do?" ”

Gonzalo said as his hand pressed to the hilt of his sword, and his eyes once again showed a terrifying murderous intent.

"Why?" Tiego shrugged his shoulders, looked at Gonzalo's murderous eyes, and said helplessly, "Well, I confess, it's all about a crown." ”