Author: Anna. Pavlojinit. Achilles

Written in the year 261 of the Sixth Age

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In the year 273 of the Tertiary Era, when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, history records that he sighed:

"The dice of fate have been rolled."

In fact, no one knew the meaning of this sentence better than Caesar.

Before his earliest priesthood, Caesar was the most senior gambler in Solomon's city. Not only in casinos, but also in Solomon's politics.

The Rubicon River, north of Solomon, was his last psychological line of defense. According to the rules of the ancient Solomon Republic, any general who crossed the Rubicon River with his troops without the permission of the Senate was considered a complete rebellion against the city of Solomon.

Crossing this river meant that he would either sweep away all the elders who dared to resist and become the supreme dictator of Dictor in the Republic of Solomon. Or become a traitor to Solomon and die a despicable death in the spurning of all people.

If he does not choose to cross the river, there is a small probability that he will be assassinated when he returns to China, and the most likely is to reach an agreement with some senators to strip him of his military power through a great triumph and become a "good dog raised by the fathers of the senators".

In the end, he chose to cross the river.

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According to a well-known saying, everyone has three or four chances to "roll the dice of fate" in their lifetime.

Each time, it will change the person's life forever.

So, while many historians don't understand why my mother chose to leave the East with a little-known mercenary regiment, I hope that at least my dear readers will understand that she was just rolling her dice.

Before the fall of Constantinople, the political situation in the imperial capital was already quite unfavorable for the mother.

A section of the aristocracy and bureaucracy believed that she was to blame for the betrayal of the Franks. There is an account that she was able to sign a treaty with the Venians alone for the extradition of the Frankish knights.

Anyone with a modicum of imperial political knowledge can see how a treaty can be followed without the nodding of two co-emperors at the same time. Nor are the Venisians fools without diplomatic common sense.

The real reason for her loss of power was the change in the attitude of the Orthodox Church.

Although the Orthodox Church did not have the same power as the papal brothers in the West, it still enjoyed high prestige in the imperial capital.

At the National Council, the Orthodox Church strangely remained silent in the face of Zoe's coup offensive, which undoubtedly sent a signal to the majority of the neutral bureaucratic aristocracy.

The Orthodox Church did not support His Majesty Theodora, which was the deadliest sword to pierce the mother.

As for the attitude of the Orthodox Church, it is rumored that when my mother first ascended the throne, in order to ask for help from the Western Holy See, she considered promising to revise the scriptures according to the meaning of Western Catholicism.

I don't think that's the real reason. Of course, His Excellency Alexei, who was in the Orthodox Church at the time, might have thought this was an affront to the Orthodox Church.

However, because of an unintentional remark that was not even put on the table, he rashly decided his attitude towards a majesty, which is not the traditional way of playing in the imperial political arena.

The main problem was that the bureaucrats, nobles and priests of Constantinople, as well as most of the loyal citizens, believed that the empire desperately needed a male emperor.

Even throughout Solomon's culture, women are synonymous with "irrationality" and "indecision."

Although the two co-ruling emperors, by virtue of the political prestige inherited from the previous emperor, His Majesty Constantine, temporarily reached a delicate balance at the level of the highest power in the empire.

However, this balance is fragile, and as soon as Her Majesty Zoe, who has already reached adulthood, chooses to marry, then the prestige and power will soon gather on her husband, because this is a male emperor in the true traditional sense.

For the mother, this is naturally the worst ending of losing ground. And for Zoe, it's not a very wonderful result, it's just that she has gone from sharing power with her sister to sharing power with her husband.

And the latter is even more difficult to cope with than the former.

Thus, the coup d'état offensive launched by Zoe at the National Congress was actually conveying an attitude to the church and the bureaucratic aristocracy:

She is reluctant to share power with anyone, whether it is her sister or her future husband.

Dear reader, if you were His Excellency Alexei of the Orthodox Church, you would have been able to see the chaos of that time.

By the time Zoe recklessly bared her fangs at the National Meeting, the delicate balance between the two Majesties had been upset.

In this case, there will only be two endings: Zoe wins, Theodora loses; Or Theodora wins, and Zoe loses.

Either way, it would be extremely detrimental to the Empire. While the Seljuks were raving the flesh of the empire in the East, the two emperors were still foolishly hostile to each other.

Therefore, this political battle must be brought to an end immediately.

If the church supports His Majesty Theodora, then Majesty Zoe will naturally be counterattacked, or even lose power immediately.

However, at that time, my mother was only 16 years old, and a minor empress who had just ascended the throne could really lead the entire empire against the steppe barbarians from the east alone?

Conversely, if Majesty Zoe is supported, then the political life of His Majesty Theodora will naturally be "ended" as a matter of course.

According to imperial tradition, the emperor whose political life was terminated was bound to be eradicated by those in power.

If, then, the Church sheltered the "former" Majesty of Theodora, who had lost power, then Majesty Zoe would soon realize another fact:

Although she won the political battle, she was not really the winner.

For His Majesty Theodora, both in the Church and among the aristocratic bureaucrats, was still so preevolent that she was utterly unable to get rid of this sister completely.

If it can't be removed, it means that one day it may make a comeback.

Therefore, in order to consolidate his power and counteract the adverse effects of the coup d'état and the remaining political prestige of His Majesty Theodora, Her Majesty Zoe can only choose to marry as soon as possible and strengthen the legitimacy of her rule through her husband.

Then the empire will once again have a male emperor.

A male emperor who was more "sensible", "decisive" and "ambitious" than a woman in the traditional sense.

This is what the church and the aristocratic bureaucracy want to see, and this is the real reason why they chose to do so.

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Perhaps some readers still do not understand the complex political logic of this, so allow me to explain the political situation in the upper echelons of the empire at that time in concise language:

As a result of Her Majesty's rash turnaround, the delicate balance between the two Majests has been upset. The church's knee-jerk reaction was to end this stupid political wrestling quickly and then re-establish the balance as quickly as possible.

Since my mother, Her Majesty Theodora, was even younger, the Church had no choice but to support Her Majesty Zoe and instead put her mother under house arrest and protection.

Once Her Majesty Zoe realizes that this desperate coup d'état will not work, she will have to resort to other means that are relatively stable, such as marriage.

So, if my mother hadn't disappeared in the convent at that time, the church would have expected her to be subjected to several dangerous political attacks, slander, and even assassination.

However, as a tool used by the Church to put pressure on Her Majesty Zoe, the Mother would be closely protected by the Church, and these assassinations would have no effect.

If necessary, she will even be released from the convent and make a brief appearance in the political arena to stimulate the nerves of Her Majesty Zoe.

Until Her Majesty Zoe gave up her attempt to take sole power and finally gave in and chose to get married.

Then power will be concentrated in the hands of her husband. In the coming years, the situation in the imperial capital will be wrestled between the empress and the new emperor, sailing dangerously like a big ship in turbulent waves.

As for my mother, the final outcome was naturally to lose all her hole cards and be completely eliminated from this game of thrones.

Everyone uses her as a bargaining chip in the game, and no one will have mercy on the end of the bargaining chips.

Therefore, in the face of this extremely unfavorable situation, her choice is to pick up the dice of fate.

Then smash the entire table over.

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History records that when my mother disappeared from the convent, the Orthodox Church immediately opened the wall of the cage of life.

This quickly led to chaos in the imperial capital, and since the walls of the Life Cage did not allow any living beings to pass through, the walls were almost completely isolated from the outside of the walls.

The church set up twenty-eight access points at the edge of the cages, allowing residents inside and outside to line up to enter and exit.

Each point is guarded by at least one eccentric demigod, and anyone who enters or leaves is spiritually swept through every cell of their body, ensuring that no hidden creature can escape the life cage.

However, my mother understood that the Church could not sustain the walls of life cages for long, because the Franks across the Golden Horn were attacking the city.

It was impossible for the imperial capital to sustain a war on both sides at the same time.

Her guess was correct. On the fourth day alone, the Church was forced to remove the walls of the cage of life in favor of a more covert method of inspection.

Many historians have all sorts of analyses and speculations about the way in which the Crimson Sword mercenaries escaped Constantinople by avoiding church searches, but I can only quote a few words here from an actual conversation with my mother.

On a cargo ship bound for the port city of Rhaedestus, a tightly wrapped box filled with a large number of books had been printed from the printing workshop in Constantinople and were about to be sent to the municipal library of La Redestus.

Because the ship is carrying so much cargo, the demigods can't scrutinize every cargo in each container (imagine if a ship is carrying dozens of tons of sesame seeds, do the demigods have to check every sesame seed?). ）。 As a result, they can only roughly scan the ship's lifeforms.

So the dice of fate rolled a good result. Empress Theodora briefly disappeared from the text of history, and a small mercenary group called the "Azure Sword" was joined by a trainee mercenary who wielded the arcane.

In the eyes of our descendants, the name "Blue Sword" has undoubtedly been heard like thunder.

However, at that time, abandoning the noble royal status and choosing to join this small mercenary group from scratch required great courage and decisiveness.

Mother has also been talking a lot about the past, about her companions, about the suspicion she had first joined, and about the long night she couldn't sleep for a long time.

Occasionally, she feels strong remorse, but more often than not, she is confused about the future, just like the thousands of people in this world who hold the dice of fate and hesitate to vote.

Fortunately, now she looks back on the past again, and finally walked out of the path she wanted.

If my mother had chosen to stay in the empire at that time, her life would have been a different story.

Whether it's good or bad, we don't know at this point.

Here I can only conclude this volume by quoting from my favorite poems by Frost:

"Two paths split out of the yellow woods,

It's a pity that I can't get involved at the same time,

I stood at that intersection for a long time,

I looked out toward a road,

Until it disappears from the depths of the forest.

But I chose a different path,

It's barren and very lonely,

appear more seductive and beautiful,

Although on these two paths,

They rarely leave the footprints of travelers,

Although the leaves fell all over the ground that morning,

Both roads are unpolluted by footprints.

Ah, leave a path and see you another day!

But I know that the path is endless,

I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to return.

Maybe somewhere in many years,

I will look back on the past with a soft sigh,

Two paths split out in a wood,

And I chose the one with fewer people,

It changed the course of my life. ”