January 4, 1502 AD, was a heavy day for the Kingdom of Castile.

Queen Isabella A Sodebe de Astamara of Castile fell into a dying life on this day.

The Queen's personal chaplain, Thomas Tongomada, and the Archbishop of Castile, who had arrived from Toledo, performed a short slumber prayer for the Queen.

This early ritual, which has long been abandoned in many parts of Europe, was actually a supplementary ritual to prevent the sick from missing the dying ritual of repentance due to a coma.

This ritual has been interpreted by the Church as unnecessary many years ago, because according to the Church's later interpretation of various holy rites, as long as the priest is present, even if the deceased is unable to confess in person because he is in a coma, he is still considered to have been redeemed through the messenger of God.

However, at Isabella's own request, Tongomada and the archbishop still prayed for her in a deep sleep.

The door to the Queen's bedroom, which had been closed, had been opened, as had all the doors in the living palace.

The nobles who were eligible to enter the living palace were already waiting in the rooms and corridors outside the bedrooms, while the large numbers of nobles who were not of enough status had to wait in the courtyard for news.

The Queen's husband, King Ferdinand of Aragon, had changed into a black robe at the suggestion of the archbishop and the court governor, and although there were a few patterns on the robe, the people had realized that something terrible was inevitable when they saw the deep color.

When Ferdinand entered the living room, he saw Gonzalo standing in a window of the outside room, and unlike in the past, when he always shone like a dazzling sun, Gonzalo was also dressed in simple clothes.

Standing in front of the window and looking out at the withering garden in winter, Gonzalo looked calm and deep.

Ferdinand did not greet Gonzalo, but walked through the long room to the bedroom door under the attention and whispers of the people, and after the Queen's valet came out and reported to him in a low voice, Ferdinand also whispered a word, and then quietly went inside.

Gonzalo, who had been looking out the window, turned his head to look at the bedroom door, but he still didn't say anything, and he didn't pay attention to the people around him who seemed to want to say something to him, and continued to look out the window.

In the bedroom, Tongomada and the archbishop knelt on the couches on either side of the queen's bed, Tongomada leaned forward and put his ear to the queen's mouth to listen carefully, while the archbishop gently wiped the queen's hands with his hands dipped in the holy water in a basin held by a priest next to him.

Seeing that Tomgo Motor nodded slightly from time to time as if he had heard something, Ferdinand frowned secretly, but he knew that it was not appropriate not to say anything at this time, but he was also thinking about how to prevent Tang Gomada from using his privilege as a private priest to falsely spread Isabella's will.

The ladies and servants standing in the room tried to suppress their grief, and some of them gagged at once with a soft cry, and the room was very quiet, except for the Queen's sometimes muttered mutters that could not be discerned at all.

Ferdinand waited patiently, the expression on his face very calm, except for the clothes on his body, which portended the terrible moment to come.

In fact, Ferdinand's mood was not at all calm at that time, and the bad news from Sicily in the morning completely shocked him.

The crushing defeat of 6,000 Aragonese expeditionary forces in Sicily became the greatest military disaster since Ferdinand's accession to the throne.

He had never suffered such a crushing defeat in the War for the Castilian Throne with the Portuguese, the subsequent campaign to expel the Moors, or even the war for Italian power.

With 6,000 expeditionary forces falling to Sicily and one of his most trusted generals, Count de Sanciud, missing from the battlefield, Aragon's position in Sicily was shaky, and the only thing he could hope for was the timely return of the Aragonese fleet and the blockade of the coalition forces remaining in Sicily.

In fact, even if Sicily was blockaded, the huge losses caused by this battle could not be recovered in a short period of time, and at least Aragon would not be able to send an expeditionary force to Sicily again in the short term.

So at this time, Ferdinand was far less calm and calm than he seemed on the surface, and he had to face the inevitable chaos that would come with Isabella's death.

Thomas Tongoma finally straightened up, he drew a cross on his chest and looked at the archbishop across the bed, and when he saw the archbishop nodding silently, he stood up and walked around the bed to Ferdinand and whispered: "Your Majesty, we are ready to make a deathbed confession for Her Majesty, if you have anything else, please tell Your Majesty now, and then we will wait quietly for the moment when the Queen will be called." ”

Ferdinand nodded, he didn't want to clash with Tongomada at this time, he walked to the bed and looked at his wife, who had fallen into a complete coma, and at this moment, an unconcealable grief suddenly welled up in his heart.

Ferdinand quickly gagged his mouth with his hand, and after slowing down the almost cries, he began to gasp for breath to suppress the great grief in his heart.

"I beg your pardon, I'm going to be alone with my wife for a while."

Tongomada and the archbishop quickly looked at the doctors on the side, and when they saw them nodding silently, they quietly walked towards the other room.

Ferdinand knelt down beside the bed, he took Isabella's thin hand and rubbed it gently on his cheek, at this moment he was just a husband whose wife was about to leave forever, looking at the face that had been with him for most of his life, Ferdinand finally couldn't suppress the pain in his heart, and let out a low cry.

From the afternoon of January 4, Queen Isabella fell into a complete coma, and the doctors used various methods, some of which were even cruel and bloody, but these efforts failed to wake her from the coma, which allowed the doctors to finally determine that the queen had truly reached the last moment of her life.

By this time, it was already known that the misfortune that had been feared was coming, and many people could not help but worry as they waited for the queen's final news.

Although Juana had heard the news and was now not far from Barriariddod, it was known that with Isabella's death, Castile would inevitably usher in chaos.

This confusion stems from the contradictions that arose after Juana inherited the throne and Ferdinand was bound to become regent of Castile, and at this time some people even thought that it was good news for Castile that perhaps the beautiful Philip was also said to be dying, otherwise there would likely be a battle for power between sons and sons.

But even so, as Maximian's only son, Philip still had the same important influence on Castile as Ferdinand in law, and whether the emperor would use this influence to meddle in Castilian affairs has become a possibility that many people have speculated.

In the evening, the wind blowing under the dark winter sky stirred up a leaf in the courtyard of the palace, and listening to the whirring wind outside the window, Gonzalo picked up a piece of meatloaf from the plate served by the laker next to him and stuffed it into his mouth.

People had been waiting for a long time, and hunger had forced many nobles to find their own way to solve the problem, but Gonzalo called a familiar court servant to bring him a meatloaf.

Seeing him standing there silently but eating the meatloaf in a big gulp, many people couldn't help frowning slightly.

Although he was expected to be a representative of the Castile aristocracy, not everyone liked him, and some nobles who were not appreciated by the queen also had a deep hatred for Gonzalo.

Several figures walked through the window through the dark garden, and Gonzalo noticed that they were all dressed in black, and even more tightly wrapped themselves in a face that he could not see clearly, and his hand holding the meatloaf could not help but pause slightly, and his mouth that was chewing stopped.

Gonzalo knew that they were the night watchmen, and according to Castilian custom for many years, when the deceased had just died, several night watchmen were needed to be arranged in the room at once, these were the servants of the church, and their task was to guard the souls of the dead from leaving the room until they were called to heaven.

This custom was inherited from the early Goths, who had conquered Europe but were also subjugated by religion brought some of their own customs over the years to Iberia, while the natives of the Iberian Peninsula preserved these customs that had long since disappeared elsewhere.

The wind was blowing outside, and the candles in the hall flickered and flickered, and suddenly, the candles on a wax stand hanging on the wall not far from Gonzalo went out with a "poof", and his surroundings immediately fell into a layer of gloom.

Gonzalo's heart shrank suddenly, as if he had a premonition, and at the same time the bleak scene seemed to foreshadow his future.

Gonzalo walked over to the wax table, picked up the flint that had been placed on it, and struck it on it a few times, and just as he was about to twist the butter-stained fire with a spark, the archbishop suddenly appeared at the door of the bedroom.

Everyone's eyes suddenly looked at the archbishop, and in this brief moment, except for the constant whistling of the wind outside the window, the room was eerily quiet.

"Isabella A Sodebe de Astamara, Queen of Castile, beloved by her subjects, pious, and high monarch of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, has been ordained."

Suddenly, a low sound rang out in the room, and then the sound was heard down the hallway, out of the palace.

Someone in the garden began to cry, and the dreaded night watchmen had made their way through the crowd.

Watching the guardians of the undead pass by them, people made way for them as if they had encountered a plague.

Gonzalo, holding a half-eaten patty in one hand and a slightly hot flint in the other, stared blankly at the bedroom door, even though someone had already passed him and was rushing towards the bedroom.

A messenger's retinue ran past him in a panic as he ran past him, and then Gonzalo seemed to come to his senses, still holding the two things in his hands, but walking towards the bedroom door.

Some of the nobles had already entered the room, and they gathered around the queen's bed, and when they saw Gonzalo walking in, they couldn't help but look at him.

It was only then that people noticed the strange thing he was holding, and it wasn't until one of his attendants carefully took it from his hand that Gonzalo seemed to come to his senses.

He fell to one knee in a circle with the nobles, and as the archbishop chanted the Rest, everyone began to whisper prayers.

The death knells of the royal palace and the cathedral rang at about the same time, and then the whole church of the Barriaridud remembered the bells.

The dull and oppressive sound of bells hung over the city of Barriaridud in the night sky, and many citizens who were also waiting for that last moment came out of their homes.

Ignoring the cold wind, they fell silently down in the street in the direction of the palace, and black flags began to be raised in some places that had already been prepared.

Queen Isabella of Castile, after ruling her kingdom for 27 years, died at the royal palace of Barriaridd at the age of 50 in 1502, just after her arrival in 1502.

According to Isabella's will, her daughter Juana would succeed her, and her husband Ferdinand would become Juana's regent.

Although this decision was something that everyone could think of, when it was announced, it still caused a small commotion.

It was noted that in Isabel's political will, she did not leave a single inheritance to her son-in-law Philip, which means that even if Philip lived well, he would only end up with the status of a prince as Juana's husband.

This also sounds reasonable, after all, Castile was obtained with the help of her cousin and husband Ferdinand, who was also a descendant of the Astamara family, and was of course more qualified to be Juana's regent.

However, despite this, people still can't help but have all kinds of associations, especially some long-term vision, when they think that Juana's descendants will have to inherit the two kingdoms in the future, they can't help but secretly think about the delicate situation now.

By this time it had already occurred to Maximian, with his habit of making waves, that it was apparently unlikely that he would accept that his grandson had been controlled by the Aragonese court for a long time, as this would undoubtedly greatly weaken his influence.

The result of this is that even if I hear that Philip is now about to lose his breath, Vienna will inevitably try to interfere in the affairs of Castile, not to mention that now that the French have invaded Iberia, this gives Maximian more favorable reasons and excuses.

When I think about it, it seems that the future of Castile suddenly becomes uncertain, which makes the aristocrats who are now already thinking about the "post-Isabella" situation worry.

And the arrival of Juana brought this concern to a peak.

Juana arrived much later than one might think, and the reason why she arrived late was because she brought Philip with her.

When they saw Philip being carried down from the carriage, many people couldn't help but be stunned, they never thought that Juana would actually come back with Philip who only had one breath left, looking at the body lying on a door panel covered with a thick blanket, many people couldn't help but flash the nickname "Crazy Juana" that has been circulating only in secret.

When Ferdinand saw Juana, he was also seeing Philip who had been brought in with him, which made him immediately frown, whether as a king or a father, he could not tolerate Juana's behavior, but looking at Juana's eyes that seemed to be completely distracted, Ferdinand began to worry that if he provoked her too much, he might make her do something out of the ordinary.

In desperation, Ferdinand had no choice but to promise Juana that he would take good care of Philip, and that she must calm down as soon as possible.

"Your mother is still in this room, and you're going to have a good look at her, so be sensible for God's sake." Ferdinand sighed as he suddenly felt that the problems he was facing were almost crushing him, and even after Isabella had just taken her last breath, he was already feeling the pressure from all around him.

As for Emperor Maximian, at this time he didn't care about thinking about how to deal with his in-laws.

Juana looked very well-behaved this time, she cautiously walked into the room, and when she saw her mother, who had changed into a gorgeous robe and was lying peacefully on the bed, she seemed to twist her neck curiously at first, and then slowly walked to the bed and knelt down.

"Your mother wants you to inherit her throne," whispered Ferdinand, who stood behind Juana, "she has bequeathed to you the most precious thing of her life, and it is your duty to fulfill all your obligations as queen." ”

"But," Juana finally spoke, her eyes fixed on Isabella's lifeless and unfamiliar face, and then looked back at Ferdinand with some hesitation, "I don't want to be a queen, I just want to be by Philip's side, with him I have everything." ”

Ferdinand's cheeks twitched, and an unquenchable anger welled up in his eyes, and the hardware in his eyes turned stern and gloomy as he watched Juana.

"Or let Philip be king, and I'll be his queen only."

Juana blurted out as if she had figured out something, and everyone in the room who heard her could not help but change their faces in an instant.

Ferdinand's face was already extremely ugly, and his anger made him reach out and grab Juana's wrist tightly, and asked sternly in a low voice: "Who made you say this, is it Philip, is it he who made you say such words that humiliate your mother, and even the entire Astamara family?" ”

"Of course not, I don't want you to say that about my husband!" Juana shouted, "I shouldn't have come back in the first place, he's very sick now, I'm going to go to him." ”

With that, under the stunned gaze of everyone, Juana shook off Ferdinand's hand and walked out the door desperately.

Looking at the back of Juana, who was angrily leaving the room, Ferdinand's whole body was cold, and at this moment he suddenly felt like a beast that had fallen into a swamp, unable to get rid of it no matter how hard he struggled, and he was about to suffocate to death as he sank deeper and deeper.

Alexander learned of Isabella's death a few days later, and the news came at the same time as the war in Sicily.

Listening to Alexander's excited reading of the Battle of Noto, Count Mordillo, who sat across from him, had a knowing smile on his face.

It wasn't until the whole battle in Sicily was told that Alexander calmly said, "Isabella is dead." ”

Count Mordillo nodded slowly, and then asked him, "Have you figured out what to do?" ”

Alexander laughed, he looked at the report on Sicily in his hand again, and then stood up and looked at the count: "I think it's time for Sister Alfurt to appear." ”