Normezi led Alonso Beruguete slowly down the corridor with a large box, the boy beside him was visibly nervous, so that each step looked as if it had been measured with a ruler, but rather stiff.

When they entered the palace, the guards inspected the box as usual, and saw a large number of carved but childlike wooden dolls, and smiled at the boy holding the box, although he did not know what they were doing with them, but he did not think that there was any danger.

The Castilian court adhered to a strict tradition, or a full century later, an author named Cervantes would write a book called Don Quixote, which had a lot to do with the almost different style of the Iberian Peninsula from that of continental Europe.

Iberia is conservative and nostalgic, not only in the general obsession with faith, but also in the secular world with a style that is very different from the rest of Europe of its time.

Here, both in the court and among the people, people are still stubbornly obsessed with the pursuit of pure faith and respect for ancient customs.

Knightly jousting was the most prized form of courage among the aristocracy, and the nobility, which had faded elsewhere, and the medieval devotion to the noblewoman, as well as the culture of saving the Holy Land and slaughtering the dragons, were still prevalent in Iberia, whether it was the royal court or the nobility, the commoners or the beggars, and it seemed that the whole of Iberia was always indulging in this romanticized atmosphere.

Queen Isabella was not a pleasure-seeker, and for decades she had been a king who was able to strictly restrain her desires and perform her duties as a monarch with care and dedication.

In this respect, even her enemies could not fail to admit that the queen possessed the qualities that were most needed as a king.

Tenacity, bravery, indomitable and with extraordinary judgment, once she has determined her goal, she does not care what difficulties she will encounter in the process of achieving it, which makes her unswervingly carry it through to the end, whether she is facing the oppression of her half-brother at the beginning or the setbacks when she later recovers the lost ground.

Such a resilient queen is also a staunch supporter of chivalry, and in Isabella's view, it is precisely because of all the good qualities possessed by those great knights of antiquity that they have achieved great deeds, just like the saint Cid and the earlier knights of Roland, because of their piety and bravery, finally moved God and led them to complete the miracle that those poets have passed down for a long time and are still fascinated by countless people.

Because of this, Isabella was more keen to organize knightly jousting than to feasting with good food and showing off sumptuous costumes, and because of this preference of the queen, the whole of Castile was martial and aggressive, and chivalry prevailed.

Normezi led Alonso Beruguete forward, and along the way he had already met more than one knight clad and clanging.

These knights were either golden or silver, and many of them not only completely wrapped their bodies in armor, but also tried their best to have the craftsmen inlay their armor with all kinds of patterns that they had worked so hard to design, so that when they were riding on horses or walking on the road, accompanied by the clanging sound, they were displayed with expensive art treasures that looked like a magnificent garden of activities.

Normezi was less conspicuous than these knights, wearing a soft hat with a large jeweled pendant leaning to one side, a wide coat with silver trim that covered most of his body and dragged it down to his knees, and a new mask embroidered with gold filigree obscured half of his face, making him look somewhat strange.

The Queen's line appeared in front of them, and Normezi dodged to the side, signaling Alonso next to him to bend down and salute.

Isabella wears her favorite white dress, although she is gradually entering old age, but in addition to wrinkles, her face still vaguely retains the charm of the year, and because of the majesty formed by years of being on the queen's throne, she has a unique temperament that is fascinating.

Alonso looked nervously at his toes, although he entered the palace as Normezi's chamberlain, but he had been waiting in the royal court before, and he never thought that one day he would be able to enter such a deep place, and he actually saw the queen herself.

So his hands were already trembling slightly because of his nervousness, especially when he saw a corner of his skirt appear in front of him, and actually stopped in front of them, the poor boy was already so nervous that his forehead was sweating in such cold weather.

"Earl, it seems that you also like to watch jousting?" Isabella asked Normezi, "As far as I know, Sicily seems to have very few big tournaments. ”

"Your Majesty, this is our loss," replied Normezzi as if with some pity, "you can imagine what the Neapolitan nobles like these days, and if art is still worthy of admiration, there are some things that are not so easy to say. ”

Isabella listened and looked at Normezi, she naturally knew what Normezi was referring to, in fact, when Pope Alexander VI was the Archbishop of Valencia, she had already heard of the bishop's shocking life, which is why Isabella has never had a good impression of Alexander VI, even if she has asked for this pope now, but from the bottom of her heart she doesn't want to have too much to do with Alexander VI.

It reminded her of the Duke of Rometesia from the Vatican, whom her daughter Maria had written to him the other day.

"Count, if that's what you say of your fellow Neapolitan, it's no wonder that the Duke of Rometesia doesn't like you."

"I don't like him either," Normezi replied, and then saluted Isabella again, as if out of rudeness, "Your Majesty, forgive me for commenting on a duke, but though this duke was a hero of the Battle of Naples, if you knew about his affairs, you would probably have another opinion of him. ”

"Oh, that sounds interesting, I'd love to know if I had time." Isabella seemed to say casually that when she learned that the Duke of Mattesia had been sent by the Pope to review the holy relics, Isabella had already noticed the man, and now hearing Normezi's words made her feel that perhaps she could learn more about the Duke from this Neapolitan nobleman, who was said to be unfavored in front of the brother and sister.

"We'll see you in the ring, then, Earl."

"I wish you happiness, Your Majesty."

Alonso's eyes were fixed on the ground swinging the corners of his skirt until he was sure that the queen and her maids were finally gone, and the boy immediately looked up excitedly at the queen's departing back, and then he eagerly turned back to Normezi and said, "God, my lord, I see the queen, really the queen!" ”

"Yes, it's the Queen," Normezi raised his hand and slapped Alonso after speaking, "We're going to stay here for a long time, and then you're going to see a lot of people, if you're always so surprised, it's not okay," After saying that, Normezi half-crouched down and looked at Alonso, "After hearing Alonso, I'll send you to Rome when the matter here is over, you are a gifted person, don't waste these gifts that God has given you, understand?" ”

Alonso nodded excitedly, thinking that he could go to Rome to study in Rome, where there were many masters, and his arm, which was originally holding the box a little sore, seemed to feel much more relaxed.

Queen Isabella attached great importance to Juana's arrival, so she prepared a comfortable and spacious house for their husband and wife as early as half a year ago, but when she saw that Juana was about to give birth with a big belly, the queen simply let her daughter live directly in the palace, and since then she has no plans to let them move outside.

This has made many people have all kinds of speculations, and then think of the unfortunate death of *** Ann a few years ago, and after the queen's current age seems to have no chance to have another son, people have vaguely guessed the intentions of Queen Isabella and his wife.

It's just that Juana is not the only daughter of the two kings, in addition to Juana, Maria, who is now Queen of Portugal, and Catherine, the youngest daughter who is engaged to British Crown Prince Arthur, also seem to have their own opportunities.

The place where Juana and his wife lived was a little far away, because of the topography, the royal palace of Valladód was in a pattern of low southeast and high northwest, and Juana and his wife lived in a palace in the southeast corner of the palace by a small artificial lake.

Normezi was stopped outside the palace by his attendants, and only after being informed of his intention did Normezi take the box from Alonso and walk in alone.

When Normezi met Juana, the would-be crown prince was holding a little girl in his arms, standing in front of a small bed with his head bowed and looking at a smaller baby on the bed.

Perhaps because her mother had not looked at her, the little girl made a dissatisfied voice, but this did not seem to attract Juana's attention, and she still focused on her son on the bed.

Until the maid next to her reminded her of Normezie's arrival.

Juana immediately straightened up and looked at Normezi, and after seeing the box in his hand, she handed her daughter to the maid next to her, and then walked over to look at the box with interest: "Count, have you brought me a gift?" ”

"I'm sorry Your Highness, it's not for you, but I'll remember to give you a gift next time," said Normezzi, to the girl who had been struggling in her arms, "Actually, these are some small toys that my boy made for Her Royal Highness, who is a very clever child, and because he is a child, he may know better what Her Royal Highness needs." ”

Juana took it from Normezi's hand with some curiosity and opened the box, and when she saw the wooden dolls made of people and animals in the lattice carved into the castle wall, Juana couldn't help but exclaim with joy: "This is really a fun thing." ”

As she spoke, she brought the box to her daughter, "So Eleanor, do you like these toys?" ”

The girl, who had just been a little angry because her mother ignored her, was immediately attracted by the wooden doll painted with various patterns inside, she let out a cry of joy, she struggled to break free from the maid's arms, and when she saw the maid next to her take the box, she immediately let out a cry of protest, and this cry seemed to affect the baby lying on the bed, so the future Holy Roman Emperor and King Charles V of Spain grinned and began to cry!

The crying obviously affected the sister, so the girl also joined in, and for a while there was a lot of crying in the palace, so it was not lively.

The maids and servants scrambled to help the mistress coax the two children, but their efforts seemed to be of no avail, and although at last Princess Eleanor stopped as soon as she got the toy, the baby lying on the bed refused to stop.

"Your Highness, Your Highness the Prince may be hungry," a waitress reminded.

"Oh, of course," said Juana, as if at once she had come to her senses, turned back and casually called to the side, "Lady Alanis, it's time to nurse the prince." ”

Juana's cry was not answered, she looked around at the nurse who was looking for the child a little strangely, and when she found that the person she was looking for was not around, Juana asked the people around her, "Where is Madame Alanis, doesn't she know that she can't leave the prince casually?" ”

"Your Highness, you said before that you wanted to take care of the two Highnesses yourself, so Lady Alanis retired first, saying that she was going to wash her body a little."

"But now the prince is hungry!"

Juana's face sank instantly, and her son's cry seemed to make her emotions arouse at once, and she called out Mrs. Alannis's name twice in a daze, and immediately strode outside in a huff when she received no answer.

"Your Highness, we'll help you find her." A maid said with some panic.

"No, I'm going to find her myself." Juana stubbornly said as she walked outside into the atrium and stood down, then headed for the nanny's room.

Normezzi had to follow the people behind, and he saw you Juana walking quickly to the door of a room, and when she saw that the door was closed, she simply pushed the door impatiently and entered.

Then, a woman's crazy screams and a man's roar came from the room!

Immediately afterwards, Juana's figure appeared at the door, but at this time Juana looked extremely terrifying.

Her breath was short, her eyes were wide open, her face was frighteningly pale, she was clutching a pair of scissors in one hand and a panicked, disheveled woman's hair in the other.

"Let go of her, Juana!"

A shout came from the room, and Philip walked out, only one button on his shirt was loosely fastened, and he was erasing the obvious trace of ** hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"I won't let go!" Juana shouted frantically, her scissors out of nowhere and gestured back and forth over the woman's head, and suddenly with a forceful twist, a large handful of hair was cut off by her.

The woman was completely frightened, she only knew that she was shrunk and her hands were afraid to block in front of her, and when her hair was cut off, she screamed in horror while begging for mercy, and shouted in despair, "Oh God! Help me! ”

Two maids tried to pull Juana away, but she pointed at her with scissors, and under the horrified gaze of Philip and the people around her, she dragged the woman to the middle of the courtyard, and then screamed to the people around her!

"You prostitute!" Juana's face was now completely distorted by jealousy, and her originally pale face was frighteningly red at this time, her hysterical roar was too excited and indistinct, and the terrible madness in her eyes even made her point the sharp tip of her scissors at the woman's throat several times, "How dare you seduce my husband, the father of my child, I will kill you, smash your face, and throw you into hell!" ”

"Spare me, Your Highness! It wasn't me who seduced him, it was Philip ......"

"You talk nonsense!" Juana shouted into the woman's ear "He's my husband, he only loves me alone, how can he take a fancy to you!" ”

The shouting made the green tendons on Juana's neck bulge, and at the same time her hands were not idle, and as the scissors kept flashing and the woman screamed from the pain in her scalp, her hair was cut off in large quantities or simply ripped off, and in a matter of moments, the woman's hair had been cut in a mess, and some parts of her head were simply exposed.

Philip didn't know whether he was angry or what, his body trembled incessantly, and when he saw Normezi standing in the crowd, the look on his face was even more difficult to see.

Juana's madness had frightened the woman to the ground, and she buried her face in her hands in horror against the ground, allowing Juana to scream and continue to tear her clothes.

The shouting attracted more and more people, Philip's face was already blue, he clenched his fists several times as if to rush over, but he reluctantly let go, just when he saw more people coming and didn't know what to do for a while, Normezi walked next to him.

"Your Highness, please forgive me for being unreasonable, but at this time you'd better leave for the time being," Normezi's gloved hand gently rested on Philip's arm, and at the same time whispered to him, seeing Philip's fierce gaze, Normezzi did not cowardly, but shook his head slightly at him, "Get out of here first, Your Highness." ”

Philip seemed to say something, but Juana's overshadowed him, and seeing Juana's horrified face, Philip finally turned away.

"Don't go dear, tell me you love me! Look into my eyes like you do every day and tell me you love me~"

Juana's frantic screams of near-despair and utter loss of mind came from behind, and Normezi saw that Philip's cheeks were shaking, but his feet never stopped.

Normezi accompanied Philip all the way out of the palace, looking at Philip, who had never said a word, and finally jumped on his mount and galloped away, Normezi did not follow, but looked at his back, and the corners of his mouth twitched under the mask.

"Next, it's your turn, Lady Olgala."

Normezi muttered to himself.