Alexander did not expect that on the first day of his arrival in Valladot, he would meet Philip.

This unexpected encounter made him almost miss the meeting with Normezi.

Normezi still lives with the local couple surnamed Beiruguet, but their son Alonso Beruguete has been sent by Normezi to Alexander's temporary residence in Valladode.

Alonso Beruguet was a shrewd boy, and he knew that the Count of Giulipe had been cultivating him by placing him with the Duke who was said to be very important, so he had been careful from the beginning, and seemed to be very well-behaved and obedient.

However, the boy found that the people around the Duke seemed to be not very easy to get along with, especially the guards who seemed to come from places like Bohemia, which always made him feel an indescribable nervousness.

Alonso Beruguet wasn't alone, the boy didn't think that the bohemians who seemed to him to be unsettling were themselves nervous.

Although he didn't know Alexander's true purpose, Schell could clearly feel that the lord's visit to Iberia was by no means as peaceful as he said, and he could clearly feel that the lord seemed to want to take this Iberian trip seriously, and more importantly, this trip seemed destined to offend many people.

The activities in Portugal made Scheer already know that Alexander's purpose for coming here was obviously not simple, especially when the Portuguese finally inexplicably set off waves against Queen Maria, Scheer felt that it was somewhat too arrogant to run to someone's mother's house after this kind of seemingly cheating other people's daughters.

Schell remembered that they had followed Alexander to Naples and even Sicily alone, but those places were somewhat dependent, in Naples they could rely on the power of Count Mordilo and Josa, and in Sicily they could also rely on Alexander's special relationship with this place, but in Castile, they had no one to rely on at all, they were surrounded by completely strange people, and only after arriving in Castile, They really understood the enormous prestige and influence that Queen Isabella had among the local population.

It was so different from what it had been before, that Schell had to find an opportunity to confess his fears to Alexander.

"My lord, I can't protect you if you're in any danger," Schell said directly to Alexander on the day he arrived at Valladod, "The chasseurs are indeed brave, but you also know that this is not something that can be solved by bravery, and if something happens, we can't protect you at all, because as long as we get out of this door, everyone we see is our enemy." ”

Alexander sensed Scheer's nervousness, in fact, he himself may not be as calm as he seems, after all, this is the hinterland and capital of Castile, he can imagine that once his plan fails and his identity is revealed, then he will not even have the slightest chance to escape, after all, on the way to the road, he has seen how the local people worship their queen fanatically, and in many places people carry the statue of the queen tied with colored paper in the fields and streets, or when praying, Volunteering to put the name of the Queen's family at the top of the list of blessings was an unusual reverence for the royal family, or indeed for the Queen herself, that Alexander had never seen anywhere else.

This made Alexander realize for once a clear how powerful the opponent he was about to face, and it can be said that those enemies in the past were much more "cute and pleasing to the eye" than this old woman.

So Alexander was also very aware of Scheer's concerns, he knew that if he made a wrong step, he really had no chance, even if he had the public title of Duke of Rometesia and the secret bargaining chips of Enrique's cheap son, and maybe even this would only send him to the gallows earlier.

"We'll have to be careful, but don't worry too much," Alexander told a worried Scheer, "and if you can make sure that we don't even have a chance to fight back if we're in danger, maybe things won't be as bad as you think." ”

Alexander lived in Valladod, not very far from the royal palace, and in fact it didn't matter if something really happened to the palace, after all, as Schell said, everyone who went out of this door was their enemy.

Alexander's accommodation was comfortable and large, and at first sight of the maroon façade with the local colours, Alexander fell in love with the building, which has a distinctly Valladot character.

And it was also because of the Count of Mordillo, who left him with the things before he left them, which were truly invaluable to Alexandria, because they recorded all the preparations that Modillo had left in Castile over the years, and the many arrangements that had been made in advance for his bold plans.

The riots in the town of Casrera were one of them, but Modillo at that time naturally did not know what those preparations would be used for many years later, he simply recorded the people and things that he thought would be useful in the future.

Now, after all this time, arrangements that seemed unimportant at once are starting to work.

Normezi arrived a little late, and was so surprised by Alexander's sudden arrival in Valladód that he did not hide his feelings at all when he saw him.

"Your Highness, I don't know why you're here, but you have to know that it's unwise," Normezi expressed his feelings very directly, and he didn't want to hide his true thoughts, "You promised me a chance to take revenge on Ferdinand, so I did what you ordered, but now that you have suddenly arrived in Castile, it completely breaks your promise." ”

Looking at the somewhat angry Normezi, Alexander waved his hand to stop the side who was about to open his mouth to scold Normezi, he knew that Normezi had never really done things for him, and everything he did was actually just to avenge Ferdinand's hatred for using him to try to subvert Napoli and then blaming him for everything.

And he was only worried now that Alexander's arrival might cause trouble for his plans.

Sure enough, Normezzi continued with some indignation: "According to your arrangement, I have led that Philip to that woman's house, and now he has been obsessed with it all day, believing that it will not be long before I can succeed, but when you come here, it may ruin everything." ”

Alexander looked at Normezi, who gasped for breath and then began to cough, and shook his head, watching him hurriedly take out a yellowed handkerchief with a strong foul smell from his pocket and wipe the pus flowing from under the mask, Alexander first motioned for Schell to leave, and then he leaned on the table to look at Normezzie, who was sitting weakly in the chair opposite him, panting.

"Tell me, Count, how long do you think you can hold out?" Seeing Normezzi insisting on speaking, Alexander raised his hand to stop him, "We all know that you are very sick, and there is obviously no cure for this disease, and it is because of this that you agreed to me to come to Castile, don't you, you know that your time is running out, and the only chance to take revenge on Ferdinand is this time, and I can help you fulfill this wish." ”

"But I didn't expect you to come," Normezzie leaned back in his chair weakly, sweat spilled from the lower half of his face without a mask, and his lips, slightly swollen from fever, trembled slightly, "Can the Duke tell me why, of course you didn't come here to avenge me, so why did you venture to Castile?" ”

Normezzi asked, then another cough, and after stopping, he barely raised his eyelids and looked at Alexander: "You see, how terrible Isabella is, her position in Castile is unshakable, it's a pity that I didn't meet Ferdinand, I'm here for him, if I can I am willing to pay anything just so that he can also taste the pain I have now, but unfortunately I may really be too late." ”

After saying that, Normezi had a violent cough.

Alexander leaned back on the table and watched him, knowing that although it might not be Normezi's last words, it seemed that he was about to hold out for long.

"This disease haunts me like a devil, I think I am dying, I can feel as if every part of my body is rapidly necrosis, every morning I get up with a large basin of water to wipe those rotten pus-draining wounds, in order to cover the stench of my body I think I am cured meat all over my body with spices, tell me duke, what kind of disease I am, you must know, you know from the beginning, right?"

Normezi gasped as he looked at Alexander, his eyes bloodshot with eagerness for answers.

Seeing this scene, Alexander thought about it and finally nodded silently.

"Listen, I can tell you what you want to know, but as I told you in Rome before you came, your illness is incurable, and even if I gather all the best doctors in the Pavia Medical College, it will only delay your onset and make you less miserable, and I think you know very well that you can't really believe just because of what I say."

"Heh~~" Normezi smiled self-deprecatingly, he had indeed been trying to find a cure for himself, he hoped that Alexander had lied just to take advantage of him, but in fact he was completely disappointed, because as Alexander said, he had an incurable terminal illness, and even many doctors claimed that they had never seen this terrible disease.

"Count, you know you're running out of time, now tell me, do you still want to get revenge on Ferdinand?"

Alexander's words made Normezi a little stunned, perhaps knowing that he might die soon, he seemed to lose interest in everything all of a sudden, and the idea of revenge on Ferdinand at this moment even sounded a little boring.

"The result you have now, your defeat in Naples, isn't it all because of Ferdinand's betrayal, you said you want Ferdinand to taste your current pain, so tell me that you still think so?"

Alexander asked again, he saw Normezi's eyelids that had been about to close due to exhaustion struggling to raise again, watching him nod slowly, Alexander pulled a chair and sat down opposite Normezi: "Well, now tell me carefully what you have heard about Castile during this time, and believe me that even if your illness is really hopeless, we can at least make them pay enough." ”

In Valladour's palace, Isabella looked at the doctors who were standing not far from the table with an ugly face, they were very nervous, they didn't dare to look at the queen's face that looked a little terrible because of anger, and they didn't dare to make eye contact with the queen's eyes.

And in this room they were more afraid than the queen was the man in a coarse cloth robe standing beside Isabella, the queen's personal priest, Thomas Tongomada.

If Isabella's ambition is to turn Caslitia into a second heavenly kingdom on earth, then Thomas Tongomada's ambition is to become the guardian angel of this heavenly kingdom.

He longs to purify all what he considers to be ungodly blasphemers and their deeds with fire and noose, and there seems to him no cruel punishment as a more appropriate means of salvation, and he is willing to be the one who masters them all.

Thomas Tongomada, an ardent advocate of the Inquisition, was of the view that the Holy See's tribunals, which were organized only on an ad hoc basis when necessary, were clearly ineffective, and that many of the members of those temporaries did not necessarily have sufficient knowledge and experience to carry out this sacred duty.

Therefore, he actively advocated the establishment of a special and long-term religious court, whose duty was to form a permanent court composed of a group of priests who were familiar with the various religious systems and jurisprudence, and this court had only one purpose, that is, to examine all acts of transgression of the faith, arrest, sentence and execute them in one final judgment.

Isabella gave her full support to this crazy idea, and the request for the creation of the permanent inquisition, which they had named the Inquisition, had been submitted to the Vatican in a thick statement written by Thomas Tomgomada himself.

However, before receiving permission from the Holy See, Thomas Tongomada could not wait to fulfill his so-called duties, and according to his understanding of those who need to be judged, those who behave in the slightest way may be seen as being enchanted by the devil or a witch.

As for those who awaited, though nominally to be judged by examination, it is clear from what Thomas Tongomada had done that no one had ever been able to receive his merciful forgiveness, and that those who had passed his judgment would end up with only horrible torments.

Juana's actions seemed to Thomas Tangomada to be a typical demon haunted, so when he heard about the princess's crazy behavior, the queen's personal priest immediately proposed to Isabella to exorcise the princess, but after a while of busy work, Juana's condition did not improve at all, and Isabella had ordered the doctors to treat the princess.

In Thomas Tongomada's eyes, Isabella's behavior was undoubtedly a personal affair, but he was smart not to continue to insist, and now looking at the doctors who were cramped and uneasy because Juana still did not get better, Thomas Townomada's eyes had shown a cruel look like a shark smelling blood.

"Tell me if there is anything else you can do, don't say there is no way, I have provided you with everything you need, all I want to see is the princess return to normal instead of always hearing people report to me that she has done so many crazy things."

Isabella stood up and angrily scolded the already panicked doctors, she rarely spoke to people like that, Isabella knew very well that as a queen she should be more fair to her courtiers, and that undue anger would do nothing but make things worse.

But now she could not help but feel angry, because it was about Juana, Castile and even the future heir of Aragon.

The thought of the future queen of the United Kingdom being a madman who was so insane that he could ruin everything at any moment with hysteria made Isabella tremble and could barely control her anxiety.

"Your Majesty, the princess's illness is something we have never seen before, she is sometimes normal as an ordinary person, but once she gets angry, she will completely lose her mind, we are at a loss now, the only way is to let her not contact with those people and things that make her emotional, so that she may be able to calm down a little."

"Oh! You mean the future queen can't see anyone, do you? Isabella angrily confronted the doctor who answered her, "Don't forget that you are talking about the future queen of Castile and Aragon, do you think you should imprison her?" I want you to come to cure her, not to give me such a bad idea. ”

Isabella scolded angrily, and then she slowly shook her head in annoyance: "This can't be done, if you do that, Juana will not be able to inherit the throne, can you imagine what this means, and do you know how terrible it is?" ”

Looking at the queen who casually said such things because of her annoyance, several doctors looked at each other, and no one dared to make a sound.

"Your Majesty," said Thomas Tombomada, who had been standing aside, and he bent slightly in Isabella's ear, "perhaps we should perform another exorcism for the princess, you know that her appearance is obviously because her body has been completely occupied by the devil, and the only thing we can do is to drive the devil out of the princess's body." ”

Isabella suddenly looked up at Thomas Tongomada, she knew what this priest meant, but she didn't know for a moment whether she should allow him to do so, after all, the hurt and pain caused by the last exorcism to Juana was still fresh in her memory.

"Maybe there's another way, like Philip," Isabella tried to find some excuses and justifications, "if he had been nicer to her, maybe things wouldn't have gotten worse, maybe I should have reminded him again." ”

A hint of disappointment flashed in Thomas Tongomada's eyes, but he had made a wise choice not to dwell on the matter, and it was clear that Isabella had hopes for a cure for Juana, and Thomas Townomada knew that if he continued, it might backfire.

However, he did not give up, especially when he left the palace and returned to the convent of St. Matthews, where he was located, when he heard someone say that it seemed that a Duke of Rometesia from the Holy See had arrived in Valladode, and Thomas Tongomada knew that his opportunity had finally come.