Then, all the soldiers who went out on the expedition, armed with weapons and various battle flags, with the tasseled imperial flag of Constantine the Great as the core, marched through the new Golden Gate and arrived at the Basilica of St. John, where the Emperor was doing his best to build a new and luxurious church, the Basilica of the Holy Apostles.

In front of the construction site, lined with rows of shoulders with gauze drapes, all the ladies of Constantinople stood, who had responded to the call of the emperor and the empire to give generous alms to the soldiers who were on the verge of battle. Everyone knows that the empire's finances are now very difficult, and the heavy taxes on the heads of the people have almost reached a critical point, so the nobles have to repay more or less in addition to the tyrannical expropriation, so every time before the army goes out, this kind of temporary charity, or a disguised "rich tax", has become a scene in the imperial capital.

Here, on the contrary, the noblewomen and foreign merchants were not so stingy, because in this public occasion they were free to spend money without being rebuked by the church, and it was also the best time to accumulate fame and prestige for the family.

Jewels and silver coins rained down, and servants and soldiers scrambled to grab them, but Gawain always walked in the middle of the procession, carrying his own luggage and weapons, and his little servant Fetias could only follow him with a sad face when he saw his master's appearance, and let the silver coins roll under his feet.

"Gawain, Gawain!" Standing in front of the foundation of the Basilica of the Holy Apostles, beautifully dressed Yudohia was waving a silk silk to herself, while her brother, the commander of the palace guard in Varangiane, was also standing nearby, beckoning to Gawain to come over.

"Master, the robed lady of the court is calling you, she must be full of admiration for you!" This made the little guy very excited, but then his forehead was chiseled by Gao Wen, and he covered his head and followed Gao Wen over.

When Eudosia saw Gawain coming, she smiled like a flower, and then she took out a scarlet, half-worn cloak from the box behind her shoulder, "Hey, sister, this is the royal reward I received at the beginning. Yagfei couldn't help but be surprised when he saw this.

"You could have dressed then, but not now." Eudosia teased her brother, and then she handed the cloak over, "Wear it Gawain, I can't give you money, silk, or jewelry like other noblewomen, I think it's an insult to you, you are a noble warrior, you can't use the Greeks' set." So I'm giving you this thing, a gift of friendship -- just now I was on the sidelines and saw that you were the only one of the guards who didn't have a cloak, and they had all been rewarded by the Emperor, but you weren't, so I called the maid Belia to fetch it in the house, hoping to protect you from the cold and boredom of your expedition - yes, when you are bored, touch it and remember that there is a woman in the imperial capital who cares about you. ”

Gawain felt that things were very unusual, from the time he met Yudohia, this beautiful woman took the initiative to climb over, took care of and helped everywhere, did she really regard herself as a spiritual couple? In other words, this seems to be a very normal thing in the medieval world, but

But then Gawain was not allowed to think about it any longer, and the rest of the soldiers were crowded, for many of them were familiar with and admired by Yudohia, for she was the sister of the commander, the wife of the captain of the bow guard, the most popular man at the emperor's side, and a beautiful lady of generosity and kindness.

So Gawain could only tie the red cloak he gave him to his chain mail scarf, while Yagfei next to him smiled and kept patting Gawain's shoulder to express his kindness.

Suddenly, in the crowd, the great eunuch Nikdemia came up and glanced at Yudohea, who immediately stepped off her shoulder, and with her maid, stopped giving alms, but hurriedly knelt on the ground.

Then Nicodemia stood beside him with his hands down, and the same one who had seen Gawain in front of the palace gate yesterday, when the beautiful lady who was sitting on the second shoulder was followed by two boys, and when he saw these three men, the officers and soldiers all bowed down, "The chief lady blessed by the Virgin, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Constantine. His Excellency Prince Augustus and Prince John Ann. ”

"Eudohijah, I must warn you that the Emperor, after reviewing the army, should be the prince and His Excellency Augustus at the top of the alms-giving procession, to be greeted and saluted by the soldiers, not to your family." The noble lady's fair face was as bright as a peach and a plum, and as cold as frost.

Eudohya, Nicodemia, and Agfi had no objection to the chief lady, but only to make promises, and then they vied to kiss Constantine. Clothes and boots of Augustus and Prince John. At this time, Gawain next to him saw that the fair-skinned, tall and handsome young boy was Constantine, who had just been given the title of "Augustus" by the previous emperor (Augustus, Caesar, and other honorable names of ancient Rome, which gradually evolved into honorary titles in the Byzantine era of Eastern Rome, and were given to the imperial relatives). And Constantine's mother, the arrogant and oppressive chief lady in front of him, named Marlena, is the adoptive mother of the current emperor Alexios, and the wife of the previous three emperors - and then, several personal soldiers told Gawain that in fact, when Alexios had just ascended the throne, he also tried to abandon Erin, who was from the Ducasse family, and marry the beautiful and young Marlena as the queen, and even got the support of his own mother, the queen regent, But under the desperate and tough opposition of the Patriarch Mastas, he gave up, so he could only recognize Marlena as his adoptive mother, which could be regarded as taking another path and taking over the throne justifiably - now, although Marlena gave up the inheritance of the empire to the dark-skinned ugly child, that is, the prince of John from Alexios and Irene, she was still very powerful in the court, and in the name of "raising a grandson", the prince of John was forcibly taken into her own palace, and she was raised with Constantine from herself and the previous emperor.

The purpose is obvious, even if Marlena can't let her own Constantine ascend the throne, she has to call her raised John to ascend, in short, she wants to keep the current "vice queen mother" forever and advance towards the actual "queen mother". So now, the humble nouveau riche family of Eudosia is casually stealing the limelight, which of course provokes the anger of this one.

Of course, Marlena's edge was not so much directed at Eudohya as at the bottomless "Little Bird Nickdemia" who had stood in the court for decades.

But the great eunuch only knelt there with a flattering and harmless smile on his face, and let Marlena's reprimand be like rain without any sign of discoloration—a real admiration for Gawain.