Chapter Fifty-One: Ripples

  The next day I woke up, it was bright, and sunlight poured in through the window sill into the room, gradually spreading to the ground.

  The warmth of the sun made me struggle to open my eyes, and my shoulders felt a bit heavy. I looked over with blurry vision, and a head of golden hair came into view.

  I was stunned, and only then did I realize that it was actually the German female writer Fiete who was leaning against me, with one of my arms wrapped around her shoulder, as if we had been chatting like this all night.

  A German girl with a head of disheveled blonde hair, her skin as white as snow, looked serene and beautiful in the sunlight.

  From the dense eyelashes to the thin lip edges, the thin red lips are slightly dry, and I suddenly have an impulse to kiss them.

  "Wake up."

  This alarm clock had the opposite effect, and instead of waking up, the German girl snuggled closer to me. She squeezed into my arms, moving her head from my shoulder to my chest, and I was intoxicated by the fragrance of her hair, thinking that this is how I want to spend the rest of my life.

  At this time, Filitra put one leg up and placed it on me under the pants.

  They say that the early bird gets the worm, and Filaretia's plump thighs came pressing down like this, very comfortable. However, this pressure woke up Filaretia.

  "What's so hot."

  As she spoke, she was about to reach out and grab it.

  I hurriedly stopped him!

  Right after that, I lowered my head and saw a pair of sleepy eyes.

  The owner of these eyes first looked puzzled, then shocked, and finally painful.

  "My head hurts so much!" She sat up, swayed a bit and almost fell back down again. I quickly caught her.

  She rubbed her temples and took another look around, where there were wine bottles all over the floor.

  We drank a lot last night, and when we got up, the two of us hummed for half a day. In the end, I supported Filitrelya down from the high tower of the palace where we were.

  "The imperial physician in the palace has a way to sober you up, I'll take you there."

  "Hans isn't there, I'm not going."

  The German girl's attitude was very resolute, I had no choice but to take her to my bedroom.

  As soon as I walked in, I saw Alexander and Cheap Old Dad standing in the grand hall of the bedroom, with a somewhat relieved and stunned expression.

  "It's all about the kids now." The old man sighed and shook his head before leaving.

  Alexander walked over and looked at Filaretia for a moment: "You've had a hard time. You all have."

  Are they all misunderstanding something?

  I took a few more glances at Filitra, but there was nothing out of the ordinary about her. Her face was just a bit pale, her legs were a bit weak, and her clothes were a bit disheveled as I supported her.

  What a group of inexplicable people.

  After this day, the Minister of Justice of the Imperial Court intervened quickly. In a few days, many church dignitaries and nobles in Constantinople had their homes surrounded by imperial guards. The masters of these houses were all frightened.

  People living in Constantinople are no strangers to this army.

  The empire no longer trusted any foreigner in the thirteenth century, and the traditional Varangian Guard that guarded the palace was replaced by this army, which can be considered a synonym for the emperor's personal guard. Unlike the Varangian Guard, which consisted entirely of North Europeans, the two thousand Imperial Guards were Romans, but their origins were special, as the soldiers in this army were all orphans left over after the war. The leader of the Imperial Guard would take the emperor's edict to the local area and bring these orphans back to Constantinople for care, and when they grew up, they became fresh blood injected into the army.

  So the Imperial Guard was also known as the Orphan Army, and the imperial family that raised them was often vilified as a Roman orphanage. Interestingly, the first batch of Imperial Guards were the lucky survivors of the fall of Constantinople, so the motto on the flag of this army is also very bloody, "Blood debt, must be repaid with blood".

  ！”

  But that's not what they're afraid of. Thirty years on the east bank, thirty years on the west bank, this imperial guard army has been synonymous with purging since the days when their grandfathers were still alive. At that time, the curse "Let the Imperial Guard rush into his house tomorrow!" was popular among the Constantinople nobles, and you can see a glimpse of it.

  Now, the Imperial Guard of the Forbidden City, who had not made a big move in over 20 years, has taken action again, scaring many people to death, but also delighting many others; however, more people are uneasy.

  Everyone in the besieged mansion was invited to a place under house arrest. Not long after, the Department of Justice leaked two vague messages to the eagerly awaited dignitaries: someone had betrayed the country and conspired with foreign countries to sabotage the empire's diplomatic strategic deployment; someone wrote books that were forbidden and repeatedly insulted the royal family in their writings. When these people wanted to know more about the situation, this was all the Department of Justice could reveal.

  All the trials are conducted in secret, while outside the powerful ones are making a big fuss. Some people are gloating, some are clearing their own names, some are trying to stir up trouble, and those who want to take someone's place are using all their tricks. There are forgeries, slanders, and rumors - everything is there, and what's not there must still be brewing.

  But if most people are already engaged in intrigue, who is willing to work with a clear conscience? As a result, the crime of treason was concluded within a short week!

  Release of a very small number of unimportant people who are innocent.

  The vast majority of people were demoted and expelled from Constantinople on the grounds that they were not deeply involved in the case. Some went to the religious holy land of Mandylion as ordinary monks, while others went to the famous monastery of Studion in Anatolia. In this matter, several powerful men who stirred up trouble were severely punished, demoted, and fined. The family leaders behind them were summoned by the emperor for a night of lectures, and they left the palace in fear, their faces pale and their legs trembling. A few people who could not be easily pardoned were detained on the grounds that evidence was being searched for, and the monastery of Mount Athos was held accountable, with the abbot resigning to take responsibility. The vacancies left by these people were filled by the emperor, who even allowed a bishop who had been released without charge to retain his original position, leaving some important positions for the church dignitaries to fight over.

  The whole event ended in great joy.

  We are grateful to Seofo for the acquittal. Those who were expelled from Constantinople did not go far, they took with them the possibility of returning, being reused, and that they were slandered by hostile families, conspiracy and intrigue, which led them on their path of suffering.

  This treatment was beyond my expectation, although I had thought of demoting them and sending them away, but the monasteries where they were placed were poor places. The two places mentioned above are not close to Constantinople, nor are they religious holy lands, and they are basically still within the circle of power centers. So, old ginger is still spicy, once the situation changes in the future, this group of former church dignitaries who were placed in two different monasteries will be a good dog again!

  However, the whole thing has not ended yet, and there is still no news about how the literary girls will be dealt with.

  Cheap dad is looking for us to ask our opinions. Alexander's idea was very constructive, just like last time he gave the monastery a one-time supply of dozens of monks, he thought it would be a good choice to give the monastery a wholesale supply of dozens of nuns at once.

  It was only then that I realized it had been over ten days since I stormed into the church. When the old priest asked me, I told him that I hoped Caesar would forgive them and let bygones be bygones, but also that I hoped he could allow them to continue creating.

  Those aristocratic young ladies can take religion as entertainment, which is great

  It's great! When everyone becomes aware that religion and churches can also be used for entertainment, people will be able to view religion rationally and no longer fanatically. As a result, the church will lose its foundation for bullying and domineering! No matter how they call for it or show off, they won't be able to restore their former authority! Since I've seen this secular trend, I absolutely cannot strangle this momentum!

  Inalienable human rights, religious freedom, freedom of speech - all these grand principles are useless when mentioned to Father, but I linked this matter with weakening the church's influence and made it one of the deals to shut Filaret up, so Father had no choice but to consider its implications.

  Then the literary girls were released without guilt, but they had to modify those descriptions of my appearance and dress characteristics in their book. This is the royal family's bottom line.

  During this time, I took advantage of the privilege to find a governor's court to issue a demolition compensation form for Dionne's shop, and then ran to the person's wife's house again.

  I calmly and collectedly asked her for a check of 1.5 million Solares, the floating currency of the Sea of Ryūjin, without batting an eyelid.

  He again negotiated with Alexander and Maurice, Valence, took this month's pocket money plus all the funds from before, totaling 2.894 million Solares. Of course, it was impossible to carry so much cash on him, so he went to the bank to get a certificate, then disguised himself and got into his cousin Marcus' carriage to take a stroll around the university district the next day.

  French people's clothing stores, perfume shops, cafes, tea houses, all the shops opened by French people were visited by us!

  This morning, I first helped my brother-in-law, Big Fatty, sign a contract for a building worth nearly 350,000 sorilds on Dion Street for only 293,000 sorilds. We gave a deposit of 2,000 aurei and then I took Big Fatty to several golden locations nearby where he had his subordinates buy several buildings that were urgently for sale at low prices. Those plots of land were all 20% or even 30% lower than the market price; if I had been more ruthless, cutting them down by 40% would not have been a problem. By noon, we had found several more buildings and after Constantinople's dusk arrived in the afternoon, the money in my hands was almost gone, but the gains were rich! I spent 2,774,000 sorilds to buy fifteen properties worth over 3,640,000 sorilds. If these properties can be sold smoothly, deducting the 1,500,000 sorilds given to my wife and our capital of 1,400,000 sorilds, we will make a profit of 740,000 sorilds.

  And this money, if used sparingly, Alexander can still use it for military reform in the future.

  Three days later, Marcus the Fat Man made an appearance and both parties completed all transactions with the owners of those dozen or so properties in front of a court notary and several bankers.

  One party pays in cash, the other gives up ownership of the property, and a notary signs his name on the deed. The transaction has reached this point, and it's time for the tax official to appear. The businessman who just sold the property will be paid 5% of the proceeds from the transaction, a total of 138,500 colones.

  I inadvertently created a considerable fortune for the imperial treasury.

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