Chapter 13 I got the first blood

  Since there is no enemy anymore, it's time to go home.

  As I walked out of the coffee shop, just about to mount my horse, a familiar figure emerged from the shadows at the corner of the house. It was that team leader who smiled more painfully than he cried.

  "He said: 'Sir, could you please come over here for a moment?'"

  I let Alexander and them wait for a while, bewildered, and walked past the gate. At this point, he handed me a letter!

  "What's given to me?" I asked in wonder.

  The leader said: "Yes, please be sure to accept it."

  "What's inside?"

  Maybe I didn't immediately take over the letter, and the leader said: "I'm sorry, I don't know either, I just handed it over to you."

  On horseback, I opened the letter in public, which only had a short line of words written in beautiful small characters. The person who gave me the letter wanted to meet me at Constantinople Square, and the time happened to be after attending the wife's veneration ceremony.

  "Is it a challenge to a duel?" Maurice asked eagerly.

  I smiled and put away the letter before asking, "What? You want to go on a date in my place?"

  Maurice nodded: "I guarantee I'll help you beat that guy until his own mother doesn't recognize him!"

  "Go, you knew that was a guy?" I smiled irritably, "This must have been sent by some stubborn noble lady. As for why she chose me? Probably because I'm more handsome!"

  I had just been feeling rather pleased with myself when I saw Konstanze raise an eyebrow and say, "It seems that those noble young ladies don't have much taste either."

  "That's blatant jealousy and envy!"

  That guy is like that, even more narcissistic than me.

  As the quarrel was about to escalate, Alexander intervened: "Alright, it's getting late, everyone go home and we'll meet again after serving the holy rites."

  "After serving the holy sacrament, see."

  Maurice and Valence had barely left in twos and threes when Alexander continued, he indeed had a reason for letting everyone leave first.

  "Tomorrow is the day of the sacred ritual. Father wants you to perform the sacred ritual with that girl at St. Irina's Cathedral, and today he brought you out, suddenly facing so many high-born girls, feeling a bit better, huh?"

  "I'm fine."

  Alexander nodded and continued: "So what are you planning to do tomorrow?"

  "It all depends on the other person's appearance." I saw Alexander pause for a moment before explaining, "You see, I'm not a saint, I couldn't possibly spend the rest of my life with some ugly freak. Having them in front of me every day would either make me sick to death or get laughed to death by others."

  I'm probably a pervert, but that doesn't mean there aren't good people among perverts. The problem is, being a good person doesn't necessarily mean having masochistic tendencies. If the 25-year-old's wife is even more pitiful than Feng Jie, I'm sorry to say that I might not be able to restrain myself from hitting someone, and afterwards, I'll do my part in beautifying human genes through humane destruction.

  "What if she's really ugly? Father's orders can't be ignored after all." Alexander got a headache.

  "There's no other way out. I'll first figure out a way to take over that woman's social network, then let her have a little accident, and when she dies, as long as we're careful, we can get our hands on at least part of the huge inheritance. By then, even if Father wants to scold or beat me, he won't be able to do anything about it. At any rate, I'm not going to go die with her. This isn't just nonsense I'm spouting off the top of my head - my patience has reached the level of Feng Jie's, and if she really is even more miserable than Feng Jie, then all I can say is sorry."

  Alexander patted me on the shoulder with a heavy heart: "You've worked hard!"

  "It doesn't matter, I'll get married sooner or later anyway. This time, a wealthy woman is sent over, which isn't bad at all. You see, we're short on funds right now, and if we can secure that rich woman, not only will our financial difficulties be alleviated, but we'll also have a way to support the army's future battles without having to rely on Father's favor! It's simply killing two birds with one stone! I don't mind being a kept man at all."

  A glimmer of curiosity flashed in Alexander's eyes: "You don't look the least bit disappointed. How? Did you already know that woman was beautiful?"

  "It shouldn't be that bad," I said with a full heart. "I've given it some thought and overturned my previous idea, she should be a beauty, but maybe not easy to deal with."

  The second day, the day of serving the Holy Communion.

  The worship of the Orthodox Church is actually the same as the Catholic Mass. The two are also similar to Protestant worship, but the difference is that the first two have many rituals and usually last until noon, and food cannot be eaten during a period before the worship service.

  A very cruel setting, I who had just arrived here for a few years couldn't help but think of opening a fried chicken wing store on the street opposite the church, and blowing air into it while people inside were hungry serving holy gifts.

  But now I'm used to being hungry. Since today is a special day, the old man let a palace etiquette instructor come over to help me choose my clothes. The palace etiquette instructor was very picky.

  I won't wear the horse pants from before, and a white silk shirt with a dark-colored double-breasted long gown looks too casual. Finally, I brought a very popular champagne-colored waist-trimmed velvet long gown, similar to the one Orlando Bloom wore in Kingdom of Heaven, but this outer gown is not worn from head to toe, but rather like a windbreaker, with two rows of buttons to fasten it, and then a belt is tied around the outside. The palace etiquette instructor looked at my dozen or so belts and chose one with floral patterns, saying that according to his observations of the stars last night, today's lucky plant for me is flowers and grasses.

  I gave him a dirty look.

  Astrology has been popular in the East for thousands of years, and after continuous systematic filling, it has become a mysterious thing like Feng Shui. And this attendant officer is an expert in astrology.

  He finished the floral waistband, then added two layers of high-collared long shirts and a pair of matching long pants inside. After he helped me tie my belt, it was followed by shoulder badges, decorative belts, and stripes.

  Put on a pair of unblemished black leather boots, walk in front of the floor mirror and take a look, dressed as a standard wealthy Roman in the 18th century, not bad at all. Of course, it would be even better if I were a bit taller. Give that woman who's under 25 years old a heroic rescue, then there's a 90% chance she'll fall for me!

  Having finished these, I went to bid farewell to the two people who were serving at the private mass in the home church, and by the time I walked out of the palace, the sun was already rising above the walls of Constantinople, and there were gradually some pedestrians on the cool streets.

  A carriage of indeterminate depth came driving over at a leisurely pace.

  As I stepped onto the carriage, listening to the two attendants climbing up on either side, I closed my eyes once again and quietly savored the serene morning light.

  As a result, I accidentally fell asleep....

  After waking up from a nap, the St. Irene Church was just nearby, and further away, a throng of people were pouring into the church gate in an endless stream.

  The wooden door of the carriage was opened by the attendant, and I smiled awkwardly at the attendants on both sides.

  The Hagia Irene, this is where I served the holy liturgy. I remember that this great church was already mentioned in the early historical records of Constantinople around 500-600 AD. The church has a rectangular shape with a colonnade on the outside, the main entrance is on the long side, and there are apses on the short sides, with barrel vaults used for the roof. It's a very standard ancient Byzantine-style basilica building. Grand and majestic, but no longer resplendent in gold and jade, any building that has passed through thousands of years can't maintain its original appearance even if it is frequently renovated. The massive stone exterior walls have been weathered by time, the entire church is filled with a sense of vicissitudes.

  I got off the carriage and walked along a small path, finally arriving at the side door of the church. A solemn and sacred atmosphere greeted me with hymns sung in Greek.

  The five-colored glass window shone with dazzling light, the huge chandelier sparkled with firelight. In front of the prayer group, the bishop wore a mitre on his head, a silver-white robe on his body, a holy icon around his neck, and held a pastoral staff in his hand, standing on the pulpit. Below him were row upon row of black long benches.

  The Orthodox worship service was a long time ago without chairs, people who came to church had only two options, standing or kneeling. But now the Orthodox Church has chairs. This is undoubtedly another thing that my predecessor did.

  "Are we Romans so poor that we can't even afford to put out a chair? Or are you monks so stingy that you won't even spend money on buying chairs?"

  This is the original words of that predecessor. Just like every warlord who rose to the position of emperor, that predecessor had to make a few moves to find targets that could be won over and attacked in order to thoroughly conquer the hearts of the entire empire. And at that time when the Crusaders had been looted and Christianity was shaken, the church was the best target to attack. However, he failed to come up with something like the Iconoclastic Movement to attack the church's power, but fortunately, he didn't marry a brainless wife.