kingdom of nations

Chapter 132 Mission
According to customary law and canon law, a newborn's birth certificate should be issued in duplicate. The parents keep one copy, while the most reputable local church or monastery keeps the other. These two documents are used as strong evidence in cases of inheritance or other matters requiring the declaration of lineage and surname.

However, the circumstances surrounding the birth of Joseph IV, also known as Cesare, and his sister were truly bizarre and unusual. They were born in an enemy castle, and the people who delivered them, baptized them, and signed their birth certificates were all prisoners. To then insist that they find a church or monastery to preserve a second birth certificate would be asking too much of them.

Moreover, along with the birth certificate, valuables worth 200,000 gold coins were also retrieved. This "proof" alone was enough to convince people.

However, it must be said that this question is indeed tricky and malicious. The other party has hit the weakest link in the whole matter, which is that the two children did exist, but those who can prove that the two young people standing here are the ones who were the two children are almost all dead.

Even if they hadn't died, like Joseph Schooling III and his wife—but these two children were sent away when they were three or four years old, and now they are adults, how could Joseph Schooling III have been able to identify them without blood type and DNA testing? The certificate doesn't mention any birthmarks or moles on the children.

While clean, bright green eyes like César's are indeed rare, it's not to say that there isn't another pair like him in the world.

What if the loyal servants failed to complete the task assigned by their master? They may not have been negligent or slack, but infant mortality was commonplace during this period. From kings to farmers, everyone had the experience of watching their children gradually lose their breath—they might have worried about punishment after their grief, or they might have had other thoughts. No one knew whether Josephine III would be able to leave the Saracen castle, or whether he and the Armenian princess would have any more children.

They might adopt or buy two children to impersonate Joseph III's true bloodline. After all, in Apollo, the number of slave traders' "goods" even exceeded that of cattle and horses. Natia had common light brown eyes, while Cesare's green eyes were rare, but if you were willing to offer a large sum of money, it wasn't impossible to get them.

Baldwin IV gave the dissenting official a cold glance. He was a scribe under Raymond and enjoyed the lord's deep trust. But his words would undoubtedly be remembered by the king, or rather, Baldwin would remember his master, Raymond—how could an ordinary official dare to speak out on such a matter?
“I remember Josephine II…” Bohemond whispered—of course, no one present could recognize Josephine III, since he had been a captive of the Saracens since he was five years old. And with the complete destruction of Edessa (Josephine II also died as a captive in the Seljuk castle in 59), no one cared about Josephine III anymore.

Joseph II was a typical knight with a rugged face and a strong build. His wife, the Armenian princess, was not particularly beautiful, and their son was probably just an ordinary man. If the Armenian princess, who was Joseph III's wife, had been beautiful enough, Nur ad-Din would not have sent her out of his harem and made her marry a prisoner.

And their two children...

If Natia could be described as pretty and charming, Cesar's appearance had already surpassed most people's imagination of beauty. As he grew older, he was no longer as androgynous as he had been in his youth, but increasingly resembled a drawn blade, exuding a chilling aura even before one got close—yet one couldn't help but want to get closer, even if it meant getting cut.

Although he was polite to people, there was always an indescribable, seemingly innate coldness that made his inhumanity stand out even more.

Could a child like this really be the child of Joseph III and an Armenian woman?
Faced with this difficult question to answer, Natia showed no panic or anger.

“Please cut this document open,” she said. “The evidence is inside.”

Such important certificates are often made using precious calfskin. This leather is stripped from calves that have never seen the light of day; it can be sanded very thin, yet it is tough and difficult to tear.

So when Natia said that, Patriarch Heraclius's first reaction was to reach out and squeeze the vellum, finding that it was indeed thicker than ordinary vellum. But at the time, he simply assumed that the document had been preserved for too long, or that it had accumulated too much dust in the long darkness.

Now that he looked at it, he noticed a problem—the growth patterns on the front and back of the birth certificate did not follow the same fiber direction. He took a few steps, held it up to the scorching sunlight, and indeed saw a faint trace around the vellum.

Could there be something else sealed inside?

But the thickness of the certificate fooled everyone present, unless Natia reminded them: "But in doing so, this certificate will be destroyed." Another certificate was in the hands of the Archbishop of Edessa. However, he had already died in the Saracen prison; he only said that he had carefully preserved that certificate, but he never revealed its exact location to anyone.

This has now become an unbreakable secret. Unless the Crusaders one day capture Apollo, at which point they can simply dismantle the entire prison into individual bricks to search for it.

But they only had this one document to prove Natia and Cesar's identities. Patriarch Hiraclé thought for a moment and decided to do it himself. He had been a priest for decades, and among the things priests were best at was how to make paper.

The paper here is certainly not the kind made of plant fibers, but parchment and vellum. Every priest has done the arduous work of peeling the sheepskin, scraping off the fat, stretching it, drying it, then coating it with chalk and constantly polishing it to make it thin and smooth.

The Patriarch instructed his disciple to fetch an exceptionally sharp dagger. The blade was made of a thin sheet of obsidian; such blades had a very short lifespan, often breaking or shattering. At that time, the craftsmanship of iron knives had not yet reached the standard created by nature; at the very least, separating the two pieces of parchment that were glued together almost seamlessly was a difficult task for the iron dagger.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Heraclius took a moment to unveil the two parchment slips. He was very patient and cautious, for this certificate of identity directly affected a large sum of money and the inheritance of his land and title. Although the land was practically nonexistent at the moment, if Cesare truly became Josephine IV, he could use this certificate to seek help from his monarch and colleagues in the future, whether it be for funds, personnel, or supplies.

After all, the Crusaders were a minority group in this land, and the nation they established had to work together and help each other in order to stand firm against the repeated attacks of the infidels.

Upon opening it, people saw a tiny pair of handprints and footprints printed on the back of the vellum with the ID name written on it. "What is this?"

“These are my and Cesar’s hand and footprints,” Natia said nostalgically. “When we were born, my father used the most indelible dye, mixed with ointment, to make us leave our hand and footprints on this.”

"I don't understand what the point of this is?"

“The Archbishop of Edessa once made a very accidental discovery that he found fascinating and believed could prove God’s omnipotence and omniscience. For this reason, he conducted a great deal of research on it, involving hundreds of people, including merchants and artisans, but more often ordinary people or servants.”

“In his research,” Natia said, “he discovered that the lines on the palms and soles of everyone are different. Whether they were nobles or beggars, after discovering this, he had many people tested, and this continued for several years—these lines were present from birth, became deeper as they grew up, and became lighter as they aged, but only grew proportionally without changing their shape, width, or number of lines.”

But after confirming this, before he could even proclaim it—believing it to be a miracle from God, and a means for angels and saints to better distinguish mortal bodies—Edsa was captured, he was imprisoned in a Saracen castle, and before our father Josephine III had even considered sending us away, he had a premonition and urged our father to have us each put our handprints and footprints on our birth certificates.”

She looked at Cesar: "Brother, go find a blank piece of parchment and make your handprints and footprints. I'll do the same, and then have them compare them; they'll find they're exactly the same."

The two hand and footprint prints on the back of the birth certificate are indeed very clear. The texture on them is as if it were engraved on them, each one distinct. I don't know what they used, but to this day, the colors on them have only faded a little, but they have not become blurred or distorted.

The parchment was brought quickly, and Cesar and Natia cleaned their hands and feet. The maids, as if playing a game, rubbed bright red rouge all over their palms and soles, and then gently transferred it onto the parchment, leaving their current handprints and footprints.

Before they were even dry, people couldn't wait to compare them. For them, even if it had nothing to do with the inheritance of a territory, such a discovery was quite astonishing. And after comparison, it was indeed as Natia said, the two markings were exactly the same, regardless of size, whether it was the shape, the distance, or the break. At this point, Natia and Cesar's identities were no longer needed to be explained. They were indeed the son and daughter of Count Josephine III of Edessa.

Moreover, news soon came from Apollo that the envoy had been forced to participate in the succession case. He could have stood by and watched, but Count Josephine III of Edessa belonged to Nur ad-Din, and whoever would be handed over to him in the future would not be a Christian.

What is gained through war must, of course, be taken back through war, but Cesar's good deed truly touched the softest part of his hardened heart. He immediately sent a messenger back to Apol, and news soon came from there as well—given that Cesar had served their father, Sultan Nur ad-Din, they were also willing to pardon his father so that father and son could be reunited.

This made the subsequent negotiations more amicable and swift. Apollo first offered the release of Count Joseph III and his wife—without ransom. King Arazarus immediately reciprocated, offering the Saracens the return of Sultan Nur ad-Din's body, also without ransom, and without any disturbance on their journey back.

This was a happy ending for everyone. Even the Saracens remarked that perhaps this was fate. This made them much more accepting of Sultan Nur ad-Din's defeat and death in the Sea of ​​Galilee. Perhaps, as the Christian knight said, he had simply fulfilled his earthly duty and it was time for him to return to heaven.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

“I have something I want you to do,” Chirac said. “It’s dangerous and not entirely honorable, but the timing is perfect and the reason is perfectly justified…”

Cesar lowered his head and pondered for a moment: "Do you want me to go to Apollo?"

Heraclius smiled approvingly: "Yes, Sultan Nur ad-Din is dead, and he had three sons, one of whom is an adult while the other two are not yet. But I have no doubt that they will immediately claim themselves as Nur ad-Din's successors—no," he shook his head with a mixture of regret and sigh, "not only that, I've heard that Saladin of Egypt, and the governor of Damascus, the Sultan of Mosul, his nephew, a puppet, are all vying for the authority of this Light of Faith… What do you think will happen next?"

"civil war."

"The Saracen civil war has always been a good opportunity for us, but how we should proceed depends heavily on how these people judge us—who is the most cowardly, the most impulsive, the most ambitious, and the most opportunistic? My child, it's impossible to know without seeing it for yourself, but there will be far more intrigue in the Saracen court than in the Castle of Holy Cross—not to mention, they only have masters and slaves… Even an envoy can hardly guarantee his own safe return."

"what do you mean……"

"This good deed may have been just a whim of yours, out of pity for an old man, but it has unexpectedly yielded fruitful results. In any case, Nurdin's 'successor' would never harm someone who once performed the 'purification ritual' for Nurdin on their behalf. They will even come to thank you personally—as long as you are in Syria, you can quietly observe them from the sidelines... I believe you can see more than others."

“I would love to, teacher. But…” He and Chirac said in unison, “Baldwin!”

(End of this chapter)