kingdom of nations

Chapter 219 The Cypriot Lord is in High Demand (Part 2)

Damara was unaware that in the next room, a group of women were also anxiously awaiting the final result.

Since the Gerald family was so eager for this marriage, they certainly wouldn't put all their eggs in one basket with their stubborn old patriarch and his daughter Damara.

In this room are the Gerald family's candidates. The girl surrounded by the ladies is Damara's cousin, two years older than Damara. Her appearance may not compare to Princess Hibil of Holy Cross Castle, but she is still beautiful and dignified. And she has an advantage that neither Princess Hibil nor Damara can match: she is no longer just a flower, but a ripe fruit.

When her chest heaved with emotion, even the heavy cloak covering her could not conceal her graceful and captivating figure. The heat, fluids, and vitality contained within her youthful body seemed poised to burst forth from the constraints of her clothing at any moment. Even in the church, the priests' gazes would involuntarily linger on her. Her father had long ago decided to find her a satisfactory marriage, which was why he had delayed until now.

Even so, they never expected to encounter such good fortune.

However, as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait. The Gerard family still hoped to persuade the patriarch or Damara. If possible, Damara was the best choice, as she had spent a long time with Cesar in the Holy Cross Castle.

After formally taking the oath, Cesar also risked his life for Damara's request.

Of course, the vow has now been dissolved, but let's say it was timely. After all, if they had maintained the vow when they were discussing marriage, people would have criticized the relationship for not being pure enough, and Damara and Cesar's reputation would have been affected.

If Damara's father, the patriarch of the Gerard family, is too stubborn to be persuaded, that's fine; if they can entice Damara to agree to this, that will also work.

They knew that César, the master of Cyprus, was a kind-hearted man. Even if he wasn't, how could a knight refuse a noblewoman seeking his help? If Damara were willing to do as they suggested, confide her troubles and worries to him, and beg for his pity... perhaps César would agree to a secret marriage with her.

Although according to doctrine and law, marriage should be permitted and blessed by both sets of parents, Cesar was her guardian. As for Damara's father, once a secret wedding was held, he would have to acknowledge the marriage unless he wanted his youngest daughter to be disgraced, wander from place to place, or even forced to enter a convent.

Damara's cousin, though maintaining the composure expected of a noblewoman, sat upright in her chair with her hands clasped in front of her chest, silently prayed, "Don't let her say yes, don't let her say yes..."

She felt hopeless. After all, what young girl hadn't dreamed of having a husband as young, handsome, and powerful as César?

The door opened, and upon seeing the visitor's worried and dissatisfied expression, Damara's cousin almost jumped up from her chair, only to be stopped by her mother who forcefully held her hand down.

Obviously, if Damara had agreed, they should be beaming with joy. Their expressions only meant that Damara had also rejected them, which meant she had a chance. Sure enough, she was instructed to make preparations.

The Gerard family didn't yet have the power to directly negotiate a marriage with the Cypriot master, but they had their own shortcut. In fact, Damara's uncle was closer to Dean John than Damara's father was. They asked Dean John to write a letter recommending their cousin to work as a maid for Cesar's sister, Natia.

Natia was once just a slave girl in the Sultan's harem, but now in Christian countries, she is the daughter of the Count of Edessa. In the eyes of the Byzantines, she is at least a "noble lady in purple," that is, a female relative of the emperor. If not so strict, she could also be called a princess.

For Damara's cousin, being a maid to such a woman was undoubtedly humiliating, but her mother advised, "If you can marry Cesar, you will replace her and become the most honorable woman in Cyprus."

"Then when will I..."

Her mother smiled, "Don't worry, child, there are people who are more anxious than you." After all, they had done this behind Damara's father's back and didn't want the stubborn old man to find out and cause unnecessary trouble.

So the next morning, Damara's cousin rode in a sedan chair to the Governor's Palace.

The square in front of the governor's palace was always very lively, because for a long time now, the emperors of the Byzantine Empire had stopped sending governors here.

So although the Governor's Palace was not abandoned and was regularly cleaned and repaired, a residence without an owner would of course have no meaning—and it was located in such an important location, so gradually some itinerant merchants and vendors began to use it as a temporary market, and more and more people gathered here, and some merchants even had fixed locations—now the square has become a large market.

This large market can be considered a fixed market, but it is certainly not one that is only open for a certain period of time.

So it's always bustling and noisy here. But unlike other places, Nicosia is not a port city. It is located in the heart of Cyprus, so the merchants here mainly serve the people living here, selling flowers, fruits, vegetables, cloth, spices, oils, and some daily necessities such as utensils.

When César moved into the governor's palace, some people came to ask for his opinion on whether to disperse the merchants, as it seemed somewhat lacking in solemnity and dignity.

But César rejected the proposal. The governor's palace was large enough that he could easily station an army of a thousand men there if he wanted. Whether resting, handling government affairs, or receiving officials, all was done deep within the governor's palace, completely undisturbed by the vendors in the square.

And sometimes, he would disguise himself, wrapping his head in a headscarf and covering his face, only revealing his eyes as he walked into the crowd—although his green eyes were quite conspicuous, not many people would notice him if they just passed by; it was one of his little secrets.

For now, only Baldwin knows this, and even when he comes to Cyprus to meet Cesar, they disguise themselves and go out together—this reminds them of when they were still in Holy Cross Castle, when they pretended to be Byzantine nobles strolling through the market, and how carefree and unrestrained they were back then.

Compared to now, both Baldwin and Cesar would subconsciously listen to the sounds around them. They weren't necessarily on guard against assassins, or simply out of vigilance, but rather to hear what the residents were concerned about and discussing.

Sometimes, what the nobles try their best to conceal is just an interesting anecdote for the common people to pass the time. These messages may seem complicated, but if carefully sorted out, they can reveal many important issues.

They also care about the prices of wheat and seafood, as well as essential commodities like salt, sugar, and olive oil. Today, Cesar took the opportunity to disguise himself as an ordinary merchant and go to the market to check the prices of those items.

He was satisfied with what he saw. Prices of goods in Cyprus remained high ahead of Lent, and although he had summoned merchants and ordered them to stabilize prices as quickly as possible, especially for wheat and olive oil, which were of utmost importance to the residents, the turmoil was difficult to quell quickly.

Even Cesar was prepared for prices in Cyprus to take two or three months to gradually return to normal.

Prices fell faster than he had imagined. He bought a bag of pickled olives from a vendor, opened the leaves, picked up an olive and threw it into his mouth. While chewing, he walked toward the side gate of the governor's palace. The pickled olives were flavorful, and he could even taste a hint of sweetness.

Even a street vendor like him could add sugar to the pickled olives he sold, proving that Cyprus's wealth was no exaggeration. However, before he could even cross the square, a group of people blocked his way.

He curiously patted the burly knight in front of him, "What happened?"

César was taller than most men his age. But the problem was that the square wasn't just filled with people walking around; there were also mules, horses, and camels, carrying people or goods on their shoulders.

The knight turned and glanced at him, only to find that the man who had disturbed him was just an ordinary merchant. However, the merchant was of a good temperament and answered him anyway.

“We are looking at our lord’s three wives.”

“Wait,” Cesar’s face, hidden beneath his linen hood, revealed an almost uncontrollable look of horror: “I… no, when did your lord have three wives?”

The knight laughed heartily: “Yes, yes, our lord is a Christian, not a Saracen sultan or caliph. Of course he can only have one wife, but there are three candidates waiting for him to choose from. What an enviable situation! All three are beauties, and of noble birth.” He clicked his tongue softly: “Do you see that white palanquin? That’s a girl from the Gerald family. She is the one of the three chosen from the lowest ranks.”

César had indeed heard from his sister that the Gerard family intended to send a girl to serve Natia. He certainly knew the Gerard family's true intentions—but at this time, refusing the girl would be tantamount to refusing the Gerard family's loyalty, just as Amalric I, even without being asked, had his vassals and lords send their sisters and daughters to serve Princess Hibil—in the future, all those who were loyal to him would also send female relatives to serve his sister.

"Who are the other two?" another person, who had obviously just arrived, asked with great interest.

"There are two more, who are quite remarkable. One is the niece of the Doge of Venice, and as for the other, you should be able to guess. Look at that golden sedan chair and purple silk robe, she is the niece of the Byzantine Emperor."

"This emperor has so many nieces..."

"Indeed! But this princess didn't bring a generous dowry. However, I think she not only didn't come with a dowry, but actually wants to take it with her when she leaves."

This statement is quite malicious, but it reflects what people were thinking at the time. In countries that believe in God, whether it is Roman law, customary law, or canon law, there are provisions that if a husband dies in a marriage, his widow can inherit his property.

This property may not be all of it, especially if the husband already has children. However, if the husband has no heirs in this or previous marriages, the land he left behind can be considered his wife's property, and she can take it as her dowry into her next marriage.

“I don’t think the King of Arrasa will allow this to happen,” the knight said.

Although the relationship between the Byzantine Empire and the Crusaders was already precarious and could collapse at any moment, as long as the Saracens remained a formidable enemy, the Crusaders could not completely sever their alliance with the Byzantine Empire.

Under Frankish law, Baldwin IV, as César's closest male relative and also his lord and King of Arrassa, had guardianship over his widow and children. In other words, the marriages of both César's widow and his children were in the hands of this king.

The king of Arrasar would never allow the Byzantines to take it back.

“Manuel I will not let this go so easily.”

The rebellion that swept across almost the entirety of Cyprus led to the annihilation of fifteen families, the deaths and exile of tens of thousands. Even the most foolish person could guess from the sight of the eldest prince's head hanging high and Constantinople's feigned condemnation why Manuel I would so unusually generously offer Cyprus as the princess's dowry.

He originally intended to use the Crusades to eliminate the power that the eldest prince Alexius had secretly built up here, and at the same time, he wanted to use the eldest prince's anger and panic to prevent the marriage from being finalized. In that case, he could eliminate the biggest hidden danger in his heart and completely take back Cyprus.

But things did not go as he had hoped. As a result, he lost both his eldest son and Cyprus, and everyone who knew the inside story laughed at this self-proclaimed clever emperor.

"So this marriage is definitely not going to happen."

“Probably not, unless the bride’s dowry is Constantinople.” The knight’s words drew laughter from those around him. No one believed it to be true, but it was certain that the messenger from Constantinople would bring other rather tempting conditions to try and bring about the marriage.

"Then what about the Venetians? How did the Venetians suddenly get involved in this conflict?"

The relationship between the Venetians and the Crusaders was not very harmonious—before the eighth century, they were still territory of the Byzantine Empire, under the jurisdiction of the governor of the Ravenna military district, but after the famous Ravenna Revolt, Venice effectively became independent from the Byzantine Empire.

Although they still symbolically paid taxes and tributes to the emperor of the empire, for three hundred years starting in the eighth century, the Doge of Venice was exclusively a local. They even established a council of ten, similar to the Senate in ancient Rome, from which the Doge was elected. All of Venice's policies, laws, and actions were decided by this council of ten.

The Venetians' strained relationship with the Crusaders stemmed from their past actions, which, under orders from the Byzantine Empire, threatened the Crusaders in Antioch.

But just a few years ago, Manuel I began to resent what the Venetians had given him. He wanted to reclaim the privileges previously granted to the Venetians by the Byzantine emperors. The Venetians, of course, refused. They fought a battle against the Byzantine navy, with 120 ships against 150. Unsurprisingly, the Venetians lost. After all, even in its decline, the Byzantine Empire was still a lion, not a beast.

But the Venetians also gained little. Twenty thousand Venetians died in the war and the subsequent suppression, their residential areas were abolished, and their privileges were revoked. Merchants in some areas were also expelled.

They went directly to Cesar, and everyone knew why. At this point, the meddlesome fellow couldn't help but chuckle, "If our lord really married a Venetian and then attacked Constantinople with their fleet, that scene would be absolutely hilarious."

Cesar wasn't sure if the scene would actually be interesting; he only knew that what he was about to face certainly wouldn't be very entertaining.

(End of this chapter)