Temple Sword

Chapter 80

No matter how hard he tried, Antal was unable to leave the king's side to visit his wife for the next four months.

He first sent someone to deliver a letter asking Umberto to live in the stone house in Chalokoz for a few days, or even a week, so that Agnes would not feel too lonely.In early fall, he had another thought, that Lord Saipan, Hector's son, should visit his wife as often as possible, to see if they would feel better in each other's company.

Saipan does seem to perk up in the company of the blue-eyed angel, and his body slowly puts on weight, but Agnes can't help missing her husband.

In the end, Antal even hired ten mercenaries to go to Serdahli to guard his stone house day and night, like a private army.He didn't know what he was trying to achieve with this, but anyway, he remembered Agnes asking him who could protect her from a potential attack, so he addressed that.

As a result, their home became more lively, but the old Stephen and his wife and Agnes' longing for the master did not come back for a long time.

Charlie Robert had been putting off Antal's request, and would offer his chief knight anything in exchange for him staying another week or a month, even though he knew that Antal's heart was always being beaten by his. home.

The king was terrified, and he didn't admit it to anyone, not even Antal.His fear was caused by no one else but by the mighty Cardinal Gentil and his plots, the man who said that everything he did was for Charlie.

The power of the papal legate knew no bounds, and he himself never knew how to restrain himself.Slowly, he began to walk around Charles' castle, as if he was the only lord of Hungary.He did not listen to advice, and punished one after another, and no matter what order he issued, no one could oppose him.

Cardinal Gentil's extreme intimidation tactics against the nobles who opposed the Anjou house created a problem for Charles: he did not have enough troops to repel the nobles who would rebel.Moreover, if the lords of the provinces, even just a few of them, united against him... the consequences would be disastrous.

At a dinner party in the middle of the month of All Hallows, he discovered that Cardinal Gentil had the features of a devil on his face.He looked away hastily, downed two glasses of wine, and convinced himself that it was only the candle that lit the cardinal's face so strangely.

Charles wasn't alone in thinking this way about the powerful papal legate.Antal has also noticed the dark arrogance surrounding this man, and the ease with which he determines the fate of others, giving him a sense of disregard for human life.

Until then, Archbishop Thomas was seen by Antares as the most influential task at court, and the Archbishop of Esztergom was at the king's side at every moment of importance, always ready to be in Charles' ear Whisper, give him hints.Of course, Charlie Robert sometimes gets carried away by his own emotions, and Archbishop Thomas is good at such times.

Yet even the Archbishop of Esztergom, who was supposed to be the second most important figure in the Church in Hungary after the Pope, looked insignificant next to Cardinal Gentil.Gentil is like a giant, and everyone is in his shadow.

Antal thought that the Pope's envoy did not need to be responsible for his decision. Once he decided to return to Rome, the person who wiped his ass and endured the anger of those angry nobles was none other than Charles Anjou.

—

1309, Christmas month (December)
Buda, Hungary
—

Immediately after vespers, the small group of people gathered in the dining room began to dine, and the cold walls echoed softly with the clink of cutlery, the slight chewing sound, and one roast chicken after another disappeared into hungry mouths .

Cardinal Gentil's low voice quickly merged into the silent meal.He doesn't like people eating and savoring quietly and devoutly like praying in church. After all, food is just a necessity for the body, so he tries to distract his tablemates from enjoying the food every chance he gets. the taste of.

"Laszlo Khan will give in soon enough," he said with a smile, before clearing the remaining half of a goose leg from his plate in one gulp. "I made him some offers that even an idiot like him wouldn't say no to."

Of course, to be correct, "proposal" is a very unrealistic term, because His Excellency the Cardinal excommunicated the Governor of Transylvania, even though he had already released Otto Vettel. Spach, but deprived St. Stephen of the crown.

"Look, Your Majesty, St. Stephen's crown will soon be yours," Gentil continued complacently, "he won't be so stubborn anymore..."

"If you say that, Your Excellency," Charles looked at him wearily, "then you don't know much about Hungarians."

"He will not be so obstinate any longer," repeated the cardinal, who was absolutely sure of his work, "and in my letter to him I specifically mentioned that the Church punished him not only because he did not Justly possessed the crown, and also because he dared to marry his daughter to the heretical son of the King of Serbia."

"Laszlo Khan is a Sekay through and through," Archbishop Thomas cleared his throat, "and I'm sure he even believes that the ancestors of his people were descended from Turul birds. Even though he himself is a Catholic , or claiming to be, who knows what kind of superstition he's running behind the church, knowing what he's doing when he marries his daughter into the hands of a schism."

"The archbishop doesn't seem to understand what I mean when I say the governor will succumb soon," the cardinal said to the people at the table, and then turned his gaze to Thomas. "I'm going to bribe Laszlo Can."

"Bribe him?" Archbishop Thomas asked suspiciously, "How to bribe him? The Holy Crown is in his hand, and he is the one who made the conditions."

"I gave him an ultimatum," Gentil said, looking at the king. "I gave him until the second day of Ramadan (February). If he does not do so, he will remain an excommunicated man and his followers will desert him. But if he In time to return the Holy Crown to the rightful king and restore obedience to the Church, I will not only revoke the decision of excommunication, but will assure him of my favor. No one will refuse a friend as influential as I am," He smiled haughtily at Thomas, "Not even a man who secretly kept the pagan traditions of his nomadic ancestors."

This remark stunned everyone present. Archbishop Thomas, the king, the Knight of the Lily, and Charles' armor bearer, Thomas Semsey, son of Frank, looked at each other meaningfully.

"Indeed," the envoy nodded self-approvingly, even proud of his cunning, "the strength of the Church must be maintained at all times. God's power must be in His earthly Kingdom, whether it be chastisement or false friendship." Shine in. In these troubled times, we cannot allow division and heresy, and if such abominations as in France could happen anywhere, what would we become?"

Antar leaned sideways and ate the meat in a low voice, trying not to attract Gentil's attention.

"The crimes of the Knights Templar have not yet been proven," said the king, trying to avoid Antar's gaze, "and they may turn out to be exonerated..."

"That's not what I mean," said the cardinal, "I'm talking about the disgrace that took place in Paris last month, the trial of the Dominican Church, where the Templars could have proved their innocence in front of the crowd, but they let Shame on the Holy Inquisition."

Antal was choked suddenly, coughed loudly, and spat out the meat stuck in his throat.The cardinal randomly raised his dark eyes, which were ominous.

"I'm well aware, young knight, that you were once a member of the Knights Templar," he said in a lower voice than before, and glanced at Charlie to let him know that no one could hide anything from the papal envoy . "I think you must have a good reason to break your oath and quit the Knights."

The knight's face turned gray, and he couldn't answer any questions, but the cardinal looked at him as if he could read him.In the end it was Charlie Robert who came to the rescue of his brother.

"Antar, the son of William Barto, swore to me," said the king, "that he taught me how to fight with honor, and that he provided the inescapable part in the recovery of Esztergom and Buda. You have seen for yourself, Your Excellency, how much the soldiers respect him. He is no longer a Templar, but the Knight of the Lily, my chief knight and brother, who serves the royal family."

The cardinal kept his gaze fixed on Antal's gray face, and then suddenly, as if forgetting what he had just said, he turned his gaze back to his plate.He took another bite of the meat, chewed, swallowed, and washed it down with a mouthful of fruity red wine.

"Recovering the Holy Crown is my vocation, and I regard it as my most important task," Gentil continued to say relaxedly, "After Laszlo Kan surrendered, it is not difficult to restore the sanity of other believers. For To those who still refuse to bow the knee to the king and queen, and even to speak the name of King Charles, I have taken action."

"Action? What action?" Charlie looked up. "Why don't I know about this, sir?"

"Oh, Your Majesty, these are just some trivial matters," the cardinal waved his hand. "I think it's best to get this out of the way before Christmas and not start the year with a headache over these idiots."

The king tried to stay calm. "May I know who they are?" he asked.Gentil didn't say much, and recited the names of more than a dozen families.

"My people are scattered all over the kingdom," said the cardinal, finishing his supper and drinking the rest of his wine, before wiping his mouth on the edge of the tablecloth. "First of all, I excommunicated them all, of course, just for the sake of formality," he waved his hand lightly, "but the effect didn't seem to be as good as I imagined, I decided to let these people face God's real truth." Get angry and decide which side they should be on."

Gentil seemed satisfied with the task he had completed. He stood up, waved to the servant waiting by the wall, and walked out the door.

"Lord Cardinal!" Charlie stood up, his voice hoarse with excitement, "What did you do?"

Gentil looked back into the king's eyes, and Charlie saw the same demonic countenance as that autumn night.

"I expel their dead relatives from the Holy Land," he said grimly, "their souls will suffer and they will be humbled when these nobles see the rotting corpses lying outside the tombs beside the churches , with respect to God again. They will rush to White Castle, where they will crown their only true king, and then Laszlo Kan will give us back the crown as we wish. "

The king slumped on the chair weakly, the others stopped eating, and Cardinal Gentil left silently.

Christian peace has a price, of course, and many times, one has to light hell for it.

(End of this chapter)