I was beheaded in the Middle Ages for 20 years

Little Isabella got her wish and went to see Old Isabella.

Philippa followed, of course.

It’s not that I’m worried about what might happen to the two of them on the road.

No matter how ridiculous it was, it was the first time they met and the distance was so short that there was not enough time for anything to happen.

The main thing was that it was Queen Isabella who called her personally. They were both former members of the French royal family, and Philippa listened to Queen Isabella very much.

But strangely, Queen Isabella often disliked her.

Queen Isabella did not live in the palace, but in the suburbs outside London, similar to an independent manor.

On the way, little Isabella did not hide her affection and curiosity for the perfect French knight.

He was restless even sitting in the carriage, and kept asking questions to Xu Siling who was riding a horse outside through the window.

Both Edward III and Philippa had good foundations, and their children were also good-looking.

The sixteen-year-old Isabella is in her prime and has a good figure in all aspects.

Xu Siling has no objection to married women.

He believed that as long as he found the right time and place, he could just give a little Isabella's husband a hand signal and put the hat on him.

just
Xu Siling didn't want to touch the wives of medieval people.

The main problem is the hygiene in Western Europe. Even among the nobles, most of them do not pay attention to this aspect.

You can't ruin your happy life for the sake of momentary pleasure.

If little Isabella was still unmarried at the age of sixteen and had never had a secret meeting with anyone, she would be like Chris, who was spoiled and well protected, or like Blanche, who was a special case.

Xu Siling didn't mind what happened.

unfortunately
Xu Siling responded to little Isabella's enthusiasm as politely as possible.

To put it bluntly, he would rather stay with Philippa.

Not that Philippa is still charming at 38.

If you want to believe the life expectancy of people in the Middle Ages, you could lie in your coffin and count your days at the age of 50.

Not to mention that Europeans age quickly.

Staying with Philippa, I could hear a lot of the secrets of the British royal palace that Philippa exposed.

Philippa did not say it directly, but through her words we can learn a lot about Edward III and England.

This is very helpful for Xu Siling.

Occasionally, you can hear Philippa complaining about Edward III, who slept with three women in a row in one night. When he found the third woman, he found that he couldn't get hard, so he blamed the woman's sagging breasts for affecting his performance, and then the woman's breasts were cut off the next day.
The more Xu Siling came into contact with the secrets of the British royal palace, the more determined she became to support John.

Although John's father was not a good guy and had done many disgusting things, such as killing his wife and marrying his son's daughter-in-law.

But fortunately, his descendants are all normal.

John is kind and Charlie is smart.

Xu Siling has not met Edward, the Black Prince, but his reputation is not particularly good. Of course, it doesn't matter to him whether he is good or not.

Leaving the city of London, we came to the manor in the suburbs.

The estate covers a large area.

There are many guards patrolling.

There was a butler waiting at the door.

Queen Isabella was ill some time ago and had been bedridden for a long time. She has just recovered not long ago.

She is a woman who cares a lot about her appearance.

He didn't care about his old body at all. After recovering, he was playing with an owl in the open space in the manor courtyard.

When Xu Siling and the other two arrived, they saw Queen Isabella staring at a huge owl with her eyes wide open.

An old woman and an owl were staring at each other as if neither of them was convinced by the other.

Xu Siling secretly complained in her heart, and if people didn't know, they would think she was staying up all night.

But when you keep an eagle alive, you are not keeping an owl alive.

Philippa approached, saluted and called out first, and little Isabella happily stood beside Xu Siling.

"Philippa, how long have you been married to my son?"

Queen Isabella asked back without even turning her head.

".Twenty years."

"And how long have you been Queen of England?"

Philippa pursed her lips and lowered her head. At 38 years old, she was extremely humble and obedient, without any complaints: "Eighteen years."

Twenty years ago, Philippa married Edward III, who had been on the throne for 11 months. Queen Isabella was regent at the time, perhaps because she did not like women from the House of Valois.

It took two years before Philippa held her coronation ceremony as queen.

Xu Siling could understand this.

As a remnant of the Capetian dynasty of France, he witnessed the end of the Capetian dynasty and then watched Philip VI of the House of Valois seize the French throne.

Although she believed that France was the overlord, it would be a lie to say that she had no opinion about the Valois family.

So, Philippa has been used as a vent for Queen Isabella for the past twenty years?

If that's the case.

The queen in front of me is so pitiful.

Xu Siling felt a little distressed.

Queen Philippa still left a brief mark in the history of Western Europe.

What is most commendable is that after the victory in the Battle of Crécy, Edward III originally wanted to massacre the city of Calais, as massacre of a city is an old tradition.

But with Philippa's hard persuasion, she finally convinced Edward III to pardon the lives of the people of Calais.

Xu Siling knew about this, so she had a good impression of Philippa.

But that's about it.

As for why?
Very simple.

Because the Duke of Normandy was John, and before him it was Philip VI, and it was passed to John because he became king.

The city of Calais is part of Normandy.

Philippa was a woman from the House of Valois. She lived in Normandy, had been to Calais, and even knew quite a few people there.

It was normal that she couldn't accept the massacre in Calais.

Because of this incident, Philippa, as the Queen of England, has been criticized by the British nobles.

Kindness, which seems unreasonable in the eyes of outsiders, is subject to extremely normal doubts.

After all, not everyone can be like Xu Siling and Fei'er, where not massacring the city is the rule.

Queen Isabella turned around holding the owl, her eyes full of fine lines, but her gaze was still sharp and firm.

Her hair was streaked with silver.

She wore a white veil on her head and was dressed very simply and solemnly, without any fancy outfit.

Judging from her facial features, Queen Isabella was definitely a beauty when she was young.

One can even see a lot of Blanche's shadow in Queen Isabella's face.

Come to think of it, one is the daughter of the king known as the 'handsome man', and the other is the granddaughter.

Isabella's tone was direct, cold and inhuman.

"I was lying in bed, and I heard people say that my son Edward was in the room with another woman. And you, Philippa, the queen of England and the wife of my son, were bent over the door of the room, crying and wiping tears secretly."

Xu Siling raised her eyebrows and said, "Fuck, is this something I can listen to?"
Philippa's face was filled with shame, and she clasped her hands together, feeling very uneasy.

"I"

"Queen, please don't blame your mother." Little Isabella couldn't stand it anymore and insisted on choosing between her mother and grandmother. Of course, she disliked the serious and cold grandmother of the same name more.

"Isabella, I told you not to call me queen when there are no outsiders around."

"grandmother."

Queen Isabella obviously said this to Xu Siling.

Isn't he the biggest outsider here?

Xu Siling smiled but said nothing.

"Everyone, get out. Isabella, spend more time in your husband's territory, inspect your people, take care of the sick, and show your noble lady side. Philippa, what I want you to do is over, but don't forget that as the Queen of England, what you really have to do will never end. I mean forever."

Xu Siling was amazed inwardly, and unexpectedly cold and serious.

After reading the letter, Xu Siling thought that Queen Isabella could write such a letter. When the two met, they would definitely greet each other with a smile. It would always be okay to pretend to smile.

I didn't expect that Queen Isabella in history would be so "avoidable".

I feel sorry for Philippa for three seconds again.

Filipa nodded a few times, but finally said nothing and left with his head down. Xu Siling took a peek at him and her eyes seemed to turn red.

Little Isabella wanted to stay, but was also defeated when she met her grandmother's cold and ruthless eyes.

He looked back at Xu Siling every three steps before leaving completely.

Queen Isabella handed the owl to the butler and took it away. This time, there were only her and Xu Siling in the entire courtyard manor.

"I'm glad you came, Xu Siling, my nephew-in-law, although your visit to England has not brought any joy to any of us."

To be honest, deep down, someone like Queen Isabella is enough to make people stay away from her at first sight.

The three big words "difficult to get along with" were engraved on her forehead.

But Xu Siling discovered that being with such a person, apart from being difficult to get along with, at least it would be easy to get along with.

At least he wouldn't be as nervous as Philippa.

"I haven't had a good time for a long time, in France and even more so in England."

"I'm sorry for letting you see that just now."

"Which scene, Madam? Do you mean the scene in which you abused Queen Philippa? Or the scene in which you exposed the scandal of King Edward?"

"I heard from others that you like to call my son cousin, which is a good name." Queen Isabella raised her hand gently, indicating that the two of them could walk around and chat as they walked. "As I said before, when there are no outsiders around, you don't have to call me queen. Just call me aunt, just like Blanche."

Without any emotion, Xu Siling couldn't figure out whether Isabella was being polite or sincere.

Xu Siling thought it was the former, but Isabella's cold and serious face made him take it seriously.

"No matter how I look at it, I feel like an outsider, or someone outside of England."

"I don't want to discuss this too much, kid. But if you want to integrate into England, you must first learn to open your arms and learn to embrace."

"I think my cousin's arms are wide enough to hug so many women at once." Xu Siling's words were still sarcastic and mocking.

"You can't blame him."

"How to say."

"His father didn't set a good example, it was terrible, and I didn't set a good example either."

"And you start blaming Queen Philippa?"

Isabella shook her head gently. "She is a wife and a queen. England doesn't want a queen who can only lie at the door and eavesdrop on her husband having fun with other women and secretly wipes away tears. She must learn to restrain her husband. There is no other way. My son will no longer listen to me, even though he loves me."

What a double standard.

No matter what mistakes my son makes, I can be tolerant and understanding.

He kicked you out of the position of regent, and you can accept and understand it.

He is promiscuous, and you can accept and understand it.

On the contrary, Philippa, who didn't make many mistakes, was criticized by you.

Is this the difference in the relationship between mother and son, and mother-in-law and daughter-in-law?

Xu Siling finally understood what Ella often said - I understand, but that doesn't mean I can comprehend.

"After all these years, you still haven't given up and want to control him?"

"No, now it's the other way around. It's your cousin who's always trying to control me."

"But I don't think he can control you. At least he needs you, otherwise you wouldn't have written to me."

"He needs you, England needs you, so they all need me to do it."

Xu Siling raised her eyebrows: "According to what you said, you don't want me to come?"

Next, Queen Isabella actually said that she did not treat him as an outsider.

"If you didn't come, England would lose. If you came, France might lose." Isabella said calmly, "I don't know who would be better off losing this battle. If I had a choice, I would rather hope that no one would lose, and no one would win."

To put it simply, it means that England and France want to shake hands and make peace.

But Xu Siling knew very well that this was unrealistic.

New and old grudges are mixed together, and no one can stop the war between the two countries.

But through Isabella's words, Xu Siling was able to keenly perceive her state of mind, which was not as extreme as she had imagined.

"You don't even want your cousin to win."

"It's his ability that he can win."

"So what you have been thinking about is to suppress his claim to the French throne, just like more than 20 years ago?"

"There's nothing to say about that. I failed. I really thought he had given up, but he didn't."

"He looks a lot like you."

Isabella was silent for a moment: "I should say that we are like my father."

Philip IV is a ruthless man.

It does.

"So, what exactly do you want to talk about when you called me here today?"

"Xu. You don't think that when I call you here, I will directly ask you to accept my son's proposal and ask you to help England and support England to defeat France?"

Xu Siling raised her eyebrows, curious: "Is that what your son thinks?"

"I wouldn't ask you that, at least not now."

"Then you want to..."

"I want to ease your relationship. It's your job to choose, not mine."

"Hey, I have a very good relationship with him. Heaven and earth can bear witness to this. If the Lord sees me and him, He would be moved to tears!"

"Then please don't let the Lord's tears be worthless."

Xu Siling had to admit it.

Old Isabella was really difficult to get along with, and he began to miss the enthusiasm of young Isabella.

But he had to admit that he really enjoyed the feeling of talking to Isabella like this.

Be straightforward, without too much thinking or suspicion.

Although there is no guarantee that the other party's words are entirely true.

But with such quick words, it seemed as if the two of them had a very deep relationship.

Xu Siling began to be curious about Isabella's thoughts.

At first he thought that Isabella's view on this war was that French orthodoxy > her son, but then it gradually evolved into her son > French orthodoxy.

But after a brief contact, it seems not that simple.

At least through Isabella's words, one can feel her nostalgia for the overlord France.

What is clear is that what we miss is definitely not the Valois Dynasty. (End of this chapter)