In Pena Palace, the portrait of the Holy Mother smiled from the oil painting, revealing the "humanity" and "beauty of the body" of the Renaissance. Yet with a few understated words, King John II decided the life and death of a noble, and along with him, the fates of a few insignificant commoners at the bottom had already been fixed in advance.
In this era, the cruelty and mercilessness of medieval Europe could not be imagined through impressions from the Age of Enlightenment more than two hundred years later. In Europe at this moment, what endured was a noble order of rule that had lasted a thousand years, a world where the proportion of "men" was pitifully small, where the Inquisition was brutal, and where there was no mercy or tolerance to speak of in matters of faith!
"His Majesty, the letters sent together half a month ago by King Fernando and Pope Alexander VI—you have yet to reply..."
Chief steward Nuno lowered his head and drew King John II's attention away from an unexpected letter from afar and toward two other letters that had been expected.
No, it should be said that the letter from King Fernando of Aragon had been within King John II's expectations. As for the letter from the newly appointed Pope Alexander VI, just like the pope's rise to power, it left King John II surprised, and filled him as well with disdain and disgust!
"Ha! What a venerable Borgia pope! What a cardinal born of Aragon! What a witness to the marriage of Fernando and Isabella, what a godfather to Prince Juan!"
At the mention of the newly appointed Pope Alexander VI, a disgusted sneer surfaced on King John II's face. Such intense hostility rarely showed itself on this perfect monarch.
But Pope Alexander