kingdom of nations

Chapter 10: Holy Communion
Heraclius did not tell the children the exact time and place - to avoid causing any trouble. To this day, Amalric I has not been able to find any clues about the source of leprosy.

As Cesar had guessed, the nearest leper gathering place to Alasa Road, a leper valley, was fifty miles away. Even if there were lepers hiding themselves among the pilgrims, he would not be able to approach Baldwin easily.

Baldwin was only nine years old, not even a servant or a squire. Except for a few rare hunting trips, his activities were limited to the inner city of the Holy Cross Castle. The people around him were either the lord's heirs or the sons of ministers, and they showed no signs of illness afterwards. Could it be that God was dissatisfied with Godfrey and his descendants' unwillingness to hand over Alasar to their spokesperson, so he sent an angel to punish him?
Heraclius and Amalric I had exactly the same idea on this matter: this was not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster.

In order to avoid a second human disaster, Heraclius would certainly not reveal his and the king's plan in detail to a third person.

"There is one more thing I need you to do," Heraclius added. "Tomorrow at Mass, you will receive Holy Communion on Baldwin's behalf."

"Immortally receiving Holy Communion?" Baldwin asked in surprise. "Isn't this a grave sin?"

"Receiving Holy Communion falsely refers to the presumptuous act of those who are not baptized, confessed, or catechized. You are not one of them, Baldwin." Heraclius said calmly, and it was completely invisible how many times he and Amalric I had debated and argued with the Patriarch of the Holy Land over this matter in the past few days.

Baldwin breathed rapidly.

"Your father told you," Heraclius said, "that you can trust him."

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"How can he be ranked before everyone?" Abigail, son of Bohemond, Duke of Antioch, stared at the black-haired boy standing side by side with Princess Sibylle.

"Because he's acting on behalf of Prince Baldwin," Bohemond muttered lazily. "Of course he's qualified."

"But he should also know his identity," Abigail said fiercely: "Such a lowly guy..." Yet he could stand so close to her, his breath filled with her fragrance.

Bohemond simply raised his eyes in disdain. He knew what his son was thinking.

"So are you going?" He moved his lips, his voice almost as loud as those of the people around him, but a little unclear, to ensure that only Abigail, who was close to him, could hear it: "I can ask His Majesty to allow you to serve His Highness, but the problem is," he moved his knees slightly. The chapel of the Holy Cross Castle was located high up in the main tower, but it could not avoid being penetrated by the coldness of the stone.

"Do you have the guts to stay with a leper all the time? Holding his golden cup, hugging his cloak, sleeping under his bed, breathing his breath? Do you dare? If I remember correctly, when you heard that the king's only son, your friend and future master, was a leper, you were so frightened that you burst into tears, your knees gave way, and you knelt on the ground and begged me to stop being the prince's page."

At this point, the Grand Duke even raised the corners of his lips: "You said you would rather become a monk, fight the Saracens, and die, than live day and night with a sinner punished by God."

Hearing her father's words, Abigail's face flushed red, his lips moved, and his breathing became rapid. But when the monks finished singing a chapter, he still didn't muster up enough courage, and finally could only stammer, "Just a slave..."

“‘For they are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves,’ ” Bohemond repeated a passage from the Book of Leviticus, “that he was no longer a slave when Amalric I bought him from the slave trader Isaac.”

Abigail was speechless, but it was not easy for this stubborn young man to let go of his resentment. Bohemond could see at a glance the malice brewing in his heart, and could not help but lament in his heart how he had such a mediocre eldest son.

Sibylle, the eldest daughter of King Alasarus, is thirteen years old this year. She has a slender waist and plump flower buds. Even without rouge, her lips, forehead and cheeks are as bright as the morning sky. Some say that she is as pure and flawless as the Vestal Virgins of Palatine Hill, while others say that she has the wisdom and talent of the Queen of Sheba in Marib. From Galilee in the north to Khalil in the south, those who want to be her husband are as numerous as the grains of sand in the wilderness.

Such a beauty, even to look at her shadow in the dust would be blasphemy, and now there is such a humble slave, just because he is the prince's attendant, he can get along with the princess like a close friend, and receive the golden cup and the holy wafer from her hands. How can this innocent young man not be jealous?
Bohemond didn't care how much Abigail admired the princess. What he cared about was that his eldest son was so stupid that he couldn't see what he should really master, and he put the cart before the horse.

For a noble like Bohemond, Sibylle's most valuable attribute was her inheritance rights to the Kingdom of Alasar.

The Kingdom of Alaska, the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Edessa which was destroyed a few years ago, and the Patriarch of the Holy Land all recognized the system of primogeniture (male heirs first). If the king had no male heirs, then his daughter could inherit everything from him and give it to her husband. In other words, if a country became extinct, outsiders could obtain a kingdom through marriage.

King Godfrey I of Alazarus had been strongly in favor of this system because he had three daughters. These three daughters successively entered into marriage contracts with the rulers of Antioch, Tripoli and Edessa, and as Godfrey I had expected, they briefly became regents after their husbands' deaths - except for Edessa. Perhaps it was for this reason that the relationship between the County of Edessa and the Kingdom of Alazarus was so distant and indifferent that when it was attacked by the Saracens and the Amerians, Alazarus and its other two allies ignored their previous promises and stood idly by.

The funny thing is, Bohemond thought to himself, that Godfrey I probably didn't expect that the inheritance law he set might not always be in favor of Alazarus. After his death, he had no heir, and Alazarus was inherited by his brother Baldwin, the Count of Edessa at the time. Unexpectedly, Baldwin's son Baldwin II also had no children, so his kingdom had to be handed over to his son-in-law.

Baldwin II's grandson, Baldwin III, Bohemond, and Raymond of Tripoli were his retainers, friends, and brothers. They spent their childhood and adolescence together in the Castel Santa Croce until Bohemond had to return to Antioch to fulfill his duties. Not surprisingly, he would soon be recalled to Alasarus to become Baldwin III's right-hand man, wielding great power.

But fate played a trick on him. Baldwin III died suddenly before he even had the chance to get married. His younger brother, Count of Edessa, later Amalric I, became the new master of Alasar. Although he also recalled Bohemond, he said from the bottom of his heart that the relationship between Bohemond and Amalric I was not close.

To remedy this shortcoming, he sent his eldest son, Abigail, to Amalric I's only son, Baldwin the Younger, early on, hoping that he would, like him, establish a strong friendship with the future king. To his disappointment, Abigail and Baldwin the Younger had a mediocre relationship, or rather, Abigail shifted all her energy and time, which should have been devoted to the king's son, to the king's daughter. However, after Baldwin the Younger was found to have leprosy, Bohemond's attitude changed from opposition to ambiguity—everyone knew that lepers did not live long, and women were not allowed to have children.

But what troubled Grand Duke Antioch was that between Abigail and Hibile, Hibile clearly had the upper hand. Given the precedent left by Godfrey's daughters, Bohemond couldn't help but worry that Abigail would eventually become a puppet at Hibile's mercy.

Or one of many.

Abigail is not the only young man here who admires the princess. There are also David of Tripoli, Eudes of the Knights Templar, Roger of the Knights of the Charity, William of Apollo, Nasi of Galilee, Guy of Arabia...

They had all been attendants to the king's sons and friends of Sibel's beloved younger brother. There might have been cowards like Abigail among them, but there were also brave, even reckless, young men like David, who, upon learning that little Baldwin was ill, still begged to return to the prince's side.

Of course, Amalric I did not allow it.

If any one of these people showed even the slightest bit of malice, it would be enough for this servant with no foundation or background to suffer, Bohemond thought, and couldn't help rolling his eyes in his heart. His stupid son didn't even think of this, but was impatient and was the first to show an ugly and useless face - he didn't think that if anything happened to the boy, he would be the scapegoat.

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Cesar took the gold cup.

To say he was unaware of the burning gazes and surging malice behind him would be a joke. In truth, few in the chapel, save perhaps Amalric I, would have had a favorable impression of him—the Crusaders were still at war with the Saracens, and he was the mercenary of an Isaac slave trader, his origins unclear, worse than a bastard or a commoner. No one could guarantee he wasn't a spy or a pagan.

If, he meant, Amalric I had made him a lowly servant, these people would not have cared at all.

But after Baldwin contracted leprosy, Amalric I had to bear two heavy pressures - on himself and on Baldwin. He had to be responsible for his country, fight for his beliefs, and take responsibility for his vassals and ministers... This pressure almost made him a little crazy, so that his temperament became extreme.

The more they wanted Amalric I to deprive his only son of his identity, status and power, the more he would raise him to a height that no one else could reach. Even if Baldwin still could not leave his room, he would use the most generous way to tell others that his son was still the most noble heir of Alasar! Even one of his servants was qualified to look at the son of an earl or a duke on equal terms.

For some timid people, this is simply a torture, but for Cesar, it is nothing more than a responsibility equal to power. Unless he is willing to bear the strong inequality caused by blood and status in this era and place, he will not refuse.

The priests' dissatisfaction is more concentrated on the issue of "receiving Holy Communion on behalf of others". "This has never happened before!" they shouted. Because the wine and unleavened bread in the Mass represent the blood and flesh of Christ, they could only be received by believers in person before. If a believer is in a state of being unable to move, the priest must distribute the Holy Communion personally and will not let others receive it on their behalf.

But Baldwin's situation was different. It was not yet certain whether leprosy was a punishment from God or a test from God. Although it was written in church law that lepers could not perform the sacraments, Amalric I undoubtedly played a marginal card.

But no matter how they complained, Amalric I would not change his mind. Taking Communion on their behalf was only the first step. He would let everyone know that Baldwin's identity and status would not be shaken in the slightest just because he was a leper.

Under the gaze of everyone, Cesar held a golden cup filled with wine and unleavened bread wrapped in muslin and left through the secret passage behind the chapel. The secret passage was guarded by a strong but sad-looking monk. When he saw Cesar, he bowed and opened the door.

The secret passage was narrow and filled with a unique fishy smell of stone. Thin rays of light shone in from the small holes in the wall, barely illuminating the stairs. Cesar reached the left tower after a few minutes.

Baldwin couldn't help but take a deep breath when he saw him, and felt even more relieved when he saw the Eucharist.

He took the unleavened bread from Cesar's hand, dipped it in the wine, and swallowed it in one gulp.

Originally, Baldwin wanted to ask in detail about the situation at that time and everyone's reaction, but before Cesar put away the golden cup, servants - new servants, because those predecessors who were hanged, were as docile as lambs. Maybe they still muttered some bad words in their hearts, but when Witt was there, they openly sprinkled salt into the water, by the door, and in the corridor to ward off evil spirits, forcibly demanded rewards, and were passive and lazy, and drinking and gambling did not happen again.

They came to report that Princess Sibylle had come to visit her brother.

At this time, they had heard a series of small hammers hitting a xylophone-like sounds. It was the princess and her maids' wooden soles or hard leather soles hitting the stone steps.

There were also the rustling sounds of silk and linen skirts rubbing against each other, brushing against the walls and the ground, and the low whispers like the chirping of nightingales. Without having to see it with your own eyes, just by listening you could imagine what a lively and lovely group of little girls they were.

"Don't tell your attendants to leave," a clear and sweet voice said outside the door. "These lovely ladies are here to see him."

(End of this chapter)