Chapter 205: White Linen, Red Blossoms
After the Cypriots stepped back, people finally saw the most noble person in the welcoming party. The bride’s brother—the Grand Prince Alexios—uncharacteristically, he was not walking at the front of everyone, but quietly hidden among the officials of the Byzantine Empire. But when he threw off his cloak and strode out, that brilliant and luxurious attire immediately stung people’s eyes.
His attire today, even if it could not be called trespassing, was infinitely close to that bottom line. In the Byzantine Empire, every class has exclusive clothing and ornaments, even strict laws related to them. Anyone who dares to cross the line faces cruel punishment, and even princes are no exception.
The officials who came to welcome the King and Caesar were all wearing white robes, with only purple silk inlaid at the edges of the robes. They certainly wore jewels, but no pearls.
Wearing purple clothes adorned with pearls is a privilege only Imperial Family Members can have. Just like Alexios now, under the dark gray cloak was a deep purple robe, girded with a gold belt. The large square scarf on his chest was studded with sapphires, rubies, pearls, and amber, so densely packed that the embroidery underneath could not be seen.
Not to mention he was also wearing a pair of purplish-red sandals. This purplish-red was not pure. When he was in the shadows, it looked like deep purple. Only when walking in the sunlight, under strong light, did it show a faint reddish tint.
Everyone who saw it, especially the officials of the Byzantine Empire, could not help but gasp inwardly, exchanging frightened glances.
Purplish-red sandals have always held extraordinary significance in the imperial family of the Byzantine Empire. In all history books, if it records a certain Emperor of Byzantium being stripped of his throne, the first thing the victor does is to strip off his purple silk robe and remove the purplish-red sandals from his feet, to indicate that he no longer has the identity of an emperor, but is just a powerless commoner.
Conversely, when someone is enthroned as emperor, his followers will dress him in a purple robe and purplish-red sandals.
But the Byzantine officials dared not say anything. Being sent here doomed them to not being favored by the Emperor, and the fate of informers can be seen in the ban on laughter decree—as long as they spoke or heard words blaspheming the king, they would be punished together. They were the same; who let them witness such arrogant folly without stopping it…
The Emperor could imprison them for this reason as well.
As for the Cypriots? They preferred to watch the jokes of the Byzantine Empire’s Imperial Family, and the Crusader knights cared even less.
As for whether Alexios wore the emperor’s clothes—that had nothing to do with them.
When Alexios was hidden in the crowd, he had a cold expression, neither speaking nor smiling. After stepping out, his countenance was obviously much softer. After a few steps, he even burst into hearty laughter.
He strode toward the King of Ayyarasa Road, pulling him over—he intended to do so, but couldn’t move him. However, he didn’t feel embarrassed, instead deepening that smile and stepping forward himself to embrace Baldwin tightly, while shouting loudly: “My dearest brother!”
He used a bit too much force; even Baldwin felt the jeweled square scarf on his chest pressing painfully.
When he released his hands, Baldwin unhesitatingly pulled Caesar from beside him over. “This is your brother. The noblest Alexios.”
Alexios paused, turning his face, but he did not show the contempt in his heart on his face. Instead, he enthusiastically pulled Caesar over and hugged him tightly. That wasn’t all; afterward, he even linked arms with Caesar and walked forward together, deliberately showing an extremely intimate posture.
Seeing this scene, Baldwin could not help but breathe a slight sigh of relief.
Manuel I’s eccentricity had always been a thorn in his throat, and as the bride’s only blood relative, Alexios had always maintained an indifferent attitude, making Baldwin wonder if he was dissatisfied with this marriage.
But thinking about it, it made sense. Although Caesar was now the Count of Edessa—no territory; favored and protected by him, yet no official position—Baldwin had not yet come of age to rule; his father had left him 200,000 gold coins, but relative to this marriage—the princess’s father and brother had never seen even a single coin…
Baldwin originally planned to allocate a piece of newly captured territory to Caesar after one or two victories, or wait until the third or fourth Crusades to recapture the County of Edessa for Caesar. But unexpectedly, Caesar’s marriage came so inexplicably.
No brother would hope for his sister to have such a mismatched marriage. The emperor’s grandniece had previously married the King of Ayyarasa Road, while his true daughter could only marry a attendant by the king’s son’s side—any perceptive person could see how unfavored this princess was. Rather than saying Cyprus is her dowry, it was more like she was Cyprus’s dowry.
But his willingness to attend the wedding, with an attitude that could be called friendly, did it mean he was also willing to accept such a brother-in-law?
“How is the princess?” the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Philip, asked.
“The most brave and steadfast knights are guarding her door at all times,” one of the Knight Commanders replied.
“What about her handmaids?” This time Philip was not asking his Knight Commander, but Abbot John standing by looking around. Abbot John was not the leader of the Gerard family. As a monk who had abandoned worldly life, he rarely interfered in family affairs. But this time, since they had already brought back Damara, it was even less possible to leave Abbot John, who had greatly favored Caesar, in Ayyarasa Road. He was also one of the witnesses and the Gerard family’s representative in Cyprus.
“Our sisters are closely following the princess at all times.” Besides the noble ladies who went to serve Princess Anna, there were two nuns and two Chosen by Raphael monks. “Her daily meals have been inspected, and her clothes and jewels have been checked.”
“We must ensure they marry today,” the Grand Master of the Knights Templar Philip said. Not only that, the princess had better get pregnant soon—Caesar was young, but the princess was somewhat old…
“Best if it’s a boy who can grow to twenty in one day,” the Abbot said, nearly making the Grand Master laugh out loud. The Abbot’s words were absurd, but if they could come true, it would be ideal.
In marriages involving territory like this, before a child merging the two bloodlines and surnames grows up, the status of the foreign wife and husband will not be stable.
To truly make Cyprus Island a possession of the Crusaders, they would need to expend much more time and energy.
“That’s why I insist so much,” the Grand Master said. “You see, without us, he couldn’t even stand here.”
Abbot John was unwilling to admit this. Although he had always stayed in the monastery, he had heard of Caesar’s deeds in Ayyarasa Road and Bethlehem. He believed that given time, Caesar could also become a good ruler.
As for the Knights Templar, indeed, without them, Caesar’s initial days would be quite difficult. But as long as he endured, once manpower and funds were in place, there would be no place for the Knights Templar to speak here.
As for the Gerard family, Abbot John chuckled inwardly. He knew the Knights Templar always looked down on the Knights Hospitaller because this knight order originated from a few merchants’ scheme（they first requested the Caliph to allow them to build a hospital to accommodate pilgrims, and only then did the knight order to defend the hospital’s safety emerge）, but so what? As merchants, they best understood timing and restraint.
They could certainly seize this opportunity to plunder massive assets from Cyprus Island, even maneuver to sideline Caesar. But what benefit did that bring to the Gerard family? What Cyprus needed was not merchants, and the Knights Hospitaller also had places needing their loyalty and service, unable to station long-term in Cyprus.
Cyprus needed a lord with legitimacy, bravery, and resilience to withstand pressures from multiple sides. The Gerard family had no such person. If they tried to forcibly swallow this fruit, they would end up like Adam and Eve being driven out of Eden, naked and empty-handed, expelled from Cyprus.
That would be the good outcome; perhaps they would even lose their lives here.
Abbot John did not intend to answer the Grand Master’s words. He hummed vaguely in response while continuing to look around—finally finding a good excuse. “What happened there?”
Although he was also a blessed monk, the favor God bestowed on him was not enough to let him see what happened there. The Grand Master looked up, watched for a while. “The knights are driving away the commoners who came to watch the ceremony.”
“Why?” Abbot John asked casually. Commoners watching the ceremony could also be seen as part of the public notarization, so no wedding would be held secretly.
Especially for commoners, if they want to marry, a man and a woman holding hands walking down the street, shouting “we’re married” while walking, can be considered husband and wife—not like later generations imagine, needing to go to a church and have a priest witness the wedding to count as marriage.
Otherwise, over ninety percent of commoners couldn’t afford to marry; they didn’t have that spare money.
Noble weddings also inevitably had steps open to the public. Like when Maria married into Ayyarasa Road, Amalric I held a grand entry ceremony for her—because their wedding was held in Holy Cross Castle.
Some nobles would have the groom parade with the bride on the streets after the wedding, so the commoners could all see their mistress.
“Too many people,” the Grand Master said. “Although this will cause some criticism, it’s better than a riot. Cyprus is not as peaceful as it appears. And most of these people are rogues and vagrants. They may have come just for some reward money, but it can’t be ruled out that they’ve been bribed to disrupt the wedding.”
Hearing this, Abbot John could only nod. The Grand Master’s actions were somewhat excessive—but at this time, no amount of caution was too much. “When will the wedding be held?”
“Vespers（4:30 p.m.）.” This was also the time most weddings were held. After the ceremony ended, the newlyweds could enter the wedding room. And the witnesses would watch in the room as they completed the most important step in life.
Only when the bride’s blood stained the white linen would their marriage be valid.
“Are you hungry?” Baldwin asked.
“I’m not hungry.”
“Then have some water.”
“I’m not very thirsty either. Baldwin, you seem more nervous than me.”
Baldwin took a deep breath. He hadn’t told Caesar that sometimes, looking at Caesar felt like looking at another self—unlike him heading to hell day by day, Caesar was heading to glory. If so, he felt he would be saved too.
Now another self was about to marry; how could he not be nervous? He stood up and circled Caesar again, checking his ornaments for errors. Fortunately, there were none, but he still hesitated, unfastening the decorative short sword from Caesar’s waist and replacing it with a Damascus scimitar.
This scimitar was still a gift from Sibylla to him, then passed on to Caesar.
The black cowhide scabbard didn’t quite match this attire adorned with jewels. Baldwin looked at it and wanted to remove it, but Caesar pressed his hand down.
“I quite like this. Just leave it.”
Baldwin sighed, returned to his seat, propping his chin, watching Caesar awkwardly touch the ring on his hand. This was also a point that had drawn much private criticism: Caesar didn’t like jewels much.
This drew mockery from some, saying he should just be a commoner or a monk.
But Caesar believed that besides being a noble, he had a more important identity—a knight, a guardian who must always keep himself in combat readiness. Wearing jewels, whether necklace, bracelet, or ring, would affect his agility to some extent. Sometimes a slight hindrance or hesitation could cause irreparable failure.
He never harbored luck, but today he had to endure this discomfort.
“If you dress plainly, the Byzantines will think you’re humiliating them. They’re dissatisfied enough already,” Baldwin said. “You probably don’t know; they even wanted you to wear Byzantine clothes to marry the princess. Fortunately, the princess refused. But even if they proposed it, I wouldn’t agree.”
The Byzantines weren’t just about one set of clothes. When a foreign princess marries into the Byzantine Empire’s Imperial Family, she is required to change out of her national clothes and wear Byzantine style robes to marry the Emperor.
Their practice was somewhat disgusting, but it could also be said to be fighting for discourse power and sovereignty for Princess Anna in the future marriage—if Princess Anna hadn’t seen too many couples turning ruthless over power and interests—like their father Manuel I—she might have agreed. But now she saw through their intentions at a glance, not only refusing the request but taking out scripture and reading a passage to them.
“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.”
These officials were speechless.
Anna said she not only wouldn’t let Caesar humiliatingly wear Byzantine Empire clothes to marry her, she even wanted to obey her future husband and change into Frankish clothes at the wedding.
