Chapter 233: Second Marriage
“This is commonplace.”
When Boccia brought up this matter with her grandfather, even Dandolo could not help but subconsciously say such a thing.
A woman is a commodity, and her ownership will be constantly transferred like commodities in a transaction, from her father to her husband, from her husband to her son. How much respect can people have for a commodity?
Dandolo had previously taught Boccia as if instructing a boy, but he did not expect her to achieve a brilliant career. Instead, out of love for this child, he hoped she could retain her self in her future marriage.
This is very important. Blind meekness will only provoke more brutality. Humans are born to bully the weak and fear the strong. Facing a cowering prey that doesn’t even dare to move and a prey that might jump up and bite at any time, their reactions are completely different.
In other words, even Dandolo did not expect that in his granddaughter’s future marriage, she could meet a husband who doesn’t beat his wife—he only hoped that Boccia could escape and resist even without his protection at that time—in short, just don’t die.
Now it was as if he had witnessed a wonder: there was actually a man who not only didn’t beat his own wife but also hoped his sister’s husband wouldn’t beat his wife. “He really is a good person, right?”
He asked his granddaughter with a beaming smile.
Little Boccia hesitated for a moment. She knew that every question from her grandfather was never without purpose, but after hesitating for a while, she still nodded in admission.
He really is a good person, sometimes even overly tolerant. When a handmaid ruined his clothes, the cook made the soup too salty, or the gardener mistakenly pruned a pot of his favorite rose, he would not severely punish them.
He would only tell them to try their best to correct the mistake, or not to repeat it next time. In more serious cases, he would at most deduct their wages—but that really doesn’t count as punishment. The wages earned by servants working in the Governor’s Palace are the highest.
The greatest punishment, at least as far as she knew, was no more than expulsion from Nicosia.
Although they must abide by some rules that seem a bit strange.
Boccia spoke at length until she saw her grandfather looking at her with a smile, then realized she had been overly concerned about this place, or rather its master.
A flush of intense red immediately rose on the girl’s cheeks: “You are mocking me, Grandfather.”
“No, no, no, I am just watching a girl fall in love.”
“Are you worried that I will fall in love with him?”
“Isn’t it only natural for a wife to love her husband?” Dandolo shook his head, put down his fork—the Church considered it pretentious and a waste of the five fingers God gave people, but Dandolo thought it indeed reduced a lot of greasiness and dirt, and found it quite convenient.
“I just want to remind you of two things.”
“Two things…” Boccia glanced left and right, and the handmaids immediately silently exited the room. Dandolo’s servants, needless to say, had long left the dining room, leaving only the grandfather and granddaughter.
“No one can deny that your future husband is a good man of noble character and uprightness.
But you will also hear many discordant voices. While most people praise him, some will mock his benevolence as stemming from his timidity and inferiority.
I raised you to be a proud child, and I worry that in your future marriage, you will gradually lose your respect and fear for him.”
“Why would you think that? When you love someone, shouldn’t you respect him even more?”
“That’s how you think now. But I have seen too many women who were fortunate to have a good marriage. Their husbands were willing to love and respect them at the beginning, perhaps because of their dowry, or maybe their faces and figures. But in any case, they did have a fairly happy time.
But such times often cannot last too long. This is not entirely the men’s fault, but women always have an illusion that all things are fixed and unchanging—God, the castle, and their husband’s love for them. And when something is always readily available, they no longer cherish it.
Especially if the husband usually appears overly gentle, they might even think they can lord over them.”
“Lord over them?”
“Yes, I have always taught you to achieve a stable relationship, whether in business, at court, or even in your bedroom. The best way is to make both sides equal and mutually beneficial. But some fools think that if a person doesn’t seize something when they have the chance—for example, dignity and interests—it is an intolerable loss.
And under normal circumstances, once such a woman shows such signs, her husband will punish her with confinement, fists, and lovers, making her know her place—after which most of them do become obedient and cautious.
I know you are not likely to be that foolish; after all, I raised you. But there is a big problem in your marriage with Caesar.
Just as you described to me before—he is very tolerant.
Like those servants who make mistakes; if they were under the knights I know, even if they weren’t strung up and whipped, they would at least get a few sticks. That’s already considered lenient; some might even be executed.
He is so lenient with lowly servants who have no relation to him; with his knights and subjects, he is even more generous and caring.
As for his wife… what he did for Princess Anna can already be written into the minstrels’ poetry.
Presumably, he won’t treat his future wife too poorly either. He might never raise a fist to you in his lifetime; you will live quite comfortably, happier than your mother or grandmother, but this is the greatest flaw, at least in my view.”
“I almost don’t understand what you are saying.”
“I mean, when you disappoint him, he won’t immediately berate you or fly into a rage. He might talk to you properly, or even just bury it in his heart. But do you know why teachers whip children’s bottoms so fiercely? Because otherwise, children cannot remember their mistakes.
You are the same. You will indulge in a honey pot, lose your way in power, and when your mistakes accumulate enough or touch his bottom line, he is very likely to turn and leave immediately, never looking back.”
“Are you prophesying? Your words make me afraid.”
“Fear is right. Do you think he will entangle with you back and forth? He is a man after all, a knight; he is the lord here, the autocratic monarch of Byzantium. He has countless matters to handle, campaigns large and small to fight; he has a monarch to whom he owes loyalty, and subjects and knights loyal to him.
And as a wife, your place in his life is not great.
Although… if our alliance still exists then, your marriage will continue, or for the sake of your children, he might yield once more. But his estrangement will make you suddenly lose balance; you will plummet from great heights into the abyss.”
“Are you advising me not to love him so much?”
“Wrong. I don’t want you not to love him; I want you to love him more—he is benevolent but not a fool, and can tell if someone is truly devoted to him. You must not only love him as a wife, but as a subject love your monarch, as a knight love your lord to whom you are loyal. You must be honest with him, submit to him, and always remember the equality and inequality between you.
You may not understand now; that’s fine. Just remember it.
A proverb once came from the distant East that I find very reasonable. Every time I act, I think it over in my heart to check if I made a wrong decision.”
“What proverb?”
“Do not expect others to do what you yourself are unwilling to do.”
Dandolo tapped the table with his finger. “You are fortunate, my child. Your future marriage has a very good foundation.
What you need to say now is to build upon it, making it a solid and splendid palace, rather than constantly undermining the foundation you stand on.
Alright. Next, I want to talk about the other thing.”
Boccia could only temporarily keep the previous words in her heart to slowly digest them in the dead of night. “What is the second thing?”
“This matter is not as urgent as the first, but very important. If you fail to do what I asked before, it might give you a chance to recover—that is Caesar’s first wife, Princess Anna of the Byzantine Empire.
You don’t think that since she is dead and buried six feet under, she has nothing to do with you, do you?”
“No, Grandfather. I respect her very much and admire her.”
Not every woman, betrayed by her father and brother and with little time left, can still take revenge on them. Boccia could certainly see that Princess Anna’s final persistence was not just for love, but also to land a hard blow on the Emperor Manuel I of the Byzantine Empire and his ambitious brother Alexios.
She did achieve it. The current emperor must feel like a fishbone in his throat, unable to rest easy, and her brother Alexios’s head has long since become a white bone on the city wall of St. Lazarus Church.
“So as soon as I arrived in Larnaca, I immediately went to St. Lazarus Church to offer a Requiem Mass for Princess Anna. She has no conflict of interest with you,” Dandolo fixed Boccia with a stern gaze. “She even did you a favor; she left your husband a dowry so rich it is unimaginable.
Their marriage lasted only one night; she left no children for your husband. All inheritance rights or other powers for your future children, and their father’s love, will not be shared at all. But love is exclusive; when you love Caesar, I cannot demand you not feel jealousy.
But you must know, Princess Anna’s actions would move even a hard stone to pity and tears, let alone your husband who is such a soft-hearted person. He will probably never forget her.
She will always have a exclusive pure land in his heart.
You can be jealous, but don’t let this jealousy destroy your reason. Never slander or insult her; no living person can be more perfect than a dead one.
Don’t see your husband’s heart as a small room, or even a box, where once one person moves in, no second can enter. See your husband’s heart as a courtyard.
A courtyard cannot have only one kind of flower: there are roses, perhaps daffodils; roses, perhaps morning glories; low shrubs and tall trees.
And you should know that even a rose, if it encroaches on other plants’ territory, no matter how beautiful, is poisonous weed that some need to remove.
Don’t do such a foolish thing. Bloom beautifully, vibrantly, prosperously. Bear his offspring, be his strong right arm, so that he can truly place you in his heart, in every place.
Then, when you have children, even if not a boy, it means your marriage has entered a stable phase. At that time, you can even talk to him about Princess Anna, listen to his thoughts on her; you can even pray for her, hold Mass for her.”
Dandolo saw the puzzled look in Boccia’s eyes and cruelly reminded her, “You cannot be sure that in his future life, you will be the only woman.
He is only seventeen this year, and you are the same age, but women age very quickly after childbirth. You may not guarantee surviving repeated births,” Dandolo said. Seeing his granddaughter pale but still firmly listening without jumping up to retort or deny the fact, he felt a genuine comfort in his heart.
“And when he later has a lover or another wife, what you and your children can rely on will dwindle. So while you are still passionately in love, seize more bargaining chips.
Princess Anna will be a threshold that every subsequent wife and lover of his cannot surpass. This impassable threshold is your sturdiest shield. Don’t reject her; instead, connect closely with her, and with your future children.
That way, once his love for you fades, or you are no longer by his side, he will still think of you when he thinks of Anna—St. Anne’s Cathedral beside the Governor’s Palace has already begun construction. Let Princess Anna become a true holy monument.
You may have your own church in the future, but I hope it is built for you not by your husband, but by your son.”
Boccia took a deep breath; all her previous fantasies shattered like fragile glass under her grandfather’s words, but she would not blame him for it.
Just like the harsh education she had received before, he revealed these terrible facts to make her better, not worse.
“Alright.” Dandolo felt no burden at all; after saying these words, he put them behind him. He knew his granddaughter should have understood. “Next, let’s talk about something pleasant. When do you want to set the wedding date? September or October?”
This time, Boccia could not help but be amused by her grandfather.
“September.” She said firmly, and a pleased smile appeared on Dandolo’s face. It seemed his granddaughter was still as full of courage as ever.
“I heard that night of his… was not pleasant, entirely out of a fit of anger and pity for Princess Anna. Although every witness said they completed the ceremony, I think…”
Dandolo said softly, “I think you will leave him a much better memory, like honey candy to offset bitter medicine. It won’t completely mask the sour taste… but it truly shouldn’t be what he deserves.”
“Of course, Grandfather,” Boccia replied confidently.
