Your Mightiness

Among the medieval buildings, the most impressive ones are castles and churches.Both of them are built in the direction of being as towering and magnificent as possible, giving people a majestic and direct feeling.

Why do you do that?

Because they are symbols of human rights. The "Gospel" of the "Bible" once said that Jesus stipulated that what belongs to God should be returned to God, and what belonged to Caesar should be returned to Caesar.To put it bluntly, it actually separates the spiritual power of religion from secular political and military power. The former belongs to the pope, while the latter belongs to the king and lord.Churches and castles are the embodiment of these two powers.

At the beginning, the word "church" was directly advertised as a residence dedicated to God.The holders of secular power (kings and lords) cannot and cannot be the masters of the church.

A priest is a person who is qualified to live in the church in order to serve better and listen to God's teachings.The bishop is an extension of God's prestige and a representative of God in the world.

So here comes the question, since it is your own (or your master's) house, why let others spend money to build it for you?

Especially if the lord has provided free labor.

Yes, although most lords will not contribute to the construction of local churches, people must be paid.

There are many believers who are willing and willing to volunteer for the church and help the church build the church for free, but where are these believers from?People on the land of the lord, whether they do technical work or manual work, will inevitably affect the normal life of the church people and the development and construction of the territory itself.

But did the lords complain about it?No!

At least on the surface, I dare not complain.

This is the duty of the lord, the responsibility of the lord, and the unshirkable duty of the lord.August is no exception, but he doesn't understand these things, and has always given full authority to the old housekeeper to handle this matter for him.

The leading bishop seized this point and wanted to take the opportunity to make another windfall from the ignorant August.

The leading bishop firmly believed that as long as the old butler was not with the Duke, the young Duke could still be easily deceived.What he relied on was the well-known "little problem" of the Lord Duke of Gloucester--the Duke is a fool.

Well, the aristocrats who met August in London probably couldn't agree more.

But the leading bishop is not qualified to go to London to attend the king's wedding.

The reason why the nobles in London can accept the fact that "August is not stupid" so quickly is not that they have never heard any rumors about August before, but that August has lived in Bristol all year round. Well, for the London nobles who don't care about "small places", they have no intuitive impression of August's stupidity at all, and they can easily be reversed after seeing the real person.

But for local Bristol social circles, the duke's reclusive "recuperation" did not stop the rumors from spreading.Everyone has seen the little fool Duke more or less, and he is far less mysterious than ordinary people imagine.

Although August has regained his sanity in the past year, his otaku nature still makes him rarely appear in the public eye, causing most of the local nobles' impression of August to remain in the past.Only a small number of people changed their minds. These people were carefully screened by the old housekeeper for August and could engage in social activities. They were either good-natured or useful to August.

Obviously, in the eyes of the old steward, the first assistant bishop is someone who can't meet the two conditions, and is not worthy of August's condescension.

The old butler preferred that August meet some young people who had great potential in the church but whose current status was not high.Coincidentally, August also thought so. He was not as far-sighted as the old housekeeper thought at the time, but he just thought that he was going to read the Bible to him anyway. Young clerics at least have good looks. What about middle-aged uncles?Potbellied?Greasy and bald?It's too hot for the eyes, it will be a huge torture to the body and mind.

So to this day, in the imagination of the leading bishop, August is still the stupid image he had seen several times at the banquet.Even if someone said that His Excellency the Duke has become smarter, the leading bishop would still sneer at it, thinking that the other party had boasted a bit too much to the Duke in order to embrace the royal family's thigh, and he was completely shameless and intelligent.

Despicable people naturally don't mind cheating money from fools, and will do so with a condescending attitude.

Just when the bishop was out, the leading bishop in power started to play tricks.

In fact, if the leading bishop can be a little less self-righteous, ask the diocesan bishop, and he will know how stupid he is.

The bishops of Bristol, Gloucester, and the three counties of Cambridge have all had the most direct contact with August, many times, and some of them have a good relationship in private. After all, August needs to dig long A beautiful choir boy.The priest in the Church of Auguste Castle, even the nominal nephew of the cardinal who served under the introduction of a white bishop, the actual illegitimate son.

The leading bishop breathed a sigh of relief when the old butler left him and August in the study, thinking it was a gift from God.

Who would have thought that the real killing move was behind.

When he saw Raphael coming out from behind the bookshelf, the leading bishop, who was so fat that he almost lost his neck, almost popped his eyes out of his sockets in astonishment, as if seeing an alien descending from the sky.

Of course, the leading protagonist has heard of the great reputation of the Earl of March. This well-known illegitimate son born to the Queen Mother and her lover is very skillful, making his half-brother who should have hated him They all openly acknowledged him and trusted him a lot.Now he is a powerful minister under one person and above ten thousand people, and those who oppose him will not have any good results in the end.

For example, Cromwell, Earl of Essex, who was also once extremely honored...

"I didn't expect that the Earl and Your Excellency are here too." The leading bishop was so frightened that his voice changed, and his voice was so soft that it was so weak that he swallowed.

"I am ordered by the king to come and see the life of His Excellency the Duke," Raphael strolled leisurely to the opposite of the leading bishop, with a smile on his face as usual, but it was inexplicably frightening, he dragged Chang Yin said, "I didn't expect to see such a big gift when I came here. Is this how you usually 'take care' of His Excellency the Duke?"

"Don't dare, it's all a misunderstanding!" The leading bishop was sweating profusely, and he kept claiming that what he just said was a misunderstanding, and he didn't dare to talk nonsense anymore, "I was just joking with Your Excellency ...No, no, no, I'm not joking...I said something wrong, I was wrong. No matter how hard it is, no matter how hard it is, we can grit our teeth and persevere. In fact, I am here this time only to invite His Excellency the Duke to come here if you are free. The church provides guidance. We drew a stained glass window of His Majesty the King in the church, but we don’t know whether it is close to the real Majesty. We all think that His Majesty the Duke is the person who knows His Majesty’s benevolent temperament best, so we would like to invite His Majesty to have a look .”

"Bitter?" Raphael raised his eyebrows, and after saying something meaningful, he didn't break up the stage any more, but agreed to the invitation of the leading bishop for August, and then raised his hand to shake the golden cup in August's hand. Little Bell, let the old butler come in and clearly expressed his intention to see off the guests, even stingy with tea.

After going out, the leading bishop's legs were limp, and walking on the carpet of the castle promenade was like stepping on cotton.It wasn't until he got into the carriage that he slowed down a little.

The leading bishop said to the old steward, "You did it on purpose, didn't you?"

Otherwise, how could the old butler, who used to watch the Duke very closely, suddenly kindly arrange for him to be "alone" with the Duke today.

The old butler didn't even bother to maintain the respect on his face this time, and gave the leading bishop a look of contempt for a fool, of course he did it on purpose, what's the point?No matter how much the old housekeeper complained about the young master, he had to admit that he was just a housekeeper, and there were very limited things he could do.Therefore, even if he is very unwilling to do so, he still has to temporarily rely on Raphael's strength.

Silly Bambi suddenly burst out from nowhere, and rushed towards the leading bishop with a murderous look. The leading bishop was so frightened that he didn't dare to talk nonsense, closed the car door, and ran away.

Only Silly Lu didn't know why, so he chased the carriage for a while until he reached the gate of the castle's suspension bridge, and ran back to the old butler again, with a pair of clear and transparent eyes full of obvious puzzlement, How did the guest leave?He hasn't played with it yet.It looks like a deer, but its heart is more like a sleigh Bambi. In fact, it is crazy. No matter who it is, it likes to chase, just like being chased in a deer park. It thinks this is a very interesting game.

But so far, the only one who is willing to stop and play with Silly Deer is Auguste.

The old butler misunderstood the meaning of the silly deer, and happily patted its head: "Nice job." He decided to give the duke's pet an extra meal at night. It's within the scope of the housekeeper's consideration. Whose pet can be as loyal as a silly deer? !

Inside the castle, August stood by the window, watching the leading bishop being scared away by the silly deer, and laughed.

Raphael said to August: "The church doesn't pay a penny, what's the trouble?"

When Raphael came to deal with the city's drainage system, he had already heard the rumors, and was thinking about how to help August eliminate the cancer in the territory, when the leading bishop sent him to the door.

"Not a penny?!"

Although August provided the labor force, building the church would definitely cost money, a lot of money.Generally speaking, the priests of the church need to pay for this money.With the money-greedy and stingy appearance of the leading bishop, he would definitely not pay for it himself.

"His reason is still very good. The money was robbed by the king." Now he is exploiting with confidence and preparing to pocket his own money. "For this reconstruction, he contacted many wealthy businessmen in the city to donate generously."

There has always been competition between parishes and parishes, and devout believers who are willing to pay are one of their main resources for competition.As a port city, Bristol has many wealthy businessmen or pirates who have made money by going to sea.

"Doesn't the bishop care?" August remembered that the bishop of Bristol was a very nice person.

"Too good a character is not necessarily good." Raphael also knew the bishop of Bristol. He was an overly idealistic young man with a good heart, but unfortunately he couldn't suppress the man who was full of intrigues. The leading bishop is still being troubled by that ambitious guy. He is not in Bristol now, but he has gone back to explain the problem. Whether he can come back safely is still in doubt.

There are corrupt people in the church and there are good people.But just like this bad society, good people are always embarrassed by bad people.

So, Raphael tapped on the hard cover of the book, this terrible world should be destroyed.

A warm and soft familiar touch interrupted Raphael's contemplation. He looked up and saw August rushing towards him.If the head is arched, then it will act like a baby, and still refuse to admit it.

"What's wrong?" Raphael was helpless.

August didn't dare to say that he was a little afraid of Raphael's suddenly dark eyes just now, so he could only say: "Fortunately, I have you, otherwise I will be cheated to death."

August felt that it was necessary for him to investigate thoroughly in a while, how much money he had been scammed when he was stupid.

Raphael smiled, lowered his head and kissed August's forehead, with unparalleled tenderness, he said: "If you are grateful...just memorize a few more words!"

August's face suddenly became depressed.

On the contrary, Raphael became very happy, ah, the world still cannot be destroyed, otherwise what about such a lovely Al? "My Al."

"En?" August tilted his head, "What's the matter?"

"It's okay." It's just shouting happily, you are finally within reach.

"..."

That night, Raphael really kept his word and went to Auguste's bedroom to supervise him reading Latin.

August didn't expect Raphael to be serious, and he didn't study this seriously during the day.Well, it's not that it's not serious, it's not serious enough to the level of Raphael's perverted request.

Rafael, as an inspirational counterattack model who was ridiculed because of his accent problem, but was later praised as having the most perfect aristocratic accent, thinks that all of his present is due to his high standards and strict requirements in the past, It can also be understood as obsessive-compulsive disorder + perfectionism, even a little bit of non-standard pronunciation is not acceptable, and it needs to be corrected a hundred times.

August prefers to call this behavior self-abuse, and now it's Raphael's turn to abuse him.

"Stop, C is silent." Raphael interrupted August again, "I know it's hard for you to get rid of your mother tongue habits in English and French, but you have to, okay? I don't know your How did the Latin teacher tell you? Maybe he thinks that you can read the Latin version of the "Bible" and Caesar's "Gallic Wars" as a victory. After all, the application of Latin is in academic writing. Now Few people can communicate in Latin anymore. But if you can't even pronounce the words correctly, how can you guarantee that you can understand the language?"

After August's time travel, although the language system automatically switched to English, his inner consciousness was still Chinese-style—basically relying on dumb English, and he might not be able to speak it, but he would definitely get a high score in the exam.

Well, August didn’t even get a high score in the test back then, but the meaning is still the same. He has always been able to make do with his pronunciation.

In fact, until now August felt that Raphael was being critical.He read such a long paragraph of the article, but Raphael was struggling with him on how to pronounce a person's name.

Yes, the silent C that Raphael interrupted was actually just the name of the ancient Roman philosopher Cicero.There are two Cs in Cicero's name that are not pronounced. In other words, the beginning of "Xi" is wrong, and it should be pronounced "Ji", the base of Jiyou.The c here is an unaspirated voiceless sound.

But for August, this is a bunch of theoretical knowledge that he has not understood, boring and boring.

Raphael didn't need to guess at all, he understood August's true thoughts from his face.In this regard, Raphael's reaction was not to continue preaching, nor to blame, but to pinch August's chin with one hand and kiss him.

With his own tongue, taking August's soft and smooth tongue, he walked for a while according to Cicero's real pronunciation.

"!!!"

When Raphael turned back and left with a calm expression, August was completely dumbfounded, the kind of stupidity that he forgot to be ashamed, and he could only stammer: "You, you, me, me, me... "Raphael's legs were covered with cold-proof blankets, although it was early spring, the castle at night was still bitingly cold.Raphael pulled the blanket quietly when August wasn't paying attention, covering up some reactions that some tights couldn't cover up.Then he continued to say to August with a righteous face: "Do you remember how to pronounce it?"

Simply unforgettable, okay? !August still didn't dare to speak, but just repeated the pronunciation on one side bluntly.

"Very good." Raphael nodded in satisfaction, "Go ahead."

"..." Still going on?What to continue?Don't you think this teaching is weird?August, who was too scared to refute, could only pretend to yawn, expressing that the child's energy could not hold back.

Rafael was also very accommodating: "Then let's just leave it at that for now, you go to bed early, and you have to go out tomorrow."

"That's right, that's right, I think so too, going to bed early and getting up early is good for your health!" August nodded hurriedly, looking at Raphael eagerly.

Raphael gave August a half-smile look: "So you know it too."

"..." Your Excellency the Duke who insisted on sleeping late and waking up late.

"Okay, go to sleep now." Raphael had no intention of getting up after saying this.

"You..." August could only hint.

"I watched you sleep." Raphael replied with a smile, as if he wanted to stick to the supervision to the end.

Your Excellency the Duke, who has no way out, can only go to bed after washing with a heavier heart than going to school, and obediently sinks into the bed that is a bit too big for his age. The profile of Raphael illuminated by the dim light of the fire, his nose bridge is so straight, his lips are as thin as a sharp edge, his eyes are like knives, even if he just looks down to read a book, there is a classical elegance of oil painting.

How can there be such a good-looking person?

How could such a good-looking man be his uncle? !

August sighed softly, he didn't know what he was going to do if Raphael wasn't his uncle.But he knew that he suddenly couldn't understand this relationship that made them look very close to each other.

When Raphael looked over again, August closed his eyes in fright, and the loose blond hair was spread softly on the snow-white pillow, and he couldn't see the stubborn pile of dull hair when he got up in the morning. figure.

Gradually, August's breathing changed from a chaotic feigning sleep to a gentle sleep, with his small chest heaving and falling under the velvet quilt.It always reminded Raphael of the pure white swans he saw on the lake in Reisingburg when he was a child. The feathers were fluffy and soft, and they slid across the mirror-like lake leisurely and gracefully, carrying a mysterious power that attracted people. Yearn for.

When Raphael came to his senses, time had passed unknowingly for a long time. He just looked at August's sleeping face like this, and he didn't feel impatient when he didn't do anything. Gave a sense of satisfaction in my heart.

Raphael got up quietly, stood in front of the bed, hesitated several times, but finally failed to kiss.

Because... the feeling of wanting more but not being able to is really tormenting, just once, never want to try again.Raphael took one last look at August, and quietly left the room with the candle, taking the last bit of light with him.

Waking up the next morning, while eating breakfast, August swore secretly that he would never accept such a distracted teaching method because of mispronunciation.

Raphael actually made up his mind. Before August became an adult, no matter how impulsive and whimsical he was, he tossed and turned last night and stayed up all night.

The two tacitly forgot what happened last night, and set off for Bristol to visit the church.August learned from Raphael on the way that apart from the rich parishioners, the competition among dioceses is more important to see whose church is bigger and more spectacular. They call this personal enjoyment the opposite In the name of God's respect, August didn't even know where to start his evaluation.

The most frightening thing is that some bishops do this out of personal enjoyment, but there are also pious bishops who sincerely feel that this is respect for God.

The church, which clearly advocates frugality, has now fallen into a vicious circle.

It's like the Oscar movie that August had seen before, it was about a group of reporters investigating the sexual abuse of young children in the choir by a priest, and finally successfully exposed the movie, adapted from real events.One of the plots that made August feel the chills most was that there was a priest who didn't think he had done anything wrong, because he was treated like this when he was a child. He admitted it openly and said that everyone is not Is that so?

The law does not blame the public is the biggest trample on the law, it will condone a kind of evil and become a hidden rule of convention.

August didn't like this very much. He asked Raphael: "Shouldn't the meaning of religion exist to attract people to be good?"

August doesn't think there's anything wrong with religion wanting people to believe in it, it's just like a person always wants to be popular, it's human nature.However, the use of coercive means to globalize religion, and the intimidation of preaching that all heretics should go to hell to force others to believe in it, Auguste felt that such an existence should be called a cult.

Cough, it’s a bit far-fetched, talking about simple church construction, using the money donated by church members to tighten their belts to compare the size of the church, this is also difficult for August to get used to.

"You are the lord." Raphael reminded August.

August understood: "I may not be able to change the atmosphere of the whole society, but I can forcibly change things in my territory!"

"Yes." Raphael nodded.

Although it is said that Richard II's religious reform was more for the purpose of serving his own interests, it has to be said that the reason why Protestantism can spread rapidly like a spark has its inevitable significance and historical value.

When the original good teachings of the old religion are artificially taken advantage of and distorted, the whole religion does not want to fall along with this rotten towering tree. Naturally, the best way is to dig out the carrion of greed and let the religion return to it. As good as it should be.This is true respect for God.

The newness of Protestantism is not the newness of the old, but the newness of the new.