149 Useless

The king agreed to my request, especially since it cost him nothing, he'll just loan me his architect for a while, and I'll have to cover his salary anyway... and as for the talks on Prussia, apart from a futile discussion, we achieved nothing. Only after the meeting with the king , I had a brief conversation with Chancellor Zadzik, I asked him to send me as an emissary to Prussia... a few days after the meeting at the royal palace, I was informed that in four weeks the diplomatic mission of which I would be a member would depart to Królewiec. I was supposed to be one of the few emissaries, without any significant position, and my presence was only meant to increase the rank of this diplomatic mission and possibly intimidate the Prussian side.

"Wrónski, you will go to the Bernardine Convent and buy from them the land and houses at the Czerska Gate. Of course, buy them as cheaply as possible, but if it is not possible, buy for the price they say, more important than gold for me is to have this piece of town." (MC)

I knew that King Władysław intended to erect a monument in memory of his father and for the glory of the Vasa family, but he had not yet chosen a place. That is why I intended to anticipate his intentions and buy this land for myself, and then build on it, instead of the King Sigismund III Vasa Column, a column of another king, Stefan Batory... but the truth was, it didn't really matter to me, I was just petty... fortunately, the construction of the theater and the bridge was coming to an end, which would allow me to transfer workers from these projects to demolish old buildings and prepare everything for the construction of the column.

I also returned to publishing the newspaper, which meant that my workload increased... The rest of the time, if I had him, I tried to devote to family life. Piotr was already old enough that I decided to send him to Rome this year for studies and so that he could start his church career, as for Katarzyna, my plans changed, I could not find the right candidate for her husband, luckily she was only 10 years old and I had a few more years to decide what to do with her... and even if I don't find her a suitable husband, I can always place her in a convent as a nun.

"Father, what is this?" (Katarzyna)

Katarzyna pointed to the drawing of my authorship in the newspaper... it was a drawing of a panda.

"A species of bear, its fur is black and white, inhabits China... it's very far to the east." (MC)

"Have you seen him with your own eyes?" (Katarzyna)

Yes, on TV and on the internet, but I couldn't tell her that and my pride does not allow me to admit that I have never seen a panda with my own eyes.

"Yes, a long time ago during one of my journeys I saw this animal in the port, the sailors who brought it told me a little about its origins." (MC)

It was quite a credible lie and impossible to verify, especially for a 10-year-old child.

"Father, do you like animals? You know a lot about them." (Katarzyna)

"I like animals, I eat a lot of them, and as for knowledge, it comes with age." (MC)

While I was waiting for my trip to Prussia, two unexpected things happened... the Apostolic Nuncio Mario Filonardi and the Spanish abassador Fernando de Monroy came to Warsaw.

The nuncio brought me two letters, the first from Cardinal Francesco Barberini, in which he informs me that the case of the king's brother is gaining momentum and that he will be appointed auxiliary bishop in Jerusalem... which was good news, the fewer Vasas in Poland the better for country. The second letter was from the Pope himself, in which he praises my Christian virtues... I did not even know that I had them... and as a reward for Jerusalem and the release from captivity, 20,000 Christians, my title of nobility will be elevated from Count to Prince of the Papal State and will also be awarded the Ordo Militia Aurata and my achievements are to be announced before Mass in all major churches... but all this was unnecessary for me, I inherited the title of Prince from my grandfather. I also had the title of Prince of the Reich, which was useless and did not entail any privileges, and now a similar situation was with the title of Prince of the Papal State... and as for the Ordo Militia Aurata, I did not like wearing jewelry... the only good thing about it was getting free advertising in churches.

The visit of Fernando de Monroy was quite a surprise, I was not sure what the Spanish King might want from me and as the Spaniards did not help us during the war with the Ottomans and I felt that completing the Suez Canal would be a good lesson for King Philip... so I tried to be careful when meeting the ambassador. However, my caution was completely unfounded, that I had heard so much praise from the ambassador's words... that I was not sure if he wanted to buy me or fuck me.

King Philip appreciated my information about the alliance of the Principality of Castro and the Kingdom of France and rewarded me with another useless tinsel in the form of Ordo Velleris Aurei... in one day I got enough jewelry that a little more glitter and I could pretend to be a drag queen or become a rapper.

There was, however, something funny about this situation, on the same day I was rewarded by two sides of the conflict... the Papal State and the Kingdom of Spain.

The next days and weeks passed, and my life was very boring, as the date of departure to Prussia was approaching, I called my company of hussars to Warsaw, which will accompany me as personal protection.