Sister, I'm the Queen This Life (330 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 380

The first reason Pope Ludovico summoned monarchs and influential cardinals from every nation to Trevero was to find out who had tried to poison him.

However, the second—and only truly productive—reason he undertook such an immensely tedious endeavor was to find his successor.

‘No one too young.’

He would surely be dead within six months at most, so he had no choice but to choose from among seasoned clergy who already had some foundation.

Six months was far too short a time to build anything new; if he died as pope without properly establishing a young successor, there was no doubt the old foxes would tear the child apart alive.

He no longer had the time to seek out and mold another promising youth into a custom-made protégé, as he had once done with Arthur. Heaven never gave everything.

‘Someone capable… yet obedient. Someone who will honor my will and lead the Fourth Crusade to victory.’

Cardinal de Mare had already been excluded from Pope Ludovico’s mental shortlist—indeed, he wasn’t even on the longlist—precisely because he failed the “obedient” criterion.

And understandably so. The two were contemporaries, barely two years apart in age, and even hailed from the same Kingdom of Etruria. Naturally, a rivalry had simmered between them since childhood.

Of course, Ludovico had always held the upper hand.

Born to a distinguished family, blessed with a commanding stature, a likable appearance, and masculine charisma, Ludovico had utterly overshadowed de Mare—small, petty, and armed with nothing but his intellect.

Yet there was something about de Mare’s defiant face—his tiny, obsidian-bright eyes staring back while spouting tedious theological theories—that Ludovico couldn’t simply laugh off.

In hindsight, it was precisely a kind of excellence Ludovico himself lacked.

But at the time, he’d never entertained such thoughts—only clenched and unclenched his fists in frustration. If only they’d met a little earlier, he would’ve beaten the insolence right out of him, just as they’d always done.

Whenever Ludovico raised his fist, de Mare would abruptly turn around, walk off with his nose held high—but the young Ludovico would always chuckle, noticing de Mare’s knees trembling.

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