''I have a high-ranking contact among the clergy, one who can bypass the legate and appeal directly to the pontiff: Cardinal di Cremolora; he still owes me a small favour, I believe.''
From what you remember about Cremolora, you found him to be a bit cold. With an incline of his head, authoritarian, elitist, and grasping. From under the bushy eyebrows, his two eyes would quietly judge whoever came close. And though you never confirmed it, you suspect him of colluding with the Tauten Emperor; he did give you a letter to be sent to Cremolora after all.
Without a bishop in the family, he would be the closest thing to an inside man you got. Thus, you wrote to him, asking him politely to divulge about the processes that were happening within the curia. Though he won't reveal the secret within the church, the least you could hope for was some insider information.
In the meantime, you took some time to spend with your wife and three daughters. Though you had long hoped for a son, the prospect had been elusive to you. Perhaps you should prepare for the eventuality that Sophia might inherit, but there was still time to try again. They played and chased each other about in the gardens of your palace. While you awaited the response from the cardinal. Anastasia didn't seem to understand the problem; in Mithras, the emperor has a grip over church matters unheard of in the West.
It was late in the summer, when the great summer storms had passed, when you received your reply.
