Before they started discussing the situation at hand, Madeleine introduced them.
"Your Majesties, these are some of my colleagues from Eastern Novigradia." She indicated each one as she gave a brief run down of their credentials. The older one was a retired professor. The younger three were current professors and researchers. Two she introduced as Tristan and Terri Goodey and the other as Nathaniel Daugherty. "They believe they have some insight into what might have been stolen."
The professor stood. "We've been hearing whisperings for a while, but it wasn't until Madeleine brought this situation to our attention that we began to put some of the pieces together." He nodded toward Tristan who stood to close the door and turn the lights off so they could see the images on the projector screen.
A photo of a painting appeared, one that Victoria recognized but couldn't place.
The professor gave the name of the artist if known, the subject, and the country of origin before moving on to the next one. Victoria wished she'd paid more attention to her ancient history lessons in school so she'd know the details about the onefrom Southern Santiero. When the fourth one appeared on the screen, he set his remote down.
"This is King Gilead III of Eastern Novigradia. Until about fifteen years ago, he was believed to be King Gilead II, but discoveries made at that time gave insight into a whole new monarch, the true Gilead I who had essentially been erased from history. In the years since, we've been able to focus research in new directions. It is believed that Gilead III, along with accomplices in the other countries mentioned, stole treasures and hid them. Those treasures have never been found. They include jewels, precious metals, paintings and other artwork, as well as the few known artifacts from King Gilead I."
"What does that have to do with us? None of those paintings were from Dellisole." Enzo looked far more relaxed than Victoria felt, but she knew he didn't like to have his time wasted when there were so many other things he needed to be doing.
The professor picked his remote back up and clicked again. "This is King Lorenzo I of Dellisole."
Victoria didn't recognize the name but that didn't strike her as odd until she realized Enzo also looked confused.
"He is another king erased from history," the professor went on. "In fact, he was quite young, just like King Gilead I. We believe this portrait was created with him as an adult so others wouldn't realize how young the ruler actually was."
"I've never heard of him." Enzo leaned forward in his chair. "There's at least one other from the Commonwealth I didn't recognize either."
"That's not surprising." Tristan stood. "All of these monarchs were quite young and have since been virtually erased from history." A new slide appeared on the screen with multiple portraits of boys and girls between ones of older men dressed as monarchs. "The theory is almost too fantastical to be believed.The last monarch in each of these groupings all went on their Grand Tours about the same time."
Enzo asked the question Victoria also had. "Grand Tour?"
"As they neared the end of their education, they each took a tour of European cultural and political centers. Contemporary accounts show that they would have been in Paris at the same time then been in the same place several other times as they continued their tours. While there's no definitive proof of a conspiracy, there's too many similarities in the history of their countries to dismiss the idea entirely." A red dot appeared on the screen pointing out the four Eastern Novigradians before the screen changed to just those four. "King Fulke was likely assassinated by his brother, Gilead. His young son became Gilead I for just a few months before he died under suspicious circumstances. His uncle was known as Gilead I until about 15 years ago when the story of the true Gilead I was discovered not long after the death of Queen Caroline. The man we now call Gilead II was almost certainly killed by his son, now known as Gilead III."
"I've never heard of anything like that here in Dellisole." Enzo frowned and looked at Jeanette. "Have you?"
The historian shook her head. "No, but they didn't know about the Gileads until a few years ago. It's possible we have hidden history that we know nothing about."
Nathaniel stood and the slide changed to the rest of the portraits. "As we've researched, we've uncovered similarities with the group of monarchs who met on their tours as well as inconsistencies with how they came to the throne. None were in the direct line of succession when they met. In Eastern Novigradia, Gilead III was the nephew of the king, became the cousin of the king, then the Crown Prince once his father took over. The others have similar histories. One was illegitimate andonly became king because the direct heir passed unexpectedly. That one is well-known history. The others are less so."
"What is the theory you've developed?" Jeanette asked the question.
"Our theory is that the monarchs who met on their tours manipulated events so they all became kings within the next decade. Gilead III was the last of them to do so. The rest became king much sooner."
"For what purpose?" Victoria couldn't make sense of it. "Why would all of them becoming kings as a group matter?"
Tristan shook his head. "That's something we still haven't discovered for certain. We suspect it may be that they were planning some sort of treaty to solidify the relationships then try to work together to take over the rest of Europe. If that were the case, it seems likely there would have been double crossing by many of them as they each saw themselves as the eventual true ruler of the new empire."
Though she didn't understand what would drive them to do that, Victoria could follow the rationale. "What does that have to do whatever is missing from Dellisole?"
The professor stood once more and advanced the slide on the screen. A portrait of one of Dellisole's early monarchs appeared. "We believe the map to the hidden treasures is on the back of this portrait."
Nathaniel continued. "We believe the portrait in the gallery is a forgery and the original is long gone."
18
Hidden history? A forged portrait? Treasure map?
Was this the newest installment of theNational Treasurefranchise?
Enzo didn't know quite what to make of it.
"What proof do you have the painting here is a forgery?" Victoria asked the question running through his mind.
"None yet," the professor admitted. "We need a closer look at it, but we have discovered one in Eastern Novigradia that is forged. We found the original hidden in the archives. On the back is part of a set of instructions for a treasure hunt. We suspect at least one portrait in each country holds another piece of information. We're still working through the information, but this one seems the most likely here. If it's not, we'll want to look at the other portraits until we find one that is a forgery. If none are, we'll want to check the backs - very carefully - to see if there's information hidden on them."
