"Ah, ah, ah, achoo!" At this moment, Manuel, far away in Belarus, let out a particularly robust sneeze.
"Why do I feel like someone's cursing me?" He felt an inexplicable unease within him.
Mana, who was accompanying him, saw this and attributed it to the local weather. He immediately worried about his health and rushed to add a fur coat to his Crown Prince. Manuel gratefully accepted it, first rubbing his hands together to generate some warmth. Then, seeing that he no longer had any adverse reactions, he relaxed, "It must be my imagination. It's just that this area of Southern Rus' is too cold." He thought to himself.
"By the way, where are we now?" he asked with some curiosity.
"Your Highness, we just left Minsk. It will take at least another month to return to the Principality," Mana replied.
"So long, Holy Mother above!" Manuel sighed with a bitter smile.
Thus, the Theodoro delegation he led continued their journey back, sometimes smoothly, sometimes with bumps.
By the time Christmas was approaching, they finally arrived in Kiev. Only after checking into a local inn were they able to take another hot bath.
The rest was much simpler: just travel by water, taking a boat from the Dnieper River to the Black Sea, and they would be back in Theodoro within a few days.
Thinking of this, and reflecting on the hardships of the journey, Manuel, who was lying in the inn bed, let out a long sigh of relief, "Truly, I'm exhausted."
The next day, on Christmas, Manuel, wanting to enjoy the local scenery, changed into casual clothes and went out for a stroll with a few trusted attendants.
On this day, Kiev was covered in a blanket of snow and ice, with snowflakes fluttering and scattering everywhere. There were not many people on the streets, as most were preparing for the arrival of Christmas. The few still lingering on the streets were either idlers or poor people who had to work even during the holidays.
The city's architectural style was, of course, typically Rus', with orthodox churches visible everywhere. In some parts of the city center, there were even statues of many famous rulers from the Rurik Dynasty, such as Oleg, Vladimir Sviatoslavich, and Yaroslav the Wise.
Lithuania's lenient control over Rus' culture, including Rurik, must have been due not only to Lithuanians absorbing the essence of Rus' culture but also because the local orthodox Rus' nobles were not weak.
Since Lithuania had annexed several Rus' Principalities in the name of protecting Christians, it had to tolerate the power of the orthodox Church and Rus' nobles in the area.
"How prosperous, Kiev! If only Mangup and Theodosia could have this scale. Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, my family, and Barbara must be thinking of me now. By the way, the coronation ceremony of the Lithuanian Kingdom seems to be today." Returning from the streets of Kiev, according to the information he had gathered, most of the city's major nobles had now gone to Vilnius to attend Lithuania's elevation and coronation ceremony.
At this time in Mangup, the Gavras Family was holding their customary Christmas family banquet. What was different from before was that this family dinner had one less person and one more person – it was missing Manuel, who was struggling to get home, and had gained the clever Barbara.
Although she was only officially marrying Manuel in March of next year, everything she had done for him during these days had been seen by the Gavras Family, especially Prince Alexius and his wife. In their eyes, she had long been accepted as one of them.
Meanwhile, in the Vilnius Bishop's Palace in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania ①, a coronation ceremony was taking place—
The Bishop's Palace was bustling with people, gathering all the powerful figures of Lithuania, as well as distinguished guests from foreign lands, especially the Kingdom of Poland. Outside the palace, the people of Vilnius were eagerly peering towards the Bishop's Palace, wanting to catch a glimpse of the Grand Duke, who would soon be called His Majesty the King.
Inside the palace hall, Vytautas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, was being anointed, bowing his head, and invoking God. Standing before him was the Bishop of Vilnius, who had received the Pope's personal permission and was about to crown him King.
After the preliminary rituals were completed, the Bishop finally placed the crown, symbolizing the Kingdom of Lithuania, on Vytautas's head. At the same time, the Bishop was the first to proclaim his new title:
"By the grace of God, King of Lithuania, Grand Duke of Ruthenia, Ruler of Lithuania and Rus', Defender of Christians in Eastern Europe, Noble Knight of the Order of the Dragon..."
And with the end of the coronation ceremony, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was henceforth elevated to the Kingdom of Lithuania.
After the coronation, the dignitaries and people present all cheered joyfully, offering their congratulations and loyalty to their King. However, due to his deteriorating health, Vytautas could not endure for too long outdoors. After the first round of procession, he had to return to his palace to rest, exhausted.
A few days after Vytautas was crowned King of Lithuania, on the first day of 1430, as Manuel arrived at the Dnieper by water, a coronation ceremony was also held in the palace of Bakhchysarai on the Crimean Peninsula.
Inside the Bakhchysarai Palace, Tatar grand nobles, tribal chiefs from across the Crimea region, and officers of the Lithuanian auxiliary forces were excitedly watching the young man, Haji Giray, who was about to turn thirty. At this moment, he was wearing a luxurious and noble golden-yellow Tatar-Mongol robe embroidered with golden Crescents, black velvet trousers popular among Tatar nobles at the time, and a pair of ink-black leather boots, eagerly preparing for the founding ceremony.
"Your Majesty, everyone is here," a Tatar Darhkan reported to him after a while.
"Has Mahmud Kelir, the General of the Janissaries sent by the Ottoman, arrived?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, even earlier than we expected."
"Good." With that, he dismissed the Darhkan and turned to face all the dignitaries present, announcing the start of the ceremony. Seeing this, they composed themselves and faced the ceremony with solemnity.
Next, Haji Giray delivered his speech, criticizing the corruption and decadence of the Golden Horde and the incompetence and weakness of Golden Horde Said with appropriate detail. "To defend the land of our Tatars, for the existence of all muslims on the steppe, for Allah, Allahu Akbar! I, Haji Giray, hereby, as the shadow of Allah on earth, formally declare: The Crimean Khanate is separated from the Golden Horde from today onwards."
And finally, facing the cheering crowd, he confidently laughed at everyone, "Our era has arrived!"
The declaration of independence of the Crimean Khanate was like a huge boulder, causing enormous ripples across the great steppe. The news of the Crimean Khanate's establishment quickly spread throughout Eastern Europe, so much so that less than a week later, the Golden Horde in Sarai Palace learned of the matter.
After confirming that Haji Giray had led his territory to formally establish the Crimean Khanate and secede from the Golden Horde, Golden Horde Said Ahmad was furious, exclaiming, "This is intolerable, Crimea has chosen war! Gather the army for me; I will utterly crush this traitorous wretch!"