Gloria Regali

Chapter Twenty Six

Anastasiya had not said a word after her discovery.

She had kept quiet as she had been lost in her sea of thoughts. The words said by her nanny haunted her thoughts every waking moment. The empress remained silent, fro it was the only way in order not to lash out in anger. She would have wanted to

"Anong nangyari nung gabing iyon?" Anastasiya asks.

Lourdes had met her gaze. Fear and paranoia can be seen from the eyes of her nanny as she struggled to tell the empress of what she knows. Anastasiya had the power to make her talk yet she decided against it. Besides it was not even a formal investigation and she did not want to have someone taking a closer look to her actions.

"Nung gabing iyon, mas lumala ang sakit niya." The nanny starts. Anastasiya had noticed that the nanny did not refer to the real Anastasiya by her name. She did not know if she avoided the name of the deceased or it was simply the fear of having many too many eyes and ears in the palace. "Itinago nila yung pangyayaring iyon dahil hindi pwedeng magpakita ng kahinaan ang pamilyang Andrada at..." she trailed off.

"At?" The empress presses.

"Sapagkat may pinagtatakpan ang angkan ng Andrada." Lourdes reveals. The nanny had spoken in low tones in order to not be heard by anyone but the empress. Lourdes knew that if such confidential information would be heard by the prying ears, it would the end of her mistress.

Her past did not matter anymore as she was now the empress of the empire.

Anastasiya's brows furrowed at the statement of her former nanny. The nanny then avoided her gaze after speaking the truth. Silence engulfed the both of them as no one dared to speak. Anastasiya was struggling to take all the information in.

"Kaya naisipan nilang dalhin ka sa Amerika. Kasi alam nila Senor Andrada na maaring mamukhaan kang hindi ikaw si Anastasiya."the nanny reveals.

"Mahal na imperatris?"

Anastasiya's train of thought was disrupted when her brother-in-law addressed her. Carlos had served as his brother's advisor and was present in various meetings of the matters of empire. She was clearly brought back to the reality that she was in a meeting with various men of the imperial court.

"Lo siento, maari bang ulitin mo ang iyong sinabi?" The empress asks, as an attempt to save face. She could already see the dissaproving looks some of the nobles gave her. Nonetheless, she had stood her ground and remained regal.

Looking guilty would just make them loathe her much more.

"Estábamos hablando de las Islas Mindanao (We were talking about the islands of Mindanao)." Carlos then fills her in on what she had missed. The empress figured out that her brother-in-law was helping her from embarassing herself in front of the nobles who watched her every move like a hawk. She made a mental note to thank him later. "Pinag uusapan namin kung anong gagawin sa mga islas."

Because they had conquered so much of the rest of the continent, the Spaniards assumed that they could do the same here. Most of Luzon was under their control within a century, and they were able to convert the majority of people in the Visayas and the majority of Luzon (except for Cordillera).

Mindanao proved to be a much more difficult challenge. A fort in Zamboanga was built and maintained by the Spanish, but they had little success against Islamic rulers such as the Sultanates of Lanao (around Lake Lanao) and Magindanao (in the river basin of that name). Mindanao and its people remained largely Muslim or local animists, outside both the "cross and crown" of Spain for nearly three centuries, despite the efforts of missionaries in Cagayan de Oro.