Chapter 148: Curious Isabella

After a while, he walked out of his office to look for Isabella. The girl had grown a little more and was curious about everything, though lately she had started reading more books about generals and tactics. In particular, she was reading a book sent by Francisco called History of the Seven Years’ War. It described the wars of Prussia, and sometimes her grandfather Krüger was mentioned, which made the little girl especially excited.

She seemed eager to learn about that lost grandfather, perhaps because she had never truly had a good example of one. Thinking about his own cold father, Carlos could not help but feel ashamed that he could not give his daughter a proper grandfather figure.

Carlos walked closer to her and asked gently,”What are you doing, little pirate?” His voice was full of tenderness.

Isabella, hearing her father, puffed out her cheeks.”I’m not a pirate anymore. Pirates are the bad guys. Now I want to be like my grandfather—a fierce general,” she said, her eyes glittering with excitement, which made Carlos feel a little envious.

“Don’t you want to be like your father?” Carlos asked tentatively. “A great entrepreneur who brings jobs and a better life to many people?”

Isabella rolled her eyes.”Your job is too boring. I’ve seen it. You spend most of your day writing documents and talking to people—and sometimes getting angry with them.”

Carlos coughed awkwardly. If he had been drinking something, he would probably have spat it out.”That’s… not exactly wrong,” he admitted, “but I do many other things too, like traveling, and… and—”

He frowned, realizing that his daughter’s description was not entirely wrong, which left him a little downcast.

The little girl ignored her heartbroken father and asked instead,”When is Grandfather going to come? I want to hear stories about Francisco and his participation in the war. You see, in this book Frederick the Great shows interest in him and starts giving him more responsibilities. I was so excited when I read about it.”

Carlos rolled his eyes lightly.”I don’t know, my angel. You know that traveling from Europe to here is very difficult.”

Then he remembered something, and his eyes lit up. With a smug expression, he said,”Come, follow me. I’m going to show you something I managed to obtain in Bogotá during my last trip.”

Isabella, curious, left the book on the sofa and followed her father. After a short walk, they reached his office. When Carlos opened the door, everything looked the same as always, except for a cloth that seemed to be covering something. Carlos walked toward it and carefully pulled the cloth aside.

Beneath it was a blue sphere marked with patches of green.

“What is this? Is it a ball to play with?” the girl asked curiously.

Carlos shook his head.”This is a globe,” he said, then pointed to it. “This is the world—what our world looks like.”

He turned the globe and pointed to the American continent, then to a large territory.”This is New Granada, where we are right now.”

Isabella leaned closer, staring at the place her father pointed to. There, written clearly, was the name Nueva Granada. Her eyes lit up.”Then where is my brother right now?”

Carlos smiled and rotated the globe again, stopping at the Holy Roman Empire—a vast region in the center of Europe.”He’s here,” he said. “And if you look closely, you’ll see it’s divided into many smaller states. I’ll give you a mission: find the state called Hanover.”

Excited, Isabella walked toward the globe, but Europe was too high for her to reach. Carlos brought a small stool so she could see better. Smiling, he then walked toward the bookshelf, picking up a book to distract himself. After so much time dealing with the elites of New Granada and enduring the pressure of the viceroy, he needed a moment to breathe.

After a couple of minutes, Isabella exclaimed,”I found it! Look!”

Carlos smiled at her enthusiasm, stood up from the sofa, and walked over. He looked at the place she pointed to and nodded.”That’s right. Your brother is there, and your grandfather is probably coming from there as well. Look—he travels from this city, Göttingen, where your brother is, all the way across Hanover until he reaches Hamburg, the closest port.”

Isabella looked at the globe curiously and asked in surprise,”Is this also part of Hanover?”

She pointed at Göttingen, which on the map appeared separated from Hanover by another state.

Carlos stared at the globe for a moment, slightly confused. The map showed a territory labeled Brunswick dividing Göttingen from the central part of Hanover.”Honestly, I’m not entirely sure,” he admitted. “Maybe we should ask your grandfather when he arrives.”

Deep down, he worried that the globe might be outdated—that its borders reflected the world as it was five or even ten years ago.

Isabella nodded, still curious, and began turning the globe again. Soon her attention shifted northward, toward the Atlantic coast, where she read aloud,’United States of America.’

“Dad, is this a country?” she asked, surprised.

Carlos looked more closely at the place she pointed to. He frowned slightly. He had heard that the United States was expanding westward, yet the globe only showed the territory that had declared independence. That meant the map must have been made after 1783—no more than ten years old—which only increased his curiosity about how accurate the rest of the globe truly was. Still, he answered calmly,”Yes. Though they’ve already taken more land beyond what’s shown here, making it a bit larger.”

Then Isabella tilted the globe upward and read another name, her eyes widening.”Hudson Bay Company. Dad… do companies also have territories?”

She stared in disbelief at the enormous area marked under a company’s name, especially compared to the much smaller regions labeled Upper and Lower Canada.

Carlos chuckled softly.”Even though it looks big, most of that land is desolate. Very few people live there. Most of the population is in Upper and Lower Canada. It’s an extremely cold place, with snow almost everywhere for most of the year.”

Isabella frowned in confusion.”What is snow?”

Carlos fell silent for a moment. In South America, snow never fell, so it was only natural that Isabella had never seen it. Then he asked,”Do you remember the white parts of the Eastern Range near Bogotá?”

Isabella squinted, looking a little confused.”I’m not sure. I never looked very closely at the mountains.”

Carlos hesitated before answering.”Well, that’s snow. Maybe one day I can take you there. There’s also El Cocuy… or, closer to us, the Nevado del Ruiz.”

Isabella’s eyes lit up.”Yay! But let’s wait for my brother. I want him to come too,” she said with a sweet smile.

Carlos pouted.”He’s in Europe. It snows there every winter, so he’ll probably see it before you do. There’s no reason to wait for him.”

Isabella thought about it for a moment, then nodded.”Okay… then we can go in winter. That way, we can see it when my brother does. When is winter?”

Carlos chuckled softly.”Don’t worry. I’ll tell you when it comes.”

Isabella continued looking at the map. After a moment, she asked curiously,”Father, where was the Roman Empire? I heard it was the biggest empire in the world.”

Carlos proudly traced the Mediterranean with his finger.”In the past, it covered all of this. It is also where Christianity was born.”Then his gaze fell on a small place marked Jerusalem. He sighed softly and pointed to it.”And here is the Holy City. This is where Jesus lived, showing us the love of His Father. I hope that one day I can visit it, if God allows.”

Isabella murmured, almost to herself,”The Crusades…”

Carlos nodded, a little startled that she already knew about them. Still, considering that he himself had learned about the Crusades at eight years old—and Isabella was already twelve—it was not surprising.

They spent the rest of the time discussing the globe. Isabella learned many things and was clearly happy, and Carlos finally felt himself relax. But peace never lasted long.

His aide entered quietly and said,”Sir, forgive the interruption, but we need to discuss something important.”

Carlos nodded and looked at Isabella with an apologetic expression.She smiled brightly.”I’ll go see Grandma María, Father. Don’t worry.”

She walked out, and although she tried to appear cheerful, there was a hint of sadness in her steps. Even so, she was mature enough to leave without complaint, which made Carlos’s heart ache.

He sat down at his desk and grumbled,”Couldn’t you have waited a little longer? I was enjoying my time with my daughter.”

The aide lowered his head slightly, embarrassed.”My apologies, sir, but you know this concerns your future plans.”

Carlos sighed, took a cigar, and began to puff slowly.”Sometimes I wonder when I’ll be able to simply sit down and enjoy life… like those farmers. Spending my days peacefully with my children, growing grain and maybe a few vegetables.”

The aide was momentarily speechless. Hearing his master speak of retiring to the countryside—when he already lived in the countryside—was unexpected. Still, he answered carefully,”Perhaps when the plan is complete, and your family is safe, sir.”

Carlos took another puff and narrowed his eyes, silently cursing the viceroy—for his cruelty, for his lack of humanity, and above all for trying to harm his son. To Carlos, all of this misery began with that man.

After a moment of rest, he extinguished the cigar, looked at his aide, and nodded.”Alright. Let’s talk.”

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