However, Władysław III's official departure for Hungary to contend for the throne was a later event.
Turning the clock back to early 1440 on the Peloponnese Peninsula, Manuel finally welcomed his Brother-in-law, Despot Constantine.
This middle-aged monarch, after settling relevant affairs, finally returned to the Peloponnese by ship and arrived back at the Autocratic State's capital, Mistras, on the same day he reached the peninsula.
Constantine was somewhat surprised to learn that his Brother-in-law had been staying in Mistras for several months.
But it was a good thing, as he also had some matters to discuss with him.
Incidentally, although Manuel had been away for some time, he quickly established stable contact with his country via the Bosporus fleet shortly after arriving in Mistras, and remotely controlled his territory through personnel changes among his subordinates and letter deliveries.
Thus, most major affairs within the Bosporus Autocratic State remained largely under his control.
Over the next few days, these two monarchs, similar in age and related by marriage, exchanged their views on the current situation in Mistras, accompanied by their respective trusted confidants, even sharing some internal intelligence they each possessed.
"So, Manuel, what is your reason for doing this?" Constantine was somewhat puzzled and annoyed upon hearing that his Brother-in-law did not intend to implement the Church Union rites in his territory.
In his eyes, now was not the time to undertake actions that could potentially anger the Catholic Roman Curia.
What if, by accident, they provoked the Roman Curia, causing them to angrily withdraw the promised reinforcements?
Manuel was also somewhat at a loss for how to answer his Brother-in-law's attitude.
After all, in official history, neither Theodoro nor Trabzon followed Constantinople in implementing the Church Union.
Rather, they never responded.
Why did Constantinople now want to force an act that was essentially self-amusement upon him?
However, considering their current shared confrontation with the Ottoman, he also thought about it from the other's perspective.
Afterward, he felt it wasn't entirely incomprehensible: after all, such an act, which could very likely displease the Roman Curia, indeed needed to be avoided somewhat.
But only avoided somewhat.
The young Caesar was quite adept at such borderline actions.
"It's simple, the Catholic priests they sent couldn't spread the faith or promote the rites, so what does that have to do with me?
I haven't forbidden them from preaching or performing rites; it must be because their piety hasn't yet moved the Holy Father." Saying this, he even put on an extremely pious expression, making an orthodox cross sign on his chest, almost amusing Constantine and his accompanying retainers.
"This... Holy Father above, there's some truth to that..." Realizing the problem seemed to be easily solved, Constantine also made a cross sign on his chest and offered a few prayers.
After discussing religious matters, Manuel took the opportunity to discuss one of his current ideas with his Brother-in-law, "Also, I plan to station a small Bosporus Guard in Constantinople to strengthen local defenses.
Brother-in-law, what do you think?" Since he had already signed relevant clauses with John VIII during his previous stay in Constantinople, this request was quite reasonable at such a turbulent time.
But Constantine was somewhat troubled.
Constantinople was about to welcome a new garrison; it felt somewhat unsafe and not quite right no matter how he thought about it.
However, the other party was his relative by marriage, and also a Roman of the same ethnic group, and his attitude had always been actively cooperative rather than disruptive.
"But this isn't intolerable, is it?" Seeing his Brother-in-law's hesitation, Manuel keenly seized the opportunity, "Don't the Latins also have troops stationed in Constantinople?
If so, with a great enemy before us, what's wrong with having our kinsmen and fellow countrymen share a little of the burden?" The Latin garrison he referred to was naturally the Genoese troops stationed in Galata.
Hearing this, Constantine was somewhat moved.
Besides, Constantinople and the Empire were already in such a state; surely no one would really want a broken stone crown, right?
In the end, he gave an ambiguous reply, "I will discuss this issue carefully with my brother."
Manuel was momentarily speechless at this.
Never mind, he should go to Constantinople as soon as possible to discuss this topic with his elder Brother-in-law, the proper Basileus John VIII, rather than with Constantine, who was currently only the Moria Despotate.
After all, no matter how well he got along with the latter, no matter how strong his past-life sentiments, he was not the one who truly made the final decisions for the Empire now.
Thus, a few days later, Manuel quickly packed his bags and, with his subordinates, prepared to leave Mistras for Constantinople.
Before leaving, he also conveyed a personal opinion to Constantine and his wife, hoping that they would try to stay in the stable interior and not venture out to sea by ship, potentially encountering the Ottoman fleet.
The reason he offered this advice was that, historically, his current sister-in-law, Caterina, had been frightened and fallen ill during a period in 1442 when the Ottoman sent a fleet to patrol the border as a threat to deter the Empire from rash actions, and she subsequently died in childbirth.
Although her future life and death were irrelevant to him, out of personal feeling, Manuel still hoped that Constantine and his wife could have children, rather than remaining childless until the end, as in official history.
And just as Caesar departed on a Bosporus ship for Constantinople, his subordinates left in the country, lacking awareness due to Caesar's absence, began to discuss some dangerous topics—
Inside a small castle on the outskirts of Trabzon, owned by the Gavras Family, several trusted generals under Caesar had gathered briefly due to an accidental overlap in their troop training schedules.
In the evening, after training their peasant soldiers, they gathered in the castle to talk about Caesar in their eyes.
"Speaking of which, is His Majesty always thinking about Constantinople?" Drunken Dungar was the first to speak presumptuously when the topic of Caesar's view on Constantinople came up.
"That's right," Tukharovsky, one of the generals who had followed Manuel the longest, waved his hand and exclaimed, "When His Majesty was young, his ambition was quite obvious.
At that time, his eyes would burn like flames when he spoke of the Queen of Cities."
"But now, His Majesty is older, and such an expression is rarely seen."
"Is that so," Vladimir, a general of the Philaka Legion, also said with some regret, "You make me miss His Majesty's youth."
The speaker had no intention, but the listener took it to heart.
Badars, the Commander of the Guard and confidential secretary, who stood nearby with his guards, effectively monitoring them, had a bold idea subtly sprout in his mind after hearing their conversation:
Would it not be more reasonable for Constantinople to become part of the Gavras Family?