The previous chapter has 2,000 words to add.

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"Cardinal Buins's visit," said Duarte, "is as haggard as if he had been visited by a hundred devils, and if it were only for the sake of his master and his students, I don't think it would have been so, and something would have happened that we do not know yet." ”

His poisonous tongue made Giulio smile, and there was nothing about Cardinal Buins's offense against them, although Buins was originally from the Pius III line, he was not Giulio after all. A servant of the Medici, and when Giulio was in the Ministry of Ceremonies, he was also guided and protected by him. After the departure of Pius III, neither Julius II nor Leo X could satisfy the old cardinal, who had his own ideas, which was not surprising, and Giulio did not feel betrayed, and later he left Rome and became even more estranged from them when he was invited by Princess Margaret of Austria to be the teacher of Prince Charles, but in any case he was not their enemy.

Cardinal Buyns didn't want to be in such a hurry either, but he heard that today Giulio . Cardinal Medici came in a hurry at the Palazzo Picomini, not the Vatican Palace, and since that nightmare, the Vatican Palace had been a hell for him, he didn't dare to look at it, and when he sat in the carriage, the curtains had to be tightened, and the mental and physical torture made him so emaciated that he could barely walk on his own legs.

Fortunately, the familiarity of Picromini Palace made him a little angry, but when he thought of his original owner, Cardinal Picromini and later Pius III, Cardinal Bouins, could not help but feel a little guilty, because according to Pius III's will, they were supposed to protect his heirs, but his ambition still crossed his conscience.

He walked forward under the guidance of the clergyman, and was astonished to find that little had changed in the place—the faces of the monks were familiar to him, and the orientation of the house was the same as before, and he could even go directly to the bishop's little study without guidance, which was now Giulio's little study.

Giulio met Cardinal Bouines in Cardinal Picomini's small study, rather than in the more formal and indifferent parlor, and in any case, he always maintained a deep affection for Cardinal Picomini as his father, and as long as he did not touch the bottom line, he would not have convicted Cardinal Bouyns in advance.

The door opened heavily and slowly, and if I saw it with my own eyes, Julio. Before the Medici, Cardinal Buins's had a glimmer of hope – if all he had gone through before was a nightmare, then the Giulio in the dream. Is the Medici still the young man he remembers, he thought, looking up.

He was greeted by eyes as bright as flowing gold, and the last rays of the sun reflected in them at dusk, adding a terrible layer of blood to them.

Dreams and reality subtly coincide.

Cardinal Buins, before he knew it, knelt on his knees, and for a few moments he looked at the pair of black loafers in front of him, and then realized that he was kneeling on Julio. The Medici knelt forward, but was not stopped. Giulio just let him kneel and be silent, and his eyes were so dark that he almost fainted.

He was born in 1459 and is fifty-one years old this year. The Medici should not have made him kneel like this, but since he did, it showed that his dealings with some people were only afraid that he could not hide from the Medici's eyes, and Cardinal Bouns was full of regret and pain, and he did not think that he was wrong, but he also knew that if he insisted on going his own way, the end of the nightmare would be his predetermined end.

yes, Julio. The Medici may have been a man of mercy, but his mercy was more for the poor people, and for the sake of fulfilling his fatherly wish of Pius III del and the generous concession of his brother Leo X, he would not allow a second man to ascend the ladder to the papal throne before him.

If anyone is going to do that, then, Julio. The Medici would not hesitate to show his fangs and claws, he would tear the man apart, and stain the blanket of his feet red with his flesh.

"Do you have anything to say to me?" The last light moved away from the book, Brother John walked in, lit the candle, Giulio finally asked, Cardinal Buins, gasping violently, before reaching out and standing up with Brother John's support, although he knelt for a long time, it was only a matter of homework for the priest who often had to kneel before God, but his knees were so stiff that it was difficult to move, and the tingling reminded him of the scene in a nightmare when he couldn't move, his whole body festered, and he trembled involuntarily, I couldn't make any sound for a while.

"Give him a cup of coffee." Giulio said.

Brother John bowed his head slightly, and when he reappeared, he brought Cardinal Buins' not only a cup of coffee, but also Julio's, and he knew that the boy he had watched grow up tonight was afraid that he would have to stay awake all night.

Contrary to Giulio's habits, Cardinal Boins' coffee was filled with plenty of milk, granulated sugar, which comforted him, warmed his body, and lifted his spirits.

He sat alone in the chair for a long time before he smiled self-deprecatingly: "It seems that you all know." ”

"Not exactly," said Giulio softly, "I know they are interested in putting you up as the new pope, but I don't understand why they chose you, you are a Dutchman, and the papal throne has been a ball of power in the hands of the Italian elite since the eighth century, of course, on the surface, it has to do with the legitimacy of the Roman Church." ”

"Because I am a Dutchman," said Cardinal Buins, "I have no country, no strong and stable supporters, and the only person I can count on is only eleven years old, a child, and ......," he said with difficulty, "and he is already in danger and may not be able to help me." ”

"Charles could not, but his grandfather, Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire," Giulio said, "and Cardinal Cisneros of Spain, the Visconti of Milan, Louis XII of France, the Doria of Genoa, the Orsini of Rome, ......"

Buins, in silence, listened to him tell almost all the families or individuals he had ever promised him, and thought of how the messengers had sworn that their plans were so secret that no one knew about them, and he wanted to laugh again.

"And, Your Highness," he said, "they chose me for another reason," he said, putting down his cup, "because they know that I am dying." ”

"I don't have much to live," said Bouss, "I have a lung disease, and in a few months at most I will die, and they want me to lose both of you, but the last golden apple belongs to them." ”

"But you promised them anyway."

"I am dying," repeated Cardinal Buins, "but I still have so many things to do—what a terrible thing it is to die, your body is buried under six feet of black soil, and after a short period of mourning, no one remembers you, your name is no longer mentioned, what you have done for people is gradually lost to the dust of history, everything that concerns you no longer exists, you are as if you never existed—I just thought, at least one chance, Let my name remain in people's memory. ”

"Alas," he continued, "I am honest with you, not that I hope you will forgive me for my vacillation, but I am just ...... It dawned on me that I was nothing but a cowardly clown, well, Your Highness, and I must confess that I was relieved when I realized that you might have noticed my wrongdoing, and that was the end I deserved—but I think I must tell you something, and I dare not ask for your forgiveness for it, but at least, I can atone for some of my previous sins. ”

He said as he pulled a rolled-up print from his bosom.

Giulio took it and looked at it, and it was a very popular picture book in Rome, in all of Italy, and even on the continent of Europa—you could think of it as a humble newspaper or a weekly.

The first to release the beast was Giulio himself, when he parted ways with Borgia, in order to fight the Borgia family and Alexander VI behind him, he had made such an illustrated book, its impact was silent and unusually rapid, the Borgia family's last betrayal and rejection was not unrelated to it, but Giulio must also say that although it was to fight the enemy, every word he said was true, It was just to lift the ornate veil that covered Alexander VI and the Borgia family, so that people could see the tyranny, depravity, and filth hidden in them.

But his enemies may not think so, they have no bottom line.

"They want to make you a second Benedict IX." Cardinal Buins.

Speaking of Benedict IX, when it comes to the degree of absurdity and fornication, even the former Alexander VI is beyond reach, after all, Alexander VI still has his own ambitions, but Benedict IX was still a child when he ascended the throne, more correctly, a little beast without humanity, but in terms of age, he is older than Giulio. The young pope of the Medici was very much present, and if nothing else, his contemporary, Julius II, had ascended the throne a few years earlier.

"And that's not all," said Cardinal Buins, "and they are going to make a fuss with your surname and your family, you know, Benedict IX belonged to the Tuskulani family, and this family had four popes, the first Pope Benedict VIII was the uncle of Benedict IX, and he had a younger brother, who became John XIX, and after the XIX was Benedict IX, and at that time, people were saying that the children of the Tuskulani family were destined to wear white clothes when they were still in the cradle. ”

"So they want to put me side by side with Benedict IX," Giulio said, "so that people's disgust can be transferred to me, and of course this is only one of the results they want to see, and they may also encourage people to associate the Medici with Tusculani." ”

"Yes," said Cardinal Buins, "even if there is another Benedict IX, the cardinals have nothing to fear, they are afraid of another Tusculani, although there are now two or three popes in the family, but at least they will not ...... They don't inherit each other by blood like kings or emperors. ”

"This is also what the people of Rome do not want to see," Giulio said calmly, "and the people of Rome have had enough of the emperor." Since the Senate awarded Octavian the title of "Augustus", the people of Rome no longer have any days that can be called peaceful and stable, especially in the later period, the emperors of Rome are more absurd and shameless, even today, the empire has long ceased to exist, and people are still full of disgust when they mention the Roman emperor, as if they have seen the devil.

"Then ......," said Giulio, "I'll take care of the rest." ”

He glanced at Cardinal Buins: "Now, tell me," he said coldly, "what do you want?" ”

Cardinal Buins, who wanted to shake his head, suddenly stopped, "You know," he said, "I'm here, not in the Sistine Chapel," and although he came earlier than the other cardinals, the cardinals didn't even seem to notice him, and by the time he knew that the secret council to decide whether Leo X could abdicate was already taking place, the Sistine Chapel had closed its doors: "Suppose, Your Highness," he said boldly, "I can enter the Sistine, and my vote will be yours." ”

"What do I have to give?" Giulio asked.

Cardinal Bouins's apparent hesitation was on his mind for two things, his student and master, Charles of Austria, and the Netherlands, his homeland and blood relative.

In the end, it was the ties of blood that prevailed: "The Netherlands," he said, "I have not been back to the Netherlands since I went to Rome, until I accepted the invitation of Princess Margaret of Austria to be the teacher of Prince Charles......

"Did they hurt you?"

"It's not me who they hurt," said Cardinal Buins, in a low voice, "it's my country." ”

"How can a country be harmed?"

Cardinal Buinse paused, remembering what he had seen and heard in the Netherlands, which was probably less than a hundredth of what he had in reality, because he was in the Austrian court, and the Austrians would not let him see it, even if he was a Dutchman, it was just an ornament on Princess Margaret's breast.

"Even a giant dragon can't stand the viper's never-ending sucking of its blood." Cardinal Buins: "One-third, can you imagine, another country, one-third of the revenue of the treasury comes from the Netherlands. ”

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