The unfortunate messenger waited in fear in the small room of the monastery for half a night, and finally waited for the call of Archbishop Luca. The Medici saluted, handed the letter in both hands, and said nothing as Giulio read it.

"I see." Giulio said, "Tell Caesar that I will go back on Monday." ”

As soon as the messenger left, the Lady of Good Heart entered the room, which was probably the place where they had been most often lately, sometimes even more than their bedroom. No way, they did not expect that, after hearing that there were good people here who were willing to work for the Lord, many people from Brest and further afield came, some of them to see if they could become one of the five hundred, some of them were sick, and some of them simply wanted to be blessed—it was easiest to drive them back, but neither Madame Good nor Giulio had ever opened this mouth, but fortunately there were many fewer people after St. Matthia's Day, after all, the common people also had to prepare for the forty days of Lent.

These three types of people need to be treated separately, the first type of people need to be screened by the scribe and the monks, those who are not healthy enough, those who are too young and too old are not good, pregnant women are not good, and there are some people who are rich but stingy are reprimanded and fined; The second group of people is almost always a disease of hunger caused by malnutrition, which can be cured only by bread and sugar cubes; The third kind of people was better handled, except that the chapel of St. Matthew's Abbey could not accommodate so many people—so Madame Kindness asked Giulio to hold a great Mass in the square of Prugverin, after which everyone could receive communion, which pacified both the body and the soul.

In addition to these, they had much work to do, after all, the monks here were not systematically trained like the clergy of Rome; Those who receive the "blessing" also need to be registered and observed; Sick people and children need warm and clean rooms; The natives of Prugverin need to be appeased, too—after all, they do cause them a lot of trouble; Also, there are thieves and prostitutes among the outsiders, and the worst thing is that you can't separate them from the natives, the commoners, the pilgrims, a commoner girl can share a bed with a stranger at the lure of a few coins, the pilgrim is happy to take his money bag when his companions are not looking, the soldier occasionally works as a robber, for these people, you can hardly give a harsh sentence, but there is no frightening punishment, and the seemingly pious and pitiful person turns into a devil.

"As you said, keeping people busy might solve the problem." Madame Kindness took a sip of the bitter "Arabic", or coffee, but at this time, coffee was only widely accepted in the Middle East, and even if the Italians were willing to try it, it was only as a medicine - Giulio found it in the medicine room of Bishop Picromini, and later he got some from the Turks, thanks to the unprofitable Holy See, who had been fighting jihad with the Turks, but the trade between them never stopped, As long as every ship that passed through had a tax to Pope Alexander VI.

This time Giulio also brought this "potion" to France, after seeing it, Mrs. Kindness also asked him curiously for a cup, coffee, no sugar, milk is really not very good, but for refreshment, it is much stronger than wine, Mrs. Kindness fell in love with its rich fragrance, so every day after vespers, the two of them worked in the copy room while drinking a cup of coffee, it has almost become a custom.

"Choose the person in charge." Giulio said without looking up that in this day and age, it is very difficult to count the population, some people have no names but nicknames, or duplicate names, and they have to add occupations and regions to distinguish them, girls and women sometimes do not even have nicknames, they are either someone's wife or someone's daughter—the monks curiously asked him why he did this—Giulio's reply was: in case, in case the smallpox epidemic broke out again before the "blessing of St. John" had yet to benefit most of the population, Those who do not suffer from this disease are the best helpers of monks and doctors, and beware of the use of them for their purposes—there are many, Breton and French, who are always interested in undermining the authority and prestige of the Duchess.

"Choose the inhabitants of the town of Prugverin," Giulio said, taking a sip of his coffee, "and the inherent sense of superiority and responsibility of the aborigines will make them do well." ”

"So...... Chapel or reliquary......" said Madame Kindness, her cheeks flushed with the fire of the fireplace, and now she was no longer veiled with Giulio alone, and as Giulio had guessed, she was very young, about twenty years old, with a broad forehead, a high, narrow nose, and thin, pale lips, which made her beauty more cold than gentle.

With the fire crackling, the sea fog condensing on the glass of the windows, the room filled with the aroma of coffee, and the mountains of papers piling up on the desk, Giulio thought he had returned to the past—a past before the Medici of Florence.

I had more contact with Prugverin and the pilgrims. The Medici people, who were full of awe and fear, began to become familiar with such a strange man, and their words became more and more. In their description, Madame Kindness was a good and pious person, and had the compassion of a woman, knowing that in her realm she could not see anyone die of cold or hunger, that her taxes were already very low, and that she was willing to give to the poor at feasts and masses, or to hire them to work in times of calamity, so that they could return with beans and wheat—even the priest in her realm said that since Madame Kindness was able to administer her own territory, those "careless" Turning over and crushing babies in the night, there are fewer and fewer women who need to repent.

But as far as Giulio observed, the kind lady was indeed very different from the women he had seen before—not the kind people praised. Despite her beautiful face and graceful figure, her thinking and acting were closer to that of a tough, stubborn, high-ranking and powerful man, especially her decisive, responsible, and focused approach to affairs, which almost made him forget that she was an ignorant woman in the ignorance of the age—a point that few people could detect under her subtle disguise. Or rather, it was only in his presence that Madame Kindness never hid her unusual thoughts and attitudes towards women, as she now pushed away the last piece of parchment and said bluntly: "I heard your answer to the messenger. When are you ready to leave? ”

Julio pondered for a moment, "Yes, ma'am," he said, "I am ready to leave next Monday." He thought for a moment and added, "By then, things should be taken care of here." ”

Madame Kindness let out a sneer, "Do you know what Borgia wants you to go back to?" ”

"Something to know."

"He had a hard time in Brest, no, not as one might think it was, but ...... He didn't think he was getting what he thought he could get, and of course the Duke of Orleans (referring to Louis XII) had too many courtiers around him, but he was no less. ”

"Caesar may have some bad things, but he still has a lot to offer." Giulio argued.

"It's already terrible to be a Borgia," said Madame Kindness, "not to mention that he is the illegitimate son of a bishop, and his father is notorious for whom he is proud, or for Borgia sin is glory." Arrogance, jealousy, anger, laziness, greed, gluttony—all sins find a refuge in him, and no, we should not forget his unkindness, and see how he treats a friend who was once kind to him," she stood up and walked over to Julio: "Why would a man like you be willing to bow down to such a monster? You are intelligent, strong, pious, you have Cardinal Picromini as your teacher and father, and if you need support in the world, there are kings and dukes who would like you to be a courtier. ”

"Madame......"

"A friend of mine in Rome once mentioned something to me...... Something less reputable...... For example, in addition to his three illegitimate sons, Pope Alexander VI also had a daughter of unknown origin. ”

"Please don't mention the name."

"Is it disgust or worry?" "It's worry," the Lady of Kindness judged, "you know very well who she is, and you know how she looks in the world, and you know that most of what surrounds her is not praise, but you still can't bear the slightest criticism of her—you are not her brother, then, there is only one guess—you are her lover, right?" You love her so much that you are driven by her brother without complaint, even if he is full of jealousy and indifference to you. ”

Giulio was silent for a long time.

"But," he asked, mildly and with a little irritation, "what does this have to do with you, madame?" ”

Mrs. Kindness smiled, she stood up, and walked over to Julio, her condescending posture made her look like an awe-inspiring warrior, and she covered her hand over his hand in Giulio's astonished eyes, and her hand was as hot as coals compared to Giulio's cold hand.