Leo X could only sigh at what he could do, and he found some light topics to talk to his brother to make him happy, but His Excellency the Pope also knew that this relief did not serve any real purpose, and Giulio was a good boy, but he was also stubborn and helpless.

As Giulio said, Lucrecia had taken many things with him, and when he heard her name again, he was not sad or sad, but empty nothingness, which nothing could fill.

Since the accession of Leo X, there have been countless sycophants, and the Medici family has also had their own mansion in Rome, but Giulio will only spend most of his time in the Picromini Palace, and so will his son Cosimo the Younger, who returned to this fortified castle with a thousand worries, and it is also his home in Rome, and returned to his study, but the little Cosimo, who usually studied reading and copying here, was rarely absent, Giulio turned his head and asked the monk who served him: "Where is little Cosimo going?" ”

"He's with Mister Ezio."

After they returned from Istanbul, Giulio was not at all surprised or angry when Ezio said goodbye, he was also a teacher and friend to Ezio, and he was well aware of the master Assassin's liberal nature, he never restrained Ezio, and trusted him almost like a blood relative—so did Cosimo Jr., but when he thought of Gonzalo they had just mentioned, Giulio thought that Ezio was also fifty-two years old, and he couldn't help but wonder if he should find a suitable reason, Leaving Ezio in Rome or Florence, as time went on, he had fewer and fewer friends and relatives around him, and he did not want to have to hear some sad news from a stranger one day.

He did not let his servants summon Cosimo or Ezio the Younger, and after a brief wash, the powerful lord changed into loose and comfortable civilian clothes and pumps, and walked along the leafy path to the courtyard where his family and friends were—the laurel trees in the courtyard were open to the sun, the gray walls were ruled by the palm-like leaves of dark green ivy, and only the place where the lion's head cup, which gushed water, was deliberately cut off by the monks. So that the clear water is not polluted by fallen leaves, but there are still some small yellow-white flowers floating on the water, like small stars dotted on the sky from the dark sky.

Little Cosimo reached out and gathered the tiny eight-petal flowers in his palm, then carefully wrapped them in a silk handkerchief.

"What are you collecting these flowers for?"

"Louise loves these flowers." Cosimo said.

Ezio knew who Luise was, and speaking of which, she and Cosimo were essentially cousins, born in the Holy Year, two years younger than Cosimo, but when she was still very young, she was killed by Caesar. Borgia's widow, Princess Charlotte, sent to Florence to ask the Medici family to raise her, because she inherited the title of Duke of Valentino of Caesar, so both Louis XII and King John III of Navarre deliberately manipulated her marriage to take advantage of it - Princess Charlotte was about to have a second marriage, she could not give Louise to Louis XII or John III, and she did not dare to keep her by her side, and in the end the only person she could trust was Avery . Borgia and Avery . Borgia traded the only power Borgia had in Italy for Giulio's patronage of Caesar's descendants.

"I thought you weren't that gentle." Ezio said that he was lying on the steps by the fountain, the narrow steps only one-third the width of the Assassin's burly body, but he was still steady, not in danger of falling.

"Why do you say that?" Cosimo asked curiously, "I didn't think I was a bad person. ”

"You're ruthless enough for that poor girl." Ezio said with a grin, the pair of slave girls were selected to serve Cosimo when they were in Istanbul, they were Christians from Greece, or twins, with a pair of baby blue eyes and soft arms, even Ezio, he had never seen a cuter girl than them, when Giulio left Istanbul, Ezio thought that at least little Cosimo would move his compassion, after all, they all knew that this pair of female slaves who originally belonged to the prince, after serving the foreign man, They will not return to the prince, they may be sold again, or simply disposed of, in short, what awaits them will not be a good thing, but little Cosimo did not mention them even at the last moment.

"I am willing to have mercy on them," said Cosimo Jr., leisurely, "but they may not be willing to pity us." ”

Ezio chuckled softly, in fact, when he was in Istanbul, Giulio had more beauties around him, but the Sultan did not offer to give them to Giulio, not because he was too stingy, but because only a young prince like Suleiman would make such an attempt, and of course, because little Cosimo was indeed a child, he would be tempted much more in the future.

"But I have not seen any other girl with you but Louise, and you are very much like your father," said Ezio, "and if you choose one, then the others will no longer be seen or remembered by you." ”

"Isn't that good?" Cosimo smiled and responded, "Fidelity is a virtue. ”

"You are now the Grand Duke of Nuoro," said Ezio, "nominally you are only eleven years old, and you have a long way to go, and you will have more glory than you have today, have you considered that those who stand by you will not only share this glory with you, but also bear this pressure?" ”

"Louise is fine."

Ezio watched him, when he was in Florence, the little Cosimo was an innocent and gentle child, and when he arrived in Rome, he grew into a believable teenager, and after Istanbul, although his body and face did not change significantly, his mind did become more mature - at first, Ezio did not understand why Giulio took the little Cosimo to the court of Ottoman Turkey, which was of course the darkest and most terrible place, but as a guest, They could not see the filth hidden by gold and spices—and it was not until they finally left there that it dawned on Ezio that what Giulio wanted to show Cosimo the Younger was the limit of the authority of the most noble and despotic ruler—a limit that all the kings and archdukes of Europa could not touch, and that the Sultan of Ottoman Turkey was the true lord of all peoples, the master of all, and that the system of this ancient empire was destined to determine the life and death of all—even the only grown prince, The Prince's mother, the thousands of slaves, and every man in a city, their precious, unique lives were only a command, or even a snort of displeasure, or a glance of contempt for the Sultan.

If all goes well, as the head of the Medici family and the earthly agent of the Holy Father, Cosimo the Younger will inevitably become the king of Italy, and according to Giulio's vision, the peninsula will be unified into a single state, with no free cities, no duchies and states, and no existence independent of the king, that is to say, the authority held by Cosimo the Younger, the territory he dominates may be greater and more extensive than that of the Holy Roman Emperor, and he is so young, He had hardly suffered any setbacks, and if he had indulged himself, he would have brought more disaster to the people here than Caesar of Borgia.

Ah, by the way, Ezio said in his heart that little Cosimo also had half Borgia blood in his body.

So this is a lesson that little Cosimo must learn, just like if you have to put a sharp sword in the hands of a child, it is more important to let him know what terrible wounds the sword can cause than to teach him how to wield it to defeat the enemy.

However, it was for this reason that Egio was not in favor of having another Borgia descendant become Cosimo's wife, even if she was exactly what the Medici family needed, a true royalty.

Ezio knew that Machiavelli and Duarte had similar concerns, especially when Cosimo Jr. needed to make a formal marriage, and Giulio and the Medici might have changed into holy white robes, so Cosimo Jr.'s marriage was no longer so simple, and they needed to take into account many things later—an elector or the daughter of an archduke, or a sister might be more suitable.

But if Giulio knew what they were thinking, he would be amused, in his plan, there was never a marriage to little Cosimo, and he didn't want his children to suffer like his mother; Second, almost all the countries surrounding this peninsula are full of greed for it, and in their hearts, the divided peninsula is the best peninsula, unless it is willing to fall into its own pocket, and what Giulio and the others have done is undoubtedly to take this sweet and good meat from the mouths of these ferocious beasts, how can they be willing? Even if their princess could be the most noble woman here, how could she compare to another crown on their heads?

In this way, it is better to let little Cosimo choose for himself, whoever he loves, is whoever, and let Giulio see, perhaps because of the ill-fated relationship, little Louise is much more stable and reserved than her peers, and she grew up next to her mother, and received an orthodox court education, to say, if her father was not Caesar. Borgia, the illegitimate son of a pope, may not have heard the opposition from Florence, but from Blois or Pamplona (the capital of Navarre).

。 m.