"Julio told me," said Brother John, "that he was probably the first person to dine in the Pontifical Signing Room, and it seems that he would be the first to sleep comfortably in the Signing Room." ”

About a third of Pius III's signature room was erected with translucent gauze curtains that obscured the large bed behind it, and from time to time busy monks and doctors lifted the curtains and moved in and out. In this way, Pius III, while taking care of his official duties, only had to raise his eyes to see his beloved disciple, and he nodded to Brother John, in fact, Giulio was in a coma, not asleep, and Brother John said this, only to comfort Pius III.

"Are those people still clamoring?" Pius III asked.

Cardinal Baglioni bowed to him: "Things are a little tricky, Holy Father, one of them is from the Orsini family and the other is from the Colonna family. ”

Pius III sneered: "When Alexander VI sat in this position, they were very obedient. ”

"With a new owner," said Cardinal Baglioni harshly, "the dogs always have to bark a few times to tempt them." ”

"I remember when Giulio's good boys were patrolling Rome, they came across several looting and murders led by the Orsini and Colonna families, and the thugs were caught by them and imprisoned in the underground prison of Castel Sant'Angelo?"

Brother John nodded: "Yes, Giulio said, after a formal trial, their fate will be decided." ”

"No," said Pius III, "let the judges of the Inquisition go and try them on charges of blasphemy, murder, and robbery, and I will see them hanged by to-morrow morning." ”

Cardinal Baglioni shuddered: "There are several of them. He whispered.

"If there are only two or three people," said Pius III, as he flipped through the document without looking up, "I'm going to have a headache." ”

Brother John leaned over and sighed softly in his heart, perhaps because Picromini had always liked the relationship of the invisible man, and in the minds of the Romans, he was just a somewhat withdrawn and eccentric old man, but how could they not think about it, could it be a weak sheep who could overturn and strangle a strong bull? And because of Giulio, Pius III was already mad - just as he thought so, Pius III dropped another sentence: "Also, hold the Orsini and Colonna families accountable," he chuckled, "I have the right to suspect that they are in collusion with the Assassins of Borgia, otherwise I cannot explain their actions...... Their feet even stepped on the sacred altar, directly threatening my life – for which I have the right to be 'excommunicated'...... Wait, don't go and say," said the Holy Father nonchalantly, "just put them with Miguel. Hang Corero together, and I'll just issue an expulsion order. ”

"May I ask...... How much? Cardinal Baglioni asked tremblingly.

"Super."

Cardinal Baglioni let out an uncontrollable oooh sound, and when Pius III looked at him, he immediately raised his hand and pressed his mouth.

"Any questions?" The Holy Father asked.

"I didn't ...... Nothing ......" Cardinal Baglioni paused, what else could there be? All issues solved! No, to be precise, all the problems are piled up in the Orsini family and the Colonna family, their parents must be crying a lot, but he will not sympathize with them, originally Pius III has already prayed for the four people who died at Joshua's hands, and he is ready to make amends, and Joshua. Cardinal Lovere's father, Cardinal Grande Lovere, must have made amends, but they always felt that they could get more things, which were good - excommunication is divided into two kinds, bishop's reservation and pope reservation, bishop's reservation means that it can be pardoned by the bishop, and the papal reservation means that it must be pardoned by the pope - the excommunication decree issued by the pope is naturally reserved by the pope, and this is divided into three levels, usually excommunication, which is only a self-imposed excommunication, which cannot be said to be a punishment, but can only be said to be an expression of inner repentance; Excommunication, in which the Church forbids him to participate in any sacraments, and at the same time the clergy are not allowed to perform any sacraments on him, which is called a minor excommunication; The super-excommunication, also known as the great excommunication, not only encompasses the content of the minor excommunication, but also that he is not allowed to associate with the believer, and the believer must also avoid him, so to speak, at the religious level, the person is "non-existent", and all the contracts that need to be fulfilled in the presence of God, including but not limited to marriage, children, subordination and transactions - and at that time, almost all the connections of people were completed from this, and once a person was excommunicated, his marriage with his spouse would not be recognized, and his children were illegitimate children without inheritance, His courtiers and subjects were free to abandon him or rebel against him at will.

As soon as the news spread, the Orsini family and the Colonna family will not wait for tomorrow to lead their families to kneel outside the Vatican Palace and ask for the Pope's forgiveness.

Cardinal Baglioni took the order, and after a while Brother John came to tell him, Cardinal Lovere asked to see him.

"Big or small?"

"It's all there."

"No," said Pius III, "tell them that I am very grateful to Cardinal Lovere for what he has done for me, and that I can wait until after Easter Mass to talk about it in detail, but not now - I will try to suppress the Orsini and Colonna families, which is nothing to thank, after all, the roots are in me." ”

As soon as the two Cardinal Lovere, who were standing outside the Vatican Palace, saw Brother John, they knew that their request for an audience had been denied, and after listening to the monk's words, Cardinal Lovere the Grand sneered and turned to leave.

"Can I go in and see Julio?" Joshua. Lovere asked, "I'm also a doctor." ”

"I'm afraid not," Brother John was still more amiable when facing Joshua, after all, this is also a child who grew up in the Picromini Palace, and although his emotions are not as flawless and sincere as those of Julio, there should be some ...... The less hypocritical part: "He's still sleeping." ”

After seeing Joshua leave, Brother John had not had time to return to the Vatican Palace when two more envoys were welcomed.

One was from Spain, the other was the French ambassador, and of course they were also rejected, and the French ambassador said a few words that were not so good—because of the Great Schism of the 14th century—when the French had arrogantly moved the Pope and the entire Holy See to Avignon, France, so that they had always had little sincere respect for the Pope and the Holy See.

Brother John didn't bother with them, and the Spaniards didn't know about it, but the French could almost be sure that it was one of the masterminds behind the conspiracy, and that it wasn't Miguel. Correro is just what an assassin can do. It won't be Lovere, the strength of the Lovere family is not enough to support a twenty-six-year-old pope, and they have worked hard, but they are not for others to sit back and enjoy it.

——————

While Brother John was dealing with the two ambassadors, Pius III was discussing a treatment plan with his medical team—a team with a strange name, which Giulio had prepared for Pius III, whose doctors and monks were more than just enemas and bloodletting—and it could be said that these people, under the guidance of Giulio and Picomini, had the most advanced medical skills and resources of the era. I just didn't expect that the first person to benefit was Giulio himself.

The bolt came from Miguel. The crossbow held by Corero, the arrowhead had a groove to store the poison, and the remaining white marks proved to be the Borgia Canterella - fortunately, the arrow was inserted into the shoulder blade, and under the skin and thin muscles, there were hard bones, and some of the poison penetrated the body through the skin, but most of it was washed away by the blood.

But even this little cantarella still dragged Giulio into the abyss of danger several times, in this era of no specific antidote, the only thing doctors and monks can do is to relieve the symptoms as much as possible, such as replenishing water, curbing spasms or physical cooling, etc., some pious monks are still chanting and praying at the bedside, but as long as they don't add to the enema or bloodletting, Pius III has no problem - in fact, he wants to kneel down and pray to God, begging him not to take the child, While little Julio is good enough to go to heaven, at least not now—perhaps, a hundred years from now?

"Take the potion I put in the reliquary." Pius III said.

"But ......"

"Bring it." Brother John had no choice but to step back, and the Holy Father raised his hand and gently stroked Giulio's forehead.

The potion was quickly brought in, and Pius III dropped a drop into Julio's mouth.

Brother John clenched his fists, this bottle of potion was a special antidote developed by Picromini, but it could also be said to be no less than the poison of Cantarella, depending on the dosage, Brother John did not know the ingredients in it, but he knew that at least there were aconitum in it, mandala and scopole.

One drop of the potion doesn't show its effect quickly, and after three hours, another drop is added, up to six times. The strongest of the condemned prisoners used by Pius III for his experiments did not cross that number – but it did alleviate the symptoms of a poison similar to that of Cantarella.

After nightfall, Pius III put another drop on Giulio's lips.

Then he went to his little prayer room, where he knelt and prayed to God and the saints for his disciples.

It was probably the most devout and painful prayer of his life, and even then it could not be completed, for Brother John had barely finished the ritual when he broke into the small prayer room and cried out excitedly, "Your Excellency," he cried out incoherently, "please go at once to the window and see the ...... Those! ”

Pius III stood up a little angrily, but he also knew that Brother John would not interrupt his prayers for no reason, especially for Giulio's. He got up and walked to the window, where the curtain had been drawn by Brother John.

The Vatican Palace is not directly facing St. Peter's Basilica, but directly opposite St. Peter's Square and Boulevard, which is northeast of St. Peter's Basilica, but from this window, St. Peter's Square and the Basilica can still be seen in full view.

There was no starlight tonight, the moon was dim, and the sky and earth were shrouded in a palpitating darkness—no, something had broken them.

It seemed that there was a call of the Holy Spirit in the darkness, and people of different ages, genders, and occupations came out from all corners of the city of Rome, either with a burning candle or with two, and the light of the candle was like a firefly, flying in the darkness in twos and threes, and then like a bursting spark, and it was divided into countless places, but in the end, they came together, and turned into streams of light and heat—they walked quietly along the street, and came to the square. Then lay down the candles on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica, kneel and pray, clasp together for a long time before leaving.

At first, there were only a few tiny bits of light gently swaying in the night wind, but in the blink of an eye, people counted them in hundreds, thousands.

As if they had a life of their own, they spread and grew rapidly from the bottom upwards, extending and widening from a small piece, as if in an instant there was no dark place in the steps in front of St. Peter's Basilica - the stars of heaven fell to the earth, illuminating the pious faces of the people, and the anxious and dark hearts of the Father.

"Behold," said Brother John, as if he were afraid of being awakened by something, "they are all praying for Julio." ”

.。 m.