"I'm kidding." Said the Duchess.

————————

Giulio didn't know what to say about this joke. But in retrospect, he did forget about anger and pain for a few minutes. He spent the whole of Lent at the Abbey of St. Martin, and the Duchess did not come so often, but it was the friars who served him, and Madame Kindness brought him news of the outside world, and before the May Day he met an unexpected man.

"Sister!" Giulio shouted in surprise and got up from his chair.

Konstena. The Medici only pounced and pushed him back into his chair: "God willing, Giulio! She cried out compassionately, "My dear brother," and although she knew that Giulio was now almost healed, she couldn't help but hold his face—the rusty iron pieces and spikes in the Assassin's fishing nets had cut his face, but fortunately, with the rain and timely and effective after-treatment (instead of bloodletting and smearing feces), Giulio did not have an infection or a conspicuous scar, only a crescent-like red mark behind his ear, which was usually faint, but when he was emotional, It would become as red as if blood was about to drip out—as now, as Konstera rubbed the place repeatedly, and her heart ached, not that she had never seen a wound and a delicate flower of a dead man, and of course she could see that if the wound went a little down, it was the great artery in the neck.

She pulled up Julio's sleeve again, examined his arms, pulled up his trousers, examined his legs, pulled up his shirt, examined his back and chest, and the wounds on his body were fewer but more dangerous than those on his face—the scratches left by the iron cat's claws on his thighs, even though they were protected by chain mail, were still visible to the bone, and now she could see the thick and raised scars; The knight's hammer on his back failed to break his spine, but it caused a terrible collapse; There were sword cuts on his arms and broken ribs, but on the surface, they weren't as horrific as the first two.

Giulio can be said to be meek at the mercy of his sister, they were born hand in hand in the same palace, although they almost never met, but just as the Medici family was destroyed when Charles VIII invaded Florence, Giulio and Constena did not hesitate to side with Constine when they met for the first time, even if she was only a young woman who was despised; And Constène married into the Neri family, 30% for the Medici, 10% for herself, and 60% for her brother Julio. The Medici, the cardinal, the Florentine people may not be able to listen to another Medici, even if he does have a golden apple in his hand, but everyone knows that greedy merchants have always been ungrateful.

Giulio asked his sister to sit in a chair, but Constena refused, she sat on the footstool, put her head on Giulio's knees, and held his leg with her hands, as if she could feel her brother's body temperature to be sure that he was indeed alive.

"How did you get here?" Giulio asked.

Because received by Lucresia. Borgia's letters, but by that time, the assassination had already taken place, after which she hastily made some preparations, and after a short stay in Blois, Brest, she was allowed to enter the monastery of Saint-Martin.

But Constène did not want to mention Lucrecia, but just thought about it, and she could not help but be full of anger, if her teeth were hell, she would have been willing to put the name in her mouth and chew and chew it, so that Borgia would pay for the suffering of Giulio in ten thousandth, so she did not answer the question: "I have come to take you home," she said, "brother, let's go back to Florence." ”

"What did you do?" Because of the kind lady, as well as his own speculation, Giulio is not unclear about the current situation, although the assassins hired and sent the knights are Cardinal Lovere, but it does not mean that the French King Louis XII does not know anything about it, he just weighed it, and felt that a talented newcomer is still not as good as the cardinal who has been with him for a long time, and he also noticed that Pope Alexander VI and his illegitimate son Caesar did not have the same attitude towards Archbishop Lucca as sincere as it seemed, In addition to his marriage contract to his ex-wife Jeanne, he also intends to swear sovereignty over Milan and Naples, which requires the support of the Pope. In that case, why not be a favor? Therefore, even with the protection of the Duchess, Giulio could stay in peace in the convent of St. Matthew for a while, but without the royal decree of the King of France, he was afraid that he would not be able to leave Brest for half a step.

"......" Constena showed a weak expression, "I can tell you, but you have to promise not to be angry." ”

"I promise."

"I gave him the recipe for the mirror." After receiving the assurance, Constena said dryly: "It's the one you put in my box." ”

Then, to make her feel even more sad, Julio did not get angry, but showed a sad expression.

"That's your dowry." When Constena married, the Medici family was still immersed in the hostility of the Florentines, there were few family members left, and the parents were "poor creatures bewitched by the devil", except for the two members in the Holy See, the only male member was worthy of adulthood - Constena only had the pity of her inner parents, and could hardly get the support of the family, at this time, the dowry became an extremely important weight.

I didn't see it, this time Lucrecia got married, and Pope Alexander VI gave her a dowry of 40,000 gold florins, as well as Duchess Anne, whose dowry was the whole of Brittany. A woman's dowry is her weapon, her shield, and even her last retreat, and Giulio was prepared for the worst at that time, if it ...... They're gone, so at least Konstera can live her life in abundance.

"My most precious dowry......" muttered Constena, "isn't it you?" Brother. ”

"I don't want to marry into the inner family with you." Giulio subconsciously retorted.

After a pause, both of them laughed silly. Their hands were clasped together, and the previous sorrow seemed to be dispelled at this moment.

——————————————

"Poor little Julio." Ezio said.

"Well deserved!" Cardinal Picromini said.

Ezio laughed, "This is the first time you've been so harsh on him, your Excellency, it's just a mistake every young man makes, and Julio is smart, but he can't escape the snare of love." ”

"Do you think that's what I'm dissatisfied with?" "A Lucrea, a Caesar, or a pope," said the cardinal, said calmly, "Ezio, it is not this that worries me all the time—he is indeed a good boy like an angel, intelligent, sensible, and calm, who has compassion for the weak, who cares for his relatives and friends, and who respects his teachers...... But he has a fatal weakness, and that is being too ......"

"Affection?" Ezio guessed.

Cardinal Picromini immediately gave him a "don't pretend to be stupid if you know", "Proud! ”

"He was so proud, no, I don't mean the arrogance of a scholar to a fool, or a rich man to a beggar, or a powerful man to a groom, but to say that they were similar, and I had discovered since he was a child that he had contempt for power and authority—great contempt, for the elders, for saints, for him a title of bishop, and for the king—and this continued until Lorenzo. When the Medici died, I thought, it would be good for him to know that there were things in the world that his knowledge and power could not solve. ”

"It's a pity for Pierrot. The Medici was a big fool, and the test you set for him is a credible proof that his childish mind has become more stubborn. ”

"If he had understood the reality of the world then," said Cardinal Picomini, "he would not be so miserable now. ”

Ezio was silent for a moment, "And what do you think he will do in the future?" Will it become the kind of person we are most commonly at? Or did he sink and end his life in a monastery? ”

"How is that possible?!" Cardinal Picromini: "Maybe someone else will, but in any case, it won't be Giulio. Medici. ”

Ezio's look at the cardinal became even stranger: "I thought you would say that it wouldn't be your disciple of Picromini. "Could it be that Julio. Was the Medici themselves more honorable than the disciples of Cardinal Picromini?

Cardinal Picromini did not continue, he stood up and walked around the desk a few times, the shadow cast by his tall, thin body stretching and shortening on the ground, and the breeze that he brought with him swayed the flame of the candle, "Where were you before?" He complained: "I can't find you when I'm in a hurry, and I'm about to send my envoy to France." ”

"Went to the Caspian Sea." Ezio said listlessly.

"Eagle's Nest?"

Ezio nodded.

Cardinal Picromini smiled mockingly: "Two hundred years ago, wasn't the last old man of the mountains, Rukendin, a Tatar horse's hooves trampled into flesh?" His territory of Alamut was razed by the Tatars, all the fortresses were destroyed, and his descendants were slaughtered, even the infant was not spared, and it is said that this massacre continued until two years later. What, now there's an eagle's nest again? ”

In response to Cardinal Picromini's taunt, Ezio replied with only a lazy smirk: "Since they were also accused, exterminated, condemned as heretics, and forcibly disbanded nearly two hundred years ago, the Knights Templar, from the Grand Master to the lowest sergeants and priests, who were burned at the stake for 'kissing the devil's ass' (note 1), are still alive and well, and Assasin's Eagle's Nest will certainly be able to be rebuilt." ”

"That being said, you don't seem to be impressed." Cardinal Picromini said sharply.

"Because ......," Ezio looked at Cardinal Pictromini, "a very ridiculous question was asked to me. He stared at the cardinal, catching every fleeting look of strangeness: "Have you heard, anything about that?" ”

"What's the news?"

"Treasures of the Knights Templar."