Cardinal Picromini squinted at little Cosimo, so—fat ...... Wouldn't it crush Julio, who was sick? As soon as he stretched out his hand, he lifted Cosimo Jr. over and placed him on his knees, and two strong hands grasped Cosimo Jr.'s shoulders - Cosimo Jr. twisted his body and looked at his father, Giulio gave him a helpless look, he looked at the others again, and when he realized that he could not be helped, he began to cry silently.

It stands to reason that such tears always make people soften their hearts, but who made the equally hard-hearted Caterina start to talk about more important things: "So, ladies and gentlemen, Platuo is no longer safe, Bianca," she said without question, "you are going back to Florence with me, your husband and ...... So are children. ”

"Florence may not be right either." Cardinal Picromini smiled and said, "How about I come and provide a place?" He looked at Giulio: "Pienza, the pearl city of the Picrominian family." ”

Giulio smiled too, the years in Pienza were the happiest and most innocent days he had spent here, even if he encountered so much hatred and betrayal afterwards, whenever he remembered that good time, he could still taste the sweetness like honey on the tip of his tongue.

"I trust my teachers." Giulio said that Giuliano always believed in his cousin unconditionally, and that Bianca would never support her mother when she had a choice, and that little Cosimo - who is now a hostage of Cardinal Picromini, five to one, even Caterina, a she-wolf, had to choose to give up - after all, she has now lost Imola and Forlì, and it is difficult to protect herself, let alone protect her only daughter and "grandson".

The deal was struck, and Cardinal Picromini let Cosimo Jr. play with Giulio, while he invited Forlì's she-wolf to walk around the flowery courtyard.

It has to be said that when necessary, Cardinal Picromini can also speak wittily and gently, and the cruel and cold Lord Forlì Catalina can also speak sweetly and tenderly, but what they are discussing will make anyone who listens to it shudder.

"First of all, I would like to express my regret for the misfortune that befell your eldest daughter, Bianca." Cardinal Picromini said.

Caterina smiled when she heard this, and snapped an unlucky flower that bloomed in front of her eyes: "I heard that you have many 'friends', but I didn't expect you to pay attention to such a small matter. ”

"Not many people know about it, but Ezio. Oditore must convince my disciple, Giulio. Medici, and Giulio," said Cardinal Picromini proudly, "has never hidden anything from me. ”

Caterina doesn't speak, indeed, Giulio. It must have been impossible for the Medici to choose an adoptive family for their son to be ignorant of their adoptive parents, and to be able to adopt an archbishop, and predictably, the son of a cardinal or even a man of higher position, his only heir, the benefits to Bianca are unimaginable, and Ezio's leaks cannot be wrong, but ...... Still want to catch him, chain his hands and feet, tear his clothes with daggers, leave burns on his body with his teeth, ride him, spur him, for ten days in a row, even if the devil comes, he will not want to leave the room......

"Don't tell me what you're thinking." Cardinal Picromini felt that there was probably nothing better to interpret the term animality than the woman in front of him.

Caterina gave Cardinal a "how could it be" look, "Ezio killed those brutes, and then I went to check the corpses and made sure that no one escaped, and then burned them to ashes and threw them into the river," Cardinal Pictromini nodded, although the odds were low, but there were still people who escaped the assassination by feigning their death, "I personally wrapped the cloak for Bianca, and the doctors and witches who treated her also cut their throats with my own hands, and I watched them bleed dry." She continued: "The maids and servants were all locked up in the stables by me, and they were burned down, and the only one was ...... It is possible to hear something, and the only one who was not disposed of by me was my second daughter, but she was also killed by me. ”

"What about her siblings?"

"They're all dead." "I have two or three illegitimate children, but even if they know ......"

"There is no right of inheritance for illegitimate children." Cardinal Picromini said.

"I won't admit them either, and if they dare to talk nonsense, I'll kill them." After that, her mood became a little lighter: "In this way, if your disciple will have similar little troubles in the future, leave it to Bianca, although she can't have children, she will definitely be a good mother." ”

"Uh......"

"But if possible," said Caterina with a smile, "don't let Giuliano's bastard appear in front of Bianca, she's already working for the Medici family—and for Giulio. Medici. ”

Cardinal Picromini paused for a moment: "I think," he said slowly, "they will not have children of their own, no matter ...... Whether it is legitimate or illegitimacy. ”

Caterina froze, her expression becoming complicated, first a little annoyed, then a little relieved, and finally a calm one.

"Maybe that's God's will." She muttered.

Cardinal Picromini extended his arm to her: "Will you still be married?" ”

"If it's not necessary, it won't." Caterina placed her hand on the Pope's, and together the two slowly spread out in the courtyard.

Cardinal Picromini smiled, knowing that it was Forlì's she-wolf who was negotiating a return: "You will return to Forlì," he assures, "that you will remain the master of Forlì until you die." ”

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In 1500, the fourth Sunday of the Holy Year's Lent, Pope Alexander VI threw aside many opposition voices from the world and the Holy See, and handed over the Golden Rose, the baton and the flag of the Holy See, to his illegitimate son, Duke Caesar of Valentino, in St. Peter's Basilica. Borgia, the cardinals who followed him had different expressions - the Pope had indeed summoned them to discuss the matter before, but in the face of Alexander VI, who would dare to say a word in the face of Alexander VI, who was like a beast? Cardinal Sforza and Cardinal Liario have learned from the past, and they have to revere the Holy Will.

In Caesar. When Borgia knelt before the Pope's knees and swore allegiance to the Holy See, to Pope Alexander VI, and never to seek his interests for any reason, or to refuse his call for any reason, or to betray and betray him for any reason, he heard the Pope's heavy breathing, and his majestic father sat on the throne with a gloomy expression, and a breath of blood and viciousness that could not be expressed in words, and that could not be erased after the slaughter was carried out from his mouth—"I gave you everything I could give," In Spanish, he said, "Don't let me down. ”

Caesar. Borgia immediately promised, his hand touching the Pope's hand as he took the Holy Golden Rose, and for a moment he even had the desire to curl his fingers or even withdraw them - fortunately not, his heart shrank in fear, once upon a time he thought that his father was old and overwhelmed, and that he could replace or even submit his own father at his feet. However, in the previous three nights, he had followed the Grand Master of the Templar Order to purge six "rebels" hiding places, including hundreds of "knights" (members of the Templar Order), no less than 300 sergeants (infantry), dozens of "peasants" (friars in charge of finance), and three "priests" (heads of religious activities). Everywhere he went, there were rivers of blood and wails everywhere, and this urgent and bloody atrocity brought not only physical load, but also infinite mental torture, especially many of them who had taught Caesar and fought side by side with him, but none of them received the forgiveness of the Supreme Master, and no one even prayed for them on their deathbed. In Borgia's words, those who betrayed him should have gone to hell, and even if they passed through the Holy Gate, they should not be washed away from their sins.

What he didn't know was that Pope Alexander VI, the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was also in a state of intense chagrin, and what he didn't expect was that the monk, whom he regarded as a puppet and cowered like a mouse that saw the light, would fight back at the last moment and bite him fiercely - he had made an agreement with several members of the Order before he came to see Alexander VI, and if he did not return at a certain time, it would indicate that the negotiations between him and the Pope had broken down, and they ...... It was necessary to hide or flee immediately, so even though Alexander VI had always closely followed the movements of the heretics in the Order, some of them managed to escape, although they could not open the Order's treasury and only take some less important documents, but it still gave Alexander VI a feeling that things were out of control.

This made his bright mood sink once more when he regained his health, and although he repeatedly told himself that the clowns would not be able to make it, he couldn't help but be angry when he saw Caesar - if he was given more time, he could get the entire Templar Order, instead of the broken things now.

Anyway, the ceremony was finally done.

Two brightly armored soldiers walked out of the church with the banner of the Holy See, followed by trombonists and flutists, heralds, and Caesar. Borgia and his cronies and cardinals, and then the envoys of the various countries who were invited to the ceremony, exchanged glances and even secretly gestured, and it was clear that the Pope's move had shown that he could not wait for his illegitimate son to become the king of Italy, and that they might no longer have to deal with dozens of loose duchies, counties, or countless free cities, and the Holy See, but a behemoth that held both divine and ecclesiastical power, which no country wanted to see.

But in front of the Pope, they were still smiling, and they all thought that there would be no one but Italy who could make Caesar. Where Borgia had unleashed his unparalleled military prowess and talent for domination, they were completely unashamed to compliment the young man, from his mind to his countenance, not caring about the black mask that Caesar had to wear because of a syphilis attack and an ugly round scar on his face.

And contrary to their words, before the conferment ceremony, the Pope's assassin Miguel . All of the Templar traitors that Corero could still search for suddenly disappeared overnight - they were either hiding in the envoy's carriage, disguised as the envoy's bodyguard, or simply posing as the envoy himself, calmly leaving Rome with the Templar's secrets.

Some of them went to the Holy Roman Empire, some to Naples, some to Venice, or Spain...... Of course, England and Scotland were also the places they went to the most, as was the Holy Roman Empire with England and Scotland, because most of the Teutonic Knights, who were on a Templar level, came from noble families in the Holy Roman Empire, which prevented them from being as vulnerable as the Templars in France, and the kings of the Holy Roman Empire were hostile to the kings of France (whether Philip IV, Charles VIII, or Louis XII) - in England and Scotland, in 1307The Templar Order of England survived by refusing to comply with the Pope's will to capture and judge the Templars, and the Knights Templar of England survived, while Scotland now King James had taken revenge for his political support for King Henry's political enemies - and now they are trying to make peace in the hope of eliminating Henry by signing a marriage contract. Tudor's hostility, he certainly wouldn't oppose Henry's will.

These Templars had brought what they thought was the most important, but a few of them, unbeknownst to them, had been in Cardinal Picromini's study just over ten days earlier.