February 14 is Valentine Day, yes, yes, hundreds of years later it is also known as Valentine's Day, Valentine is the saint of Perugia, he was born in Perugia in the third century, became a priest here, nearly a thousand years after the canonization of the Church, he received the most devout and solemn veneration and worship here, but compared to the feast of other saints, Valentine Day is obviously more enthusiastic and cheerful, followed by the ranks of bishops and priests, almost all young men and women, arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder, singing loudly and throwing flowers.

At night, the students of the University of Perugia also sneak out, and the streets and squares are filled with people, torches illuminating the sky as if it were day, and everyone is dressed in the brightest clothes they can. Julio and Joshua followed behind Caesar, as well as Joe and Terra, of course, these powerful and wealthy students did not need to mingle with the commoners, the Donini Palace had already prepared for them with sumptuous food, mellow wine, and expensive prostitutes, all of whom were not only gorgeously dressed, but also wore masks on their faces as an excuse for indulgence, this is a large vortex filled and formed by frankincense, candlelight and ****, the people in the hall are dancing, men and women will hold hands together, Form a large circle and constantly kick your legs into the air.

"Let's go dancing," Caesar said, "and it's one of the compulsory courses for college students." ”

"Yes," said Terra, beside him, "don't worry, you won't be in any danger here, just do whatever you want, my dear, it's a little early, but there are many ways to appreciate love." He waved his hand at a familiar prostitute: "They are all good teachers who deserve respect. ”

Joshua looked around, "Hopefully we won't have such a 'mentor' around us." He's saying that there are some young people among the university tutors who probably don't care if the students sneak out at night to have fun, but if they hear someone compare a prostitute to themselves, even if they can't swing a rattan whip at a Borgia or Baglioni, it's not a big deal to do some homework.

Terra, who had been a little hazy from the wine, suddenly came to his senses, and he looked around in fear, but tonight there were people wearing masks, puffed robes and cloaks, and it was too difficult to deduce the identity of a person from the little skin under the mask and the bulging fabric.

"Well," he whispered, "be happy anyway." With that, he dragged Joe and Caesar into the crowd.

"You know," said Giulio, "there is a theory. ”

A few of the prostitutes who wanted to approach them stopped, and in any case it didn't look like a proper place to discuss academics—but Joshua apparently thought it would be more pleasant to discuss academics than to deal with strange-smelling, rough-skinned fools, so he struck a brisk gesture of deafness. "Please speak, senior brother."

"It means that there is a quota for everything that man can have and master." Julio pointed to a basket of crimson honey-covered dried fruits placed near them: "It's like that plate of dried fruit, maybe a person from birth to death, he only has the opportunity to taste this dried fruit a hundred times." ”

"More than a hundred times?"

"I don't know," said Giulio, "maybe he'll be disgusted with the dried fruit, or maybe he'll never be able to afford it again, or maybe he'll ......."

"He's dead." Joshua said.

Julio froze for a moment: "Yes, and it's not just dried fruit, it could be something else, like ......"

"Love." Again, Joshua continued, of course, knowing that the "love" they were discussing now had nothing to do with that holy and pious emotion. "So we need to value ourselves and avoid being overly greedy." He smiled at Giulio, indicating that he had received his reminder.

Joshua turned his head away and sighed softly in his heart, he had confessed to his father that he was jealous of Julio—but look, even if it was full of well-intentioned exhortation, he could handle such tactfulness and obscurity, so that the admonished person would not feel humiliated, and the admonished person would not be able to discern the power, how vicious must such a person be to hate him and hurt him without hesitation? It took him a moment to gather his emotions and turn around, only to find Julio frowning, staring into a remote dark corner.

There were a few prostitutes and a few prodigal children, and Joshua thought he had seen something filthy, but the next glance made him clench Giulio's arm.

"I read that right, right?" Giulio asked.

"Nope." Joshua replied without hesitation, and they jumped out of their chairs, through the boiling crowd, and headed straight for that corner.

The disturbed man looked back unhappily, and when he saw Julio and Joshua, his face was full of contempt and mockery, but then Giulio lifted his cloak, causing the Medici coat of arms to shine in the dim light, and he immediately retreated, and the others gave up their prey with eyes and gestures.

Julio pulled out the man in the middle of them, "Why are you here?" ”

Lucrecia hesitated for a moment: "I bought a priest to tell the Ambassador of Perugia that Cardinal Borgia wanted him to bring me to the University of Perugia to be with my brother. ”

"You shouldn't have done that," Giulio retorted, in a snark voice, "and you shouldn't be here." ”

"Why?" Lucretia was dragged away by Giulio, her wrists were clutched so tightly that she almost cried.

"Because there are only prostitutes here except men who seek pleasure."

"There's a ...... What......" Luclaycia trotted out of breath, "Father...... ...... at the banquet"

Giulio pressed his forehead, this is the peculiarity of this era, children, especially girls, are not considered a complete "person", or even have emotions and thoughts, so many times, things that should not be known to them too early will be openly placed in front of them. Caesar, Lucracia, and the other children of Borgia were taken by their fathers as soon as they were out of the age of breastfeeding – Borgia's feasts were so famous throughout Rome that even Pope Innocent VIII wrote to him that his feasts would not be so ...... Debauchery – at least there are so many barely clothed prostitutes. This is also why Bishop Picromini was so picky when he ceded the "Silver Palace".

And these, the children of this bishop, Luigi, Caesar, Lucrea, Juan can be said to be commonplace, and the boys may still get some tolerance, what about Lucrea?

"We'll talk about it later." Julio looked at Joshua, "Okay Joshua, can you help me get Caesar out?" We're just waiting here. ”

"Immediately." Joshua replied that after ten minutes, he finally pulled the disheveled Caesar out, with Tyra and a half-drunk Joe behind them.

Caesar was equally shocked to see Lucrea, but he was angry that Lucrecia had come to Perugia herself, and he didn't care that she would appear in this haunted place that resembled a Roman natural bath.

MD, Julio thought to himself, the two siblings needed some necessary and urgent education.

Because of the sudden arrival of Lucrecia, the boys' time for amusement had to be greatly reduced, and they hurried out of the square and returned down the dark alleys to the Palazzo Priori, a small palace belonging to Baglioni, old but still spacious and comfortable, and as the future master of Perugia, Terra certainly had the right to use it, which was only a few hundred feet from the University of Perugia, but separated by two squares from the Palazzo Donini, surrounded by dense multi-storey apartments, which were almost entirely inhabited by university students.

On one of the paths they had to pass, there was a loud noise, and they saw the light of the sword in the swaying shadows.

"What's going on?" Tyra asked, and his martial arts instructor immediately stepped forward to inquire, and it turned out that it was several college students who refused to pay for the liquor they claimed to have drunk too much water, and even beat up innocent shopkeepers, so they confronted the townspeople and "drove them away." Tyra ordered impatiently, and the little episode made him feel a little embarrassed, but before his martial arts teacher could make a move, someone in the crowd shouted for the Grand Duke of Perugia to see the devil, and Tyra was furious, and he walked over, and the crowd immediately surrounded him.

Giulio thought that the matter would be resolved soon, after all, this was Perugia, but Terra seemed to be trapped by a few people, they drank too much, and said the same thing over and over again, and even his last name could not be understood, he frowned uneasily, Ezio had been training him strictly for four years, he hoped that he was too sensitive, those people were wearing cloaks, but they did not look like college students, nor like ordinary people, ordinary people did not wear hard tight tops, leather pants and boots like them, they looked ...... It's like a mercenary.

The thought struck Julio's mind like lightning, and he quickly drew his short sword from his side, and the people around him were not slow to react, and Caesar shouted Terra's name as he drew his weapon.

A scuffle is on the verge of breaking out.

Caesar and Giulio did not hesitate, they rushed forward, no matter what these people wanted to do, they must not be caught between the end and the end, and the people behind also ran, but before they could approach, Giulio and the others had already pounced into the crowd gathered around Terra - in the faint light, Giulio could see the faces of these people clearly, and after removing the hood and mask, these people showed rough skin and hard jaws, as well as fierce eyes, including those "students", they wielded weapons, Leaving a terrible wound on Terra and his martial arts teacher, Caesar pierced the crowd like a sharp sword, he was also a teenager, but he showed great bravery, with the cooperation of Borgia's martial arts teacher, they actually cleared a small clearing, Terra and his martial arts teacher immediately ran over and stood with them back to back.

"Bright light!" Julio shouted, and Terra and Caesar immediately closed their eyes, and almost at the same time, a dazzling light lit up the alleyway in an instant. The strong light made all those who could not close their eyes in time unstoppable with sore eyes and tears, but their crisis was far from over, these Assassins were very sophisticated, and when they found that they could not see, they stood side by side in the alley where only four people could walk at the same time, anyone who wanted to pass through had to break through their sword barriers, and those who chased their prey were not affected as badly as their companions, and Julio suddenly realized that they were going to have a difficult battle.

Giulio's martial arts instructor was Ezio, a skilled and incomparable assassin, Caesar's martial arts teacher, Terra's martial arts teacher was the best in the family, if not comparable to Ezio, and they also had a few strong guards, but when facing at least twenty enemies, their numbers were a little stretched, and luckily they were intercepted in the alleyway, they could not break out of the alleyway, but the enemy could not easily surround them.

Julio gasped, as did Caesar, Joe, and Terra, who were having a conundrum in which their stamina was rapidly draining. Fortunately, they left the banquet early because of Lucrecia, and Caesar thought that they should have been attacked at the end of the banquet, when they must have been drunk and weak. Not only that, but the Assassins, disguised as students and townspeople, didn't have to bother Terra too much, desperately delaying the time until Julio discovered the flaw - they must have suddenly discovered that their prey had left early, and some of them had not yet reached the established ambush position.

Caesar's face was once praised by a painter as as quiet as an angel, and if he saw Caesar now, he would have thought that this angel had fallen into hell, and Giulio knew that his face might have become extremely hideous, with little strength left, twice as many enemies, and to make them even more troubled, there were three fatal weaknesses in their ranks, Joe, Lucrea, and Joshua.

Just as they had decided to fight to the death, there was a noise of footsteps not far away, the citizens of Perugia who had not gone to bed as early as usual because of Valentine's Day, but what attracted them was the bright white light that Giulio had just ignited, and Terra's retinue immediately shouted loudly, calling for the citizens of Perugia to come to their rescue—and the brave ones had already run over.

The Assassins had to retreat, but just as Julio and the others were slackening, a vicious fellow reached out and grabbed Lucrecia.

After that, things developed so quickly that even Caesar was in a trance...... Only Julio reacted in time, grabbing the dagger that was about to stab Lucrecia in the neck, slitting the Assassin's throat with one blow, but the other Assassin's left-handed dagger stabbed him in the exposed chest.

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When Julio woke up, Caesar was sitting on the edge of his bed, with his arms folded, and immediately smiled heartily when he saw Julio open his eyes.

"You're all right," said Caesar, "Cardinal Picromini has seen your wounds, and the Medici coat of arms that your sister sewn into her cloak has blocked the dagger, and though it still pierces it, it is stuck, not deep, not touching the heart, not slitting the lungs." He unfolded the cloak, which clearly had a piercing gap, and the heavy gold and silver threads reduced the penetration of the blade, and the short sword in his left hand was a small ball of pure gold embedded in it, five of which were deformed.

"And," Caesar. Borgia lowered his head and whispered, "I am grateful that you saved Lucrecia...... My brother, here I do not use the Borgia surname, but swear to you in the name of my Caesar, that I will do one thing for you, whatever it may be, even if you want me to die. ”