Ibrahim was taken out of the tent, and before him was a board of lacquered wood, which was unusually smooth and bright, and Duarte stood with the others, although he knew very well that people like Ibrahim, who had begun to transform from macules to pimples, did not need to use poisonous lacquer to promote acne rashes, but they had to invent this reason in order to save their lives, and in this case, they could not disobey Madame Ishe's orders.

It was only when he saw that Ibrahim's eyes burst into an incomparably dazzling light after hearing that he was testing a new cure for the prince Suleiman, Duarte couldn't help but let out a contemptuous and angry mockery in his heart - such a slave he had not seen in his years in Istanbul, and there was even a time when his escape plan failed because of such a person, and he tried to make them understand his actions, but the consequence was almost strangled if it were not for their master to stop it in time.

Without hesitation, Ibrahim threw himself on the pungent smell of the lacquer board, the lacquer on the lacquer board had not yet fully solidified, and it was still a little sticky, sticking to his thin and fragile skin, and when the eunuch loudly ordered him to roll to the left, the skin that adhered to the lacquer was pulled up, and then cracked, bleeding out transparent liquid, and then blood, and the onlookers felt extremely painful, but Ibrahim seemed to have lost his sense of pain, and rolled desperately to the side without a sound, Then he rolled back to his original position according to the eunuch's orders. It wasn't until Duarte raised his hand, indicating that it was all right, that he was able to stop.

When he stopped, this black-haired boy from Greece, whose skin had been torn in at least thirty or forty places, looked even more terrible than when he was covered with pimples, and when the eunuch ordered those who also suffered from smallpox, but who were lucky enough to escape from high fever and convulsions, to carry Ibrahim back, if it were not for the whip behind him, I was afraid that these people would not dare to approach Ibrahim, who was drenched in blood, but then Ibrahim received a separate tent with delicate treatment and thoughtful care, and made them jealous.

Ibrahim knew this, but he didn't take it to heart at all, his only concern was his master, Prince Suleiman, but all he could do now was to bear possible dangers and threats on behalf of Prince Suleiman, and he was obedient and vigilant, and listened carefully to what everyone said—he was worried that they spoke in the language of Christians, and he could understand some simple Latin, but when it came to speaking a Roman or other dialect, even Prince Suleiman could not grasp it— Fortunately, these people spoke in Ottoman most of the time.

The powders and potions they gave Ibrahim, Ibrahim can only be said to be a little bitter, but they are indeed effective. It's just that, out of Ibrahim's heart, he still wanted to go to Prince Suleiman, but in fact he didn't have the physical strength and qualifications, and he lay groggy on a roll of clean linen sheets, oozing liquid constantly contaminating it and the sheepskin underneath, but these were nothing to Prince Suleiman and Madame Ishe's team - Duarte had the eunuch examine Ibrahim's arm and confirm that his pimples had turned into herpes, except for the skin that had been torn by lacquer, No other ominous symptoms were presented.

Madame Elsher didn't want more people to try this strange cure, but the number of lacquer was limited, and Prince Suleiman's time was running out.

The new lacquered plates were sent to the tent of Prince Suleiman, of course, by this time the lacquered plates were completely dry, and the eunuchs, under the guidance of Cosimo Jr., placed the hot and hot Prince Suleiman on the tablet, and the cold plate made Suleiman let out a comfortable sigh in his coma - before the treatment began, Mrs. Ayser entered the tent, she knelt beside Suleiman, bowed her head with tenderness, and kissed his rash-covered forehead without fear.

It was only after Madame Elsher had left that the eunuchs dared to remove the prince's clothes and let him roll naked on the lacquer board. Prince Suleiman was almost the size of a grown male, so they prepared fifty lacquered panels the size of a bed, and even if the eunuchs took turns, the whole process lasted from dusk until midnight.

"And after that?" Mrs. Aychet said.

"Pray," Duarte said, "ours we give, you give yours." ”

Madame Aychet said no more, but the light of the fire never died down, no matter which tent it was.

Cosimo Jr. was in the same tent as Prince Suleiman, although it was said to be in the same tent, but it was not embarrassing at all, and it was more than enough for Cosimo Jr. to come and see, even if he and Duarte and a few other people lived in it.

Little Cosimo, who had already been blessed, was of course not afraid of smallpox, and with the presence of eunuchs and maids, the tent was always clean and free of the slightest smell, and when he lay down and closed his eyes, he could even feel a fragrant breeze on his cheeks.

But he didn't feel sleepy at all, he just lay on his side, listening to the sound of Prince Suleiman's breathing, the prince's breathing has been slow and muddy, even just listening, you can perceive how painful and difficult he is now, little Cosimo doesn't know if this method will be successful, but he knows that the life and death of Prince Suleiman will be a very important matter.

He waited until dawn, and with little urging, little Cosimo came to the bed of Prince Suleiman with the somewhat frightened cries of the eunuchs and maids, and at first Cosimo the little Cosimo, and the others who heard the shouts, thought that Prince Suleiman was inevitably summoned by death, but little Cosimo immediately understood why they were crying out so presumptuously, and it was entirely human instinct - after the veil and velvet draperies had been removed, The exposure to light was terrifying, Suleiman did give out the pox rash they had expected, but his pox was denser than anyone else's, with fingertip-sized blisters crowding every inch of exposed skin, covering his features and beard, and he looked like a monster covered in translucent pimples filled with liquid.

If you must describe it specifically, it is like the skin on the back of a toad has been enlarged and covered with a human body, and it is no wonder that these maids and eunuchs will shout.

But for Suleiman, it was a good thing, because the appearance of herpes meant that the poisonous blood was seeping out of his body, and the rest of the work was much easier — mainly to prevent infection, to take better care of it, and to keep his eyes, mouth, nose and skin clean.

In contrast to the linen from which Ibrahim's herpes began, Prince Suleiman wore soft silk underneath him, which had been violently steamed and wrinkled after drying, and looked almost as good as a pauper's garment—the value of which had plummeted, but no one would be stingy at this time.

The silk soaked in the herpes liquid had to be changed almost every quarter of an hour, and Duarte kept adjusting the amount of the medicine until the herpes gradually turned white (Suleiman was even more terrible at this time), dried up, and formed a thick crust, at which point Suleiman finally came to his senses, or rather, he was awakened by unbearable itching—but Duarte, who had been prepared, wrapped silk around his hands and feet, making him unable to move, but the extreme pain—no, more than pain, The strange feeling of worms crawling under his skin made Prince Suleiman scream impatiently, calling out to his mother, his father, his attendants, his maids, his eunuchs, and he even swore to kill everyone.

Duarte was unmoved, but Cosimo Jr. thought that such a process would last for more than ten days or more, so he managed to concoct some potions from the crystals distilled from pearl powder and camphor leaves, which, although not completely suppressed the itching that seemed to penetrate deep into the bone marrow, finally returned to a tolerable level. At this time, Prince Suleiman finally discovered that some very strange people had appeared around him, especially little Cosimo, who was younger than the attendants around him, could it be a child sent by a new round of blood tribute? It is also possible that at the time of the transition between the old and new sultans, the children of the blood tribute will also be delayed because they cannot determine who should take over - but when he comes here, he is almost destined to die here.

"Where are you from?" Suleiman asked, either curious, alert, or to distract himself.

"Florence." Cosimo Jr. said.

Suleiman hesitated for a moment, Florence was one of the free cities of Italy, that is, it was not within the scope of the blood tribute - unless his father took the rich peninsula in one fell swoop during the few days he was unconscious, but he also knew that it was impossible, "How did you come here?" He asked, "Did the robbers rob you?" ”

Cosimo Jr. shook his head: "It was your father who sent a messenger to Florence and asked my uncle if he would like to give you the means of blessing the Christians to protect him from the plague, and my uncle agreed, so he took me to Istanbul," and at this point, he sighed slightly: "You are not very lucky, Your Highness, we have only arrived here, and you have contracted smallpox, if it had been a few days earlier, you would not have suffered such torture." ”

"Who is your uncle?"

"Julio. Medici. ”

"Ahh Sure enough, Suleiman heard the expected name: "The wise man with golden eyes," he said kindly, "I have heard about him from my father, and he is a good man who is kind and generous, but I did not expect him to be willing to come here." "Of course Prince Suleiman knows about Giulio. The Medici, the prince of the Christian Church, was silent for a moment, and then smiled bitterly: "Of course," he said, "because the rebel who dared to pretend to be the Sultan was preparing to threaten us with smallpox—and my father's slave girls, who would also use the plague to get rid of me or any prince born to them except them." ”

"Yes," said Cosimo Jr., "though we should be enemies in a broad sense, my uncle always believed that some things could never be done, and some things must always be done, so he came." ”

"How did he come up with the idea of bringing you? You ......" Suleiman asked, "How old are you?" ”

"Ten years old." Cosimo Jr. said.

"You look older than you really are." Suleiman couldn't help but compare little Cosimo with himself, and those bloody children, although as the only grown up son of the Sultan of Selim, and his retinue were also some of the best, but to say, at this age, such maturity and stability are really rare, especially as far as he can see, sometimes his doctors have to listen to the orders of Cosimo Jr., and little Cosimo seems to have more knowledge than them.

Suleiman had wanted to know more about the child that his mother had intended to be by his side, but little Cosimo had prepared for him a potion against itching—the kind used to put him to sleep, so he spent another ten days in chaos, and when the scabs on his body began to fall off, he finally got rid of the shackles of the bed, and as soon as he could get up, he couldn't wait to get out of the tent, breathing in the fresh air and bathing in the bright sunshine.

And just then he heard a cry of joy, and he turned to see Ibrahim, his closest friend and attendant.

Ibrahim pounced on him and kissed his feet, Suleiman could feel the burning tears falling on his feet, he couldn't help but get excited, he reached out and grabbed Ibrahim's arm, and then he saw the scars and acne scars that were not covered by the sleeves, "Are you also infected with smallpox?" He exclaimed in astonishment, "Ibrahim, I didn't even know that you had suffered such misfortunes, the true God was above," and he hurriedly looked at the face of the attendant, and Ibrahim's face also had the traces of this disaster: "But it is wonderful," said the prince, "that you have also been blessed by the true God, and have not fallen into the abyss of death, just like me," and he could not help laughing a few times: "Except for your face," he said intimately, "you look like an arrow target, well, a rider who is not so skilled in archery." ”

Suleiman's words made Ibrahim feel ashamed, he did not know that he could be so impulsive, and at the same time, there was a deep frustration in his heart - the prince's beautiful face was also a very important part of the selection of his attendants, and it was obvious that he was not qualified to stay with the prince now.

But Ibrahim had already decided that if he had to leave the prince's side, he would go to Ajinki or Azab (ordinary cavalry and ordinary infantry) in order to sacrifice his only loyalty and life for his master.

"No kidding," Suleiman saw at a glance what he was thinking: "You are going to be by my side, what if there are more scars on your face, this is the same as the scar left by a brave warrior on the battlefield, it is a proof of victory and bravery, and he is protected by the true gods, and whoever dares to laugh at you for this, I will cut off his head." ”

Ibrahim's eyes suddenly glowed with joy again, and he knelt down again in the dust and wiped his master's feet with his forehead.

。 m.