The Neri and Carboni families in the city of Florence were shocked when they heard about the attack on the Medici family on the road from Cadiz to Florence - the Medici and the Forlì lordess's bodyguards combined were fifty people, and the Turkish mercenaries who intercepted them were twice as many as them, almost the number of an entire mercenary group, which was definitely not something that one or two people could do, and only one family or count, marquis, or even duke could give this huge fee.

Fortunately, the guards of the wolf-she-wolf were not ordinary mercenaries, as soon as they found out that they were being deliberately entangled, they turned and fled without any attachment, and the Turks thought that they were like other mercenaries, and if they fled, they would scatter, but they did not, they divided some of them, and went to Cadiz, where there was the Medici family's own army, and as soon as the head of Cadiz heard about it, a hundred arquebusiers followed them to the place of the incident; More, knowing the terrain better than the Turkish mercenaries (thanks to the unusually unfriendly relationship between their lord and his daughter), rode desperately from another hidden path to avoid the inexplicable death of their master, along with their heir, in the hills outside Florence.

This time it was the turn of the Turkish mercenaries to be entangled to the death, and in a short time, the arquebusiers of Cadiz arrived, and the tide of the battle was suddenly reversed, they killed about sixty Turkish mercenaries, captured a dozen of them, and some of them escaped, but it didn't matter, as Carboni and Neri guessed, these mercenaries who existed as swords didn't know much.

They confessed that they had hesitated to see Caterina's escort, after all, at first, the employer had only asked them to execute Giuliano and Cosimo the Younger, and even Bianca, which was not so important - but the Turkish mercenaries thought again that the lords of Forlì should also be valuable, and they were superior in numbers, so they took action.

Hearing this, Carboni and Neri glanced at each other—their enemy had almost won.

More to the inner parent, Constena's husband, Tana. Neri was furious that the messenger was the martial arts teacher of the Neri family, and that the letter was indeed a perfect copy of Constina's handwriting, so Giuliano did not hesitate to decide to return to Florence immediately instead of waiting until tomorrow. This means that there was a traitor to the Neri family, but before they could arrest the martial arts teacher, he disappeared, and a few days later, his swollen body floated up from the Arno River.

But whether it's Giuliano or Constena and her husband Tana. Inside, there wasn't much thought left on that - Caterina was still in a coma and fever.

In this day and age, the piercing wound in the chest should have sent the lord of Forlì, the she-wolf Caterina, to heaven or hell. The Medici valued their blood relatives, and in the Medici mansion in Florence, a team of reliable doctors had been stationed for many years, and they carefully scrubbed the wounds with alcohol according to Giulio's instructions, and then stitched the muscles and skin together layer by layer with sheep intestine strings, leaving two ugly marks on Caterina's chest and back like centipedes crawling, stopping the bleeding, and almost extravagantly using the "white powder" that Constène took out of her dowry box - This elixir, which was proven to cure hundreds of ailments, was like a blessing from God to ensure that the wound did not fester, or pus, and finally pulled Catalina back from the clutches of death.

But when asked why Caterina was still in a coma due to high fever, none of them could answer, after all, in this age of great limitations in both theory and practice, they were able to give up enemas and bloodletting, and it could almost be said that God blessed them by devouring what Giulio had taught on Caterina.

Giuliano went to the Cathedral of Our Lady, where he had consecrated three Masses in succession, and when he returned, it was late at night, but when he returned to his room, his room with Bianca was still dark and cold, and he knew that Bianca was still in her mother's room.

"It's time for you to rest." Giuliano said, draping the cashmere cloak over Bianca's shoulders, which was already slender and skinny after a few days of eating, and Giuliano could even clearly feel the shape of the bones on her shoulders.

"She's not awake yet." Bianca said.

"Maybe tomorrow Madame will wake up, and go back, or sleep here for a while, Bianca, she will feel heartache if you torture herself like this."

Bianca did not answer, she still sat motionless, looking at the man in the curtains, in the candlelight, Caterina's pale face made her feel strange, her mother, who had always been in her impression a strong and strong woman, not inferior to men, and in heart could be compared with those cold tyrants—would she also be so powerless, so weak? Moreover, when did she have so many gray hairs? Unkempt on the pillow, like a handful of wool that has not yet been washed.

"Bianca......" Giuliano shouted worriedly.

"You say," Bianca turned abruptly and asked earnestly, "is there some conspiracy?" ”

Giuliano was stunned: "Conspiracy? …… Yes," he stumbled, "probably yes, my sister and her husband, and the Carboni family are closely tracking, and I think the answer will soon be available." ”

"No, I'm not talking about that, I'm saying," Bianca pointed to the man on the bed, "My mother, is there some conspiracy?" ”

Giuliano tightened his eyebrows, he reached out a hand and took Bianca's shoulder, "What are you talking about, Bianca, why do you think that?" She's your mother......"

"Seventeen years ago she left me to a mob mother?"

"Bianca!" Giuliano cried out, he knew how Bianca had suffered, and he hated her ruthless mother, but it was also true that Caterina had given her life to save Bianca and Cosimo Jr., and that alone he could not continue to indulge Bianca.

"You really should go and get some rest...... Bianca, you've been sitting in this chair for three days and two nights, and you're tired, that's why you've had strange thoughts......"

"I didn't, Julie, it must be a conspiracy......" The she-wolf's daughter grabbed her husband's hand tightly, and Giuliano tried to pull her up, but she almost dragged her to the ground—Bianca's strength was surprisingly strong: "It's a conspiracy......" she muttered, "Otherwise, why did she do this, she shouldn't have done that, she should have gone away and go back to Forlì, she could still have children, boys, girls, nothing she could not give up...... She shouldn't have been lying here, as if she was going to die at any moment, I thought...... She'll ...... Forever like this, nothing can beat her...... Because she's so selfish, so ...... Cruel...... Julie, she shouldn't be here......"

"Why shouldn't she do that?" Giuliano couldn't bear to say, "She loves you." ”

"How is that possible!" Bianca screamed and tried to get up from her chair, but her numb legs caused her to fall to the ground at once—her hands were cut by the metal trim on the legs of the chair, and blood was left behind, but she didn't feel any pain at all: "She doesn't love anyone!" Julian! She doesn't love us, she doesn't love me, she loves no one but herself! ”

"She's changed...... Bianca. Giuliano said: "As long as you are human, you will always change - she has changed, Bianca, you should have changed too, you should have come out of the nightmare." ”

"I don't believe in ......"

"That's true, she saved your life and little Cosimo's."

"I won't forgive her ......"

"I don't want your forgiveness either."

Giuliano looked up suddenly: "Are you awake!?" He shouted in joy.

"It's hard not to wake up, there are two people who are noisy and yelling in your ear, as long as you are not deaf, you can only wake up." Caterina turned her head on the bed, her face still haggard and her voice muffled, but her eyes, which grew brighter by the light of the candles, showed that she was still the fierce she-wolf from Forlì.

"Go and call the doctor, and show me if there's any problem," Caterina began to give orders as she always did, as soon as she awoke, "Also, I'm so hungry, let them get some thick soup, the greasy kind."

"You should eat something light now." Giuliano didn't care about Caterina's attitude, she saved the two most important people in his life, even if he was sent to hell to fetch water.

"Phew, what's the use of those fruits and vegetables, I'm not a rabbit." Caterina's eagle-like eyes grabbed Giuliano's dangling arm at once: "Your bones are broken?" We need to eat more meat, so let's roast a few pigeons. ”

Giuliano went out happily, leaving the mother and daughter behind.

"I have no regrets," said Caterina in the terrible silence, "seventeen years ago, when I left you and your brother to those thugs, I have no regrets, and now...... Nor will it. ”

"I never regret it, Bianca."

——————————

An injury like Katerina's could not be healed, and when the high fever subsided, her chest bulged out like a devil's work, and she fell with her breath, and if she leaned on her chest and listened, she could hear the hissing sound of a broken leather drum.

Because of this, she was able to participate in the secret meetings of the Medici Alliance as the bitter master, after all, in the future, two of the three territories that Cosimo Jr. would inherit were hers.

"In Florence, there were indeed people who began to be dissatisfied with the Medici." Neri said.

"Probably not just dissatisfied," said Caterina sarcastically, "the Turks are not cheap, and they are a whole army of mercenaries. ”

"Do you know which families are?" Giuliano asked.

Neri said the names of several families.

"Haven't they been working with us all the time?" Giuliano wondered, "What are they dissatisfied with?" ”

"Money." "Since last year, there have been complaints that they have spent too much money on the potions they use to extract lanolin," Carboni said. ”

"But isn't that what they should pay?" Giuliano didn't understand

"They thought," said Neri, "that at the beginning of Giulio. The Medici proposed cashmere and lanolin to repay Pierrot. The Medici had betrayed Florence's debts for their own desires, and since the potion was part of the lanolin trade, it should have been free of charge. ”

"Greed never ends." Caterina said.

"The question is," said Constena coldly, "aren't they afraid of the Medici's revenge?" ”

"And those potions." Added inside.

In other words, they think they have dependence, not only do they have dependence, but they don't care about the source of the potion being cut off...... They may have gotten the recipe already. Carboni speculated.

"Giulio told me that the recipe for the potion is in the Picromini Palace, and that the potion is also prepared by the monks of the Picromini family—that's bad news." Konstena said.

"That's enough for the Florentines, but not enough for the one who hides behind them," Caterina whispered, "I think my Imola and Forlì are his most concerned and important rewards." ”

"And Cadiz," said Carbony, "eighteen thousand young and strong people, nearly a tenth of the pottersmen, five hundred arquebusiers, fifteen hundred soldiers—almost the size of a city, and the deep wells and aqueducts almost made it a new Canaan." ”

————

"All of the above are the reasons." Joshua said indifferently.

He smiled sharply at his father, Cardinal Grande Lovere.

"But most of all, I want to see the Medici of Florence, in Giulio. How much weight did the Medici have in their hearts? ”