In contrast to Julius II's horror and jealousy, Giulio. The Medici's response was much more peaceful, and he put the silver cup with the reed rod in it back on the small table, returned to the chair beside the bed, and folded his hands: "What's the matter," he asked, "Joshua, didn't you let me come?" Why are you so surprised when I'm here? ”

After a few gasps, Julius II calmed down a little, and when he looked around and saw that there was no one else, he could not help but sneer: "Why, when there is no one, you finally stop wearing the mask of gentleness and courtesy—you don't even call my holy name, but choose my common name, why, admit that you have surrendered to me and made you so uncomfortable?" ”

"You know I won't call you my holy father, even if I knowingly do it, but Joshua, you know, to whom I have left that title."

Julius II stopped talking.

"As for your holy name, I may call you by that name, if you wish, but I also know that it is not yours, but of your father, Cardinal Grande Lovere, who could not become pope, but which he had prepared for himself long before the accession of Innocent VIII, and that a Florentine goldsmith had made for him a brooch decorated with the name of Julius, and that he had carefully preserved it." Giulio said, "So, do you want me to call you that?" Julius II? ”

Julius II did not speak for a long time, he did not want to show weakness in front of Giulio, but he must also admit that Julius was not the holy name he chose for himself, and whenever people called him by this name, he felt that he was only Giuliano. Della. A stand-in and puppet of Lovere, his own existence is meaningless and worthless.

"You know what?" After some silence, Julius II said: "This is what you are most abominable, Giulio, for your mercy can be used to kill. ”

"But that's why you chose me, didn't you?"

"We, yes, Caesar, Luclayia, Alexander VI, Louis XII, and the people of Rome, Florence, Lucca, and Lepi...... And, me. Julius II turned his head to look at Giulio, "It must be very pleasant when you look at us, they can destroy you with a raise of your hand when you are still very weak, but you are always so gentle, so tolerant, so innocent, like a little little fire, so we say, wait, wait, after all, in the endless night, you are so vivid and special, but we are all wrong, Julio, no matter how beautiful and warm the flame is, it is deadly for a flock of moths." We fell into your trap, your body became your fuel, you devoured us, and then you became strong," he murmured, "and you, you may say, are innocent, because you really did not hold a sword, but only used your mercy to kill our hostility and anger, and you made us hesitate, slow, and confused. ”

"But Joshua," said Giulio, "if it weren't for this mercy, you would have died while we were still in Assisi." ”

"I'm long dead, you didn't save me, Julio, you didn't save Joshua. Lovere, it was the devil who woke up from that shell, not the child, the child, who was still in the saint's mausoleum, in the sarcophagus, enduring boundless darkness and loneliness. ”

"Didn't he leave?"

"No, Julio, no, he was put into the sarcophagus, and when he watched the lid of the sarcophagus move, and took the last ray of light, he was sentient, and he prayed to every Holy Spirit and saint he knew, but they didn't come, so he began to curse, and he began to hate, and if the Holy Spirit could not save him, then let the devil come, let the devil take his place, and he was willing to give his body and soul if it could avenge him."

"So, I, having set the devil free, have really committed an unpardonable sin."

Julius II laughed: "Yes, Giulio, before that night, though I had suffered so much that I could not see my father or my mother, and I lived like a doll with a linen cover all day long, I was content, and there was nothing unwilling, and I was grateful and loved, but my father's assassin destroyed them all after reciting only a few verses. Julio, the devil has awakened with venom, and you don't know anything about it—that kid once wanted to be your friend, but you couldn't save him. ”

"So, am I talking to the devil or Joshua?"

"Yes, of course...... Devil. Julius II said, "A devil full of envy and rage." ”

"Do you know what happened to the devil before he came to Marchano?" Julius II continued, "Our teacher, though he loved you very much, never had pity on me, and perhaps, from that time he had sniffed the stench of this body - the devil was left in Foligno, and in that monastery, there were no herbs, no food and no water, only vain prayers, and the monks longed for the devil to die soon, and they shut it up in a room and waited for it to stop breathing, but it escaped anyway, with that rotten face, Everyone who saw it screamed and fled, it was in high heat, wearing only linen underwear, and drinking muddy water...... Desperately, at all costs, just want to live. ”

"Ezio brought you to Marchano."

"Yes, an assassin, who is in the match of the devil, and if he knew that he had brought such a scourge upon you, he would have regretted it."

"He will never regret that he saved a life." Julio shook his head and said.

"Even if it's the devil's." Julius II coughed uncontrollably: "It's really unfair, if the devil still has such an ugly face, it doesn't matter if people don't like it, but even if it's pretentious like an angel, people are only willing to look at you, the teacher, Caesar, Lucrecia...... How are you going to make the devil not jealous? It does no less than you, Julio, why did they choose you? ”

"You are not so noble," continued Julius II, "you have the same inferior desires, you are just as cowardly, you are just as cowardly, you are just as cowardly, you are the same as Lucrecia, you will be held back by Lucrecia, and even refuse her love, but you cannot resist her temptation, you have killed her brother, and you have an illegitimate child with her." ”

"Did you leak Luigi to Alexander VI?"

"It's the devil!" Julius II exclaimed: "It's the devil!" The devil of jealousy! It told Della about it. Lovere, because it knew very well that the Great Lovere always had a way of letting Alexander VI know about it, and not let it be affected by Alexander VI's wrath - it knew it very well, and it could see the end completely. ”

"Does the devil know that this will hurt Lucretia too?" Julio asked in a low voice.

"Yes, but this is the devil, can you ask a devil to have love, morality, and anything good? No, Giulio, if it weren't for it," Julius II's eyes widened, and a strange crimson appeared on his cheeks, visibly excited: "If it weren't for it, you and Lucrea might have been together, poor man!" He said this, but his eyes were full of schadenfreude, "You are not a lowly servant, although you cannot be Lucresia's husband, but you can be her lover, as long as she fulfills the duties entrusted to her by the Borgia family and her husband's family, and gives birth to an heir of pure blood, they will not mind that she has one or two lovers to spend time!"

It's a pity, Julio. Alexander VI would never allow a man who killed his son, Lucresia's eldest brother, to enjoy the love of his beloved youngest daughter—or, if you were not the murderer who took the life of his eldest son, and the one who received Lucresia's true love, but only one of the two, he would not have to kill you for the sake of Picomini, our teacher. But when you commit both crimes, you have to die. ”

He tilted his head sideways, his breath was short, but he looked at Giulio's face with great joy, hoping to find a trace of pain and mourning from it: "Tell me, Giulio, when you realize that you have been betrayed by your friends, betrayed by your lover, ignored by the Holy See, abandoned by your benefactor, banished by your family, forgotten by Cardinal Picromini, our teacher, and ...... by me What were you thinking about when you replaced? Are you very miserable, full of hatred and disgust for everything in the world? Wishing it could collapse overnight? ”

"Is that what you want to see?" Giulio asked.

"That's what the devil wants to see." Julius II replied quickly.

"I can tell you." Giulio said: "I have indeed suffered, but like the tide rushing through the sands of the sea, there will always be hope in the world, calmly and quickly brush away people's pain and sorrow, as long as you never give up, never retreat, still willing to accept and feel - those who have abandoned me, to me, are like the dead branches and rotten leaves of a big tree, when they break or fall off, they may cause me pain, they will leave scars that cannot be removed, but from more places, countless new shoots will grow, The sprouts will grow into vibrant leaves, bringing me more sun, water, and air, and making me stronger, so I am never afraid, Joshua, and never nostalgic. ”

"You're lying!" Julius II shouted: "How is that possible! This is absolutely impossible to happen—how can anyone not feel anger, not feel sorrow, not be occupied by sin? Ha, what a stupid lie, others don't know, don't you know, that Julio. The Medici, the poor man who was willing to be kind to others, gentle and stubborn, had also been buried in Brest, and in this skin was only a devil! It has been proven that only the devil can escape the evil of the king, the exile of the Church, and the hatred of the people, and can destroy a powerful pope and his family in silence! ”

Julius II's voice was sharp and distorted, echoing through the room, like the devil screaming in purgatory, but Giulio just sat upright in his chair and looked at him, perhaps unaware of it, and his eyes could not help but show a little pity in the face of such a former friend and companion.

"Impossible," said Julius II at the end, barely able to speak, but he continued to mutter, repeating himself over and over again, "devil! Devil! He screamed, not knowing if he was calling out to himself or to Julio.

“…… These words," and when he finally hung his head tiredly, Giulio spoke again: "You have said it many times in your heart." He said in a calm tone that was deeply disgusted by Julius II: "How can you convince yourself otherwise?" You have received so much favor from me, and you should have been grateful to me and repaid me, but you did not, though I do not wish to blame you—you have received too little, Joshua, and you are afraid that I will take away what little you have, so that the best thing to do is to slander me for ulterior motives, so that you will not only be able to refuse to reciprocate, but even take away from me. ”

"It's not the devil, it's human nature." "But that doesn't mean that I'm willing to forgive you," said Giulio, "just as I am to Caesar, to Alexander VI, to Louis XII, to every enemy, Joshua, since you have chosen to be my enemy, I will no longer be kind to you, though ......" he sighed: "I do sympathize with you very, indeed. ”

Julius II shuddered violently, and he was right in saying that mercy could be a weapon, and Giulio knew that he would rather be hated by himself than sympathized with by himself—a phrase that should pierce his heart like a sword.

"I also know," continued Giulio without hesitation, "that you insist that I be your confessor priest, with no good intentions or guilt, but you just want to give me one last blow—perhaps you have left papers, or have told some people personally, that you have great secrets, or riches, and that you will only say these to the last person who sees you, so that even if you have nothing at all, or if I have nothing, people will still suspect that I have swallowed everything you have left behind." ”

Julius II stared at him, and Giulio just smiled: "In that case, you will probably ask, how did I get here, of course, ......" He paused for a moment, "I will indeed swallow up everything you have left behind, Joshua, you are partly right, and that is that I am indeed a devil to my enemies." He pointed out, "Don't you understand?" From the beginning, it wasn't me who was forsaken, but you, Joshua. ”