Joshua. Lovere wanted to scream - lie! It is absolutely impossible, yes, he admits that it is not him who Pius III loves the most, but Giulio, but as early as the year before Pius III's death, Giulio. The Medici left behind his teacher, his benefactor, and returned to Florence for personal reasons, although Pius III finally appointed him as the Archbishop of Florence, but this is not to say that he has been abandoned, everyone knows that Roman and non-Roman bishops are two completely different concepts - especially when Pius III is equivalent to half-stepping into the mausoleum - cardinals have the qualifications to be elected and elect others, but one thing is that he must arrive in Rome before the Sistine Chapel is closedOtherwise, the cardinals present will be asked to vote on whether or not to admit the fool who unfortunately did not arrive in time. For example, when Sixtus IV was elected, there was a cardinal who was unable to ride a horse or ride a carriage because of hemorrhoids, and in the end he had to lie on a pannier chair and be carried over the steep Apennine Mountains, but even so, he was late, and in the end he paid a fine equivalent to three times the annual salary before he was finally allowed to enter the Sistine Chapel.

So around the time of Pius III's death and before the closure of the Sistine Chapel, Cardinal Grande Lovere and Joshua Grande Lovelle joined hands with Joshua. Lovere was always worried - they knew that the Medici also had some strong supporters in Rome, so they kept a close eye on Joe. The Medici, in turn, sent Assassins to block the road from Florence to Rome if Giulio . When the Medici came, they would destroy him from body to soul.

Joshua, who still had some vague knowledge of Giulio's skills, was even more reassuring than his father, and it was because he finally stopped saying anything hypocritical, as he confirmed that if Giulio had any intention of returning to Rome, it was an enemy he had to get rid of—but he also told himself that Pius III and Giulio were the ones he had to get rid of. The Medici's father-son affection may still be there, but Pius III had a clear understanding of what kind of heir he should have.

Their teacher realizes his mistake at the last moment, and he still loves Julio, but he no longer expects anything from him - it should be Joshua who really inherits his inheritance. Lovere's right! Even if Pius III doesn't like him, aren't those considerable assets, weapons, and connections in his hands?

Now, Giulio actually said that he was the one who was abandoned, how could it be, it was ridiculous! He would never believe it.

Julio. The Medici did not argue with him on the subject, and even suddenly mentioned something else: "You arrived at Lepuy the day before yesterday. He said, "But you fell yesterday, and you asked them to summon me, but this morning, then, Joshua, have you ever wondered how I was able to go from Cadiz to Lepi in one day?" ”

Instead of waiting for Joshua's answer, he looked out the door, "Come in, Avery ”

Avery. Borgia immediately walked in through the door, and when Julius II saw him, he was furious—yes, it must have been this man who betrayed his message to the Medici. It was possible for the Medici to rush from Cadiz to Lepi in such a short time, "Rebellion! The word burst out from between his teeth, and the man just smiled, not the slightest hint of shame or uneasiness.

"Do you recognize him?" Giulio asked.

"Baglioni......" Julius II's heart could not help but panic, this man was Baglioni's...... Son? It should be, because it was Baglioni who prayed to him for Le Pi in the first place, so he handed over Le Pi and Spoleette to him to manage, of course, it was impossible for Baglioni, who was in Rome, to manage the great abbey of Le Pi himself, so he ...... This young man, who had bowed to him and kissed his hand, but since he had betrayed his father, what about Baglioni, who was also blinded, was still ...... Already betrayed him too?

But why? He is the Pope, the agent of the Holy Spirit, who holds the keys to the secular and divine doors. Could the Medici give him more than himself?

"No," said Julio, "tell him who you are, Avery." ”

"I'm Avery. Borgia. "Avery . Borgia looked with amusement at Julius II, the supreme lord of Giulio's age, but with the dull skin of a forty-year-old, the mottled and dry gray hair of a fifty-year-old, and the lifeless eyes of a sixty-year-old, which shot with a malevolent light that seemed to pierce his heart like an arrow when he saw him, but when he heard his surname, those eyes were clouded with confusion.

"You don't remember me," Avery said. Borgia said, "Yes, Joshua. Lovere, even though you have served my father Alexander VI, admired my sister Lucresia, and taken refuge in my brother Caesar, you have never cared for me, the weakest and most inconspicuous of the Borgias, and your eyes have hardly stayed on me...... I'm not blaming you, I've seen many of the same ...... as yours Well, villains, they only keep an eye on those people or things that can benefit them, and as for the rest, they don't care at all - of course, it is none other than His Highness who finally confirms this to me.

When His Royal Highness asked me to come to Rome and let me take over Le Pi and Spoleette as a son of Baglioni, Baglioni still had concerns, but neither he nor I said that you would not recognize me, and sure enough, even if I stood face to face with you and kissed your hand, you did not realize that it was the last person of the Borgia family standing in front of you.

It's a shame, you see, Lovere, you don't have a chance. ”

"I just...... I just ......"

"You should remember me, Lovere, the Borgia family is on the verge of extinction." Avery. Borgia teased maliciously, "But it's not what you think is just an empty shell, or even if it's just a shell, it's of great value to you, but at that time, you were busy stealing the fur and scum of the sky like a vulture hyena, together with your father, Cardinal Grande Lovere." ”

"But Giulio. The Medici killed your brother and sister! Joshua shouted.

"Ah......" Avery darkened his eyes, "I know, Lovere, that Giulio never deceived me, that Caesar died at his hands, he told me, and that Lucresia, in his letter to me, said that if Caesar had not died in the prison of a king or duke, he would have been in Julio. The Medici was dead at her hands, and herself, she had made the best arrangements, and me, who had given me to Giulio, along with Le Pi and Spolette.

As for you," said Avery Are, "she did not mention a word," and he smiled again with contempt, "and Caesar, I know my brother, and I believe that he would prefer to die in Julio. In the hands of the Medici. ”

"You've been deceived." Joshua muttered, "You've all been lied to......"

Avery didn't say anything more, he had dealt enough blows to Lovere, and when Joshua was the only one. When Lovere was still with Alexander VI, he didn't like this person, but both Alexander VI and Caesar said that villains can also play an unexpected role as long as they use them properly, but before they can use Lovere, Alexander VI is unwilling to leave this filthy world, and then ...... The gesture of Cardinal Lauver the Grander and Cardinal Lovere Junior was disgusting—they had benefited from Alexander VI, but as soon as they turned around, they assumed a gesture of purity and righteousness—Caesar and the allies of the Borgia family had nothing to do with them.

Isn't it disgusting that the bull loses the fight with the lion, but before it dies completely, the maggots that used to suck the blood from it begin to sing and dance on its body?

Nothing could have made Lovere know that he could have reaped unimaginable benefits from Borgia's overthrow, but that he had been swept away by his own short-sightedness, which was all the more painful for him. Avery. Borgia thought so, but when another group staggered past him and entered the room, he knew he was wrong.

Cardinal Baglioni stood in front of Joshua, his chubby face no longer with the same deference as before, and his expression was flat, looking at Joshua as if he were looking at a pope, as if he were looking at a mortal with a humble status who had nothing to do with him.

"You ......," Joshua wanted to say, Cardinal Baglioni had sworn loyalty to him, but he had been rummaging through his chaotic mind for a long time, but he had not been able to find any memory of it—they had never sworn to himself, he had just seen them bow to him and kiss his hand, and he thought they were his courtiers, but they ...... He watched Cardinal Baglioni walk towards Giulio. The Medici, as he had done with him, nay, bowed to him more reverently, and after kissing his hand, there was a roar in his ears, and he wanted to tell himself that it was just a nightmare, but he could not wake up, and he had to watch, and they, one by one, from Cardinal Baglioni to Joe. Medici, Buins...... The cardinals, whom he had thought had been left to him by Pius III, swore allegiance to the man he hated most.

The last person to come out was Brother John, who was well known to Joshua and had been with Pius III, who, after Pius III's death, was so grief-stricken that he refused all gifts and appointments from Lovere, and it is said that he returned to a monastery in Pienza to spend the rest of his life in peace, and Joshua, after he became Julius II, was too busy to remember this man.

"Brother John......" he cried out weakly.

Brother John looked at him with pity, but that was it, "I am a Picomini," he said, looking at Joshua, "the former head of the Picomini family was my father, and the current head is my eldest brother, I...... It should be said that it was the contact between the Picomini family and the Holy See, Joshua, Pius III who left me with Giulio, so you have been complaining that the Picomini family is not close enough to you, and that is of course, because they know who Pius III has chosen to be his true heir. ”

Joshua's eyes widened, tears streaming down from them—he had lost weight rapidly in a few days, and his already unhealthy plump cheeks were sunken even deeper, making him look like a skeleton with a pair of human eyes, "You're lying!" He hissed and whispered, as if he was afraid of waking up something: "You guys, you're all lying...... I am the heir of the teacher, and he left everything to me......"

"About a tenth." Giulio said, nodding to the cardinals, who immediately retreated in understanding, but were still shaken by the number.

Also unbelievable was Joshua's "One in ten? ”

"As I said, Joshua, math is a very important subject," said Giulio mildly, as they did when they were eight years old: "You always put all your attention on theology and medicine, and of course, I understand that you want to surpass me in both subjects and gain the favor of the teacher, but if you are proficient enough in mathematics, then you will immediately realize that what the teacher has given you is completely disproportionate to his rightful assets—even if it doesn't matter his money, his tithes, or his contributions, The Florentine lanolin extraction potion and cashmere dye alone were enough to cover the figure he gave you—and you carelessly didn't notice it, well, Joshua, you even managed to steal the potion recipe we gave to the Florentines, but didn't you think about what kind of huge profit would make a family take risks? ”

"I trust him!"

"You don't trust our teacher, you trust your father, Cardinal Grande Lovere, and although you always say that his actions disgust you, and you always outwardly reject the benefits he gives you, in fact, Joshua, you will secretly rejoice when he removes all the thorns and bulldozes obstacles for you, such as me. So when the teacher 'compromises', you don't doubt it, because it's not what you begged for...... You know that begging is useless to the teacher, because he doesn't love you - what you get is a victory in a war, you win over me, you win over the teacher, you get not a gift, but a trophy, and of course you don't think and calculate. ”

"No, I didn't...... I'm in love with him......"

"You contradict yourself, Joshua, and you just said that it was not Joshua that I released from the sarcophagus of Assisi. Lovere, but a devil, how can the devil love people? ”

"......No," Joshua shouted, but his voice was no longer so loud, the potion had come to an end, and Julio looked at the candles, which were no longer the length of a finger, and the wick had thinned, and the room had darkened as if it were some kind of omen.

"You're dying, Joshua." Giulio said.

"You ruined me." Joshua's voice was so low that he couldn't hear it without listening: "That's the ...... Thorough...... I knew you were ...... is a hypocritical ...... Devil. ”

"Not yet." Julio turned his gaze back, "Joshua," he said gently, like he was still the unworldly Julio. Medici: "Not yet, Joshua, I'm going to do a lot of things, like — I'm going to make people, completely, forget about you. ”

"It can't be ......," said Joshua, "and I am in accordance with the ...... If you do what your teacher says, you won't ...... Won't ......"

"But you didn't finish the job," said Giulio, "and people are very forgetful, they only remember the winner, not every stepping stone." He leaned*6 down and stared at Julius II in the drapery: "When people talk about you, they will only say, oh, that poor man who has only been pope for a few months, and will not remember any trace of you—you can't even impress them enough, because you are not the most famous one, even if your tenure is short." ”

"You can't ......"

"I can." Giulio said that his gaze was so determined, "because I will do everything in my power — I hate you, because you, and your father, have kept the people I love most from leaving this world in peace." He took a soft, uncontrollable breath of pain, for if it were not for the pressure pressed by Cardinal Grand Lovere, Pius III would have been able to hold out until the Church was in his hands, instead of making such an arrangement in a hurry, and when he left, he was not sure of the final outcome, and he had to put power in the hands of the enemy, not knowing whether it would hurt his children.

"So, Joshua, I will not listen to your repentance, nor will I save you, but I will watch you roll into purgatory with endless regrets!"