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Some of these "messengers of justice" are pure obedience, or just vent their accumulated frustration on the loser, while others have a clear goal, just taking the opportunity to settle old grudges. Of course, more people were for the Medici bounty, and just as every festival was rewarded with interesting shows and great artwork, those who presented Lorenzo with the head of the enemy could also receive between 5 and 100 "florins" (the most popular gold coins in Florence).

This is how the attachés of the two archbishops were dragged out of the Benedictine convent near the Badia-Pache Palace by two friars. Each of them received 150 florins. Of course, as a sign of respect for the government and the law, they were handed over by the Medici family to the "righteous chess players" and the ruling officials, and after a formal trial, they were hanged in the windows of the ruling palace.

Pache's widow and daughter would be sent to a convent, where they would never be allowed to marry and, of course, have no children. Pazzi family assets throughout Europe were traced and confiscated in the years that followed, and their family names and insignia were destroyed on the spot wherever they were found.

Bianca of the Medici was married to Guglielmo of the Pacci family, she was still young, but when Lorenzo asked her if she would like to remarry, she refused, her eyes flashed with wisdom and weariness of the world - her husband killed her brother, and her other brother hanged her husband by the window, even though there was no evidence of Guglielmo's involvement in the conspiracy, as long as his surname was Pacci, he was guilty, and the only thing to be thankful for was that they did not have children yet.

Bernardo Bandini has not yet received the end he deserves, and his portrait is painted upside down, with slings clasping his feet...... "Evil brings death to the wicked, and those who hate the righteous should make amends." Lorenzo whispered. Bandini's whereabouts had been discovered by Medici agents in Constantinople, who, along with the delivery of secret letters, had obtained permission from the Sultan to hire locals to hunt him down at the cost of all the silk and spices he could muster at his disposal.

And then there's the ugly monster that hides behind the Archbishop of Pisa and the Pache family, offering them rare poisons to satisfy their own lusts in the name of the Heavens.

Pope Sixtus IV was furious, especially after learning that the Archbishop of Pisa had been hanged and Cardinal Rafaelo di Riaridi had been detained by the Medici, the successor of the Apostle Peter did not hesitate to confiscate the Medici property and threaten Florence that if Lorenzo was not handed over to him, he would expel all those associated with the Medici and deprive the whole of Florence - in fact, Naples had joined forces with the Pope and was preparing to invade Florence.

The Medici parents seemed to see the crowd happily wrapping the same noose around their necks. Before Jakepool could fully transform into a corpse, he walked away from the window.

He faltered - the rebellion of the Patch family was like a thunderous plague that took Giuliano's life, as well as Lorenzo's health, youth, and a gentle, tolerant heart. Now his eyes were gloomy, his temples were gray, and the loose skin on his cheeks hung down to his wrinkled neck—all in a matter of days, and the Medici parents seemed to have gone from a vigorous youth to a lifeless twilight without going through middle age.

Lorenzo walked through the dark corridors, down the stairs, through the atrium, the gallery, the hall, and into the second courtyard at the back of the Palazzo Vecchio, where there was an abandoned chapel that had been converted into a sewing room for the ladies and was now used as a makeshift maternity ward.

The largest room had nothing but a specially shaped maternity chair and a large bed for the mother to rest, and the doors and windows were wide open, but the stove, the bucket of hot water, and the Medici ladies who had come to comfort and encourage the mother kept it steaming. It is customary to have any circumference around the mother that may interfere with the obstruction of childbirth. All rings, lace, braids, clasps, hooks, etc., had to be removed. All the women untied the silk ropes, ribbons, buttons, and the necklines were open, revealing bright, wet skin.

The birth had been going on for a day and a night, and after giving birth to a girl in a sitting position in the arms of a sturdy Tatar maid, she had no strength to give birth to a second child, and after a few hours, the fetus still in the mother's womb no longer squirmed visibly, and the doctor gave a verdict, and the midwife took out a hook with a knife on her head, which is something that any mother would be terrified at the sight of, and it will go deep into *** and pull out the child that could not be born after chopping it up piece by piece- The mother, who was dying of her own child, was giving birth for the first time, but she clearly knew and understood what was going to happen, and just as the ladies turned their heads to escape the bloody scene, the mother, who was still a young girl, suddenly broke free from the maid's arms, stood up, and pressed her bulging belly - after a brief silence and a terrible cry, blood slid down instead of the depleted amniotic fluid.

The baby fell to the ground, not crying, but he was alive. His exhausted mother collapsed beside him, and only after confirming the happy news did she pass away suddenly.

When Lorenzo arrived, it was all over, and his wife, Claricher of the Orsini family, came out to meet him and led him to the room that had been specially prepared for the baby.

"Twins. Girls are born first, boys are born later, and they are all healthy. Clariche whispered, she had always been cautious, silent and humble, but today Lorenzo could feel a rare joy and eagerness in her voice.

The Medici parents looked at her with mixed expressions, they also had a pair of twins six years ago, but unfortunately died before the baptism, because they were not able to be buried in the Medici family mausoleum because they did not wash away the original sin on their bodies. The two small bones hugging each other could only be secretly buried in the corner of the courtyard. Since the time of Caesar, it has been a custom for the people here to bury their dead children under their roofs, believing that this will bring peace to the child's soul.

Giuliano's twins were transferred to a room that had been prepared next door, dark and quiet, so that they would not be frightened by their sudden arrival in a strange world. Through the light through the cracks in the drapery, Lorenzo's eldest daughter and maid were bathing their two children with a mixture of hot milk and red wine, and the second daughter, who was only 5 years old, was smearing hot water and honey on the children's throats so that they could speak and swallow smoothly.

Lorenzo walked over with a light step, and the newborn babies were not very pretty, their skin was red and wrinkled, their soft fetal hair was moist against their little scalps, their eyes were closed, and they were wrapped in linen like statues to avoid deforming their hands and feet.

They were the widows of Giuliano de' Medici and illegitimate children, but it was not difficult for the Medici to obtain a legal marriage certificate.

At Lorenzo's signal, the maid carefully pulled up the heavy curtain hanging in front of the window, allowing a thin ray of sunlight to swing on the cradle. He carefully searched the baby's face for Giuliano's shadow, and to his regret that he had not yet found that part of the Medici family, except for the high bridge of the nose and the long, tightly closed eyes, had not yet been found, and perhaps because the mother was a strangely white Scyth, whose hair and skin were strangely white, the skin where the blood had faded was lighter than expected, and the contours of the face were very soft, but the color of the fetal hair was very dark. The child's mother was supposed to have a pair of pale gray-blue eyes, and Lorenzo searched his memories for the impressions left in a short glimpse, hoping that the child would inherit Giuliano's brown eyes.

One of the newborns, who had been repeatedly harassed by the light, finally opened his eyes impatiently, and though it was only for a moment—all but Lorenzo let out a gasp, suppressed exclamation—and the child's eyes took on a touching pale gold in the sunlight.

Immediately afterwards, another child, the boy, opened his eyes, and some of those who still suspected that they were hallucinating or parallax in the dark had to admit what was in front of them...... The heterochromatic in the other child's iris is purer and brighter.

Lorenzo was a little surprised, but nothing more, the Medici parents, who had a collection of tens of thousands of books, had read that a local man who married another person of the opposite sex who had come from far away could give birth to a child with amber eyes, which was rare, but it was not a disease, and it was not the work of the devil. And the color of a child's eyes will change with age, and one day, it will turn plain black or brown.

But the women, especially the unlearned and uninformed maids, panicked, and kept making crosses on their breasts and making gestures to exorcise the devil. If Lorenzo's entourage hadn't seized the gate in time, they would probably have run out and shout - and that would have been bad.

"What's there to be alarmed about?" Lorenzo calmly turned from the cradle and crossed his arms over his chest: "Is this the color of evil?" he asked in a loud voice. Before Luzifer fell from heaven, the Father used gold for his armor, and the angel pointed out to the holy city of Jerusalem, which John the Apostle had seen, and its ninth cornerstone was a topaz, and the ark of the Lord that Moses made for the Lord when he built the tabernacle of the congregation on Mount Sinai, according to the Father's will, was not the cherubim on either side of the mercy seat beaten with gold, and the jars and lampstands on the table, Were not all wine lords of pure gold, and the breastplate with the name of the Lord on the high priest's breast, also of pure gold? When Jesus Christ was born, did the three wise men of the East who came to worship him offer him as gifts of gold, myrrh, and agarwood? And what is the amber that is not as precious as the sun when we sacrifice to the Wickentis of St. Shala, the rabbit ear of St. Ricarus, and the buttercup of St. Ansoni?

As Paul's disciples said, 'Your eyes are the lamps of your body.' When your eyes are pure, your whole body will be bright, but if you are evil, your whole body will be dark,' what a blessed pair of eyes! It can not only cast the color of the outside world into the heart, but also reflect the color of the heart to the surface...... Foolish people, you **** keep fasting and praying night and night in the hope that the Father's grace may come upon you, but when the time comes, you are like a blind and deaf man who is unconscious - like those ignorant people who are fortunate enough to see Christ walking on the sea, and whose soulless eyes make them see the Savior as a ghost who makes their situation worse, panic, cry out, and even resist the hand that saved them - are you going to make this sad mistake now?" He shouted aggressively, with a stern and firm expression, like a judge who holds in his hands the will of the Holy Spirit in heaven and the authority of the apostles on earth, but even the latter may not be able to make such a judgment, at least temporarily blameless and unshakable, in such a short time.

And before the end of this little oratory, his wife, Clarice, had gone to the other side of the cradle to comfort the disturbed babies in the place of the negligent maid, and she took them tenderly in her arms, kissing them lovingly, and calling out the name of the patron saint of the young children, Negro, and commanding him to pray for the child's safety and health—she had neither died of the infant's gaze, nor had she scorched her fingers or leprosy from touching some "evil thing."

Claricher and her husband's words and deeds succeeded in averting an accident that might have caused great trouble, and the servants calmed down and looked at each other, as if it was hard to believe that the mad creature was themselves—and at last they were even ashamed...... This shame obliterated the last of the resentment of stupidity and ignorance, and the windows and doors, which had been forcibly pushed open and held against them, were quietly reopened, and they cautiously returned to their original positions, continuing their work, though occasionally letting their eyes avert the two cradles that were next to each other, consciously or unconsciously.

The room was plunged back into darkness and tranquility, with only a brilliant ray of light shining through the cracks in the velvet curtain, as if the Holy Spirit had set his eyes on these two new lives.

On April 26, 1478, Giuliano de' Medici was stabbed 19 times in a rebellion of the Pache family, and his child was born on May 26, 1478. Baptized three days later, the girl inherited the name of Cosimo the Elder's wife and was named Constina.

The boy was named Giulio, Giulio di Giuliano de Medici. (To be continued.) )