CHAPTER 10 #3
Before the piece was even finished, some guests were already eager to arrange an appointment with Leonardo, asking him to custom-make one of these for their own pianos, with the price being negotiable.
Because of this, Leonardo was surrounded during the latter half of the banquet, unable to move freely.
Hedy, on the other hand, danced several dances with friends, smiling quite happily.
Botticelli looked much better, and it seemed he had let go of many things and started looking ahead.
Mr. Alejo also came by to say his goodbyes, reportedly to take up a new job in the outskirts.
They danced with her and, without thinking, complimented her on her appearance that evening.
Such a young and stunning face was truly a gift from heaven.
The lord had truly started to cut back on alcohol.
He consciously reduced his intake, occasionally replacing wine with orange juice.
Beer had disappeared from his office, and there was much less red meat on the dining table.
He began to regulate his intake of shellfish, and he mostly avoided anchovies.
Lorenzo had lived a life of strict self-discipline since childhood, so adapting to these strange new habits didn’t seem too difficult.
His health was indeed gradually improving, with gout attacks becoming less frequent.
At the same time, there was now a piano in his bedroom.
When he fell into a deep sleep, the sound of the piano would flow out, like the quietly winding Blue Danube.
"The Blue Danube" quickly became a sensation throughout Florence and even began to spread to foreign lands.
This piece was originally recorded by Hedy herself, but people tended to assume that it was entirely Leonardo's creation, with Hedy's role as a collaborator being nothing more than providing tea, snacks, and support.
Leonardo, already well-known in Florence for his unique portrait paintings in the past few years, saw his popularity soar even higher. Many people now eagerly sought to discuss marriage with him.
The beautiful young lady with light blue eyes was said to be an alchemist who had inherited ancient teachings, and she was from a noble family closely tied to the Medici family. Naturally, the common folk didn’t dare to approach her, instead sending poems, fresh flowers, and various gifts daily.
Leonardo, at the prime age for marriage and with a respectable career, still continued to reject one marriage proposal after another.
His father, Piero, was increasingly concerned and visited him several times, seemingly hoping to find a pretty young lady to settle him down.
"First, I’m not gay—I’ve said this many times already."
"Second, please stop bringing up marriage. It’s not going to happen."
These two statements were overheard by a maid and quietly spread throughout the neighborhood, leading to new rumors. People began to assume that such a handsome and talented young man, not gay and unwilling to marry, must have someone special in his heart.
Upon further thought, the most beautiful woman he was ever seen with had to be the brilliant Miss Kiesler!
So, the gossipers began to speculate on all sorts of possibilities, even adding some spice to the story, making it sound convincing.
One noblewoman claimed she saw the two of them wandering in the royal garden, with the painter leaving in sorrow after being unable to win her heart, later drowning his sorrows in alcohol.
A stableman firmly stated that Leonardo was secretly in love with Miss Kiesler, and when he saw her off from the Doge’s Palace, he quietly watched her until she disappeared into the distance, lingering long after she had gone.
Various rumors grew and spread in different ways, with some even saying they saw Botticelli and Leonardo dueling in the courtyard over her.
When Leonardo heard these absurd and ridiculous rumors, he rolled his eyes but couldn’t help feeling somewhat relieved.
Some of the rumors were true—but the reason he stood there for so long had to do with thinking about the formation method of a cobalt blue pigment, and had absolutely nothing to do with romantic feelings.
This relief seemed a bit self-serving, but overall, it didn’t bother him much.
Hedy was an open-minded and intelligent young woman, so when she heard such rumors, she simply smiled and didn’t get upset.
With these rumors circulating, the chances of him being accused of homosexuality and brought before the Church significantly decreased.
This meant more time he could spend in the theater.
It truly was a win-win situation.
Hedy also heard Dechio’s colorful descriptions of these jokes but didn’t take them to heart.
In fact, those stories barely registered in her memory, passing through her ears without leaving any lasting impression.
She had more important things to focus on.
The maps of this era were somewhat unclear, and there were no clear historical records.
She had to go to the library to borrow old books, trying to piece together the past and present situation.
As a woman from the twentieth century, even with some knowledge of history, she couldn’t fully understand this complex situation.
The first issue was the current political layout of Europe, or more specifically, Italy.
At present, the Habsburg dynasty was in power, and the Holy Roman Empire was weakening and fragmenting.
When she was first interrogated by the lord, her response was actually both correct and wrong.
The situation was urgent, and she didn’t have much time to consider everything, so her answer wasn’t fully certain.
In fact, Milan, Florence, Prague, Genoa, and other regions all belonged to the Holy Roman Empire, as one of its vassal states.
But it was both correct and wrong because her statement was, in effect, saying, "I am from the Roman Curia."
The Roman Curia, up until now, didn’t have a fixed institution, and its central hub shifted with the change of power.
So, they assumed she was from the current seat of the Roman Curia—Vienna.
In a way, she had unwittingly gotten part of it right.
The Holy Roman Empire was like a sliced-up pizza, with city-states each having their own rulers, and the emperor himself was nothing more than a figurehead.
—This was not a good thing.
For those in power and ambitious individuals, division and instability represented opportunities, but for someone like Hedy, who longed for peace, it was a potential disaster.
She remained calm, constantly gathering information from various sources and accounts.
It turned out that things were progressing much faster than she had imagined.
In the first year after she suddenly "awoke" from her haze, Florence erupted into a bloody Massacre.
That rebellion led to the hanging of all members of the Pazzi family at the windows of the Doge’s Palace. Botticelli even painted a bloody scene on the side wall of the city hall to warn all the citizens.
The riot caused Lorenzo to lose his brother, and it also made him a target of Pope Sixtus IV—
Among the executed rebels was the Archbishop of Pisa, and the entire Church was enraged, forcing Florence to immediately surrender Lorenzo.
The Pope confiscated their family’s wealth, threatening to strip all the members of the Florence court of their church privileges and seize the city’s ecclesiastical authority.
At the time, both the monks and the citizens of the city rose up in protest, and there were even armed conflicts.
But the problem was that the powerful Kingdom of Naples openly supported the Roman Pope, and the only countries providing partial support during the war were Milan and France, both trading nations.
In a critical moment, Lorenzo went alone to Naples and, through his own efforts, persuaded the enemy and negotiated a treaty.
The Pope lost his strongest supporter and had no choice but to pretend not to notice and move on.
After hearing the full story, Hedy felt a great deal of complexity within her.
As people often said, there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests.
Now, France, considering its trade relations, was willing to help when Florence was in trouble.
But twenty years later, it was still France that stabbed them in the back and invaded.
Close allies could become backstabbers—all for the sake of profit.
After much thought, Hedy decided to talk to the lord.
She needed to come to an agreement with him as soon as possible, pulling Leonardo out of the theater and getting him to focus on designing defensive structures and improving military weaponry.
By 1480, the Medici family seemed to have reached its peak.
The lord had a much stronger constitution, and many of the parasites and fraudsters in the family business had been cleared away.
What was even more remarkable was that the neighboring city-states were at peace, and trade had flourished even further.
As Hedy thought about these matters, she quickly ascended the stairs and knocked on the office door again.
When Cosimo opened the door, he instinctively glanced at her hands. When he saw that she hadn't brought any new gadgets with her, there was a brief look of disappointment on his face.
Lorenzo was reviewing the quarterly investment reports.
The evaluation and auditing methods she had provided were indeed efficient and concise, allowing one to quickly find the key points in a sea of information.
Hearing the announcement, the lord looked up. His first reaction was to check what she had brought with her.
But there was nothing.
Hedy stood before him, momentarily at a loss for words.
There was so much to say—where should she even begin?
And how could she say it without raising his suspicions?
Lorenzo, seeing her hesitation, paused and spoke calmly.
"You've done a lot since the end of the year."
"And they were the right things."
He put down the scroll in his hand, meeting her gaze, as if scrutinizing her emotions and thoughts.
"Is there something you want in return?"
Hedy hesitated for a moment before deciding to bring up the topic of Florence’s surrounding defenses.
Before she could speak, the lord spoke again.