CHAPTER 30 #3
"Ah?" She rubbed her forehead, pulling out a letter. "The Queen is still asleep, so I thought I’d bring this letter to you first."
"Where is it from?" Leonardo took the letter, noticing the signature was unfamiliar.
"From England," Dechio replied slowly. "Their ambassador is waiting downstairs, and he's quite cordial—he even brought several crates of gifts."
"This letter is personally written by Henry VII," she continued. "I’ve heard it contains warm and sincere gestures of goodwill towards Italy, with elegant language."
Leonardo paused for a moment, turning the envelope under the light.
The wax seal bore the red and white Tudor rose, which glowed faintly in his eyes.
——
When Leonardo walked into the bedroom holding a letter, Hedy was sleepily singing a lullaby to the children.
Since her ascension to the throne, she had retained her precious gentleness and patience. Whether with friends or children, she always managed to keep her work emotions at bay, just as she had years ago.
It was said that after working hard at the "company," she would still come home late every day, yet manage to care for and educate her children, and she did so very successfully.
No matter the era, being a mother is always a challenging task.
On one hand, Hedy had to deal with the complexities of court affairs and visitors during the day; on the other hand, she inevitably had to get up at night to feed the baby—her children's crying would frequently interrupt her sleep.
Because of this, Leonardo always tried to help her with the state affairs and do everything he could for her.
Even in the late hours, when he couldn’t help her feed the children, he would quietly bring her a cup of hot milk or gently knead her sore shoulders and arms while she softly coaxed the children back to sleep.
He was not only a passionate and meticulous father but also a loving husband.
When Leonardo entered the bedroom, the children were tugging at her loose strands of hair.
"Leonardo?" The beautiful woman leaned against the bedside and gestured for the maid to move the children aside. "Did everything go smoothly today?"
"I just had a meeting," he sat beside her and skillfully intertwined their fingers. "There are some matters we need to discuss before meeting with the British ambassador."
"The British ambassador?" She lowered her gaze and smiled. "He really came."
Before his marriage, Leonardo spent most of his time in the church, theater, and study.
He had once excelled in art design, stage prop making, oil painting, and mechanics, but politics was never his forte.
However, due to her sudden change in status—from a mercenary leader to a lord, and then from a lord to a queen—he found himself constantly keeping up with her steps and doing more in unfamiliar fields, and doing it exceptionally well, even surpassing anyone else in similar roles.
Before coming to find her, the man had already held three hours of meetings and had attended to and settled the ambassadors, returning only once everything was in order.
The three-hour meeting, in his words, could be explained in three minutes—its core elements were laid out very clearly.
"Spain..." Hedy leaned against the soft pillow, after a long pause, she said, "I almost forgot about her."
She wasn’t a history scholar, and her memory of the history of many European countries wasn't particularly clear.
Her knowledge of Florence was limited, and she only knew a bit about it because she had visited here before for a trip and film shoot in her past life.
Leonardo succinctly and clearly explained the situation with Isabella and expressed his concerns.
"We need to confirm a policy first, then talk to the British."
He didn’t immediately state his opinion but asked for hers: "Hedy, what do you think?"
"We can’t continue fighting," she shook her head slightly. "We have more important things to do."
Leonardo tightened his grip on her hand and let out a long sigh of relief.
"I think the same."
War never ends.
When they first began to conquer and annex various city-states from Florence, the primary reason was that they had originally been part of the Holy Roman Empire, and secondly, Italy needed those resources and wanted to eliminate the nearby threats.
Ports, minerals, coal, specialties, trade routes...
However, applying the same strategy to Spain was entirely unreasonable.
"The people there have already been brainwashed and controlled by the Inquisition, and power politics are becoming increasingly extreme," Leonardo frowned.
"If we clash head-on with those two neighboring countries, not only will we have to consider defending and striking from multiple ports, but it will also be difficult to support our forces. "
Even though basic roads have now been constructed, it still takes nearly twenty days to travel by carriage from Florence to Genoa, and maritime routes also carry various risks and hidden dangers.
In contrast, Spain has the natural barrier of France for support, and is easily defensible—definitely not an opponent to engage in battle with recklessly.
"If we keep fighting, in twenty years, we'll have a whole mess of problems to clean up," Hedy relaxed against him, resting her head on his lap as she spoke slowly. "So, what’s the British stance?"
"They’re using very cautious language and testing our intentions," Leonardo gently tucked her loose strands of hair behind her ear and bent down to kiss her forehead. "So, we’re still going with the original plan, right?"
"Yes," Hedy blinked. "But we should also see if the British are truly sincere."
The man smiled. "You want to see if Henry VII dares to come meet you?"
"With the examples of Naples and the Duke of Milan," she lazily stretched. "That great king who fulfilled Merlin’s prophecy may not dare to come."
During these days, both the upper and lower houses were holding meetings, continuously formulating and refining plans for the coming years.
From developing agriculture to encouraging industry and commerce, expanding maritime trade, and optimizing taxes, they had a lot to do.
The empire had unified the fragmented Holy Roman Empire. While they didn’t intervene in the countries north of the Alps again, they had managed to consolidate many of the broken pieces.
"The military defense in Genoa is already being strengthened, and several other ports are constructing watchtowers and fortifications," his voice was deep and calm, almost poetic in its smoothness. "I still want to do something more for you."
"Make some cookies," she said with a smile.
"What?" He thought he had misheard. "Which word?"
"Let me think..." Hedy rubbed her temple, uncertain. "‘Bisket’? No, that's French... ‘Bistto’?"
"Twice baked?" Leonardo repeated. "Bread?"
In this era, there were no sandwiches, no pizzas, and no cookies.
Recently, Hedy had been spending time playing with the children and resting, and her mind had gradually pieced together many thoughts and ideas.
What could influence the course of history wasn’t just groundbreaking inventions like the steam engine.
From canned fruit, she had started thinking about more things—like cookies.
War standoffs and military defense required a huge amount of calories and nutrition, and canned food was a unique technology developed during the Napoleonic era to ensure comprehensive supplies for the navy.
While Italian workshops may not be able to make canned food yet, cookies were just as important.
They were smaller in size than bread, packed more calories, and had better moisture resistance.
If this type of food could be widely distributed, it would not only strengthen the food supply along the border but also provide the children with more snacks.
After changing their clothes, they went to meet the British ambassador, and then together, they went to the kitchen.
It was exactly like the scene from many years ago—when the prince and queen entered the kitchen, the servants, who had been chatting and laughing, stood up in shock. They weren’t sure where to place their hands as they awkwardly curtsied.
According to their status, they might never have the chance to meet these two nobles, destined to spend their lives toiling away in the kitchen.
Hedy smiled and gestured for them to continue resting. While discussing news about the ambassador with Leonardo, she also taught him how to make cookies.
In this era, similar products were popular in the streets and taverns, but they differed in shape and size from modern cookies.
What mattered more to her was the degree of compression of the ingredients and the proportions of the components.
Once these factors were determined, Florence and the surrounding cities could mass-produce this food and ship it to various ports.
As people’s diet and travel became more convenient, the country’s development would speed up significantly.
Leonardo hadn't done something so simple and relaxing with her in a long time. He even found himself nostalgic while kneading the dough.
Hedy, fiddling with the wheat stalks, casually drew two cat whiskers on his face with flour. "What are you thinking?"
"I was thinking... of the way you clumsily made pasta back then," he couldn't help but laugh. "At that time, I asked a certain maid—do you know how to make wine?"
"No..." She gave a knowing look, appearing as though she had just crawled out of a haystack.
"How about beer?"
"Neither..." She shook her head.
"It seems I can't hire you," he said seriously. "Otherwise, we'd both die of thirst."
She chuckled and reached out to teach him how to use a knife to cut the dough that had been shaped.
"I've had compressed cookies before," she placed her fingers on the back of his hand, the warmth of her palm still holding some dough. "They're amazing... You don't eat much, but they fill you up quickly."
"Because they absorb water, right?" He raised an eyebrow. "And you can add bits of vegetables or something similar, then compress them with the flour."