Chapter 29 Chapter Twenty Nine

Pierrot and the servants were waiting for him.The streets are dark and empty.There were still many corpses of dead people lying around, most of which were gnawed down to bones by wild dogs. Several robbers were hung on the gallows in the main square to warn those who dare to follow suit.A group of them walked to the small hotel.The heavy gates were locked and barred.They knocked, and the people inside let them in after inspecting them through the peephole. It was a cold winter night, and Machiavelli was glad he could warm himself by the kitchen fire.Some were drinking, others were playing dice and cards, and still others were asleep on benches or on the floor.The landlady had placed Machiavelli and Pierrot on a mattress beside the big bed in his master bedroom where his wife and children slept.The two of them lay down side by side, with their clothes on.After the journey from Fano in the morning, the exciting events of the day and the long wait outside the ducal palace, Piero was exhausted, and soon fell asleep.Machiavelli was not sleepy, he had too many things on his mind.

It is clear that the Duke is well aware of Machiavelli's aborted plan to seduce Aurelia.Feeling a bitter irony of fate, Machiavelli could not help chuckling to himself at the thought that the Duke should mistakenly think that he could use Machiavelli's love for a woman to lure him out of the Florentine civil service.Originally, Machiavelli thought that the duke was a smart enough person, but the duke imagined that a man with a head could let his desire for women interfere with his serious career in real life. Machiavelli couldn't help discounting the duke's intelligence .There are plenty of women.Well, when the duke kidnapped Dorothy Calacciolo, the wife of the captain of the Venetian infantry, and the Venetian envoys were sent to ask for her, the duke asked if he made the Venetians think he was so indifferent to the women of Romagna. Interested enough to abduct some traveling women.Machiavelli had not seen Aurelia for some weeks since he last said goodbye to her.If he wanted her now, it was because he didn't like to be thwarted, not because his desire for her was still hot, and he knew full well that giving in to this little emotional impulse would look crazy.But he still wanted to know how the duke had discovered his secret.Definitely not from Pierrot, because he's already interrogated him and basically judged Pierrot to be honest.Serafina?He's been careful the whole time, so there's basically no chance of her being aware of what's going on.Catalina and Aurelia?They were too deep in the conspiracy to betray him.Nina?No, they already got her.Suddenly Machiavelli tapped his forehead.He is so stupid!The villain was as obvious as the nose in his face, and Machiavelli felt he deserved a few slaps for not having guessed it right away.Father Timoteo!He must be the duke's lackey.Thanks to his close connections with Serafina and Bartolomeo's family, he was able to spy on the activities of the Florentine envoy.Through the abbe the Duke must have had full knowledge of what he had done, who had called on him, when the letter had been sent to Florence, and when the reply from Florence had arrived.The realization that he was being watched all the time gave Machiavelli a particularly uncomfortable feeling.But this guess clearly explains what happened.It now appears that, on the night when Bartolomeo prayed peacefully before the bones of St. Vitale, and Machiavelli was about to knock on Aurelia's door, the duke summoned him, and all this None of this happened by accident.A burst of anger welled up in Machiavelli's heart, and he wished he could strangle the slippery priest's neck.Cesare Borgia judged Machiavelli based on his own mentality. It is estimated that if a person wants to cheat but can't steal it, he can make his lust more intense, so he can be molded into the desired appearance by the Duke.This is why Father Timoteo refuses to help Machiavelli any more.Certainly he was the one who convinced Aurelia that God had prevented her from sinning and that she must therefore be clean.

"I don't know how much money he received from other people besides the twenty-five ducats I gave him." Machiavelli muttered, completely forgetting that the twenty-five ducats he received from Bartolo Bartholomew had borrowed it from the Duke, and Bartolomeo had taken it from the duke. Even so, Machiavelli could not help but feel complacent when he thought that the Duke had gone to such lengths to recruit him into his staff.Considering how much the duke had set for him, it was hard to feel unusable.The Florentine Consulate considered him an amusing figure, and his letters often made people laugh, but they never placed much faith in his judgment and never followed his advice.

"A prophet can't be popular in his own country, but there are still people who know the goods when he goes abroad." He sighed. He knew in his heart that even his little finger contained more intelligence than all the brains of those people in the ruling group put together.Piero Soderini, the head of the guild, was a weak, shallow, amiable man, and those whom the duke spoke of who tried more to avoid doing wrong than to do right, presumably referred to the Eero Soderini.Others, those advisers around him, were timid, mediocre and indecisive.Their policy is one of indecision, wasting time and delaying.Machiavelli's immediate superior, Minister of the Republic, was Marcello Forgilio.The reason why he got the position today is because of his handsome appearance and outstanding speech talent.Machiavelli reported to him, but did not have a high opinion of the man's abilities.If a person like him, who was sent to Imola as an envoy because he had no backer in the government, was suddenly appointed by the duke as the governor of Imola and became the duke's most trusted advisor, as soon as the news reached Florence, Don't know how much to surprise those stupid guys!Machiavelli had no intention of accepting the Duke's offer, but it pleased him to play with the idea in his mind, imagining the consternation on the part of the Consulate and the envy of his enemies.

Moreover, Imola will only be a start.If Cesare Borgia became king of Italy, he would most likely be his prime minister, the cardinal of Amboise before the king of France.Will Borgia be Italy's savior?Although it was only personal ambition that drove Borgia to forge ahead, his ultimate purpose was noble and worthy of his exuberant spirit.He is wise and energetic.He made him both loved and feared by his people.He has the respect and trust of his troops.Italy was indeed enslaved and insulted, but the spirit of ancient martial arts has not disappeared.United under a strong leader, the Italian people will be able to live in peace, prosperity and happiness.And what could be more honorable to a man than to have lasting peace in a tormented land?

But suddenly, an idea came to Machiavelli's mind with such force that his whole body trembled violently.As a result, Piero, who was sleeping soundly next to him, was disturbed, so Piero also moved violently.It occurred to him that the whole thing might be just a trick played on him by the Duke, nothing more and nothing less.He knew Duke Valentino well, and despite his faux affection, he was actually quite displeased with Machiavelli.For Machiavelli did not pull out all the stops to persuade the Triumvirate to pay the duke a protection fee.If the protection fee was negotiated, it would have increased the Duke's reputation and enhanced his strength.So all of this may be his revenge.When he imagined, during his stay in Imola, the Duke, Agapito and others watching his ingenious schemes, and then trying to solve them one by one, and laughing at them, he felt his whole body. It's all stinging.He tried to convince himself that this was just a figment of his imagination and that he had better forget about it quickly.But he couldn't be sure, and the uncertainty tormented him.He stayed up all night.