Lucrezia woke up a little early, not because it was a special day, but because Estelles had woken up and started the first thing she had to do when she woke up - feeding.

Estelles grew fast, and although it was only a little over a month, Lucrezia was surprised by the fact that her body was already fully spread.

Even when she was almost by her side every day, Lucrezia could feel the change in her daughter, which made her wonder if Alexander would still recognize his daughter if he returned.

Estelles was very good at eating, and even with a wet nurse, the two women felt that sometimes it might not be enough.

Hearing her daughter's cry, Lucrezia walked over to the nearby cradle, which Alexander had designed to be more comfortable and safer.

After all, in this era, infant death is too common, in addition to poor and backward sanitary conditions, sometimes the carelessness of parents is often the main reason for the frequent danger of children.

For example, the cradle, Alexander looked at those hanging baskets and foot baskets and had a very strange discovery, these cradles are either the bottom of the foot is surprisingly short, whether it is a child naughty in it or an adult's unintentional collision may overturn the cradle, as for the hanging basket, either the distance between the fixed lanyards is too close, easy to make the cradle shake back and forth, or the cradle itself is made of unusual roughness.

Alexander had noticed that although the cradle had been covered with a soft crust, if you caressed it carefully, you would find that some of the corners were very rough.

Thinking about his daughter lying inside, as long as he moved his tender skin slightly, he might be bruised, if he didn't know that the person who was the cradle should not have the intention, he even suspected that someone was going to murder his only daughter.

So after looking at those things, Alexander decided to design and oversee everything that Estelles used himself.

This made Lucrezia happy, and she felt more Alexander's love for her daughter in addition to her care.

This was not because she was the future heir to Pisa, nor because her grandfather was the Pope, but because of her pure affection for her own children, which made Lucrezia even feel that Alexander was "worthy of the Borgia family".

The Borgia always loved each other, at least Lucrezia thought.

Her daughter's mouth kept moving, Lucrezia endured the slight pain caused by her daughter's ignorance, she gently stroked her daughter's hair, looking at Estelles's cute appearance that seemed to be squinting her eyes with joy because of the milk, Lucrezia lowered her head and kissed her daughter's soft forehead gently.

Just then, there was a soft knock on the door.

Lucrezia wondered what would happen so early, she knew that there should be only her maid outside, so she didn't care, so she walked over and opened the door with the child in her arms.

Seeing Lucrezia, the maid standing at the door immediately whispered to her: "Madam, there are several members of the council and people from the Chamber of Commerce who want to see you, as well as the captain. ”

Lucrezia knew who the maid was talking about who the people from these chambers were, and she also knew that the captain she was talking about should be the captain of the city defense of Pisa.

This made Lucrezia's heart suddenly tighten, and the first thing that came to her mind was that something had happened to Alexander.

Lucrezia immediately retreated into the room, first placing the child in the cradle, and then hurriedly dressing with the help of the maid.

Maybe it's enough for breakfast. Although she suddenly ran out of milk, Estelles didn't cry, she just lay in the cradle and gently swung her slightly thick little arms, and then made a meaningless "oh oh" sound from her mouth.

Lucrezia was very fast, much faster than she usually changed her clothes, and after looking in the mirror to see that nothing was unusual, she walked out of the bedroom, and then stopped in the middle of the outer room to catch her breath and calm her slightly nervous mood, and then nodded slightly and motioned for the maid to open the door.

A few men were standing in the corridor outside, looking a little crowded because there were a lot of people.

Although the name of Palazzo Lucrezia sounds quite magnificent, it is actually a small two-story building, with a few small rooms and a small living room, and even the stairs can only accommodate two people to pass sideways.

As for the size of the garden, not to mention that the gardens of many nobles in Pisa are much more magnificent than those of Lucrezia's palace in Rome.

If it is a place for a tryst between lovers, it is naturally very good, and if it is a home of a solid family, it is also unusually warm, but as a home for the future heir to Pisa, it will inevitably seem a little narrow and shabby, and it is not suitable.

There had been more than one request for Lucrezia's mother and son to move into the Ducal Palace, after all, Tomneo had returned to his own house and lived in seclusion, and the Ducal Palace was suddenly empty, while the rightful heir to Pisa lived in a small house by the river, which was indeed a bit out of place.

It's just that this suggestion was politely rejected by Lucrechia.

Her reason to wait for Alexander's return before making a decision has caused a lot of speculation, from the situation in Pisa to the impact on Estelles's future status, from the possible hidden meaning behind this decision, to whether it is hinting at something to the Vatican, for example, the Pope, and the question of Lucrezia's mother and daughter's residence.

In fact, Lucrezia refused to move for the simple reason that she loved the small house.

This is the little world where she and Alexander used to hide from everything, and only here will she feel that everything outside has nothing to do with them, and this place belongs only to them and their daughter.

But once they get out of this courtyard, they have too many things to face, some of which may even separate the originally happy "family of three" in an instant.

It's just that Lucrezia's happy little world has been invaded this time, and looking at the looks on the faces of those people, she can also feel that something very important may have happened.

Lucrezia tried to calm herself down, her mind racing, her years of experience in the Borgia house had made her more calm than most women in what might happen.

And from the looks on these people's faces, she was sure that something should not have happened to Alexander, otherwise it would not be these people who came at this time, but heavily armed guards.

In addition to the city defense army in Pisa, there is also an army that although it is not officially recognized by Pisa, its strength is not inferior to the city defense army, and even with the passage of time, it has faintly replaced the city defense army as the first armed force in Pisa.

This army was the Chamber of Commerce Guard, which was formed at the expense of the big merchants of the Pisa Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to having more than 700 city defenders, the Chamber of Guards, which was purported to be built purely for the benefit of the Pisa Chamber of Commerce, also had enough armor, swords, spears, crossbows, horses, pack horses, baggage carts, tents, and even two small artillery pieces that I didn't know where to get them.

The banner of the Chamber of Commerce Guard is also very distinctive, a bust of the face of Mercury, the protector of merchants, thieves and travelers in Roman mythology, his pair of wings that were originally long on the ankles to represent speed are placed on both sides of the helmet, and the head of the snake on his hand, which originally heralded the introduction of the undead into the underworld, has also been replaced with a gold coin with the image of Athena, the goddess of war.

This banner is a very apt representation of the origin of this merchant guard, except that if you look closely, you will find that the Athena on the gold scepter in Mercury's hand is not holding a spear and a shield, but a somewhat nondescript musket......

If something did happen to Alexander, it would be the Montina soldiers who stayed behind to protect Palazzo Lucrezia, then the Chamber of Guards, and then the Pisan officials or merchants.

At that time, these men would quickly take Lucrezia and her daughter from the port of Pisa to the ship, as Alexander had previously instructed, and then sail south down the Direnian Sea to Naples.

If the situation had been urgent, the team might not even have entered the city of Naples at all, but would have gone ashore and immediately headed inland, quickly advancing towards Cosenza!

Alexander entrusted the fate of his woman and daughter to his most trusted and beloved sister.

At the same time, according to Alexander's long arrangement, once he may have an accident, Jisha will automatically take over the entire free trade alliance.

At the same time, his daughter will inherit all the benefits of the agreement between him and the Fugger family, and will become the overseer of the alliance.

Lucrezia will be with her daughter as Estelles' caregiver when she is a minor.

All this was to be done under the supervision of Tiego, a Bariaritic merchant who had now left Italy for Castile, and his loyal servant Ulliu, and his close friend, Massimo, now abbot of St. Mark's in Florence.

Alexander thought a lot, especially in such troubled times, he didn't know where he would go in the future, and he didn't know what exactly awaited him in the future.

Perhaps a stray bullet on the battlefield or a dagger in a dark street could put an end to all traces of his time, so he had made all the preparations in preparation for the day when it might come at any time.

And he also told Lucrezia about some of his arrangements, and as the mother of his daughter, Lucrezia certainly had the right to know about them.

Only now looking at these people outside the door, although Lucrezia guessed that it was probably not the kind of thing she feared the most, her heart still suddenly tightened.

"What happened?" Lucrezia secretly told herself that she had to be calm, that everything she was doing now had to think about her daughter first.

"Madame, someone went to see the Duke last night." A merchant said with a solemn expression, his gaze at the captain of the city defense next to him, they both knew that the other had understood what was going on before they came, which made them know that it was not just themselves who were staring at the Duke of Pisa.

"Those people should be Venetians," said the captain of the city defense sullenly, his face was not very good-looking, and the eyes of the others were a little cold and hostile, "Our men noticed that they seemed to want to meet Tomneo, but unfortunately my men were not able to catch them. ”

"Then how do you know they're Venetians?" Lucrezia was a little strange, she could sense that the captain seemed to have a stiff relationship with the people of the Chamber of Commerce, but she didn't pay attention to that.

"I can smell the Venetian stench from a long distance," said the captain, shrugging his shoulders and continuing at the sight of several of them, "it was actually my men who heard their accents, and those who fought with them found that they were using the kind of bayonet that the Venetians like to use. ”

Lucrezia frowned, and she looked at the people in front of her, as if to know what they were for.

"Madam, as the enemy of Pisa, Tomneo meets with the Venetians, which is a very serious act," a parliamentarian who had always been silent suddenly spoke, his eyes looking a little straight, as if his soul had been completely drained when he said this, "As the Duke of Pisa, Tomneo has betrayed the trust and loyalty of the people of Pisa. ”

Lucrezia's heart skipped a beat, she vaguely guessed something, but she wasn't sure.

So she said carefully: "Please pay attention to your words, this is a very serious accusation. ”

"Madame, in fact, we have more than enough evidence to prove this accusation," the merchant who had spoken earlier looked at the others, and after receiving a few nods of acquiescence, he stepped aside slightly, allowing a servant with a sword in both hands to come over.

Although it was still a little far away, Lucrezia immediately smelled a strong smell of blood coming from the sword.

She immediately reached out to cover her nose and looked into her daughter's room, and only after making sure that the smell did not reach the bedroom did she look at the sword.

The entire sword was covered with coagulated blood, and a few bloody fingerprints that could still be faintly seen on the hilt because of the forceful twisting of the sword made the sword even more ferocious.

Despite her discomfort, Lucrezia noticed the strange abrupt shape of the tip of the sword, which was much narrower than the blade, giving the impression that the sword was being used to highlight the sharpness and solidity of the tip.

"It was just a bayonet that the Venetians loved to use, and the Venetian sword faction was one of the most prestigious on the western shores of the Mediterranean, and they were even more formidable than those handed down from the Crusader era."

The captain of the city defense explained to Lucrezia, and seeing Lucrezia's puzzled expression, the captain bowed slightly to confess, and then took the Venetian sword from the servant's hand.

With a sudden force on his wrist, the sword slammed into a nearby door.

"Boom!" With a bang, a hole appeared in the sturdy door panel.

"The fighting swordsmanship of the Venetians was not used on the battlefield, they were more for settling personal grievances on the streets, and also for assassination."

Hearing this, Lucrezia's body trembled slightly.

"Rest assured, ma'am, you and Miss Estelles are safe." The captain hurriedly comforted Lucrezia, saying that the gradually developing Chamber of Commerce Guards had begun to make him feel uneasy, if Lucrezia no longer thought that the city guards could not protect the safety of their mother and daughter, then the city guards would really have a hard time.

"That's the weapon they're using, but this time they're here for the Duke."

Lucrezia noticed that the men always had a strange look when they mentioned Totomnio, which made her become more and more confused.

"These people obviously intended to use Tomneo, but they obviously didn't expect us to keep an eye on him, so our people quickly found out about the conspiracy, but we didn't expect these people to be so bold and try to steal Tomnio from Pisa."

Lucrezia let out a low cry, and she immediately realized the seriousness of the matter.

Not caring about the situation does not mean that she is stupid, on the contrary, as a member of the Borgia family, Lucrezia is well aware of the relationship between Pisa and other city-states now.

The thought that Tomneo might flee Pisa, or even join the Venetian, made her face flush with nervousness.

"Captain, didn't you catch those Venetians?" Lucrezia asked with some excitement.

"I'm sorry ma'am, they had already fled when our men arrived."

"So," Lucrezia paused, nervous but still asked, "what about the Duke, has the Duke been robbed by them?" ”

"Madam, this, this matter......" The captain looked at the others with an ugly face, and seeing that they were also looking at them with gloomy expressions, the captain finally spoke with some difficulty after hesitating for a moment: "Our men found them at night, because it was dark and they were afraid that they might escape, and they were a little too impatient to capture these Venetians, so they killed them all." ”

Lucrezia was stunned for a moment, she looked at the others as if she didn't understand, and then looked at the captain of the city defense.

"Didn't you just say you couldn't catch them?"

"I didn't catch it, I didn't catch a live one."

"Wait a minute, you said they were all killed?" Lucrezia seemed to have only then suddenly remembered this crucial sentence: "You mean kill everyone?" ”

"It was very dark at the time, and those people were so cruel, so the people we were watching before had to use crossbows, so ......" The captain paused, and then said helplessly, "Our people didn't find out that the Duke was among them, we don't know if he was really kidnapped, but it doesn't matter anymore," Speaking of this, the captain licked his lips and said with difficulty, "The Duke died with those people, and was shot by our people with crossbows." ”

Lucrezia looked at the men in front of her in astonishment, as they bowed slightly to her, and at the two servants who came from behind them, carrying full cloaks and a sword.

Lucrezia was slightly stunned at this scene, and then she bowed to the pizza people in return.

Then she straightened up and turned around, walked to the bedroom door, listened to the movement inside, and then gently pushed the door open.

It was quiet in the room, and Estelles was sleeping soundly.

She obviously didn't know that with her mother's departure and return, her identity, status, and future destiny had changed dramatically.

Lucrezia walked to the cradle and looked at her beloved daughter, then she picked up Estelles and kissed her daughter's tender forehead tenderly.

"My daughter, you are the Duke of Pisa," Lucrezia whispered in the ear of the sleeping daughter of Masaka, "Duchy of Pisa, Duchess Estelles Giuliante de Combrai, long live." ”