Snow-white sandy beaches, turquoise skies, and emerald clear waters make up an intoxicating landscape.

Walking on the beach, every step is sunk into the soft and slightly rough sand, the skin is slightly itchy by the fine sand, and the beautiful toes will move involuntarily.

Sophia looked up and smiled silently at Alexander, her travel clothes looked a little cumbersome, different from the gypsy clothes she used to wear, but at this time she was walking barefoot on the sand with the hem of her skirt.

Alexander groped for the top of Sophia's head, and the girl's long, silky and dense hair was smooth to the touch, as if the bun made her look taller than her peers.

"Sophia, we're going to the other side of the sea," Alexander looked up and pointed to the sea in the distance, where the blue waves were undulating, and the clouds were sailing, and seeing Sophia open her arms and make a big movement, Alexander laughed, "Yes, there are many cities there, just like the ones you have seen before, and they are much bigger and more crowded than Sicily." ”

Alexander stopped as he spoke, and Sofia opened her arms as if to take these things he was talking about, and said loudly, "It's big, it's big, not only Naples, but also Venice, Milan, Genoa, Bologna," and he stopped and turned his head to look at Sofia listening to him, "The most important thing is that there's Florence, you know, we're going to Florence one day." ”

Sophia nodded, she seemed to understand Alexander's determination at this time, so she nodded very hard, so that her figure, which was completely different from her peers, also rippled like waves.

"Sophia, the world is really big," Alexander took Sophia's shoulders and continued to walk on the beach, "and the things that are happening in those places are very new, and then we can see a lot of things that we have never seen before, and hear a lot of strange things that we have never heard of. Maybe you'll be fascinated by some of them. ”

Hearing Alexander say this, Sophia stopped, pressed her chest hard, and then patted Alexander's chest again, her eyes revealing a certain seriousness, as if she was seriously retorting something.

Alexander thought about it and understood, after spending time with Sophia, he had almost slowly understood some of her eyes, and now looking at her slightly unhappy appearance, Alexander knew that she was indeed retorting to himself.

"Yes, we are not fascinated by anything else, we are in the same situation." Alexander laughed, he knew that for Sophia, her fate had been linked to him from the moment she left the tribe, so she always watched him sensitively, and always seemed afraid that his attention would be taken away from her.

Sophia smiled, apparently satisfied with Alexander's words, and then she looked at the passing ships in the distance: "Huh? ”

"Yes, we're going to take those boats," Alexander asked a little curiously after seeing Sophia's bitter appearance, "Sophia, you can't be seasick, how did you come to Sicily before?" ”

Sophia's face was still bitter, she tugged hard at the cuff of the travel suit, and then remembered that although the dress was not as good as hers, it was very expensive, so she carefully sorted it out again, and she began to compare, sometimes making a sad and vomiting look, sometimes as if she was paralyzed and drowsy, looking at the rich expression on her face, Alexander also let out "oops", "bad", "terrible" These teasing exclamations.

"We're still going to take a boat," it wasn't until Sophia said that Alexander shook his head helplessly and said to the girl, "We're going to a lot of places, of course, and then more places have to be walked, and in addition to these places I said, maybe we'll go farther in the future, you know Sophia, the world is really big, even bigger than people think now, especially over there...... Alexander's hand pointed west along the beach, where there is a bigger expanse of the sea" is over thereFar away from Naples, maybe a hundred times farther, there is a much bigger ocean and a completely different world, and those places can only be reached by a long boat ride. ”

Sophia had an incomprehensible look on her face, although she was a wandering gypsy, it was difficult to think of Alexander's words, for for her a trip to Sicily by boat from elsewhere was like a journey to another world, and although in the tribes, some old people would say that there were still greater lands and cities in the south, but no one had ever told her that there was a greater sea and a world in the west.

What would that look like?

Naturally curious and wandering, Sophia couldn't help but follow Alexander's hand to the west, but all she saw was a large expanse of turquoise water.

Then she shook her head in confusion.

"You can't see it here," Alexander patted Sophia on the head, "not even on the coast, farther west than Castile, where it takes months to get there. Seeing Sophia's incredulous expression, Alexander smiled, "Those places are much bigger than Sicily, and even much bigger than all of Europe, compared to there, Europe is like a small point." “

Alexander shook his head slightly, knowing that his analogy was not appropriate.

It may be true that Europe is incomparable to the new world in terms of size, but neither the artistic civilization nor the surging era that has gradually arrived can be compared with the new world that is still hazy under a primitive veil.

The Mediterranean Sea in this era is probably ahead of the whole world, Alexander sighed slightly in his heart, and at the same time, more curiosity was brewing in his heart.

Why this era?

Why here?

Why, after a millennia of dark ages, did a dazzling light suddenly appear on the shores of the Mediterranean, far from the east?

Alexander remembered the countless books about this era, in which the same question was constantly asked: Why!

Why is it Italy in this era?

Although there have been calls for breaking the shackles for a long time, and nearly a hundred years ago there were Hussite wars to gain more religious freedom, but what really made this voice burst out with astonishing power was a bloodless revolution with humanism as a weapon and the revival of ancient Greek art as a banner.

But the impact of this "war" was so great and far-reaching that even in later generations, far from this era, whenever people want to write the history of human civilization, they inevitably refer to the exciting era of the late fifteenth century.

"Sophia, you know, we're actually very lucky," Alexander said, looking at the sea in the distance, "I mean we live in this place at this time, and not in any other time and place, which allows us to see a lot of things." ”

Sophia followed Alexander's gaze into the distance, but saw nothing, so she turned to look at Alexander with some confusion.

"You can't see it here," Alexander smiled helplessly, perhaps because he was leaving a familiar place, and the island that meant something special to him, Alexander felt as if he had become a little sentimental, but then he opened his arms again, "but soon we will see it, maybe even more than we want to see." ”

For a moment, some familiar names flashed through Alexander's mind.

Botticelli, Raphael, Donatello, these great masters of art who were either talented or unbridled, as well as Titian and Caravaggio, who inherited their great artistic legacy, but were unruly.

The name of each of them is associated with countless great works of art that have been handed down to posterity, and even the name of Michelangelo, which seems to Alexander to be somewhat different from the rumor, is about to shine with extraordinary brilliance.

This was because Alexander knew that Michelangelo, who had finally escaped embarrassment under his patronage, would leave Sicily with him.

If history had not deviated from it, this young man, who does not seem to be outstanding at the moment, would have gone to Rome, where he would have found the opportunity to show his extraordinary talents, and thus embark on the path of the dazzling masters.

And what Alexander longed for the most was naturally the hope of seeing Leonardo da Vinci.

If in this day and age there are many people who can be crowned with the title of master, but there can only be one genius, then this laurel crown can undoubtedly only be worn on the head of Leonardo da Vinci!

Perhaps in every era there will be a person who will not only be amazing, but even make his contemporaries completely hopeless.

Then in this day and age, Leonardo da Vinci is undoubtedly such a person.

Artist, mathematician, architect and genius inventive, any one of these titles is enough to be proud of, but Leonardo da Vinci greedily took all of them into his arms.

"Sophia, we will meet a lot of people," Alexander pulled Sophia on the beach and walked slowly, his eyes had already crossed the strait in front of him to the other side of the city, which had just experienced the war, but still contained great power, that city was called Naples, "If you want, maybe you will meet some people you can't imagine, those are wonderful people, compared to them we are as inconspicuous as the sand on this beach." ”

Sophia tilted her head, as if to figure out what Alexander meant, and then she straightened her little head, looked very serious, and pulled Alexander's sleeve hard, and then pushed him forward.

Alexander was a little strange, and then he suddenly understood.

"Haha!" Alexander laughed, he turned around and picked up Sophia and spun around, "That's right, Sophia, we are not sand, we are ourselves." Those masters may be great, but we don't have to look up to them, maybe we can do more amazing things than them. ”

Sophia had a smile on her face, she didn't really know what Alexander meant by those words, and she didn't even know what kind of future she was going to face, but when she saw Alexander smile, she laughed too.

A young black man dressed in a servant's uniform came from a distance, and when he saw his master laughing, Uliu stood at a distance and bowed.

Alexander looked at this Moorish young man with some amusement, he didn't know why, he always felt that he was like a dirt bun who didn't understand the rules in front of this Moorish young man.

Thinking of the rules that had begun to be established in the house since the black lad had become his servant, Alexander had a comical feeling as if he had been chained.

A girl who will be with him for the rest of his life, a servant who chooses to be loyal to him because of love, and the title of Lighthouse Keeper.

This is what Alexander has reaped so far since he came to this era.

"Dear master, the ship is ready," Ulliu's regular salute, the courtesy, that solemn look made anyone who saw it have to restrain and play, and listened to him carefully, "Lord Osborne is waiting for you on the docks." ”

Alexander nodded, it was time to go.

Goodbye, Sicily. Hope to see you again soon.

Alexander whispered to himself, and then he took Sophia in his arms and walked towards the dock not far away.

With blue skies and white clouds, blue waters, Alexander stood on the boat and looked at the coast that was gradually moving away, and a burst of anger suddenly surged in his heart!

Do you really want to leave Sicily?

Didn't they have to leave because of the persecution of the noble council!

Almost, as long as you catch Cleion, you can take the opportunity to convict Alfonso!

Then, even if you can't stand alone with the noble council, you can become one of the important Sicilian figures.

The wine of power has been put on the table, but he has to be forced to leave!

Sicily, a place with beautiful legends, you must come back!

Because this is where it all began!