According to Vanozza's letter, Joya's biological mother, Ms. Martina Catane, is a renowned beauty and unconventional Mantova maiden. After Vanozza became Rodrigo's mistress, the Catane family acquired considerable wealth, and some family members had even taken up ecclesiastical positions in the local area, gaining some prominence in Mantova. Martina herself, at the age of fourteen, had betrothed herself to a member of the Sforza family, the ruling clan of Milan.
However, she did not seem too satisfied with this marriage. When the Sforza family demanded that she fulfill the marriage at the age of sixteen, she knocked out her maid, packed only one set of clothes and some small items, and ran all the way from Mantova to Rome.
Joya felt genuinely curious about this Ms. Martina upon reading this.
Although the women in this era do not have full autonomy over their marriages, their status is equal to that of men. Even if an empress has a lover, it is considered normal. There are very few examples of people pursuing personal true love to the point of running away from home. After all, the social norms are open, and everyone knows that after getting married, one can have affairs outside of the marriage, so there is really no need to do something that could lead to a break with the family.
"Martina is truly willful and capricious, Joya, you should not be like her." After learning that Joya knew the identity of her birth mother and decided to go to Florence to visit her, Adriana began to educate Joya on the proper etiquette and behavior of a noble lady.
Joya listened to Adriana's chatter while folding the letter back along the crease and tucking it into a half-read copy of "The Decameron". She glanced back at Adriana, relieved to see that she had not noticed the book in Joya's hands, and then placed the "The Decameron" under Plato's "Phaedrus".
Boccaccio did not mince words when describing the Papal Court in Rome, and Adriana had always forbidden her daughters from reading this book.
It is now the hottest noon of the day. Just hearing the summer cicadas screeching on the oleander trees in the courtyard is enough to make one drowsy, let alone Adriana's admonitions.
"They say that after leaving Rome, she went to Florence, and married a banker, and had a son." Adriana said, "But even if she lives in luxury, the Catane family will no longer recognize her, and she will likely never be able to return to Mantova in her lifetime."
Joya carefully put away the books on the desk, then picked up two glasses of red wine with ice cubes that the maid had just brought in, and walked slowly towards the chaise longue where Adriana was leaning. She decided to use the feeding method to end this "etiquette education for noble ladies" session.
She handed Adriana a glass of wine, shaking the other glass and listening to the sound of the ice cubes hitting the glass, then changed the subject with a smile: "I was taken to my father's bedchamber by Brandao early this morning, and I still haven't seen Juan. How is he doing now?"
Adriana felt that the nameless fire in her heart had subsided a bit after having a glass of chilled wine, perhaps because the weather was too hot. She glanced at Joya. Although Joya, like Martina, had light golden hair, fair skin, and a face that could be described in the most beautiful words, she was fundamentally different from Martina.
This girl was personally taught by her, and from a young age she had a calm and extremely wise character, and was the most valued by the elders among the few children.
Thinking about this, Adriana averted her gaze, feeling a little relieved in her heart, but with Joya's words, she thought of Juan, who had been in bed for several days, and felt a little annoyed: "Not only has he not gotten better, but he's been shouting every day that he wants to ride a horse."
"It seems that Juan's recent hobby has become riding horses again," Joya chuckled, "I'll go and see him."
In addition to their adopted daughter Joya, Vanozza and Rodrigo had four biological children: their eldest son Cesare, their second son Juan, their eldest daughter Lucrezia, and their youngest child, 7-year-old son Jeffrey.
Cesare was less than a year younger than her, and had been mature in character since childhood. Aside from the occasional complaint from Vanozza that her elder son had never doted on her, he basically gave her no cause for concern.
Cesare had lost the ability to urinate from a young age, and this capacity was likely divided among his three younger siblings.
Juan is impulsive and likes all the latest trendy gadgets, Lucrezia is spoiled, and every time they meet, they almost start arguing. Thanks to Adriana's careful upbringing, the content of their arguments ranges from astronomy to street rumors, and they are always eloquent and articulate. The usually vocabulary-deficient Joya can only widen her eyes and respond with enthusiastic applause to this brilliant debate.
However, reality did not allow her to be just a debate audience.
The two younger siblings have finished their argument, and they still need to run up to her, each one pulling on one of her sleeves, and asking, "Joya, who do you think is right?"
Joya began: "I feel you all make quite a bit of sense..."
She swore that what she said was from the bottom of her heart.
The two people: "No way! All things in the world are not black and white, one of us must be wrong, and one of us must be right!"
"..."
At this moment, Joya feels that if God gave her another chance, she would never again follow the referee of the World Cup final.
Jeffrey was already a handful even when he was just learning to walk wobbly.
He loves to cry, especially loves to cry, even if he cries until he can't catch his breath, he will still stutter and mumble, "Sister... sister..."
At that time, Joya was only seven years old, and to get him to sleep, she had held him in her arms on the bed and coaxed him all night. When she woke up the next morning, her arms were so numb that she could hardly lift them.
The people of medieval Rome, I don't know how much they suffered, but I feel that I have suffered quite a bit.
Last week, Juan started to get in touch with horse riding, and the horse riding instructor, knowing his impulsive nature, specially selected a docile pre-adolescent pony for him. After with great difficulty climbing into the saddle, still very unfamiliar with the reins and whip, he saw that Cesare, who was only a year older than him, was already galloping around the arena, and with a frown and a clench of the teeth, he raised his right hand high and viciously lashed the horse's hindquarters with the whip.
Then, he lay on his own bed for a week.
"The riding instructor did it on purpose!" Juan, lying on the bed, was being served by a maid as he sipped a glass of iced wine, and he said resentfully, "He deliberately wanted to embarrass me in front of Cesare, so he gave me the most ferocious horse. As soon as my leg injury heals, I will have my father dismiss him...No! I'll throw him into the Tiber and feed him to the fish!"
He spoke in a very fierce tone, and his words were also very heavy, to the extent that he was choked by the uncollected grape wine and started coughing violently.
This is not the first time Juan has been choked. He choked on breast milk as a baby, choked on milk as a child, and has been choking on wine every other day as an adult.
Joya, who was already accustomed to the situation, sat on a Dante chair in front of his bed, lazily leaning against the backrest. Even as she heard his agonizing coughs, she remained calm, simply lowering her head and flipping through a book
The ancient Greek history book brought from my own room.
At the end of the Peloponnesian War, in a temple of Athens, the leading city of the Delian League, the head of the statue of Apollo was destroyed, and the perpetrator has not been found to this day.
With the help of the maid, the panting cough of Juan was finally stopped. He wiped the tears from his eyes and turned to look at her, saying a little aggrievedly, "Joya, are you here to see me or to read the books?"
Joya looked up and glanced at him, smiling: "I'm here to read a book." She waved the book in front of Juan, "Adriana probably doesn't want to see you right now, so I can just read a book here with you."
Juan stared at her for several minutes, then squeezed out a grunt from his nose: "I understand, you just love Cesare and Lucrezia a bit more, you don't love me at all."
Joya also doesn't know why she is experiencing this death problem, similar to "if I and Lucrezia fall into the Tiber at the same time, which one will you save first".
She closed the book, hugging it with one hand, and walked to the bedside, stepping over the floor tile carved with ancient Roman scroll decorations, and sat down next to Juan.
Juan was just about to turn his back on her, but he bumped into his injured leg, causing him to let out a sharp intake of breath. Joya gently rubbed the brown curls on the back of his head
"Juan, you're already a big kid, why are you still acting spoiled?"
"As you said yourself, I'm still a child," Juan said irritably.
Joya smiled and said, "The last time you went to my father's palace, I heard you beat your chest in front of my father and say that you had already grown up and could learn to ride a horse."
Juan: "......"
He used everything he learned in his public speaking class when arguing with Lucrezia, but when faced with Joya's occasional teasing, he could never come up with a single word to say.
"If you don't turn your head and look at me, you won't be able to see me anymore." Joya said again.
Juan immediately turned his head, widening his eyes to look at her: "Why! Is Father going to marry you off?"
When Joya heard these words, the corners of her mouth involuntarily twitched, and she kept telling herself over and over again in her heart that Juan Boggie was still a twelve-year-old child. So she calmed down, gently tapped Juan's head, and then got up from the bed, saying: "I need to go to Florence in a few days."
"What is there to do in Florence? Is your father going to marry you off to the de' Medici family?"
"..."
"No, that's not it."
"What? "Juan scratched his head, "Could it be the Pazzi family? No, that's not right...their family has already declined under the suppression of the de' Medici family, so your father shouldn't have married you off to the Pazzi family......"
"..."
"I must go and protest to my father, Joya must not marry into the Pazzi family!"
"..."
She tapped the book "Decameron" on Juan's head and said, "Lucrezia is right, sometimes you really can't listen to you for more than three sentences, otherwise you'll have the urge to hit you."
As the evening fell, Joya emerged from Juan's room, carrying a book.
At this time, the scorching summer heat of the city of Rome, together with the orange-colored evening glow on the horizon, began the farewell ceremony of the day. And Joya, who had been sustaining herself on iced wine during the daytime, was finally able to catch a breath from the burning temperature. Under the Corinthian columns of the courtyard corridor, several brass chandeliers hung, their flames now lit, the vivid color of the fire intertwining with the evening glow, making the clusters of Adonis flowers on the steps beneath especially beautiful and captivating.
As she slowly walked down the stairs, she saw a glimpse of a white shirt behind the clumps of roses.
She stopped in her tracks and glanced behind the flower bushes, then said with a smile: "Jeffrey, I saw you."
Hearing her voice, 7-year-old Jeffrey peeked out from behind the flower bushes and then slowly walked up to Joya.
He had the same deep brown curly hair as Juan, but his gaze wasn't as arrogant and willful as Juan's. He looked up at Joya for a moment, but then his eyes started to avoid her, and he finally just said: "Sister."
Unlike his other siblings, he liked to call her "sister".
"Are you coming to see Juan?" Joya turned her head and looked at Juan's room, "He seems a bit tired."
"No, no..." Jeffrey unconsciously tugged at the edge of his clothes, turning his head to look at the sun slowly sinking into the roof, then said softly, "Jiedha... Will she still fly tonight?"
After he finished speaking, the smile on Joya's face slightly faded. She bent down and looked directly into Jeffrey's face, saying, "What did you see?"
Jeffrey became a bit flustered because of her suddenly serious tone. He tightly gripped the edge of his clothes and said, "Last night, I saw my sister flying on the rooftop."
As soon as he spoke, Joya chuckled. She stood up straight and ruffled Jeffrey's curly hair. This child is undoubtedly Juan's brother, as the two brothers have similar hair texture.
"It seems that our Jeffrey had an interesting dream last night," Joya said softly, trying to soothe the somewhat uneasy Jeffrey, "No one can fly, not even your sister."
