As night fell, a wind carrying moisture finally descended upon Rome. It passed through the city's alleyways, leapt over the brick and stone corners of buildings, brushed against the olive tree leaves in front of Joya's window, lingered on her windowsill, and caused the flames of the hanging lamp to flicker.
"This morning, Jeffrey excitedly told me that he saw Joya flying on the roof. This child is not so young anymore, why does he still often confuse reality and dreams?" Lucrezia muttered as she helped Joya tidy up the books on her desk.
She has the same light golden curly long hair as Joya, but unlike Joya who always ties her hair up, she likes her long hair and lets it flow down behind her like a golden waterfall, and the color of her hair looks especially beautiful in the twilight and under the lamp.
Adriana's daughter-in-law Julia Farnese and Joya were sitting on either side of a long bench, with Joya buried in a book while Julia was twisting her hair by her temple with her right hand, smiling as she said, "Isn't this exciting? The flying woman who appeared at the Vatican, she could be an angel."
Her voice was soft and melodious, always carrying a faint hint of a smile while speaking. She was only a year or two older than Joya, but both her physique and demeanor exuded a mature feminine charm that was unique to married women, as Juan would put it - marriage is what helps a woman grow.
She was born into a mercenary aristocratic family, and at the age of thirteen she was betrothed to Orso, Adriana's son, bringing a dowry of three hundred Frolin gold coins to Orsini Palace. Since Orso was a few years younger than her, it wasn't until this year's spring that she finally married Orso, with the ceremony performed by Rodrigo.
Joya also attended that wedding ceremony with her younger siblings. Sixteen-year-old Julia wore a white wedding gown, her face sweet and her gaze like flowing water - not at her husband Orso, but fixed on the 60-year-old Cardinal Rodrigo.
In the noise of "Juan 'Joya, look at the bride, she is so beautiful, wait until you get married, you will definitely be more beautiful than her'," Joya saw from the eye contact between the two peopleA romantic legend originating from Italy has emerged.
And after the wedding, Orso was sent by Rodrigo to a villa owned by the Boggie family in Basanello, to learn how to lead troops in battle, while his beautiful wife Julia, who remained at home, became Rodrigo's latest mistress.
After learning this news, Joya, besides the exclamation "As expected of an Italian," occasionally went to Rodrigo's dormitory and stared at Rodrigo's face, which, although grey-haired, still had great charm, and then a cliche she often used in her past life inexplicably popped up in her mind:
The sword is still sharp.
Julia has a beautiful appearance and a gentle and cheerful personality. She is very close to Lucrezia. She knows that Joya does not like to talk and only likes to stay at home and read books, so she also brings back some books that Adriana has banned and gives them to Joya.
That book "The Decameron" was the one she had her own brother get for her from another city.
Joya closed the book, turned her head to take a quick look at Lucrezia who was arranging the books with her back to her, then turned back to Julia and smiled, saying: "I feel like I might be called a witch by the Vatican."
At this time, the incumbent Pope Innocenti had already issued an encyclical a few years earlier, condemning the superstition of witchcraft, and a wave of witch-hunting swept across Europe, causing no small panic among women in Europe.
Julia, hearing her say this, quickly sat up straight and said sternly, "Joya, you must not say such things."
Joya waved her hand with a smile, indicating that she was joking: "It's just that I heard that a foreign woman was burned to death in Subiaco last month, so I was a bit touched."
During this period, those who had been single for many years or whose husbands had died early, and even more so the lone women who appeared in foreign lands, were often labeled as witches and then subjected to public executions by burning.
Joya had previously lamented that if she had transmigrated in the past, not by soul but by body, with her dirty braids, hooded sweatshirt, denim shorts, black cat tattoo on her calves, red AJ sneakers, and a skateboard in her hand, she probably would have been executed on the stake before even understanding the situation.
She stood up from the bench, putting the book in her hand back into the bookshelf. At this time, Lucrezia had also tidied up her desk, which was usually piled high with various books. Hands on her hips, the petite and beautiful face was filled with pride: "Don't worry, Joya, while you're in Florence, I will protect your desk and bookshelf, and Adriana will never discover the little secrets in your bookshelf!"
"Joya smiled with her eyes narrowed: 'Then I'll leave it to Lucrezia.'"
After the four directions were calm, Julia took Lucrezia back to her own room to rest, Joya dismissed the maid who was preparing to serve her a bath, and sat alone by the window for a while.
The day was bright and sunny, and the moonlight at night was also very clear. Sitting by the window, in addition to admiring the moon, one could also feel the rare summer breeze of Rome. She yawned a few times, wanting to look for some books to read from the bookshelf, but then she remembered that Lucrezia had just tidied up her desk and bookshelf for her, and if she messed it up again within an hour, the young girl would surely scold her in a sulky voice. So she resisted the urge.
Not until the stillness of the night had settled in completely, and there were no more shadows passing by the Corinthian columns of the courtyard corridor, did she rise from the chair, close the window, and draw the heavy curtains that were only used in the winter.
After the moonlight was blocked by the window curtain outside, the only light inside the room came from the candles. The flames flickered among the quartz ornaments, casting threads of golden and silver light on the floor.
The drawing of the curtains seemed to be a command, and Joya's previously weary eyes suddenly became alert. She picked up the shiny satin dress and ran to the raised platform in front of the four-poster bed, crouching down and retrieving a set of simply colored clothes from under the bed.
She took off the pearl necklace from her head, braided her hair into two braids, and tightly wrapped a black and white striped headband around them. She also took off the brightly patterned and luxurious long robe she was wearing, and put on a set of plain men's clothes instead.
In just ten minutes, Boggie's lady can transform into a common young person on the streets of Rome.
Without the luxurious long robe, Joya's steps also became much lighter. She opened the window slowly, opened the wooden blinds, and jumped onto the window sill. After observing that there was no one moving in the courtyard, she stretched out her hands to hang on the protruding beams above the window, and with the strength of her arms, she supported her whole body and climbed up to the beams.
And this is not her endpoint.
Illuminated by the moonlight, she exerted force with her right leg and then leapt over the verdant olive tree in front of her window, landing on the lintel of the neighboring window. This was not her final destination.
She was like a nimble climber, scaling and leaping across this building, running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop, passing through the fountain garden at the center of the Orsini Palace, and arriving at the southeast tower, climbing up the arched window frames to reach the top of the tower.
From the window of her own room, she climbed to the top of this tower in just twenty minutes.
After a series of climbing and jumping, her breathing was a bit disordered, but she did not immediately sit down, but stood on the edge, looking out into the distance.
The Vatican is located on the Vatican Hill in the northwestern corner of Rome. Although the tower of the Orsini Palace does not have the same prime location as the Papal Palace, climbing to the top still allows you to take in the entire city of Rome and its lights below.
At this time, Rome had not completely shaken off the nightmare of the Black Death pandemic that had ravaged it during the Middle Ages. Countless people in the impoverished areas were still dying of the plague every day. Additionally, Pope Innocent was wholly focused on a lavish lifestyle and preparing for the Crusade against the Turks, causing the papal treasury to run dry. The Pope even had to pawn the bishop's miter on Palm Sunday to buy palm leaves to distribute to the people. As a result, the sale of ecclesiastical offices became rampant, and the papacy openly sold indulgences at high prices. One could simply buy an indulgence to be absolved of the guilt of theft, robbery, and even murder.
Accordingly, Rodrigo did not allow several young girls who were still living in the Orsini Palace to go to Rome alone, out of fear of the plague that had afflicted Europe for hundreds of years, as well as concerns for the personal safety of unaccompanied women.
At the end of the fifteenth century, Rome, once the glory of the empire, had become a paradise for criminals and a hell for the inhabitants.
But it is also bustling and noisy.
From the twinkling lights, one can glimpse the prosperity of past years.
Joya only learned last year that this place could offer a distant view of the city of Rome. At the time, Juan excitedly brought her to the tower gate, where the maids of the Orsini Palace said that the height of the tower was just right to see half of the city of Rome. However, Adriana, out of concern for the safety of the children, locked the tower door and prohibited them from climbing up the tower, so directly going up through the main gate was not very realistic.
"I really do want to see what Rome looks like from this angle." Juan said dejectedly.
Joya did not speak at the time, but only ruffled his soft brown curly hair on his head.
That night, she put on the youth's clothes she had hidden, ran across the roof of Orsini Palace, and then climbed to the top of the tower.
This was the first time she tried parkour since coming to this world.
This body is only in its teens, very fragile. Whether it's physical strength, limb strength, or responsiveness, it's no match for her former self. When she climbed the tower, she was already so exhausted that she could barely catch her breath, and could only rest for a while on the hay pile at the top of the tower before dragging her gradually recovering body to the edge of the rooftop to enjoy the twinkling lights of Rome at night.
She thought about her former self.
Through one's own hands to climb the peaks, through one's own feet to cross the ravines, the scenery that can be seen from the high place is truly beautiful. This was also her initial reason for practicing parkour.
Someday, she will cross this wall and reach a place where no tower can block her.
Joya remained at the tower for quite a while, before returning the same way. However, before climbing back through the window into her own room, she noticed that the curtains had been disturbed, so she directly jumped from the window frame to the porch, and then down along the column.
She pulled back her headscarf, letting her two long braids fall to her shoulders. She smoothed the stray hairs at her temples, adjusted her breathing and expression, then pushed open the door and entered the room.
The light entered the water, clearly illuminating all the furniture and furnishings of the room, as well as the young man sitting on the Dante chair at the desk, wearing a white shirt and black trousers.
He has deep brown hair that softly falls over his shoulders, a characteristic inherited through generations of the Boggie family, where each person's hair is soft and lustrous. However, his facial features are not as soft as his hair, with his brow furrowed, giving his face an indescribable austerity, yet his light blue eyes are as clear as the untainted mountain stream.
He did not find Joya's male attire strange, but simply said in a laconic tone, "The desk is so tidy, it seems Lucrezia has been here to clean up."
"You know, the short one won't miss the chance to scold me." Joya walked past him without changing expression, throwing the head he was holding to his own bed, "Cesare, you're still not asleep this late, is there something wrong?"
"I heard you're going to Florence?" Cesare turned his head to look at her, "It seems you know?"
Joya seemed a bit surprised: "Looks like you knew about it all along."
"It's not too early, just this morning." Cesare stood up from the chair, stretching out his long limbs, "I've always known that my mother has a sister who married and went to Florence, and a messenger came over recently, and after my mother received the letter, she hesitated for a long time before sending a letter to my father's mansion, and today my father summoned you alone."
Joya smiled: "I didn't know you would be interested in these trivial matters."
Cesare also smiled: "What my father taught me, is to be good at observation. Even minor matters can determine victory or defeat."
"You did it." Joya began to untie her braids, "Do I need to say anything? You won?"
"No, I've come to say goodbye." Cesare composed his expression, "I'm going to the University of Pisa."
Rodrigo had long planned to send Cesare and Juan to university for higher education. Cesare had previously studied law at the University of Perugia, so Joya was not surprised. She undid one of her braids and casually asked, "What will you study? Is it military theory that you want to learn?"
"No, it is folklore and canon law, as well as theology." Cesare tapped the desk lightly with his fingers.
Joya raised her head and looked at him, her blue eyes carrying a hint of coldness.
"This is just the beginning, it's not important." He said, "What I want, I will get."