Page 307 of DATE
“I have returned,” he said, looking up at her with a sincere and focused expression. “As I promised, I have brought you a necklace dazzling enough to rival the stars, my lord.”
This necklace stretched across the entire western coast, its thousands of shimmering pearls an offering from him to her.
She took a deep breath, leaned down, and kissed his lips.
The crowd erupted into cheers, whistles, and applause, as if witnessing another scene from a grand human comedy.
Though the lady lord still seemed somewhat hesitant and nervous, her friends and family believed this to be just the usual pre-marriage jitters.
Her wedding dress was adorned with golden and silver threads, like a golden forsythia in bloom. Large irises were embroidered on the hem of the skirt, with pearls and gemstones arranged from top to bottom like the world’s most expensive painting.
Though there was no pure white bridal gown, the groom had prepared for her a gorgeous, soft satin gown and a colorful array of gifts, enough to stretch from the southern to the northern parts of the city—this would make any unmarried girl in all of Europe envious.
According to ancient tradition, the groom and bride were not to meet the day before the wedding, for it was believed that meeting would bring bad luck.
Hedy sat beside her magnificent wedding dress, her fingertips lightly tracing the smooth pearls.
Her mind was still occupied with thoughts related to her past life.
Should she… tell him everything about her previous life?
Should she reveal all her secrets to him?
Before falling in love, the decision had been easy to make.
But once you fall in love with someone, there’s this uncontrollable desire to share everything about yourself with them, as if you wanted to carve each other’s souls into one another.
Hedy took a sip of wine and let out a long sigh.
Though Leonardo himself was an extraordinary figure in this era, if he were to learn that she was an unusual being from five hundred years in the future, he might not believe it at all. He might think that she was just frightened by the idea of marriage.
Drowsiness began to creep over her, and she decided to lie down for a moment’s rest. Before she knew it, she had drifted into a deep sleep.
"My lady," Dechio knocked on the door, entering with a document in hand. "Mr. Machiavelli wishes to ask you—"
She froze, instinctively calling out, "My lady?!"
In the bedroom, there was only the wedding dress laid on the bed.
The person who had been sitting there just half an hour ago was nowhere to be found.
On the eve of her wedding, their lord had simply vanished.
General Da Vinci, along with his men, had searched the entire city of Genoa but could find no trace of her.
—This was no runaway bride.
When Hedy awoke again, she could only feel herself sitting in a bumpy, stifling, and cramped space.
She barely managed to open her eyes, but her vision was blurry.
…What had happened?
Had she been… kidnapped?
Meanwhile, at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence...
"Mr. Borgia, I don’t think there’s any need to repeat this," Lorenzo set his wine glass down, his tone cold. "The old grievances between the Roman Church and Naples, along with their interference in Genoa’s ecclesiastical matters, we will not offer any support."
