Page 51 of DATE
"Later, my parents thought the nickname was so cute that they started calling me Botticelli (which means 'small barrel' in Italian)."
"And then, somehow, it just caught on."
Hedy looked at the edges of the painting, which were gradually gaining layers and detail, and subconsciously remarked, "With so many lines, it must take months to finish."
"Probably a year, maybe more."
As they were talking, she suddenly heard a light cough.
Who was it?
"It's Leonardo," Botticelli replied without turning his head. "He's by the side door. You can go ahead."
"Huh??"
Are you two really that close now?
Someone had been watching them from behind for a while but hadn’t approached.
Before Hedy could ask Da Vinci his intentions, he directly patted the nearby cart, signaling for her to follow him.
Once they were in the carriage, Da Vinci finally spoke. “I’m taking you somewhere.”
“…Is it really that urgent?”
Hedy suddenly realized something was off. What were all these large bundles of cloth beneath their feet?
She hadn’t seen him in a while and had only intended to chat and maybe even experiment with some copper sulfate together. She certainly hadn’t expected to be suddenly whisked away in a carriage.
And from the looks of it, they were heading out of the city.
The carriage twisted and turned through winding roads before finally stopping not far from the outskirts.
Hedy lifted the curtain and froze for a few seconds.
“This is a cemetery.”
“Right.” Da Vinci nimbly jumped down from the carriage and extended a hand to her. “Come down.”
She took his hand and stepped down, noticing that there wasn’t even a grave keeper around.
“This is… an unmarked graveyard?”
“I found a few unclaimed bodies, and the burial time isn’t too long ago.”
Da Vinci turned his head to look at her, a hint of amusement in his eyes.
“You’re an alchemist. You should know how to dissect, right?”
“Wait—are you planning to... dissect the bodies?” Hedy suddenly felt a chill run down her back.
“We’ll quietly drag one back for dissection—come, give me a hand.”
“Mr. Da Vinci! We can’t do this!”
Hedy realized he’d even brought out a shovel and tried to stop him. “Don’t you think this is a bit extreme?!”
“I’ve already asked the lord, and he even set aside a special place for me to conduct dissections,” Da Vinci said, casually eyeing one grave after another, ready to dig up a body at any moment.
