Page 72 of DATE
"...Why?" she finally asked.
The maid hesitated for a while before speaking, revealing what little she knew.
"He and Mr. Lorenzo... both once deeply loved a lady."
"She has been dead for many years now."
This bit of information was a lot to process.
Hedy froze for a few seconds, trying to make sense of the details.
First, Botticelli and the lord both loved the same woman.
Second, the woman was married, so this seemed like... an affair?
Third, the lady had been dead for several years?
Could it be that this era was so tolerant of mistresses and affairs?!
Hedy wasn’t one to indulge in gossip, but she sensed that this might connect to other details, so she decided to ask one more question.
"Can you tell me... what exactly happened?"
Dechio hesitated for a moment before revealing everything.
She was just a small, insignificant figure in the palace, and didn’t know any deep secrets. However, the events from the past were well-known by many in the palace.
Botticelli had always been close to the Medici family, growing up in the Palazzo Vecchio. He had his own private workshop, was famous throughout Florence, and was also the Medici family’s most loyal artist.
He had painted the members of the Medici family alongside the gods, subtly reshaping many of their thoughts and beliefs through his work.
A few years ago, a beautiful woman from Genoa had dazzled the entire city. Her name was Simonetta, and her husband had strong ties to the Medici family as well. Through businessdealings and social gatherings, many men became infatuated with her.
The late lord’s brother, Giuliano, the current lord, Lorenzo, and this handsome and remarkable Botticelli—each of them had been taken by her charm.
Three years ago, during the knight’s tournament, Giuliano had even carried her portrait to the competition, and that portrait was created by none other than Botticelli himself.
Dechio paused for a moment, then hesitated before continuing. "You might have seen... that pagan painting by Botticelli."
... Venus? The one she had seen that day?
"The face of that pagan goddess... truly looks exactly like that lady’s."
Hedy listened to the details, still trying to wrap her mind around everything. Was marriage in this era really that different from what she had thought?
How could that merchant watch his wife being courted and adored by so many men without feeling pain?
"So... how did she die?"
"From a lung disease. She passed away at just twenty-three." Dechio sighed and added, "Her husband remarried soon after, and now he lives quite comfortably."
"Now, Botticelli is constantly being urged to marry, with many beautiful girls throwing him flirtatious glances, but it seems he can never get past her."
Hedy stood there, momentarily stunned. The bright and cheerful young man she had seen must have a much deeper and more repressed side to him than she had imagined. She wasn’t sure whether that was a good or bad thing.
Compared to him, Da Vinci seemed to be living a carefree life. The only thing that troubled him now was probably still not fully understanding the muscle composition of the human body...
"So... was Lorenzo very sad?"
