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Da Vinci furrowed his brow, studying her for a moment before finally speaking.
"Where did you hear about all this?"
"Well... I heard it from the alchemist next door," Hedy replied quickly. "There was an alchemist living near the family I once served."
Her answer was clever and perfect.
For the past few centuries in Europe, even when she was born, people had been fascinated by the existence of alchemists.
Even famous scientists like Newton, who discovered gravity, and many others, couldn't escape the allure of this mysterious science in their later years.
Not only that, but royal courts were also deeply enamored with alchemists, often paying large sums of money to hire them to research their secrets.
The legends of turning stone into gold, the fountain of youth, and universal elixirs drove the nobility wild.
When da Vinci heard her answer, he was surprised but also seemed to believe it.
"I’ve seen him prepare potions," Hedy raised an eyebrow. "If you have citrus fruits or lemons here, I could make you a batch."
Also known as lemon juice.
She had noticed that his mental state didn’t seem very good, and his diet had clearly been quite selective. He likely lacked vitamin C, which explained some of the symptoms she observed.
Da Vinci asked some more details with skepticism, but Hedy deftly dodged each of them.
Having been a screenwriter, a director, and having acted in dozens of scripts, she was quite skilled at speaking on these matters.
After a simple dinner, they each went about their tasks.
Hedy borrowed the Bible that was placed in the living room and began to refresh the knowledge she had forgotten over the years.
She sat not too far from da Vinci, and when she grew tired, she glanced over to observe what he was doing.
Although the young man was a famous painter in history, at this moment, his thoughts didn’t seem to be focused on painting.
He was sketching designs for flying machines, calculating various trajectories and numbers, and writing long analyses.
To his right, there was a stack of papers—again, these were all manuscripts related to engineering and medicine.
It seemed this was a medical student researching engineering in an oil painting studio.
Hedy, seeing that it wasn’t fully dark yet, quickly skimmed through the Bible and then went to make him some lemon juice and pasta.
A little honey, mixed with lemon and clean water, was poured into a ceramic bottle, which she sealed by covering it with several layers of cloth and tying it with string.
As for the pasta...
She wasn’t very skilled at making Italian butterfly-shaped pasta, and back at home, she had a machine with handles for that.
The wheat here was quite tough, and if she made bread out of the flour, it would probably be impossible to even bite through.
Hedy pondered for a moment, then decided to refer to the shapes she had seen earlier in the day. She kneaded the dough, then cut and rolled it flat.
By the time she finished washing up and was about to return to rest, the workshop was still lit.
Da Vinci was deeply focused on designing the energy system for his flying machine, with a bottle of sweet-smelling potion placed beside him.
"Try this," Hedy raised an eyebrow and smiled. "An alchemist’s secret formula."
