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Hedy was momentarily stunned, not knowing what to say.
When she met Lorenzo the previous day, it felt as if they had returned to their professional relationship, as though everything that had needed to end had already come to a close.
"However, once everyone moves south of the Arno River, I suppose this palace will be renamed the Old Palace," Dechio sighed with a touch of regret. "It's a bit of a shame."
Hedy adjusted her emotions and, after preparing herself, went to the office.
She wasn’t sure how long she would stay in Florence, but at least she needed to resolve the current issues.
When the door to the office opened for her, she saw many people already present. There were farmers with worried faces, chatty priests, and some familiar faces from the Florence Academy.
As soon as they saw her, everyone stood up and began awkwardly introducing themselves. The lord sat behind them, quietly handling documents.
Hedy instinctively glanced at his expression and focused her attention on the explanations that followed.
The illness, as they said, had reportedly come from a foreigner's estate.
First, their orange trees and vines had died, and then more and more orchards started suffering.
Someone had cautiously brought in samples of the diseased leaves, and the nearby scholars recoiled in disgust upon seeing them, as if afraid of being infected.
Hedy, wearing gloves, examined the traces on the leaves.
The clear disease spots were light yellow or brown, with no insect holes, but there was a black, fuzz-like substance on the underside of the leaves.
She immediately recognized it as mycelium.
"It's not a demon," she murmured. "It's a plant disease."
Upon hearing this, some people around her expressed agreement or anger, while the poor farmer covered his face, asking if there was any hope for a cure.
Hedy wasn’t sure what to use to get rid of the disease, but she knew that penicillin wouldn’t work.
From her correspondence over the past two years, she knew that Florence already had about ten official penicillin workshops, capable of meeting the needs of the upper class.
If a more virulent strain of the fungi could be found, it might save the lives of the poor.
Using something like penicillin to solve a plant disease problem would be far too costly.
She thought for a moment and then explained the experiment timeline and requirements, apologizing, "I’ve never dealt with this kind of disease before, but it will require some time, I’m sorry."
The lord stood up and tried to calm the increasingly anxious crowd, turning to her: "Will this disease threaten people's safety?"
"It shouldn’t, as long as there is no direct contact with these leaves through the hands or mouth and the hands are washed properly."
Before she finished speaking, the person who had been holding the leaves rushed out of the room.
"Where's the water—?"
Returning to her laboratory, Hedy found that some of her redundant equipment had already been moved to the new palace.
Hedy was so far removed from her past memories that she could barely recall what Palazzo Pitti looked like in the future.
The young alchemist sighed as she stared at the test tubes and various bottles and jars, beginning her research on the diseased leaves.
She had arranged for plants at different stages of infection to be brought to her, all grown in the same soil in her laboratory.
There were many ways to kill the plague; even toxic substances could help to suppress it.
