Page 380 of DATE
"Exactly," Hedy smiled. "Only when the box is opened does the wave function collapse, and things come to a definite conclusion."
"I have a question," Leonardo slowed his speech. "Your... country?"
Hedy blinked and, with his assistance, sat up a little straighter.
"I am Austrian," she said calmly. "More precisely, I am a Jew from Austria."
"Ah, the country now ruled by the Habsburg family?" Leonardo asked.
"Yes, it has the snow-capped Alps, the Blue Danube, and Erwin Schrödinger," she said, her tone filled with nostalgia. As she lowered her gaze, she softly began singing an ancient song:
"The mountains rise high, the rivers flow wide, the spires tower tall, and the fields stretch as far as the eye can see..."
"You were born in ancient times, with a noble mission on your shoulders—Austria, tried and true."
"Is this a song from five hundred years later?" Leonardo asked gently, letting her rest her head on his shoulder.
"It’s from three hundred years later," Hedy replied slowly. "Composed by our country's great composer, Mozart."
She felt a pang of homesickness.
With the arrival of October, the two duchies sent their responses.
Milan’s nobility had a very consistent stance—they figured, since Sforza had murdered his way to the throne, they would follow whatever Italy dictated.
The nobles were already returning, all thanking their hosts for their warm hospitality.
On the other hand, the royal family of Naples clearly hadn’t anticipated such a turn of events and didn’t think their king would be too devout in his adherence to Protestantism.
Some advisors vaguely speculated that Ferdinand I had been captured, but they were too cautious to act rashly.
The hair and rings were a chilling warning—especially with the border already teeming with Italians. A wrong step could mean losing one’s head.
The illegitimate son of the other old king stepped forward, immediately assuming his unlucky brother’s place as the new king and demanded that the messenger deliver his “solemn protest.”
Surrendering didn’t seem likely, and the Duchy of Naples condemned their actions as extreme in holding hostages.
In fact, the new king’s reasoning was quite simple—he believed that the less he complied, the harder it would be for Ferdinand I to survive, and the more secure his own position would be.
When the letter arrived, fast-tracked by a messenger, the queen was lounging by the window, eating grapes.
She glanced at it quickly and then looked up at Niccolò. "The new king?" she asked.
Leonardo, sitting beside her and fiddling with the signal receiver, chuckled softly. "Looks like the cat’s dead."
"Cat?" Niccolò asked, bewildered. "What cat?"
The Kingdom of Naples had waited for twenty days without receiving the queen’s letter, only to find that the Italian Empire's forces had already amassed on their borders.
Not only had they deployed massive crossbows and cannons, but the army had also been cutting down trees and digging up rocks along the way, leaving nothing in their wake!
What was going on? Hadn’t they been told they could take their time negotiating?
But when the army marched through and entered the castle, the people there finally realized what their old king had done. Not only had he murdered Duke Sforza, but he had also openly blasphemed, and now he was imprisoned in the dungeon!
At the moment the new king’s head fell, he let out a long, frustrated sigh.
At this point, did it really matter whether that fool had blasphemed or not? It was all up to them to decide anyway.
