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"Seeing the hair means seeing the man."
——
They naturally had no intention of letting these two misfortunate lords go.
As long as they were imprisoned here, all the choices were firmly in the hands of the Italian Empire.
When both Sforza and Ferdinand I were locked away, the guards immediately removed all the rings and jewelry from their hands and bodies, handing them over to Mr. Da Vinci to have replicas made.
Sending the hair and rings back was already enough of a subtle threat and a clear message: Your leaders are in my custody, and you would do well to follow my orders.
Though the two lords screamed that they would rather die than sign anything, the jailers continued to feed them for three days with coarse barley and cold water. By the end, Ferdinand I was sobbing while eating, tears and snot streaming down his face.
Meanwhile, Sforza, hearing the agonized cries from next door, cursed inwardly. The horses he kept ate only the finest oats; he had never even touched such wretched food.
Then, Niccolò appeared before them, holding a platter with seared goose legs and smoked veal, accompanied by a glass of wine. He began to demonstrate how to eat oysters and drink wine, smacking his lips with exaggerated enjoyment. It was a psychological attack.
"I'll sign—I’ll sign!" Ferdinand I roared, desperate. "Give me the meat!"
Niccolò glanced at the dark-faced Sforza and handed the paper to Ferdinand.
As Niccolò read a line, Ferdinand hastily scribbled it down, not daring to make a single mistake.
When the letter was finished, Ferdinand's eyes locked onto the bowl of meat, his gaze burning with hunger. "Give it to me—give it to me!" he demanded.
It was clear that the pampered young lord was not cut out to be an emperor.
Niccolò, resting his chin on his hand, watched him. "Now, place your seal."
Ferdinand, fully broken, bit into his thumb and pressed it onto the document, still glaring at the bowl of meat as if it were the only thing in the world that mattered.
Niccolò took the letter, held it up to the torchlight, and inspected it thoroughly, nodding approvingly. "At least your handwriting is still decent."
After that, Ferdinand's meals consisted of a meat dish every other day, sometimes even an entire roasted goose.
He had completely given up on struggling or resisting, living like an animal.
Even when Sforza lay quietly asleep, he could hear the sounds of Ferdinand tearing into the goose meat, eating greedily.
His willpower was faltering.
"Your Majesty," Nino entered, holding another letter. "Mr. Sforza has also placed his seal."
"Very well," Hedy smiled. "Then let's send these two letters back."
Now, it was just a matter of waiting for the two countries to respond.
"What do you plan to do with this situation?" Leonardo asked casually as he peeled an orange, handing her a slice. "Try to convince them to surrender?"
Hedy gestured for Nino to leave and gently rubbed her stomach before speaking with an air of grace. "In my country, there was a scientist named Erwin Schrödinger."
Leonardo raised an eyebrow and fed her another slice of orange. "Go on?"
"He once conducted a fascinating experiment," Hedy continued. "He placed a cat and a small amount of radioactive material in the same box. The radioactive material had a 50% chance of decaying and releasing toxic gas, and if this happened, the cat would die."
"The problem is," she went on, "before the box is opened, is the cat alive, or is it already dead?"
"Both alive and dead," Leonardo responded instinctively. "It's a superposition of both states."
