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The sound of singing and the strumming of lutes intertwined, and she could even smell the aroma of roasted pigeons.
Putting aside the earlier incident, this was, after all, a beautiful evening.
She looked back at Da Vinci, then lowered her head to adjust her dress.
Maybe... she should join him for a dance?
"Leonardo—"
"I've recently discovered a new place," Da Vinci said mysteriously, speaking at the same time. "The monastery’s painting project is almost finished. It should be done by next month."
Hedy snapped back to reality, suddenly feeling a bad premonition. "What... place?"
"A charnel house!" His eyes lit up. "Most of the bodies are decayed and old, and it's in a particularly remote location, so no one goes there usually—I plan to stay for two months to sort out my dissections!"
"I’m not going." Hedy said firmly. "And I will absolutely not cover for you."
The idea made her skin crawl, and it sounded downright twisted.
"Really not going?" Da Vinci’s face showed disappointment. "I’m not going to desecrate them, I’ll put them back after the dissection."
Hedy shook her head resolutely. "You can find someone else to bring food and wine. I absolutely—absolutely will not be involved."
If such a thing were ever recorded in history, it would sound so absurd it might be dismissed as a made-up story.
A painter of such status and wealth, turning down lucrative commissions to instead roam around dissecting corpses—unable to settle until everything was completely understood—was just so Leonardo.
Da Vinci checked with her again, then sighed deeply.
"You’ll still go, won’t you?" she said, looking at him. "Even if no one brings you water, you’ll stay there, studying all day, maybe even sleeping there."
"...Is that a problem?"
"Won’t you be afraid?"
She wasn’t a theist, but she instinctively recoiled from things like this.
"Afraid?" His eyes held a hint of confusion. "When I’m dead, what’s the difference between me and them?"
Hedy reached out and patted his shoulder, then turned to walk away.
While the revelry was still going on, she needed another drink to clear her mind.
This was all just too crazy.
The weather gradually became hot again.
In August, Da Vinci completed his oil painting, which received unanimous praise from the monastery and many others.
His composition and handling of light had reached an even higher level than before, and his ability to capture the dynamics and expressions of his subjects had reached new heights. The quality and speed of his paintings were truly unbelievable.
—The apprentice from Verrocchio, who used to procrastinate, was no longer late with his work!
After all the formalities were sorted out, he really did disappear from Florence, just as he had said.
He even left a note for Hedy, explaining where he had gone.
Hedy, holding the note, could easily imagine how he was eagerly studying various bones amidst the piles of corpses.
