Chapter 16 Misty Rose (Sixteen)
◎Dr. Polly◎
No matter how much Redrick gritted his teeth, Raphael's life continued to move forward as planned.
Julius came to eat with him at a fixed time every day. Of course, sometimes there would be other guests of high status dining together. This kind of dining was more like a social event, and filling his stomach was the last thing on his mind.
Raphael had long been accustomed to such an arrangement. Every day of his life was divided into parts of varying sizes, precisely allocated to various activities, from regular church prayers and blessings, to the Pope's sermons, to receiving visiting guests, to social dining, to handling paperwork, to adjusting the next day's schedule...
Before going to bed, Julius came over with the next day's schedule. He stood in front of Raphael and read him the specific itinerary. Raphael paid some attention to listen and frowned when he heard a certain item: "...Great Prayer? It seems that there are too many prayers scheduled recently."
Julius nodded. "You have just taken over. You need to show your good image in front of the people and make them like you more. You are good at this."
This unnecessary remark made Raphael look at him quickly, and his eyes clearly revealed a different meaning.
He never thought that Julius would give him such an evaluation, "good at making others like him more"? Raphael almost laughed out loud. He had grown up so much, from his previous life to now, but he had never expected that he would receive such an evaluation.
Even when he was trying his best to disguise himself, even when he was about to put the mask on his face, he didn't think he was that likable.
He was born in a humble family, was physically disabled, and had a cold heart. He relied entirely on his relatively handsome appearance to move among the crowd, using the language skills he had learned to get along with everyone, and imitating Julius' smile and manners. After pretending for a long time, he seemed to think that he was really the same as everyone else.
But he knew very well in his heart that fake is fake, and fake sweet words and artificially disguised nobility will never be the same as the real ones. That's why, although he was surrounded by so many beautiful people, in the end he couldn't even count one true friend.
This was nothing. Raphael knew exactly what his true nature was, and he had no reason to complain. However, when he heard Julius's comments, he still felt a sense of absurdity from the bottom of his heart.
This feeling was so outrageous that Raphael didn’t know what to say for a moment. He stared at Julius for two seconds, and suddenly felt a pain in his leg. He hissed, bent over and complained: “…It hurts.”
Unlike the coldness he showed when talking to Julius just now, his words were almost like a child’s coquettishness.
The young Pope was sitting on a long soft chair. This kind of reclining chair has been popular since the ancient Roman era. It is matched with a short-legged dining table with exquisite carvings, which is just suitable for nobles to lie on the chair and take food. The dining table is filled with various fresh fruits, such as olives, apricots, grapes, apples, oranges and tangerines. Now there are flower houses and fruit greenhouses, so there are a few pieces of watermelon on the porcelain plate on the table.
Raphael sat on a recliner, showing no interest in the dazzling array of expensive fruits. His clothes were pulled up to his legs, revealing his thin and pale calves. An old man with messy gray hair and beard sat cross-legged on a thick Assyrian carpet, pressing the Pope's legs with a certain rhythm.
That's why Raphael cried out in pain just now.
"Please believe me, Your Holiness, this is necessary," the old man with a big white beard said with a stern face. He did not show any fear or trepidation even in front of the Pope. Instead, he spoke in a tone that sounded like he was scolding a disobedient child. "If you follow the doctor's advice, take medicine and massage regularly, or get enough rest, this won't happen. But I had expected this. After all, young people will never take my words seriously."
Raphael showed a helpless smile: "Polly..."
"Please call me Dr. Polly, Your Holiness." The stubborn old doctor was not going to accept the surrender of his disobedient patient.
Raphael subconsciously looked for help at the only outsider present. Before he realized that his intimate behavior was inappropriate, Julius gave him a helpless expression.
Boti
The best doctor in the Ya family is Polly. This old man, who is already in his fifties, comes from a medical family and is very adventurous and innovative. When he was young, he dreamed of becoming a pirate, so he excitedly boarded a ship to the East with his package and went to a foreign country. There was no news of him for ten years, and everyone thought he had died at sea or in a foreign country. Unexpectedly, he came back alive - and brought back medical skills from the mysterious East.
Raphael was unable to move for a whole month after undergoing bone-breaking surgery. He fell into a coma and woke up in severe pain every day. The doctors were helpless about the condition of the Pope's son. Finally, the experienced Polly stepped forward. He performed surgery on Raphael again and took on the subsequent maintenance work, using Eastern massage and rehabilitation techniques to carefully protect Raphael's right leg.
It can be said that Raphael is still able to walk today, and most of the credit should be given to him.
For a long time, Raphael and Polly were almost bound together. Raphael had no resistance to this old man who simply cared about him. The fearless wolf cub would only cry because of pain in front of Polly.
Polly's face was still filled with rage. While he was expressing his anger with a stern face, he carefully searched for the acupuncture points on Raphael's legs and pressed them with moderate force.
Even though he tried to use as little force as possible, he could still see unbearable pain on Raphael's face.
"How did it get to this point?" Polly couldn't help but started to nag. "You went to the countryside and didn't bring a servant who knows medicine? I asked you to take me with you as an apprentice... Humph, I know, they didn't let you take me... Let me tell you, so what if you were exiled? Can't you have servants when you're exiled? They all go in and out with dozens of attendants and servants. I dare say they wouldn't even pull up their pants after going to the toilet without servants, damn fat pigs."
The old man, who had been a pirate in his early years, spoke in a rather rough manner. Raphael smiled, but the next second his face was distorted by the pain in his leg.
In order to divert his attention, Julius continued to read out tomorrow's schedule. Raphael gradually ignored the feeling in his legs and began to think with a frown.
Polly wanted to say something, for example, Raphael needed to rest now, he should have enough sleep. Since the last time he saw this child - of course, of course he was a child. In his eyes, Raphael, who was almost grown up by him, was still a child no matter how old he was - Raphael had grown a lot taller, but he was still too thin to have a piece of flesh on his body, which was not healthy at all. Even if it was the slenderness of a teenager who pursued beauty, this degree was too much. He knew that Raphael was not a person who cared much about his appearance, so he could only say that Raphael had not gotten enough nutrition and sleep for a long time, especially as he had illness and hidden injuries.
Polly lowered his eyelids and sighed in his heart.
The technology for reconnecting broken bones was not mature a few years ago, and Raphael was injured at an early age. If the bones he suffered in his childhood were not straightened as soon as possible, the consequences would be very serious, so they gritted their teeth and performed the operation - breaking the deformed bones, filing and grinding off the excess bone spurs growing on the bones, and using nails to force the bones into place and put them back into the flesh.
The whole process is thrilling just to listen to, not to mention that the person undergoing the operation was a thin teenager. The anesthetic was not very effective. When the flesh was cut open with blood and the bones were forcibly broken and then corrected and put back, the hoarse and miserable cries of the teenager made everyone tremble in their hearts.
The young man who was tied tightly to the bed could not struggle. His whole body was wet as if he had been fished out of the water. The screams in his throat went from shrill at the beginning to silent later. When the operation was over, Polly took out the cloth that was used to block his mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue, and found that his mouth was full of blood from biting his tongue.
After seeing Raphael's miserable state, Polly couldn't help but show him more care and love.
So even though he was too old to see a doctor, after receiving the letter from the head of the Portia family, he still ordered his apprentices to harness their carriages and rush back to Florence.
He was not here to witness the young Pope's glory and pride today. He was only here to take care of this sick child who didn't know how to take care of himself.
"The letters to the twelve lords have been sent out in batches. They should set off soon. Redrick is preparing for the celebration. He is doing a good job now. You can ask him to report the progress regularly." Julius rolled up the parchment in his hand and reminded.
Raphael showed a look of resistance, and Polly, who lowered his head, rolled his eyes under his gray hair.
That rude noble boy, huh.
"Just let him do it himself. If he doesn't do a good job, there will be people laughing at him behind his back. It has nothing to do with me." Raphael said maliciously.
Polly pressed his leg hard, and when Raphael looked at him with wide eyes, he looked back with more confidence.
Raphael silently shifted his gaze: "...With his personality, he absolutely cannot stand others looking down on him. Without me doing anything, he would want to spend all his family's wealth to get things done."
Polly nodded with satisfaction. That's right. Even when facing an impolite noble boy, one should not forget one's manners. Should one bite a dog just because it bit him?
Raphael's evaluation of Redrick was blunt and to the point. Julius was also well aware of his nephew's youthful and hot-tempered character. He was really a useful gun and was eager to be used.
But being used by Raphael...it's okay, we are all family, and it will be good for him, right?
Julius, a cruel man, ignored the contempt in Raphael's tone towards his half-brother, and bent down to help Polly pick up the cotton cloth on the table and hand it to him.
He was quite skilled in this set of movements, and he had helped Polly take care of Raphael before. After Raphael was exiled, the elderly Polly could not climb over the wall to take Raphael to see a doctor, so Julius almost took care of Raphael's treatment alone.
But the head of the Portia family was no match for the most professional doctors. Even though he had tried his best to learn 80% to 90% of the knowledge, Raphael's health continued to deteriorate due to the poor living conditions in the Rock Castle.
"Go to bed on time, eat on time, and eat vegetables, beef, and fruits." Polly took the cotton cloth and wiped the sticky ointment on Raphael's legs. He watched Raphael tear off his clothes, his old eyes staring sharply at the young Pope. "If you don't obey, I will sleep under your bed and stare at you - believe me, I can do it."
The man who had once sneaked out of his home and boarded a pirate ship right under the noses of pirates said proudly.
Raphael looked at him helplessly, his lavender eyes blinking gently, again and again, his expression like an innocent and pitiful kitten, just waiting for the human to give in and surrender like he had done thousands of times before.
Who can withstand the attack of such beauty?
Julius turned his face away without leaving any trace, and heard Polly's cold voice: "Starting from tomorrow."
——This man actually resisted!
Raphael's eyes changed, full of disbelief and incomprehension.
Ah, to use an analogy, an invincible cat actually encounters a human who is indifferent to its acting cute. This can easily cause the kitten's worldview to collapse, and give rise to the illusion that "there is something wrong with this person".
Anyway, everyone can have problems, but cats can never have problems.
Seeing that the method that had always worked before had lost its effect, the young Pope sighed helplessly, nodded and succumbed to the doctor's intimidation: "Okay, I'll remember it."
Polly packed up his medicine box and went out with it. After taking two steps, he stood there as if struck by lightning. He took a few long, deep breaths and said to himself, "This is terrible. I almost got fooled. It was so close..."
The old man, full of relief, walked away along the corridor, his staggering figure slowly blending into the dim light.
The two people in the room fell into a period of silence, and finally Raphael took a step back and extended his right hand to Julius.
Perhaps it was because Polly's arrival just now reminded him of the life when Julius took care of him, and he rarely wanted to think about those complicated things.
Julius took his hand and placed it on his shoulder, then helped the young pope walk towards the bed, one foot deep and one foot shallow.
Raphael's long, satin-like golden hair fell behind her, and the strands of hair brushed Julius' neck, feeling cool and numb, causing the patriarch of Portia to be a little distracted.
Raphael couldn't move during the period after his surgery and had to rely on servants everywhere. Julius hugged him a few times. The boy at that time was thin and slender, with soft golden hair, and Julius could feel his bony bones in his arms. However, after Raphael recovered, they rarely had such intimacy.
While thinking about this, Raphael had already walked to the bed and moved himself onto it.
Julius looked around and saw that there was indeed nothing else he needed to do, so he said goodbye quietly.
"Good night, I wish you a wonderful dream."
Raphael looked at him. Julius's meticulous iron-gray hair was a little messy due to his touch just now, and there were some wrinkles on the collar. Looking at the patriarch of the Portia family who was rarely so aristocratic, Raphael finally showed a subtle but genuine smile.
"Good night, Julius."
The Pope's voice is very peaceful and gentle, and when he speaks without any negative emotion, it sounds like an angel whispering.
Julius left the Pope's bedroom, closed the door with his own hands, and casually instructed the guards on both sides: "Be alert at night. If there is anything wrong with His Majesty, report to me immediately."
The guard nodded, and Julius stood facing the closed door for a while. After a while, he suddenly felt that his behavior was stupid and inexplicable, so he quickly left.
The author has something to say:
The content of the first volume mainly unfolds in Florence, narrating Raphael's past, and the sea of stars is in the following volumes!
Still want to comment or comment... [Pigeon rolling] [Pigeon sit-ups] [Pigeon screaming] [Pigeon flapping]
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