Chapter 12: Allegiance
Julius thought back to the first time they met, when the boy was barely up to his waist. Now, looking at the young man who stood beside him, even he, who was never one to dwell on the past, couldn’t help but feel a bit of regret over the passing of time.
The child in his memory, who was naturally cold and cunning after being hardened by life, had gradually transformed into this gentle, ethereal man. Since Rafael had returned from exile to Florence, all those sharp edges, that cynicism and ruthlessness, seemed to have been completely stripped away. He adopted the polished manners, the gentle elegance, the aristocratic air and dignified smile that the nobles of Florence liked, becoming as much a living painting in the gallery as any of the portraits on its walls.
These were all the results of Julius’s teachings. The older mentor had taught his student everything, from how to treat others, how to smile, how to become “one of our own” with the nobles, and how to become a thorough “blue-blood” from the inside out. But sometimes, looking at the golden-haired young man bathed in light, he would feel dazed – was this person really his Rafael?
He had a perfect student, a perfect representative for the Portia family, yet he wasn’t as happy as he thought he would be.
It was odd.
Not until their meeting after the coronation did he realize what had changed. Not until he descended the long staircase of the Palazzo Riccardi and walked towards the young Pope, who stood in the magnificent hall and looked back at him, calm, proud, and unmoved, waiting for him to approach – just like a monarch awaiting his subject.
In that instant of their gaze meeting, he realized that something had changed.
Uncontrollable, unpredictable changes.
That sharp, cold Rafael, the beggar and thief who had clawed his way out of the slums, the natural-born hunter who had dared to take a knife and murder the head of the Portia family at the age of twelve, the untamed wild wolf – he had returned with a rage of the flames whose source could not be traced.