I am sitting inside my study when I hear a knock on the door. The door opens and I continue working on my work. These months may be slow but I cannot be lulled into a false sense.

“Brother Michael!” I look up to see Leonardo and his mother. Leonardo rushes right to my side and begins telling me of all the places inside the capital that he has visited. “... and the library was huge! There were more books than I have ever seen and father has a ton of them!”

I do not doubt what he has said. Giovanni did have a lot of books.

“Was that your favorite place?” I ask Leonardo. He just nods his head and begins to explain why it was his favorite. His mother just smiles as she waits for him to finish. I feel the urge to have purged the thought of Leonardo being shy from my head. He is most certainly not shy.

“I see that you came to visit me, have you seen Isabella yet?”

“Oh, Leonardo wanted to see you first and thus we came here first. We will visit Isabella later today. I have heard the good news, congratulations your majesty.” Rosa smiles at me. I am surprised that he wanted to see me first over his sister.

I get up and walk with Leonardo. He tells me of all the things he is learning in his class. Math, history, geography, language and the rather useless philosophy of religion. He didn’t use the words useless but I thought it better to add them in.

“You are a bright child.” I say petting him on the head. He just beams up at me and continues talking. I probably didn’t know half the things he knows about when I was his age. “You go ahead and tell your sister that you are here.”

“Of course!” He rushes forward and heads towards the tea room.

“You are so good with children.”

“Is that so?” I ask Rosa. I do not think that I am good with children, I am merely doing what anybody else would do. I understand what it is like to want acceptance from those you admire.

“Yes, he adores you. He keeps talking about you to both me and Giovanni.” I wish I could see that. I can imagine the face Giovanni makes while he has to listen to his son praise me. “He told me that he wants to learn swordsmanship to be just like you.”

“He should focus more on his studies.” He can begin to practice the sword later. So long as he doesn’t plan to go to the battlefield, he doesn’t need to cultivate the skill early on in his life. He can focus on improving other areas over something he isn’t likely to use. “One needs a sharp mind before they can wield a sharp sword.”

“Giovanni said something similar.” Rosa laughs and I choose to let the comment slide. No reason to get into a fight every second of my life. I sound nothing like him. “Are you excited for your first child?”

I don’t say anything. I am both excited and concerned.

“Naturally I am happy to have a child with my wife.” This isn’t a lie. While I do not want a child it is required of me and it makes Isabella happy. It would be selfish of me to refuse. Selfish to the people who depend on me. Selfish to Isabella who would suffer because of it.

“I think you will be an amazing father.” I glance over at Rosa before hearing footsteps coming towards our direction. Leonardo is rushing over to me with Isabella following him. “Isabella, how have you been?”

“I am doing well.” She says giving her mother a hug. “How about you?”

“I have been well. The news of your pregnancy has me overwhelmed. I decided to stay here instead of returning so that I can be here when the child is born.” The two begin to talk and I silently follow along. I look to my right to see Leonardo being silent as well.

I can tell that he is trying to imitate me because he is constantly looking over at me and mimicking my walk. I don’t want to tell him that a small child like him trying to look imposing does not work. It merely looks silly.

“Would you like me to teach you swordsmanship?”

“Yes!” I don’t know what possessed me but a few simple basics couldn’t hurt him. So long as he understands that he has to do well in his studies as well. I cannot have him slacking off. “Would you really be willing to teach me?”

“I would, so long as you do well in your studies and your parents approve of the matter.” I will have to be honest. I seriously doubt that Giovanni will agree to it but I will admit one must leave their mind open to all possibilities or else they shut the door on possible solutions.

I sigh. Today has been long and annoying but I have finally standardized our laws. No longer will it be up to the lords on how to punish somebody. Instead each crime has a corresponding punishment and only in circumstances of extreme necessity will their judgments need to be used.

I still have more to do but this is a good start. Things are going my way.