He woke up, rubbing his own eyes, knowing what today would mean. They woke up early, so that they could visit the tenants today. He rolled out of bed even if he wasn’t used to it. Last night had been a late night, after all. 

“It’s great that you’re awake.” 

He had asked him to wake him up, regardless. So that he could go. 

Once he put his feet on the ground, he got up. There were so many things to do today, traveling was often hard. 

Gennaro went to fetch his clothes, dressing him once again. Breakfast was already there. He would need to eat and then talk. 

His valet was going to follow him, mostly outside, as he was comfortable, eager. 

“Would you like it more?” He asked. 

“It’ll feel more like my home, if I’m honest.” His family had been from the mountains, and as a third son, they had little resources. So, he started work here, as a boy, and worked up now to be Lorenzo’s valet. 

He was a couple of years older than him, and although he carried them out faithfully, Lorenzo knew this was a man forced into it by life. Just like he was, and they both had embraced it. 

But he never did. Perhaps all his travels were a part of his childhood, after all. But one question remained. 

“Did you choose this life?” He asked. 

One that he never did, for it was never his worry. It satisfied him with the path laid out for him to become a scholar until someone painfully ripped away it. Now it was beyond his reach. And he understands it may be the same for him too. 

To have to do something they didn’t want to do, just to survive. Lorenzo could tell, having known him for so long. 

He hesitated, but he answers. “Yes.” 

“How did you feel about it?” He asked. “Whatever you tell me would be in confidence. I will tell no one else. I guess I realized I was never alone when I was forced.” 

And he kept on not wishing to face the truth when he was. He kept on delaying, perhaps buying a bit more time. But if he wanted to change anything, he would need to do it now. 

“Who does?” Gennaro lets out a laugh, before agreeing. “But I have a roof over my head and three meals a day. There’s not much for me to think about. Though I find it strange that you never asked me that.” 

He was right. Lorenzo never cared much as long as the books. But he remembered his mother’s words. If he doesn’t learn to listen, he’ll change nothing but himself. “I know. But I guess I feel it, but for you, it’s dire.” 

“My siblings, they rely so much on the money I send home everyday though it’ll be fine, but the extra wages help,” Gennaro said, telling him. “I think you should start eating, Padroncino. “

He had not touched bread. 

“I’m not sure whether there’s enough time for a midday meal.”

“It explains why this is so hearty,” he said, taking up a knife and biting into it. But of course, he was interested because he knew it now that they had things they could not escape. 

He was fortunate. 

“Do you feel envious at how I can devote myself to anything I wish?” He asked. 

“It’s hard to say, but we carry the burden of our families on our shoulders,” he said. “I have to feed and cloth them, but you will have to shoulder everything. To do it all correctly so that they can continue to live those lives.” 

To preserve it, but there is a cost. They have no freedom in who they marry; they are not free to act. There is always a price. 

“Do you wish you were me?” 

“Of course, it’s hard not to. But I know it’s unlikely to happen.” 

“What did you dream of when you were young?” He asked. “Just for jokes, and maybe if you have the time, I’ll help you.” 

He has the opportunity. It feels right that he tries to help others, too. That perhaps he can understand how to fulfill the desires of others, so that he could one day change reality. 

“I would want to write better than I do, which is just my name.” He admits putting a hand. “That’s a selfish wish of mine. Maybe I could write a book. I learned how to do it, since my parents had some means. But it stopped.” 

And Lorenzo picked him out for that reason. He read rather well. 

Perhaps he could do something for the boy. 

Lorenzo smiled. “Is that why you keep asking me what they mean?” 

“Yes, I’m glad my faith in you was not misplaced.” He smiled at him.

“I always liked you asking me questions. It felt good.” He did that too. It was something he did, he liked to see. 

He was glad of them. 

“Have you ever served in other households?” 

“None, but the master never asked me what I thought.” It was a truth. “It’s unusual, because it’s not important to know my dreams at all.” 

And there is a sense of personal betrayal if people learned they had other wishes.” Other than serving them, but even Lorenzo thought it’s nonsensical. 

There was no way that they had nothing. And perhaps it’s only the injustice of life that brings them here. That makes them unable to chase it, and in a better world, they all would. 

“But thank you,” he said, before passing him. 

He could only make it a little easier but not totally lessen or change it. 

It pained him, as he walked out, before finding his father ready. He was standing there, ready for it to leave. 

It was traveling, for being in Paris exposed him to the elements that most would wrangle with in their life. But here, he’ll listen to those who truly knew him. 

“Are you ready?” He asked. 

“Yes,” he said. “I know what I’ll say or not much at all,” 

“I ask about their lives and maybe their hopes as it is my duty to do so.” Cosimo kept his own silence. “And because they are living under my care, and sometimes they share interesting things.”

He was a guardian of their livelihoods. That was how he saw himself. 

“Even the farmers?” 

“They know a lot, as they are. A different world they inhabit from us,” he said. “I find it difficult to relate to them, but I know it is because of our lives.” 

But if he wanted change, he would need to step into their world, their shoes, and understand their struggles. 

“I always listened to their ways, because I do not know better.” Cosimo closed them. 

“I do not intend to just keep things as they are. But I need to listen to them to know why.” 

That was the most important question. People rarely did things for the sake of it. There was always a reason behind it.  

The rest of the carriage ride shown him observing the countryside, the houses, farms all around. Livestock being raised, and small brick houses at the corners. They were smaller than most villas, and often just more run down. 

He kept his silence until they stopped, and he got down from the carriage. It was close to the church, where they often gave out alms, whether it was food, clothes or money to any. He stared all over the fields as he stood in his finery, making sure to not step on any of the seeds. 

For planting season was just beginning. Stressa was not the coast that most thought it was, it was in fact more inland, closer to the city, 

He used to ride through them, feeling it, while chasing somewhere else. But now, he no longer found it fun any longer. He stood with his hands in his pockets as his father went. 

However, it felt personal. He didn’t wish to intrude. 

He could see a cow going around, as a girl went to grab him before taking him back. “Is there any reason you’re here?” 

“I’m here because my father is.” 

“You must be the lord’s son,” he said. 

His father visited them, cared for them if they were ill. And he liked to do so personally. She knew. 

“I’ll come back and see you once I’m done milking.” She went back, her hair a little disheveled.

And then he waited a good while. Perhaps he could enter, but somehow he stopped himself.

Once she came right back, having put her back. 

“I’ll take you to see my father.” She led him down the pavement steps, past the farm that they hard.  

It was humble, compared to the simple luxury of his home or the grandiosity of Paris. A table, a few chairs. 

“It’s just Papa and I.” She asked him to take a seat. “Why didn’t you choose to follow him?” 

Before joining them, their mother, of course, quickly turned and served them something. As she quickly went to work. 

“That girl is sometimes too friendly.” 

“She was quite nice,” he said. 

Cosimo gave an eyebrow but knew he was shy. “So, how’s the farm going along?” 

“Thank you, again, for lifting the rent on me last year. During winter, I wasn’t sure what we would have done to survive if it wasn’t for it.” The man held his hand. 

“I could do it, or rather, there was enough that year that I could offer relief, so thank the other farmers, too.” His father had postponed the rent for him/. 

“It saved the family. We worried we were thrown off the land otherwise.” 

And that was a worry. They would starve or find a worse deal than they had. 

Lorenzo looked, realizing something. They were by far the most tied to fortune. If there was one wrong harvest, everything would go wrong, and they could starve. One wrong move, and it was destitution. Lorenzo knew it was the same for someone of his rank and status, just a little harder.

“I’m here to just learn.” He admitted. “How to become a lord?” 

“It’s time for him to know what you do, isn’t it?” The man pointed out. 

Cosimo gave a smile and nods. “I’m teaching him all that I know. I’m getting old and it’s good to have someone to continue it and handle the matters.” 

Because one day, his father would not be here anymore. 

“Indeed, it’s difficult, like pulling teeth sometimes. But it’s worth it in the end.” 

For he knew it better, for he had no other person to delegate it to. No tutors, or schools or teachers. 

“You’re quite right.” Cosimo told him with a smile.