Finally, he saw him and approached, a little relieved, a little irritated, to wake him up. Then, in the light of the torch in his hand, he saw something that suddenly stopped: the prince’s face had lost his tragic mask and he was almost smiling in his sleep; although he was still very pale, his face was no longer shriveled like that of an old man, as serene as that of a child who is only a little too tired.
Luigi gently touched one of his hands, lying loose with his fingers slightly closed in the typical pose of a confident baby, barely open and showing the delicate palm marked by the deep wounds left by the nails that the boy's distraught mind had unconsciously tortured him with.
He knelt beside the child and called to him. He moved slightly but did not wake up.
The king retraced his s
