The blonde haired crown prince collapsed helplessly to the floor. He had accepted without question a sweet dessert that Ariadne had given him just before, and had taken a big bite. It was the result of believing in her. Ariadne nodded and handed over Crown Prince Alfonso to the waiting soldiers. The king of the kingdom was changed in such a disappointing way.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
Ariadne knew it wasn't right. But she had someone to protect. Ariadne walked home through her palace, and she entered the King’s bedchamber. Her blind love and adoration, her perfect fiance. Cesare de Como, king’s illegitimate son. The king’s son who did not become a prince. He exclaimed in an impatient voice.
“How did it go?!”
“We have completed Crown Prince Alfonso. I handed his body to Pisano’s soldier.”
Hearing those words, Cesare’s chiseled face disappeared and a bright smile spread. It was as if all the candles in the room were lit in an instant, and the light level in the world rose and the temperature warmed up. Okay. That's it. Cesare jumped down from her father’s throne and took Ariadne’s hand. Ariadne trembled as if his joy and affection were contagious at the transmission of body temperature.
“Good job. After you take his life, I will make you the noblest woman in the kingdom.”
“Cesare…”
“Dad will die tomorrow. It won't be strange when he dies.”
Now that the old king was bedridden and Crown Prince Alfonso had been deposed, there was no one who could stop Cesare de Como.
“This is where our time comes.”
She was not interested in the new era. Just if Cesare was happy, if she could be by his side like this, that was enough for her.
***
Cesare de Como, A Margrave of the Etruscan Kingdom and a cousin of Prince Alfonso, immediately raised the frontier troops and occupied the castle when King Leo III lay ill. The justification was that Prince Alfonso tried to poison Leo III. No one believed it, but no one complained in front of Cesare’s private soldiers who filled the castle. And like lightning, Prince Alfonso’s corpse was hung on the walls of San Carlos Castle, the capital city. It was announced by Cesare that he was caught at the border while trying to escape to the enemy country, Gallico Kingdom.
“Look! Prince Alfonso is a wicked traitor who tried to poison the King by conspiring with the enemy country and ascend to the throne! I, Cesare de Como, no, Cesare de Carlo, have ascended to the throne to protect the Etruscan Kingdom and protect the King, so you have to believe in me and follow me!”
***
Even after Cesare succeeded in a coup and became the regent of the Kingdom, he spent nine years consolidating his position. During that time, Cesare needed a woman to rule the palace by his side. Since Leo III’s queen died long ago, the highest-ranking woman in the Kingdom was Cesare’s fiancee, Ariadne. When she just entered the royal palace, Ariadne’s social world reputation was disastrous.
“I hear you're only twenty-two?”
“They said she grew up on a farm as a child. I heard she has no culture.”
“I saw her at a party and she couldn’t even match the right outfit. It’s because she grew up without knowing anything.”
Ariadne was a symbol of all injustice. She was the fiancee of the King’s illegitimate son who drove away the legitimate prince. Ariadne was the illegitimate child of a Cardinal who was a priest. She had not yet officially married Cesare, her regent, and she was not well educated. She did her best for Cesare, but she was treated poorly, saying that she was hanging herself by a man because she was a woman who had nothing to offer even for him. Naturally, her derision of her regent was also high. One day, at the height of her irreverence, an incident occurred at a regular tea party she hosted. An elderly Countess from the old capital was talking aloud about the secret of her fiance's birth. This was a story that all the court nobles in the capital knew, but it was not well known among the local nobles who settled on the border.
“ The truth is that Prince Cesare is not Prince Alfonso's cousin, but the illegitimate son of King Leo III?”
The central nobility did not like Ariadne and Cesare before then. However, talking about Cesare in a loud voice as if Ariadne was not present was going too far. Her hand holding the fan tightened, and strength went into it.
“Is it true?”
“I heard about it too.”
“He is the product of an unholy union that did not receive the blessing of the heavenly God…”
They had completely turned away from the high seat at the tea table, occupied by Ariadne. From Ariadne’s seat, only the back of the noble ladies could be seen. It was a formation of the Countesses for treating Ariadne as an invisible person. Their attitude was shouting. “Even if you don't like it, what will you, a half-noblewoman and a bastard of a Cardinal with unholy origin do?”
“Certainly not. If that’s true, how do we make such a person King?”
“But there is something believable… His mother…”
Ariadne bit her lip. Cesare was the object of her life and her worship. He was noble, strong, and endured a lot of pain. She could tolerate someone swearing at her, but she couldn't tolerate someone talking bad about Cesare.
“Wouldn't it be possible to determine whether or not you are descended from a royal family only when your birth record is clean? Prince Cesare is from a dirty background unfit to be a king.”
At the end of the story, Countess, who had started the story, concluded as if she were the Supreme Court Justice. Her stern comments echoed through Ariadne’s drawing room.
Snap!
Ariadne thought she heard her patience snapping. At that moment she jumped over her table like a beast and snatched the Countess by the hair.
“Take it back!”
Ariadne grabbed the Countess by the hair and shook it, growling like a beast.
“You talked without knowing anything! Without proof!”
There must have been a way to win by fighting the women-out ladies of the capital in their own way. But young Ariadne, in her early twenties, without proper education and growing up on a country farm mixed with maids, didn't know how to handle it. But she had to do something. It was unbearable for Cesare, her beloved Fiance, to be reduced to the jest of cush pompous scumbags.
“Take back that lighthearted joke about Cesare!”
“Ah!”
The Countess let out a terrifying scream with her tousled hair. Dessert trays and snacks flew in the sky. The noble ladies who were talking like flowers in a greenhouse were frozen like ice and just stared at the scene. Ariadne shook the Countess’s hair with her hands and screamed at her.
“It’s all about spitting out a pierced mouth? Correct it right away and apologize!”
“How uneducated! How uneducated!”
The pitchforks of both parties stabbed the ceiling, but otherwise an icy silence reigned in the drawing room. This situation was unprecedented. The noble ladies couldn't even dare to stop their loss incident in the middle of the royal court society. At that moment, the sound of men’s heavy military boots suddenly rang throughout the room.
Knock-knock!
The ceremonial guards entered the drawing room with restrained movements and stopped. Behind them, an exceptionally handsome man in a ceremonial uniform entered leisurely and stopped. Compared to his tall stature, he was slender, and his slow movement gave off a sense of color. He was such a handsome man that even when he was among 10.000 people, all eyes were on him.
“Cesare!”
A smile spread across Ariadne’s face. It seemed as if thousands of troops and horses had appeared.
‘You came to save me from this situation”.”
It was perfect timing. May the immaculate prince descend the sky shout at the enemy of his fraim woman, dedicate him. May she lay her mace of justice upon him and upon her wicked thong who defy her. She let go of the locks of the Countess’s hair, which she was holding tightly, and stood up like a squirrel and stood behind Cesare.
“They…!.”
“What is this now?”
Cesare swept back his auburn hair and turned to Ariadne. A very sweet and languid voice. But… His mouth was terribly cold, and there was no affection in his eyes. A little disgusted look.
“Ariadne, say it. What the hell is this fuss about?”
“That's it, they’re going to ridicule you…!”
“O my god. Countess Marquez!”
Cesare did not hide his surprise and held out his hand hastily and affectionately.
“Countess, take my hand and get up.”
It seemed that even the Countess herself, whose hair had been grabbed, did not know that the Prince Regent would take his side. The Countess did not miss her opportunity.
She looked Ariadne up and down and held out Cesare’s hand later.
“Unlike that woman, the courtesy of the Regent was learned in the royal family.”
The Countess rose from her seat and immediately shook Cesar’s hand and brushed off the part of her dress that Ariadne’s hand had touched. And she glared right at Ariadne and snorted at her loudly.
Other ladies gathered around the Countess and asked her how they were.
“Countess Marquez, are you okay?”
“Are you not hurt?”
“The regent fiancee really crossed the line!”
Ariadne wanted to immediately respond, ‘Who crossed the line!’, but Cesare’s annoyance, no, angry eyes, made her bite her tongue that was about to stick out. Sure enough, Cesare gritted his teeth and fired at Ariadne.
“What are you doing to the Countess?”
Cesare did his best to keep his voice low, but he couldn’t hide all the irritation that danced with his anger.
“Don't you know I need their support? Are you in your right mind to lay your hand on someone from the Marquez family?”
“Cesare..”
Ariadne’s thoughts did not come out of her mouth. She just lowered her head, intimidated by Cesare's anger. In fact, if she answered, she was sure to make a fuss. Ariadne never wanted others to see her fighting Cesare, or seeing Cesare treat her badly. But he crushed her hopes mercilessly.
“She is much more helpful to me than you.”
His low, grunted voice pierced the noise in the drawing room, These words were heard clearly by everyone in the drawing room.
Next - Chapter 2
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