Stomp!
Ariadne stamped her foot. The arrogant maid flinched at Ariadne’s spirit.
“Didn’t I ask where you belong?”
The low voice and dignity of a 15 year old girl made the maid lose her temper and look at Ariadne.
“Oh. no, not that. I don't think the Young Lady needs to know about my lowly affiliation…”
“Where do you belong?”
The maid then recited in a crawling voice.
“I'm the second-floor maid in charge of Lady Isabella…”
Ariadne looked the maid up and down. It was a maid who looked a year or two older than Ariadne now, short and plump with her fiery red hair.
“Name.”
“Miss…”
The red-haired maid cried. However, with Ariadne’s fierce gaze, she bowed her head and gave her name.
“My name is Maletta…”
“I will watch you.”
Ariadne added another word to the red-haired maid, who bowed her head.
“Keep your attitude straight.”
Upon hearing this, Maletta bowed her head and hurriedly bowed her head and ran out of teh room.
***
Ariadne changed her rags into her simple indoor dress and followed her maid to the quarters of Cardinal de Mare. The place Ariadne was summoned was not in Cardinal de Mare’s study, but in his exclusive drawing room. He did not let anyone into the study, but his family was occasionally allowed into the daring room.
“Cardinal, My Eminence. I have brought Ariadne.”
The maid knocked on the door with servile politeness and informed the Cardinal of Araidne’s arrival. I remembered standing here in my last life and seeing that baby angel painted in golden paint and being terrified. Back then, just looking at it made her shudder. but Ariadne in this life didn’t blink an eye. After nine years of living as a socialite, she had grown weary of luxuries. Ariadne proudly entered the door opened by the servant. Observing perfect court etiquette, she slipped in and bowed her head.
“I’m beyond happy to see the Cardinal Eminence after a long time.”
Cardinal de Mare looked at Ariadne with a raised left eyebrow in surprise,
He was a small, middle-aged man in his 50s. He looked a bit like a mouse. His features, such as his dense features, thin frames, and narrow shoulders, were very similar to Isabella’s, but the man in his 50s with feminine features was less attractive than handsome. Instead, the dark green eyes shining brightly represented that he was a formidable person.
“You worked hard to come a long way. Growing up in the Bergamo estate, you probably didn’t have a chance to study much, but this father is happy that you grew up well.”
‘I can’t help but feel grateful for pretending to care even if it’s just a word.’
“I will study harder and master it so that my family’s name shines and I will not be ashamed to see my parents and siblings….”
“Then, you shouldn’t be ashamed.”
A Lady in her forties interrupted Ariadne. She was Lucrezia.
“A woman’s virtue does not lie in learning and mastering, but in supporting, serving, and taking care of her parents and siblings when she is young and her husband when she is old.”
Uncharacteristic of Isabella’s mother, she had high cheekbones and a long face. But her flaxen hair and her amethyst eyes were just like her own daughter. Her impression was a bit nervous. She glared at Ariadne with her raised eyes and gave her warning admonition.
“Don’t be mean and behave like a girl.”
She was wearing a Porto Republic style dress. It was a bold style that left most of her breasts outside her clothes and covered them only with only a thin layer of lace. Her soft, fair skin was very sensual for her age, but she did not appear to be a model hostess, let alone a good mistress.
‘There was a time when I thought being like that woman was the right model for nobles/.’
After accumulating all sorts of social world experiences, she returned 10 years later and met again… To call her an aristocrat, she was embarrassingly shallow.
‘ What on earth should I call the mental state of wearing a dress like that and admonishing others to act obscenely?’
Ariadne smiled as childishly as possible so that the thought running through her head would not be visible.
“Yes, Madam. I will do my best to become a good child by following the Word.”
Cardinal de Mare raised an eyebrow.
“Lady?”
However, those raised eyes were directed at Lucrezia, not Ariadne.It was polite for the bastard of the Etruscan Kingdom to pretend that their mistress was their real mother, unless they set up a separate family register. It was a virtue of a benevolent lady not to discriminate against the offspring of one’s offspring. However, a bastard child could not call her enemy mother by ‘mother’ without permission first. Lucrezia was greeted by Araidne with her smile, barely lifting the corners of her mouth to please her husband.
“You want to call me mother, not mistress. We will do well.”
There was a hint of dislike that Lucrezia couldn't hide, but she didn’t care about her new child and her old husband.
“Thank you, mother.”
“It looks good.”
Ariadne laughed like a picture, and Cardinal de Mare praised them both with a smile on his face. Lucrezia had no choice but to smile and nod to Ariadne. Then, a high, clear voice like an oriole flew in.
“Welcome back to the family. If there is anything you do not know, ask me anytime.”
The most beautiful, small and pretty fairy of San Carlo. It was Isabella. She looked fifteen years younger than the age Ariadne last saw her, in her early thirties. Unlike the past, which was as splendidly beautiful as a rose in full bloom, Isabella, a small girl, really looked like a fairy who came out of an old story. Unlike her mother, who wouldn't hide her displeasure, Isabella smiled sweetly with an expression of utmost friendliness.
“We are sisters. I will help you.”
Ariadne involuntarily took a deep breath. It was an overwhelming beauty.
‘I can't be fooled by that smiling face.’
The beautiful Isabella, who seduces her scapegoat with her sweet smile and stabs her in the back. Ariadne’s hand trembled involuntarily. Ariadne ticked her hands under her opposite side to hide them, so that her hands wouldn't tremble. And Ariadne nodded with the kindest and most benevolent expression she could.
“Thank you.”
Ariadne wanted to get along with that sweetly smiling perfect sister, so she had lived her whole life servilely. She knew she would be as warm and nice as her smile. But the day Isabella stabbed her in the back, Isabella was smiling like that. Ariadne’s fluctuating emotions were suppressed as much as possible, and Isabella responded with a polite smile. She took a step forward. And forcibly pulled out her hands, which Ariadne had concealed in her side, and held them against her own.
“There were so many things I wanted to do when I had younger siblings my age. We had a tea party together, and we went out to shop in the city… Do you like clothes or jewelry?”
“Oh, no. It’s all too much for me.”
When Isabella touched Ariadne’s body, Ariadne stiffened like a mouse in front of a cat. It was as if the memory of being submissive since childhood dominated her limbs. Ariadne gnashed her teeth, praying not to be seen outside.
“Call me sister.”
“You sound like a sister!”
Just then, a sharp voice stabbed in from the corner.
“Why is she our sister? I can’t admit it.”
“Arabella!”
Lucrezua nervously covered the voice’s owner’s mouth. She was a girl of about ten years old, with light hair. The girl, unlike her older sister, resembled her father and had dark green eyes like Ariadne’s, but her unsaturated hair and dark eyes were out of harmony, so she did not look as good as her real sister. She still had less of her breast, and her cheeks were plump. She was Arabella de Mare, the youngest daughter of Cardinal de Mare. In Ariadne’s last life, in 1123, Arabella had died at a young age from a plague epidemic. The little girl frowned and pointed at Ariadne with her disgruntled expression.
“Are we family? Your hair is also black. Didn’t study and couldn’t play the lute? Do you speak latin?”
At this point, Lucrezia stopped talking and hurriedly rushed over to hug Arabella from behind, noticing the head of the household. But Cardinal de Mare’s angry voice echoed through his drawing room without waiting for Lucrezia to soothe her youngest daughter.
“Stop!”
Cardinal de Mare waved his left hand and gave a bluff.
“Lucrezia, how did you educate your children? Will I live well enough to receive a commendation from Seong Hwang Cheong? I mean, just do the basics, just the basics!”
“I’m sorry, my Eminence. Arabella is still young…”
“What’s wrong with being 10 years younger! In a place like the Bergamo estate, when you are 10 years old, you will be the age of a farmer.”
Arabella was glaring at Ariadne, full of hostility, as if Ariadne was scolding her. Isabella looked as if the situation had nothing to do with her, and couldn’t help to feel sorry for the situation itself. It was Isabella’s alpha and omega to pretend to be nice to the end when important people were together.
“geo out!”
At his order, the rest of the family, except for Cardinal de Mare, backed away in unison toward the drawing room door. They walked without showing their backs. It was the etiquette of a servant of the Etruscan kingdom to the king. Cardinal de Mare’s family were closer to his subjects than to his own family.
“Oh, give Ariadne a Latin teacher like Isabella and Arabella. The rest of home education is the same.”
Lucrezia did not show any dissatisfaction outwardly, and others agreed.
“I understand, yes.”
***
Leaving Cardinal de Mare’s drawing room, Lucrezia gritted her teeth and said a word to Ariadne.
“Don’t cause trouble.”
Ariadne bowed her head politely on the outside, but on the inside she imagined herself making a shrug.
‘What did I do? The problem is your daughter caused it. I haven’t even started yet.’
While the maid was standing at the door, Lucrezia went into the boudoir first. Only the three of them were left in the corridor, Arabella and Isabella gnashing their teeth, and Ariadne standing there with her eyes wide open. Arabella glared at her eyes, ganshing at her resentment.
“I can’t admit it!”
The 10 year old girl cheered and pointed with her little finger.
“On the subject of growing up as a farm maid! You were born from a lowly maid mother!”
Ariadne was dumbfounded rather than angry. Where did a 10 year old learn these words? It must have been a word whispered to the child by her parents or her elder sister, who was like a poisonous snake. However, Ariadne vowed that she would not endure this life. Besides, her natural temperament was also not very docile. Ariadne said a word, hiding her thorns behind her laugh.
“Listen to what your father said, so you have a shop on a farm?”
“What?”
“He said that a 10 year old is enough for a farmer.”
“Hey!”
Arabella trembled in anger and rushed toward Ariadne. Behind her were stairs.
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