The Prince's letter was a note rather than a letter.
"To the amazing Ariadne.
Did you feel good that day? Hydrangea bloomed all over the royal palace garden, so I contacted you.
It would be nice if we could meet at the palace.
- A."
For a message sent by a Prince, it was rather romantic. Even the secret nickname they had decided on before was written on it.
However, Ariadne, who had to enter the once-in-a-lifetime debutante ball with a disgusted fake cousin, had no time to read between the lines. She hurriedly wrote a reply telling only what she had to say.
"Dear Alfonso.
I didn't know how to use the wish ticket already. I need help. Will you be my debutant partner? I have to become a debutante who enters with the Prince. I'll let you know more details later.
- Ariadne."
The reply came much sooner than expected. It was late afternoon on the day Zanobi arrived when Ariadne replied to her letter, but the Prince's detachment arrived at seven the next morning. It was a speed that would be impossible unless the royal palace instructed them to send it by express the next morning.
"Dear Ariadne.
You don't have to spend a wish ticket to become a debutante escorted by the Prince.
Tell me the date and place
- Alfonso."
Ariadne stood blankly for a moment after receiving Alfonso's note. The first thing that struck her was the difference between her previous life and her present. She couldn't even make her debut and started being treated as a married woman right at the age of a flower, but now she is in the position of having a solo debutante ball, which every girl dreams of, escorted by a Prince.
'Isn't this a dream?'
She gently pinched the back of her hand, but it definitely hurt. And the second thing that touched her was the unfamiliarity of the Prince's unconditional favor.
Since her mother died long ago, no one has done her unconditional favor. Ariadne's acquaintances from her previous life also exchanged only conditional favors or exchanges with her. Because Ariadne could give them some advantage, or because Ariadne listened to their grievances wholeheartedly, they would comfort Ariadne's feelings or listen to her stories.
Speaking of the people of the Cesare and de Mare families, they gave so much that it hurt to complain, but they got nothing back.
Love, affection, youth, trust, devotion, hard work, and loyalty have all been betrayed and used. Ariadne, accustomed only to such relationships, the Prince's kindness aroused little gratitude, most awkwardness, and a little fear.
While Ariadne stood dazed, a mountain chariot came running and poked her head.
"My lady, what did the Prince say?"
Sancha, who was handed the note in Ariadne's hand, put on the reading skills she was learning recently and stuttered through the contents, then screamed.
"Kyaa!!!! Really girl?!"
"Shh, shh, be quiet."
"It went so well! The Zanobi guy. No, let's flatten the boy's nose!"
Ariadne's debutante partner was decided, but Ariadne and Alfonso decided to keep this fact a secret until right before the ball. For Ariadne, once Prince Alfonso officially announced that she had agreed to be her debutante partner, it was a headache that she would first have to spend several weeks at home glancing at Isabella and Lucrezia, Isabella, out of pure jealousy of hers, and Lucrezia, in addition, would lash out at Ariadne for not having the event to give her niece the money for her troubles.
It wasn't until the statutory law, that it was customary for the debutante partner to be decided by the parents because they were usually obtained from their parents' connections unless they were relatives. If she had informed Lucrezia beforehand that she had replaced her partner with Alfonso, Lucrezia could have gone behind her, saying 'Her mother would not agree'.
If that happened, there was a fear that the Prince's escort would go back to nothing. Lucrezia was not a quick-tempered person, so it was unlikely that she would be able to object if the Prince showed up that morning and offered to be her partner.
Ariadne decided to crush Lucrezia's opposition with the cooperation of the Prince's authority and surprise. Besides, Isabella was the kind of great person who was sure to do something nasty if something went wrong with her. She didn't even know what kind of grumpiness she was going to play. The fewer the variables, the better.
And there was Zanobi. It would have been better for Zanobi to have informed him in advance, but he had to suffer. She was notified of the fact that Zanobi had been replaced with the prince only in the morning of the day, and when she thought of her trembling figure, she felt better.
"Where are you going, bad mood guy?"
Keeping secret the fact that he was to escort Ariadne to her debutante ball as a partner was a way of doing things Alfonso liked. For him, there was a problem of schedule in a trivial way, and a diplomatic problem in a big way Prince Alfonso's schedule was, in principle, correct to be set by the Prince himself, but until now, his mother, Queen Margaret, had been involved.
There would be no problem as long as permission was granted, but it seemed to Alfonso that Queen Margaret and Leo III would not allow Alfonso to become Ariadne's debutante partner.
"The Princess of Gallico and marriage talks are going back and forth. She even more has to get her body right."
It was something his mother had tipped him off a few days ago.
"I'm just helping a friend in trouble."
Alfonso subconsciously deceived himself that it had nothing to do with marriage talks or grandiose things like marriage alliances.
He checked his schedule with his secretary.
"Bernardino, do you have my schedule for the third Saturday of next month?"
"It is still empty, My Prince."
"Leave the day blank. Don't schedule anything. That includes everything that Mother calls."
"What are you doing?"
At this time, it would have been a routine thing to say, 'I will participate in the debutante ball of the Cardinal's second daughter held at the home of Cardinal de Mare. But Alfonso chose silence. He hadn't yet noticed that his atypical handling of work represented his state of mind.
"I have some personal business to do. On that day, make sure to empty everything from morning to late at night."
***
It wasn't just Zanobi and Prince Alfonso who were aiming for Ariadne's debutante partner.
"Is that child holding a debutante ball separately this time?"
"Yes, it is, Countess."
In response to the maid's message, Countess Rubina leaned back on a long velvet chair and looked into the color of red wine, the same color as her eyes, reflected in the candlelight.
"Who did you say your partner was?"
"I heard that you are the niece of Lucrezia de Rossi's mother's side."
A smile appeared on Countess Rubina's lips.
"He must be a no-nonsense guy. By all accounts, my son is much better. Isn't that right, son?"
She looked at Cesare, who was sitting in the corner of her mother's parlor.
"This time, he said she found out that the statue was fake? At court, they only talked about her. They say she is popular among commoners?"
"I know what your mother would say. Just go there."
Cesare was crumpled in the corner of his mother's drawing room, exhausted from his life. There was nothing that worked out on its own. Gun, a merchant in the Republic of Porto who had a big dream and did a background investigation, was dumbfounded.
At first, he thought that Benacio del Gato, the finance minister of the Republic of Porto, was using his nephew to siphon property out of the country. If it was Benacio del Gato, even within the Republic of Porto, he was a considerably influential person who would rise as a candidate for the next president. he confiscates the property he siphoned off to the Etruscan kingdom, he will be indebted to his opponents. On the contrary, after discovering that Benacio del Gato's nephew had been murdered, he hoped that he might catch his nephew's murderer and pay off the debt to Benacio del Gato, but it turned out to be a simple murder due to gambling.
While Alfonso the kid was kicking the ball hard, he wanted to catch his father's eyes by showing off his political power, but all was futile.
"Cesare, don't be stubborn and listen to your mother. To become a King, you must be popular and have a consort with a high reputation, which is helpful."
"I told you to stop there!"
Cesare burst into anger.
"I have my own ideas too!"
It didn't work out well though.
"Isn't she a Princess with some sort of succession right, so if you marry her, the throne will fall? Think rationally!"
Her son's rebellion caused thick wrinkles between Countess Rubina's forehead.
"And that tiny little kid has no mischievous personality!"
It wasn't Ruby or the Countess to cave in here.
"It's strange when a 15-year-old adolescent has a good personality! Isn't it that you're incompetent when you come all this way without being able to melt even a little girl?"
Annoyance and anger shone in Cesare's blue eyes.
"Stop it! You're asking me to apply for a debutante partner right now, right? I won't even die if I die!"
And he couldn't bear to tell his mother, and In his heart was, 'If I applied, it was obvious that I would be rejected'.
But his mother, too, Countess Rubina, saw through her son like a ghost.
"There is no such thing as a loser who is so scared that he can't even try."
"Oh really!"
At the sarcasm of Countess Rubina, Cesare picked up the cloak she had thrown on the chair and stormed out of her mother's parlor.
Boom!!
"That, that, that! If you have a nasty temper and get lost in it!"
Countess Rubina got angry when she saw the back of her son who looked just like her.
"You won't listen to your mother even if I die! Do you think I can't do what I want?"
In her anger, her hands became rough as she twirled the wine glass, and the red wine splashed over the glass and onto the velvet chair. The lady-in-waiting of the Countess Rubina quickly approached her, politely wiped off the wine, and at her glance poured her another glass.
"Countess, do you have any tricks?"
Countess Rubina's reddish-brown eyes sparkled sinisterly at the lady-in-waiting's question.
"Everyone. I have never in my life failed to accomplish what I set my mind to."
***
While the villains at the palace were aiming to get a free ride on Ariadne's glory, the villains at Cardinal de Mare's residence were relatively honest in devising ways to diminish Ariadne's glory.
"Is it true that you decided to get your dress tailored at Lazione?"
"Yes, I heard that Madame Marini from Lazione's dressmaker visited."
"What kind of confidence do you have?"
Beauty was cultivated with money. The more money she spent, the worse she got.
It was completely incomprehensible that a child who, in Isabella's opinion, was not so exceptionally pretty was not in her dressing room, and that she had her debutante dress tailored at a dressmaker's shop.
"You must be the prettiest lady."
Isabella's dress, which was being prepared in the Collegioni dressing room, was being made with organza, a Moorish imperial fabric imported through Porto merchants.
Organza, a type of thin, shiny, airy silk, was not made in the Etruscans, where the sericulture industry was not yet developed.
"I think so too."
That's what she said, but Isabella chewed her nails gently. She was a bit uneasy.
"Is there any way I can stand out more clearly?"
At the request of the hostess, Maletta presented a simple but ignorant method.
"Would you like to spill some wine on her dress that day?"
Isabella was very annoyed at the maid's too-short insight.
"Then it's obvious who did it! And she will look pitiful!"
After scolding Maletta, Isabella asked her a question to see if she had a good idea.
"Right, did you say that Ariadne also seems to be wearing a 'breast bag'?"
"I'm sure it is, my lady. I saw a girl from Sancha go out with a cotton cloth and do laundry regularly. If you don't use the 'breast pocket', where would you use the cotton cloth?"
Isabella used to create a bust that was lacking using a 'breast bag' and cotton. cloth specially airlifted from the Moorish kingdom. That part was Isabella's biggest complex.
"It would be really nice to see the 'breast pocket' dripping down at the prom, wouldn't it?"
Isabella's amethyst eyes turned small. Marletta chimed in.
"If the cotton cloth is untied, cotton balls won't come out! It will be very obvious and ugly! Besides, there will be rumors spreading around the world that she is wearing slutty things like 'breast pockets', right? Can't she just walk around with her face up?"
In the social world of San Carlo, a lady was praised for her beauty, but she had to be naturally pretty. Excessive makeup or artificial correction was ignored, and it brought back rumors that it was like Karampan's Cortizan.
Of course, it would bring a fatal blow to her reputation as a virtuous aristocratic daughter. The 'breast bag' was unknown to the other ladies of San Carlo, and was secretly imported from the Moorish Empire.
Of course, if the fact of using it was revealed, she wouldn't just go over it. In the eyes of Isabella, who was keeping her half-sister in check, who hadn't even made her debut, and her name was growing higher and higher in the social world, this was the perfect fit. Her little sold-out eyes of her Isabella shone insidiously.
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