Sister, I'm The Queen In This Life - Chapter 48
Lucrezia, who hurriedly ran to Ariadne's study, had no idea why her husband had called her to the illegitimate daughter's study. She didn't know what it was, but it definitely wasn't a good thing.
She cautiously knocked on the door of her second daughter, whom her husband had brought in from outside, and then went inside her room after confirming that she could hear her husband's voice inside.
"Lucrezia. Look at this."
Cardinal de Mare waved a double-entry booklet with credit and debit accounts in front of Lucrezia. Lucrezia looked at the paper, wondering what this meant.
Why on earth did they write the same thing twice, once on the left and once on the right?
"This girl had a debutante ball for only 138 ducato."
"Yes?"
Only then did Lucrezia become surprised.
"Is that possible?"
"I have 12 ducatos left in my hand right now because it's possible!"
Cardinal de Mare became angry as he waved a bag containing twelve gold coins in front of Lucrezia.
"How much did you spend last time you threw Ippolito's farewell party? Compared to this time, the number of guests was only half, but we spent 500 ducato and 36 ducato more!"
Lucrezia was stricken by Cardinal de Mare's interrogation, so she lowered her head and looked down at the floor.
"This time, it cost Ariadne 138 ducato (about 138 million won) to decorate the entire ball. This amount includes her own grooming fee of 20 Ducato. But what about Isabella? Isabella spent 50 ducato (about 50 million won) on her dress by herself!"
Cardinal de Mare was ready to tear Lucrezia to pieces with the household account if he could.
"In addition to shoes, accessories, cosmetics, and even perfume, the total amount Isabella spent on grooming herself was 68 ducato (approximately 68 million won)! Do you think this makes sense?"
Lucrezia had nothing to say even though she had ten mouths. It was Lucrezia herself who allowed Isabella's luxurious dress.
While she was matching Isabella's jewelry, she also slipped one of her own gold pieces together. She couldn't blame her daughter, since she had something to share.
"From now on, I will provide Ariadne with her own expenses! And don't let Isabella spend more money than Ariadne!"
"Yes?! Your Eminence!"
Lucrezia's expression became contemplative when she heard that some of the authority over the household would be transferred to her illegitimate daughter. Lucrezia had her own family to feed. It was obvious that once she was pushed, she would continue to be pushed. She couldn't back out of here.
Lucrezia brought up her boiling anger from within and lost her temper at Cardinal de Mare.
"If Your Eminence does this, then what happens to me! As a former mother, what I am saying is, where can the spirit stand for that child?"
"If you were a good mother, you should have acted like a good mother!"
But Cardinal de Mare seemed to have no intention of giving in today.
"What did I say the day 'Heart of the Blue Seq' came in! I said I would take action soon?!"
He was referring to the time when Lucrezia was exposed to the public in San Carlo on several occasions for mistreating Ariadne and not feeding and clothing her properly. Lucrezia had thought that her husband had become quiet and had forgotten, but she felt sad and wronged when he remembered even the Ducato and attacked her.
"It's been over 20 years since I lived with you! How could you do this to me?!"
"22 years to be exact. I won't tell you if you have even managed your household account book neatly during those 22 years. I don't know anything else, but I have never made you feel sad financially. If so, you should have repaid my faith! I will not accept any objections regarding this matter. If so, I know it is! Get out there!"
Her husband, who was cold but always gave one step to Lucrezia, was nowhere to be found. She is sensitive to everyone, but she is even more sensitive to Cardinal de Mare, in the matter of gold, and the distrust that has built up because of Lucrezia's family, leads to Lucrezia selling all of her useless pieces right under Ariadne's nose and being kicked out by her husband.
After Cardinal de Mare kicked Lucrezia out, he felt bad for her and wiped her forehead with his handkerchief.
"Hmm... Hmm, anyway. The ledger for this prom was very well prepared. Come to think of it, there was an incident at the prom?"
This refers to the incident in which Ariadne's costume bursts.
"Yes, father. It wasn't a big deal."
Ariadne bowed her head politely. Cardinal de Mare shook his head.
"Yes, I asked people in my social circle about the incident and they said it didn't take much of a toll on your reputation."
In fact, some of the things that Cardinal de Mare inquired about and heard were things he could not bear to convey to his young daughter. Rumors spread, mainly among gentlemen, that in the de Mare family, the younger daughter was in some ways better than the older daughter.
An ordinary father would have been angry, but Cardinal de Mare was a very peculiar person. Well, whatever it is, if it's popular, it's good, he thought and passed it on. In total, the reputation among the gentlemen has increased, and among the ladies, who are the main opinion leaders thanks to Countess Marquez, people are saying that Ariadne is especially pitiful, so his second prize has not lost anything.
Cardinal de Mare was satisfied with that. However, one accident was covered by luck, but the same thing should not happen twice.
"Have you tried to figure out what that means? Was it a problem with the dressmaker?"
Ariadne shook her head.
"No, father. I found out that there was a problem with the dress after it came into the house. I will look into it better and tell you."
"Okay. Taking care of subordinates is also one of the most important qualities. Take care to prevent it from happening again."
"Yes, Father."
Cardinal de Mare announced that he would pay Ariadne 10 ducato (about 10 million won) per month directly from now on and left Ariadne's study.
When Cardinal de Mare left Ariadne's study, Sancha, who had been waiting in the outside drawing room and listening to the stories leaking out from inside the study, got teary-faced and shouted at Ariadne.
"My Lady, why didn't you reveal that the dress was the work of Lady Isabella!"
"There is no solid evidence yet."
The fight that took place in the absence of physical evidence was ultimately decided by Isabella's words and Ariadne's words.
Despite everything she had achieved since her return, Ariadne still had no idea that her father would believe her anymore.
Moreover, victory in this fight was not only achieved by the father believing that his words were more reliable, but also by going so far as to throw Isabella away with just his words.
Ariadne shook her head. It wasn't time for her to bet yet. After the ball, Ariadne took a close look at the torn debutante dress along with the sancha. The item called 'hook' that Maria brought was indeed something that is being used a lot these days. However, while ordinary hooks are made of iron, the hook that Maria brought was made of a mixture of lead and silver, so it was very soft. Usually, lead is mixed with iron, but it was particularly unique in that it was luxuriously mixed with silver. The hook Ariadne used was made by mixing lead with silver, which is softer than iron, so it was bound to come loose over time.
Moreover, she discovered that someone had torn off every twenty stitches in the front of the dress with a knife. The Lazionne dressmaker sent the item after hand-sewn it meticulously and tightly, but there were artificial traces of the thread being cut with a sharp object. Someone had set a trap to destroy it.
Sancha complained that Isabella must have done it, and Ariadne fully agreed, but there was no conclusive evidence. The hook was made of unusual material, but the shape was the same as any other hook, so there was no way to find out where it was made. Another suspicion was that Maria, who was in charge of organizing her clothes, was close to Maletta.
"Oh, my stomach is bursting!"
Ariadne comforted Sancha.
"Let's wait. In the end, everything works out as it should."
"Miss, do you clean anything?!"
Ariadne smiled and answered the frustrated Sancha.
"There is no need to wait this long. Let's gather the evidence one by one. Evidence is like a bomb. When the opponent is weakened, you have to explode them all at once to cause damage. Even if you break it open now, it will only damage the skin and not the important parts."
However, Ariadne also agreed to dispose of Maria. Ariadne took this opportunity to give an additional 50 florins (approximately 500,000 won) to Nicolo, the butler who had become acquainted with her and changed Maria's position.
Maria, who was getting along well as she was treated as a maid close to her good lady, was quickly assigned to be a dishwashing maid in the kitchen.
"Maria must have taken enough from Maletta to bear the risk of being reduced to a chore maid. If she didn't take it and gave it to her bareback, then Maria is stupid."
"He seems a bit stupid. Isn't it a good thing that we got rid of our stupid friend and brought in a new smart kid?"
The person who sent Maria out and brought her back was Vicenta, whom Sancha had been eyeing since she was a maid on the third floor. Sancha praised her so much that she was a smart and useful child, so we brought her in, and indeed, she adapted quickly.
There was no end to Sancha's grumbling.
"It's such a shame that you give 12 ducato to His Eminence the Cardinal! The slush fund could have been put to good use. Instead, you received 10 ducato per month.
"The entire amount will be repaid in one and a half months."
Ariadne smiled.
"And I didn't give all the money I had left to you."
"Yes?!"
"Don't you think the clothing cost is a little more than originally planned?"
Indeed, the cost of clothing that Ariadne originally thought was only 5 ducato (about 5 million won). It had increased to 20 ducato (about 20 million won) in the final ledger.
"I kissed Madame Marigny. For the next two seasons, instead of having all my clothes tailored by Lazione's dressmaker, I decided to charge a slightly inflated fee."
Sancha opened her mouth.
"So 15 ducato (about 15 million won) is our emergency fund. Understand?"
Sancha just nodded at the ghost-like Young Lady's skills. Cardinal de Mare was a mob here and a gang there. What he just didn't know was medicine.
***
"What happens inside the house should not go outside the house. You may fight like dogs inside the house, but when you go out, you are on the same side!"
Isabella's tears welled up as her father, who rarely raised his voice, raised his voice and scolded her.
It was true that Cardinal de Mare did not shout much, even with Lucrezia, but this was especially true with Isabella.
"Ariadne. Even if your sister did something wrong, you shouldn't point it out in front of others. You have to overlook it in front of people and decide between right and wrong at home!"
Ariadne lowered the favor points she had built up for her father back to zero. What was her past life like when she lived in those words with all her heart?
Father will be a very fair judge! But on the outside, she always wore the polite, courteous, and trustworthy facade she always maintained and bowed to his father.
"I was short-thinking. We will take care to prevent it from happening again."
Satisfied with Ariadne's simple apology, Cardinal de Mare this time turned his criticism towards Isabella.
"What do you think about your younger sister's body? Do you have thoughts or not? How can a grown woman not distinguish between what to say and what not to say? And, by any chance, that person is your younger sister? Do you even have the concept of friendship?"
It was the first time Isabella had ever seen her father angry at her since she was very young. Earlier, she could say that Cardinal de Mare's rebuke was directed at Ariadne and not at her, which could be considered a mental victory.
Now that the object and content had been specified, no matter where she looked, the words he said to Isabella were correct.
"Aaaah!"
Cardinal de Mare was taken aback when his flower-like eldest daughter burst into tears. Isabella didn't care and cried like a baby.
"...l-I'm not like that! I-I'm..."
Isabella truly believed she was innocent. She had to believe. People were saying with one voice that she had done something wrong, and if they affirmed that statement, it seemed like the person named 'Isabella' would become a worthless and useless piece of trash forever.
In the face of her emotional immaturity, the facts bleached out in her head and turned into a flower garden.
"Camellia was the first to say that she may have cut her breasts on purpose! My only fault is that I didn't stand by and stop her!"
"You didn't do it?"
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