Chapter 52 - Adult Circumstances
Siser, I'm The Queen In This Life
The King's Cup Hunting Competition was a regular event held every fall. Participants in the hunting competition moved to Orte Forest, the royal hunting ground north of San Carlo, pitched a tent, and hunted all day.
High-ranking nobles, ladies, and noble ladies chatted in a tent prepared at the entrance to the forest, while young men, wearing bows and quivers of arrows, led hunting dogs and went deep into the forest to catch game. The highlight of the day was the award ceremony to determine the winner of the hunting competition. The schedule started early in the morning, and late in the afternoon, each person counted the day's game, and a prize was given to the young man who caught the most of the best game.
The reward was some gold coins given by His Majesty the King and a laurel wreath personally given by Queen Margaret. Another thing worth seeing was the ribbons and handkerchiefs each lady handed out. Giving a handkerchief was considered a sign of a secret relationship, so one did not give one's handkerchief away unless it was a very bold lady, but on this day, it was tolerated to give a handkerchief as a compliment to the winner of a hunting competition.
"Who will win this time?"
Arabella asked Ariadne with sparkling eyes.
Arabella had been coming to Ariadne's parlor these days and she was playing porridge. To Arabella, who was still young, everything that happened in society, everything that happened to her sisters, and the letters, notes, bouquets, and gifts from men seemed like stories from another world. She wanted to hear more.
"Well?"
Ariadne shook her head. The court nobles who settled in San Carlo were actually more proficient in chess and literature than in hunting or swordsmanship. Therefore, the winner of a hunting competition was often someone they had never seen before, rather than a name familiar to the capital's nobility.
"When I grow up and participate in a hunting competition, I hope that a handsome knight will win!"
Arabella said. Ariadne smiled and answered.
"If you want a handsome knight, you can give him a handkerchief even if he doesn't win, right?"
Even if it wasn't necessarily given to the winner, if the winner was unfortunate enough to have lost the prize, or if he just seemed brave in the eyes of the young lady, she would often shyly hand over a handkerchief or tie a ribbon to the horse's saddle before disappearing.
Hunting competitions were events where eye contact between handsome men and women often occurred. Arabella, who was unaware of the inside story, brightened her eyes.
"I'm going to marry a handsome groom!"
"I guess so."
Ariadne laughed.
'To make that happen, I will help you grow up safely and stay alive until then. I will change your fate!'
As Arabella imagined herself coming home holding the hand of a handsome knight, as she said, a smile came to her face. Whether Arabella would ever learn of her half-sister's promise was unknown.
Most of the capital's nobles were invited to the hunting competition, and since it was an outdoor event, there was no limit to the number of people who could enter, so invitations were generously distributed to those who were not necessarily nobles but were worthy of attending, such as relatives of nobles or people who had made meritorious contributions during administration.
It was the number one event that men of low status but courageous and ambitious who were looking for a wife wanted to attend. The reason Lucrezia did not send Zanobi back to Taranto even after the debutante ball was over was that she wanted Zanobi to participate in it. Lucrezia wanted her nephew, Zanobi, to seduce a wealthy young woman and settle down in the capital.
No, considering Zanobi's face, it didn't seem easy, for Zanobi could get acquainted with gentlemen and get a suitable job in the capital. She hoped there would be.
"You should stop saying strange things this time and meet a lot of people here and there."
Lucrezia sat Zanobi down and asked him to please.
"I will do my best to take care of it, Aunt Lucrezia!”
***
Even after Collezione's dress gift was rejected, Cesare continued to send gifts. What arrived just before the hunting competition was the same bouquet of red roses and an elaborate horse saddle specially crafted from deer skin. But they were blocked by the Young Lady's iron coldness.
"Put the roses away somewhere out of my sight, and return the horse saddle."
The mail servant, who had become accustomed to Ariadne's instructions, went back without a word, carrying a large gift box. He had become so accustomed to it that Cesare's servant held him back so that he could not return, and after receiving instructions from the second Lady, Cesare's servant carried it back on his way back.
Now Isabella felt as if she would go into neurosis just by looking at red roses. But when she saw the red rose, Ariadne was not happy either. Until now, the main mail Ariadne had received was Prince Alfonso's letterhead decorated with gold leaf.
Prince Alfonso always wrote with a thick nib and blue ink on gold-decorated stationery. However, after returning from the Debutante Ball, there was no communication from Alfonso, except for one letter that arrived immediately after, informing him that he had safely entered the palace.
'What's going on?'
Or, does he just hate me?
Whenever Ariadne was left alone, she reflected on what had happened with Alfonso. Were you offended by the fact that she did not inform him in advance that <Vittoria Nike> was a forgery at the Marquis Cibo's auction? Was it too presumptuous to ask for the right to wish? Or was it just that he was offended when he saw her body big and ugly at the debutante ball?
Just thinking about that made her uncontrollably depressed. Ariadne shook her head to shake her thoughts.
"Miss, there is also a letter."
The mail servant urged Ariadne, who had a blank face. Always, when she received the message that the mail had arrived and looked at the mail servant, expecting a letter from the Prince, what he presented her with was not gold-leafed stationery, but an envelope decorated with a huge red rose and silver leaf from the Count de Como.
It was the same today. Inside the envelope, sealed with red wax and decorated with silver foll, handed out by the servant, was a letter that resembled a note, written in Cesare's beautiful cursive.
"From your debutante partner, I intend to win this hunting competition. If I become the winner of the golden deer, will you give me your handkerchief? - Count Cesare.
Ariadne had been responding to all of Count Cesare's messages without response. In other words, she never sent a reply. But when she saw this message, she got so annoyed that she almost wrote a reply telling him to shut up.
Ariadne, who put down the parchment and picked up the pen, barely managed to control herself before writing down her first words and placing the pen tip down on the desk with a thud.
"A very shameless person."
Then she picked up Count Cesare's letter, tore it into pieces, and threw it in the trash.
It was the moment when Count Cesare's handwritten letter, which the ladies of the capital dreamed of receiving at least once, was thrown away as trash.
***
On the day of the hunting competition, the weather was clear with a deep blue autumn sky. The invited guests, who participated with their own expectations, gathered in groups of twos and threes in a huge white tent erected at the entrance to Orte Forest and talked about today's hunting competition.
"Who will be this year's winner?"
"They say diplomatic envoys from the Kingdom of Gallico have arrived. Are you one of their attendants?"
"The San Carlo nobles are a bit weak in martial arts."
"Still, I hope the Etruscan wins."
"I know, right."
Prince Alfonso was famous for his excellence in swordsmanship, jousting, and hunting. However, because he was still a boy until his last year, the Prince never participated in hunting competitions because Queen Margaret, who loved her son dearly, forbade him from engaging in any dangerous activities.
He was supposed to finally make his debut this year, but due to the arrival of a diplomatic mission from the Kingdom of Gallico, the Prince was forced to miss this year's hunting competition as he had to take his place with foreign envoys. Prince Alfonso's seat today was not a hunting ground, but a tent where VIPS gathered.
"It's best to clean up an empty house."
Count Cesare de Como was aiming to take the place where the strong candidate for the championship had left. Although he was weak in arts that required physical strength, such as jousting, he was skilled in archery and horseback riding, where technique was more important than strength.
A hunting competition where the winner was determined by the bow was the arena where Cesare could shine.
"Does that mean that in a forest without tigers, the fox is king?"
"Noisy, who is the fox?"
Cesare, annoyed by Ottavio cackling next to him, shook the reins once and rode forward on his own. Even if Ottavio didn't get on his nerves, he planned to go alone today. If he was accompanied by another nobleman, he had to share when he found his prey.
Cesare, accompanied only by his men and hunting dogs, planned to go into the deep forest today and catch a wild boar, a bear, or the legendary 'golden deer'.
"Hey, you guys. Be careful not to hurt the 'golden deer."
"Ah, it's okay, Count. Is there really a 'golden deer'? It's realistic to target the bear."
Cesare shouted cheerfully to his jeering subordinates.
"I told you I really saw it before! Life is one shot, if you find the 'golden deer, winning is a long shot. Open your eyes wide and find it!"
"Yes!"
***
Ariadne arrived at the outskirts of Orte Forest, the location of the hunting competition, with Lucrezia, Isabella, and Zanobi. Today she was riding a horse, not a carriage. Not only the gentlemen but also the ladies were dressed in stylish riding clothes.
Ariadne also entered the outskirts of Orte Forest on a brown horse, wearing a hunting hat newly tailored by Lazione's dressmaker, a green vertical-striped riding outfit with a narrow skirt and a neckline that reached the chin for ease of movement.
Isabella, who was dressed in gorgeous pure white riding clothes as if she didn't even think about getting dirty while sitting on a bright white horse, and Lucrezia, who had a deep neckline like an evening dress even though she was wearing riding clothes, and was trying to catch a noble Lady who would take care of his livelihood. Zanobi, who did his best to dress up for the occasion, was also there. Isabella wanted to be with her other friends today, but she seemed annoyed at having to keep company with her mother, who had no place for her in society. But when she thought about it again, it might have been better for her to have the excuse of taking care of her mother because Isabella's number of friends had decreased significantly.
Ariadne looked around. Julia de Baldesar and her friends mostly did not come today. Daughters who already had a partner did not attend the hunting competition, and conversely, those whose status was so high that they were sure to meet a match chosen by the family did not attend.
If there were brothers participating in the hunting competition, they would come to cheer on them, but Julia's older brother was staying in Padua to study abroad, Cornelia had only a younger sister, and Gabriele's younger brother was too young to participate in the hunting competition.
Ariadne could see Prince Alfonso very far away. Prince Alfonso, along with King Leo III, Queen Marguerite, and the Gallic delegation, stood in the very center of the tent, in the highest VIP seat.
Ariadne looked towards Prince Alfonso. The Prince also looked in Ariadne'sndirection. Their eyes met in midair. When Prince Alfonso encountered Ariadne, he was embarrassed and lowered his head. He did not formally bow or pretend to know anything. Ariadne felt very depressed. Her mind could understand it. Prince Alfonso and she were just friends, and her excitement for Prince Alfonso was something she kept to herself.
Prince Alfonso is currently carrying out his official duties and simply has no time for his friend.
But even though her head understood, her heart did not follow. Feeling lost for some reason, she lowered her head, spurred her horse, and rushed forward.
***
The reason Alfonso did not greet Ariadne separately was because of the situation he was in now, in addition to following his mother's instructions. Right now, Alfonso was not in a position to focus on his personal love business.
A national-level dating project was being arranged. However, he did not find it to be going particularly smoothly.
Gallico's envoys consisted of a Duke, a Count, and several officials, all of whom had been on several diplomatic missions to and from the Etruscan kingdom. Naturally, they could speak Etruscan very well. The last time Duke Mireille came to Etruscan as a diplomatic envoy, he chatted with Etruscan ladies in fluent Etruscan. But today, they all kept their mouths shut and spoke only in Gallico, no matter what the wind was blowing.
"It's a fine day, isn't it?"
Of course, it was simple Galliche that even Leo III could understand, but it was unprecedented for a King to communicate in a foreign language, so all the gathered leaders were puzzled.
At least Queen Margaret, a Gallican native whose mother tongue was Gallican and who, despite being a member of the royal family, found it no fault to speak Gallican, was merely responding to the chatter of her envoys. In the end, Count Marquez, who was worse off, spoke a word to the Gallico envoys through an interpreter.
"If you come to Etruscan, you must follow Etruscan law. Let's talk in a language that is comfortable for both of us."
Then the Gallico envoy, Duke Mireille, smiled darkly and said something.
"What makes a country great? It's language, I'd say."
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