Chapter 57 - The Punishment of Zanobi
Sister, I'm the Queen In This Life
Zanobi, who was anxious because of what he had done in the morning, drank alcohol to forget any of his fears. The official drink of the party was champagne from the Kingdom of Gallico. As he poured himself a glass or two of refreshingly fizzy fruit wine, by the time evening came around. Zanobi had already been unable to properly remember his own mother's face. He was completely confused as people suddenly gathered around him and dragged him to the VIP section in the center of the tent.
However, because he was so drunk, he was unable to put up even the slightest resistance, so he was tied up and forced to kneel on the bare floor under the VIP section.
"Zarobi de Rossi from Taranto!"
The one shouting like a bell in front of him was the sole sun of the Etruscans, His Majesty Leo III himself. There was no sense of reality at all as the face he had only seen on commemorative coins actually spoke and moved right in front of his nose. Zanobi answered as if possessed.
"Yes, yes! Uh-huh!
"You can't pay proper respect to His Majesty the King!"
Thinking that the Gallico envoys were watching, Leo III became harsher than usual, and his subjects also became more strict about formality and courtesy. Zanobi was hit on the back by a kick that came from somewhere and ended up hitting his head on the floor. The person who kicked wanted to say 'See the Etruscan Sun', but Zanobi was so drunk and shocked that he didn't seem to have time to do so. Leo III also gave up on receiving his greeting and made a quick inquiry.
"Is it true that you shot Ariadine de Mare, the second daughter of the de Mare family, with a crossbow?"
Because Zanobi was drunk, he was even more convinced that he should not confirm that statement.
"No, no! It was definitely not me!"
He continued speaking in gibberish.
"I was only in the tent. How could I shoot an arrow at Ariadne's horse's butt?"
Cesare was looking at Zanobi pitifully with an expression that made him think he was truly a lowly creature. Ariadne intervened in a timely manner.
"Your Majesty, the Glorious King, I am sorry for disturbing your feelings with such a trivial matter."
When the victim of the incident came forward, Leo III nodded and allowed her to speak.
"From the beginning, Count Cesare only said that Zanobi de Rossi shot a crossbow at me. But he never said anything about whether the crossbow hit me, missed, or hit the horse."
The people who realized Ariadne's point made a loud noise. Leo III also frowned and nodded his head. Zanobi, who was forced to kneel on the floor, raised his head and whipped around.
"No! It's a misunderstanding! I just thought Ariadne had been beaten by a horse because she walked on foot without saying a word!"
The quickness was amazing, but there was clear evidence. Ariadne gave her nod to Cesare, and Cesare, receiving her signal, took Zanobi's arrow from his bosom and laid it down respectfully in front of Leo III.
"Your Majesty, this is the arrow that was stuck In the horse's butt."
The arrow, which still had dried blood from the horse, was an item whose feathers were dyed in different colors and patterns for each family so that the hunter could distinguish whose trophy It belonged to. Moreover, Zanobi happened to fire the first arrow he had loaded that day at Ariadne.
The first arrow usually had the family's emblem and name engraved on the shaft to wish for good luck. The de Rossi family crest and name were also clearly engraved on Zanobi's arrow. When Leo III could not read the de Rossi family's name engraved on the arrow due to presbyopia, Leo III's secretary, who was sitting next to him, quickly read the name on the arrow for him.
"de Rossi of Taranto... It is the arrow of the de Rossi family."
The secretary, who heard a whisper from the servant next to him, shouted loudly so that everyone could hear.
"Today, the only participant in the hunting competition from the de Rossi family in Taranto is Zanobi de Rossi."
The audience held their breath again.
"Why would you tell a lie that would be found out so quickly?"
"It's a life without an answer, so wouldn't you rather shoot a crossbow at someone at a hunting competition?"
"It's not a steel bow, it's a crossbow!"
"Oh, my God! Aren't you crazy?"
Ariadne poured fuel on the fire.
"Zanobide Rossi followed me while I was walking on the path near the hunting ground in the morning and shot me from behind with a crossbow! This is attempted murder!"
Then a tearing scream was heard from the crowd.
"It's a misunderstanding, it must be a misunderstanding!"
It was Lucrezia. She glided in and stood next to Zanobi, pointing a point at Ariadne.
"In the end, the arrow hit the horse. It probably wasn't shot at you! Our nephew Zanobi is such a gentle and kind child, how could it be that he shot a person with a crossbow and you must have offended Zanobi in some way! So, Zanobi must have shot the horse with an arrow!"
Zanobi came alive and ate it with Lucrezia's help.
"That's right! Well, Ariadne said she was harassing Isabella, so I gave her some advice, but Ariadne didn't listen to me, so I shot the horse with an arrow as a warning! As a relative, isn't this the kind of admonition I can give? Ow!"
Zanobi who was talking alone without permission to speak was kicked again by a courtier of Leo III who silenced him. He seemed to want to beat up Lucrezia to silence her as well, but he did not dare to lay a hand on the Cardinal's mistress. It was not only the military officers who were scared of Lucrezia, but also the civil servants.
Count Marquez, who had barely returned to the hunting tent after a difficult day at the negotiating table, looked at the Gallico envoys and the King at the same time and shouted at Lucrezia in a low voice.
"How safe is this place that you dare to step forward!"
However, even though the subjects took her side, Ariadne was now in a desperate crisis. Ariadne practically blocked her mouth. Because Lucrezia was Ariadne's enemy, Ariadne could not argue with Lucrezia in public.
Zanobi claimed that Ariadne was harassing Isabella, and Lucrezia claimed that Ariadne was simply misunderstanding Zanobi's actions. It was a situation where no explanation was possible. It was Count Cesare who saved her here.
"Your Majesty the King! Fortunately, the crossbow hit the horse, but the horse ran wild for a while, causing Lady de Mare to fall from the horse deep into the Orte Forest and almost die. If I hadn't saved her, he would have died. Whether you are hit by a person or a horse, it is still an attempted murder."
And he added one word.
"In the meantime, I almost died too. Saving someone from a rampaging horse is a dangerous task. Didn't this almost kill a nobleman who held the title of Count of the proud Etruscan nation? What is that? Baron? The Baron's son? Oh, aren't you from a baronial family? Do you have a title?"
Although he was said to be a nobleman, everyone present, including Leo III and the Gallic envoys, knew Cesare's true lineage. Although this was only half-contaminated blood, it was an incident that could have killed the King's blood. Even though Zanobii was drunk, he instinctively realized that this was a really big deal.
"That arrow is mine, but...! It's a misunderstanding!"
Leo III's retainer kicked him a third time, and it was only then that Zanobi, who was hit in the side with a straight blow, came to his senses. Leo III suppressed his rising anger and mentally assessed the things he needed to consider when punishing the bastard in front of him. First of all, it is true that Zanobi shot the arrow into the back of the Cardinal's illegitimate daughter, but it was impossible to confirm whether he was aiming for the illegitimate daughter or her horse. Is it attempted murder or property damage? Or, as Cesare said, was shooting the horse itself an attempted murder? Depending on this judgment, Zanobi's sentence would be decided.
Second, Cesare's injury happened because Cesare saved Ariadne on his own accord, and was not something that Zanobi could have predicted. It seemed difficult for him to hold Zanobi on the charge of trying to kill the King's bloodline. Moreover, while the Gallico envoys were looking at him with their eyes wide open, he was unable to acknowledge Cesare as the King's bloodline.
Thirdly, he wanted to maintain good relations with Cardinal de Mare. Although it is an incident where Cardinal de Mare's child almost gets into trouble with his wife's nephew if Lucrezia is protecting Zanobi like this in front of people and he ignores it and imposes a strict punishment on Zanobi, will Cardinal de Mare be happy about it?
Leo III had no confidence in this. In the end, men tend to be more generous to women who share their bed than to their children. Fourthly, despite this, that guy called Zanobi was very blatant in that he couldn't tell a lie every time he opened his mouth. Fifthly, as the Gallico envoys watched all this, Leo III felt both the pressure to appear like a benevolent saint and the pressure to show off his dignity by making wise decisions.
After Leo III weighed all these facts, he decided on the punishment to be meted out to Zanobi.
"Zanobi de Rossi, you harassed Lady, who you are supposed to protect as a knight, and also lied to cover it up. If you think about it, you attacked the Lady, your cousin, so you don't even have the friendship of her relatives. From what I heard up to this point, it sounded like an affirmation of the attempted murder of Ariadne."
However, Leo III's ruling continued.
"Therefore, for shooting a horse with a crossbow, you will be punished with 20 lashes, for lying you will be punished with 10 lashes, and for betraying your affection for your relatives, you will be punished with 10 lashes, a total of 40 lashes."
There was a disturbance in the crowd. It seemed like people were a little surprised by the more merciful punishment than expected. Of course, if you were flogged incorrectly, you could die, but it was a punishment for minor crimes such as theft. Zanobi who was kneeling and Lucrezia, who was watching anxiously, also sighed with relief when they realized that it was not an attempted murder of Ariadne, but that he had fired a crossbow at her horse, and that they were sentenced to whipping rather than imprisonment or banishment.
Sigh.
It wasn't that Zanobi's honor was damaged. This was just an incident. As time passed, he would be able to forget everything and move on. If only Lucrezia could send Zanobi back to his hometown, it would be something that no one would know about in his hometown. But Leo III's sentence was not yet over.
"But! It seems that Zanobi de Rossi does not understand the concept of chivalry at all. Giving sharp blades to dull people only brings harm to the people. Accordingly, I forbid Zanobi de Rossi from being knighted for his lifetime!"
Zanobi was so shocked as if his head had been hit with a hammer that he forgot all manners and raised his head to look at Leo III.
"No!"
Zanobi let out a long howl, screaming like a pig was being slaughtered.
"That's not fair! I should be a knight!"
"Uh-huh! Stop! "Bring that guy out!"
Leo III's secretary urged the surrounding soldiers. Five or six soldiers in full military gear rushed in, grabbed the glowing Zanobi, and began dragging him out of sight of Leo III.
"What's wrong with harassing a lost girl? Argh! I need to be a big person, a big person...!"
Looking at Zanobi screaming, Lucrezia felt the blood draining from her head and the world spinning. That damn bastard was still the hope of the de Rossi family. Today, Zanobi will one day become a prosperous family of knights, and Zanobi will earn a living on his own, so he will no longer need his aunt's attention and support for his servile life. She herself believes in Zanobi and her parents' family.
The door to Lucrezia's hope that the day would come when she could scream loudly was closed.
Boom!
"Oh, my God, someone passed out here!"
"Cardinal de Mare's mistress has fallen! She lost her mind!"
"Mom!"
Isabella's shrill scream pierced the sky. There was chaos all around her. But this was not the end of the ordeal awaiting Zanobi.
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