Chapter 71 - The Price Of Hasty Provocation
Sister, I'm The Queen In This Life
Baroness Camellia de Castiglione looked down at Isabella and spoke triumphantly.
"Right now, the only thing that Miss Isabella can rely on is your father's power. But the capital Cardinal... There is a clear difference from the great nobles."
The word Camellia omitted was 'illegitimate child.' If there was one more word that was omitted, it would be 'commoner'.
"Gabrielle della Torre will be soon engaged to the eldest son of the Marquis of Montefeltro. It's a marriage arranged for her by her family. Of all the marriage partners that Isabella's parents could provide, was Count Cesare the best one? What if it was taken away by your sister?"
Isabella couldn't come to her senses. Camellia was now telling Isabella that the illegitimate son had no choice but to meet the illegitimate son while at the same time poking her in her face. Is that bitch who used to lick her toes crazy now?
"If I had held on to a trustworthy fiancé early on, I would have had my back in times like this."
The story was that Ottavio was behind her. Isabella was so dumbfounded that her true feelings came out of her mouth.
"Is that crazy?"
Camellia seemed angry when she was criticized so openly. Her face turned red for a moment, but then she calmly adjusted her posture, as if I was different from the vulgar Isabella.
"Lady de Mare. You must use correct and kind words. Only then will you be respected as a good married wife? As we were born here, our attitude must also be noble."
"What?!"
This is it. She feels a blow. She is Camellia, a chaste and impeccable Lady, and Isabella, a promiscuous illegitimate daughter. In this case, no matter how beautiful Isabella is, Camellia is the better wife. Camellia was so intoxicated by this sweet feeling of victory that she unknowingly crossed the line against Isabella.
"Oh right. It's not that Miss Isabella couldn't find a spouse, it's that you didn't. You were so busy trying to make everyone laugh at this guy that you had no time to settle down with a solid guy."
If things were normal, Isabella would have dealt with this by expressing how hurt she was to Camellia, complaining pitifully of her sorrow, and then meeting her friends and telling them what a mean girl Camellia was.
However, Isabella, who today missed Prince Alfonso and Count Cesare right in front of her, lost her senses due to this provocation from Camellia, who she thought was less important than her.
Isabella distorted her beautiful face mercilessly and asked back in her sarcastic tone.
"By solid man, do you mean a trustworthy fiancé like Ottavio de Contarini?"
She glared directly at Camellia, anger radiating from her small and delicate body.
"Camellia de Castiglione. If you happen to find a woman with a fair face and more than enough money, don't show off and live quietly."
Isabella vented all her day's stress to a strict person. The chopping of her tongue was truly reminiscent of fireworks.
"Your fiancé is a great person who will bark if I want him to bark like a dog and lick my shoe heels on the floor. Do you think it would be difficult for me to take something like Ottavio?"
Isabella looked down at Camellia with a cold expression. She was indeed overwhelmingly beautiful. Before Isabella appeared, Camellia was the prettiest girl in the capital. When she stood next to Isabella, her eyes were too dark, her nose was too upturned, her lips were too thick, her waist was too thick, and the placement of the eyes, nose, and mouth was too liberal.
Isabella laughed jeeringly as she put her own sculpturally perfect features right in front of her Camellia.
"Have you ever seen your man look at me?"
Camellia's eyes wavered. Isabella was definitely able to steal the attention of any man.
"Ottavio will come over if I just lift a finger. It has to be that way because he's dating someone who looks like you."
"I beg your pardon?!"
Camellia cried out in surprise. Isabella paid no heed and continued shooting.
"If you look closely, you look like a flower pig. If I looked like you, I wouldn't be able to eat food. I'm worried that my belly fat will increase every time I look in the mirror."
Isabella slapped Camellia's hand which was supporting her.
"Take away the pig's feet. You poor pig."
Isabella exhaled while looking up and down Camellia, who froze in shock.
"Where are you climbing? Even poop has an up-and-down side. You better understand fractions."
Camellia de Castiglione couldn't control her body which was shaking with anger as she watched Isabella turn around and stride back to the de Mare family's carriage.
"That! That!"
Certainly, no one could say that Camellia was being gentle. But she only saw the stab. It was Isabella who was unable to distinguish between her front and back and rushed forward, hitting the other person at full speed.
'You say you're ugly? You can take away as many men as you like? Not only vulgar language but also profanity?!!'
Camellia tried stamping her feet, but that didn't make her feel any better. Her clenched fists were unable to receive blood, and her hands turned pure white.
"Isabella de Mare, I won't leave you alone! I won't leave you alone!"
Camellia's brown eyes turned red. He was so angry that his veins showed signs of bursting. She started a fight lightly, but when she couldn't get even, she trembled and vowed to get her revenge.
Isabella de Mare will pay for her words!
***
None of the people who accused Ariadne of being the Marquis de Campa's illicit tryst had apologized. It was a natural thing due to human nature. But the public as a collective balanced the scales in a different way.
"Did you hear that? The story of the second daughter of the de Mare family?"
"I heard Count Cesare is hanging himself!"
"Oh my god, it's romantic!"
"She seems somehow attractive, and men have eyes for her."
"But actually, the Prince said he was protecting the honor of the woman his half-brother was courting, so why is he taking that woman with him alone?"
"So you two were in the garden alone? Is that a secret love affair, or is it something else?"
"Prince Alfonso helps Count Cesare and this kind of relationship doesn't it?"
"That's right, that's right. You're interested too."
Ariadne quickly became the most famous woman in San Carlo, being courted by two of the King's half-children.
"Isn't this the first time Count Cesare has been so hung up on?"
"That's right, he wasn't stopping the woman who always comes, but this is the first time he's clinging to her, the first time!"
"Well, Count Cesare is so disappointed that Lady de Mare doesn't accept him that he spends his days drinking and gambling!"
Cesare's usual drinking and gambling were once again used as ingredients to emphasize Ariadne's charm.
"But isn't Prince Alfonso supposed to have an arranged marriage with the daughter of the Grand Duke of Valoa?"
"Tsk, tsk, his mother is also a Gallican woman, so I guess he will also welcome your spouse as a Gallican woman. So isn't that child 3/4 Gallican and 1/4 Etruscan? Is he the king of Gallico or the Etruscans?"
"It would be nice if an Etruscan Queen appeared..."
And another rumor circulated in San Carlo.
The Marquis de Campa's mistress was in fact the daughter of Cardinal de Mare, but the rumor was that it was his eldest daughter, Isabella, not his second daughter, Ariadne.
"Well, I saw something. Isabella de Mare had a red ruby that had fallen from the Marquis de Campa's bracelet!"
It was Camellia de Castiglione who desperately spread the story.
"Yes? Why does the Lady de Mare have that?"
"The Marquis de Campa gave the bracelet to the Lady de Mare, but he was afraid of getting caught so she threw it back to the side! She says there was a woman who ran away in the first place, but no one saw who that woman was, right?"
"You came from the direction of the woman Isabella ran away from?"
As people looked at each other with collective intelligence, very plausible hypotheses began to come out. It was far from the actual truth, but no one cared about such trivial matters.
"But... Isabella de Mare has been in that vacant lot from the beginning. What noble lady in the world could run away so quickly?"
"Actually, she didn't run away, she just stood there and pretended like nothing happened, right?"
As it was a shocking rumor, the above information itself spread quickly like wildfire, but Camellia de Castiglione, who clearly spread the rumor most passionately, was also responsible.
She always cared for herself, but this time she didn't care whether Isabella herself heard that she had been gossiping behind Isabella's back.
Camellia told this story to everyone she met, and she went on a rant whenever anyone showed her doubts.
"I saw the Marquis de Campa's ruby with my own eyes in Isabella's bag!"
In the process of this story becoming a fait accompli, Isabella's usual behavior became a spear that stabbed her.
"Isabella de Mare's usual behavior was a bit off... She speaks very elegantly. To be precise, he had men from the entire capital on her tail,"
Camellia was not the only daughter who had been abused by Isabella so far. There were more than a dozen people alone who were deprived of her fiancé's gaze and attention. In addition, her daughter, whom she had always liked, rose up like a swarm of bees, including the daughters who had been chasing after Isabella. Her last case may have been unfair to Isabella, but karma did not do her justice.
The karma she had accumulated over the years rose up like wildfire and became the fuel for her attacks on Isabella.
"Wasn't the dress she was wearing too vulgar?"
"Actually, we can't help but consider birth. After all, her mother is her mistress, right?"
"This is the limit of illegitimate children. That's what I learned from what I saw. Their mother also wears things with ridiculously deep necklines."
"You can't fool blood."
If the women's attacks on Isabella were motivated by jealousy, competition for interests, and a sense of victimization, the men's attacks were more interest-oriented and more base.
"Why on earth did Isabella de Mare mess around with that Marquis de Campa? money? Interest?"
"Isn't it okay for anyone to just wear pants?"
"Hey, if you did it with the Marquis of Campa, will you do it with me too?"
This rumor spread widely throughout the capital. However, as always, these types of rumors were the last to be relayed to the person involved. And unfortunately for Isabella, it was Cardinal de Mare, not Isabella, who heard this rumor first.
He went to the royal palace for a meeting but returned home so angry that his goatee was shaking.
“I-sa-bel-la!!!!!!!!”
***
"Your Eminence Cardinal de Mare."
After the meeting, Cardinal de Mare turned his head to the voice calling him. He was one of the curia regis, members of the King's inner circle and cabinet, responsible for general administration and the stockpiling of strategic supplies.
"His Excellency the Marquis of Baldessar. There were so many people at the meeting that I couldn't even say hello. You haven't had any trouble so far, right?"
Cardinal de Mare and the Marquis de Baldessar were powerful figures in the capital, and they often had afternoon tea together. Their tea talk was also a venue for exchanging useful information. The Marquis de Baldéssar, who caught Cardinal de Mare in the hallway, glanced around and lowered his voice.
"Your Eminence Cardinal de Mare. There is a story you need to hear."
"Yes? What is that... Is this about the Acereto school?"
After declaring the Apostle of Acereto a heretic, the Holy Imperial Office was dispatching heresy inquisitors everywhere to crack down on the group. Both innocent and not innocent people were being captured. Most of the Inquisitors were concentrated in Acereto, and it was still quiet in San Carlo, but when Pope Ludovico's agents appeared in San Carlo to capture the Acereto school, there was a high probability that the target would be Cardinal de Mare himself.
So Cardinal de Mare always kept his ears brightly open. If Pope Ludovico made a request to the Etruscan administration, the person who would have informed him in advance was the Marquis de Baldesar. But the Marquis Baldessar shook his head.
"It's a story going around among women in social circles..."
He laughed, perhaps because he was embarrassed to have to transfer such information.
"Normally, you can just ignore gossip in the social circles, but it seems that His Eminence the Cardinal has no other outlet to hear such stories, so I acted a bit foolish."
It was referring to the story of Lucrezia, the mistress of Cardinal de Mare, who had no place in society at all. Cardinal de Mare had no idea what he needed to hear: the rift between noble families or social gossip where the main topic was someone's affair.
Cardinal de Mare was a man faithful to his family, so there was no need for gossip, and as far as he knew, there were no major marriage talks or proposals in the de Mare family.
However, the Marquis de Baldessar was not a great man worthy of telling meaningless stories. Cardinal de Mare suppressed his slightly anxious mind and questioned the Marquis de Baldesar.
"Then what on earth happened...?"
The Marquis de Baldéssar lowered his voice and began to whisper to Cardinal de Mare. Cardinal de Mare's eyes widened.
"What!"
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