Chapter 72 - Isabella's Karma
Sister, I'm The Queen In This Life
"Isabella, where is this girl!"
Cardinal de Mare was furious and looked for Isabella from the first-floor entrance. When the Butler Niccolo hurriedly went upstairs to meet Isabella, Cardinal de Mare, who was frustrated even by the sight of him, got very angry and stopped the deacon.
"Done! I will go myself!"
For the first time in a long time, the family was in an uproar at home, and all the family members opened their eyes and chased after the angry head of the family. They had no idea what was going on, but Lucrezia, who was restless, and Ariadne, who followed her father wondering what was going on, were also part of the procession.
He stomped over and yanked open his eldest daughter's door without knocking. Isabella was in the middle of changing her clothes.
"Oh my goodness!"
Isabella, who was wearing only a petticoat, screamed and covered her upper body with her arms. Even though Cardinal de Mare was her own father, she was shocked and took a step back, like a good priest. But something was strange about her. Her upper body had to be naked while she was wearing only a petticoat. But his daughter was clearly wearing something dark pink on her torso. It wasn't the dressing gown or nightgown she wore at home, nor was it the underwear she wore to keep warm. It's not even time for her to wear her underwear yet, to begin with.
He squinted his narrow eyes and glared at the dark pink object, then suddenly realized its purpose and opened his mouth wide.
"What are you going to do, what are you going to do...! It's a mess...!"
Cardinal de Mare's blood pressure rose and he was on the verge of collapsing. The fairy-like eldest daughter, whom je had raised with great care, was proudly walking around the city of San Carlo, wearing an item on her chest that she would have no business doing unless she was a Cortizan, or even a Cortizan living at the bottom of the street!
"What are you really trying to do!"
He nervously winked at the maid who was waiting next to him. Maletta, who noticed her appearance, rushed over to Isabella and covered her with a robe that could be wrapped around her.
"Are you Cortizan? Or even a pagan from the Moorish Empire! Are the rumors circulating in social circles really not false?"
Isabella, who was struck by lightning in the dry sky, looked around and complained to her father.
"Dad, why are you opening the door and coming in without saying a word? Rumor? What rumor?"
Meanwhile, what caught Cardinal de Mare's eye was the tiara decorated with pink sapphires on Isabella's dressing table. It looked very expensive, but he had never bought anything like that for his daughter.
"What is that again?"
Cardinal de Mare picked up the pink sapphire tiara and turned it over. There were initials engraved on the inside.
From O. Contarini, to dear I. Mare.
"What on earth is this?"
He couldn't read the letters well, perhaps because he was getting presbyopia or because he didn't want to read. Arabella, who was standing behind him, quickly took the tiara, read it with her bright childish eyes, and gave her the confirmation.
“Oh Contarini? If you say O. Contarini, then Ottavio de Contarini?”
Arabella's question and Cardinal de Mare's scream came out at the same time.
"Why is he here?"
"Why is the tiara he gave me coming out of your room?"
***
In addition to relaying rumors about the Marquis of Campa, the Marquis de Baldesard also told him about several other things about Isabella's reputation in social circles.
"Your Eminence. Of course, he is not a great man worth worrying about, but Baron Castiglione is looking for your eldest daughter."
"Yes? No, why did that guy treat my daughter?"
Baron Castiglione was a budding businessman who operated a large sericulture industry in the capital and the north-central region. He was a middle-aged man who mainly ran a wholesale business, and it seemed unlikely that he would have any contact with Isabella.
"Isn't Baron Castiglione's eldest daughter quite striking in appearance?"
"Yes. I think I heard that."
Was it Camellia? She's not as good as Isabella, but he heard she has a pretty daughter anyway.
"Baron Castiglione's wish was to marry an old nobleman who owned a fief. However, it is said that the eldest son of the Count Contarini family was famous for only looking at women's faces, so Baron Castiglione spent a lot of money and made an agreement to keep the dowry, thereby concluding an engagement with the eldest son of the Count Contarini family."
"Well, what about it?"
Cardinal de Mare became increasingly anxious. No, no. It will have nothing to do with my daughter.
"However... Your daughter..."
After hearing the whole story, Cardinal de Mare made a funeral speech.
"... Oh God."
***
Cardinal de Mare was well aware of the reality that social gossip sometimes smokes even in the chimney, and he still had some faith in his daughter's virtue, but when he saw the physical evidence before his eyes, Cardinal Marais felt like his reason had been blown away.
".... Oh my, my head."
Even after seeing Cardinal de Mare holding his back, Isabella did not regret her mistake, but instead looked at her father with wide eyes.
"Why is this, Dad?"
Cardinal de Mare could not stand it any longer and raised his voice.
"How on earth have you behaved so badly? Do you live by thinking? Why on earth would you accept such an expensive gift from a stranger!"
"I didn't ask for it first! Sir Ottavio gave it to me as a birthday present between friends, so why is it a problem with my behavior?"
"You don't give gifts like that between friends!"
Cardinal de Mare, who seemed to be losing his head at the thought of his daughter, saw another object enter his field of vision.
"What is this again?"
It was a diamond ring that looked to be about 3 carats.
As her father looked at the ring on the dresser shelf, her youngest, Arabella, purred, picked up the ring, and handed it into her father's hand. It had a classic design that looked similar to a wedding ring and was made of precious materials and luxurious workmanship.
"Ah. This was given to me by Sir lacopo, whom I had become acquainted with this time, to thank him for giving me directions..."
"How on earth would you be giving directions to a stranger!"
Cardinal de Mare was truly astonished. He had never left her eldest daughter, whom he had raised with great care, outside of home.
"In the Cathedral of San Ercole. He said he was lost, so I took him there."
Cardinal de Mare was dumbfounded and sighed.
"How on earth could someone from San Carlo get lost in the Cathedral of San Ercole instead of anywhere else?"
The Cathedral of San Ercole was a very simple structure centered on a straight main aisle with additional bays on either side, and it was a place that everyone in San Carlo visited every week from the time they were babies.
lacopo Atendolo was the son of the Atendolo family, natives of San Carlo for five generations. He probably crawled, walked, and ran around the Basilica of San Ercole every Sunday for over 20 years, ever since he was baptized there as a newborn.
"And who on earth gives you a diamond ring for giving directions or something!"
Isabella didn't seem to realize the seriousness of the situation at all.
"I gave directions very kindly."
Cardinal de Mare really wanted to dissect what was going on in his daughter's head.
"Do you have any intention of marrying lacopo Attendolo?"
lacopo was an ordinary knight from a not-so-bad family, but he was the second son who could not inherit the family title. There was no way he could reach Isabella's eye level, which was clinging to the top of her head.
Sure enough, Isabella jumped up.
"Dad, why are you saying such horrible things? Oh no!"
"This means that the best marriage partner you can have right now could be lacopo Atendolo! Because of your foolish behavior!"
"Yes? I beg your pardon?"
Isabella de Mare was aiming for Prince Alfonso at best, or Count Cesare at worst. lacopo Atendolo, what kind of terrible joke is this?
"There is a rumor going around in social circles that you are the Marquis de Campa's mistress."
"Yesss?"
Isabella dropped the perfume bottle she was holding. Thick Porto glass rolled on the floor with a dull noise.
"Please. Don't tell me that that was sent by another man. No, isn't it just lacopo Attendolo that you're grateful for? If the rumor that you are the Marquis de Campa's mistress becomes an established fact, would it be possible for you to be with lacopo Atendolo?"
Cardinal de Mare was a truly unique person. Even during this time, he did not ask his daughter, 'Are you truly the Marquis de Campa's mistress?' It was an extremely rational, yet extremely un-clerical, utilitarian attitude that blatantly revealed that he was not interested in the immoral act itself, but only in the bad consequences that the act brought about.
However, forcibly asking about a truly committed incident and explaining a truly unfair incident have different approaches in themselves. So Ariadne decided to point out that part. It was never meant to reveal her older sister's secrets.
"So, is it really Isabella who was in the garden with the Marquis de Campa?"
She decided to add a little drama too. Ariadne bit her lip and cried a little more.
".... Could it be that you were the one who fell in love with the Marquis of Campa, but you kept your mouth shut and didn't help me even when I was accused of being the Marquis of Campa's mistress?"
Cardinal de Mare's expression was one of shock. He was a leader who most hated Internal strife within the same team. It was something he had repeatedly emphasized as her father. Have a good time friendship, please.
"Absolutely not!"
Isabella flatly denied it, but Ariadne heard things from her new social friends.
"My sister was the one who was at the Marquis de Campa's secret meeting place from the beginning. She said that when even Baron and Duchess Dafiani arrived on the scene, sister was already there."
Baron Daplani and his wife were an aristocratic couple known as the first discoverers of the Marquis de Campa.
"If you weren't involved in a secret affair, why on earth didn't you scream?"
Isabella had nothing to say. For a moment, she thought about telling the truth about the situation at the time. The truth was as follows. While Isabella was hiding in the grass, Baron and Daffiani arrived and discovered the Marquis of Campa. The Baroness, who discovered the Marquis de Campa, screamed first, and Isabella stayed still and was pushed by the running woman.
However, to tell this true version of the story, it would include the following: 'Until the arrival of Baron Daphiani and his wife, she was hiding in the grass and quietly enjoying the sights.'
Even though her mouth was torn apart, she couldn't speak.
"Well, that..."
Isabella's eyes wavered anxiously for a moment. But she soon set the tone for her excuses. When she had nothing to say, the best thing to do was to pretend to be weak.
"I was so surprised, so surprised."
Isabella decided to appeal to her father, to whom she had room to appeal emotionally, rather than to Ariadne, who would have no effect.
"The sight of men and women doing that was something I had never imagined in my life, so I froze!"
Unfortunately, the pink breast covering peeking out from between the robes made the statement less convincing. However, Isabella shamelessly decided to push this trend.
"Is it wrong that I couldn't do anything? I was just a passerby, so what am I supposed to do there?"
However, Cardinal de Mare pointed out an additional point that Isabella had completely overlooked.
"If I had come and seen it earlier, I would have helped my sister when she was in trouble!"
Isabella bit her lip. But even in these cases, there is a way.
"I'm sorry, Ariadne!"
She apologized in an oriole-like voice, with a pitiful expression on her enchanting features as if the snow fairy had created them with magic.
"I was so scared, I couldn't muster up the courage. I apologize sincerely, okay?"
There was drama in Isabella's features. Anguish was read in her frowning face, and sadness was felt in the corners of her quivering mouth. She also appealed to Cardinal de Mare with her sincere and remorseful expression.
"I'm sorry, father. I acted really unbecoming of a sister. I truly regret it. I will repay you forever!"
Isabella lowered the atmosphere and desperately expressed her sense of injustice.
"But I swear to the Heavenly God, I am not really the Marquis de Campa's mistress!"
The atmosphere was slowly fading away. Lucrezia was ready to believe, and even Cardinal de Mare's expression was softening. Just as Isabella was about to drive home the point, saying, 'You may not know about others, but you must trust your father, a loud 'cling' sound echoed throughout the room.
The whole family turned to the source of the sound, and there was Arabella, who, as always, was doing what she did best: rummaging through Isabella's belongings.
Ever since she gave the diamond ring to her father, which had been lying on the dressing table, she had been rustling near it. In Arabella's hand was Isabella's handbag, and the 'cling' sound was the sound of a bright red marquise-cut ruby rolling out from there and landing on the silver tray placed on Isabella's dressing table. A large red ruby glowed.
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