Chapter 77 < Those Who Comply With Fate, Those Who Resist Fate >
Sister, I'm The Queen In This Life
"Prince, the nature of the Etruscan land is truly beautiful!"
While the Prince and the palace staff were resting after setting up a movable table and chairs in the open space next to the forest where they had stopped to rest during the move, Grand Duchess Lariesa got off the carriage and, as if it was natural, the palace staff gathered together with her attendants.
Prince Alfonso, with a pale expression on his face and following perfect etiquette without any errors, pulled out the chair in front of him and made a place for the Grand Duchess Lariesa to sit.
"Please sit down, Grand Duchess."
Lariesa proudly sat down on the chair Alfonso had pulled out. She no longer even tried to speak Etruscan. Instead, she made a strange effort. Whenever she had time, she would come to Alfonso and she would sit close to him and talk to him non-stop.
"Is the Southern Palace beautiful?"
"It's just a small palace to spend the winter in. It's not a place that will catch the eye of a Grand Duchess, so it's best not to expect too much."
Alfonso had previously praised the beauty of the southern palace to Ariadne, but he did not want to do the same to Lariesa. He didn't want to make her happy by telling the good stories, much less brag about what he had to her. Moreover, he said that the southern constellation was beautiful for no reason, but when he was disappointed to see him in person due to Lariesa temperament, it was a headache to worry about what to do to suit her.
Alfonso mechanically handed tea food and tea one after another to Lariesa, who was seated. It was typical escort manners from the owner to the guest and the fiancé to her fiancee. But
Lariesa took this differently.
"You remembered whether I added milk or tea first! I'm so happy."
Lariesa smiled brightly and looked at Alfonso. In addition to her frugal facial features, the slightly presbyopic Lariesa expressed her joy with excessively loud reactions as if she were a child, giving her a strange sense of heterogeneity.
Why on earth is that woman so confident that he will be delighted by her expression of interest?
Ever since the masquerade ball, Lariesa had been pretending that the two things that had happened that day had never happened: that she had lied about winning the Prix de Montpellier, and that she had run into the garden. Instead, she was overly pushy and overly kind to Alfonso. It was as If she thought she could make up for her mistakes by being nice to him.
'Since I gave in to you and was kind to you, let's pretend I didn't do it anything wrong and don't mention any more. We are people who will end up together in the end. I'll be patient and look at you kindly. So, you too, be kind to me.'
Alfonso put a smile on his face to match Lariesa's emotions. But his eyes were not smiling.
"The Grand Duchess' safety is my joy."
Lariesa didn't seem to feel uncomfortable by Alfonso's expressionless, sweet words. She smiled innocently and responded to Alfonso.
"It's like magic that the Prince knows what I like and what I don't like. It's proof that we are destined, right?"
The weather was getting colder, and Alfonso's heart was freezing with the seasonal chill. The fresh green, hot summer, midsummer hydrangeas, and the girl with dazzling green eyes were like a summer shower recalled in midwinter. It broke his heart to recall the happiness he could not have and would never return. But he was the father of all people, and he had a duty to do for his people.
Sacrifice. Hardship. Love for all people.
For this, personal love had to be put aside. That was right.
***
The autumn of 1122 was fruitful and the winter that followed was bitterly cold. The weather was the same as in her previous life.
Ariadne stayed busy and worked hard on her body to keep her from thinking about other things. The reason Ariadne was able to maintain her composure despite the unprecedented failure of Alfonso's promised invitation was purely because she knew what would happen in her future. If he were to choose just one event from 1122, it would be the declaration of the Apostle of Acereto as a heretic. The comparable event of 1123 is definitely the assassination of Queen Marguerite.
'Well, it wasn't even a fuss!
It was also the event that made Isabella become Princess.
Shortly after Cesare and Ariadne became engaged, her mother-in-law, Countess Rubina, committed a daring act. She added arsenic to Queen Marguerite's wine. After drinking her arsenic-laced aperitif at her banquet, the Queen died that very evening. Countess Rubina insisted that she did not poison the Queen, but salvarsan, a type of arsenic, came from her quarters.
No one believed Countess Rubina's innocence and she was immediately thrown in prison. She became a Countess, and after the investigation and trial, she was quickly beheaded. It was a big deal when a mere King's mistress assassinated the Queen, her mother-in-law, but an even bigger problem occurred after that.
The Royal Princess, whom the Kingdom of Gallico had raised and sent here, falls victim to the speculations of the King's mistress in a foreign country, and the Etruscan Kingdom demands compensation for the royal family's life. The Etruscan Kingdom offered a small amount of consolation money, but the Gallic Kingdom snorted, saying they had no money.
'It wasn't a problem that could be solved with gold!
As there were no additional proposals to their liking, the Kingdom of Gallico immediately dispatched its vaunted heavily armed cavalry to the border of Etruscan. It was right in front of the Gaeta region. The Margrave of Gaeta was responsible for guarding the borders, but he was half Gallican. The land of Gaeta was right next to the Kingdom of Gallico, so the people of Gaeta were all familiar with Gallico's culture and language. In addition, Gaeta's lordly family had long intermarried with Gallic nobles. Margrave Landlord was born to his mother, who was from Gallico and took a wife who was a Gallican nobleman.
The margrave of Gaeta, as soon as Montpellier's heavy cavalry and artillery troops arrived at the foot of the walls, he surrendered the white flag and raised an oath of allegiance to King Gallico. He moved smoothly from the Etruscan ruling class to the Gallic ruling class. The country has been turned upside down.
"How can you become a noble with a duty to protect your country and then offer up territory to an enemy country?"
"A person like trash who throws away pledges of loyalty like a devoted partner!"
"It's because he's half a dirty Gallico bastard!"
"Can a person whose mother is Gallican and whose spouse is also Gallican be considered an Etruscan?"
Strangely enough, the person who was hit by that stray bullet was Prince Alfonso, who had lost his mother less than half a year ago.
"Our future King also plans to have a Gallico woman as his mother and a Gallico woman as his spouse."
"How can you serve such a person as King?"
"What a funny thing would happen if the King of the Etruscans wasn't an Etruscan!"
Although it was impossible to do anything about the fact that the mother was a Gallican, it was possible to change the spouse who had not yet married from a Gallican to an Etruscan.
As the worsening public opinion among both the noble class and the people spread to the capital to refuse to pay taxes, Palagio de Carlo was in a hurry to notify the Grand Duchess of Lariesa, who was engaged, to break off the engagement.
Palagio de Carlo ignored the furious Grand Duke Eude of Valoa and hurriedly looked for a domestic bride to turn the situation around. There were two people who emerged as final candidates.
Julia de Baldesar, the daughter of the Marquis de Baldesar, and Isabella de Mare, the eldest daughter of Cardinal de Mare.
When Leo III excluded all the female wives of feudal nobles, saying that he could not tolerate maternal relatives in the military, there were only daughters left of acceptable age and reputation and from acceptable families.
The Etruscan Kingdom, which was in crisis, desperately needed the intervention of the Holy Emperor. Since there was no way to return to the Gaeta region through military force, the only remaining option was a diplomatic solution.
Moreover, in the summer of 1123, the Black Death began to spread throughout the Etruscan Kingdom. It was hopeless. By that time, the immediate problem was not the Gaeta region, but food and medical support. In the end, the one chosen was Isabella de Mare, the Cardinal's daughter who could change the direction of the Holy Emperor's decision-making.
'It was funny.'
Isabella's greatest pride was her good looks, but it was her father's power, not her beauty, that brought her her greatest achievements. It was ironic.
'You just have to wait.'
Ariadne also enjoyed her father's authority. Currently, Isabella's reputation has already been significantly damaged. The trust of her father, Cardinal de Mare, also now rested on Ariadne. If they had to choose which of Cardinal de Mare's two daughters would become the Prince's companion, most gamblers would bet on Ariadne. It bothered her that, unlike her previous life, the Grand Duchess of Lariesa followed Alfonso to Taranto, but no matter what the Grand Duchess of Lariesa did in Taranto if Queen Marguerite is assassinated, she would not be able to marry Alfonso.
"It will be fine."
Queen Marguerite treated her very well. She was a fair and strict mistress of the country, but she was also a kind person. She was the one who extended her warm hand to Ariadne many times, although she had no reason to show favor.
"What can I do?"
Ariadne shook her head to shake off her guilty conscience. The assassination of Queen Marguerite was a national incident.
At most, Ariadne had only managed to secure a little bit of freedom of movement within the de Mare family. Even the Apostle of Acereto incident, in which Ariadne was most active, merely added a spoonful and did not change what would happen itself.
The assassination of Queen Marguerite is not a case of a size that she can be involved in. She wanted to believe that.
"I can't help it."
It's something that can't be done. It will happen, and it cannot be prevented. But Alfonso will be very sad when Queen Marguerite dies. Even in his previous life, the Prince had become noticeably speechless after Her Majesty the Queen's death.
At his own lavish wedding, which followed his mother's funeral, the Prince did not look happy at all. But he should be fine. It will be okay.
***
There were several unused rooms and barns in the de Mare mansion, and Ariadne needed a warehouse.
However, the authority to determine the use of the room belonged to Lucrezia, the hostess. She looked into renting a separate building outside the Cardinal's residence, but the security in San Carlo was not that good.
If you left loose items in an empty house, people whom you would be ashamed to call petty thieves would quickly break the lock and steal everything. Currently, Ariadne does not have the manpower to set up crime prevention even in the warehouse outside the mansion.
"I need a male servant."
"Can't it be the butler Nicollo?"
"How can you use an opportunist who only knows one thing or another for something big? We need someone who is loyal and trustworthy."
Good personnel did not fall from the sky. Ariadne decided to take more time and wait for the opportunity. Originally, what she had tried to stock up on was wheat, which had become cheaper due to the bumper harvest, but since there was no storage space, she had no choice but to buy small and expensive items rather than cheap and bulky items. What Ariadne chose instead was beeswax.
"Miss, why are you buying this again? Do we even sell candles?"
Beeswax was also a material for high-quality candles, used to seal letters, and also used as cosmetics and simple medicine. Among dogs, it was known to be particularly effective against skin diseases.
But that wasn't Ariadne's reason for hoarding wax.
"Isn't it the story of life that we don't know when what will become important?"
In the summer of 1123, the Black Death struck the entire Etruscan kingdom.
Beeswax was an object applied to cuter clothing and the entire body to prevent illness during the Black Death pandemic.
Beeswax, a substance extracted from beehives, is made by bees while remaining chaste without mating throughout their lives and has been thought to be a substance sent down from heaven to earth.
For that reason, only the high-quality candles used at the temple were made from pure beeswax. However, when the Black Death broke out, beeswax was revered as a human tool to fight against the Black Death, which was called a divine punishment from heaven.
In fact, if you covered your skin and outer clothing with beeswax, you were less likely to catch the Black Death. The Black Death of 1123 was also the event that claimed young Arabella's life in her last life.
Ariadne planned to turn the crisis into an opportunity. Ariadne had about 70 ducato in spare funds. In addition to the Queen's alms deposited at the Rambouillet center, the emergency fund hidden while attending the Debutante Ball, and the allowance of 10 ducatoes per month that she had received directly from Cardinal de Mare three or four months ago, she collected all that was left after spending, and Count Cesare, he left some of his overflowing gifts at a pawn shop and added the money he received.
With this money, she bought all the beeswax on the market that was reasonably priced without asking questions. The best quality beeswax was imported from the Rath Galin region, east of the central continent, but Ariadne did not insist on the best quality and steadily bought products from within the Etruscans, as long as they were within her price range. Because her budget wasn't very large and she had a lot of time on her hands, she didn't need to hoard enough to make her money fluctuate.
She stored the wax she collected in a room attached to the kitchen of Cardinal de Mare's residence. In response to Ariadne's outspoken behavior, Giada, the head maid under Lucrezia, protested against Ariadne's free use of the room.
"Miss, what should I do if you use this room as you please!"
"Jiada. Is that my mother's will?"
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