Chapter 80 < Lucrezia's Astrologer Incident (2) >

Chapter 80  < Lucrezia's Astrologer Incident (2) > 

Sister, I'm The Queen In This Life

Lucrezia returned to Cardinal de Mare's residence full of hope and enthusiasm. However, even the words that were persuasive when she heard the astrologer's story were very dull after she got home. 

In fact, she thought it was too dangerous to try. 

'That gypsy knew who I was.' 

Lucrezia first heard the story about the astrologer from a gypsy dealer. To be more precise, the visiting dealer with goods from the Moorish Empire told Lucrezia that the astrologer close to Countess Rubina was staying in San Carlo this year instead of going down to the southern palace. 

This was top-notch information. This is because when Countess Rubina was in the capital, she had this astrologer around her and she was never seen outside. But all the water vendor told her was where she should go to meet the astrologer. It wasn't a formal meeting arrangement. 

Therefore, the astrologer would not have been able to receive an introduction to who Lucrezia was from the dealer. At least that is what Lucrezia believed.

'Did she really use her supernatural powers to know that I was the Cardinal's lieutenant?' 

...And a crystal ball! It was definitely Isabella, Arabella, and Ariadne who were alive and moving inside the crystal ball.

'That has to be real.'

Lucrezia, recalling the crystal ball filled with smoke and dancing silhouettes, shook her head to shake off the thought that the astrologer might be a fraud. 

Moreover, the astrologer never asked for money. She couldn't have been a fraud.

"If I just take the 'Heart of the Blue Sea', all my worries can be solved.'

She wasn't even asking for it forever. All she had to do was take it for a while, undergo a purification ceremony, take it back, and put it back where it was. 

Isn't the risk almost negligible compared to what you get?

After thinking this far, Lucrezia decided that she must do what the gypsy astrologer told her to do. 

***

The sun was shining in a clear blue sky without a single cloud. Although it was currently early winter in terms of the season, the weather on the ship was like Etruscan autumn, both from the strong sun and the warm wind blowing on the deck.

Dismissal!

"Oh my!"

An old woman who was sitting on the deck of a sailing ship, looking into a basin containing purified water, was so startled that she jumped up. Her electrified right hand tingled, so she grabbed her new metal bell and shook her arm to shake off the bad energy.

"Someone used the 'Curse of the Golden Rule' again!"

The old woman was as irritated as she could be.

"Looking at the structure of the witchcraft, this is what the Amhara did again! Do these things have brains or not?"

She wore a red skirt, had yellowish skin, small, slitted eyes, and hair as black as ebony. She was from the Balasa Ordo, a horse people from the eastern continent.

"Grandma, are you hurt?"

The old woman's grandson stuck his head out and looked at his grandmother's hands. He was a boy who looked to be about eight or nine years old.

"I wasn't hurt. I quickly turned it off as soon as it passed by, so nothing was fried. I don't know why the Amhara are releasing the 'Curse of the Golden Rule' on royalties. Moreover, they released it in the central continent, not in their own land! Where did you find such an amazing case?"

In the central continent, all mountains coming from the eastern continent were easily referred to as 'Moorish Empire' mountains. However, what the Central Continent people think of as the 'Moorish Empire' is mainly just the Etelköz people, who established a strong empire in the old Yesak region, and the Amhara tribe living in the deep black land, and in fact, there are three tribes that the Central Continent people cannot clearly distinguish. 

There were more countries. The Moorish Empire was a loose union in which the Kings of five countries took turns as the supreme ruler.

The old woman was Salman's shaman from Balasa Ordo, who established an empire in the deepest east. Given the power of the Avatar since her youthful illness, she has reigned as the Supreme Lady Salman of Balasa Ordo, but her monarch has always been a problem. She was troubled when the newly crowned young Khan of Balasa Ordo began his tyranny. As the old woman was the chief Salman shaman, she had a duty to advise the Khan. But as soon as the Sanua-Khan had the blood of her kin on her hands, she used her purifying water to glimpse her heavenly energy, and without even looking back, she grabbed the wrist of her grandson, her only blood relative, and gave him the capital. 

So the old woman left Balasa Ordo behind and moved west along the Silk Road, eventually loading her body onto a sailing ship bound for the Etruscans.

The sailboat crossing the 'Black Salt Sea' ran at high speed, relying on a ray of wind in the hot air typical of the southern land.

Since she was on her way to escape, she was not at peace physically and mentally. 

The grandchild asked the old woman who was grumbling more than usual.

"Grandma, why is the 'Judgment Seat of the Golden Rule' a curse? If you succeed, you can achieve anything!"

The old woman was frightened and swung the metal bell, forming seals in four directions and quickly creating a barrier. After pulling her grandson into the barrier, she looked around as if on guard, and after confirming that she could not feel the gaze of the higher ones', she clicked her tongue at the boy's recognition of reality.

"Tsk tsk tsk, you son of a bitch! So, thousands of people have tried for thousands of years, and who has succeeded?"

"There is a Greek Prometheus! The bearer of fire, the prophet, the one who sees first!"

The old woman shook her head.

"So, did Prometheus become happy?"

The boy had no choice but to lower his head at his grandmother's point.

"No."

But it seemed like he couldn't hide his innocent blood.

"But you brought fire to mankind! I am praised to this day! My name will go down in history as a hero!"

The old woman couldn't stand it anymore and hit the boy on the back of the head.

"It wouldn't be worth it for this old lady to abandon everything and take you to the western land of barbarians, you bastard!"

There was no end to the nagging of an old woman with her grandchild hugging the back of her head. 

"Let's say Prometheus succeeded by adding concession after concession. Don't you think about the countless 'those brought to judgment who failed to even achieve what they set out to do? Common sense tells us that one in thousands succeeds. Would you rather be one or one of the rest?"

The old woman's voice gradually rose.

"Changing the past is not easy. Is it easy to break cause and effect? How many 'speckies' are there hanging on a single thread? In most cases, the threads of fate are so tangled and tangled like a spider's web that you can't even touch them. Just because one incident has been prevented doesn't mean that the 'Speckies' that is determined by fate won't happen!"

She was not relieved and begged the boy to take care of himself.

"Close your eyes tightly. We didn't see anything. Even if you go to Etruscan land and see a 'man on the judgment seat' walking around with two dots, one under each eye, keep your mouth shut and your ears covered. I don't want you to be a hero. I just want you to eat well, live well, and enjoy heavenly life for the rest of your life."

There was clearly a price to pay to leave the private sphere and become a public figure.

The old woman lived long enough to make her own value judgment about whether it was really worth it to change individuals for the sake of the causality of the world. But the old woman also knew very well that children tend to make different judgments than older people.

"Please make this grandmother feel the reward of abandoning everything and taking you to a land where causality surrounding us is rare."

The boy looked down at the floor at the grandmother's unusually pleading tone but reluctantly agreed.

"Yes..."

*** 

Arabella, who had decided to apply to music college, was excitedly composing music. In addition to the Mass Brevis, for which she is recorded as a co-composer with Isabella, Arabella had one or two lute solo pieces and a string quartet that she had already completed. 

Nevertheless, Arabella wanted to add more to her portfolio. Additional work Arabella was working on these days was a soprano solo aria that she had decided to include when writing an opera someday. 

Ariadne had no knowledge of composition and had no choice but to support her sister's efforts. But she knew very well whose heart she had to melt in order to enter the convent's music college.

'In the end, the key is the letter of recommendation that Cardinal de Mare will send to the abbess!'

She encouraged Arabella's work and drafted a letter for Cardinal de Mare to send to the abbess. People who stamped stamps tended to be lazy. Without a pre-written draft, Cardinal de Mare could have procrastinated and missed the deadline.

Ariadne sat next to Arabella as she wrestled with the staff and musical instruments and completed the cardinal's letter in her spare time. It was a letter of recommendation that could be sent immediately with Cardinal de Mare's signature. 

Ariadne ended up spending much of her time in the drawing room of Arabella and the girls. Naturally, Ariadne's study was empty for a long time. However, from then on, Ariadne began to feel a strange sense of discomfort every time she sat in the study.

"Sancha, how did the ink bottle fall on the floor?"

"Well... I definitely put it up properly and left. There's no one going in and out of the study." 

Once she got that strange feeling, everything felt suspicious after that. Under Ariadne's instructions, the maids under her direct command took turns guarding the Young Lady's room 24 hours a day.

'I shouldn't do that...!'

The person who was most upset about that action was Lucrezia. Lucrezia first sent Giada, the chief maid, to find out where Ariadne kept the 'Heart of the Blue Sea'. After searching Ariadne's room, Giada came to the correct conclusion that the necklace must be in Ariadne's safe in her study. 

However, in the process, the inkwell was dropped, and Ariadne was put on high alert. After that, there was no progress at all.

"Oh my, this is frustrating. stuffy!"

Lucrezia planned to send someone to find out the password to Ariadne's safe, but there was no way since she couldn't even get near the room. One of her methods was to bribe Ariadne's maid, but Anna was the type of person who hated doing unnecessary things, and Vicenta was young and seemed like a big deal. 

Moreover, neither of them had permission to access the safe. The only thing that could get that close was a mountain car. But there wasn't even room for a knife to fit into the damn mountain car. Giada, who approached with an awkward smile, was struck down before she could say anything.

"Do you think our lady needs anything in her room?" 

"Yes?"

"Seeing that you came here yourself, I know who searched the room in the first place!"

Sancha snorted loudly and walked away. 

Giada couldn't bear to tell Lucrezia that she had dropped the inkwell and that had caused this illness. In such cases, it is appropriate to emphasize the strength of the enemy. So she just reported that the Sancha girl was very perceptive and loyal, so there seemed to be no way around it.

"Are you sure there is no way?"

Lucrezia was furious and got angry at Giada. From the beginning, Lucrezia went to see an astrologer on her own out of caution. But she was born with a foul mouth. Lucrezia wanted to share the amazing situation she had witnessed with someone, so she went alone and felt no sense, so she ended up telling Giada everything. 

Giada was in a difficult position as she had become an accomplice in something she did not want to do. Giada added her words cautiously.

"The little lady is very prudent and has no problem manipulating people, Ma'am."

"So, are you telling me to just suck my finger?"

"No, no, that can't be possible, Ma'am! Instead of targeting the little girl, why not go to that astrologer again? I heard you're so brave, but wouldn't it be possible to perform a purification ritual even without an actual object?"

That's right, it made sense.

"You are right. She is an astrologer who is rumored to be the most useful in the capital, so she must have a plan."

Lucrezia once again put on her black robe, this time taking Glada with her, and took the carriage of Rue de Mare to the alleys of San Carlo. What Lucrezia didn't know was that Ariadne was watching through the curtains of her suite on the second floor as Lucrezia's black carriage left.

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