'My only successor. The only one in line for the throne after me.'
This was something Leo III always said when he was doting on Alfonso.
This was also an area in which Queen Marguerite had infinite pride.
Even without the King's affection, her son is the sole heir to the throne of this country, and she is the mother of the next King, a sad pride.
And under their wings, Alfonso spent his entire life training himself to become the next Etruscan monarch.
She was able to endure the difficult training, the hard exams, and the miserable daily life.
He was a man who would become a King, and a man who would become a King would have to learn more, understand more, and endure more than others.
He thought that all the things he shouldn't do and the suffocatingly numerous rules were things he had to endure.
It was part of that that he initially tried to suppress his feelings for Ariadne.
The King's successor cannot pursue only his own love.
To revive the dynasty and prosper the country, he must marry the daughter of the monarch who is of suitable bloodline and has a dowry appropriate to her status. But...
'Cesare de Carlo. Eldest son of Leo III, older brother of Alfonso de Carlo.'
Thud.
It felt like the eggshell had broken.
Alfonso was no longer unique, the only one responsible for the throne.
He could be replaced at any time and the duties and privileges he thought he was born with were not his alone.
One of the key components of the man known as Alfonso de Carlo has now fallen apart.
An innocent yet cruel smile spread across the lips of Princess Lariesa as she looked at Prince Alfonso, who had frozen like a stone statue.
Childish selfishness is satisfied with having influenced others and does not think about the consequences.
What Leo III actually acknowledged in Cesare was not his status as a 'Prince', but rather as 'the Prince's cousin'.
Cesare de Carlo—despite his new surname—was merely second in line to the throne, following Prince Alfonso.
However, Lariesa intentionally did not tell Alfonso and hid that part because she wanted to hurt him.
Alfonso had mistreated her, made her cry, and treated her poorly in San Carlo and Taranto. Now it was his turn to suffer.
She will pay him back for everything. For as long as she has been sick, no, even more so with interest.
“My father said that now that your brother has the right to inherit, you are useless!”
This was something that Lariesa learned by secretly opening a notebook in the office of the Grand Duke of Odes.
However, these words of Grand Duke Odes were meant to imply that the emergence of Duke Cesare, the second in line of succession, would hinder Philip IV's plan to murder Prince Alfonso, marry Princess Bianca, and swallow up the entire Etruscan kingdom according to the rightful order of succession.
But Lariesa was not wise enough to understand the deeper meaning, and even if she had known, she would have said the same thing.
She wanted to subdue Alfonso.
Alfonso, who was cut off from the context, also understood these words of Lariesa as Grand Duke Odes's assessment that 'Prince Alfonso de Carlo was no longer of use to Leo III of the Etruscan Kingdom.'
She called his name in a faint voice.
It was a boldness that could be shown because she was confident that she had absolute superiority.
It was the first time that Lariesa called Alfonso by his name without his title or rank.
But despite this power gap, Alfonso did not respond.
Lariesa, who had become anxious, now clung to him as if pleading.
“His Majesty Philip IV intends to imprison you here and kill you!”
Why on earth does this man not readily take my hand in this situation?
“Marry me. If you marry me, you can move to the Valoa estate! No, if you don’t want to stay in the capital Montpellier, you can come down to the Valoa estate with me. I’ll get you out of this prison. If you take my hand, you can do it!”
Alfonso remained silent, but Lariesa mustered up her courage and extended her thorny, skinny hand to Alfonso.
A white, skinny hand and wrist were thrust before Alfonso's eyes.
He remembered seeing something similar to this just before he set out for Gallico.
'...Ariadne.'
His one and only woman who had withered away so painfully.
Lariesa had long, bamboo-like joints beneath her flaky skin.
Alfonso could have drawn Ariadne's hand and her slender wrist over it even now.
Like an olive tree branch, fragile and ready to break, yet never bending...
Alfonso's thoughts were interrupted by Lariesa's sharp voice.
“Is it perhaps because of the illegitimate child of that Cardinal you left behind in Etruscan?”
That was the right answer. Alfonso's pupils dilated as his own thoughts were revealed.
And Lariesa, who caught the song, confirmed her suspicions. She glared at Alfonso with angry eyes.
“What are you doing right now, with your only lifeline right in front of you? Because of some bastard who might have rolled in somewhere..!”
“...Don’t talk nonsense.”
“!”
Princess Lariesa's eyes wavered. Prince Alfonso did not stop talking even after hearing that Leo III had abandoned him.
He, who had been like that, couldn't bear it the moment the Cardinal's illegitimate daughter was mentioned. Lariesa's shock was only momentary.
I won't let that happen. Her lips curled into a wicked smile as she spat out sharp words.
“Poor guy.”
The words that could most hurt Prince Alfonso now left her lips.
“It wasn’t just your father and your cousin, the Kings of both countries, who betrayed you. How foolish...”
“...!”
Looking straight into Alfonso's shaking eyes, Lariesa typed out each word.
A cruel pleasure ran up her spine and pounded in her brain.
“Aren’t you curious as to how your half-brother came to be recognized by His Majesty the King?”
Alfonso was just staring at Lariesa, frozen like a stone statue, but Lariesa could tell that every single cell in his body was focused on him.
She shouted out every word, enjoying the feeling of being completely noticed.
“Your ‘love’ has knelt before His Majesty the King and begged him to acknowledge Count Cesare as his son!”
Although it was additionally recorded as 'unconfirmed information' in the report he had heard from his father, Lariesa had no interest in its truth.
No, just make it true. If Alfonso believes only her, it will become a truth stronger than the truth.
“And that’s not all! Ariadne de Mare had her first dance with Cesare de Carlo at his inaugural ball!”
First dance.
When Alfonso had his first dance with Lariesa at the royal ball in spring, Ariadne was deeply upset, although she didn't show it.
So Alfonso knew how much significance Ariadne attached to the 'first dance' of the ball.
His hands began to tremble slightly.
Lariesa put the final nail in the coffin here.
“There is a rumor going around in San Carlo right now that Cesare de Carlo is getting engaged to Ariadne de Mare!”
It didn't matter whether it was true or not.
“Why are you hanging yourself on those who betrayed you? All you have left is me, Lariesa!”
She took a piece of parchment from her bosom. It was something she always carried with her.
“I can save you!”
Lariesa thrust the paper in front of Alfonso's nose.
“I sign.”
Alfonso's blurred eyes saw part of the writing on the document.
“...Vow.”
“It’s a marriage vow.”
The parchment contained the following inscription: 'The marriage of Alfonso de Carlo, Prince of the Etruscans and eldest son of Leo III, and Lariesa of Valoa, eldest daughter of Odes, Grand Duke of Valoa,, is to be effected. The dowry and bride price will be mutually agreed upon.'
“It’s called a marriage certificate, but it’s actually your lifeline. The only one.”
She dipped the pen in ink, filled in her name, and signed her name in her own handwriting.
“Well, I’m in the same boat with you now.”
She appealed, looking at Alfonso who was not moving with watery eyes.
“This isn’t easy for me either. You have to sign a marriage contract with me so that our father will be moved!”
Lariesa dipped her quill in ink and offered it to Alfonso, but Alfonso still did not respond.
The silence was long and the ink on the tip of the quill was drying.
Alfonso opened his mouth as the ink on the tip of the pen began to clump.
“...Father is just an excuse. Isn’t that right, Grand Duchess of Valoa? Don’t you just want me?”
Lariesa changed the subject with a red face. She was not thick-skinned enough to say no outright.
“...My father will not confront His Majesty the King for you unless you marry me. That is why.”
“Have you discussed this with Grand Duke Odes?”
Alfonso's eyes finally blinked slowly, his golden eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings.
The young Prince now looked like a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon.
I said and did things I would never have done before.
“Princess Lariesa of Valoa. I don’t know you very well, but I know this much. You failed to convince your father. Once I signed this marriage contract, I would have thought about how to convince your father.”
That was the right answer. Lariesa bit her lip.
“Suppose I sign the marriage contract. Will your father get me out safely?”
“I’ll make it happen somehow! Somehow...!”
Whether it was appealing to her father with tears or threatening her life in front of her mother, she was going to make it happen somehow.
Lariesa had never wanted something so strongly in her short life.
Her jealousy of her sister Susanne, her hatred of Princess Auguste, and the boredom and helplessness that filled her days were nothing compared to the situation she was in now when she was on the verge of seizing Alfonso de Carlo.
Apart from Alfonso, nothing in this world meant anything to Lariesa.
Prince Alfonso picked up the quill.
“Grand Duchess Lariesa. I want to get out of here. But I won’t go to the Grand Duke of Valoa.”
“Then, as the Grand Duke of Valoa...!”
“I will not go anywhere that King Gallico can reach.”
The white feather in Alfonso's hand fluttered in the autumn breeze.
Lariesa was thirsty. If only that quill would just sign this paper...!
“I’m going to cross the border. The day you can get me across the border without your father, I’ll sign this paper.”
Alfonso clicked and put the quill down on the table.
And he took the parchment document with both hands and tried to tear it.
"For a moment!"
Lariesa stopped him.
“...You can leave the Kingdom of Gallico without my father’s assistance. Tonight. Tonight is your only chance.”
The Prince's cerulean eyes scanned the Grand Duchess's pale skin. His eyes demanded an answer.
“Grand Duke Yuldenberg... will leave the palace early tomorrow morning. He has received the sponsorship, so he will now set out for Jesak.”
The Grand Duke of Yuldenberg arrived at the palace in Montpellier with about 300 of his knights and 1,000 infantry.
He planned to join the rest of his forces stationed at Lamian, a port town not far from the capital Montpellier and set out for Yesak with a fleet of caravels and cogs.
“The Palais de Montpellier is a maze and a fortress in itself, and the capital, Montpellier, is an extension of the palace. If you run away alone, you will never be able to leave the capital. You will have to mix in with the chaos as the Grand Duke of Yuldenberg’s army leaves.”
What Lariesa had in mind was to take advantage of the military unrest to allow Alfonso to escape the Montpellier palace alone.
But Alfonso's paintings were different.
"Then."
Alfonso demanded.
“You come here at four in the morning and somehow free us. I can’t go out alone, my knights have to go with me.”
“That, that...”
Larissa, who had planned to take Alfonso out secretly, even disguising him as a woman, was speechless.
She did not have the wherewithal to lure a dozen sturdy knights out of the palace of Montpellier.
Prince Alfonso looked at Princess Lariesa with cold eyes.
“If you don’t have the talent to bribe people or the ability to use your own people...”
It was a cold gaze that did not contain even a single ounce of love.
“You can set fire to the palace with your own hands. You said you wanted me.”
Prince Alfonso pushed the parchment document to the Princess of Lariesa.
“I’ll sign this if we meet again this morning.”
Lariesa accepted the marriage contract as if it were a reliquary, with the space for her husband's signature left blank.
“If you don’t make it happen, don’t even think about seeing me again.”
This was something Leo III always said when he was doting on Alfonso.
This was also an area in which Queen Marguerite had infinite pride.
Even without the King's affection, her son is the sole heir to the throne of this country, and she is the mother of the next King, a sad pride.
And under their wings, Alfonso spent his entire life training himself to become the next Etruscan monarch.
She was able to endure the difficult training, the hard exams, and the miserable daily life.
He was a man who would become a King, and a man who would become a King would have to learn more, understand more, and endure more than others.
He thought that all the things he shouldn't do and the suffocatingly numerous rules were things he had to endure.
It was part of that that he initially tried to suppress his feelings for Ariadne.
The King's successor cannot pursue only his own love.
To revive the dynasty and prosper the country, he must marry the daughter of the monarch who is of suitable bloodline and has a dowry appropriate to her status. But...
'Cesare de Carlo. Eldest son of Leo III, older brother of Alfonso de Carlo.'
Thud.
It felt like the eggshell had broken.
Alfonso was no longer unique, the only one responsible for the throne.
He could be replaced at any time and the duties and privileges he thought he was born with were not his alone.
One of the key components of the man known as Alfonso de Carlo has now fallen apart.
An innocent yet cruel smile spread across the lips of Princess Lariesa as she looked at Prince Alfonso, who had frozen like a stone statue.
Childish selfishness is satisfied with having influenced others and does not think about the consequences.
What Leo III actually acknowledged in Cesare was not his status as a 'Prince', but rather as 'the Prince's cousin'.
Cesare de Carlo—despite his new surname—was merely second in line to the throne, following Prince Alfonso.
However, Lariesa intentionally did not tell Alfonso and hid that part because she wanted to hurt him.
Alfonso had mistreated her, made her cry, and treated her poorly in San Carlo and Taranto. Now it was his turn to suffer.
She will pay him back for everything. For as long as she has been sick, no, even more so with interest.
“My father said that now that your brother has the right to inherit, you are useless!”
This was something that Lariesa learned by secretly opening a notebook in the office of the Grand Duke of Odes.
However, these words of Grand Duke Odes were meant to imply that the emergence of Duke Cesare, the second in line of succession, would hinder Philip IV's plan to murder Prince Alfonso, marry Princess Bianca, and swallow up the entire Etruscan kingdom according to the rightful order of succession.
But Lariesa was not wise enough to understand the deeper meaning, and even if she had known, she would have said the same thing.
She wanted to subdue Alfonso.
Alfonso, who was cut off from the context, also understood these words of Lariesa as Grand Duke Odes's assessment that 'Prince Alfonso de Carlo was no longer of use to Leo III of the Etruscan Kingdom.'
His heart ached as if it had been stabbed.
But instead of screaming or openly showing his pain, he remained motionless like a weathered statue. No, he couldn't.
If it weren't for the occasional blink of his eyelids and the watery pupils beneath them, it would be hard to tell whether Alfonso was human or not, as all the life had been sucked out of him.
Lariesa declared as if driving a wedge in front of Prince Alfonso.
“I am the only one who can save you.”
She looked straight at Alfonso and said.
“Marry me.”
And for a long time, a quiet silence fell over the room.
For Lariesa, who had made the offer of a lifetime, this silence was harder to bear than death.
“Alfonso...?”
But instead of screaming or openly showing his pain, he remained motionless like a weathered statue. No, he couldn't.
If it weren't for the occasional blink of his eyelids and the watery pupils beneath them, it would be hard to tell whether Alfonso was human or not, as all the life had been sucked out of him.
Lariesa declared as if driving a wedge in front of Prince Alfonso.
“I am the only one who can save you.”
She looked straight at Alfonso and said.
“Marry me.”
And for a long time, a quiet silence fell over the room.
For Lariesa, who had made the offer of a lifetime, this silence was harder to bear than death.
“Alfonso...?”
She called his name in a faint voice.
It was a boldness that could be shown because she was confident that she had absolute superiority.
It was the first time that Lariesa called Alfonso by his name without his title or rank.
But despite this power gap, Alfonso did not respond.
Lariesa, who had become anxious, now clung to him as if pleading.
“His Majesty Philip IV intends to imprison you here and kill you!”
Why on earth does this man not readily take my hand in this situation?
“Marry me. If you marry me, you can move to the Valoa estate! No, if you don’t want to stay in the capital Montpellier, you can come down to the Valoa estate with me. I’ll get you out of this prison. If you take my hand, you can do it!”
Alfonso remained silent, but Lariesa mustered up her courage and extended her thorny, skinny hand to Alfonso.
A white, skinny hand and wrist were thrust before Alfonso's eyes.
He remembered seeing something similar to this just before he set out for Gallico.
'...Ariadne.'
His one and only woman who had withered away so painfully.
Lariesa had long, bamboo-like joints beneath her flaky skin.
Alfonso could have drawn Ariadne's hand and her slender wrist over it even now.
Like an olive tree branch, fragile and ready to break, yet never bending...
Alfonso's thoughts were interrupted by Lariesa's sharp voice.
“Is it perhaps because of the illegitimate child of that Cardinal you left behind in Etruscan?”
That was the right answer. Alfonso's pupils dilated as his own thoughts were revealed.
And Lariesa, who caught the song, confirmed her suspicions. She glared at Alfonso with angry eyes.
“What are you doing right now, with your only lifeline right in front of you? Because of some bastard who might have rolled in somewhere..!”
“...Don’t talk nonsense.”
“!”
Princess Lariesa's eyes wavered. Prince Alfonso did not stop talking even after hearing that Leo III had abandoned him.
He, who had been like that, couldn't bear it the moment the Cardinal's illegitimate daughter was mentioned. Lariesa's shock was only momentary.
I won't let that happen. Her lips curled into a wicked smile as she spat out sharp words.
“Poor guy.”
The words that could most hurt Prince Alfonso now left her lips.
“It wasn’t just your father and your cousin, the Kings of both countries, who betrayed you. How foolish...”
“...!”
Looking straight into Alfonso's shaking eyes, Lariesa typed out each word.
A cruel pleasure ran up her spine and pounded in her brain.
“Aren’t you curious as to how your half-brother came to be recognized by His Majesty the King?”
Alfonso was just staring at Lariesa, frozen like a stone statue, but Lariesa could tell that every single cell in his body was focused on him.
She shouted out every word, enjoying the feeling of being completely noticed.
“Your ‘love’ has knelt before His Majesty the King and begged him to acknowledge Count Cesare as his son!”
Although it was additionally recorded as 'unconfirmed information' in the report he had heard from his father, Lariesa had no interest in its truth.
No, just make it true. If Alfonso believes only her, it will become a truth stronger than the truth.
“And that’s not all! Ariadne de Mare had her first dance with Cesare de Carlo at his inaugural ball!”
First dance.
When Alfonso had his first dance with Lariesa at the royal ball in spring, Ariadne was deeply upset, although she didn't show it.
So Alfonso knew how much significance Ariadne attached to the 'first dance' of the ball.
His hands began to tremble slightly.
Lariesa put the final nail in the coffin here.
“There is a rumor going around in San Carlo right now that Cesare de Carlo is getting engaged to Ariadne de Mare!”
It didn't matter whether it was true or not.
“Why are you hanging yourself on those who betrayed you? All you have left is me, Lariesa!”
She took a piece of parchment from her bosom. It was something she always carried with her.
“I can save you!”
Lariesa thrust the paper in front of Alfonso's nose.
“I sign.”
Alfonso's blurred eyes saw part of the writing on the document.
“...Vow.”
“It’s a marriage vow.”
The parchment contained the following inscription: 'The marriage of Alfonso de Carlo, Prince of the Etruscans and eldest son of Leo III, and Lariesa of Valoa, eldest daughter of Odes, Grand Duke of Valoa,, is to be effected. The dowry and bride price will be mutually agreed upon.'
“It’s called a marriage certificate, but it’s actually your lifeline. The only one.”
She dipped the pen in ink, filled in her name, and signed her name in her own handwriting.
“Well, I’m in the same boat with you now.”
She appealed, looking at Alfonso who was not moving with watery eyes.
“This isn’t easy for me either. You have to sign a marriage contract with me so that our father will be moved!”
Lariesa dipped her quill in ink and offered it to Alfonso, but Alfonso still did not respond.
The silence was long and the ink on the tip of the quill was drying.
Alfonso opened his mouth as the ink on the tip of the pen began to clump.
“...Father is just an excuse. Isn’t that right, Grand Duchess of Valoa? Don’t you just want me?”
Lariesa changed the subject with a red face. She was not thick-skinned enough to say no outright.
“...My father will not confront His Majesty the King for you unless you marry me. That is why.”
“Have you discussed this with Grand Duke Odes?”
Alfonso's eyes finally blinked slowly, his golden eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings.
The young Prince now looked like a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon.
I said and did things I would never have done before.
“Princess Lariesa of Valoa. I don’t know you very well, but I know this much. You failed to convince your father. Once I signed this marriage contract, I would have thought about how to convince your father.”
That was the right answer. Lariesa bit her lip.
“Suppose I sign the marriage contract. Will your father get me out safely?”
“I’ll make it happen somehow! Somehow...!”
Whether it was appealing to her father with tears or threatening her life in front of her mother, she was going to make it happen somehow.
Lariesa had never wanted something so strongly in her short life.
Her jealousy of her sister Susanne, her hatred of Princess Auguste, and the boredom and helplessness that filled her days were nothing compared to the situation she was in now when she was on the verge of seizing Alfonso de Carlo.
Apart from Alfonso, nothing in this world meant anything to Lariesa.
Prince Alfonso picked up the quill.
“Grand Duchess Lariesa. I want to get out of here. But I won’t go to the Grand Duke of Valoa.”
“Then, as the Grand Duke of Valoa...!”
“I will not go anywhere that King Gallico can reach.”
The white feather in Alfonso's hand fluttered in the autumn breeze.
Lariesa was thirsty. If only that quill would just sign this paper...!
“I’m going to cross the border. The day you can get me across the border without your father, I’ll sign this paper.”
Alfonso clicked and put the quill down on the table.
And he took the parchment document with both hands and tried to tear it.
"For a moment!"
Lariesa stopped him.
“...You can leave the Kingdom of Gallico without my father’s assistance. Tonight. Tonight is your only chance.”
The Prince's cerulean eyes scanned the Grand Duchess's pale skin. His eyes demanded an answer.
“Grand Duke Yuldenberg... will leave the palace early tomorrow morning. He has received the sponsorship, so he will now set out for Jesak.”
The Grand Duke of Yuldenberg arrived at the palace in Montpellier with about 300 of his knights and 1,000 infantry.
He planned to join the rest of his forces stationed at Lamian, a port town not far from the capital Montpellier and set out for Yesak with a fleet of caravels and cogs.
“The Palais de Montpellier is a maze and a fortress in itself, and the capital, Montpellier, is an extension of the palace. If you run away alone, you will never be able to leave the capital. You will have to mix in with the chaos as the Grand Duke of Yuldenberg’s army leaves.”
What Lariesa had in mind was to take advantage of the military unrest to allow Alfonso to escape the Montpellier palace alone.
But Alfonso's paintings were different.
"Then."
Alfonso demanded.
“You come here at four in the morning and somehow free us. I can’t go out alone, my knights have to go with me.”
“That, that...”
Larissa, who had planned to take Alfonso out secretly, even disguising him as a woman, was speechless.
She did not have the wherewithal to lure a dozen sturdy knights out of the palace of Montpellier.
Prince Alfonso looked at Princess Lariesa with cold eyes.
“If you don’t have the talent to bribe people or the ability to use your own people...”
It was a cold gaze that did not contain even a single ounce of love.
“You can set fire to the palace with your own hands. You said you wanted me.”
Prince Alfonso pushed the parchment document to the Princess of Lariesa.
“I’ll sign this if we meet again this morning.”
Lariesa accepted the marriage contract as if it were a reliquary, with the space for her husband's signature left blank.
“If you don’t make it happen, don’t even think about seeing me again.”
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment