Chapter 193 - Proof of Ability




Cardinal de Mare's silver carriage, carrying Ariadne, headed straight for the Rambouillet home.

As soon as she got into the carriage, she regretted not having ordered a plain black carriage to be prepared.

Because she didn't want to attract attention and enter the relief center.

But there was no time to change carriages. It was a waste of time to scold her subordinates for bringing a silver carriage.

Recently, whenever Cardinal de Mare's silver carriage was not in use, it naturally became Ariadne's.

“Let’s go all the way in the carriage.”

Instead of getting off at the relief home's main gate, she decided to drive the carriage all the way to the front door.

Normally she would walk into the relief center out of respect, but today safety comes first.

“Good idea, Miss!”

The mountain tea welcomed them. As they entered, the main gate of the relief center closed behind them again.

She relayed the view outside through the curtains of the window.

“Right now, there are a lot of poor people swarming inside the iron bars of the relief center. It seems like they can’t enter the front yard between the main gate and the front door, and it looks like they’ll pour out as soon as the iron bars fall down!”

Ariadne was scheduled to meet the head of the relief home straight away.

“Mr. Caruso should be there.”

“Will you meet the office manager directly through Mr. Caruso?”

"Yes."

As the carriage stopped in front of the porch, the horse raised its forelegs and neighed. It seemed that the horse sensed the ominous atmosphere.

Hehe!

The horse neighed vigorously. This immediately attracted the attention of the poor who flocked to the support.

“I think the person in charge is here!”

“Whose carriage is that? Who is in charge?”

“Food! Soup! Bread!”

Even Ariadne, who was in the carriage, could not help but notice that the crowd was watching their group. She spoke anxiously.

“Let’s hurry up and go up.”

Ariadne hurried her steps, trying not to make eye contact with the crowd. The front door of the relief home, which was usually kept open, was firmly locked.

Knock knock.

Ariadne knocked on the door and waited for a moment for an answer. But when the door did not open right away, she knocked loudly again.

Thump, thump, thump!

But the door still did not open. An impatient Sancha stepped forward in Ariadne's stead and knocked roughly on the front door of the Rambouillet Home.

Boom! Boom!

“Miss Ariadne of the de Mare family has arrived! Please open the door!”

Hearing that voice, a rustling noise began to be heard from inside the front door.

Ariadne, who had been nervous about the sponsorship, let out a sigh of relief as she thought the door might open. It was then.

Crunch!

There was a creepy sound of something collapsing.

“This is...”

The urgent screams of Sancha, who had grasped the situation first, were heard.

“Open this door quickly!!!”

Now, the iron bars that had separated the relief home's front yard from the shelter were falling down, and the poor were pouring out without restraint.

Even inside the relief center building, she could clearly see the iron bars had collapsed.

Because the sound of scolding was heard by the person who tried to open the door, the movement became quiet.

“Hey!!! I said open it!!!”

The angry Sancha raged in front, but the tightly closed door did not move at all.

Meanwhile, the crowd that had poured into the front yard like a herd of buffaloes watched Ariadne and her group, isolated in front of the front door.

“What’s that woman?”

“She looks like you have a lot of money!”

“Something to eat! Something to eat!”

Meanwhile, several bold children approached Ariadne and her group.

Even before being forcibly taken to the relief home, these children had been begging to make a living. They were quite skilled at reaching out. They even had a set message.

“Miss, do you have anything to eat?”

“Have mercy!”

Having lived among these children, Sancha knew very well how the atmosphere could easily flow, so she stopped them before they could approach.

“Stop it!”

If she doesn't cut it off early, this area will be surrounded by the poor like a swarm of maggots, and the Lady will be unable to go anywhere.

“Who is this safe for now? Why are you being so brazen about it!”

But it was Sancha's misjudgment. Beggar children usually move on to the next target when you threaten them harshly.

But now they were isolated.

Now there was no one in front of them except Ariadne and her party, the poor people were vastly outnumbered, and people kept pressing in from behind.

It was not a crowd to go somewhere, but a crowd that was pushed out purely because they were pushed from behind.

“Don’t push!”

“We’ll all die if we stay in here, let’s go out!”

The screams of the possessed were heard. The children desperately ran to the water master before they were separated from him by the crowd of people rushing in from behind.

“Please give me just a penny!”

“If there is no bread, at least money...!”

Sancha gave up trying to restrain the children and, gritting her teeth, placed her body between the poor boys and Ariadne. Three attendants helped her.

Ariadne and her party stood on the isolated porch in front of the relief center's main entrance.

Pillars and railings provided some protection from the crowd.

Standing there, Ariadne looked anxiously back and forth between the front door of the relief home and the main gate of the relief home.

She sent Giuseppe on a separate mission. At first, she had hoped that Giuseppe would return quickly, but now she was not so sure.

Will Giuseppe's return at just the right time calm them down? Or will they just become targets for plunder?

“Let’s go out!”

The poor seemed determined to tear down the Rambouillet relief home and leave. A middle-aged man who seemed to be the leader was urging the crowd on.

“Let’s break it! Let’s go! Let’s go to San Carlo to find freedom!”

Ariadne, who witnessed the incitement, pulled herself together. This must be stopped.

"For a moment!!!"

Her voice was a rich, low-pitched sound, but it couldn't stop all the angry people with its raw voice.

Ariadne has decided to take a chance. She came here today to stop this.

If they let them run into the city, there would be no point in taking a step despite the danger.

Clang!

It was the sound of silver florins rolling on the floor.

Ariadne reached into the pocket of her dress, grabbed a handful of silver florins, and threw them into the crowd.

Everyone reacted to the sound of money hitting the floor. Ariadne felt the crowd stop for a moment.

The crowd flowing toward the main gate of the relief home momentarily lost its momentum to pick up a silver florin that had fallen on the floor.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Ariadne reached into her pocket again and scattered the coins again. This time it was half a gold ducat and half a silver florin.

“It’s a Ducato gold coin!”

“Where?! Where?!”

The crowd rushing towards the main gate completely lost momentum.

Instead, they began to swarm towards Ariadne and her party. Sancha cried out with a pale face.

“Miss! It’s dangerous!”

Ariadne knew this well, but she couldn't just let them go out like that.

"Everyone!"

She shouted at the top of her lungs despite Sancha's warnings.

“Going out to San Carlo is not the answer.”

San Carlo was also suffering from the rising price of grain. Furthermore, it was a time when the city was extremely sensitive to outsiders due to the plague.

With over 1,000 poor people thrown onto the streets, it was nearly impossible for them to find jobs that would allow them to receive charity from ordinary citizens or buy bread with their own hands.

“Then you want us to starve to death here!”

A voice filled with anger rang out. It was a middle-aged man leading the crowd.

“That’s right! There were no rations for a whole week!”

“My mother starved to death!”

“What do you, noble nobles, know?”

The gold ducats and silver florins that fell to the floor were quickly picked up, and those who failed to pick them up became doubly angry.

“Get out of the way!”

“Don’t you have more money?”

“Miss! Have mercy!”

“Give me everything you have!”

“Let’s leave that woman and go!”

The crowd's roar pierced the sky. It seemed as if even among themselves there was no consensus.

The front door of the relief center behind them, unfortunately, showed no sign of opening.

There are a thousand poor people, and here there are only four or five. Ariadne had to break through with words.

“I will take responsibility for providing food!”

The crowd stirred for a moment at the word "food."

“We will normalize the distribution situation at the Rambouillet Relief Home. From today, you will be able to eat bread and soup twice a day at the relief home.”

The man who seemed to be the leader shouted.

“Do we look like pigs and dogs? Do you think food is all we need?”

He continued.

“Besides, who are you to make such a bold statement? This is a place that even the King has given up on!”

After the death of Queen Marguerite, Palazzo Carlo stopped funding the Rambouillet Home.

The Rambouillet Relief Home was funded by the Queen's own treasury, but there was no one left to administer the treasury.

Every time the head of the relief center went to the palace to complain, a small amount of emergency reserve funds were provided, but this was only enough to put out the fire, and when grain prices began to rise, it became insufficient.

“I am Ariadne de Mare, a member of Cardinal de Mare’s household.”

She revealed her name.

“The Girl Who Sees Through the Truth!”

And some knew her fame.

“She is the second daughter of the famous Cardinal de Mare!”

"She drove out the apostle of Asereto?”

“I heard you had something going on with the Prince?”

A famous person of great fame in the capital came to them and boasted that he would take responsibility for the food.

The crowd, which was about to rush out to San Carlo at any moment, hesitated for a moment.

“Wouldn’t it be better to listen to that girl? There’s no point in going out.”

“I have money, but can you give me something to eat?”

The one who put the brakes on this crowd unrest was a man who was the leader.

“How foolish!”

He raised his voice as he looked at the poor people around him.

“Food is a secondary issue! Freedom is the issue!”

The middle-aged man admonished the poor.

“And how naive! If that woman is the Cardinal’s daughter, then she is the Cardinal himself. How can a young woman without any authority bring food?”

Someone asked hopefully.

“If you’re dating the Prince! Can’t you persuade the King to bring you some food?”

“Wake up!”

The middle-aged man shouted coldly.

“Do you really believe that, besides, the King isn't moving, she's not the Prince's girlfriend, she's the King's girlfriend, are you fooled once or twice?”

The crowd murmured at these words. They seemed to agree. They had already been deceived by too many lies from the establishment.

The middle-aged man took advantage of this momentum and raised his voice even higher.

“This is a trick to keep us here! We should escape from the relief home when we have the chance. If we hesitate here, waiting for the grain that others give us, we will be locked up in the relief home for the rest of our lives, living like animals!”

The Rambouillet Relief Home was actually more of a concentration camp than a relief home.

The local cooperatives formed in each square would hand over to the Rambouillet Relief Home any vagrants who appeared in their area who were not local residents.

The same thing happened when the King's guards caught people causing trouble or begging children.

And once you enter here, you can't come out.

The Rambouillet Relief was a place where children were allowed out only once when they became adults, but adults were kept there until they died.

“If you go outside, will there be an answer?”

Ariadne retorted.

“You say it’s the same whether you die here or outside, but you’re wrong! If you’re inside, you’ll live, but if you’re outside, you’ll die!”

To be exact, if they go outside, they will die and everyone else will die as well.

“I don’t believe you! What do you see in your words? We are the people who have been abandoned by our Lord, and yet Cardinal's daughter saves us?”

“Okay! Show me the evidence!”

“Bring me the Cardinal!”

The crowd began to grow restless. The shouting that had been rising for a moment before began to mix in.

"Liar!"

“Give me everything you have!”

“Empty her pockets!”

Ariadne bit her lip and looked back toward the main entrance of the hospice. It was time for Giuseppe to arrive.

"Miss!"

And then the new voice of the mountain owl rang out.

“It’s Giuseppe!”

Sancha discovered it before Ariadne. Outside the main gate, a thick brown horse was galloping.

Giuseppe's spirited shout was heard.

“Miss Ariadne! I have brought you what you asked for!”

When Giuseppe saw Ariadne's situation, he immediately drew his sword.

It was foolish to come alone and draw a sword against a crowd, but soon about 50 armed men appeared behind Giuseppe.

They jumped down from their horses, drew their swords, and approached the main gate of the relief home.

“I found Dorre!”

The main gate was closed, but the armed men soon found the lock on the gate.

Kang!

As soon as the chain was broken, the pulley began to turn and the main gate opened wide.

About 50 armed men ran into the front yard of the relief center.

In terms of sheer numbers, the 1,000 or so poor people and the 50 or so armed soldiers should have been no match for them, but most of the poor people were children and women, and most of the men of fighting age were crippled.

Moreover, they were just a bunch of people who had been starving for a long time, were unarmed, had no training, and were bare-handed.

As the well-trained unit appeared before their eyes, the gathering of civilians began to fall apart and split into several groups.

And there was something else that dampened the crowd's will to resist.

“Look at that!”

Someone cried out.

Towards the main gate of the relief center, wagons carrying sacks of grain were continuously coming up.

One, two, three... About ten carriages went over the hill and stopped in front of the main gate.

“It’s grain!”

“It’s wheat!”

“What that girl said was true!”

The middle-aged man who had been standing in front and agitating the crowd had already retreated and was nowhere to be seen. Ariadne shouted to the crowd.

“You will not starve! The first meal of the day is in three hours!”

This was followed by Sancha's shrill voice.

“Go back to sponsorship!”

Although the chaotic crowd did not quietly turn back to the backyard, the large stream had already obeyed Ariadne's words.

Except for a few loaches scurrying off to either side, the mothers began to find their places inside the relief center in search of their children.

They don't know what will happen tomorrow, but they have to get their dinner rations for now.

And Ariadne didn't just intend to put food in their mouths.

She had not thought it would start now, but she had been planning the Rambouillet Relief Home since her days as Acting Regent.

This was the beginning of the myth of the Rambouillet Relief Home.


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