“You are the child of the Marquis Baldessar.”
Cardinal de Mare greeted Raphael first with a trembling expression.
Rather than being polite as the son of the Marquis of Baldessar, the situation in the room was so chaotic that he wanted to say something to sort things out.
“Is this the first time you’ve seen me since I was very young? Please sit over there.”
“I appreciate your consideration, Your Eminence the Cardinal.”
Raphael sat down with a bright smile on his face, his expression not faltering at all even after hearing the name of the swindler.
Ippolito, who had been struck by disaster in an instant, lowered his head, not knowing what to do.
If you just look at this scene, you'll get confused as to who was verbally abusing someone and who was being verbally abusive.
“Thank you for coming, Marquis Baldessar.”
Ariadne bowed her head to Raphael. He smiled and waved his hand.
“Since when have we become so stiff in our addressing each other, Ari?”
Raphael answered, his eyes narrowing. Ariadne was slightly taken aback, but the other two were even more disturbed.
Ippolito was outraged that his suspicions had been confirmed.
Of course, this parasitic brother must have sold out his academy classmate to look good to our illegitimate child.
Cardinal de Mare began to calculate in an instant at the bold remarks of Raphael de Baldessar.
Did this guy come here to stamp his face as a candidate for a son-in-law?
Ariadne quickly changed the subject to this ambiguous and strange atmosphere.
In the first place, it is ridiculous to sit down in front of Cardinal de Mare and Ippolito and make a serious explanation. No, there is nothing to explain.
“Raphael. I have invited you here today, but I am sorry to say that I would like to ask you about what happened at the Academy of Military Science in Padua.”
“Ah. That’s what I mean.”
Raphael smiled, revealing his teeth.
Ippolito chewed the skin on the inside of his mouth to keep himself from fidgeting. Ariadne asked.
“Have the 21st class of students from the Padua Military Academy already graduated?”
Cardinal de Mare's eyes followed Raphael. Ippolito's pupils shook.
Ignoring the heavy atmosphere, Raphael answered coolly.
“All those who qualified graduated.”
Ippolito finally bit his lip. Raphael continued speaking without hesitation.
“I know this well because I was the 21st student body president. We had a graduation ceremony in January of this year, and the diplomas were also awarded.”
Raphael glanced at Ippolito with his red eyes.
“If there are students who haven’t received their diplomas yet... they haven’t graduated.”
“...Lord Baldessar.”
Before Ippolito could say anything, Cardinal De Mare intervened.
“Aren’t awarding a diploma and delivering a diploma different?”
Half of it was because he felt sorry for his son who couldn't say a word in front of Raphael de Baldessar, and half of it was to prevent Ippolito from making a hasty move and screaming in front of the guests.
Raphael smiled broadly.
“That is correct, Your Eminence.”
“If the diploma was simply a delivery accident...”
The Cardinal, who wanted to put an end to this situation, urged Ippolito to quickly contact Padua and retrieve the missing diploma.
But the son of the Baldessar family shattered the dreams and hopes of his father, the de Mare family.
“It is possible that a diploma that has already been awarded may have been misdelivered. But that is not the case for my dear fellow student, Ippolito de Mare.”
Ippolito looked down at the floor, his face flushed.
Given his temper, he could have shouted, "What nonsense are you talking about, Baldessar!" but he couldn't say anything because he couldn't handle the revelations that would come later.
But despite Ippolito's compliance, Raphael would not let it go. His bombshell declaration eventually exploded.
“Ippolito didn’t take the final exam.”
The Cardinal looked at Ippolito with a look of astonishment. Raphael's revelations continued without pause.
“Of course, his grades didn’t come out. He didn’t even meet the graduation requirements or the course completion requirements.”
“Hey, Ippolito!”
A few of Ippolito's excuses flashed through the Cardinal's mind.
“As a student representative, I organized a boycott of the academic calendar. Our department did not hold the final exam as a group.”
“I was supposed to give the commencement speech by popular vote for graduating with honors. Originally.”
“Mother, how can your son sit in Padua and only focus on his studies while you are in trouble?”
“You really didn’t take the final exam?!”
Ippolito said that he had refused to take the final exam, but he never said a word about having to return to Padua to take it or that he had been excused from it.
As soon as he got home, he just chatted with the maid and then left for Taranto to enjoy a winter party.
Ariadne asked Raphael with bright eyes.
“Raphael, is it true that there was a collective boycott of the academic calendar by students because the city of Padua decided to impose a tax on the University of Padua?”
“Hahahaha!”
Raphael laughed out loud.
“It’s true that there was such a discussion. But are college students these days like they used to be? There was some talk, but it was all hushed up, and when the exam date came, everyone quietly went into the exam room to take their final exams.”
“...Ippolito.”
Cardinal de Mare called his son's name sternly. It was a situation where he could have easily burst out in an outcry, but he held back his response, considering that there were guests.
“Why on earth did you lie like that? Is it true that you didn’t take the final exam?”
Ippolito's face turned pale and he began to shed tears.
The giant, who was about 182cm tall, shed tears like chicken droppings without stopping, and his face looked like that of a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse.
He answered, mumbling like a cow chewing on fodder.
“Mother... I missed you...”
He began to appeal to his father in tears, ignoring his pride and self-pity, and even ignoring the fact that Raphael was sitting right next to him.
“At that time, my mother was kicked out of the house and confined to a farm in Bergamo... I received letters from home every day, but I couldn’t focus on my studies...”
The only person he could hang on to was Cardinal de Mare.
No matter what Raphael de Baldessar says in high society, or how the sly Ariadne glares at him, in the end, it is his father, Cardinal de Mare, who decides what happens to Ippolito.
“I should have told my father and mother that I didn’t take the final exam, but the atmosphere at home was so tense that I couldn’t bring myself to say it...”
Ippolito's tears fell, dotting his luxurious purple silk trousers.
“...Shouldn’t I be a son you can be proud of?”
Ippolito sobbed and spoke to his father.
“I’m sorry... I made a mistake... I’ll make it up to you somehow...”
Raphael wanted to finish telling him how Ippolito had been extremely dishonest throughout his time at the university, how he had ignored the option given to him by Dean Corazio to substitute his final exams with a written report, which angered the Dean greatly, and how he had a reputation among the international students for smuggling cigarettes, but Ippolito would not give him the time.
Because he kept crying in front of his father, shaking like a poor cow.
“Father... I miss Mother... I miss Mother...”
And the Cardinal's expression softened as he thought of Lucrezia, who had died in front of him.
Lucrezia. She was short-sighted and quick-tempered, but kind and affectionate.
And in the end, it was the kids' mother.
Guilt was a powerful emotion.
“Ippolito... Hey...”
The Cardinal bowed his head and took Ippolito's hand, who was sobbing like a sinner.
Ippolito was the precious son left behind by his dead wife. The years they spent together were buried in his son.
“Anyone can make mistakes. Mistakes come with a price, but...”
Ippolito cried even more sadly.
“After you pay the price, you can try again.”
The study was filled with melodrama between the rich and the poor. It was an uncomfortable situation for Raphael, an outsider.
It was Ariadne's calm voice that cleared up the situation.
“Raphael. Thank you for coming today.”
“I think my share ends here.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t give it to you.”
It was a curse.
“I’ll go out first.”
“Yes, if you stay here any longer, you will be revealing too much of our family’s shame.”
Raphael thought with a light smile. Shame? I think I've seen everything.
But the shame that Ariadne spoke of was not things like Ippolito's failure to graduate or the family's sense of loss at losing their beloved mother, Lucrezia.
“Father, you must meet the second guest.”
The Cardinal's voice, which had been comforting the sobbing Ippolito, finally grew irritated.
“Ariadne, get there!”
Cardinal de Mare could not control his anger. His second daughter kept saying that she was doing well, but she had no idea what was meant by that.
“This is enough! How far do you plan on pushing your brother!”
The Cardinal always saw the world as a battle between the strong and the strong. The outside world was an endless competition.
Everyone bit and tore for their own benefit, hitting others on the back of the head, and that was natural.
But even in the dirty world, there was salvation, and that was family. Family, and by extension a clan, must protect each other.
Family was something he could rely on. It was something he didn't have as an orphan.
All his life, he was extremely envious of people who had the fence of a family and a clan, and he wanted to create such a fence in his own generation.
But, my children are like this! One is incompetent, one is extravagant, and one stabs his family in the back!
“You are the worst, Ariadne!”
The Cardinal lost his temper and started swearing.
“How did I teach you, how did I teach you! In this cruel world, after I die, only you will remain! You should help each other and live. If you fight over that small profit, you know what the end will be like!”
'It's true that I heard things I shouldn't have heard.'
Raphael left Cardinal de Mare's study, wondering if this was the family indecency that Ariadne had spoken of.
He left the room and walked down the hallway, but he could still hear the Cardinal's roar through the still-closed door.
It was only just before the door closed that Raphael realized he was wrong.
“The person who killed my mother was my brother Ippolito.”
Click.
Cardinal de Mare's eyes widened. Ippolito's face, which was streaked with tears, also became distorted.
Ariadne looked at them both coldly.
It was Cardinal de Mare himself who decided to kill Lucrezia before the entire family was dragged before the 'royal court' because the commoner's father was going crazy over Lucrezia killing a commoner woman.
And it was Ariadne herself who knew that her father would change his mind and put the poison in Lucrezia's mouth.
But now she says that the murderer is not Cardinal De Mare, who made the decision, nor herself, who put the poison in Lucrezia's hand and encouraged her to drink it, but Ippolito, whom Lucrezia loved dearly.
“...What are you talking about?”
The Cardinal asked in confusion.
His daughter did not answer.
Knock knock.
There was a knock and the door opened.
“CEO Caruso, representative of Bocanegro, has arrived.”
He was the second guest who was said to be in the reception room.
This man will give you the answer.
Cardinal de Mare greeted Raphael first with a trembling expression.
Rather than being polite as the son of the Marquis of Baldessar, the situation in the room was so chaotic that he wanted to say something to sort things out.
“Is this the first time you’ve seen me since I was very young? Please sit over there.”
“I appreciate your consideration, Your Eminence the Cardinal.”
Raphael sat down with a bright smile on his face, his expression not faltering at all even after hearing the name of the swindler.
Ippolito, who had been struck by disaster in an instant, lowered his head, not knowing what to do.
If you just look at this scene, you'll get confused as to who was verbally abusing someone and who was being verbally abusive.
“Thank you for coming, Marquis Baldessar.”
Ariadne bowed her head to Raphael. He smiled and waved his hand.
“Since when have we become so stiff in our addressing each other, Ari?”
Raphael answered, his eyes narrowing. Ariadne was slightly taken aback, but the other two were even more disturbed.
Ippolito was outraged that his suspicions had been confirmed.
Of course, this parasitic brother must have sold out his academy classmate to look good to our illegitimate child.
Cardinal de Mare began to calculate in an instant at the bold remarks of Raphael de Baldessar.
Did this guy come here to stamp his face as a candidate for a son-in-law?
Ariadne quickly changed the subject to this ambiguous and strange atmosphere.
In the first place, it is ridiculous to sit down in front of Cardinal de Mare and Ippolito and make a serious explanation. No, there is nothing to explain.
“Raphael. I have invited you here today, but I am sorry to say that I would like to ask you about what happened at the Academy of Military Science in Padua.”
“Ah. That’s what I mean.”
Raphael smiled, revealing his teeth.
Ippolito chewed the skin on the inside of his mouth to keep himself from fidgeting. Ariadne asked.
“Have the 21st class of students from the Padua Military Academy already graduated?”
Cardinal de Mare's eyes followed Raphael. Ippolito's pupils shook.
Ignoring the heavy atmosphere, Raphael answered coolly.
“All those who qualified graduated.”
Ippolito finally bit his lip. Raphael continued speaking without hesitation.
“I know this well because I was the 21st student body president. We had a graduation ceremony in January of this year, and the diplomas were also awarded.”
Raphael glanced at Ippolito with his red eyes.
“If there are students who haven’t received their diplomas yet... they haven’t graduated.”
“...Lord Baldessar.”
Before Ippolito could say anything, Cardinal De Mare intervened.
“Aren’t awarding a diploma and delivering a diploma different?”
Half of it was because he felt sorry for his son who couldn't say a word in front of Raphael de Baldessar, and half of it was to prevent Ippolito from making a hasty move and screaming in front of the guests.
Raphael smiled broadly.
“That is correct, Your Eminence.”
“If the diploma was simply a delivery accident...”
The Cardinal, who wanted to put an end to this situation, urged Ippolito to quickly contact Padua and retrieve the missing diploma.
But the son of the Baldessar family shattered the dreams and hopes of his father, the de Mare family.
“It is possible that a diploma that has already been awarded may have been misdelivered. But that is not the case for my dear fellow student, Ippolito de Mare.”
Ippolito looked down at the floor, his face flushed.
Given his temper, he could have shouted, "What nonsense are you talking about, Baldessar!" but he couldn't say anything because he couldn't handle the revelations that would come later.
But despite Ippolito's compliance, Raphael would not let it go. His bombshell declaration eventually exploded.
“Ippolito didn’t take the final exam.”
The Cardinal looked at Ippolito with a look of astonishment. Raphael's revelations continued without pause.
“Of course, his grades didn’t come out. He didn’t even meet the graduation requirements or the course completion requirements.”
“Hey, Ippolito!”
A few of Ippolito's excuses flashed through the Cardinal's mind.
“As a student representative, I organized a boycott of the academic calendar. Our department did not hold the final exam as a group.”
“I was supposed to give the commencement speech by popular vote for graduating with honors. Originally.”
“Mother, how can your son sit in Padua and only focus on his studies while you are in trouble?”
“You really didn’t take the final exam?!”
Ippolito said that he had refused to take the final exam, but he never said a word about having to return to Padua to take it or that he had been excused from it.
As soon as he got home, he just chatted with the maid and then left for Taranto to enjoy a winter party.
Ariadne asked Raphael with bright eyes.
“Raphael, is it true that there was a collective boycott of the academic calendar by students because the city of Padua decided to impose a tax on the University of Padua?”
“Hahahaha!”
Raphael laughed out loud.
“It’s true that there was such a discussion. But are college students these days like they used to be? There was some talk, but it was all hushed up, and when the exam date came, everyone quietly went into the exam room to take their final exams.”
“...Ippolito.”
Cardinal de Mare called his son's name sternly. It was a situation where he could have easily burst out in an outcry, but he held back his response, considering that there were guests.
“Why on earth did you lie like that? Is it true that you didn’t take the final exam?”
Ippolito's face turned pale and he began to shed tears.
The giant, who was about 182cm tall, shed tears like chicken droppings without stopping, and his face looked like that of a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse.
He answered, mumbling like a cow chewing on fodder.
“Mother... I missed you...”
He began to appeal to his father in tears, ignoring his pride and self-pity, and even ignoring the fact that Raphael was sitting right next to him.
“At that time, my mother was kicked out of the house and confined to a farm in Bergamo... I received letters from home every day, but I couldn’t focus on my studies...”
The only person he could hang on to was Cardinal de Mare.
No matter what Raphael de Baldessar says in high society, or how the sly Ariadne glares at him, in the end, it is his father, Cardinal de Mare, who decides what happens to Ippolito.
“I should have told my father and mother that I didn’t take the final exam, but the atmosphere at home was so tense that I couldn’t bring myself to say it...”
Ippolito's tears fell, dotting his luxurious purple silk trousers.
“...Shouldn’t I be a son you can be proud of?”
Ippolito sobbed and spoke to his father.
“I’m sorry... I made a mistake... I’ll make it up to you somehow...”
Raphael wanted to finish telling him how Ippolito had been extremely dishonest throughout his time at the university, how he had ignored the option given to him by Dean Corazio to substitute his final exams with a written report, which angered the Dean greatly, and how he had a reputation among the international students for smuggling cigarettes, but Ippolito would not give him the time.
Because he kept crying in front of his father, shaking like a poor cow.
“Father... I miss Mother... I miss Mother...”
And the Cardinal's expression softened as he thought of Lucrezia, who had died in front of him.
Lucrezia. She was short-sighted and quick-tempered, but kind and affectionate.
And in the end, it was the kids' mother.
Guilt was a powerful emotion.
“Ippolito... Hey...”
The Cardinal bowed his head and took Ippolito's hand, who was sobbing like a sinner.
Ippolito was the precious son left behind by his dead wife. The years they spent together were buried in his son.
“Anyone can make mistakes. Mistakes come with a price, but...”
Ippolito cried even more sadly.
“After you pay the price, you can try again.”
The study was filled with melodrama between the rich and the poor. It was an uncomfortable situation for Raphael, an outsider.
It was Ariadne's calm voice that cleared up the situation.
“Raphael. Thank you for coming today.”
“I think my share ends here.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t give it to you.”
It was a curse.
“I’ll go out first.”
“Yes, if you stay here any longer, you will be revealing too much of our family’s shame.”
Raphael thought with a light smile. Shame? I think I've seen everything.
But the shame that Ariadne spoke of was not things like Ippolito's failure to graduate or the family's sense of loss at losing their beloved mother, Lucrezia.
“Father, you must meet the second guest.”
The Cardinal's voice, which had been comforting the sobbing Ippolito, finally grew irritated.
“Ariadne, get there!”
Cardinal de Mare could not control his anger. His second daughter kept saying that she was doing well, but she had no idea what was meant by that.
“This is enough! How far do you plan on pushing your brother!”
The Cardinal always saw the world as a battle between the strong and the strong. The outside world was an endless competition.
Everyone bit and tore for their own benefit, hitting others on the back of the head, and that was natural.
But even in the dirty world, there was salvation, and that was family. Family, and by extension a clan, must protect each other.
Family was something he could rely on. It was something he didn't have as an orphan.
All his life, he was extremely envious of people who had the fence of a family and a clan, and he wanted to create such a fence in his own generation.
But, my children are like this! One is incompetent, one is extravagant, and one stabs his family in the back!
“You are the worst, Ariadne!”
The Cardinal lost his temper and started swearing.
“How did I teach you, how did I teach you! In this cruel world, after I die, only you will remain! You should help each other and live. If you fight over that small profit, you know what the end will be like!”
'It's true that I heard things I shouldn't have heard.'
Raphael left Cardinal de Mare's study, wondering if this was the family indecency that Ariadne had spoken of.
He left the room and walked down the hallway, but he could still hear the Cardinal's roar through the still-closed door.
It was only just before the door closed that Raphael realized he was wrong.
“The person who killed my mother was my brother Ippolito.”
Click.
***
Cardinal de Mare's eyes widened. Ippolito's face, which was streaked with tears, also became distorted.
Ariadne looked at them both coldly.
It was Cardinal de Mare himself who decided to kill Lucrezia before the entire family was dragged before the 'royal court' because the commoner's father was going crazy over Lucrezia killing a commoner woman.
And it was Ariadne herself who knew that her father would change his mind and put the poison in Lucrezia's mouth.
But now she says that the murderer is not Cardinal De Mare, who made the decision, nor herself, who put the poison in Lucrezia's hand and encouraged her to drink it, but Ippolito, whom Lucrezia loved dearly.
“...What are you talking about?”
The Cardinal asked in confusion.
His daughter did not answer.
Knock knock.
There was a knock and the door opened.
“CEO Caruso, representative of Bocanegro, has arrived.”
He was the second guest who was said to be in the reception room.
This man will give you the answer.
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