“Nice to meet you, Your Eminence Cardinal.”
CEO Caruso bowed deeply. It was a bow so deep that it was almost cowardly.
“My name is Caruso and I do some business in the capital.”
It was an absurd amount of humility for the representative of Bocanegro, who had risen to become the continent's top merchant during the time of the Black Death.
But how many times in a lifetime does a merchant have the opportunity to see a high priest? For Caruso, it was a normal occurrence in the Etruscan kingdom of that era.
And he didn't come alone. He brought a shabby man with him.
He was a large man, and even if he was washed and dressed well, it was impossible to hide the fact that he was dirty.
CEO Caruso gestured with his chin at the person he had brought in.
“This guy is a dock worker that I met while working... We do the tobacco trade.”
Although he spoke well, the man was more of a vagabond than a dock worker, and all the tobacco distributed in the Central Continent was smuggled in, not through official trade routes.
He is half a drug dealer. Caruso's humility also has some origins here.
If CEO Caruso were to meet with a high-ranking priest, he would normally hide the items of his dealings.
But today there was a reason to bring it up.
From Cardinal de Mare's perspective, it was a self-introduction that he did not want to reveal in many ways.
“Why did you call this guy?”
So the Cardinal looked at Ariadne instead of CEO Caruso with a cold expression and asked.
Ariadne could guess the omitted words without the Cardinal saying anything.
'Why on earth did you bring such a lowlife into my study? If it was a useless act, you will pay the price.'
She opened her mouth calmly and without hesitation.
“First, let me give you some background information.”
Ariadne looked at Cardinal de Mare.
“Do you really think, Father, that Mother killed Paolo Scampa, the red-haired daughter of the relief home manager?”
Cardinal de Mare raised his hand to stop Ariadne.
"Wait for a second."
He nodded toward CEO Caruso.
“Is he someone you can trust, Ariadne?”
Before Ariadne could say anything, CEO Caruso stepped forward and placed his hand on his chest.
“I swear to God, if I leak anything I see and hear here today, I will be struck by lightning and die.”
He said, kicking the dirty man with his foot.
“This guy is the same.”
Ariadne was secretly impressed by CEO Caruso's insight.
If she comes forward here and guarantees that he is a 'trustworthy person', CEO Caruso will look like he is in cahoots with Ariadne.
There was a risk that this would undermine the credibility of the testimony he was about to give a few minutes later.
She followed the wishes of CEO Caruso and indirectly guaranteed his silence.
“I will take responsibility and secure it.”
Ariadne answered calmly. To Cardinal de Mare's ears, it sounded like, 'I will make sure he keeps his mouth shut, even if it means using threats.'
When the Cardinal fell silent, Ariadne continued her story.
“Why on earth would my mother have hired the murder of the daughter of a relief center manager she didn’t even know?”
Cardinal de Mare then replied annoyedly to his daughter who was asking such an obvious question.
“Didn’t she accidentally kill the maid of our house? They were both redheads of the same age, and they were found nearby.”
Ariadne nodded.
“That’s right, Father. But why did Mother try to kill that red-haired maid in the first place?”
Cardinal de Mare, who was about to answer absentmindedly, was speechless.
Lucrezia often beat her maids to death at home.
Since it happens occasionally, he didn't really think much about the reason.
But when he thought about it, most of the maids that Lucrezia killed were either maids who had been provoked by Cardinal de Mare, maids who Lucrezia had misunderstood as provoked, or maids who had been openly ambitious toward Cardinal de Mare.
The Cardinal was never a man to meddle in the affairs of his household, but even in cases of injustice, if he took the maid's side, Lucrezia would be turned upside down, so he tended to turn a blind eye for the sake of the peace of the family.
Managing the household members was also the job of the mistress.
But the redhead was not at all a maid whose daily life overlapped with Cardinal de Mare's. Instead, she was in the service of Isabella and Ippolito.
“By any chance...?”
Ariadne took Cardinal de Mare's words to heart and answered.
“Yes. Because Maletta bore Ippolito’s child.”
"Hey!"
Here Ippolito got up from his seat in anger.
“I had a huge accident? Do you have any proof? Who are you trying to frame me for this?”
The reason Ippolito can be so confident is because all the witnesses are gone.
As far as he knows, only Maletta herself, Ippolito, and the dead Lucrezia know for sure that Maletta is pregnant.
As soon as Maletta found out she was pregnant, she came running to him, and less than an hour after telling him she was pregnant, she was kicked out of the de Mare mansion.
There probably wasn't any time to physically talk to anyone.
He doesn't know how Ariadne knew this, but in the end, his half-sister's testimony could only be a tale heard through the grapevine or a rumor on the street.
Then, he can just pretend that his half-sister is hearing false rumors and is framing him.
Ippolito was convinced that he would win the contest of credibility if all that remained were Ariadne's words and testimony, as he had said.
Who would a father trust? A daughter born from an unknown mother's womb, raised outside? Or a son born from a respectable wife, who would inherit the family?
But Ariadne's expression was strange.
“Hey, are you laughing?”
Ippolito, whose expectations were off, raised his fist.
“Is this crazy?”
Ariadne answered cheerfully.
“Are you crazy? Are you trying to cover the sky with your palm?”
"What?"
“I have a witness. Do you know her as Loretta?”
Ippolito's eyebrows furrowed. Loretta... Loretta... Who is it?
“She is the last maidservant of my deceased mother.”
"Ah."
As he heard the explanation, an idea came to mind. Ippolito's expression distorted along the line between his eyebrows.
Ariadne said with a sneer.
“When Mr. Scampa demanded the head of our mother together with the local cooperative, there was a rumor in the market that the maid was carrying Ippolito de Mare’s child and that the mother was trying to kill the maid.”
Ippolito countered.
“It’s just a rumor! People say all sorts of things that aren’t true!”
Ariadne knew better than anyone that even a chimney could produce smoke, but not in this case. She said wryly.
“Where do you think that rumor came from?”
Ariadne looked straight at Ippolito, who knew only one thing and did not know two, and said:
“When Loretta was questioned by the local cooperative, she told them everything! When mother and brother tried to get rid of Maletta, Loretta did it all herself! She was the one who went to check on the body! Of course, she knew the whole story!”
Ippolito's face turned pale. He turned red and pale. It was quite a sight.
“At that time, Loretta could not come back to our house because my mother passed away, so she went back to her hometown in the outskirts. But you can call her back anytime.”
She continued, looking at Ippolito with pity.
“Besides, there are many people in the local cooperative who have heard Loretta’s testimony! And there are many servants in our house too! People who saw what my brother did with Maletta!”
Ariadne straightened her posture and looked straight at Ippolito.
“The maid Maletta, whom you touched, became pregnant, and Maletta wanted to sit down, but you had no intention of being held back by a mere maid!”
She turned her gaze to Cardinal de Mare.
“And actually, I heard it myself.”
“...What?”
“Maletta considered me her sister-in-law.”
"What?"
Ariadne smiled slightly.
“The dead Maletta is actually the older sister of my close maid, Sancha. Because of that connection, when Maletta was kicked out of our house and became a wanderer on the streets, I arranged for her to stay at the Rambouillet Relief Center.”
The Cardinal felt uncomfortable with the very fact that Ariadne was involved in this matter, but he listened patiently to the story.
In any case, the facts surrounding the situation had to be confirmed.
“At that time, I had a brief meeting with Maletta. Maletta begged me. She said she was pregnant with brother Ippolito’s child and didn’t want to part with him. Please let me have him and raise him.”
The Cardinal glanced at Ippolito. His son was trembling and his face was flushed.
He was the son of a privileged family. He was tall, wearing a luxurious purple silk pajamas, and his hair and fingernails were neatly groomed. He had a refined appearance.
But that child was in the same situation as the child who had once been in Maletta's womb.
A child born to an unmarried mother who is unable to marry her father.
Because Simon de Mare willingly offered to take responsibility for his woman, Ippolito de Mare is alive and standing here today.
But when the time came for Ippolito to choose, he made a choice that was completely opposite to that of his father, who had been favored by him.
“She promised that if she hid well in the Rambouillet Relief Home, she would tell my father when she had the chance. But he died before that happened.”
Ariadne looked at Ippolito with eyes that seemed to be seeing something disgusting.
It was all too obvious to Ippolito that the contempt he saw in his half-sister's eyes was rubbing off on his father.
He screamed in desperation.
“Okay, so what!”
Everyone in the study turned their attention to Ippolito.
“I didn’t want to get married. You’re taking responsibility! Should I be held back because of someone like that? There are so many noble daughters in San Carlo, and I have such a bright future ahead of me? But, is that wrong? Would you want me to marry her? And let me be clear, did I kill her?!”
Ippolito shouted proudly. Mother is dead. No one knows the truth.
“To be honest, I told my mom that I didn’t want to marry her. But I thought she would just kick her out!”
Ippolito made a gesture with his hand as if his neck was going to fly away.
“Who knew that someone would cut off her neck? It’s her luck that she lost!”
Ariadne was impressed by his lowly gestures and evasion of responsibility.
Ippolito paid no attention and continued to speak passionately, even spitting.
“I’m a human too. If I had known, I would have stopped her. Why would my mother kill her instead of just throwing her out? But Mom already did it. Is it my fault that she killed her because she loved me? Is it my fault that I didn’t stop her before?”
Ippolito looked around the room with pride.
Cardinal de Mare kept his mouth shut, the merchant and his goon sat silently without saying a word after introducing themselves, and even his annoying stepsister, perhaps tired of his pretensions, did not say anything anymore.
Okay, if you subdue it like this, it'll be quiet.
Just as a smile was about to appear on his lips, a shabby man brought in by the merchant named CEO Caruso raised his hand.
“...Uh, over there.”
Ippolito became furious.
“What are you?”
The dock worker, or rather the vagrant, glanced at Ippolito, then at CEO Caruso, and spoke with his hand still raised.
“Are you Master Ippolito de Mare?”
“You don’t know that after coming all this way?” Ippolito thought, turning to look at Ariadne.
It was a waste of time to even talk to that guy.
“Hey, Blackhead. I’m not interested in your clowning around anymore. Get those lowly things out of Father’s study right now.”
Just as Ariadne was about to answer, the tramp spoke first.
“It was you, not your mother, who came to us and asked us to cut off the redhead’s neck.”
CEO Caruso bowed deeply. It was a bow so deep that it was almost cowardly.
“My name is Caruso and I do some business in the capital.”
It was an absurd amount of humility for the representative of Bocanegro, who had risen to become the continent's top merchant during the time of the Black Death.
But how many times in a lifetime does a merchant have the opportunity to see a high priest? For Caruso, it was a normal occurrence in the Etruscan kingdom of that era.
And he didn't come alone. He brought a shabby man with him.
He was a large man, and even if he was washed and dressed well, it was impossible to hide the fact that he was dirty.
CEO Caruso gestured with his chin at the person he had brought in.
“This guy is a dock worker that I met while working... We do the tobacco trade.”
Although he spoke well, the man was more of a vagabond than a dock worker, and all the tobacco distributed in the Central Continent was smuggled in, not through official trade routes.
He is half a drug dealer. Caruso's humility also has some origins here.
If CEO Caruso were to meet with a high-ranking priest, he would normally hide the items of his dealings.
But today there was a reason to bring it up.
From Cardinal de Mare's perspective, it was a self-introduction that he did not want to reveal in many ways.
“Why did you call this guy?”
So the Cardinal looked at Ariadne instead of CEO Caruso with a cold expression and asked.
Ariadne could guess the omitted words without the Cardinal saying anything.
'Why on earth did you bring such a lowlife into my study? If it was a useless act, you will pay the price.'
She opened her mouth calmly and without hesitation.
“First, let me give you some background information.”
Ariadne looked at Cardinal de Mare.
“Do you really think, Father, that Mother killed Paolo Scampa, the red-haired daughter of the relief home manager?”
Cardinal de Mare raised his hand to stop Ariadne.
"Wait for a second."
He nodded toward CEO Caruso.
“Is he someone you can trust, Ariadne?”
Before Ariadne could say anything, CEO Caruso stepped forward and placed his hand on his chest.
“I swear to God, if I leak anything I see and hear here today, I will be struck by lightning and die.”
He said, kicking the dirty man with his foot.
“This guy is the same.”
Ariadne was secretly impressed by CEO Caruso's insight.
If she comes forward here and guarantees that he is a 'trustworthy person', CEO Caruso will look like he is in cahoots with Ariadne.
There was a risk that this would undermine the credibility of the testimony he was about to give a few minutes later.
She followed the wishes of CEO Caruso and indirectly guaranteed his silence.
“I will take responsibility and secure it.”
Ariadne answered calmly. To Cardinal de Mare's ears, it sounded like, 'I will make sure he keeps his mouth shut, even if it means using threats.'
When the Cardinal fell silent, Ariadne continued her story.
“Why on earth would my mother have hired the murder of the daughter of a relief center manager she didn’t even know?”
Cardinal de Mare then replied annoyedly to his daughter who was asking such an obvious question.
“Didn’t she accidentally kill the maid of our house? They were both redheads of the same age, and they were found nearby.”
Ariadne nodded.
“That’s right, Father. But why did Mother try to kill that red-haired maid in the first place?”
Cardinal de Mare, who was about to answer absentmindedly, was speechless.
Lucrezia often beat her maids to death at home.
Since it happens occasionally, he didn't really think much about the reason.
But when he thought about it, most of the maids that Lucrezia killed were either maids who had been provoked by Cardinal de Mare, maids who Lucrezia had misunderstood as provoked, or maids who had been openly ambitious toward Cardinal de Mare.
The Cardinal was never a man to meddle in the affairs of his household, but even in cases of injustice, if he took the maid's side, Lucrezia would be turned upside down, so he tended to turn a blind eye for the sake of the peace of the family.
Managing the household members was also the job of the mistress.
But the redhead was not at all a maid whose daily life overlapped with Cardinal de Mare's. Instead, she was in the service of Isabella and Ippolito.
“By any chance...?”
Ariadne took Cardinal de Mare's words to heart and answered.
“Yes. Because Maletta bore Ippolito’s child.”
"Hey!"
Here Ippolito got up from his seat in anger.
“I had a huge accident? Do you have any proof? Who are you trying to frame me for this?”
The reason Ippolito can be so confident is because all the witnesses are gone.
As far as he knows, only Maletta herself, Ippolito, and the dead Lucrezia know for sure that Maletta is pregnant.
As soon as Maletta found out she was pregnant, she came running to him, and less than an hour after telling him she was pregnant, she was kicked out of the de Mare mansion.
There probably wasn't any time to physically talk to anyone.
He doesn't know how Ariadne knew this, but in the end, his half-sister's testimony could only be a tale heard through the grapevine or a rumor on the street.
Then, he can just pretend that his half-sister is hearing false rumors and is framing him.
Ippolito was convinced that he would win the contest of credibility if all that remained were Ariadne's words and testimony, as he had said.
Who would a father trust? A daughter born from an unknown mother's womb, raised outside? Or a son born from a respectable wife, who would inherit the family?
But Ariadne's expression was strange.
“Hey, are you laughing?”
Ippolito, whose expectations were off, raised his fist.
“Is this crazy?”
Ariadne answered cheerfully.
“Are you crazy? Are you trying to cover the sky with your palm?”
"What?"
“I have a witness. Do you know her as Loretta?”
Ippolito's eyebrows furrowed. Loretta... Loretta... Who is it?
“She is the last maidservant of my deceased mother.”
"Ah."
As he heard the explanation, an idea came to mind. Ippolito's expression distorted along the line between his eyebrows.
Ariadne said with a sneer.
“When Mr. Scampa demanded the head of our mother together with the local cooperative, there was a rumor in the market that the maid was carrying Ippolito de Mare’s child and that the mother was trying to kill the maid.”
Ippolito countered.
“It’s just a rumor! People say all sorts of things that aren’t true!”
Ariadne knew better than anyone that even a chimney could produce smoke, but not in this case. She said wryly.
“Where do you think that rumor came from?”
Ariadne looked straight at Ippolito, who knew only one thing and did not know two, and said:
“When Loretta was questioned by the local cooperative, she told them everything! When mother and brother tried to get rid of Maletta, Loretta did it all herself! She was the one who went to check on the body! Of course, she knew the whole story!”
Ippolito's face turned pale. He turned red and pale. It was quite a sight.
“At that time, Loretta could not come back to our house because my mother passed away, so she went back to her hometown in the outskirts. But you can call her back anytime.”
She continued, looking at Ippolito with pity.
“Besides, there are many people in the local cooperative who have heard Loretta’s testimony! And there are many servants in our house too! People who saw what my brother did with Maletta!”
Ariadne straightened her posture and looked straight at Ippolito.
“The maid Maletta, whom you touched, became pregnant, and Maletta wanted to sit down, but you had no intention of being held back by a mere maid!”
She turned her gaze to Cardinal de Mare.
“And actually, I heard it myself.”
“...What?”
“Maletta considered me her sister-in-law.”
"What?"
Ariadne smiled slightly.
“The dead Maletta is actually the older sister of my close maid, Sancha. Because of that connection, when Maletta was kicked out of our house and became a wanderer on the streets, I arranged for her to stay at the Rambouillet Relief Center.”
The Cardinal felt uncomfortable with the very fact that Ariadne was involved in this matter, but he listened patiently to the story.
In any case, the facts surrounding the situation had to be confirmed.
“At that time, I had a brief meeting with Maletta. Maletta begged me. She said she was pregnant with brother Ippolito’s child and didn’t want to part with him. Please let me have him and raise him.”
The Cardinal glanced at Ippolito. His son was trembling and his face was flushed.
He was the son of a privileged family. He was tall, wearing a luxurious purple silk pajamas, and his hair and fingernails were neatly groomed. He had a refined appearance.
But that child was in the same situation as the child who had once been in Maletta's womb.
A child born to an unmarried mother who is unable to marry her father.
Because Simon de Mare willingly offered to take responsibility for his woman, Ippolito de Mare is alive and standing here today.
But when the time came for Ippolito to choose, he made a choice that was completely opposite to that of his father, who had been favored by him.
“She promised that if she hid well in the Rambouillet Relief Home, she would tell my father when she had the chance. But he died before that happened.”
Ariadne looked at Ippolito with eyes that seemed to be seeing something disgusting.
It was all too obvious to Ippolito that the contempt he saw in his half-sister's eyes was rubbing off on his father.
He screamed in desperation.
“Okay, so what!”
Everyone in the study turned their attention to Ippolito.
“I didn’t want to get married. You’re taking responsibility! Should I be held back because of someone like that? There are so many noble daughters in San Carlo, and I have such a bright future ahead of me? But, is that wrong? Would you want me to marry her? And let me be clear, did I kill her?!”
Ippolito shouted proudly. Mother is dead. No one knows the truth.
“To be honest, I told my mom that I didn’t want to marry her. But I thought she would just kick her out!”
Ippolito made a gesture with his hand as if his neck was going to fly away.
“Who knew that someone would cut off her neck? It’s her luck that she lost!”
Ariadne was impressed by his lowly gestures and evasion of responsibility.
Ippolito paid no attention and continued to speak passionately, even spitting.
“I’m a human too. If I had known, I would have stopped her. Why would my mother kill her instead of just throwing her out? But Mom already did it. Is it my fault that she killed her because she loved me? Is it my fault that I didn’t stop her before?”
Ippolito looked around the room with pride.
Cardinal de Mare kept his mouth shut, the merchant and his goon sat silently without saying a word after introducing themselves, and even his annoying stepsister, perhaps tired of his pretensions, did not say anything anymore.
Okay, if you subdue it like this, it'll be quiet.
Just as a smile was about to appear on his lips, a shabby man brought in by the merchant named CEO Caruso raised his hand.
“...Uh, over there.”
Ippolito became furious.
“What are you?”
The dock worker, or rather the vagrant, glanced at Ippolito, then at CEO Caruso, and spoke with his hand still raised.
“Are you Master Ippolito de Mare?”
“You don’t know that after coming all this way?” Ippolito thought, turning to look at Ariadne.
It was a waste of time to even talk to that guy.
“Hey, Blackhead. I’m not interested in your clowning around anymore. Get those lowly things out of Father’s study right now.”
Just as Ariadne was about to answer, the tramp spoke first.
“It was you, not your mother, who came to us and asked us to cut off the redhead’s neck.”
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