Even the greatest Duke Cesare in the world felt uncomfortable with having his proposal rejected and then immediately proposing again.
Even if we set aside his subjective frustration, it was objectively a risky thing to do.
If you are rejected by a woman yesterday and then propose again the next day, you will look like a man who ignores her wishes.
And above all, this girl was unlike any woman he had ever dealt with before.
The difficulty level was as different as heaven and earth compared to those who would helplessly collapse when he pushed forward with a handsome face and a smile.
More time was needed to strategize and build trust.
"Delicious?"
“Hmm. So-so.”
So Cesare decided to turn around the normal way.
He went around to all the fancy dessert shops that opened three or five times after the plague, carrying delicious items, and he also swept the greenhouses to fill the de Mare mansion with bouquets of flowers.
It would have been easy to lose energy from the reaction of "do this, do that", but he was a man of perseverance.
And so word of mouth spread naturally for about a month.
“Ariadne. Duke Pisano, he seems like a completely new person.”
At a girls' social gathering that they had not seen in a long time, Count Gabriele Dellatorre's daughter spoke to them while sipping her tea.
Today's host was Countess Dellatorre.
She gathered all her friends together to officially announce her upcoming wedding.
"Is it so?"
Ariadne answered mechanically.
"Sure."
Gabriele, who was formally engaged to Petruchio, the eldest son of the Marquis of Montefeltro, and was planning to get married in late spring, seemed relaxed all over her body, as befitting a woman about to get married.
“My fiancé says he hasn’t been to the card room at all lately.”
Gabriele added that Cesare was afraid people might mistake his fiancée for a womanizer.
“My fiancé’s younger sibling was a bit... I was worried about the Marquis of Montefeltro because he hung out with those kinds of friends.”
“Oh my, that...”
“You must have a lot to worry about.”
“It’s okay now. I heard he’s been hanging out less these days. Anyway, that’s why I heard he hasn’t shown up at all. We’re also thankful because now that the money-maker is gone, the meetings themselves have become somewhat disorganized...”
Felicite, who had been watching him closely, slyly poked Gabriele in the ribs.
As Gabriele's marriage neared, she began to become more verbally slurred.
Talking like that would have been disrespectful to Cesare's fiancée, Ariadne, and even if they had gathered to celebrate Gabriele's marriage, if the talk had gone on too long, it could have been disrespectful to their friends who were not yet engaged.
Gabriele cleared her throat and changed the subject, seeming startled by Felicity's glance.
“Anyway. Duke Pisano has been really kind to Ariadne lately. When are you going to get married?”
Ariadne answered with a smile.
“No, wait a minute. Who was it that said, ‘Never mind Count Cesare’?”
“Oh, no, that’s not me.”
Gabriele became serious.
It was true that last year Gabriele had pushed Count Cesare, saying, "A man's face is everything."
But since Petruchio de Montefeltro, the man Gabriele was to marry and to whom she was quite content, was far from young or handsome, it was a little embarrassing to emphasize that she had said such a thing.
So, she couldn't give a reason and just said that she didn't oppose it.
The kind-hearted Felicite joined in with a smile to lighten the mood.
“But that’s right, I told you to exclude Count Cesare.”
“Even now?”
Gabriele asked. Felicite laughed again.
“Oh, you’re worried? Listening to your story, it seems like you’re really being sincere this time.”
Camellia also took part.
“That seems right. Our Signor Ottavio says that it’s hard to see the Duke of Pisano these days. He doesn’t play with him.”
“He hasn’t even met Sir Ottavio? He’s his best friend!”
“I don’t know, but if the two of them meet, do you think they’ll do anything other than drinking during the day or playing cards?”
Camellia pouted her pretty lips.
“If you want to live cleanly, it’s best for the two of them to not meet.”
It seemed that she was dissatisfied with her fiancé's behavior. Felicite responded.
“He must really be serious about Ariadne, Duke Pisano since he even cut off a close friend like Sir Ottavio.”
“No, no, that’s not it.”
Cornelia, with her sharp voice, interjected.
“People don’t change. Who knows if they’ll only do well for a little while?”
Cornelia keenly delved into the part that Ariadne was most concerned about.
“It’s easy to pretend for a month or two. But if you live for 10 or 20 years, you’ll eventually become immature! Where does your true nature go?”
"But."
Julia, the realist, intervened.
“You have already become engaged by His Majesty the King’s royal command. How can you cancel that?”
If Julia's older brother had heard that, he would have been pounding the ground and complaining, saying, "Shouldn't you at least take my side?" But even though they are from the same boat, they can't know each other's innermost thoughts.
“Since you can’t just give up anyway, you have no choice but to accept the marriage, right?”
Felicite nodded cautiously.
“My mother also said that if you don’t accept a man for too long, he will come back to you with resentment later, so it’s not good to be too picky.”
When she mentioned her mother as a reference, it was an irrefutable and authoritative statement.
“No, first of all, he’s handsome!”
Gabriele intervened.
“Just looking at his face doesn’t make all your fatigue go away?”
Julia laughed and agreed.
“That’s true.”
“He was stunningly handsome.”
Everyone except Cornelia agreed. Cornelia nodded reluctantly.
“Well, I can’t do that, Ma’am.”
Today's girls' social circle's opinion was ultimately 4 to 1 in favor of 'accepting Duke Cesare'.
“Watch carefully how it is done.”
Felicite advised.
“It’s the ‘Spring Festival’ soon, right? There’s going to be a royal ball.”
“That’s right, it’s prom season.”
“Oh my, this is so exciting!”
Felicite spoke to Ariadne quite bluntly.
“The scandal that Duke Cesare has been spreading every year at the ‘Spring Festival’ is enormous.”
Julia nodded.
“The palace ball is a great opportunity to meet girls.”
Cornelia added.
“It’s also a perfect event for a chance encounter with a woman he had an accident with in the past.”
Felicite nodded thoughtfully to her friends as if they all had a point.
“So, let’s see if this year’s ‘Spring Festival’ goes by without a hitch. If he’s letting this part slide, can’t we assume that Duke Pisano is sincere to Countess de Mare?”
So the 'Spring Festival' came. Last year's 'Spring Festival' Ariadne went with Raphael, but this year her partner was Cesare.
“I’ll pick you up early by 3pm.”
Last year, when she went with Raphael, she was able to enter during general admission with the general public, but this year, she had to enter through the VIP passage with Cesare, a member of the royal family.
There was a lot to do, including checking to make sure no one was carrying a weapon, as they were expected to spend the entire ball close to the King—this part had become tight recently.
“Will you wear the dress I sent you?”
Cesare asked, kissing Ariadne's loose hair.
Ariadne, who was used to this level of skinship, responded in a girlish manner without being surprised.
“Take a look. If you like it.”
Cesare answered confidently.
“I think I’ll like it. Just tell me in advance which one you chose.”
Ariadne thought. Are there several dresses?
And when Cesare's gift arrived, Ariadne began to understand Cesare's confident assurance.
“Countess de Mare. This is a gift from the Duke of Pisano. I have come in person to make the arrangements.”
Madame Clemenza of the Collezion costume shop visited the de Mare mansion in person.
And behind her was a huge convoy of carriages.
"...What are all those things?”
“It’s mostly dresses, with a few jewelry and shoes.”
Sancha seemed to be intimidated by the number of carriages that Madame Clemenza had brought.
“Six... Seven... Eight grand...”
Through the carriage windows, one could see boxes of hats, packages of dresses, and additionally, fine fabrics overflowing.
Madame Clemenza asked Sancha, who was entranced by the gift box.
“I need a place to store my stuff. Is there a good place to do it? We usually use the living room.”
Sancha suddenly came to her senses and answered.
“Ah... come to the reception room! It’s this way.”
Madame Clemenza said with a smile.
“Your Grace, please come dressed in comfortable clothes. You don’t need to do your makeup or hair separately.”
And Madame Clemenza smiled.
“Of all the Counts I have ever served, you are the most beautiful.”
Well, most of the Counts were grandfathers.
Of the eight carriage-loads of gifts sent by Cesare, what Ariadne ultimately chose was a dress as red as blood.
Cesare could not forget the incident at Ariadne's debutante ball.
All of the designs he sent were the type where the fabric was cut in multiple layers so that there was no risk of exposure even if there was a sewing accident, and this red dress was one of them.
'...You are very meticulous.'
She rolled her hair with a curling iron and tied it halfway up.
On top of that, she wore a headdress made of several layers of thin beads made of small topaz that extended down to her forehead.
Since she didn't want to provoke Leo III and Rubina, the necklace was a large cross necklace, not the 'Heart of the Blue Deep Sea' necklace.
Cesare, who appeared at the appointed time, was wearing a red robe made of the same fabric as Ariadne.
Ariadne couldn't help but let out a small laugh when she saw Cesare.
“You were aiming for it?”
He answered with a bright smile.
“Well then. You're my prom partner, so it’s right to wear matching outfits.”
She couldn't contain her curiosity and asked.
“Tell me. Did you decide what I was going to wear and then hastily have it tailored to match, or did you have a men’s suit made to match all those dresses from the beginning?”
The number of half-dress samples Ariadne received from Madame Clemenza was around 30.
“Half and half?”
“Huh? You only made half of the dress into a men’s suit?”
“I had already matched the dresses that I thought the young lady would choose, and I had already matched the fabrics of the dresses that I thought you wouldn’t choose.”
Cesare kissed Ariadne's forehead.
“So don’t send the rest of the dresses back to the costume shop, finish them and wear them. I don’t want to see you walking around wearing the same clothes as a strict woman.”
She giggled.
“That would be really funny.”
“I hate myself. I can look up to the sky without any shame, and now you’re going to call me a womanizer or something?”
Cesare had been feeling extremely resentful lately.
“So, should you wear it?”
“I'll think about it.”
She gave a smiling nod of agreement.
In the afternoon, after passing through the palace security check, Ariadne spent a couple of hours chatting with Cesare in the guest room.
Ariadne didn't know it, but Cesare had cut her off from the Duchess Rubina's request to have tea alone for the two of them, leaving her with some empty time.
After a quick meal in the guest room, it was finally evening and time to enter the ballroom.
This was the first time she had had a close audience with the King since her private meeting with Leo III last winter because of Cesare.
Ariadne grabbed the cross necklace, wondering what it would sound like. It felt like she was making the sign of the cross.
Even if we set aside his subjective frustration, it was objectively a risky thing to do.
If you are rejected by a woman yesterday and then propose again the next day, you will look like a man who ignores her wishes.
And above all, this girl was unlike any woman he had ever dealt with before.
The difficulty level was as different as heaven and earth compared to those who would helplessly collapse when he pushed forward with a handsome face and a smile.
More time was needed to strategize and build trust.
"Delicious?"
“Hmm. So-so.”
So Cesare decided to turn around the normal way.
He went around to all the fancy dessert shops that opened three or five times after the plague, carrying delicious items, and he also swept the greenhouses to fill the de Mare mansion with bouquets of flowers.
It would have been easy to lose energy from the reaction of "do this, do that", but he was a man of perseverance.
And so word of mouth spread naturally for about a month.
“Ariadne. Duke Pisano, he seems like a completely new person.”
At a girls' social gathering that they had not seen in a long time, Count Gabriele Dellatorre's daughter spoke to them while sipping her tea.
Today's host was Countess Dellatorre.
She gathered all her friends together to officially announce her upcoming wedding.
"Is it so?"
Ariadne answered mechanically.
"Sure."
Gabriele, who was formally engaged to Petruchio, the eldest son of the Marquis of Montefeltro, and was planning to get married in late spring, seemed relaxed all over her body, as befitting a woman about to get married.
“My fiancé says he hasn’t been to the card room at all lately.”
Gabriele added that Cesare was afraid people might mistake his fiancée for a womanizer.
“My fiancé’s younger sibling was a bit... I was worried about the Marquis of Montefeltro because he hung out with those kinds of friends.”
“Oh my, that...”
“You must have a lot to worry about.”
“It’s okay now. I heard he’s been hanging out less these days. Anyway, that’s why I heard he hasn’t shown up at all. We’re also thankful because now that the money-maker is gone, the meetings themselves have become somewhat disorganized...”
Felicite, who had been watching him closely, slyly poked Gabriele in the ribs.
As Gabriele's marriage neared, she began to become more verbally slurred.
Talking like that would have been disrespectful to Cesare's fiancée, Ariadne, and even if they had gathered to celebrate Gabriele's marriage, if the talk had gone on too long, it could have been disrespectful to their friends who were not yet engaged.
Gabriele cleared her throat and changed the subject, seeming startled by Felicity's glance.
“Anyway. Duke Pisano has been really kind to Ariadne lately. When are you going to get married?”
Ariadne answered with a smile.
“No, wait a minute. Who was it that said, ‘Never mind Count Cesare’?”
“Oh, no, that’s not me.”
Gabriele became serious.
It was true that last year Gabriele had pushed Count Cesare, saying, "A man's face is everything."
But since Petruchio de Montefeltro, the man Gabriele was to marry and to whom she was quite content, was far from young or handsome, it was a little embarrassing to emphasize that she had said such a thing.
So, she couldn't give a reason and just said that she didn't oppose it.
The kind-hearted Felicite joined in with a smile to lighten the mood.
“But that’s right, I told you to exclude Count Cesare.”
“Even now?”
Gabriele asked. Felicite laughed again.
“Oh, you’re worried? Listening to your story, it seems like you’re really being sincere this time.”
Camellia also took part.
“That seems right. Our Signor Ottavio says that it’s hard to see the Duke of Pisano these days. He doesn’t play with him.”
“He hasn’t even met Sir Ottavio? He’s his best friend!”
“I don’t know, but if the two of them meet, do you think they’ll do anything other than drinking during the day or playing cards?”
Camellia pouted her pretty lips.
“If you want to live cleanly, it’s best for the two of them to not meet.”
It seemed that she was dissatisfied with her fiancé's behavior. Felicite responded.
“He must really be serious about Ariadne, Duke Pisano since he even cut off a close friend like Sir Ottavio.”
“No, no, that’s not it.”
Cornelia, with her sharp voice, interjected.
“People don’t change. Who knows if they’ll only do well for a little while?”
Cornelia keenly delved into the part that Ariadne was most concerned about.
“It’s easy to pretend for a month or two. But if you live for 10 or 20 years, you’ll eventually become immature! Where does your true nature go?”
"But."
Julia, the realist, intervened.
“You have already become engaged by His Majesty the King’s royal command. How can you cancel that?”
If Julia's older brother had heard that, he would have been pounding the ground and complaining, saying, "Shouldn't you at least take my side?" But even though they are from the same boat, they can't know each other's innermost thoughts.
“Since you can’t just give up anyway, you have no choice but to accept the marriage, right?”
Felicite nodded cautiously.
“My mother also said that if you don’t accept a man for too long, he will come back to you with resentment later, so it’s not good to be too picky.”
When she mentioned her mother as a reference, it was an irrefutable and authoritative statement.
“No, first of all, he’s handsome!”
Gabriele intervened.
“Just looking at his face doesn’t make all your fatigue go away?”
Julia laughed and agreed.
“That’s true.”
“He was stunningly handsome.”
Everyone except Cornelia agreed. Cornelia nodded reluctantly.
“Well, I can’t do that, Ma’am.”
Today's girls' social circle's opinion was ultimately 4 to 1 in favor of 'accepting Duke Cesare'.
“Watch carefully how it is done.”
Felicite advised.
“It’s the ‘Spring Festival’ soon, right? There’s going to be a royal ball.”
“That’s right, it’s prom season.”
“Oh my, this is so exciting!”
Felicite spoke to Ariadne quite bluntly.
“The scandal that Duke Cesare has been spreading every year at the ‘Spring Festival’ is enormous.”
Julia nodded.
“The palace ball is a great opportunity to meet girls.”
Cornelia added.
“It’s also a perfect event for a chance encounter with a woman he had an accident with in the past.”
Felicite nodded thoughtfully to her friends as if they all had a point.
“So, let’s see if this year’s ‘Spring Festival’ goes by without a hitch. If he’s letting this part slide, can’t we assume that Duke Pisano is sincere to Countess de Mare?”
***
So the 'Spring Festival' came. Last year's 'Spring Festival' Ariadne went with Raphael, but this year her partner was Cesare.
“I’ll pick you up early by 3pm.”
Last year, when she went with Raphael, she was able to enter during general admission with the general public, but this year, she had to enter through the VIP passage with Cesare, a member of the royal family.
There was a lot to do, including checking to make sure no one was carrying a weapon, as they were expected to spend the entire ball close to the King—this part had become tight recently.
“Will you wear the dress I sent you?”
Cesare asked, kissing Ariadne's loose hair.
Ariadne, who was used to this level of skinship, responded in a girlish manner without being surprised.
“Take a look. If you like it.”
Cesare answered confidently.
“I think I’ll like it. Just tell me in advance which one you chose.”
Ariadne thought. Are there several dresses?
And when Cesare's gift arrived, Ariadne began to understand Cesare's confident assurance.
“Countess de Mare. This is a gift from the Duke of Pisano. I have come in person to make the arrangements.”
Madame Clemenza of the Collezion costume shop visited the de Mare mansion in person.
And behind her was a huge convoy of carriages.
"...What are all those things?”
“It’s mostly dresses, with a few jewelry and shoes.”
Sancha seemed to be intimidated by the number of carriages that Madame Clemenza had brought.
“Six... Seven... Eight grand...”
Through the carriage windows, one could see boxes of hats, packages of dresses, and additionally, fine fabrics overflowing.
Madame Clemenza asked Sancha, who was entranced by the gift box.
“I need a place to store my stuff. Is there a good place to do it? We usually use the living room.”
Sancha suddenly came to her senses and answered.
“Ah... come to the reception room! It’s this way.”
Madame Clemenza said with a smile.
“Your Grace, please come dressed in comfortable clothes. You don’t need to do your makeup or hair separately.”
And Madame Clemenza smiled.
“Of all the Counts I have ever served, you are the most beautiful.”
Well, most of the Counts were grandfathers.
***
Of the eight carriage-loads of gifts sent by Cesare, what Ariadne ultimately chose was a dress as red as blood.
Cesare could not forget the incident at Ariadne's debutante ball.
All of the designs he sent were the type where the fabric was cut in multiple layers so that there was no risk of exposure even if there was a sewing accident, and this red dress was one of them.
'...You are very meticulous.'
She rolled her hair with a curling iron and tied it halfway up.
On top of that, she wore a headdress made of several layers of thin beads made of small topaz that extended down to her forehead.
Since she didn't want to provoke Leo III and Rubina, the necklace was a large cross necklace, not the 'Heart of the Blue Deep Sea' necklace.
Cesare, who appeared at the appointed time, was wearing a red robe made of the same fabric as Ariadne.
Ariadne couldn't help but let out a small laugh when she saw Cesare.
“You were aiming for it?”
He answered with a bright smile.
“Well then. You're my prom partner, so it’s right to wear matching outfits.”
She couldn't contain her curiosity and asked.
“Tell me. Did you decide what I was going to wear and then hastily have it tailored to match, or did you have a men’s suit made to match all those dresses from the beginning?”
The number of half-dress samples Ariadne received from Madame Clemenza was around 30.
“Half and half?”
“Huh? You only made half of the dress into a men’s suit?”
“I had already matched the dresses that I thought the young lady would choose, and I had already matched the fabrics of the dresses that I thought you wouldn’t choose.”
Cesare kissed Ariadne's forehead.
“So don’t send the rest of the dresses back to the costume shop, finish them and wear them. I don’t want to see you walking around wearing the same clothes as a strict woman.”
She giggled.
“That would be really funny.”
“I hate myself. I can look up to the sky without any shame, and now you’re going to call me a womanizer or something?”
Cesare had been feeling extremely resentful lately.
“So, should you wear it?”
“I'll think about it.”
She gave a smiling nod of agreement.
In the afternoon, after passing through the palace security check, Ariadne spent a couple of hours chatting with Cesare in the guest room.
Ariadne didn't know it, but Cesare had cut her off from the Duchess Rubina's request to have tea alone for the two of them, leaving her with some empty time.
After a quick meal in the guest room, it was finally evening and time to enter the ballroom.
This was the first time she had had a close audience with the King since her private meeting with Leo III last winter because of Cesare.
Ariadne grabbed the cross necklace, wondering what it would sound like. It felt like she was making the sign of the cross.
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