Isabella was confident. It was a triumph of a carefully planned scenario.
Every step of the process went perfectly just as she wanted.
Now she just had to pick the last fruit. All she wanted was the position of 'Duchess of Pisano'.
Of course, it wasn't that she didn't worry about gossip. More than anything, she didn't like the idea of her secrets being exposed in front of all of San Carlo.
'I didn't show all of my chest, did I?'
Isabella glanced down at her corpique, which was now neatly tidying up again.
It was absolutely out of the question to announce in front of San Carlo that the sternum that she had been bragging about was fake.
'It can't be good if it gets known that it's a cliff.'
Cesare didn't even touch the chest area much.
He must have realized at once that Isabella's bust wasn't much to brag about. Isabella pouted her lips for no reason.
Well, it was a call back. All you need to know is San Carlo.
Surely Cesare wouldn't go around saying that his woman's breasts are small.
There was another thing she didn't like. It was the fact that she had become a woman who had played around with her sister's man in front of all of San Carlo.
Although she was not uneasy, Isabella was confident.
'What will they do with me once I become the Duchess of Pisano?'
The noble reputation of the young lady of a noble house is necessary for a good marriage anyway.
Some women are obsessed with reputation itself and risk their lives to protect it, but that's putting the cart before the horse.
'I'm already married, but you're going to kick me out because I have a bad reputation in society?'
Moreover, Cesare's reputation also fell to the ground.
Even if he were to marry Isabella and then kick her out and look for a new wife, it wouldn't be easy.
Some old-fashioned ladies may be displeased, but they dare not exclude the Duchess of Pisano from their social circle.
Incidents and accidents are forgotten as time passes, and the trend is that of the powerful. Isabella was sure that her bet this time was not wrong.
Click.
Cesare opened the door to the drawing room and stepped inside. Isabella felt something slightly bothering her.
Because the place she arrived was not the inner room, where an intimate relationship would normally lead, but the reception room.
'Well. It might be uncomfortable since you're being forced to get married by twisting your wrist.'
Cesare probably not feeling well.
Besides, Cardinal de Mare will be arriving soon. Wouldn't it be funny to have a woman about to get married and her future father-in-law meet in the bedroom together?
Isabella decided to give Cesare some leeway for once. It was a day when everything went smoothly.
It's not like she can't use this much humanity. She finished rationalizing it like that.
Cesare kept his mouth shut even after entering the drawing room.
Isabella didn't even wait to be told to take a seat before speaking in a confident tone.
“How should we proceed with the divorce proceedings?”
Cesare looked back with a frown.
"What?"
The expression on his face was quite grim. However, Isabella smiled leisurely and answered smoothly without a moment of hesitation.
“I’m talking about the process of breaking off the engagement with Aria.”
It was as if she had come to pick up a trinket that had been left for repair. She had a big smile on her face.
When Cesare did not answer readily, Isabella explained slowly with her still smiling face.
“The de Mare family could officially request an engagement breakup, but the families are the same, and the daughter is the only one who has changed. Is it really necessary to send a divorce letter at the family level?”
Cesare said nothing.
“If His Majesty the King were to recall the edict, we could proceed without an official dissolution of the engagement at the family level.”
Isabella looked at Cesare meaningfully as if she knew everything.
“I think it would be better for you to handle this quietly.”
And then came the confident declarations.
“I can help you.”
Cesare simply kept his mouth shut and glared at Isabella. His gaze seemed capable of killing a person.
But Isabella remained unmoved, glaring at Cesare and raising the corners of her mouth. What are you going to do, now?
In San Carlo, any man who doesn't take responsibility for the women he touches becomes the scum of the earth.
Duke Cesare had been able to get away with all kinds of trickery up until now, but now that he was publicly exposed to the world, there was no way to escape.
Isabella had to make some sacrifices, but the result was perfect.
Why on earth didn't anyone else do something this good? Isabella decided to corner her prey a little further.
“From my perspective, it’s like giving up the engagement ceremony.”
Well, that's right. She has to have a gorgeous but elegant pure white engagement ceremony and a colorful wedding with wine and jewels flowing out, but she's giving up one of them.
Isabella's spirit of sacrifice was admirable. She blurted it out proudly.
“I hope you understand that I am making this sacrifice out of consideration for my husband’s reputation.”
“Excuse me. Miss Isabella de Mare.”
Cesare's cold voice interrupted the conversation. Isabella did not like Cesare's arrogance.
'You're now all that's left to do is become mine, so why are you sticking your claws out?'
So she added a little suffix to the title with a puzzled expression.
“Why are you doing this, my Cesare?”
Isabella's face was relaxed.
Cesare glared at Isabella as if he were looking at a bug. Then he spat out something as if he was chewing.
“Why do you think I’ll marry a Young lady?”
Isabella's beautiful face was cracked.
“What did you say?”
She glared at Cesare and shouted angrily.
“Are you crazy?”
Isabella glared at Cesare.
“Are you prepared to be permanently banned from San Carlo?”
This was a development Isabella had not expected at all.
“Things have gotten this big? You’ve messed with a noble girl and you won’t take responsibility? After you make such a bombshell announcement, there won’t be any noble families you can go to!”
“If she were a daughter from a noble family, that would be the case.”
Cesare answered calmly.
“If she were a noble lady as good as your sister, I should have taken responsibility for her.”
Cesare's speech was slow, but raw anger was seething within him.
As the tone increased, the content also became more serious.
“But, Miss Isabella de Mare, it is said all over the capital that you have been giving everything to this and that bastard. Do I really have to take responsibility for you?”
He laughed bitterly.
“Aren’t you the famous ‘Marquis of Campa’s mistress’?”
Isabella's mouth fell open.
“What did you say?”
Anger crawled up Isabella's spine. This isn't fair!
The reason Isabella was rumored to be the mistress of the Marquis of Campa was simply that she had in her possession a jewel that had fallen from a piece of jewelry known as the 'Marquis of Campa's bracelet'.
However, the bracelet was actually one that Cesare had bought and given to Ariadne and had no connection to the Marquis of Campa.
Her shrieking scream echoed through Cesare's drawing room.
“I don’t know anyone else, but you know that the story about the Marquis of Campa is all a fabrication!”
Cesare shrugged his shoulders, his eyes burning with a gentle, cruel delight.
“How do I know that?”
He attacked Isabella with a crooked smile on his lips.
“I am not omnipotent. I just heard the gossip of the social circle. Otherwise, would there be smoke? Didn’t you do something that made it to my ears?”
Isabella's face turned bright red and she started trembling.
“And how would others know something that I don’t know? If you feel wronged, prove your chastity.”
Exposing Clemente's affair might prove that she had no relationship with the Marquis of Campa.
But Isabella had no means of revealing Clemente's infidelity to the world, other than circumstantial evidence.
In the end, it's just Isabella's word versus Clemente's word.
But there was no way to prove her chastity. Isabella's chastity was no more, for Cesare had taken it away.
“You son of a bitch!”
Cesare glared at Isabella with cold, water-colored eyes.
“I don’t think it’s something that our light-hearted Lady de Mare, who doesn’t care about water or fire, should say to me.”
“Bad guy! Trash!”
Isabella's pretty purple eyes began to wet with tears.
“It was my first! I gave my first to you! You know it!”
But Cesare was indifferent.
“You were the first to shackle me.”
He threw a sneer at her.
“Do you think you’re the first and only woman I’ve ever been with?”
To Cesare, Isabella is just one of many 'women', or rather, trophies.
“You think you’re something just because you slept with me once?”
Cesare's every word was like a sharp knife piercing Isabella's heart.
“If I have to choose a Duchess from those, you’d be about number 118, right? Over 150? I don’t really care about the number after 50. Yeah, I guess we’d better make a list! Write your name on the list and go back and wait until the previous Duchess passes away.”
His whining continued.
“Oh yes. There is something special about Miss Isabella de Mare. I have never seen a woman so bold as to risk her virginity. I will give you that one credit.”
Cesare chuckled softly. He felt like drinking alcohol. He felt like getting drunk in broad daylight.
“But you know what? Aside from the fact that your fights are so bold that I admire them, it also makes me feel incredibly dirty when I’m on the receiving end of them.”
A dirty feeling. A dirty, used feeling that won't wash away.
“If what you want is power or money, then you can act like you are doing now. But if you are a human, then such petty behavior is for the dogs.”
Cesare thought. Why am I giving such a lecture to someone? What is Ari thinking right now?
Isabella cried out angrily with her face wet with tears, facing Cesare who was thinking of something else.
“You are the most unparalleled piece of trash in the world!”
Cesare nodded.
“You're right. I'm an asshole anyway.”
He finally chuckled.
“You jumped in without knowing?”
"You!!"
“Everyone admits it.”
He raised both hands as if in a sign of surrender.
“Since I’ve already been branded trash, why not try being trash on par with the Marquis of Campa? I’ve already become that guy’s brother-in-law.”
Cesare's aquamarine eyes shone fiercely.
“So I’m not responsible for you.”
Isabella cried.
“Who wants to ruin life!”
Her pretty and proud mask was nowhere to be found.
“Cesare de Como, are you threatening to blow yourself up? If we don’t get married right now, we’ll both die! Are you out of your mind?”
“Who threatened suicide?”
Cesare's voice also became louder.
“Who is the person who ruined my life right now and is doing this to me!”
His savior disappeared before his eyes.
He walked out with terrible contempt and disgust in her green eyes, no, her wounds gleaming.
He thought that if he just held her hand, he would become a new person.
He thought he could break away from the miserable, hungry past and move forward into a bright, shining future.
All of that was shut down right before his eyes.
“Who was it that crawled into my bed in the first place, lied, shook the letter, and thrust her butt in?!”
“Don’t be a jerk! You were the one who brought me up to your bedroom! You could have just said one word to me not to let me in, you could have just said one word to me not to do this, but you were the one who refused until the very end!”
Isabella was evil.
“Am I some kind of 8-foot-tall giant? Did I force myself on you?”
Anger flashed in Isabella's eyes.
“You seem to think that it’s all my fault that you and Ariadne are in this situation, Duke. It was your horribly light groin that caused this situation!”
Cesare no longer had any desire to speak to Isabella. He had driven the wedge in.
“That’s it. I won’t marry you.”
He didn't want to think about who was to blame.
Let's just say it was Isabella's fault. It didn't matter if Isabella blamed him. He just didn't have to listen.
“Well, let’s say it’s my fault. But even so, that doesn’t mean I have to marry you, right?”
The people who want to get married here are those who are afraid of the damage to their reputation.
Today's Isabella is by far the woman who fears no less notoriety than any of the courtesans of San Carlo society.
But Cesare was one step ahead. He had been walking the fine line between socialite and incorrigible scum for nearly a decade.
If Isabella and Cesare were to play chicken over the ruination of their social reputations, Cesare would clearly be the winner.
“I'll just get rid of it and do my best with tears.”
Isabella raised her right hand high to slap Cesare. Cesare saw Isabella's hand go up.
He didn't bother to stop it even though he saw it. He was going to hit it once. He felt a little sorry.
Bam!
But what struck Cesare in the face was not a woman's slender hand, but a man's fist.
“Ah, Father...!”
Isabella's exclamation was heard. Cardinal de Mare, who had been belatedly led to Cesare's drawing room, had punched Cesare in the face.
There was another thing she didn't like. It was the fact that she had become a woman who had played around with her sister's man in front of all of San Carlo.
Although she was not uneasy, Isabella was confident.
'What will they do with me once I become the Duchess of Pisano?'
The noble reputation of the young lady of a noble house is necessary for a good marriage anyway.
Some women are obsessed with reputation itself and risk their lives to protect it, but that's putting the cart before the horse.
'I'm already married, but you're going to kick me out because I have a bad reputation in society?'
Moreover, Cesare's reputation also fell to the ground.
Even if he were to marry Isabella and then kick her out and look for a new wife, it wouldn't be easy.
Some old-fashioned ladies may be displeased, but they dare not exclude the Duchess of Pisano from their social circle.
Incidents and accidents are forgotten as time passes, and the trend is that of the powerful. Isabella was sure that her bet this time was not wrong.
Click.
Cesare opened the door to the drawing room and stepped inside. Isabella felt something slightly bothering her.
Because the place she arrived was not the inner room, where an intimate relationship would normally lead, but the reception room.
'Well. It might be uncomfortable since you're being forced to get married by twisting your wrist.'
Cesare probably not feeling well.
Besides, Cardinal de Mare will be arriving soon. Wouldn't it be funny to have a woman about to get married and her future father-in-law meet in the bedroom together?
Isabella decided to give Cesare some leeway for once. It was a day when everything went smoothly.
It's not like she can't use this much humanity. She finished rationalizing it like that.
Cesare kept his mouth shut even after entering the drawing room.
Isabella didn't even wait to be told to take a seat before speaking in a confident tone.
“How should we proceed with the divorce proceedings?”
Cesare looked back with a frown.
"What?"
The expression on his face was quite grim. However, Isabella smiled leisurely and answered smoothly without a moment of hesitation.
“I’m talking about the process of breaking off the engagement with Aria.”
It was as if she had come to pick up a trinket that had been left for repair. She had a big smile on her face.
When Cesare did not answer readily, Isabella explained slowly with her still smiling face.
“The de Mare family could officially request an engagement breakup, but the families are the same, and the daughter is the only one who has changed. Is it really necessary to send a divorce letter at the family level?”
Cesare said nothing.
“If His Majesty the King were to recall the edict, we could proceed without an official dissolution of the engagement at the family level.”
Isabella looked at Cesare meaningfully as if she knew everything.
“I think it would be better for you to handle this quietly.”
And then came the confident declarations.
“I can help you.”
Cesare simply kept his mouth shut and glared at Isabella. His gaze seemed capable of killing a person.
But Isabella remained unmoved, glaring at Cesare and raising the corners of her mouth. What are you going to do, now?
In San Carlo, any man who doesn't take responsibility for the women he touches becomes the scum of the earth.
Duke Cesare had been able to get away with all kinds of trickery up until now, but now that he was publicly exposed to the world, there was no way to escape.
Isabella had to make some sacrifices, but the result was perfect.
Why on earth didn't anyone else do something this good? Isabella decided to corner her prey a little further.
“From my perspective, it’s like giving up the engagement ceremony.”
Well, that's right. She has to have a gorgeous but elegant pure white engagement ceremony and a colorful wedding with wine and jewels flowing out, but she's giving up one of them.
Isabella's spirit of sacrifice was admirable. She blurted it out proudly.
“I hope you understand that I am making this sacrifice out of consideration for my husband’s reputation.”
“Excuse me. Miss Isabella de Mare.”
Cesare's cold voice interrupted the conversation. Isabella did not like Cesare's arrogance.
'You're now all that's left to do is become mine, so why are you sticking your claws out?'
So she added a little suffix to the title with a puzzled expression.
“Why are you doing this, my Cesare?”
Isabella's face was relaxed.
Cesare glared at Isabella as if he were looking at a bug. Then he spat out something as if he was chewing.
“Why do you think I’ll marry a Young lady?”
Isabella's beautiful face was cracked.
“What did you say?”
She glared at Cesare and shouted angrily.
“Are you crazy?”
Isabella glared at Cesare.
“Are you prepared to be permanently banned from San Carlo?”
This was a development Isabella had not expected at all.
“Things have gotten this big? You’ve messed with a noble girl and you won’t take responsibility? After you make such a bombshell announcement, there won’t be any noble families you can go to!”
“If she were a daughter from a noble family, that would be the case.”
Cesare answered calmly.
“If she were a noble lady as good as your sister, I should have taken responsibility for her.”
Cesare's speech was slow, but raw anger was seething within him.
As the tone increased, the content also became more serious.
“But, Miss Isabella de Mare, it is said all over the capital that you have been giving everything to this and that bastard. Do I really have to take responsibility for you?”
He laughed bitterly.
“Aren’t you the famous ‘Marquis of Campa’s mistress’?”
Isabella's mouth fell open.
“What did you say?”
Anger crawled up Isabella's spine. This isn't fair!
The reason Isabella was rumored to be the mistress of the Marquis of Campa was simply that she had in her possession a jewel that had fallen from a piece of jewelry known as the 'Marquis of Campa's bracelet'.
However, the bracelet was actually one that Cesare had bought and given to Ariadne and had no connection to the Marquis of Campa.
Her shrieking scream echoed through Cesare's drawing room.
“I don’t know anyone else, but you know that the story about the Marquis of Campa is all a fabrication!”
Cesare shrugged his shoulders, his eyes burning with a gentle, cruel delight.
“How do I know that?”
He attacked Isabella with a crooked smile on his lips.
“I am not omnipotent. I just heard the gossip of the social circle. Otherwise, would there be smoke? Didn’t you do something that made it to my ears?”
Isabella's face turned bright red and she started trembling.
“And how would others know something that I don’t know? If you feel wronged, prove your chastity.”
Exposing Clemente's affair might prove that she had no relationship with the Marquis of Campa.
But Isabella had no means of revealing Clemente's infidelity to the world, other than circumstantial evidence.
In the end, it's just Isabella's word versus Clemente's word.
But there was no way to prove her chastity. Isabella's chastity was no more, for Cesare had taken it away.
“You son of a bitch!”
Cesare glared at Isabella with cold, water-colored eyes.
“I don’t think it’s something that our light-hearted Lady de Mare, who doesn’t care about water or fire, should say to me.”
“Bad guy! Trash!”
Isabella's pretty purple eyes began to wet with tears.
“It was my first! I gave my first to you! You know it!”
But Cesare was indifferent.
“You were the first to shackle me.”
He threw a sneer at her.
“Do you think you’re the first and only woman I’ve ever been with?”
To Cesare, Isabella is just one of many 'women', or rather, trophies.
“You think you’re something just because you slept with me once?”
Cesare's every word was like a sharp knife piercing Isabella's heart.
“If I have to choose a Duchess from those, you’d be about number 118, right? Over 150? I don’t really care about the number after 50. Yeah, I guess we’d better make a list! Write your name on the list and go back and wait until the previous Duchess passes away.”
His whining continued.
“Oh yes. There is something special about Miss Isabella de Mare. I have never seen a woman so bold as to risk her virginity. I will give you that one credit.”
Cesare chuckled softly. He felt like drinking alcohol. He felt like getting drunk in broad daylight.
“But you know what? Aside from the fact that your fights are so bold that I admire them, it also makes me feel incredibly dirty when I’m on the receiving end of them.”
A dirty feeling. A dirty, used feeling that won't wash away.
“If what you want is power or money, then you can act like you are doing now. But if you are a human, then such petty behavior is for the dogs.”
Cesare thought. Why am I giving such a lecture to someone? What is Ari thinking right now?
Isabella cried out angrily with her face wet with tears, facing Cesare who was thinking of something else.
“You are the most unparalleled piece of trash in the world!”
Cesare nodded.
“You're right. I'm an asshole anyway.”
He finally chuckled.
“You jumped in without knowing?”
"You!!"
“Everyone admits it.”
He raised both hands as if in a sign of surrender.
“Since I’ve already been branded trash, why not try being trash on par with the Marquis of Campa? I’ve already become that guy’s brother-in-law.”
Cesare's aquamarine eyes shone fiercely.
“So I’m not responsible for you.”
Isabella cried.
“Who wants to ruin life!”
Her pretty and proud mask was nowhere to be found.
“Cesare de Como, are you threatening to blow yourself up? If we don’t get married right now, we’ll both die! Are you out of your mind?”
“Who threatened suicide?”
Cesare's voice also became louder.
“Who is the person who ruined my life right now and is doing this to me!”
His savior disappeared before his eyes.
He walked out with terrible contempt and disgust in her green eyes, no, her wounds gleaming.
He thought that if he just held her hand, he would become a new person.
He thought he could break away from the miserable, hungry past and move forward into a bright, shining future.
All of that was shut down right before his eyes.
“Who was it that crawled into my bed in the first place, lied, shook the letter, and thrust her butt in?!”
“Don’t be a jerk! You were the one who brought me up to your bedroom! You could have just said one word to me not to let me in, you could have just said one word to me not to do this, but you were the one who refused until the very end!”
Isabella was evil.
“Am I some kind of 8-foot-tall giant? Did I force myself on you?”
Anger flashed in Isabella's eyes.
“You seem to think that it’s all my fault that you and Ariadne are in this situation, Duke. It was your horribly light groin that caused this situation!”
Cesare no longer had any desire to speak to Isabella. He had driven the wedge in.
“That’s it. I won’t marry you.”
He didn't want to think about who was to blame.
Let's just say it was Isabella's fault. It didn't matter if Isabella blamed him. He just didn't have to listen.
“Well, let’s say it’s my fault. But even so, that doesn’t mean I have to marry you, right?”
The people who want to get married here are those who are afraid of the damage to their reputation.
Today's Isabella is by far the woman who fears no less notoriety than any of the courtesans of San Carlo society.
But Cesare was one step ahead. He had been walking the fine line between socialite and incorrigible scum for nearly a decade.
If Isabella and Cesare were to play chicken over the ruination of their social reputations, Cesare would clearly be the winner.
“I'll just get rid of it and do my best with tears.”
Isabella raised her right hand high to slap Cesare. Cesare saw Isabella's hand go up.
He didn't bother to stop it even though he saw it. He was going to hit it once. He felt a little sorry.
Bam!
But what struck Cesare in the face was not a woman's slender hand, but a man's fist.
“Ah, Father...!”
Isabella's exclamation was heard. Cardinal de Mare, who had been belatedly led to Cesare's drawing room, had punched Cesare in the face.
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