From the outer gate of the Palagio Carlo to the actual entrance to the palace was a very long distance, usually a carriage ride away.
“Your Highness, I have something important to tell you...”
Sir Elko whispered right behind Alfonso, who was in the lead. Alfonso, who was low-pressure, did not respond.
It wasn't the place to be reporting on trivial matters, and he certainly didn't feel like reporting on them.
But Sir Elko was not discouraged and spoke again.
“I am ashamed to say this, but... I have seen something. I feel I must tell you.”
“....”
The Prince remained silent in many different situations.
Sometimes it was positive, sometimes it was negative, and sometimes it meant they didn't want to talk anymore.
Sir Elko knew best what meaning the Prince's silence had at each time.
Alfonso's silence now was the attitude he displayed when he did not want to talk, but Sir Elko saw a ray of anger burning between them.
So he trusted his instincts and decided to push a little harder.
“Have you seen her, Your Highness?”
“...What?”
Yes.
Sir Elko cheered inwardly.
“It’s ‘her’!”
Alfonso's eyebrows twitched and moved. Sir Elko smiled inwardly and moved his lips.
“Honestly, I was surprised. I thought she wouldn’t be here today.”
“...Why?”
Alfonso finally broke the long silence and joined the conversation. Sir Elko was confident that things would go smoothly now that they had come this far.
Because what he was about to say was the kind of slander that would make even a canonized man jump up and kick the coffin lid.
“If you were a stranger, wouldn’t you be able to come out and see the Prince? Didn’t the Prince hear all about her engagement and her passionate love story?”
The affair between Cesare and Ariadne was widely rumored.
The news that the Duke of Pisano, the King's nephew, had flirted with his fiancee's older sister and had her engagement broken off reached even Yesak across the sea.
Unless the matter was so big that it spread across the ocean, Lariesa would always write a careful letter and deliver it to Prince Alfonso.
The story of Cesare being granted the title of Duke of Pisano and being formally recognized as a member of the royal family after Ariadne's private meeting with the King; how Ariadne was soon awarded the title of Countess de Mare and became engaged to Duke Cesare of Pisano; how they interacted in high society and how Duke Cesare was terribly kind to his fiancee and was praised as a handsome man and woman; all this was told to Prince Alfonso through letters from the Grand Duchess of Lariesa.
It wasn't a story he wanted to hear, but in the middle of a war zone in the middle of a desolate desert, news from outside was like an oasis.
Alfonso found himself waiting for a letter from Lariesa without realizing it.
Lariesa was the only way to hear about Ariadne. Even heartbreaking news was better than complete ignorance.
Alfonso found himself picking apart pieces of Ariadne's true heart and her current state, even amidst Lariesa's malicious narrative.
But the further back they go, the more difficult it becomes for Ariadne to understand.
The story of her kissing Duke Cesare in a public place at the 'Spring Festival' ball and then committing an indecent act in a private place later was something that Alfonso had a hard time understanding, no matter how hard he tried.
He decided to leave all that behind for now because Lariesa's letter might not be true.
No matter how many times he sent a letter from Ariadne, and how many times he waited through the night, she never arrived, so Alfonso had no choice but to wait until the day he could actually meet her.
“Your Highness, if you waver here, you are a fool, a fool!”
Sir Elko argued passionately with Alfonso, who withheld judgment, that this should not be done.
“As soon as the Prince left, she started fooling around with Count Cesare, went to His Majesty the King, knelt down, and reported to him, and then Count Cesare was promoted to Duke. Don’t you know, Prince? That gentleman doesn’t have such a trick! It must have come from ‘that woman’s’ head!”
Alfonso could not deny it. Neither Cesare nor his mother Rubina were people skilled in such trickery.
This was only possible if the back was supported separately.
“Your Highness, I have something important to tell you...”
Sir Elko whispered right behind Alfonso, who was in the lead. Alfonso, who was low-pressure, did not respond.
It wasn't the place to be reporting on trivial matters, and he certainly didn't feel like reporting on them.
But Sir Elko was not discouraged and spoke again.
“I am ashamed to say this, but... I have seen something. I feel I must tell you.”
“....”
The Prince remained silent in many different situations.
Sometimes it was positive, sometimes it was negative, and sometimes it meant they didn't want to talk anymore.
Sir Elko knew best what meaning the Prince's silence had at each time.
Alfonso's silence now was the attitude he displayed when he did not want to talk, but Sir Elko saw a ray of anger burning between them.
So he trusted his instincts and decided to push a little harder.
“Have you seen her, Your Highness?”
“...What?”
Yes.
Sir Elko cheered inwardly.
“It’s ‘her’!”
Alfonso's eyebrows twitched and moved. Sir Elko smiled inwardly and moved his lips.
“Honestly, I was surprised. I thought she wouldn’t be here today.”
“...Why?”
Alfonso finally broke the long silence and joined the conversation. Sir Elko was confident that things would go smoothly now that they had come this far.
Because what he was about to say was the kind of slander that would make even a canonized man jump up and kick the coffin lid.
“If you were a stranger, wouldn’t you be able to come out and see the Prince? Didn’t the Prince hear all about her engagement and her passionate love story?”
The affair between Cesare and Ariadne was widely rumored.
The news that the Duke of Pisano, the King's nephew, had flirted with his fiancee's older sister and had her engagement broken off reached even Yesak across the sea.
Unless the matter was so big that it spread across the ocean, Lariesa would always write a careful letter and deliver it to Prince Alfonso.
The story of Cesare being granted the title of Duke of Pisano and being formally recognized as a member of the royal family after Ariadne's private meeting with the King; how Ariadne was soon awarded the title of Countess de Mare and became engaged to Duke Cesare of Pisano; how they interacted in high society and how Duke Cesare was terribly kind to his fiancee and was praised as a handsome man and woman; all this was told to Prince Alfonso through letters from the Grand Duchess of Lariesa.
It wasn't a story he wanted to hear, but in the middle of a war zone in the middle of a desolate desert, news from outside was like an oasis.
Alfonso found himself waiting for a letter from Lariesa without realizing it.
Lariesa was the only way to hear about Ariadne. Even heartbreaking news was better than complete ignorance.
Alfonso found himself picking apart pieces of Ariadne's true heart and her current state, even amidst Lariesa's malicious narrative.
But the further back they go, the more difficult it becomes for Ariadne to understand.
The story of her kissing Duke Cesare in a public place at the 'Spring Festival' ball and then committing an indecent act in a private place later was something that Alfonso had a hard time understanding, no matter how hard he tried.
He decided to leave all that behind for now because Lariesa's letter might not be true.
No matter how many times he sent a letter from Ariadne, and how many times he waited through the night, she never arrived, so Alfonso had no choice but to wait until the day he could actually meet her.
“Your Highness, if you waver here, you are a fool, a fool!”
Sir Elko argued passionately with Alfonso, who withheld judgment, that this should not be done.
“As soon as the Prince left, she started fooling around with Count Cesare, went to His Majesty the King, knelt down, and reported to him, and then Count Cesare was promoted to Duke. Don’t you know, Prince? That gentleman doesn’t have such a trick! It must have come from ‘that woman’s’ head!”
Alfonso could not deny it. Neither Cesare nor his mother Rubina were people skilled in such trickery.
This was only possible if the back was supported separately.
“And yet she took her share. She was given the title of Countess for herself, and then she got engaged to Duke Cesare! How she must have coveted the position of Duchess!”
Alfonso felt a strange sense of discomfort as he listened to Elko's story.
This was a story that Alfonso also knew because Lariesa had kindly explained it to him and filled it in a letter.
But how does Sir Elko, who has no particular ties to his home country, know these stories about the San Carlo society?
“Elko. Where did you hear that story?”
Sir Elko bit the tip of his tongue, excited at the thought of being able to remove Ariadne from the Prince's side for sure.
“Your Highness, you may not know this, but it is a story that has been circulating among the noble children of the Crusaders.”
Sir Elko decided to change the subject.
“By the way, have you seen that Baldessar guy that came out with her today?!”
Alfonso's expression was immediately distorted. This was something Alfonso had seen with his own eyes. It wasn't some kind of conspiracy by Lariesa.
Raphael de Baldessar apparently escorted his woman, or rather the woman who was his woman, out of the crowd with great intimacy.
Sir Elko smiled in conversion.
Alfonso trusted his friend. Cesare's betrayal was possible.
Those two were neither family nor friends in the first place.
However, Raphael was Alfonso's best friend whom he trusted and entrusted Ariadne to. Sir Elko decided to gently touch on that part.
“Isn’t that a piece of trash! Prince, did you see that guy hugging that person just now?”
Muscles bulged on the Prince's jaw. He must have clenched his teeth.
“As expected, it was right for the Prince to leave his back to Baldessar!”
Now it was time to gently appease the angry master.
“I would have done the same. The Prince had no choice but to do so at the time. Wasn’t he the only person in the capital you could trust?”
After sugar-coating it as not his fault, here's another drop of poison.
“That bastard Baldessar who betrayed trust and laid a hand on his best friend’s lover is the one who should be killed!”
“You touched it?”
“Of course! Didn’t you see his hand inside that woman’s clothes?”
Stop.
It felt like something was breaking.
A glimmer of hope that was cherished even on the battlefield. Purity. Faith. Affection. Love.
It was as if the burning anger was visible.
Sir Elko felt a thrill of being able to control his esteemed lord, Prince Alfonso, who held his life in his hands.
Prince Alfonso dances like a puppet to the lies thrown out carelessly.
At this moment, Sir Elko felt an omnipotence that transcended his damaged limbs.
“Rumors are going around San Carlo. It’s said that the Countess de Mare is having an affair with the Marquis de Baldessar!”
Elko spat passionately.
“They said that the engagement was put off because the title didn’t suit her. She’s a Countess and her ex-fiancé was a Duke, so she’s not interested in a young Marquis who hasn’t even inherited the title yet!”
There was no such rumor anywhere, but you know what? You can start spreading it today. They will take care of that kind of work.
“She is truly an evil woman!”
Ariadne de Mare is truly an evil woman. She is a devil who bewitches men and leads them to the pit of ruin and shame.
Sir Elko was lying to Alfonso out of loyalty to him.
Just as Elko himself lost his eye and arm, Prince Alfonso will also lose the bright future that was unfolding before his eyes if he is not careful.
The Prince had to be perfect. He needed a high-ranking wife and a powerful family to help him in the future.
“She had an affair with the Prince, and as soon as the Prince’s situation worsened, she lured Cesare to become her fiancé. When her relationship with Cesare fell through, she immediately switched to Raphael de Baldessar!”
That woman is no good. She is not fit for the Prince.
“How low must your morality be to meet your lover’s half-brother and your close friend in that order! She is a woman who has no shame in shaking her buttocks.”
'This is a soup that would fit in any street stall!'
Alfonso remained silent, and Elko became more and more absorbed in his own rhetoric.
“Wasn’t it because Duke Mireille of the Kingdom of Gallico had ill feelings for that woman that the Prince was taken to Gallico?”
Even though the incident was one in which Elko was taken to the Kingdom of Gallico, not one in which Alfonso was taken to the Kingdom of Gallico, Elko had already ignored the facts and identified himself with Alfonso.
“Would the Duke of Mireille have been so crazy that he would have come to a foreign country as a diplomat and raped the daughter of a Cardinal of another country?”
Sir Elko was so excited that he didn't realize he was crossing the line.
“After all, that woman was the first to swat her tail at the Duke of Mireille!”
“Elko!”
Alfonso stopped Sir Elko in an agitated voice. Sir Elko looked at Prince Alfonso in surprise.
They had already reached the entrance to the Palazzo Carlo.
Sir Bernardino, who had been following slightly behind, quickly intervened.
“Yes, yes! We’re already here!”
Sir Dino had been fidgeting since Alfonso's expression had been ominous.
However, since he couldn't hear the voices properly and couldn't understand the content of the conversation, he had to keep judging the timing to intervene.
“Let’s stop doing this and come inside. Isn’t this a nice day?”
Sir Manfredi, who was anxiously watching from the side, added cheerfully.
“I’m finally home!”
At those words, Prince Alfonso, Sir Elko, and Sir Dino all looked up at the grand and beautiful arched porch.
Palagio Carlo.
It was Alfonso's house. His father, his own flesh and blood, was waiting.
***
The reunion between the father and son after four years was heartwarming at first glance.
“I am proud of my son Alfonso!”
Leo III abdicated from his throne and welcomed his grown successor with open arms.
“Well done, son of the Etruscan kingdom.”
Around him, the King's cabinet and the rest of the court nobles applauded.
Instead of being held in his father's arms as he had been when he was a child, Prince Alfonso knelt and bowed to the King.
“I look to my father, the sun of the kingdom, the father of all Etruscan peoples.”
“Yes.”
Leo III did not bother to raise his son up from his knees on the floor.
Seeing this sight, those of the Prince's knights who were not of the courtly nobility, that is, those who were not accustomed to smiling while stabbing someone in the back, had a hard time controlling their stiff expressions.
It seemed like hospitality, but it was not hospitality. Leo III received Prince Alfonso not in the Hall of the Sun, but in the throne room that was usually used.
Because of the size of the audience room, not many people could gather to welcome the Prince's return.
Even the King's cabinet was not fully assembled.
Even if Count Contarini was sick, the court nobles were also a group with a few missing teeth.
“How was your journey? Did you like the food your unit was served?”
“Wouldn’t the hospitality of Palazzo Carlo be a feast for anyone?”
The Black Helmet Knights gathered in three or four groups and were treated to food and drinks on the first floor of the palace.
On the surface, it may seem like a lavish treatment, but it was done in advance to prevent them from coming together and showing off their power.
Only about a dozen of the Prince's knights were able to follow Prince Alfonso to the King's throne room.
The King added a few more standard speeches, and Prince Alfonso thanked his father with a textbook smile reminiscent of a plaster statue.
But Leo III's patience ended there.
He suddenly threw in the problematic remark while smiling crookedly and talking about a completely different story.
“So, did you leave the holy sword ‘Kaledbukh’ out in front of you?”
Prince Alfonso handed over all his weapons to the King's men just before entering the Palagio Carlo to see the King.
“Can I see it if I order a servant?”
Alfonso's mask finally cracked a little at Leo III's words and actions that openly aimed for the Holy Sword. He answered stiffly.
“I put it on a carriage and sent it to my palace.”
He sneered at the disappointment on the King's face, but he skillfully masked his emotions.
“It was one of the few skills that the innocent young Alfonso had learned at the royal court,” he added as if it were nothing.
“It’s more of an antique than a sword, so it’s not something you can carry around.”
But Leo III was persistent.
“When will you give it to me?”
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