“You’re the one who’s showing off, Baldessar.”
Sir Elko did not back down and faced Raphael.
“You dare to show up here. I couldn’t even imagine it. You are truly shameless.”
Raphael asked Alfonso with a frown.
“Alfonso, what is that chicken head talking about?”
Despite this hostile atmosphere, Alfonso simply kept his mouth shut and folded his arms.
Raphael, who thought Alfonso would stop Elko right away, was quite embarrassed, although he didn't show it.
This was not the situation Raphael had in mind today.
Today should have been the day when Alfonso would praise Raphael's efforts and apologize and explain his own sins.
Alfonso's guilt was as numerous as a mountain. Not contacting her all this time, and letting the rumors about him having a 'wife' spread, were all things that Alfonso had to apologize for or explain.
As for communication, yes, she'll give her a hundred concessions, but it might have been difficult to contact her while they were on the battlefield.
The troops are on the move and it is not easy to write a letter while your life is in danger.
But then, even after returning, he should have immediately gone to Ariadne, or at least to Raphael first, if he had not felt that way because of her engagement and broken engagement.
Raphael believed he deserved such treatment.
In Ariadne's case, there was ample room for Alfonso to be angry or resentful because Cesare's affairs were tangled.
But what about Raphael? He was only devoted to Alfonso.
Not only did he cross the ocean and the desert, but he also stayed by the side of the woman he thought was his destiny for four years without once confessing his love.
This was because Alfonso had left Ariadne in his care.
Raphael planned to receive Alfonso's thanks today, represent Ariadne's position to him, and then give him his final notice.
He's held the line for Alfonso so far. But from tomorrow on, let's fight fair and square. He won't give in.
The reason he decided to make an excuse for Ari from his perspective was to atone for the letter from the desert.
But, to Raphael's dismay, there was no sign of an opportunity to atone.
Alfonso, on the other hand, had a complex state of mind where anger and joy intersect.
As soon as he saw Raphael's face today, he was overcome with joy at seeing his best friend who had not changed at all, but soon the backs of the man and woman he had seen on the day of the triumphal procession flashed before his eyes and he felt a queasy feeling inside him.
A slender, silver-haired young man, holding a black-haired girl, or rather a woman, on one arm as he made his way through the crowd.
The black-haired woman he had seen that day was considerably taller than the Ariadne Alfonso remembered. Alfonso had pinned his hopes on that.
He hoped he saw things wrong.
Alfonso's eyesight, honed in the battlefields of deserts with endless horizons, could not possibly have mistaken a person at that distance.
This was especially true if it was Ariadne. He had been dreaming of her for years, so there was no way he wouldn't recognize her.
Elko also boasted that he had seen Baldessar and 'him'.
Alfonso also had a conversation with Elko, Ariadne, and Raphael, assuming that they were present at the triumph.
But that is only Elko's claim. It may be different from the truth.
What if Elko saw it wrong and he saw it wrong too?
Yes, the woman he saw that day was taller than the one in his memory.
It had to be someone else.
Alfonso wandered alone in his own head, searching for hope.
Or, on the contrary, could it be that he was seeing things wrong because it was 'Ariadne'? Could it be that he was hallucinating because he wanted to see her so much?
Nevertheless, the silhouette of the black-haired woman, as slender as a willow branch, was exactly the same as the woman in his memory.
The black-haired woman he had seen that day was held slightly awkwardly in the arms of the silver-haired young man and had disappeared from his sight as he pushed his way through the crowd.
Alfonso felt like going crazy when he thought that the back view was of Ariadne.
Alfonso gritted his teeth. Sir Bernardino and Sir Manfredi were the only ones caught in the middle, fidgeting and looking at each other.
Taking advantage of Alfonso's silence, Sir Elko shouted proudly.
“Don’t you dare even think about talking to the Prince! The Prince has discovered your betrayal!”
"Betrayal?"
Only then did Raphael turn his head away from Alfonso and glare at Sir Elko with a look of disbelief.
“Betrayal? What do you mean?”
Sir Elko did not back down and faced Raphael.
“You dare to show up here. I couldn’t even imagine it. You are truly shameless.”
Raphael asked Alfonso with a frown.
“Alfonso, what is that chicken head talking about?”
Despite this hostile atmosphere, Alfonso simply kept his mouth shut and folded his arms.
Raphael, who thought Alfonso would stop Elko right away, was quite embarrassed, although he didn't show it.
This was not the situation Raphael had in mind today.
Today should have been the day when Alfonso would praise Raphael's efforts and apologize and explain his own sins.
Alfonso's guilt was as numerous as a mountain. Not contacting her all this time, and letting the rumors about him having a 'wife' spread, were all things that Alfonso had to apologize for or explain.
As for communication, yes, she'll give her a hundred concessions, but it might have been difficult to contact her while they were on the battlefield.
The troops are on the move and it is not easy to write a letter while your life is in danger.
But then, even after returning, he should have immediately gone to Ariadne, or at least to Raphael first, if he had not felt that way because of her engagement and broken engagement.
Raphael believed he deserved such treatment.
In Ariadne's case, there was ample room for Alfonso to be angry or resentful because Cesare's affairs were tangled.
But what about Raphael? He was only devoted to Alfonso.
Not only did he cross the ocean and the desert, but he also stayed by the side of the woman he thought was his destiny for four years without once confessing his love.
This was because Alfonso had left Ariadne in his care.
Raphael planned to receive Alfonso's thanks today, represent Ariadne's position to him, and then give him his final notice.
He's held the line for Alfonso so far. But from tomorrow on, let's fight fair and square. He won't give in.
The reason he decided to make an excuse for Ari from his perspective was to atone for the letter from the desert.
But, to Raphael's dismay, there was no sign of an opportunity to atone.
Alfonso, on the other hand, had a complex state of mind where anger and joy intersect.
As soon as he saw Raphael's face today, he was overcome with joy at seeing his best friend who had not changed at all, but soon the backs of the man and woman he had seen on the day of the triumphal procession flashed before his eyes and he felt a queasy feeling inside him.
A slender, silver-haired young man, holding a black-haired girl, or rather a woman, on one arm as he made his way through the crowd.
The black-haired woman he had seen that day was considerably taller than the Ariadne Alfonso remembered. Alfonso had pinned his hopes on that.
He hoped he saw things wrong.
Alfonso's eyesight, honed in the battlefields of deserts with endless horizons, could not possibly have mistaken a person at that distance.
This was especially true if it was Ariadne. He had been dreaming of her for years, so there was no way he wouldn't recognize her.
Elko also boasted that he had seen Baldessar and 'him'.
Alfonso also had a conversation with Elko, Ariadne, and Raphael, assuming that they were present at the triumph.
But that is only Elko's claim. It may be different from the truth.
What if Elko saw it wrong and he saw it wrong too?
Yes, the woman he saw that day was taller than the one in his memory.
It had to be someone else.
Alfonso wandered alone in his own head, searching for hope.
Or, on the contrary, could it be that he was seeing things wrong because it was 'Ariadne'? Could it be that he was hallucinating because he wanted to see her so much?
Nevertheless, the silhouette of the black-haired woman, as slender as a willow branch, was exactly the same as the woman in his memory.
The black-haired woman he had seen that day was held slightly awkwardly in the arms of the silver-haired young man and had disappeared from his sight as he pushed his way through the crowd.
Alfonso felt like going crazy when he thought that the back view was of Ariadne.
Alfonso gritted his teeth. Sir Bernardino and Sir Manfredi were the only ones caught in the middle, fidgeting and looking at each other.
Taking advantage of Alfonso's silence, Sir Elko shouted proudly.
“Don’t you dare even think about talking to the Prince! The Prince has discovered your betrayal!”
"Betrayal?"
Only then did Raphael turn his head away from Alfonso and glare at Sir Elko with a look of disbelief.
“Betrayal? What do you mean?”
Crack. Alfonso thought he heard Raphael gnashing his teeth.
“Hey, commoners like you, would cross the sea with gold for someone you’re willing to betray?”
Elko's expression distorted as soon as he heard the word 'commoner'. But Raphael was right.
At that time, the money was not just enough to fix the fortune, it was military funds.
It was an amount of money comparable to the annual finances of a small country. It was a gold coin that even Baldessar's successor would have been tempted by.
“Or do you take up a sword and defend her when the Prince’s half-brother misbehaves with his fiancée? Since when did ‘betrayal’ become a word used in this context?”
Raphael looked at Sir Elko with the corners of his lips raised.
“Just because you can’t wield a sword doesn’t mean you’ve lost your literacy.”
Sir Elko clenched his one remaining fist with a blush on his face.
“Hey, this kid!”
But Raphael proudly ignored Sir Elko. His attitude clearly showed that Sir Elko was not at the level to talk to him.
Sir Bernardino, who had been watching this scene with his mouth shut, placed his hand on his forehead.
'Oh my, Raphael...! That's why Elko hated you since he was little...'
It didn't matter what others thought. Raphael looked at Alfonso again.
“Alfonso, what’s wrong with that kid?”
All that mattered was Alfonso's opinion. It didn't matter what Elko barked at.
But surprisingly, it was not Alfonso's words but Sir Elko's rebuke that silenced Raphael. He shouted with a pale face and trembling.
“You! Yes, the Prince's half-brother’s fiancée! That was a good thing! I’m talking about the Countess de Mare! Can you swear to the heavens that you are truly innocent?”
Raphael froze for a moment and looked at Sir Elko because he could not bear to look at Alfonso's face straight on.
And Alfonso caught that fleeting moment keenly.
“Raphael...”
Alfonso opened his mouth with difficulty to the frozen Raphael.
“Let me ask you just one thing.”
It was a difficult question to ask. If the answer to the question were yes, he felt like he would never be able to accept the result.
But he had to ask. Alfonso spoke, feeling as if each syllable was being pulled out from his stomach.
“...Were you the one who was in front of the palace on the triumphal procession?”
Alfonso added with difficulty.
“...Ariadne?”
The word 'Ari' just wouldn't come out of the house. There was already a great distance between him and Ariadne.
And when Raphael heard her name, a look of understanding appeared on his face.
But rather than an expression of sympathy and understanding, it was an expression of understanding in the head but absolutely unacceptability.
“Oh, is that so? Was that the problem?”
“Baldessar!”
With the voice of Sir Elko, shivering and crying from behind, playing as background music, Raphael whispered to Alfonso.
“Is that why our Prince is angry? Is this jealousy? Yes. That day, Ari and I went to your graduation ceremony together.”
“Raphael...!”
The anger that had been suppressed with self-control burst out from the Prince's blue-gray eyes. It was a problem that his suspicions had become certainties, but it seemed that his eyes would turn to the title 'Ari', which did not even include a title.
It was a name he could no longer pronounce naturally. When on earth did that guy narrow it down to something like that?
But Raphael continued regardless.
“Yes. Even though we’ve been best friends since childhood, you can’t trust me and be jealous. I’ve been faithful to you for four years, crossing oceans and deserts, but you can still be jealous and not trust me. It’s a woman’s problem. No man can be sane in front of a woman he likes. I understand. It’s possible. But.”
Raphael's red eyes burned with blue anger.
“Jealousy should be done by someone qualified to do so. You have a wife, so what? A married man is jealous? Since when did we follow Moorish customs? Why, after living in the desert for so long, do you have three wives and four concubines like a desert person?”
Alfonso clutched his chest. Raphael was right. It was all right, and that made him even more crazy.
Why did he do that? Why did he say that? What was going through his mind? Was he angry at Ari, did he miss Ari, or was it just a feeling of regret?
“Alfonso! You don’t even have an excuse?”
Raphael pressed forward with his red eyes blazing. But Alfonso kept his mouth shut. Raphael was always quick-witted and eloquent, but Alfonso was the opposite.
His strengths were his tolerance of the weak and his understanding of himself and others, but a quick counterattack when under attack was not Alfonso's strong point.
As a commander of a unit and a knight responsible for the lives of his men, he was accustomed to not being pushed around in public places and fighting for power, but this was still not the case in private.
Raphael's sharp tongue entered Alfonso's heart without any self-restraint.
“Yes! I like Ari! No, I love her!”
Sigh.
Alfonso remembers one time when he got stabbed in the chest with a dagger, it hurt similarly to this.
Alfonso closed his eyes for a moment, or maybe for a long time, then opened them quietly and managed to utter a short word.
“...I.... believed you were a friend.”
It was a single sentence that crudely encapsulated human disappointment and the pain of love. Alfonso's neat face was distorted with pain.
He made a great effort not to believe whatever slander others said until he heard it directly from Raphael's mouth. It was really hard work.
But then, a friend whom he met face to face for the first time in several years tells him in a clear voice that he loves the love he left behind.
There was no need to ask about the various stories Elko had added—that there had been inappropriate physical contact between Raphael and Ariadne in the crowd, that there were rumors in San Carlo society that the Countess de Mare and the Marquis of Baldessar were having an affair.
Alfonso didn't want to bring up such a mean story to his friend and his ex-lover. He had nothing more to say.
But Raphael looked like he had a lot left to say.
“Huh! Do you look disappointed? Who should be disappointed right now? How can you be like that to me?”
From Raphael's perspective, it felt like all the dedication he had made up until now was going into the trash can. He had endured for four years purely for Alfonso.
Not anymore. He wasn't worth it.
“You were out of her life for four years!”
Raphael meant that since Alfonso had not sent Ariadne a single letter in over four years, he had nothing to say if Ariadne had acted as if she had already broken up with Alfonso, but Alfonso understood this to be a reprimand for not being physically present with Ariadne.
Because Alfonso really never stopped contacting Ariadne first.
“You don’t even know what happened here or why things got so messed up, and yet you’re getting so angry just because I’m close to Ariadne?”
Raphael exploded with anger.
“I wish you had received the gold properly when I gave it to you!”
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