The first thing the woman felt was the man's thick breath. It was hot, throbbing and had a strange, minty scent.
The man's lips explored the woman's soft flesh, teasing her mucous membrane.
“Huh...!”
Alfonso kept pushing Ariadne without giving her a moment to rest. When he passed over the smooth rabbit teeth, he found a delicious piece of fruit inside.
He sucked in without thinking. Alfonso hugged Ariadne with all his might. The woman's delicate upper body pressed tightly against the man's strong upper body.
Seriously, it was the first time in his life that he felt such tenderness. He wanted to become one with it.
Nothing could stop him, except certain external stimuli.
Ouch!
Pain spread like wildfire from his cheek.
It was spicy.
When Alfonso didn't let go of her despite the first slap, a second slap came.
Ouch!
This was more than just letting go because it hurt, it was a perfectly clear message of intent. Alfonso eventually released the arms he had been holding onto her tightly.
Ariadne was glaring at him with an expression of indignation.
“His Highness Prince Alfonso de Carlo.”
Ariadne, holding her trembling hand, opened her mouth in a low, locked voice.
“...I.”
It was a voice filled with tears and resentment.
“I have no intention of becoming a woman hidden under your patronage.”
Ariadne had no more sweet deception or sweet lies.
If you become addicted to sweets and dependent on them, you will realize on the verge of death that you have made the wrong choice.
One Cesare in her previous life was enough to run to hell with her eyes open.
“Don't ever do something like this again.”
Alfonso, who had received Ariadne's stern warning, kept his mouth shut and washed his face with both hands.
That wasn't what he was trying to do. It was just the only answer he could give her when she asked, "Have you ever loved me?"
I love you, and I still love you. It was a reply in his most honest language, instead of a lacking verbal explanation.
But Ariadne, very resolutely, cut the tangled thread.
“Until Princess Bianca’s debutante party, let’s not even meet up unless it’s absolutely necessary. You have nothing to say, so stop sitting in meetings and sticking your face out... Stop acting like you don’t have anything to say.”
Alfonso's face turned red. It was a moment of double embarrassment.
“Let’s separate the construction work.”
Meanwhile, Ariadne wiped the corner of her mouth where Alfonso's lips had touched with her hand.
She didn't realize that her fingers were wet with tears. The Prince's eyes followed her gestures with pity.
Whether Alfonso followed her or not, Ariadne turned around resolutely and stormed out of the 'Hall of Stars'.
And Alfonso was left alone in the beautiful marble hall.
No matter how famous he was across the continent and even in the land of the pagans, and no matter how strong he was as a knight in the Central Continent, he could not fill this high ceiling and this vast hall by himself.
The liveliness that could be felt in the air, the rhythm that could be felt in the atmosphere, disappeared with her exit, and he was left standing tall like a stone statue in the dead marble hall.
'What have I... done?'
He caressed his left cheek where he had been slapped. There was not a single word wrong in Ariadne's story.
If she had been dragged along in the direction he was leading her without resistance, Ariadne would have become the Prince's secret lover in the eyes of others, and later the King's mistress, a woman no more and no less.
All of this was ultimately his doing. To be exact. It was because he didn't sort out his relationship with Princess Lariesa.
Alfonso himself did not know whether he was married or not. He knew one thing, and he had just realized it clearly.
That he wants Ariadne. He can't imagine a future without her.
It was true that he was able to escape the Kingdom of Gallico, thanks to the Grand Duchess of Lariesa.
It was also true that Lariesa had been waiting for him in the chambers of the Kingdom of Gallico, quietly, all these years.
But now he had returned to the Etruscan kingdom through Yesak, and the favors of the past were only favors of the past and had no power to entangle his future. Sympathy and love were different.
'Lariesa is not the type of Princess to be the wife of the Carlo family.'
It shouldn't have been. Unlike in the past when he had helplessly chewed over that sentence, Alfonso now had the power to make it not be.
***
After a long time, Prince Alfonso left the 'Room of the Stars' alone, and Sir Bernardino, who had been waiting outside, approached him cautiously and asked.
“...Your Highness, are you okay?”
He sent Manfredi away and stood outside waiting for the Prince and Countess to finish their tour of the hall, when he saw Ariadne running out in tears.
“Is there anything I need to take care of?”
Send her flowers, or at least apologize and get slapped on his behalf.
Sir Bernardino, who raised Alfonso by biting and sucking him, thought that the scope of his duties as a subject was wider than what his other subordinates thought.
Of course, there was nothing more to be done since the lord had already been hit directly.
Alfonso replied that he had not and was about to leave but then remembered something Sir Bernardino had to do for him.
“What was the extent of the last proposal made by Grand Duke Odes?”
The Kingdom of Gallico persistently sought to secure a private meeting between Prince Alfonso and Grand Duke Odes.
Up until now, he has been refusing from the perspective that a thirsty man digs a well. But now, the thirsty man has changed.
“If a third country is uncomfortable, I said we would like to meet them in person, even at the border.”
“Contact me and coordinate with them. Date, time, and exact location. I’ll decide after receiving it.”
Sir Bernardino was quite surprised, but he didn't show it.
“Yes, I’ll get started right away.”
Alfonso didn't even add any more conditions to the offer. Sir Bernardino hurriedly caught Alfonso as he was about to leave without asking any more questions.
“Oh, and besides that, I have one more thing to ask you.”
“...”
Alfonso's lack of response meant that he was unwilling to devote his time to Sir Dino.
But Sir Dino was certain that Alfonso would be quite disappointed if he passed over this without checking it now.
“Cardinal de Mare has returned to the capital.”
The Prince's steps stopped.
“I heard you wanted to meet him. When should we meet?”
“...The faster, the better.”
He knew this would happen.
“I will do that.”
Dino was a subject who understood his master's intentions better than he did.
***
Ariadne ran out of the 'Room of the Stars' and walked down the corridor as fast as she could. At the same time, she was wiping away the tears that kept falling.
Even during this time, she maintained a thin, narrow stride following etiquette, but she was not even aware that she was doing so.
'Angry!'
She was angry and ashamed that she couldn't push him out sooner.
'How easy it must have been!'
That day, when she saw Alfonso in the garden, completely drunk, she couldn't let that go. She had to shoo him away, even if it meant swinging a broom.
'Men are all the same in the end!'
Alfonso was the one she thought was upright and straight. She thought he was the only unicorn on the entire continent.
He was a man who had everything, but he didn't see women as objects, he didn't treat them as collectibles, trophies, or decorations like other men. Ariadne thought he was different.
'What's different!'
When a man sees a young woman, his eyes turn to her, and his hands touch her, but he chooses the woman who will sit next to him based on his own interests.
Even Alfonso, whom she had trusted, finally chose the Grand Duchess of Lariesa, who had the support of the Kingdom of Gallico, as his Crown Princess.
Despite her devotion and love, just like in her previous life, the government was her limit.
No, there was no need for devotion or love. If she had just looked the same as before and worn a dress that showed off her chest a little more, wouldn't she have been able to get a government position right away at first sight?
Isabella's claim to the throne as Queen may have been true long ago, when all she had was looks.
“They say that even if you sacrifice your life for a man, you will get nothing in return. They don’t know gratitude. Don’t trust men.”
There is no such thing as a godly person. Once again, tears poured down her eyes.
She regretted all her actions. If she had been more polite, if she had cut him off coldly from the beginning, at least he wouldn't have ended up in this situation.
The voices of Lucrezia and Granny Gian Galeazzo, who had been criticizing Ariadne for being unladylike, rang in her ears.
She dismissed it all as nonsense, but there was no way to stop the whispers that crept in when she was weak.
She learned wrong, grew up wrong, and lived wrong. She doesn't even know where it started, but her second life was also a failure.
It wasn't something she wanted, like the position of chaperone to the Duchess of Taranto. Otherwise, she wouldn't have gotten entangled with Alfonso and wouldn't have needed his help.
If only she could turn back all this now, she would give up her half-time chaperone position at the debutante ball and stay home.
She wiped her lips roughly with the back of her hand once more. It occurred to her a moment too late that the lip balm that Sancha had worked so hard to apply had been ruined.
'There won't be anything left on my lips anyway!'
How easy it must have been for you to see it. How insignificant it must have been for you to think of it. How little respect it must have been for you to think of it.
She rubbed her lips hard with the back of her hand. She rubbed them so hard that it stung, but she didn't care. She was angry, and her heart ached.
...It was even more so because the kiss was ecstatic. If it hadn't been that good, she would have pushed it away a long time ago.
If it weren't for the sweet scent, if she didn't want to bury his lips in his thick ones and collapse with her head empty, she could have been angry and told him to get out of here in the first place.
It was doubly embarrassing because she wanted him, too.
Ariadne couldn't deny the heat that was running up her skin, through her fingers and toes, and spreading to the center of her body, and it was so shameful that she wanted to disappear from the surface of the earth.
Returning to the de Mare mansion in the carriage, she wiped her lips.
It was an act of trying to erase something, but at the same time, it was a struggle not to forget.
Every time she imagined the feel of his lips against hers, she rubbed them clean.
The back of her hand with its strong joints and his thick lips felt completely different. Every time she realized that, she felt sad and rubbed it again, and every time she rubbed it, she felt sad again.
Ariadne continued to do this until she reached the mansion.
“Miss, welcome back.... Hehe! What are these lips?”
Sancha, who welcomed her, was startled and surprised. Fortunately, only Sancha came out to the front door to greet Ariadne.
It was because she had news to deliver and had left the other maids behind.
Sancha whispered with her eyes wide open, wrapping her scarf around Ariadne's lower body to hide it from others.
“No, did you go to the palace and kiss or something? Why are your lips like that?”
"No!"
Ariadne, who objected fiercely, realized that her words did not correspond to objective facts.
“So, that’s it. We kissed, but that’s not why it happened!”
It was an obsession with objectivity that was displayed even in the worst situations. Sancha's eyes grew twice as wide.
“Huh? You kissed, right?”
The more she talked, the more upset she became. Ariadne was on the verge of tears and finally lost her temper.
“Don’t ask any more questions!”
The omitted part was 'If you don't want to see me cry'.
Seriously, if she had to explain to anyone what a fool she was today, she would cry and probably die.
Fortunately, Sancha knew how to guess Ariadne’s feelings just by looking at her expression. Instead of asking any more questions and offering feeble consolation, she simply changed the subject.
“Oh, miss! An invitation has arrived!”
“What invitation?”
“This is an invitation from the Princess of Taranto!”
The news cleared her mind as if it had been swept away by a strong wind.
All this chaos was just a chance to get closer to Princess Bianca.
The opportunity materialized and appeared before her eyes. Ariadne was a woman who came alive when she worked.
Sancha handed Ariadne a note. It was not a sealed invitation in the modern envelope but rather a postcard, in the old social tradition.
“She will be arriving in San Carlo sometime next week, and she would like to see the Countess before the ball!”
In her previous life, Bianca was a quiet hermit who lived in seclusion in the lord's great estate.
No one met her, not even Ariadne, who was the regent's fiancée at the time, saw her in person.
Ariadne's hand holding the invitation trembled slightly. Finally, the day to unveil the veil had arrived.
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