The fight between Ottavio and Isabella escalated to a pitched halt.
“Honestly, what else is there to see besides your face?”
“Ottavio. I’m warning you to keep your mouth shut.”
“You act all smart because you’re the daughter of a Cardinal, but you’re an illegitimate child anyway. Are you a noble? I found it funny the first time I saw you walking around with your chin held high despite being worse than a commoner!”
This was Isabella's turning point. Isabella, who had been maintaining her composure, lost her senses and became extremely angry.
“You’re a mere Count, so there’s nothing you can’t say to a cardinal’s family? My father is three steps ahead of you in the pecking order.”
But Ottavio also had a lot to say.
“You said something nice. So you’re contacting your father? Have I ever gotten a single bite of Cardinal Father-in-law’s bean curds? You came here with only your body! You piece of rice!”
Ottavio grumbled.
“Because of you, our family is now ruined! You took your anger out on Camellia just because you were upset!”
Ottavio sat down on the sofa with his head covered.
“How dare I meet my ancestors! That’s why I should have listened to them when they told me to!”
He muttered as if talking to himself.
“My older sister told me that you are a woman to be avoided because you are only pretty, but you are full of luxury and vanity, have a bad personality, and are bad-tempered!”
The words rang deep in Isabella's ears as she stood blankly in the corner of the bedroom, listening to the sound of the rice being slurred.
“Honestly, she asked me if the child in your stomach was really mine. Hey.”
Ottavio looked at Isabella, who was sprawled on the sofa with her head bowed.
“Is that really my child?”
Isabella looked at Ottavio with a wounded face.
“Is that what Sister Clemente said, too?”
“That’s what I’m asking, too.”
Isabella's mind flashed through the days spent in the convent's reception room trying to conceive their first child, Giovanna—a name that meant, ironically, "gift of God."
The first relationship is helped by the charm of the tea, but after that, a nun or abbess might come in, and Ottavio would rush in without any regard for Isabella's situation.
If she had been caught, Isabella would have been in real trouble.
“...That’s your kid, you crazy bastard.”
Isabella, filled with resentment, flung open the door to the master bedroom. She grabbed the doorframe and turned around for a moment before leaving, then looked at her husband and muttered.
“You will regret saying these words today.”
Alfonso had actually completely forgotten about his audience with Cardinal de Mare.
At the time, Elko had said that the story of 'Ariadne's gold' mentioned by Raphael was probably nothing more than her begging the Cardinal to help the Prince.
The Prince's favorite insisted that he must look at the Cardinal's character.
His argument was that what kind of person is a Cardinal that he would make an important political decision just because his daughter pleaded with him? If so, the Prince owes nothing to Ariadne de Mare, so don't bother with Raphael's nonsense.
Alfonso just heard those words and forgot about them. The reason he forgot was simple.
Contrary to Elko's claim, even if the money was given by the Cardinal as a result of Ariadne's complaint, Alfonso considered it as Ariadne helping him.
She helped him anyway. There was no need to check the facts.
But the Cardinal's attitude when he actually met him was... very different from what he had thought.
“The Etruscan kingdom was completely unprepared for what would happen after the death of Pope Louis!”
Cardinal de Mare's exciting journey to Trevero was a total failure.
When he set out for Trevero to attend the conclave held to elect a successor to the Pope following the death of Louis, he encountered difficulties from the very first stage.
Pope Louis never died at all.
The Pope, who had collapsed from someone's poison, seemed to be dying but not yet dying, and people on both sides of the aisle—those who wished for his speedy recovery and those like Cardinal de Mare—burned with anxiety for a whole month.
And then, he finally got up and recovered from his addiction.
The Pope, who had risen from his sickbed, naturally did not look kindly upon the cardinals who had gathered around him like a pack of lynxes.
He took a close look at who arrived first and who was drooling and making the most noise.
Then he swore revenge and dismissed the cardinals, reminiscent of the angry slap of a chicken owner chasing away a dog that had been chasing chickens.
“The cardinals from the Northern Union and their principalities are naturally hardline Protestants. The Protestant cardinals are united and are trying to elect a Protestant pope.”
The cardinal relayed Trevero's situation, spitting out words.
Although it was somewhat exaggerated, it was mostly based on fact.
“I expected the cardinals from the Gallico side to act like bats, but I never dreamed that even the cardinals from the Kingdom of Salamanta and the Kingdom of Gredo would be so disunited!”
As Cardinal de Mare, he desperately needed the support of the House of Charles.
Since Pope Louis was expected to live at least 15 years longer, there was no preparation at the level of the Etruscan diocese.
If you want to get ahead of your competitors by preparing quickly from now on, you need to compete with an overwhelming quantity offensive compared to your competitors.
And that wasn't something Cardinal de Mare could do alone.
“We need national support! The royal family needs to lend their support...!”
“Of course. The next pope must come from the Catholic Church.”
Prince Alfonso answered calmly. But Cardinal de Mare did not become excited easily.
This was because these types of statements always had a 'but' attached to them.
“But you have to understand the situation before you can rush in, right? Let’s take a close look at what we need and where to start preparing.”
It was neither an enthusiastic acceptance nor a rejection.
After that, they talked about the general distribution of power and which cardinals from the Catholic Church were at risk of defecting.
Some wanted to leave for personal reasons, but most of them had to be approached as a diplomatic issue.
Alfonso, who had listened to the Cardinal's story while he had a cup of tea, slowly finished up.
After that, there was some formal conversation that didn't have to be done.
Throughout this conversation, Alfonso kept glancing at Cardinal de Mare's expression. It was really strange.
Prince Alfonso now had both advantages and disadvantages in political terms.
His strength was that he was the only legitimate heir to the throne, and his weakness was that he had not yet been crowned Crown Prince.
Although the crowning of the Crown Prince was done by Leo III, Cardinal de Mare was the one who crowned the Crown Prince when the King died. He was not completely without a say.
That is, Cardinal de Mare was consistently overly humble in front of Prince Alfonso, even though it would have been normal for him to be so talkative.
Of course, it is common sense that he did this because he was greedy for the position of Pope.
But if he was his political godfather who had provided 100,000 ducats in the Yesak War, wouldn't it be natural for him to bring up that story and demand repayment of the debt?
It was absurd that such a person would be satisfied with a 20-minute tea time with the Prince.
From his experience in Yesak, he knew that in situations like this, it was best to keep his mouth shut and let it go.
But his longing for one woman made him poke at a fire that didn't need to be poked. He wanted to check.
“...I deeply appreciate your help the other day.”
As Cardinal de Mare rose from his seat after the conversation, he shivered slightly.
It was difficult to judge with this. Since he had already started, Alfonso added one more word.
“Your Eminence, the Cardinal’s assistance is something I will never forget for the rest of my life.”
Cardinal de Mare turned his upper body and looked at Prince Alfonso. With a very strange expression, he said:
“Don’t worry. Anyone would have done that.”
After saying just that, the Cardinal turned and left the Prince's audience room.
Prince Alfonso was convinced.
The 10,000 ducats he received as military funds through Raphael while he was in Yesak and the 100,000 ducats that followed later were not money sent by Cardinal de Mare.
Elko had a hunch when he received the unexpected summons from Prince Alfonso.
'It was meant to be.'
Even though he had prepared thoroughly in advance, he couldn't help but feel his heart pounding.
He took the papers that Inspector Gallico had given him. These would be his lifeline today.
As expected, when he entered Prince Alfonso's office, the Prince was looking at him with his lips tightly pressed together.
Elko swallowed hard.
“...Elko.”
It was a low, hushed voice. Elko answered quickly.
“Yes, Your Highness. You called.”
There's a lot of talk for no reason.
“The weather is really nice today. Have you had lunch?”
Alfonso just stared at Elko silently. His mouth was dry. Elko unconsciously moistened his lips with his tongue.
Alfonso swept Elko's eyes away. Where his right arm had been, only a loose, empty sleeve remained.
Alfonso, who was about to question Elko right away, let out a shallow sigh when he saw that.
“...Elko. Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
Elko lowered his head and said nothing. The nape of his neck was soaked with sweat.
Alfonso's expression hardened as he saw Elko frozen stiffly and breathing shallowly.
He had thrown away the opportunity to confess with his own mouth. Alfonso asked him directly.
“The source of the unidentified military funds received from Yesak. Why did you lie to me?”
As soon as those words came out, Elko dramatically fell to the floor and banged his head.
“I wanted to protect the Prince!”
He howled.
“I wanted to protect the Prince’s autonomy and his right to make decisions!”
Alfonso was dumbfounded by this endless talk and asked back.
"What?"
Elko shouted loudly as if to drown out Alfonso's words.
“The 100,000 ducats we received in military funds were actually sent by the Grand Duchess of Lariesa of the Kingdom of Gallico!”
Alfonso doubted his ears. For one thing, Lariesa was not capable of that.
“Speak sense!”
The voices got louder.
“What power does Lariesa have to send 100,000 ducats worth of military funds!”
Elko nodded in agreement.
“That’s right. To be exact, it was the money sent by her father, the Grand Duke Odes.”
But it still didn't add up. If this was money sent by Lariesa, it would have been obvious that she was being rude.
They might have tried to put chains around his arms and legs, dress him in a bridegroom's attire, and send him to the kingdom of Gallico.
Besides, there were more unanswered questions.
“If the money was sent by the Grand Duke of Odes, why did it come through Raphael and not through his own countrymen? In addition, didn’t the Kingdom of Gallico take responsibility for all of its supplies through the Republic of Porto? Why not send it there?”
The question he had been most afraid of came. Elko's hands trembled.
“The Duke of Odes will reveal the details later.”
Elko recited the scenario he had prepared and practiced dozens of times without making a single mistake.
“It was said that to provide the Prince with military funds, it was necessary to avoid the eyes of Philip IV.”
He reviewed and reviewed again. There is not a single leak in the logic of this explanation.
“So, instead of going through the supply route managed by the Republic of Porto, they laundered the money to the Holy See of the Etruscan Kingdom through the branch of the Holy See of the Gallico Kingdom. I understand that Raphael was just coincidentally chosen as an errand boy during this process.”
Elko recited the entire paragraph in one breath without taking a breath and handed the documents he had brought to Prince Alfonso.
Alfonso roughly took the bundle of documents and quickly began reading them, leafing through them.
The Prince asked, his eyes searching for errors in the documents.
“Let’s say that’s true. Then why hasn’t Grand Duke Odes sent me a bill for military funds yet?”
If it was indeed Grand Duke Odes who sent the military funds, then he was the political supporter who created the current Alfonso.
Even if you boldly ask Alfonso to come to Montpellier instead of asking him to meet you at the border, he has nothing to say. However, he remains humble.
“I have no way of knowing the details.”
Elko decided to pretend not to know. It was right to answer like this.
From the outside, Elko is seen as a favorite of Prince Alfonso and has no relation to the Kingdom of Gallico.
“I’ve already been urged several times.”
Eventually, Alfonso's voice turned into a shout.
“What did you say? Cut it off from your line!”
“I am sorry, Your Highness.”
Elko hit his head on the floor again.
“It was all an expression of my sincerity.”
Thud! Thud!
He hit his forehead hard on the floor without a moment's hesitation. Bright red blood flowed down the marble floor.
“The Kingdom of Gallico has repeatedly urged me to marry the Grand Duchess of Lariesa, using military funds as an excuse, but I have cut it off. It is because I wanted the Prince to choose his spouse of his own free will!”
“Honestly, what else is there to see besides your face?”
“Ottavio. I’m warning you to keep your mouth shut.”
“You act all smart because you’re the daughter of a Cardinal, but you’re an illegitimate child anyway. Are you a noble? I found it funny the first time I saw you walking around with your chin held high despite being worse than a commoner!”
This was Isabella's turning point. Isabella, who had been maintaining her composure, lost her senses and became extremely angry.
“You’re a mere Count, so there’s nothing you can’t say to a cardinal’s family? My father is three steps ahead of you in the pecking order.”
But Ottavio also had a lot to say.
“You said something nice. So you’re contacting your father? Have I ever gotten a single bite of Cardinal Father-in-law’s bean curds? You came here with only your body! You piece of rice!”
Ottavio grumbled.
“Because of you, our family is now ruined! You took your anger out on Camellia just because you were upset!”
Ottavio sat down on the sofa with his head covered.
“How dare I meet my ancestors! That’s why I should have listened to them when they told me to!”
He muttered as if talking to himself.
“My older sister told me that you are a woman to be avoided because you are only pretty, but you are full of luxury and vanity, have a bad personality, and are bad-tempered!”
The words rang deep in Isabella's ears as she stood blankly in the corner of the bedroom, listening to the sound of the rice being slurred.
“Honestly, she asked me if the child in your stomach was really mine. Hey.”
Ottavio looked at Isabella, who was sprawled on the sofa with her head bowed.
“Is that really my child?”
Isabella looked at Ottavio with a wounded face.
“Is that what Sister Clemente said, too?”
“That’s what I’m asking, too.”
Isabella's mind flashed through the days spent in the convent's reception room trying to conceive their first child, Giovanna—a name that meant, ironically, "gift of God."
The first relationship is helped by the charm of the tea, but after that, a nun or abbess might come in, and Ottavio would rush in without any regard for Isabella's situation.
If she had been caught, Isabella would have been in real trouble.
“...That’s your kid, you crazy bastard.”
Isabella, filled with resentment, flung open the door to the master bedroom. She grabbed the doorframe and turned around for a moment before leaving, then looked at her husband and muttered.
“You will regret saying these words today.”
***
Alfonso had actually completely forgotten about his audience with Cardinal de Mare.
At the time, Elko had said that the story of 'Ariadne's gold' mentioned by Raphael was probably nothing more than her begging the Cardinal to help the Prince.
The Prince's favorite insisted that he must look at the Cardinal's character.
His argument was that what kind of person is a Cardinal that he would make an important political decision just because his daughter pleaded with him? If so, the Prince owes nothing to Ariadne de Mare, so don't bother with Raphael's nonsense.
Alfonso just heard those words and forgot about them. The reason he forgot was simple.
Contrary to Elko's claim, even if the money was given by the Cardinal as a result of Ariadne's complaint, Alfonso considered it as Ariadne helping him.
She helped him anyway. There was no need to check the facts.
But the Cardinal's attitude when he actually met him was... very different from what he had thought.
“The Etruscan kingdom was completely unprepared for what would happen after the death of Pope Louis!”
Cardinal de Mare's exciting journey to Trevero was a total failure.
When he set out for Trevero to attend the conclave held to elect a successor to the Pope following the death of Louis, he encountered difficulties from the very first stage.
Pope Louis never died at all.
The Pope, who had collapsed from someone's poison, seemed to be dying but not yet dying, and people on both sides of the aisle—those who wished for his speedy recovery and those like Cardinal de Mare—burned with anxiety for a whole month.
And then, he finally got up and recovered from his addiction.
The Pope, who had risen from his sickbed, naturally did not look kindly upon the cardinals who had gathered around him like a pack of lynxes.
He took a close look at who arrived first and who was drooling and making the most noise.
Then he swore revenge and dismissed the cardinals, reminiscent of the angry slap of a chicken owner chasing away a dog that had been chasing chickens.
“The cardinals from the Northern Union and their principalities are naturally hardline Protestants. The Protestant cardinals are united and are trying to elect a Protestant pope.”
The cardinal relayed Trevero's situation, spitting out words.
Although it was somewhat exaggerated, it was mostly based on fact.
“I expected the cardinals from the Gallico side to act like bats, but I never dreamed that even the cardinals from the Kingdom of Salamanta and the Kingdom of Gredo would be so disunited!”
As Cardinal de Mare, he desperately needed the support of the House of Charles.
Since Pope Louis was expected to live at least 15 years longer, there was no preparation at the level of the Etruscan diocese.
If you want to get ahead of your competitors by preparing quickly from now on, you need to compete with an overwhelming quantity offensive compared to your competitors.
And that wasn't something Cardinal de Mare could do alone.
“We need national support! The royal family needs to lend their support...!”
“Of course. The next pope must come from the Catholic Church.”
Prince Alfonso answered calmly. But Cardinal de Mare did not become excited easily.
This was because these types of statements always had a 'but' attached to them.
“But you have to understand the situation before you can rush in, right? Let’s take a close look at what we need and where to start preparing.”
It was neither an enthusiastic acceptance nor a rejection.
After that, they talked about the general distribution of power and which cardinals from the Catholic Church were at risk of defecting.
Some wanted to leave for personal reasons, but most of them had to be approached as a diplomatic issue.
Alfonso, who had listened to the Cardinal's story while he had a cup of tea, slowly finished up.
After that, there was some formal conversation that didn't have to be done.
Throughout this conversation, Alfonso kept glancing at Cardinal de Mare's expression. It was really strange.
Prince Alfonso now had both advantages and disadvantages in political terms.
His strength was that he was the only legitimate heir to the throne, and his weakness was that he had not yet been crowned Crown Prince.
Although the crowning of the Crown Prince was done by Leo III, Cardinal de Mare was the one who crowned the Crown Prince when the King died. He was not completely without a say.
That is, Cardinal de Mare was consistently overly humble in front of Prince Alfonso, even though it would have been normal for him to be so talkative.
Of course, it is common sense that he did this because he was greedy for the position of Pope.
But if he was his political godfather who had provided 100,000 ducats in the Yesak War, wouldn't it be natural for him to bring up that story and demand repayment of the debt?
It was absurd that such a person would be satisfied with a 20-minute tea time with the Prince.
From his experience in Yesak, he knew that in situations like this, it was best to keep his mouth shut and let it go.
But his longing for one woman made him poke at a fire that didn't need to be poked. He wanted to check.
“...I deeply appreciate your help the other day.”
As Cardinal de Mare rose from his seat after the conversation, he shivered slightly.
It was difficult to judge with this. Since he had already started, Alfonso added one more word.
“Your Eminence, the Cardinal’s assistance is something I will never forget for the rest of my life.”
Cardinal de Mare turned his upper body and looked at Prince Alfonso. With a very strange expression, he said:
“Don’t worry. Anyone would have done that.”
After saying just that, the Cardinal turned and left the Prince's audience room.
Prince Alfonso was convinced.
The 10,000 ducats he received as military funds through Raphael while he was in Yesak and the 100,000 ducats that followed later were not money sent by Cardinal de Mare.
***
Elko had a hunch when he received the unexpected summons from Prince Alfonso.
'It was meant to be.'
Even though he had prepared thoroughly in advance, he couldn't help but feel his heart pounding.
He took the papers that Inspector Gallico had given him. These would be his lifeline today.
As expected, when he entered Prince Alfonso's office, the Prince was looking at him with his lips tightly pressed together.
Elko swallowed hard.
“...Elko.”
It was a low, hushed voice. Elko answered quickly.
“Yes, Your Highness. You called.”
There's a lot of talk for no reason.
“The weather is really nice today. Have you had lunch?”
Alfonso just stared at Elko silently. His mouth was dry. Elko unconsciously moistened his lips with his tongue.
Alfonso swept Elko's eyes away. Where his right arm had been, only a loose, empty sleeve remained.
Alfonso, who was about to question Elko right away, let out a shallow sigh when he saw that.
“...Elko. Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
Elko lowered his head and said nothing. The nape of his neck was soaked with sweat.
Alfonso's expression hardened as he saw Elko frozen stiffly and breathing shallowly.
He had thrown away the opportunity to confess with his own mouth. Alfonso asked him directly.
“The source of the unidentified military funds received from Yesak. Why did you lie to me?”
As soon as those words came out, Elko dramatically fell to the floor and banged his head.
“I wanted to protect the Prince!”
He howled.
“I wanted to protect the Prince’s autonomy and his right to make decisions!”
Alfonso was dumbfounded by this endless talk and asked back.
"What?"
Elko shouted loudly as if to drown out Alfonso's words.
“The 100,000 ducats we received in military funds were actually sent by the Grand Duchess of Lariesa of the Kingdom of Gallico!”
Alfonso doubted his ears. For one thing, Lariesa was not capable of that.
“Speak sense!”
The voices got louder.
“What power does Lariesa have to send 100,000 ducats worth of military funds!”
Elko nodded in agreement.
“That’s right. To be exact, it was the money sent by her father, the Grand Duke Odes.”
But it still didn't add up. If this was money sent by Lariesa, it would have been obvious that she was being rude.
They might have tried to put chains around his arms and legs, dress him in a bridegroom's attire, and send him to the kingdom of Gallico.
Besides, there were more unanswered questions.
“If the money was sent by the Grand Duke of Odes, why did it come through Raphael and not through his own countrymen? In addition, didn’t the Kingdom of Gallico take responsibility for all of its supplies through the Republic of Porto? Why not send it there?”
The question he had been most afraid of came. Elko's hands trembled.
“The Duke of Odes will reveal the details later.”
Elko recited the scenario he had prepared and practiced dozens of times without making a single mistake.
“It was said that to provide the Prince with military funds, it was necessary to avoid the eyes of Philip IV.”
He reviewed and reviewed again. There is not a single leak in the logic of this explanation.
“So, instead of going through the supply route managed by the Republic of Porto, they laundered the money to the Holy See of the Etruscan Kingdom through the branch of the Holy See of the Gallico Kingdom. I understand that Raphael was just coincidentally chosen as an errand boy during this process.”
Elko recited the entire paragraph in one breath without taking a breath and handed the documents he had brought to Prince Alfonso.
Alfonso roughly took the bundle of documents and quickly began reading them, leafing through them.
The Prince asked, his eyes searching for errors in the documents.
“Let’s say that’s true. Then why hasn’t Grand Duke Odes sent me a bill for military funds yet?”
If it was indeed Grand Duke Odes who sent the military funds, then he was the political supporter who created the current Alfonso.
Even if you boldly ask Alfonso to come to Montpellier instead of asking him to meet you at the border, he has nothing to say. However, he remains humble.
“I have no way of knowing the details.”
Elko decided to pretend not to know. It was right to answer like this.
From the outside, Elko is seen as a favorite of Prince Alfonso and has no relation to the Kingdom of Gallico.
“I’ve already been urged several times.”
Eventually, Alfonso's voice turned into a shout.
“What did you say? Cut it off from your line!”
“I am sorry, Your Highness.”
Elko hit his head on the floor again.
“It was all an expression of my sincerity.”
Thud! Thud!
He hit his forehead hard on the floor without a moment's hesitation. Bright red blood flowed down the marble floor.
“The Kingdom of Gallico has repeatedly urged me to marry the Grand Duchess of Lariesa, using military funds as an excuse, but I have cut it off. It is because I wanted the Prince to choose his spouse of his own free will!”
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