The first person Prince Alfonso called was Sir Manfredi.
Baroness Giannelli had only reported that the capital's nobles were collectively boycotting Princess Bianca's ball, but she did not know the reason for this, so it was necessary to find out why this was happening.
Sir Manfredi was the son of a noble family of the old capital and was perfectly placed to know about this kind of thing.
“Go ask your mother what happened. Right now.”
Countess Manfredi was terrified when her son came home in broad daylight, wondering if he had been cut down by the Order.
Thanks to the Countess confessing everything, Alfonso was able to get to the truth very quickly.
“Your Highness, how should we resolve this?”
Sir Manfredi rolled his eyes anxiously and asked Prince Alfonso.
“As you know, society ladies don’t change their destination the day before a party.”
It was not up to the family alone to decide which party to attend.
It was a comprehensive art that was decided only after carefully weighing everything, including which other families would attend, what time they would arrive, and which family members they would bring.
Prince Alfonso could now send letters to all the families and persuade them to attend Princess Bianca's debutante.
However, there was no way that the high society ladies who received the letter would change their minds and think, 'Oh, the Prince himself has invited us to attend.'
They will exchange letters among themselves and figure out who has received Prince Alfonso's letter and who has not, who will change places because of the letter, and finally, who will attend which party.
And crucially, there was not enough physical time for all this to happen.
Sir Manfredi tried to think hard.
“Isn’t there any other way than blowing up Count Baljo’s house with gunpowder?”
If the party venue physically disappears, won't the party be able to be held?
“Or else we could kidnap and imprison Countess Baljo...”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
Prince Alfonso rose from his seat.
“I’ll take care of it, so you just stay put.”
And then the day of the ball dawned.
Although the physical preparations for the ball proceeded without a hitch, the beautiful party venue did not necessarily mean that all the invited guests would fill their seats.
Ariadne stood in the corridor on this floor and looked down, unable to hide her impatience on her face.
The entire first floor was a debutante ballroom for Princess Bianca of Taranto.
The spacious party hall, with its exposed light-gray granite, was at once simple and extravagant, bathed in the shimmering light of crystal chandeliers.
It was obvious that no expense had been spared in the ballroom.
The indoor waterway, where fruit wine flowed, smelled sweet, and confetti was waiting for guests to burst everywhere as the party began.
But there was a critical problem with this beautiful ballroom.
With only an hour left until the guest of honor for the day, King Leo III, was due to arrive, there were still more empty seats than filled ones in the party hall.
“Don’t standing parties seem emptier than reserved seating parties?”
Ariadne initially arranged round tables with designated seating areas at the party to accommodate the elderly.
However, when the Countess Baljo incident came to light at the last minute, the roundtable structure was changed to a standing party because the absentees were too noticeable.
However, since the large party venue had people standing crowded together without even a table, there were too many empty seats.
When the always calm Ariadne could not hide her nervousness to the point of biting her fingernails, Camellia, now Madame Vitelli, tried to calm her friend down.
“Once they start dancing, the floor will look a little colder. Right now, everyone is standing against the wall.”
Camellia was already feeling uneasy, wondering if the nobles had declined Princess Bianca's invitation to the ball because of her invitation.
CEO Caruso, who was standing next to his wife, also came forward and offered words of comfort.
“Foreign nobles will arrive soon, too.”
Ariadne had visited the Vitelli couple a few days ago to use their connections to invite foreign nobles residing in San Carlo.
Being invited to the debutante ball of the overseas Princess was a rare experience even for foreign nobles.
Thanks to this, most people responded that they would be happy to attend even with the short notice.
There was even an anecdote that the mask shops in downtown San Carlo were suddenly crowded the day before the party.
However, the foreign nobles present in San Carlo were mainly lower-class nobles.
Most of them are in a similar situation to the Baron of Castiglione, as they are out for business.
Inviting foreign guests alone would not have been enough to secure a large number of high-ranking guests to maintain the status of the Duke of Taranto's ball, even without domestic nobility.
However, those foreign nobles still had not shown up at the ballroom.
Raphael, who was present at the event as Ariadne's ball partner, spat out cynically.
“Nobles, whether foreign or domestic, high or low in status, consider it a virtue to arrive late.”
I could understand a hundred percent why you wouldn't want to stand alone in an empty ballroom.
Ariadne, who was in that situation right now, was dying.
“Shouldn’t you come faster than the King?”
At Raphael's words, Ariadne laughed in vain.
The empty floors on the first floor were sparsely populated by merchants, lower-ranking nobles of San Carlo, and a few foreign nobles.
In this situation, it would be a truly great embarrassment for Leo III to enter.
The Duke of Taranto, the hosts of the party, will be unable to walk around with their heads held high, and Prince Alfonso, the guardian, will also be accused of having abandoned his cousin.
She felt her mouth burning.
Ariadne wasn't the only one who couldn't take her eyes off the empty first-floor ballroom.
Since Leo III had left the hunting grounds instead of the palace today, Rubina arrived at the ballroom separately from her husband. She giggled as she looked at the empty ballroom.
“The plan worked. There’s no one here, no one!”
The maid who personally attended to Rubina was Deborah again today.
Because Countess Bartolini, Duchess Rubina's new chief maid, was away at Countess Baljo's charity party.
Deborah, who had been decked out with Rubina's money thanks to this personal mission, asked the Duchess cautiously.
“You know, Duchess... Is it true that Duke Cesare will be attending that party?”
Deborah had never seen Duke Cesare in person, as she had only recently started working for Duchess Rubina.
Cesare was the only Duke in the kingdom, unmarried, and the most handsome in the capital, and he was attending the ball at San Carlo for the first time in five years, while she was stuck at some other ball! It was so unfair that she couldn't stand it.
However, Duchess Rubina, who had heard Deborah ask that question, looked at Deborah with an expression that said she had never seen such a stupid girl before.
"...Yes, let’s stop talking.”
“Yes, yes?”
Duchess Rubina rebuked Deborah for her sad expression.
“You’re the one who exchanges letters between him and me. How can you not know that?”
Deborah protested proudly. How would I not know that?
“I, I’m not the one reading the content.”
Rubina answered with a pitiful expression. The reason she answered was because she was in a very good mood.
“This idiot. He didn’t even reply to my letter!”
“Ah...”
“What does it mean if I call and there is no answer?”
Duchess Rubina stretched out her silk-stockinged feet.
“Go ahead and do some kneading. If you’re stupid, you should at least use your hands and feet.”
Deborah quickly began to rub Duchess Rubina's small feet.
“Will he come? It’s just a rumor.”
Even if Cesare doesn't show up, the bill for him will still go to Countess Baljo, who hosted the party, and Countess Bartolini, who worked hard to distribute the invitations.
It was none of her business. Rubina felt better and laughed out loud.
“It was a good thing I spread the rumor because the floor was empty, hahahahaha!”
There were only thirty minutes left until Leo III's scheduled arrival. Today's main character, Princess Bianca of Taranto, had also finished getting ready.
But the invited guests still did not show up. The foreign nobles showed up late and filled the seats.
However, among the guests gathered on the floor, the only prominent families were Raphael and Julia of the Marquis Baldessar, the Count and Countess of Marquez, and Ottavio and Isabella of the Count Contarini, who had missed out on an invitation to the hottest party in the capital because of their wives.
If they were to add more, they could mention Camellia's maternal family, the Baron of Castiglione, who attended because they were from a merchant family rather than a noble family.
“How will you take responsibility for this, Countess de Mare?”
Baroness Giannelli gritted her teeth, lowered her voice, and snapped as sharply as she could.
“No, how can I take responsibility! I can’t! Even if I throw away the Countess’s life, do you think that will cover up the disgrace I have brought upon Taranto?”
“...”
Ariadne stared ahead silently. Even if she had ten mouths, she had nothing to say.
“I will definitely collect this debt!”
Baroness Giannelli's chattering voice struck Ariadne's ears.
Although more and more guests were coming in, they were unimportant people.
Although it was a masquerade ball, the fact that they were unimportant people was less noticeable, and the attendance of high-ranking people eventually became known.
The time of judgment was merely postponed.
To make matters worse, Prince Alfonso, Princess Bianca's ball partner, was also late. Ariadne was seething with anger.
'You can't help me, but you're late?'
The only thing he was entrusted with was to make a splendid appearance on the day and firmly protect Princess Bianca.
But he couldn't do any of that properly. Ariadne was worried that Princess Bianca would be very anxious.
“Um... When can I come down?”
Princess Bianca, who still hadn't fully grasped the situation below, asked from inside the powder room decorated just for her.
Ariadne answered with a forced smile.
“Just a moment, Your Highness. When Prince Alfonso arrives, you may enter together.”
The blood dried up. She licked her lips. The lip balm Anna had applied was completely erased, and the cracked dead skin cells were torn and bleeding.
Ariadne decided to plan for the future instead.
'If we could publicly link the failure of this ball to the Duchess Rubina, the reputation of the Duke of Taranto might not be so bad...'
But then it happened.
Boohoo!!
The sound of the horn, which is only heard when the royal family enters, rings out loud.
'His Majesty the King has come early?!'
Ariadne looked down from the railing, her face pale.
But servant of the Duchy of Taranto cried out by a different name.
“His Royal Highness Prince Alfonso de Carlo enters―!”
'Alfonso!'
A faded blond Prince in a cream colored robe was entering the ballroom with slow steps.
His large, towering body gave stability to the space itself.
Ariadne was so glad that he had arrived, even at this moment.
But another emotion immediately surged up. The second emotion that rose up, mixed with relief, was anger.
'As if it weren't enough that you were late, why did you come to the first floor?!'
Alfonso had to enter through the main corridor leading to this floor, not the ground floor, which was the general guest entrance.
Because he had to escort his partner Bianca down. This was something that had already been conveyed through Sir Bernardino.
While Ariadne looked down from one floor to the next, Prince Alfonso walked leisurely through the empty party hall.
And suddenly the cry of servant rang out.
“The Marquis Guatieri is entering!”
“The old Duke and Duchess of Montefeltro and their eldest son and his wife are entering!”
“Count Rinaldi!”
“Count and Countess Dellatorre!”
“Marquis Salvati!”
Behind Prince Alfonso, the entire society of San Carlo followed.
Baroness Giannelli had only reported that the capital's nobles were collectively boycotting Princess Bianca's ball, but she did not know the reason for this, so it was necessary to find out why this was happening.
Sir Manfredi was the son of a noble family of the old capital and was perfectly placed to know about this kind of thing.
“Go ask your mother what happened. Right now.”
Countess Manfredi was terrified when her son came home in broad daylight, wondering if he had been cut down by the Order.
Thanks to the Countess confessing everything, Alfonso was able to get to the truth very quickly.
“Your Highness, how should we resolve this?”
Sir Manfredi rolled his eyes anxiously and asked Prince Alfonso.
“As you know, society ladies don’t change their destination the day before a party.”
It was not up to the family alone to decide which party to attend.
It was a comprehensive art that was decided only after carefully weighing everything, including which other families would attend, what time they would arrive, and which family members they would bring.
Prince Alfonso could now send letters to all the families and persuade them to attend Princess Bianca's debutante.
However, there was no way that the high society ladies who received the letter would change their minds and think, 'Oh, the Prince himself has invited us to attend.'
They will exchange letters among themselves and figure out who has received Prince Alfonso's letter and who has not, who will change places because of the letter, and finally, who will attend which party.
And crucially, there was not enough physical time for all this to happen.
Sir Manfredi tried to think hard.
“Isn’t there any other way than blowing up Count Baljo’s house with gunpowder?”
If the party venue physically disappears, won't the party be able to be held?
“Or else we could kidnap and imprison Countess Baljo...”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
Prince Alfonso rose from his seat.
“I’ll take care of it, so you just stay put.”
***
And then the day of the ball dawned.
Although the physical preparations for the ball proceeded without a hitch, the beautiful party venue did not necessarily mean that all the invited guests would fill their seats.
Ariadne stood in the corridor on this floor and looked down, unable to hide her impatience on her face.
The entire first floor was a debutante ballroom for Princess Bianca of Taranto.
The spacious party hall, with its exposed light-gray granite, was at once simple and extravagant, bathed in the shimmering light of crystal chandeliers.
It was obvious that no expense had been spared in the ballroom.
The indoor waterway, where fruit wine flowed, smelled sweet, and confetti was waiting for guests to burst everywhere as the party began.
But there was a critical problem with this beautiful ballroom.
With only an hour left until the guest of honor for the day, King Leo III, was due to arrive, there were still more empty seats than filled ones in the party hall.
“Don’t standing parties seem emptier than reserved seating parties?”
Ariadne initially arranged round tables with designated seating areas at the party to accommodate the elderly.
However, when the Countess Baljo incident came to light at the last minute, the roundtable structure was changed to a standing party because the absentees were too noticeable.
However, since the large party venue had people standing crowded together without even a table, there were too many empty seats.
When the always calm Ariadne could not hide her nervousness to the point of biting her fingernails, Camellia, now Madame Vitelli, tried to calm her friend down.
“Once they start dancing, the floor will look a little colder. Right now, everyone is standing against the wall.”
Camellia was already feeling uneasy, wondering if the nobles had declined Princess Bianca's invitation to the ball because of her invitation.
CEO Caruso, who was standing next to his wife, also came forward and offered words of comfort.
“Foreign nobles will arrive soon, too.”
Ariadne had visited the Vitelli couple a few days ago to use their connections to invite foreign nobles residing in San Carlo.
Being invited to the debutante ball of the overseas Princess was a rare experience even for foreign nobles.
Thanks to this, most people responded that they would be happy to attend even with the short notice.
There was even an anecdote that the mask shops in downtown San Carlo were suddenly crowded the day before the party.
However, the foreign nobles present in San Carlo were mainly lower-class nobles.
Most of them are in a similar situation to the Baron of Castiglione, as they are out for business.
Inviting foreign guests alone would not have been enough to secure a large number of high-ranking guests to maintain the status of the Duke of Taranto's ball, even without domestic nobility.
However, those foreign nobles still had not shown up at the ballroom.
Raphael, who was present at the event as Ariadne's ball partner, spat out cynically.
“Nobles, whether foreign or domestic, high or low in status, consider it a virtue to arrive late.”
I could understand a hundred percent why you wouldn't want to stand alone in an empty ballroom.
Ariadne, who was in that situation right now, was dying.
“Shouldn’t you come faster than the King?”
At Raphael's words, Ariadne laughed in vain.
The empty floors on the first floor were sparsely populated by merchants, lower-ranking nobles of San Carlo, and a few foreign nobles.
In this situation, it would be a truly great embarrassment for Leo III to enter.
The Duke of Taranto, the hosts of the party, will be unable to walk around with their heads held high, and Prince Alfonso, the guardian, will also be accused of having abandoned his cousin.
She felt her mouth burning.
***
Ariadne wasn't the only one who couldn't take her eyes off the empty first-floor ballroom.
Since Leo III had left the hunting grounds instead of the palace today, Rubina arrived at the ballroom separately from her husband. She giggled as she looked at the empty ballroom.
“The plan worked. There’s no one here, no one!”
The maid who personally attended to Rubina was Deborah again today.
Because Countess Bartolini, Duchess Rubina's new chief maid, was away at Countess Baljo's charity party.
Deborah, who had been decked out with Rubina's money thanks to this personal mission, asked the Duchess cautiously.
“You know, Duchess... Is it true that Duke Cesare will be attending that party?”
Deborah had never seen Duke Cesare in person, as she had only recently started working for Duchess Rubina.
Cesare was the only Duke in the kingdom, unmarried, and the most handsome in the capital, and he was attending the ball at San Carlo for the first time in five years, while she was stuck at some other ball! It was so unfair that she couldn't stand it.
However, Duchess Rubina, who had heard Deborah ask that question, looked at Deborah with an expression that said she had never seen such a stupid girl before.
"...Yes, let’s stop talking.”
“Yes, yes?”
Duchess Rubina rebuked Deborah for her sad expression.
“You’re the one who exchanges letters between him and me. How can you not know that?”
Deborah protested proudly. How would I not know that?
“I, I’m not the one reading the content.”
Rubina answered with a pitiful expression. The reason she answered was because she was in a very good mood.
“This idiot. He didn’t even reply to my letter!”
“Ah...”
“What does it mean if I call and there is no answer?”
Duchess Rubina stretched out her silk-stockinged feet.
“Go ahead and do some kneading. If you’re stupid, you should at least use your hands and feet.”
Deborah quickly began to rub Duchess Rubina's small feet.
“Will he come? It’s just a rumor.”
Even if Cesare doesn't show up, the bill for him will still go to Countess Baljo, who hosted the party, and Countess Bartolini, who worked hard to distribute the invitations.
It was none of her business. Rubina felt better and laughed out loud.
“It was a good thing I spread the rumor because the floor was empty, hahahahaha!”
***
There were only thirty minutes left until Leo III's scheduled arrival. Today's main character, Princess Bianca of Taranto, had also finished getting ready.
But the invited guests still did not show up. The foreign nobles showed up late and filled the seats.
However, among the guests gathered on the floor, the only prominent families were Raphael and Julia of the Marquis Baldessar, the Count and Countess of Marquez, and Ottavio and Isabella of the Count Contarini, who had missed out on an invitation to the hottest party in the capital because of their wives.
If they were to add more, they could mention Camellia's maternal family, the Baron of Castiglione, who attended because they were from a merchant family rather than a noble family.
“How will you take responsibility for this, Countess de Mare?”
Baroness Giannelli gritted her teeth, lowered her voice, and snapped as sharply as she could.
“No, how can I take responsibility! I can’t! Even if I throw away the Countess’s life, do you think that will cover up the disgrace I have brought upon Taranto?”
“...”
Ariadne stared ahead silently. Even if she had ten mouths, she had nothing to say.
“I will definitely collect this debt!”
Baroness Giannelli's chattering voice struck Ariadne's ears.
Although more and more guests were coming in, they were unimportant people.
Although it was a masquerade ball, the fact that they were unimportant people was less noticeable, and the attendance of high-ranking people eventually became known.
The time of judgment was merely postponed.
To make matters worse, Prince Alfonso, Princess Bianca's ball partner, was also late. Ariadne was seething with anger.
'You can't help me, but you're late?'
The only thing he was entrusted with was to make a splendid appearance on the day and firmly protect Princess Bianca.
But he couldn't do any of that properly. Ariadne was worried that Princess Bianca would be very anxious.
“Um... When can I come down?”
Princess Bianca, who still hadn't fully grasped the situation below, asked from inside the powder room decorated just for her.
Ariadne answered with a forced smile.
“Just a moment, Your Highness. When Prince Alfonso arrives, you may enter together.”
The blood dried up. She licked her lips. The lip balm Anna had applied was completely erased, and the cracked dead skin cells were torn and bleeding.
Ariadne decided to plan for the future instead.
'If we could publicly link the failure of this ball to the Duchess Rubina, the reputation of the Duke of Taranto might not be so bad...'
But then it happened.
Boohoo!!
The sound of the horn, which is only heard when the royal family enters, rings out loud.
'His Majesty the King has come early?!'
Ariadne looked down from the railing, her face pale.
But servant of the Duchy of Taranto cried out by a different name.
“His Royal Highness Prince Alfonso de Carlo enters―!”
'Alfonso!'
A faded blond Prince in a cream colored robe was entering the ballroom with slow steps.
His large, towering body gave stability to the space itself.
Ariadne was so glad that he had arrived, even at this moment.
But another emotion immediately surged up. The second emotion that rose up, mixed with relief, was anger.
'As if it weren't enough that you were late, why did you come to the first floor?!'
Alfonso had to enter through the main corridor leading to this floor, not the ground floor, which was the general guest entrance.
Because he had to escort his partner Bianca down. This was something that had already been conveyed through Sir Bernardino.
While Ariadne looked down from one floor to the next, Prince Alfonso walked leisurely through the empty party hall.
And suddenly the cry of servant rang out.
“The Marquis Guatieri is entering!”
“The old Duke and Duchess of Montefeltro and their eldest son and his wife are entering!”
“Count Rinaldi!”
“Count and Countess Dellatorre!”
“Marquis Salvati!”
Behind Prince Alfonso, the entire society of San Carlo followed.
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