“My mother passed away five years ago.”
Bianca was about to offer her condolences with a spinal reflex, but hesitated for a moment, thinking that the mother might be the same person who 'brought the child who was not the Cardinal's son without Cardinal de Mare's knowledge'. And her hesitation was right.
“When my mother passed away, she left behind meaningful words.”
Ariadne smiled mysteriously.
“Tell my brother to go find ‘my favorite flower’ and be sure to tell him that his roots are there.”
At this point, it was as if everything had been said. Even the idiot Ippolito would have figured it out after hearing this much.
But Ariadne was not the one to deliver those words. The message Lucrezia asked him to deliver was chewed cleanly. Ariadne listened to it alone and put it away.
The problem is that Ariadne had no idea what Lucrezia's favorite flower was.
She asked Ippolito, who should have heard that originally, under the pretense of household affairs, but he didn't know either. He was truly a useless man.
“In terms of nuance, the flower seems to be the emblem of her biological family. I asked around, but all I could find was a rumor that Lucrezia was married to a cardinal when she was young and full, but everyone who knows exactly who the father is is keeping their mouths shut.”
It was only natural that anyone who knew the details would have been close to Lucrezia and the de Rossi family.
“But... there was only one person who could open her mouth.”
“Who, who the hell is that?”
Bianca, who was completely fooled by Ariadne's timing, asked with sparkling eyes.
“They say she is with the Duke of Taranto.”
“Huh?!”
It was in my hands! Bianca shivered with an inexplicable sense of omnipotence. Ariadne added.
“She is the nanny of the deceased Lucrezia. I heard she is working as a nanny for the Duke’s family.”
Ariadne briefly told the story of how the de Rossi family had mistreated Lucrezia's wet nurse during the Black Death. Princess Bianca was indignant.
“That’s ridiculous! How can you treat someone who has dedicated her entire life to your family so badly?”
One Princess felt trembling and felt sorry for telling her nanny to go out for a while. She heard that the Rossi people were people who had truly thrown their humanity into the middle of the sea.
“They say the nanny is staying at the Princess’s summer villa, but since outsiders are not allowed inside, I couldn’t find out more details.”
“I, I will come to find her right away!”
Bianca clenched her fists, ready to run to the summer cottage at any moment.
“But... what happens when you find it?”
Ariadne smiled.
“I’ll take care of the rest.”
With curiosity still lingering on Bianca's face, she added a few more clues.
“If we can just expel Ippolito from the family, the rest will be smooth sailing.”
Bianca was a naturally clear-headed child. After hearing this story, she could guess what Ariadne was trying to say.
If he were expelled from the de Mare family, Ippolito would become a commoner born in the Taranto fiefdom.
The removal of the Taranto people to San Carlo was permitted only because they had followed Cardinal de Mare, who had a good reason for the move.
If he were expelled from the family, Ippolito would no longer be a citizen of San Carlo.
“Then...”
“Yes. The power of life and death.”
Bianca shivered. The word was scary, but... fascinating. It was just like the older sister in front of her. But there were still many things on her mind.
“...I, I. I’m not sure if I should use that kind of power.”
Bianca has lived so far not as a young Duke or heir to a ducal family, but as the daughter of a country Baron.
No one told Bianca what her powers were. She was in a daze.
“Will everyone listen to me? Won’t they try to dissuade me?”
“If they say no.”
Ariadne laughed heartily.
“Bring them to me.”
Ariadne had a knack for disciplining disobedient family members.
Even though she was an illegitimate child of the de Mare family, she was able to control the family that Lucrezia had been supporting, so it was possible to turn a blind eye to Bianca's efforts to solidify her position in the Taranto family.
“Yes, good!”
Bianca nodded vigorously.
“As soon as I return to Taranto, I will search the summer house and send that woman to Countess de Mare!”
“And the disobedient Gasol too.”
Ariadne added. The corners of Bianca's mouth twitched.
She thought it was a good thing that Ariadne came to her house after the ball to see her, despite all the bad things that had happened that day. It was a life-changing day.
“General. I thought you might be interested in hearing this...”
"Hmm?"
A sharp-looking man in his fifties with graying hair looked down at his luggage from a luxurious leather chair.
Physically, it was horizontal eye level, but in every way, it was a look that looked down on him.
The room they were in was luxuriously furnished, but it couldn't hide the somewhat messy feeling of a temporary residence.
“Your son...”
“I have a son?”
It seemed like he really didn't know. The subordinate was embarrassed.
“Ah, over there... Elko...”
“Ah. That guy.”
The man seemed to remember only then. He shooed his subordinate away with an annoyed gesture.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s okay.”
“Oh, that... he passed away.”
At those words, the middle-aged man stopped moving for a moment.
He furrowed his brows, slightly protruded the corners of his mouth, and said nothing. His subordinate asked cautiously.
“Shall I give you a detailed report?”
The middle-aged man thought for a moment and then nodded.
“...Tell me.”
The subordinate recited the intelligence that had come in.
“It is said that he had been working as a close associate of Prince Alfonso de Carlo, the successor to the Etruscan Kingdom, but was recently discovered to be a spy for the Kingdom of Gallico and was summarily executed.”
“What? A spy?”
“Yes... That part is certain...”
“You have nothing better to do, so you spy for Gallico?”
“I don’t know the full details.”
The man snorted loudly.
“Keep trying!”
“They say that because there was no one to claim the body, he was buried in an unclaimed graveyard in the suburbs...”
“A ruined baby.”
The man cursed quietly.
“You betray me just like your mother!”
The gray-haired man became excited in an instant. He became violently angry.
“Fight even if I die! Fight even if I die!”
The object of the man's abuse seemed to be his dead mother rather than his son.
Elko's mother was a woman from a village whom he met when he was young. She was the first woman he had ever met, and she was also much older than him.
The fact that he was not the first man of the woman who was his first love always tormented the man.
Whenever he got drunk, he would tease the woman, asking, "Are you sure that the child in your womb is mine?"
The woman, who could not bear it any longer, fell in love with his servant, who was a nobleman, and tried to run away, but was caught by the man.
The woman was beaten by a man who had lost his mind and turned his back on the world and young Elko... It was none of the man's business. But he was angry that even a son like that had died.
“You Etruscan Prince, how dare you lay a hand on my son...”
There was no way he knew Elko was his son, and it was natural to execute a traitor, but such a defense would not work on the man.
He was a man with a reputation for brutality on the battlefield. His men would rather bow their heads than give their general a pointless answer.
The man cursed the heir to the Etruscan kingdom who had killed his son, while his subordinate suffered the consequences of his pointless tirade.
However, he never gave the order to retrieve his son's body from the unclaimed graveyard.
With the return of Duke Cesare, the Palazzo Carlo became bustling with activity.
“Your Majesty. I hope you are doing well after your flight.”
Unlike the debutante ball of the Duchess of Taranto, where he had rushed in looking disheveled, Duke Cesare greeted his father with his hair neatly combed and shaved.
Leo III and Duke Cesare had been on very awkward terms the last time they met, but that had been three years earlier.
The seasons changed several times, and Rubina did her best to oil the midway.
When his memory began to fade, Cesare appeared and gave it his all, so Leo III did not feel the need to count the days again.
“Hahaha! Your face looks better!”
“I guess the country air suits me.”
“There’s no way a guy like you would do that.”
If you felt a slight prickle, it was because Cesare had pricked himself.
“It’s nice to see the whole family together after such a long time!”
At those words, Rubina and Cesare burst into laughter, while Alfonso, who was sitting at the dinner table, bit into a pheasant leg with no expression on his face.
Bianca rolled her eyes in confusion. Leo III asked affectionately.
“So, what’s your schedule like today?”
“If Your Majesty would give me some time, I would like to invite you to go hunting for the first time in a long while.”
Cesare closed his eyes and shook his head.
“If you’re busy with work, I think you should meet up with my old friends.”
“Unfortunately.”
Leo III took a sip of his daytime drink in broad daylight. Although he had only had a small amount of drink, his flushed face seemed to show that he was not taking the drink well.
“I have a lot of work to do today. Aren’t all your old friends just gangsters?”
“Hahahaha, they’re all friends like me.”
Cesare didn't even blink an eye at the unpleasant words and just laughed it off with a smile. It was what he did best.
Leo III meddled further, not even realizing that what he was saying was unpleasant.
“Well, stop hanging out with useless friends and hang out with some useful ones. Why, Count Contarini? Ottavio. He’s a good guy. Isn’t he your friend?”
Cesare laughed.
“Yes. He is my good friend.”
There was a moment of silence, but Leo III did not notice.
“I’ll reserve a seat for you next time, so come and have tea together.”
Rubina also laughed strangely. Leo III seemed to have completely forgotten that Count Contarini's new wife was Isabella de Mare, with whom Cesare had been embroiled in a scandal.
As he must have heard somewhere, Leo III was in a position where he didn't have to worry about such trivial matters. Rubina suggested.
“What if we get together as a couple?”
It was a perfect opportunity to embarrass Ottavio's young wife, who she hated seeing.
“Your Majesty, me, and Count and Countess Contarini.”
Rubina couldn't hide her excitement at the thought of what Count and Countess Contarini would say and argue about on the evening they all gathered together.
As the saying goes, “Eat the pheasant and the eggs,” she added a story she had always wanted to tell.
“Hey, Cesare. Don’t you have a decent wife?”
This story also broke the smooth mask of Duke Cesare. He smiled wickedly with his pouty lips.
“I. You know.”
“Oh, oh, tsk tsk.”
Leo III clicked his tongue.
“You too should quickly meet a good woman and start a family. You’re so old... Let’s see, aren’t you already twenty-six? At least you should have at least given me a couple of grandchildren!”
When it appeared that Leo III's tirade would be prolonged, Prince Alfonso cut off the conversation.
"Father."
He said with a kind smile.
“I think I should wake up first.”
In fact, it was a conversation that he couldn't open his eyes and listen to any longer.
Now, objectively, the one who needed to get married and have an heir was Alfonso, the successor to the kingdom, not Cesare, who only had to take care of himself.
However, Leo III paid no attention to Alfonso and was playing family games with Rubina and Cesare.
But Alfonso had more important matters to attend to than arguing with Leo III.
“I have an appointment.”
“Oh, what appointment?”
The Prince spoke enviously.
“I invited a guest here and decided to teach Bianca how to ride a horse together.”
Leo III took little interest in his son's schedule. He did not ask questions, and he did not even formally arrest Alfonso.
“It’s nice to see such deep affection between relatives. Yes, you can go.”
If Alfonso had been a little more savvy, he would have said, 'If there's one thing that's more affectionate between relatives than my father,' but he just smiled silently.
But then Cesare asked Alfonso.
“What kind of guest?”
Although he pretended to be calm, his voice was trembling and discordant, like the scraping of iron.
Bianca was about to offer her condolences with a spinal reflex, but hesitated for a moment, thinking that the mother might be the same person who 'brought the child who was not the Cardinal's son without Cardinal de Mare's knowledge'. And her hesitation was right.
“When my mother passed away, she left behind meaningful words.”
Ariadne smiled mysteriously.
“Tell my brother to go find ‘my favorite flower’ and be sure to tell him that his roots are there.”
At this point, it was as if everything had been said. Even the idiot Ippolito would have figured it out after hearing this much.
But Ariadne was not the one to deliver those words. The message Lucrezia asked him to deliver was chewed cleanly. Ariadne listened to it alone and put it away.
The problem is that Ariadne had no idea what Lucrezia's favorite flower was.
She asked Ippolito, who should have heard that originally, under the pretense of household affairs, but he didn't know either. He was truly a useless man.
“In terms of nuance, the flower seems to be the emblem of her biological family. I asked around, but all I could find was a rumor that Lucrezia was married to a cardinal when she was young and full, but everyone who knows exactly who the father is is keeping their mouths shut.”
It was only natural that anyone who knew the details would have been close to Lucrezia and the de Rossi family.
“But... there was only one person who could open her mouth.”
“Who, who the hell is that?”
Bianca, who was completely fooled by Ariadne's timing, asked with sparkling eyes.
“They say she is with the Duke of Taranto.”
“Huh?!”
It was in my hands! Bianca shivered with an inexplicable sense of omnipotence. Ariadne added.
“She is the nanny of the deceased Lucrezia. I heard she is working as a nanny for the Duke’s family.”
Ariadne briefly told the story of how the de Rossi family had mistreated Lucrezia's wet nurse during the Black Death. Princess Bianca was indignant.
“That’s ridiculous! How can you treat someone who has dedicated her entire life to your family so badly?”
One Princess felt trembling and felt sorry for telling her nanny to go out for a while. She heard that the Rossi people were people who had truly thrown their humanity into the middle of the sea.
“They say the nanny is staying at the Princess’s summer villa, but since outsiders are not allowed inside, I couldn’t find out more details.”
“I, I will come to find her right away!”
Bianca clenched her fists, ready to run to the summer cottage at any moment.
“But... what happens when you find it?”
Ariadne smiled.
“I’ll take care of the rest.”
With curiosity still lingering on Bianca's face, she added a few more clues.
“If we can just expel Ippolito from the family, the rest will be smooth sailing.”
Bianca was a naturally clear-headed child. After hearing this story, she could guess what Ariadne was trying to say.
If he were expelled from the de Mare family, Ippolito would become a commoner born in the Taranto fiefdom.
The removal of the Taranto people to San Carlo was permitted only because they had followed Cardinal de Mare, who had a good reason for the move.
If he were expelled from the family, Ippolito would no longer be a citizen of San Carlo.
“Then...”
“Yes. The power of life and death.”
Bianca shivered. The word was scary, but... fascinating. It was just like the older sister in front of her. But there were still many things on her mind.
“...I, I. I’m not sure if I should use that kind of power.”
Bianca has lived so far not as a young Duke or heir to a ducal family, but as the daughter of a country Baron.
No one told Bianca what her powers were. She was in a daze.
“Will everyone listen to me? Won’t they try to dissuade me?”
“If they say no.”
Ariadne laughed heartily.
“Bring them to me.”
Ariadne had a knack for disciplining disobedient family members.
Even though she was an illegitimate child of the de Mare family, she was able to control the family that Lucrezia had been supporting, so it was possible to turn a blind eye to Bianca's efforts to solidify her position in the Taranto family.
“Yes, good!”
Bianca nodded vigorously.
“As soon as I return to Taranto, I will search the summer house and send that woman to Countess de Mare!”
“And the disobedient Gasol too.”
Ariadne added. The corners of Bianca's mouth twitched.
She thought it was a good thing that Ariadne came to her house after the ball to see her, despite all the bad things that had happened that day. It was a life-changing day.
***
“General. I thought you might be interested in hearing this...”
"Hmm?"
A sharp-looking man in his fifties with graying hair looked down at his luggage from a luxurious leather chair.
Physically, it was horizontal eye level, but in every way, it was a look that looked down on him.
The room they were in was luxuriously furnished, but it couldn't hide the somewhat messy feeling of a temporary residence.
“Your son...”
“I have a son?”
It seemed like he really didn't know. The subordinate was embarrassed.
“Ah, over there... Elko...”
“Ah. That guy.”
The man seemed to remember only then. He shooed his subordinate away with an annoyed gesture.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s okay.”
“Oh, that... he passed away.”
At those words, the middle-aged man stopped moving for a moment.
He furrowed his brows, slightly protruded the corners of his mouth, and said nothing. His subordinate asked cautiously.
“Shall I give you a detailed report?”
The middle-aged man thought for a moment and then nodded.
“...Tell me.”
The subordinate recited the intelligence that had come in.
“It is said that he had been working as a close associate of Prince Alfonso de Carlo, the successor to the Etruscan Kingdom, but was recently discovered to be a spy for the Kingdom of Gallico and was summarily executed.”
“What? A spy?”
“Yes... That part is certain...”
“You have nothing better to do, so you spy for Gallico?”
“I don’t know the full details.”
The man snorted loudly.
“Keep trying!”
“They say that because there was no one to claim the body, he was buried in an unclaimed graveyard in the suburbs...”
“A ruined baby.”
The man cursed quietly.
“You betray me just like your mother!”
The gray-haired man became excited in an instant. He became violently angry.
“Fight even if I die! Fight even if I die!”
The object of the man's abuse seemed to be his dead mother rather than his son.
Elko's mother was a woman from a village whom he met when he was young. She was the first woman he had ever met, and she was also much older than him.
The fact that he was not the first man of the woman who was his first love always tormented the man.
Whenever he got drunk, he would tease the woman, asking, "Are you sure that the child in your womb is mine?"
The woman, who could not bear it any longer, fell in love with his servant, who was a nobleman, and tried to run away, but was caught by the man.
The woman was beaten by a man who had lost his mind and turned his back on the world and young Elko... It was none of the man's business. But he was angry that even a son like that had died.
“You Etruscan Prince, how dare you lay a hand on my son...”
There was no way he knew Elko was his son, and it was natural to execute a traitor, but such a defense would not work on the man.
He was a man with a reputation for brutality on the battlefield. His men would rather bow their heads than give their general a pointless answer.
The man cursed the heir to the Etruscan kingdom who had killed his son, while his subordinate suffered the consequences of his pointless tirade.
However, he never gave the order to retrieve his son's body from the unclaimed graveyard.
***
With the return of Duke Cesare, the Palazzo Carlo became bustling with activity.
“Your Majesty. I hope you are doing well after your flight.”
Unlike the debutante ball of the Duchess of Taranto, where he had rushed in looking disheveled, Duke Cesare greeted his father with his hair neatly combed and shaved.
Leo III and Duke Cesare had been on very awkward terms the last time they met, but that had been three years earlier.
The seasons changed several times, and Rubina did her best to oil the midway.
When his memory began to fade, Cesare appeared and gave it his all, so Leo III did not feel the need to count the days again.
“Hahaha! Your face looks better!”
“I guess the country air suits me.”
“There’s no way a guy like you would do that.”
If you felt a slight prickle, it was because Cesare had pricked himself.
“It’s nice to see the whole family together after such a long time!”
At those words, Rubina and Cesare burst into laughter, while Alfonso, who was sitting at the dinner table, bit into a pheasant leg with no expression on his face.
Bianca rolled her eyes in confusion. Leo III asked affectionately.
“So, what’s your schedule like today?”
“If Your Majesty would give me some time, I would like to invite you to go hunting for the first time in a long while.”
Cesare closed his eyes and shook his head.
“If you’re busy with work, I think you should meet up with my old friends.”
“Unfortunately.”
Leo III took a sip of his daytime drink in broad daylight. Although he had only had a small amount of drink, his flushed face seemed to show that he was not taking the drink well.
“I have a lot of work to do today. Aren’t all your old friends just gangsters?”
“Hahahaha, they’re all friends like me.”
Cesare didn't even blink an eye at the unpleasant words and just laughed it off with a smile. It was what he did best.
Leo III meddled further, not even realizing that what he was saying was unpleasant.
“Well, stop hanging out with useless friends and hang out with some useful ones. Why, Count Contarini? Ottavio. He’s a good guy. Isn’t he your friend?”
Cesare laughed.
“Yes. He is my good friend.”
There was a moment of silence, but Leo III did not notice.
“I’ll reserve a seat for you next time, so come and have tea together.”
Rubina also laughed strangely. Leo III seemed to have completely forgotten that Count Contarini's new wife was Isabella de Mare, with whom Cesare had been embroiled in a scandal.
As he must have heard somewhere, Leo III was in a position where he didn't have to worry about such trivial matters. Rubina suggested.
“What if we get together as a couple?”
It was a perfect opportunity to embarrass Ottavio's young wife, who she hated seeing.
“Your Majesty, me, and Count and Countess Contarini.”
Rubina couldn't hide her excitement at the thought of what Count and Countess Contarini would say and argue about on the evening they all gathered together.
As the saying goes, “Eat the pheasant and the eggs,” she added a story she had always wanted to tell.
“Hey, Cesare. Don’t you have a decent wife?”
This story also broke the smooth mask of Duke Cesare. He smiled wickedly with his pouty lips.
“I. You know.”
“Oh, oh, tsk tsk.”
Leo III clicked his tongue.
“You too should quickly meet a good woman and start a family. You’re so old... Let’s see, aren’t you already twenty-six? At least you should have at least given me a couple of grandchildren!”
When it appeared that Leo III's tirade would be prolonged, Prince Alfonso cut off the conversation.
"Father."
He said with a kind smile.
“I think I should wake up first.”
In fact, it was a conversation that he couldn't open his eyes and listen to any longer.
Now, objectively, the one who needed to get married and have an heir was Alfonso, the successor to the kingdom, not Cesare, who only had to take care of himself.
However, Leo III paid no attention to Alfonso and was playing family games with Rubina and Cesare.
But Alfonso had more important matters to attend to than arguing with Leo III.
“I have an appointment.”
“Oh, what appointment?”
The Prince spoke enviously.
“I invited a guest here and decided to teach Bianca how to ride a horse together.”
Leo III took little interest in his son's schedule. He did not ask questions, and he did not even formally arrest Alfonso.
“It’s nice to see such deep affection between relatives. Yes, you can go.”
If Alfonso had been a little more savvy, he would have said, 'If there's one thing that's more affectionate between relatives than my father,' but he just smiled silently.
But then Cesare asked Alfonso.
“What kind of guest?”
Although he pretended to be calm, his voice was trembling and discordant, like the scraping of iron.
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