Isabella woke up from her nap to the noise of the house.
“Get out of the way! Get out of the way!”
She asked annoyedly.
“What is going on?”
As usual, she spoke in a lofty and arrogant manner, belittling the other person. At such a remark, the maids of the Contarini family would have to kneel on the floor and shout, 'Countess! You deserve to die!'
But the words that came back made Isabella doubt whether she had heard them correctly.
“Ma’am! I told you to get out of the way and stop being so annoying!”
“Ack!”
Isabella, who had been pushed aside, was furious at the horrible treatment she had received in her own home. She had not yet come to terms with the situation.
“Hey! Who are you? Who are you to be so arrogant in my house?”
The man was an official dispatched by the Inquisition.
“My house?”
He smiled, revealing his rotten, black teeth.
“Pretty lady, this is not your house anymore.”
He took out a red tag and stuck it on the mahogany bed Isabella was using.
“The beggar of the Aberruche monastery.”
"What?"
The porter chuckled as he looked at Isabella, who was staring at him with her lavender eyes wide open like a startled rabbit.
“Get out.”
***
The method of 'recovering money owed to the aristocracy' that CEO Caruso had discovered - or was known to have discovered - caused a stir among the bourgeoisie.
Everyone had a lot of debt they hadn't paid. They just couldn't share it because it felt like spitting in their own faces, and it was inappropriate to talk about it publicly.
When you spread out the incidents and accidents, and credit amounts on a table, you can see that the nobles were spending an excessive amount of credit amounts that were too much to be considered as just taming merchants.
It wasn't an amount that could be passed over as a favor.
“Are you saying that CEO Caruso really accepted this?”
“The execution has not been successful, and the cash has not arrived yet, but we have won the case in court!”
“No, no, winning the case is enough. Didn’t CEO Caruso sell the bond to the Aberruche Monastery anyway? Then, isn’t it the Aberruche Monastery’s job to actually sell the Contarini mansion and secure the gold? Doesn’t that mean CEO Caruso just took the cash and finished it?”
In fact, CEO Caruso handed over the bonds at a low price solely to seek revenge on his young wife's ex-fiancé and his wife for hurting her.
The contract was that the right to receive 8,000 Ducati would be transferred to 80 Ducati, and when the money came in, Representative Caruso would receive only 2,000 Ducati.
The money Camellia received was so great that it was impossible to sell it for a fair price.
To find a monastery willing to join in on such a madness that would cause quite a stir in the capital, he had to promise the monastery a great deal of profit.
As a result, it was a great success for the Abbey of Aberruche as they earned 10,000 ducats by investing 80 ducats.
The merchants were a little disappointed to learn that CEO Caruso didn't actually have a large amount of cash on hand, but that didn't stop them.
“We have no face, no money?”
“If we set an example, these nobles won’t do the same thing in the future!”
“CEO Caruso has opened the waterway. He’s taking all the fire from the front, so shouldn’t we be supporting him from behind? The Bocanegro guys are indeed fucking business, but at times like this, we all need to stick together!”
The mood was increasingly shifting towards the merchant class versus the noble class.
“Is their propaganda that great souls who receive the grace of the gods are born into high status true?”
“That’s right. If you do a lot of good deeds in your past life and live well in this life, then did the nobles live well in the beginning of their past lives and end up selling out their country?”
“We are the ones who eat well and live well these days!”
Even within the bourgeoisie, some were concerned about the overheated atmosphere.
If you commit an extreme act without a political breakwater, you will have to bear the full consequences.
The older merchants, who had been through thick and thin, tried to restrain their colleagues, but the energetic young people who had recently started to make their fortunes through border trade did not listen to the elders.
Even the middle-aged and older generations who had accumulated a lot of debt joined the younger generation, and the irregular loan claim lawsuits through the church gained momentum.
“Count Atendolo, return 200 ducats to the Manassero Monastery!”
“The Viscount D’Apiani must return 1300 ducats to the monastery of San Perzini!”
“Baron Giordini, return 580 ducats to the Abbey of Aberruche!”
When word spread that the Abbey of Aberruche was making a fortune, other monasteries followed suit.
As the number of cases increased, so did the number of creditors and debtors. The list of debtors was an issue in itself.
Among the families known to the world as debtors, some names would be sad to miss out on.
“The Marquis of Campa borrowed 2300 ducats and didn’t pay them back?”
“Why did someone with a lot of money do that...”
“Isn’t that gambling debt?”
“Whether it’s gambling debts or money spent chasing after women, it’s not surprising.”
And there were some really unlikely names.
“The Viscount of Elba must return 720 ducats to the Padini Monastery!”
The Elba family was the family of Ariadne's friend, Felicite.
It was not surprising that the firm was in debt, as he had sent Felicite to a convent because he could not afford a dowry for his daughter, but the Viscount of Elba had a reputation as a moral lawyer and became the laughing stock of high society.
“You were acting all arrogant and ignorant by quoting the law, but you didn’t pay back the money you borrowed?”
And the inside of Viscount Elba's household was also turned upside down. In fact, the Viscount Elba, who had a scholarly disposition, left all the household affairs to his wife and did not look into them himself.
But, with such an unpleasant incident causing such a stir in the capital, it was enough to make the Viscount of Elba mad and jump for joy.
The Viscountess of Elba also had a lot to say.
Her husband, a Baron with no land in the provinces, only sought out unprofitable jobs and was not active in helping his daughter get married, so she had to send her pitiful eldest daughter to a convent.
The money she borrowed wasn't money she had incurred for luxuries, but money she absolutely needed to support her family.
Her husband didn't care if they ran out of food or clothing; it was none of his business.
The Elba family had such a huge fight that they were worried the roof would be torn off before the creditors even arrived.
And there were more than one or two houses like this. Eventually, the nobles of San Carlo exploded.
The arrow was aimed at the head of the Etruscan hierarchy, Cardinal Simon de Mare.
“What on earth was the church thinking? Can we consider this to be the position of the entire Holy See?!”
Cardinal de Mare flatly dismissed the claims.
“This is a deviation from the individual monasteries... I, myself, take this situation very seriously.”
And Cardinal de Mare was clearly one of the biggest victims of this situation.
In any case, Countess Contarini, who had been the darling of society until yesterday and then suddenly became a street vendor, was the biological daughter of Cardinal de Mare.
The single person who could be said to have suffered the greatest loss is Isabella herself.
She had to watch with her own eyes open as her own struggles to somehow mitigate the damage were successively frustrated.
“What?! His Majesty has rejected my request for an audience?!”
Isabella could not understand what had happened to her.
A series of meetings with Leo III convinced her that he was attracted to her as a woman.
Usually, at this stage, men are ready to steal the family land documents and even their mother's wedding ring.
A man becomes the most anxious when he is sure of a woman's interest but has yet to receive her definitive answer.
And Isabella was an unrivaled master at sucking men's bones at this stage.
But now nothing worked.
“Are you a rat?!”
She was furious. It was a situation that was completely incomprehensible to her that he was drawing a line against her like this, unless he was a man.
However, from Leo III's point of view, this was natural.
It was natural that the King would not welcome the merchants' collective action, but they were the taxpayers responsible for a significant portion of the tax revenue.
At some point, it would have been necessary to restrain the collective action of the merchants, but such a gesture by the King would inevitably provoke a reaction from the bourgeoisie.
That card could have been used for something more useful, not to save Countess Contarini personally.
Leo III was not in his late teens, getting to know women for the first time, and this had nothing to do with how pretty Isabella was.
“Are you old enough to not be able to stand anymore?!”
But even as she railed against Leo III with this somewhat truthful insight, Isabella felt a growing regret for what she did not have.
There was no man whom Isabella had not attempted to conquer. Even Duke Cesare was subdued, albeit in a twisted manner.
This was the first time she had ever seen a man so cleanly wash his hands of dirt. Leo III had unintentionally been having a secret affair.
Ironically, it was the family with whom she had been so estranged that ended up saving Isabella, who had been shunned even by Leo III.
Cardinal de Mare immediately summoned the abbots of Aberruche, Manassero, San Perzini, and Padini, who had been most actively involved in the affair, to San Carlo and issued a stern warning to the churches of the Etruscan kingdom throughout the country.
“Priests must not get involved in worldly disputes! Any abbot who receives a price or fee and claims a debt that is not his will be dealt with severely according to the law!”
It was certainly hard to hold back laughter that it was Cardinal De Mare, of all people, who solemnly declared that they should not get involved in worldly conflicts, but the words themselves were not wrong.
It was not priest-like behavior for a monastery to take on other people's lawsuits in exchange for financial gain.
“And what on earth is the Inquisition thinking? Why did they barge into someone else’s yard and sit there dancing with their swords?!”
Cardinal de Mare, who had once blocked the filing of a new lawsuit on his own initiative, blamed the Inquisitor of the Holy Office, who had been the cause of this rebellion, most of all.
If you just say it's a worldly dispute and don't take it to court, what will you do if you keep bringing it in and even make it into court?
“If we set an example, these nobles won’t do the same thing in the future!”
“CEO Caruso has opened the waterway. He’s taking all the fire from the front, so shouldn’t we be supporting him from behind? The Bocanegro guys are indeed fucking business, but at times like this, we all need to stick together!”
The mood was increasingly shifting towards the merchant class versus the noble class.
“Is their propaganda that great souls who receive the grace of the gods are born into high status true?”
“That’s right. If you do a lot of good deeds in your past life and live well in this life, then did the nobles live well in the beginning of their past lives and end up selling out their country?”
“We are the ones who eat well and live well these days!”
Even within the bourgeoisie, some were concerned about the overheated atmosphere.
If you commit an extreme act without a political breakwater, you will have to bear the full consequences.
The older merchants, who had been through thick and thin, tried to restrain their colleagues, but the energetic young people who had recently started to make their fortunes through border trade did not listen to the elders.
Even the middle-aged and older generations who had accumulated a lot of debt joined the younger generation, and the irregular loan claim lawsuits through the church gained momentum.
“Count Atendolo, return 200 ducats to the Manassero Monastery!”
“The Viscount D’Apiani must return 1300 ducats to the monastery of San Perzini!”
“Baron Giordini, return 580 ducats to the Abbey of Aberruche!”
When word spread that the Abbey of Aberruche was making a fortune, other monasteries followed suit.
As the number of cases increased, so did the number of creditors and debtors. The list of debtors was an issue in itself.
Among the families known to the world as debtors, some names would be sad to miss out on.
“The Marquis of Campa borrowed 2300 ducats and didn’t pay them back?”
“Why did someone with a lot of money do that...”
“Isn’t that gambling debt?”
“Whether it’s gambling debts or money spent chasing after women, it’s not surprising.”
And there were some really unlikely names.
“The Viscount of Elba must return 720 ducats to the Padini Monastery!”
The Elba family was the family of Ariadne's friend, Felicite.
It was not surprising that the firm was in debt, as he had sent Felicite to a convent because he could not afford a dowry for his daughter, but the Viscount of Elba had a reputation as a moral lawyer and became the laughing stock of high society.
“You were acting all arrogant and ignorant by quoting the law, but you didn’t pay back the money you borrowed?”
And the inside of Viscount Elba's household was also turned upside down. In fact, the Viscount Elba, who had a scholarly disposition, left all the household affairs to his wife and did not look into them himself.
But, with such an unpleasant incident causing such a stir in the capital, it was enough to make the Viscount of Elba mad and jump for joy.
The Viscountess of Elba also had a lot to say.
Her husband, a Baron with no land in the provinces, only sought out unprofitable jobs and was not active in helping his daughter get married, so she had to send her pitiful eldest daughter to a convent.
The money she borrowed wasn't money she had incurred for luxuries, but money she absolutely needed to support her family.
Her husband didn't care if they ran out of food or clothing; it was none of his business.
The Elba family had such a huge fight that they were worried the roof would be torn off before the creditors even arrived.
And there were more than one or two houses like this. Eventually, the nobles of San Carlo exploded.
The arrow was aimed at the head of the Etruscan hierarchy, Cardinal Simon de Mare.
“What on earth was the church thinking? Can we consider this to be the position of the entire Holy See?!”
Cardinal de Mare flatly dismissed the claims.
“This is a deviation from the individual monasteries... I, myself, take this situation very seriously.”
And Cardinal de Mare was clearly one of the biggest victims of this situation.
In any case, Countess Contarini, who had been the darling of society until yesterday and then suddenly became a street vendor, was the biological daughter of Cardinal de Mare.
The single person who could be said to have suffered the greatest loss is Isabella herself.
She had to watch with her own eyes open as her own struggles to somehow mitigate the damage were successively frustrated.
“What?! His Majesty has rejected my request for an audience?!”
Isabella could not understand what had happened to her.
A series of meetings with Leo III convinced her that he was attracted to her as a woman.
Usually, at this stage, men are ready to steal the family land documents and even their mother's wedding ring.
A man becomes the most anxious when he is sure of a woman's interest but has yet to receive her definitive answer.
And Isabella was an unrivaled master at sucking men's bones at this stage.
But now nothing worked.
“Are you a rat?!”
She was furious. It was a situation that was completely incomprehensible to her that he was drawing a line against her like this, unless he was a man.
However, from Leo III's point of view, this was natural.
It was natural that the King would not welcome the merchants' collective action, but they were the taxpayers responsible for a significant portion of the tax revenue.
At some point, it would have been necessary to restrain the collective action of the merchants, but such a gesture by the King would inevitably provoke a reaction from the bourgeoisie.
That card could have been used for something more useful, not to save Countess Contarini personally.
Leo III was not in his late teens, getting to know women for the first time, and this had nothing to do with how pretty Isabella was.
“Are you old enough to not be able to stand anymore?!”
But even as she railed against Leo III with this somewhat truthful insight, Isabella felt a growing regret for what she did not have.
There was no man whom Isabella had not attempted to conquer. Even Duke Cesare was subdued, albeit in a twisted manner.
This was the first time she had ever seen a man so cleanly wash his hands of dirt. Leo III had unintentionally been having a secret affair.
Ironically, it was the family with whom she had been so estranged that ended up saving Isabella, who had been shunned even by Leo III.
Cardinal de Mare immediately summoned the abbots of Aberruche, Manassero, San Perzini, and Padini, who had been most actively involved in the affair, to San Carlo and issued a stern warning to the churches of the Etruscan kingdom throughout the country.
“Priests must not get involved in worldly disputes! Any abbot who receives a price or fee and claims a debt that is not his will be dealt with severely according to the law!”
It was certainly hard to hold back laughter that it was Cardinal De Mare, of all people, who solemnly declared that they should not get involved in worldly conflicts, but the words themselves were not wrong.
It was not priest-like behavior for a monastery to take on other people's lawsuits in exchange for financial gain.
“And what on earth is the Inquisition thinking? Why did they barge into someone else’s yard and sit there dancing with their swords?!”
Cardinal de Mare, who had once blocked the filing of a new lawsuit on his own initiative, blamed the Inquisitor of the Holy Office, who had been the cause of this rebellion, most of all.
If you just say it's a worldly dispute and don't take it to court, what will you do if you keep bringing it in and even make it into court?
He would have liked to have arrested him, removed him from his position, and hung him upside down on the wall of the Basilica of Saint Ercole.
However, the Inquisitor was dispatched from the thousand-year-old capital Trevero and traveled throughout the Central Continent, and was directly under Pope Ludovico.
Cardinal de Mare, the head of the local organization, was not someone he could mess with at will.
“First of all, do not steal or sell items with red tags on them.”
Thanks to the Inquisitors, red labels were affixed to various noble residences in the capital, including the Contarini Palace.
It was on the front door, it was on the bed, it was on the porcelain, it was flashing red.
However, the Inquisitor was dispatched from the thousand-year-old capital Trevero and traveled throughout the Central Continent, and was directly under Pope Ludovico.
Cardinal de Mare, the head of the local organization, was not someone he could mess with at will.
“First of all, do not steal or sell items with red tags on them.”
Thanks to the Inquisitors, red labels were affixed to various noble residences in the capital, including the Contarini Palace.
It was on the front door, it was on the bed, it was on the porcelain, it was flashing red.
The mansion built in the capital was the sum total of the family's heritage.
Not only was the centuries-old building itself a work of art, but even the homeowner had no idea what kind of gold and silver treasures were hidden in every corner of the house.
You often find gold coins or antiques from a hundred years ago when you do major repairs.
Above all, the capital's mansions occupied prime land.
A mansion site right next to a palace is not something you can just buy if you have money.
It seemed clear as day that if the debtor were to be forced to take it away, the great nobles would be turned upside down.
Cardinal de Mare quickly submitted a secret appeal to the King.
The monastery would not take it by force, so Leo III's officials were also told not to actively pursue its execution.
The Inquisition did not have enough people to enforce the execution on the noble families who were desperately resisting, so it could have easily prevented the execution if only the King had not raised his hand.
Even Leo III, who had not listened to Isabella's personal petition, had no reason to refuse this proposal.
In some ways, Cardinal de Mare helped Isabella, but in other ways, he did not help her.
He created a situation that could help Isabella, but he did not reach out to his daughter directly.
And the formation of that political situation was also for his own benefit.
In the end, Isabella was left unsure whether her father was there for her or not.
The first direct helping hand came from her sister-in-law, the Countess Bartolini, whom she looked down on so insignificantly.
“All, for the time being... Your family will stay in the annex...”
It was Countess Bartolini who took Count and Countess Contarini into her home after they were kicked out.
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