With the appearance of the 'Golden Prince', the Rinaldi family's party hall was filled with noise and chaos.
No matter how noble a person was, unless he was a great noble, he had little opportunity to become close to royalty.
The Rinaldi family, though solid, was far from being great lords, and their fellow families were in similar circumstances.
The guests invited to today's poetry recital were half from middle-class noble families in a suitable capital city, and half from wealthy lower-class nobles.
So the guests who attended the event, where Countess Ariadne de Mare was the most famous guest, were at a loss for what to do with this unexpected windfall.
“Wow! I’m going to brag to my friends that I saw the Prince!”
“Oh, Mom, it hurts! Don’t pinch me!”
Alfonso, accustomed to such commotion, did not even raise an eyebrow. He held out his large hand to Ariadne with a sunny smile on his lips.
“I have a headache. I came here because I wanted to see my woman’s face.”
Ariadne realized that Alfonso knew what kind of gossip she was suffering from.
She smiled thoughtfully and placed her hand over his. Ariadne whispered softly.
"Thank you."
Alfonso shook his head sharply and whispered back.
“What is there to be thankful for?”
He also bowed his head to Cornelia de Rinaldi, who was standing next to him.
“Young Lady Rinaldi.”
Cornelia was startled and quickly knelt down to bow.
“Welcome to the little sun of the kingdom!”
“No, no.”
He smiled and raised his hand to stop Cornelia.
“Please, leave that aside. I missed my woman so much that I ended up crashing someone else’s party without an invitation.”
It was a soft, low voice accompanied by a sad smile. Cornelia pulled herself together from her dazed state.
The warmth was so overwhelming that she didn't even feel greedy or envious of her friend or have similar thoughts.
First of all, the most urgent task was to control her own blushing face.
Alfonso added fuel to the fire with his crisp apple.
“Please forgive my rudeness.”
“No, no, it’s okay... What, is that rude?”
As Cornelia began to stutter, someone interrupted the conversation by shouting:
"No!"
The one who intervened was Cornelia's father, Count Rinaldi.
“It is an infinite honor for Your Highness, the Prince, to grace our Rinaldi family’s event!”
Count Rinaldi bowed politely. His gestures were precise, but there was an air of hesitation in them.
Alfonso responded with a silent smile.
The reason he was polite to Cornelia de Rinaldi was that she was Ariadne's friend.
Count Rinaldi was someone who could at least be considered low-ranking in terms of power relations in the capital.
The Prince didn't want to get involved in this.
Even if Alfonso had not shown any particular affection for Count Rinaldi, the Rinaldi family was generally very pleased with the Prince's sudden visit.
It's always a pleasure to have honored guests come and brighten up our family feast.
But there was one exception. It was Miss Bedelia, Cornelia's younger sister. She was staring at the entrance with her face set in stone.
Ariadne was curious about Bedelia's reaction, and her gaze finally ended when she reached Sir Manfredi, who appeared as the Prince's escort.
Sir Manfredi, who was receiving that gaze, also did not look very happy.
The problem was that the gaze did not end as a gaze. Miss Bedelia walked forward step by step and stood upright in front of Sir Manfredi.
Just as Sir Manfredi was about to say something, she slapped him soundly across the face.
Ouch!
Sir Manfredi was slapped in the face and looked at Miss Bedelia in complete shock.
Miss Bedelia shouted loudly, not even giving Sir Manfredi a chance to open his mouth.
“This rascal!”
Alfonso and Ariadne were walking through the Rinaldi family's gardens, talking about the surprising sight they had just seen.
“I had no idea that the fiancée that Sir Manfredi was talking about was Cornelia’s sister!”
Alfonso asked back.
"Yes?"
“Yes. Miss Bedelia and he don’t get along, so they rarely get along when they meet. When Sir Manfredi talks about his former fiancée...”
Ariadne trailed off.
Sir Manfredi's description of his former fiancée was so full of love that it might as well have been said that she was a perfect angel fallen from heaven.
Just listening to Sir Manfredi, you would be amazed at how the most beautiful woman in the world was smart, kind, and even kind.
However, the description was straightforward and had nothing in common with Miss Bedelia, who was hot-tempered and had little interest in grooming.
Alfonso chuckled as he understood what Ariadne was saying.
“That guy Manfredi is a bit of an exaggerator.”
Sir Manfredi said that he was broken off from his fiancée's family, who thought he was dead, because the letters he sent from Yesak were all lost.
From what Ariadne could always infer from Miss Bedelia's anger, it seemed that at least Miss Bedelia, if not Rinaldi, believed that Sir Manfredi could have sent the letter but did not.
“If you didn’t want to marry me, you could have just said so!”
“...That’s not true, is it? I definitely sent it, but the letter got lost in the middle...”
Miss Bedelia cut off Sir Manfredi.
“Then why didn’t you come to see me after you returned home?”
At those words, Sir Manfredi suddenly became speechless and fell silent. Miss Bedelia was right.
Even if the letter had been lost, Sir Manfredi could have easily found the Rinaldi family and explained the situation after he returned alive. It was Sir Manfredi who did not do so.
Miss Bedelia, who had silenced Sir Manfredi in an instant, was not pleased with his silence.
She seemed belligerent, but in fact, she didn't want to win the argument. She just wanted to hear Sir Manfredi's explanation.
She took the man's silence as an affirmation that he did not want to see her. Miss Bedelia burst into tears and ran out of the recital hall.
Sir Manfredi stood there blankly, staring at the back of Miss Bedelia.
“Why didn’t you follow me?”
Ariadne felt sorry.
“If I had followed you then, everything would have been resolved. Sir Manfredi also really wanted to see his ex-fiancée.”
“That’s...”
Alfonso thought for a moment and then told the story. Manfredi had recently been escorting a noble lady.
Recently, he said that he met a new woman at the monthly worship service.
The moment their eyes met, sparks flew, and Sir Manfredi charged forward without a second thought.
He was prepared to accept that she came from a family that didn't match his class, but when he found out, he found out that she was a precious young lady from a good family.
He said that now, he is starting to talk to the woman's family.
When Ariadne heard that story, she covered her mouth with her hand.
"This."
Ariadne remembered recently hearing from Cornelia what had made her sister decide to actively seek a husband.
It is said that after Miss Bedelia witnessed her ex-fiancé flirting with another woman, she decided that it was time for her to get married, too.
“I think what Miss Bedelia saw was Sir Manfredi and that new woman...”
For Miss Bedelia, who did not know the details of this—that Sir Manfredi had only recently begun a new relationship—it was a situation where she felt betrayed.
“Things are getting tricky...”
Ariadne clicked her tongue.
“I think Miss Bedelia misunderstood that Sir Manfredi intentionally broke off their engagement because he wanted to get along with that woman...?”
Alfonso responded calmly to his girlfriend's concerns.
“It’s okay. Manfredi will be fine.”
It was as if he was saying, ‘Manfredi can handle it a little.’ Alfonso answered without much hesitation and hugged Ariadne’s waist tightly.
“Anyway, let’s talk about ourselves instead of other people’s stories.”
He held Ariadne high, as he had done in the garden of the Marquise de Chibo.
“Whoa!”
Ariadne let out a short scream in embarrassment. She urged Alfonso to put her down.
“People are watching!”
“So what?”
He omitted the words, "I'll take you," because it was so obvious.
He had absolutely no intention of allowing his association with Ariadne to become a burden to her. However, Alfonso had many concerns about the method.
There was always a conflict between the desire to keep her reputation intact and the desire to proclaim to the world that this woman was his. Now, the latter had won.
Ariadne, who was lifted high into the sky and then fell back to the ground, glared. Alfonso pretended not to know and changed the subject.
“But, Ari. Why is your expression like that?”
"Yes?"
“You look like you have some worries on your face?”
Ariadne was surprised when Alfonso noticed her slight expression.
“How did you know?”
This was almost a confession. Alfonso smiled brightly and tried to pick her up again. He hugged her and whispered in her ear.
“I was just saying that?”
“Ouch! It tickles, it tickles, don’t touch me like that!”
After much laughter, Alfonso finally gave up his ambition to tour the Rinaldi family's patronage with Ariadne.
Ariadne brought up her concerns to the real Alfonso with a slight sigh.
“If I say this, will you say I’m a bad person?”
“Where do you look from and what’s wrong with you?”
Alfonso looked into Ariadne's green eyes, which resembled the green of summer, in the simple garden of the Rinaldi family, which was filled with sunlight.
Her clear, deep, and watery gaze sparkled more than any jewel. How could such transparent eyes be bad?
Ariadne muttered to herself, not knowing Alfonso's feelings.
“Can a kind person like you understand me?”
Alfonso smiled at the word 'kind'. Kind, huh? He was currently a person who was as far from good as the ocean.
He was sure that if Ariadne knew how many people he had killed on the battlefield and what he had done, she would not even bring up the good sages.
“No matter what you do, you are not bad.”
There were other reasons why he was not a good person.
If he were a bad guy who tirelessly fantasizes about eating those lips and more in the open air, wouldn't she know?
She couldn't be a bad person, since she was so innocently in his arms.
Alfonso was so infatuated with her that he could have just ignored it even if she were a serial killer.
And that sincerity reached Ariadne as well.
“Actually...”
Ariadne brought up a story she had never told Alfonso.
“This time, there was something noisy in San Carlo...”
There was a story about how she pushed CEO Caruso to get the church behind him and collect the debt from the Inquisition.
Her heart was pounding as she said those words.
A scheming strategist. She had shown herself to Cesare countless times in her past life and in this life.
The sinister schemer who sat in his shadow was an integral part of Cesare's relationship with her.
Ariadne, who could not plot for Cesare, could not remain by his side.
But to Alfonso, she wanted to remain a woman. She wanted to be someone he loved, not someone to keep around because she was useful.
And it didn't suit such a lovely woman to be scheming or plotting in the shadows.
However, it was something that could not be hidden forever.
Ariadne now felt that she had to reveal herself completely to Alfonso. If he did not accept it...
“...That’s why it happened.”
“It was you?”
Alfonso asked immediately, his tone flat and dry.
Ariadne tried to read the emotion in Alfonso's intonation, but failed.
It seemed like it was the same as usual, but it was so heavy that it seemed disappointing, and she couldn't figure it out.
..If he can't accept her like this, their relationship will end here.
She now knew that she could not bend herself to fit her opponent.
If that were possible, Ariadne would still be by Cesare's side.
But it was always painful to face the fact that they were not the right person for them.
She lowered her head, afraid to check Alfonso's expression. She felt like she was waiting for the time of judgment.
Alfonso's laughter-filled voice broke that anxious feeling.
“My girlfriend is a genius.”
No matter how noble a person was, unless he was a great noble, he had little opportunity to become close to royalty.
The Rinaldi family, though solid, was far from being great lords, and their fellow families were in similar circumstances.
The guests invited to today's poetry recital were half from middle-class noble families in a suitable capital city, and half from wealthy lower-class nobles.
So the guests who attended the event, where Countess Ariadne de Mare was the most famous guest, were at a loss for what to do with this unexpected windfall.
“Wow! I’m going to brag to my friends that I saw the Prince!”
“Shh! Don’t look that way! Lower your head!”
“Oh, Mom, it hurts! Don’t pinch me!”
Alfonso, accustomed to such commotion, did not even raise an eyebrow. He held out his large hand to Ariadne with a sunny smile on his lips.
“I have a headache. I came here because I wanted to see my woman’s face.”
Ariadne realized that Alfonso knew what kind of gossip she was suffering from.
She smiled thoughtfully and placed her hand over his. Ariadne whispered softly.
"Thank you."
Alfonso shook his head sharply and whispered back.
“What is there to be thankful for?”
He also bowed his head to Cornelia de Rinaldi, who was standing next to him.
“Young Lady Rinaldi.”
Cornelia was startled and quickly knelt down to bow.
“Welcome to the little sun of the kingdom!”
“No, no.”
He smiled and raised his hand to stop Cornelia.
“Please, leave that aside. I missed my woman so much that I ended up crashing someone else’s party without an invitation.”
It was a soft, low voice accompanied by a sad smile. Cornelia pulled herself together from her dazed state.
The warmth was so overwhelming that she didn't even feel greedy or envious of her friend or have similar thoughts.
First of all, the most urgent task was to control her own blushing face.
Alfonso added fuel to the fire with his crisp apple.
“Please forgive my rudeness.”
“No, no, it’s okay... What, is that rude?”
As Cornelia began to stutter, someone interrupted the conversation by shouting:
"No!"
The one who intervened was Cornelia's father, Count Rinaldi.
“It is an infinite honor for Your Highness, the Prince, to grace our Rinaldi family’s event!”
Count Rinaldi bowed politely. His gestures were precise, but there was an air of hesitation in them.
Alfonso responded with a silent smile.
The reason he was polite to Cornelia de Rinaldi was that she was Ariadne's friend.
Count Rinaldi was someone who could at least be considered low-ranking in terms of power relations in the capital.
The Prince didn't want to get involved in this.
Even if Alfonso had not shown any particular affection for Count Rinaldi, the Rinaldi family was generally very pleased with the Prince's sudden visit.
It's always a pleasure to have honored guests come and brighten up our family feast.
But there was one exception. It was Miss Bedelia, Cornelia's younger sister. She was staring at the entrance with her face set in stone.
Ariadne was curious about Bedelia's reaction, and her gaze finally ended when she reached Sir Manfredi, who appeared as the Prince's escort.
Sir Manfredi, who was receiving that gaze, also did not look very happy.
The problem was that the gaze did not end as a gaze. Miss Bedelia walked forward step by step and stood upright in front of Sir Manfredi.
Just as Sir Manfredi was about to say something, she slapped him soundly across the face.
Ouch!
Sir Manfredi was slapped in the face and looked at Miss Bedelia in complete shock.
Miss Bedelia shouted loudly, not even giving Sir Manfredi a chance to open his mouth.
“This rascal!”
***
Alfonso and Ariadne were walking through the Rinaldi family's gardens, talking about the surprising sight they had just seen.
“I had no idea that the fiancée that Sir Manfredi was talking about was Cornelia’s sister!”
Alfonso asked back.
"Yes?"
“Yes. Miss Bedelia and he don’t get along, so they rarely get along when they meet. When Sir Manfredi talks about his former fiancée...”
Ariadne trailed off.
Sir Manfredi's description of his former fiancée was so full of love that it might as well have been said that she was a perfect angel fallen from heaven.
Just listening to Sir Manfredi, you would be amazed at how the most beautiful woman in the world was smart, kind, and even kind.
However, the description was straightforward and had nothing in common with Miss Bedelia, who was hot-tempered and had little interest in grooming.
Alfonso chuckled as he understood what Ariadne was saying.
“That guy Manfredi is a bit of an exaggerator.”
Sir Manfredi said that he was broken off from his fiancée's family, who thought he was dead, because the letters he sent from Yesak were all lost.
From what Ariadne could always infer from Miss Bedelia's anger, it seemed that at least Miss Bedelia, if not Rinaldi, believed that Sir Manfredi could have sent the letter but did not.
“If you didn’t want to marry me, you could have just said so!”
“...That’s not true, is it? I definitely sent it, but the letter got lost in the middle...”
Miss Bedelia cut off Sir Manfredi.
“Then why didn’t you come to see me after you returned home?”
At those words, Sir Manfredi suddenly became speechless and fell silent. Miss Bedelia was right.
Even if the letter had been lost, Sir Manfredi could have easily found the Rinaldi family and explained the situation after he returned alive. It was Sir Manfredi who did not do so.
Miss Bedelia, who had silenced Sir Manfredi in an instant, was not pleased with his silence.
She seemed belligerent, but in fact, she didn't want to win the argument. She just wanted to hear Sir Manfredi's explanation.
She took the man's silence as an affirmation that he did not want to see her. Miss Bedelia burst into tears and ran out of the recital hall.
Sir Manfredi stood there blankly, staring at the back of Miss Bedelia.
“Why didn’t you follow me?”
Ariadne felt sorry.
“If I had followed you then, everything would have been resolved. Sir Manfredi also really wanted to see his ex-fiancée.”
“That’s...”
Alfonso thought for a moment and then told the story. Manfredi had recently been escorting a noble lady.
Recently, he said that he met a new woman at the monthly worship service.
The moment their eyes met, sparks flew, and Sir Manfredi charged forward without a second thought.
He was prepared to accept that she came from a family that didn't match his class, but when he found out, he found out that she was a precious young lady from a good family.
He said that now, he is starting to talk to the woman's family.
When Ariadne heard that story, she covered her mouth with her hand.
"This."
Ariadne remembered recently hearing from Cornelia what had made her sister decide to actively seek a husband.
It is said that after Miss Bedelia witnessed her ex-fiancé flirting with another woman, she decided that it was time for her to get married, too.
“I think what Miss Bedelia saw was Sir Manfredi and that new woman...”
For Miss Bedelia, who did not know the details of this—that Sir Manfredi had only recently begun a new relationship—it was a situation where she felt betrayed.
“Things are getting tricky...”
Ariadne clicked her tongue.
“I think Miss Bedelia misunderstood that Sir Manfredi intentionally broke off their engagement because he wanted to get along with that woman...?”
Alfonso responded calmly to his girlfriend's concerns.
“It’s okay. Manfredi will be fine.”
It was as if he was saying, ‘Manfredi can handle it a little.’ Alfonso answered without much hesitation and hugged Ariadne’s waist tightly.
“Anyway, let’s talk about ourselves instead of other people’s stories.”
He held Ariadne high, as he had done in the garden of the Marquise de Chibo.
“Whoa!”
Ariadne let out a short scream in embarrassment. She urged Alfonso to put her down.
“People are watching!”
“So what?”
He omitted the words, "I'll take you," because it was so obvious.
He had absolutely no intention of allowing his association with Ariadne to become a burden to her. However, Alfonso had many concerns about the method.
There was always a conflict between the desire to keep her reputation intact and the desire to proclaim to the world that this woman was his. Now, the latter had won.
Ariadne, who was lifted high into the sky and then fell back to the ground, glared. Alfonso pretended not to know and changed the subject.
“But, Ari. Why is your expression like that?”
"Yes?"
“You look like you have some worries on your face?”
Ariadne was surprised when Alfonso noticed her slight expression.
“How did you know?”
This was almost a confession. Alfonso smiled brightly and tried to pick her up again. He hugged her and whispered in her ear.
“I was just saying that?”
“Ouch! It tickles, it tickles, don’t touch me like that!”
After much laughter, Alfonso finally gave up his ambition to tour the Rinaldi family's patronage with Ariadne.
Ariadne brought up her concerns to the real Alfonso with a slight sigh.
“If I say this, will you say I’m a bad person?”
“Where do you look from and what’s wrong with you?”
Alfonso looked into Ariadne's green eyes, which resembled the green of summer, in the simple garden of the Rinaldi family, which was filled with sunlight.
Her clear, deep, and watery gaze sparkled more than any jewel. How could such transparent eyes be bad?
Ariadne muttered to herself, not knowing Alfonso's feelings.
“Can a kind person like you understand me?”
Alfonso smiled at the word 'kind'. Kind, huh? He was currently a person who was as far from good as the ocean.
He was sure that if Ariadne knew how many people he had killed on the battlefield and what he had done, she would not even bring up the good sages.
“No matter what you do, you are not bad.”
There were other reasons why he was not a good person.
If he were a bad guy who tirelessly fantasizes about eating those lips and more in the open air, wouldn't she know?
She couldn't be a bad person, since she was so innocently in his arms.
Alfonso was so infatuated with her that he could have just ignored it even if she were a serial killer.
And that sincerity reached Ariadne as well.
“Actually...”
Ariadne brought up a story she had never told Alfonso.
“This time, there was something noisy in San Carlo...”
There was a story about how she pushed CEO Caruso to get the church behind him and collect the debt from the Inquisition.
Her heart was pounding as she said those words.
A scheming strategist. She had shown herself to Cesare countless times in her past life and in this life.
The sinister schemer who sat in his shadow was an integral part of Cesare's relationship with her.
Ariadne, who could not plot for Cesare, could not remain by his side.
But to Alfonso, she wanted to remain a woman. She wanted to be someone he loved, not someone to keep around because she was useful.
And it didn't suit such a lovely woman to be scheming or plotting in the shadows.
However, it was something that could not be hidden forever.
Ariadne now felt that she had to reveal herself completely to Alfonso. If he did not accept it...
“...That’s why it happened.”
“It was you?”
Alfonso asked immediately, his tone flat and dry.
Ariadne tried to read the emotion in Alfonso's intonation, but failed.
It seemed like it was the same as usual, but it was so heavy that it seemed disappointing, and she couldn't figure it out.
..If he can't accept her like this, their relationship will end here.
She now knew that she could not bend herself to fit her opponent.
If that were possible, Ariadne would still be by Cesare's side.
But it was always painful to face the fact that they were not the right person for them.
She lowered her head, afraid to check Alfonso's expression. She felt like she was waiting for the time of judgment.
Alfonso's laughter-filled voice broke that anxious feeling.
“My girlfriend is a genius.”
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