Fortunately for Cardinal de Mare, Pope Louis met with him without much resistance.
Because what the Pope wanted was clarification and assurance, not condemnation and punishment.
Rational people can come to rational conclusions.
But this did not mean that the truth itself would be revealed and discussed together.
That's something you only do when you're a unit of a family or a community of shared destiny through a marriage alliance.
Since the Pope and the Cardinal were, after all, people in a business relationship, the Cardinal informed the Pope of a somewhat fabricated version of the truth—that Ippolito was not in fact his biological son, and that he had already been kicked out of the house the previous May, when this was discovered, and that Ippolito had falsely claimed a family relationship for personal gain.
In this case, the Cardinal would only be guilty of having allowed the false appearance that Ippolito was a member of the de Mare family.
The Cardinal said, "I held back from making an official announcement because I felt bad for the child, but I can't stand that he is selling my name to do such a horrible thing," and tried to act like a victim.
It is a purely compassionate act, incomparable to the deliberate selling of public offices and the distribution of pagan drugs.
Ludovico accepted all of de Mare's excuses, but made one demand to ensure that these claims were true.
“I officially announce that Ippolito de Mare is not related to your family.”
It was a reasonable request. There was also a practical need.
“We have to do that to prevent further victims.”
Cardinal de Mare also agreed, but the announcement was not made in his name, but in the name of Countess Ariadne de Mare.
After all, it seemed a bit ridiculous for a Cardinal, a priest, to declare that he had removed a child from the family register when he shouldn't have one.
With the council imminent, and other members of the family holding titles, it was a risk they could not afford to take.
"Ippolito de Mare was originally an orphan raised by Cardinal de Mare, and although he was cared for with love and affection for 27 years, he was found to be ugly in character, wicked in conduct, and extremely ungrateful. He could no longer be cared for, so he was excommunicated from the family. I hope that you will be careful not to suffer any harm in connection with this.
- Head of the de Mare family,
"Countess Ariadne de Mare."
In this way, Ariadne was now the de facto head of the family, even in official documents.
The past, when Ippolito and Isabella had threatened to send her away to marry an old rich man, using their authority as the head of the household, seemed more distant than a previous life.
The reason the words describing Ippolito are so vicious is that they are half for show against Ludovico and half for Ariadne's personal revenge.
If we were to interpret the content of the notice without the scary words, it would be that the de Mare family would no longer be guarantors of Ippolito de Mare's business, so do not trust the de Mare family and do not do business with Ippolito de Mare.
The person who was most terrified at the sight of those strong words was not only Ippolito himself, but also Isabella, who was eating and sleeping well at her sister-in-law's house.
“No, what is this?!”
Isabella, who had not heard any warning from her father or brother, was unable to come to her senses at the sudden notice of expulsion.
“Is this real, or is this something Ariadne did to stir up my father to drive my brother out?”
From Isabella's point of view, the latter was much worse.
If this is Ariadne chasing away her perfectly healthy brother, then Isabella herself could fly away at any time.
With her relationship with her current husband at its worst, Isabella absolutely could not afford to be kicked out of her family home.
At this particular time, Ippolito was unreachable.
It was natural for someone who had no sense of responsibility, but Isabella was so frustrated that she thought she would burst.
Leticia de Leonati, who still acts as Isabella's only friend, continues to say foolish things.
“Ask your father.”
Isabella opened her mouth to say something, then closed it.
I'll tell you quite frankly. If this was about chasing out a perfectly healthy son, then they would have chased me out, too, while they were at it.
Isabella didn't have the energy to explain this to her, and in fact, she didn't have the confidence to explain it in a way that she would understand. What is she doing holding onto a brainless person?
Isabella secretly lamented that she, too, was getting old. If she had been a virgin, she would have cried. Instead, she found an alternative.
“Nicolo, let’s ask Butler Nicolo.”
But the old maid, the old donkey, was cold to Isabella, who had ridden Niccolo's back like a personal donkey in the days of Lucrezia, when she was alive.
Because what the Pope wanted was clarification and assurance, not condemnation and punishment.
Rational people can come to rational conclusions.
But this did not mean that the truth itself would be revealed and discussed together.
That's something you only do when you're a unit of a family or a community of shared destiny through a marriage alliance.
Since the Pope and the Cardinal were, after all, people in a business relationship, the Cardinal informed the Pope of a somewhat fabricated version of the truth—that Ippolito was not in fact his biological son, and that he had already been kicked out of the house the previous May, when this was discovered, and that Ippolito had falsely claimed a family relationship for personal gain.
In this case, the Cardinal would only be guilty of having allowed the false appearance that Ippolito was a member of the de Mare family.
The Cardinal said, "I held back from making an official announcement because I felt bad for the child, but I can't stand that he is selling my name to do such a horrible thing," and tried to act like a victim.
It is a purely compassionate act, incomparable to the deliberate selling of public offices and the distribution of pagan drugs.
Ludovico accepted all of de Mare's excuses, but made one demand to ensure that these claims were true.
“I officially announce that Ippolito de Mare is not related to your family.”
It was a reasonable request. There was also a practical need.
“We have to do that to prevent further victims.”
Cardinal de Mare also agreed, but the announcement was not made in his name, but in the name of Countess Ariadne de Mare.
After all, it seemed a bit ridiculous for a Cardinal, a priest, to declare that he had removed a child from the family register when he shouldn't have one.
With the council imminent, and other members of the family holding titles, it was a risk they could not afford to take.
"Ippolito de Mare was originally an orphan raised by Cardinal de Mare, and although he was cared for with love and affection for 27 years, he was found to be ugly in character, wicked in conduct, and extremely ungrateful. He could no longer be cared for, so he was excommunicated from the family. I hope that you will be careful not to suffer any harm in connection with this.
- Head of the de Mare family,
"Countess Ariadne de Mare."
In this way, Ariadne was now the de facto head of the family, even in official documents.
The past, when Ippolito and Isabella had threatened to send her away to marry an old rich man, using their authority as the head of the household, seemed more distant than a previous life.
The reason the words describing Ippolito are so vicious is that they are half for show against Ludovico and half for Ariadne's personal revenge.
If we were to interpret the content of the notice without the scary words, it would be that the de Mare family would no longer be guarantors of Ippolito de Mare's business, so do not trust the de Mare family and do not do business with Ippolito de Mare.
The person who was most terrified at the sight of those strong words was not only Ippolito himself, but also Isabella, who was eating and sleeping well at her sister-in-law's house.
“No, what is this?!”
Isabella, who had not heard any warning from her father or brother, was unable to come to her senses at the sudden notice of expulsion.
“Is this real, or is this something Ariadne did to stir up my father to drive my brother out?”
From Isabella's point of view, the latter was much worse.
If this is Ariadne chasing away her perfectly healthy brother, then Isabella herself could fly away at any time.
With her relationship with her current husband at its worst, Isabella absolutely could not afford to be kicked out of her family home.
At this particular time, Ippolito was unreachable.
It was natural for someone who had no sense of responsibility, but Isabella was so frustrated that she thought she would burst.
Leticia de Leonati, who still acts as Isabella's only friend, continues to say foolish things.
“Ask your father.”
Isabella opened her mouth to say something, then closed it.
I'll tell you quite frankly. If this was about chasing out a perfectly healthy son, then they would have chased me out, too, while they were at it.
Isabella didn't have the energy to explain this to her, and in fact, she didn't have the confidence to explain it in a way that she would understand. What is she doing holding onto a brainless person?
Isabella secretly lamented that she, too, was getting old. If she had been a virgin, she would have cried. Instead, she found an alternative.
“Nicolo, let’s ask Butler Nicolo.”
But the old maid, the old donkey, was cold to Isabella, who had ridden Niccolo's back like a personal donkey in the days of Lucrezia, when she was alive.
“You’re busy...”
Isabella caught the maid Ammon.
“There wasn’t a single letter or message or anything like that?!”
“The door just slammed right in front of my eyes...”
Isabella clutched her head. Ariadne had long since purged Lucrezia of her loyal maids.
There was absolutely no way to contact them.
But Isabella de Contarini was a phoenix rising from the ashes.
Her overflowing vitality was a product of half the tenacity of Cardinal de Mare and half the thoughtlessness of Lucrezia.
“Wait a minute, if it doesn’t work out for the person working at home... then just aim for that acquaintance.”
Ariadne was indeed strict about keeping order in her household, but she was unable to replace all of her father's direct servants.
Even the butler Nicolo was his father's man. The problem was that Nicolo was too good at stringing.
There were a few old servants who still remained in the house, who came to mind.
“Come this way and see.”
Isabella handed her maid a few contact details and a small bag of gold coins.
“Don’t ask questions out of the blue. Show them this first and then start talking.”
She whispered a few things into the maid's ear. Isabella's eyes were very small.
***
No matter what the Cardinal's sons were thinking, the moon set, the sun rose, and the Council of San Carlo opened.
Cardinal de Mare was on a roll. Bishops and other clergy from all over the world gathered at the Council of San Carlo to pay their respects to the Cardinal.
The Pope stepped aside to give the Cardinal some leverage.
The whole of San Carlo, the entire Palazzo Vecchia, rallied around the Cardinal.
“I would like to meet His Eminence the Cardinal.”
“How could there be no one to build a bridge?”
But now that even Ippolito had been driven out, there was no unofficial channel through which Cardinal de Mare could be reached.
The fear of Ariadne's cold-blooded rule and the loss of even Master Ippolito made not only the family members but also the subordinates of the Holy See's court dare not act.
“Find out what the scope of the Alemand Law applies to! We need to make sure our child is included!”
“I can’t let my husband’s illegitimate son come into the house!”
“The prospective bride for our daughter, if she gets married, won’t she become the Count since she is older than the youngest son of that house? Send me a reply right now.”
The fate of countless people would depend on the Cardinal's decision.
With everyone's eyes focused on the news, good news for some and bad news for others spread everywhere.
A servant came rushing into Duchess Rubina's quarters.
“Your Highness! Your Highness! It has passed, it has passed!”
Duke Cesare, who was waiting with his mother in the apartment of Duchess Rubina for the results of the Council of San Carlo, suddenly rose from his seat.
The landlady, Duchess Rubina, also shouted with reddened eyes.
“What happened!”
Rubina's servant cried.
“The Alemand amnesty has been passed! Including the year 1101, the year of birth of Duke Cesare!”
Cesare clenched his fist and delivered a powerful uppercut into the air. Rubina hugged her son.
“Yes, yes!”
“Greetings, Your Highness, the Duke! Greetings, Your Ladyship!”
The royal servant who had delivered the message bowed repeatedly in congratulations. Beside him, maid Deborah, took advantage of the atmosphere and clapped enthusiastically.
Countess Minipin Bartolini, who had entered her quarters as the chief maid of honor to Duchess Rubina, also added a meaningful word.
“Your Highness, the Duke...”
The maid Deborah, stared blankly at Clemente de Bartolini, not understanding what on earth he was talking about.
But Minipin had a plan all along.
“...As the true and legitimate successor to His Majesty Leo III, Your Highness the Crown Prince....”
As soon as she heard those words, a smile spread across Rubina's face. The corners of Cesare's mouth also twitched, rising and falling.
“Oh my, my lucky charm!”
Rubina hugged her son tightly again.
“Our Prince, the eldest son of His Majesty the King, the future King of the Etruscan Kingdom!”
Today was the best day of Rubina's life. Seriously, it was a good thing she gave birth to Cesare.
***
But at exactly the same time and place as this raucous, festive atmosphere was permeating the Duchess Rubina's quarters, another man, born heir to the family line but who had set out to forge a new path of his own, was setting out to rewrite the rules.
“Dear traders of the Central Continent.”
It was Raphael de Baldessar.
He was promoted from vice-abbot to abbot upon the death of the abbot of Aberruche, and at the same time automatically became acting bishop of Calienda, a position that had been vacant since the Black Death.
It alone was at a level that was blessed by the heavenly gods.
Bishop Calienda, Raphael, stood on the podium and raised his voice.
“Since this precious occasion, in which we gather all the clergy from the entire continent, including the bishops, has been arranged with great difficulty, I would like to raise one very important agenda item.”
Raphael denounced the state of affairs in the world where land and its owners no longer correspond, and where the spouses listed on documents are not the spouses who actually live with them, since the Great Plague that killed so many people, and where the written records are in disarray.
As more time passed, there were lamentations that the records were a mess because of the tangled mix of forged and old documents.
“The scars that the chaotic era left on us will not disappear overnight. It is difficult to reexamine and restore all of this to its original state, given the limited administrative power.”
Those gathered here were religious people, but they were also administrators and archivists in the structure of the Central Continent.
They were fully aware of the realistic limitations.
“So, I dare to ask the wise men gathered here, would it not be the greatest achievement of this Council of San Carlo to recognize the archives in their present state as ‘immutable truth’?”
This was the document-based reinforcement plan that would destroy the throne of the illegitimate Jean and the joy of Duke Cesare in one fell swoop.
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