The man who stopped Alfonso's gilded four-horse chariot was the captain of the guard guarding the main gate of Palazzo Carlo. He opened his mouth cautiously, with nine guards huddled together and watching their captain closely. He was not sure of his words.
“I am, Your Highness, sorry. There was a strict order from His Majesty to check on the inferior passenger, even your companions, without exception.”
There were several hints in the guard's words. The phrase "the inferior passenger" rather than "any passenger" meant that the person giving the order was specifically Alfonso.
Also, if it was Leo III who ordered it, His Majesty would have confidently called out His Majesty's name, but if he simply called it 'His Majesty the King', it would mean someone higher up, not His Majesty the King.
There was only one person who met all these conditions, Prince Alfonso muttered through gritted teeth.
“Rubina...”
The guard captain, who heard that the omitted word was 'Duchess'. However, reality is always harsher than imagination. What Alfonso really held back was 'That woman has finally gone mad'.
In any case, the captain of the guard did not refute the Prince's words but lowered his head. It was a timid admission that it was the Duchess Rubina's doing.
Alfonso took a deep breath to keep himself from raising his voice.
What crime did that guard sergeant commit? It would be different if he were the captain of the guards, no, even if he were the captain of the guards, it would be very difficult to disobey Rubina. Moreover, it was too much to expect a mere guard sergeant to disobey Duchess Rubina's orders.
Besides, Alfonso had nothing to stab. What he was taking to the palace was not an assassin or explosives, but a ball partner. He was not smuggling poison like some people. Prince Alfonso took a deep breath and opened the curtains of the carriage.
“Look.”
Clang!
The window blinds made of the finest silk were swung to the side. The guard sergeant blinked in surprise at the gorgeous fabric he had never seen before, and Ariadne squinted at the sudden sunlight. Alfonso tried his best to suppress his irritation and spoke patiently.
“It’s just me and Countess de Mare.”
The carriage was luxurious and spacious. There was nothing much to see except cushions for the passengers, and there was no room for someone to sneak in.
You probably understand by now. Alfonso immediately lowered the curtain and was about to give the order for the carriage to depart.
But the guards blocking the horse did not move. The prince's eyebrows twitched.
“I’m sorry, but...”
The security chief opened his mouth hesitantly.
“Countess Ariadne de Mare is not permitted to enter.”
Duchess Rubina stroked her lips with her long peacock feather fan.
“That woman's brother was a drug dealer.”
She heard a complicated story that he was originally Ariadne's step-brother, but it wasn't true, and Duchess Rubina wasn't the type to look into such details.
'Your mother was the Cardinal's mistress? And the rest of the children she gave birth to are the Cardinal's children.'
Then, Rubina concluded on her own, he was something like her brother. So she made up the whole situation under the assumption that Ippolito was the brother of Ariadne de Mare and Isabella de Mare.
“The blood relative of a wanted criminal cannot enter the palace. Oh, no, that cannot be done.”
And that was the taste of power. It was the ability to squash minor errors and get things moving along smoothly.
If Duchess Rubina had known about Cardinal de Mare's black magic case, she would have used it more excitedly than anyone else. The more elaborate the scheme was, the more dignified the cause was, regardless of whether she had power or not, the better. However, fortunately for her, the Pope's Office had a special crackdown on all situations related to black magic, and Rubina was not informed of the news.
News is something you hear only when you have friends. The Duchess was not a very social person to make friends by her personal charm, and she had only been in a position, the sole mistress of the palace, for a few years to make friends by the conveniences she could provide.
So she often acted or found herself in situations that were not befitting her position. Even now, instead of being one step ahead of others in hearing the news, she was simply wondering why Cardinal de Mare had failed in the papal election.
However, the Pawak distribution case of Ippolito de Mare was a well-known fact. It was a perfect fit for Rubina's bold and ignorant style of pushing forward. A belated arrest warrant was issued a few days ago.
Last week, the eldest son of the Morosini family, one of the Barons of San Carlo, died of withdrawal symptoms. He was so distressed by the lack of his supply of Pawak tobacco that he climbed up to the highest tower of the Morosini mansion at dawn and threw himself into the garden of his own house.
San Carlo was turned upside down. The scion of the most prestigious family had made a choice that the church would never allow. The bigger problem was that San Carlo was full of sons of prestigious families who suffered from similar symptoms.
Count Morosini did not remain silent. He raised his voice, saying that other families whose children were addicted to Pawak tobacco should catch Ippolito de Mare and make an example of him.
Leo III was not a great man who would miss an opportunity to make a show without spending money. Cardinal de Mare had already fallen from power, so there was no need to watch his face. Even if he had any remaining influence, the de Mare family had already cut off Ippolito's tail. This was tantamount to declaring that they would stop dealing with Ippolito's affairs.
Leo III, who had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, cheerfully issued an order throughout the country to arrest Ippolito de Mare.
"A bounty of 50 ducats will be paid to anyone who returns to San Carlo with the head of 'Ippolito de Mare'."
Power knows no sweetness when it is in your possession, but it knows sorrow when it is gone. This was the public notice that would have been published as 'Ippolito of San Carlo' if Cardinal de Mare had not fallen from power.
Power also covered up deadly acts. It was a secret to the world that the King had initially put up a paltry five ducats, but Count Morosini offered to pay forty-five ducats out of his own pocket, bringing the total bounty on Ippolito's head to fifty ducats.
Anyway, Rubina enjoyed this situation.
“Those two are the blood relatives of the criminal ‘de Mare’! How dare they enter the palace!”
Clemente de Bartolini, sitting respectfully before the Duchess of Rubina, could not hide the smile in her eyes.
It was Clemente's work to insert Isabella into that. To be exact, it was the Duchess Rubina who inserted Ariadne de Mare into the situation when Clemente brought up the Ippolito de Mare affair to target Isabella.
It was a failing grade for a noblewoman who was taught to hide her emotions well to laugh at the situation that had caused the de Mare sisters to be kicked out of the palace ball, but Clemente didn't care. Since the time she saw Isabella touch DiPascal, Clemente had been blind to anything.
Duchess Rubina, who had never received any education as a noble 'daughter' in the first place, had nothing to be hesitant about. She was immediately incorporated into the noble society as someone's wife, and she was neither a government official nor a concubine who demanded any elegance. The raw Rubina shouted haughtily.
“They should be grateful that the mansion isn’t being searched right away, but how can they enter the palace? That makes no sense.”
“That’s right, that’s right.”
Deborah, a maid from a lower-class noble family who had adopted unconditional submission as her survival motto, nodded hurriedly.
If Rubina had any powers of policing or judicial power, she would have really searched the mansion. Unfortunately, her son had lost his title of Commander-in-Chief of the Praetorian Guard because of Ariadne de Mare. Leo III had taken it from him, but Rubina thought so anyway.
'That fucking bitch.'
The world's most wicked woman, who tried to seduce both her son and her husband.
Leo III still couldn't hide his discomfort when the story of Ariadne de Mare was brought up. If you asked someone who didn't know, he would say, "I don't think it matters since you don't like it," but Duchess Rubina, who had been through a lot, knew. Not being indifferent meant being conscious.
Consciousness does not do anything that it does not value.
'What was desired?'
Moreover, this Siren in reality caught the biggest fish in San Carlo. It was none other than Alfonso de Carlo. Prince Alfonso coveted a Countess, who had nothing but a commoner background and was very fond of her.
'Aren't you using some kind of enchanting drug?'
Harassing Ariadne de Mare also serves to slander Prince Alfonso.
'Anyway, we have to nip it in the bud.'
If Duchess Rubina had been more clever, she would have found out about Countess de Mare's scandal before she revealed her displeasure, but she was straightforward and straightforward, so she decided to do what she could.
To trample down and keep someone from setting foot in the social world.
“As the highest-ranking elder in the palace, I am responsible for maintaining all discipline.”
Rubina had the authority to rule the palace. Usually, it was her prerogative to decide who would be invited to the ball, but this time, Leo III was acting strangely, and she could not touch him.
But what if he had invited her? He could have just blocked her at the entrance. Leo III clearly had ill feelings toward Ariadne de Mare, so he wouldn't say anything if Rubina were to harass her. If it were to harass his own son at the same time, he might be happy to make up some ridiculous excuse.
“Who would have thought that that girl would come into the palace with a wax mask hidden in her skirt?”
It was just a random excuse, but it sounded pretty good when she said it out loud. Clemente nodded with her lips pursed. Deborah rolled her anxious eyes around, clapping her hands repeatedly like a monkey.
Duchess Rubina, who was leading these two, laughed cheerfully.
“If you want to come in, you should at least undergo a body search.”
Then, as if a good idea had suddenly occurred to her, she opened her eyes dimly.
A young female Countess is being thoroughly searched, even inside the hem of her skirt, by a male guard at the castle gate in full view of everyone. It would be very entertaining.
“Shall we go sightseeing?”
Ippolito, who caused such a big accident, unknowingly drove someone who was not even San Carlo's real sister or sister into a corner. However, he was far away, leaving behind all this chaos.
“Finally... the Kingdom of Salamanta!”
After crossing the border and the Prinoyak Mountains, he finally arrived here after much difficulty.
“I thought I was going to die...”
As Ippolito muttered and straightened his hunched back as he climbed up onto the rock on the mountain path, something brushed his ear.
Pfft!
It was an arrow. This time, it didn't just graze his ear. About a third of his right ear was blown away.
“F*ck!”
Blood flowed out excitedly from the hand holding the ear.
“I am, Your Highness, sorry. There was a strict order from His Majesty to check on the inferior passenger, even your companions, without exception.”
There were several hints in the guard's words. The phrase "the inferior passenger" rather than "any passenger" meant that the person giving the order was specifically Alfonso.
Also, if it was Leo III who ordered it, His Majesty would have confidently called out His Majesty's name, but if he simply called it 'His Majesty the King', it would mean someone higher up, not His Majesty the King.
There was only one person who met all these conditions, Prince Alfonso muttered through gritted teeth.
“Rubina...”
The guard captain, who heard that the omitted word was 'Duchess'. However, reality is always harsher than imagination. What Alfonso really held back was 'That woman has finally gone mad'.
In any case, the captain of the guard did not refute the Prince's words but lowered his head. It was a timid admission that it was the Duchess Rubina's doing.
Alfonso took a deep breath to keep himself from raising his voice.
What crime did that guard sergeant commit? It would be different if he were the captain of the guards, no, even if he were the captain of the guards, it would be very difficult to disobey Rubina. Moreover, it was too much to expect a mere guard sergeant to disobey Duchess Rubina's orders.
Besides, Alfonso had nothing to stab. What he was taking to the palace was not an assassin or explosives, but a ball partner. He was not smuggling poison like some people. Prince Alfonso took a deep breath and opened the curtains of the carriage.
“Look.”
Clang!
The window blinds made of the finest silk were swung to the side. The guard sergeant blinked in surprise at the gorgeous fabric he had never seen before, and Ariadne squinted at the sudden sunlight. Alfonso tried his best to suppress his irritation and spoke patiently.
“It’s just me and Countess de Mare.”
The carriage was luxurious and spacious. There was nothing much to see except cushions for the passengers, and there was no room for someone to sneak in.
You probably understand by now. Alfonso immediately lowered the curtain and was about to give the order for the carriage to depart.
But the guards blocking the horse did not move. The prince's eyebrows twitched.
“I’m sorry, but...”
The security chief opened his mouth hesitantly.
“Countess Ariadne de Mare is not permitted to enter.”
***
Duchess Rubina stroked her lips with her long peacock feather fan.
“That woman's brother was a drug dealer.”
She heard a complicated story that he was originally Ariadne's step-brother, but it wasn't true, and Duchess Rubina wasn't the type to look into such details.
'Your mother was the Cardinal's mistress? And the rest of the children she gave birth to are the Cardinal's children.'
Then, Rubina concluded on her own, he was something like her brother. So she made up the whole situation under the assumption that Ippolito was the brother of Ariadne de Mare and Isabella de Mare.
“The blood relative of a wanted criminal cannot enter the palace. Oh, no, that cannot be done.”
And that was the taste of power. It was the ability to squash minor errors and get things moving along smoothly.
If Duchess Rubina had known about Cardinal de Mare's black magic case, she would have used it more excitedly than anyone else. The more elaborate the scheme was, the more dignified the cause was, regardless of whether she had power or not, the better. However, fortunately for her, the Pope's Office had a special crackdown on all situations related to black magic, and Rubina was not informed of the news.
News is something you hear only when you have friends. The Duchess was not a very social person to make friends by her personal charm, and she had only been in a position, the sole mistress of the palace, for a few years to make friends by the conveniences she could provide.
So she often acted or found herself in situations that were not befitting her position. Even now, instead of being one step ahead of others in hearing the news, she was simply wondering why Cardinal de Mare had failed in the papal election.
However, the Pawak distribution case of Ippolito de Mare was a well-known fact. It was a perfect fit for Rubina's bold and ignorant style of pushing forward. A belated arrest warrant was issued a few days ago.
Last week, the eldest son of the Morosini family, one of the Barons of San Carlo, died of withdrawal symptoms. He was so distressed by the lack of his supply of Pawak tobacco that he climbed up to the highest tower of the Morosini mansion at dawn and threw himself into the garden of his own house.
San Carlo was turned upside down. The scion of the most prestigious family had made a choice that the church would never allow. The bigger problem was that San Carlo was full of sons of prestigious families who suffered from similar symptoms.
Count Morosini did not remain silent. He raised his voice, saying that other families whose children were addicted to Pawak tobacco should catch Ippolito de Mare and make an example of him.
Leo III was not a great man who would miss an opportunity to make a show without spending money. Cardinal de Mare had already fallen from power, so there was no need to watch his face. Even if he had any remaining influence, the de Mare family had already cut off Ippolito's tail. This was tantamount to declaring that they would stop dealing with Ippolito's affairs.
Leo III, who had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, cheerfully issued an order throughout the country to arrest Ippolito de Mare.
"A bounty of 50 ducats will be paid to anyone who returns to San Carlo with the head of 'Ippolito de Mare'."
Power knows no sweetness when it is in your possession, but it knows sorrow when it is gone. This was the public notice that would have been published as 'Ippolito of San Carlo' if Cardinal de Mare had not fallen from power.
Power also covered up deadly acts. It was a secret to the world that the King had initially put up a paltry five ducats, but Count Morosini offered to pay forty-five ducats out of his own pocket, bringing the total bounty on Ippolito's head to fifty ducats.
Anyway, Rubina enjoyed this situation.
“Those two are the blood relatives of the criminal ‘de Mare’! How dare they enter the palace!”
Clemente de Bartolini, sitting respectfully before the Duchess of Rubina, could not hide the smile in her eyes.
It was Clemente's work to insert Isabella into that. To be exact, it was the Duchess Rubina who inserted Ariadne de Mare into the situation when Clemente brought up the Ippolito de Mare affair to target Isabella.
It was a failing grade for a noblewoman who was taught to hide her emotions well to laugh at the situation that had caused the de Mare sisters to be kicked out of the palace ball, but Clemente didn't care. Since the time she saw Isabella touch DiPascal, Clemente had been blind to anything.
Duchess Rubina, who had never received any education as a noble 'daughter' in the first place, had nothing to be hesitant about. She was immediately incorporated into the noble society as someone's wife, and she was neither a government official nor a concubine who demanded any elegance. The raw Rubina shouted haughtily.
“They should be grateful that the mansion isn’t being searched right away, but how can they enter the palace? That makes no sense.”
“That’s right, that’s right.”
Deborah, a maid from a lower-class noble family who had adopted unconditional submission as her survival motto, nodded hurriedly.
If Rubina had any powers of policing or judicial power, she would have really searched the mansion. Unfortunately, her son had lost his title of Commander-in-Chief of the Praetorian Guard because of Ariadne de Mare. Leo III had taken it from him, but Rubina thought so anyway.
'That fucking bitch.'
The world's most wicked woman, who tried to seduce both her son and her husband.
Leo III still couldn't hide his discomfort when the story of Ariadne de Mare was brought up. If you asked someone who didn't know, he would say, "I don't think it matters since you don't like it," but Duchess Rubina, who had been through a lot, knew. Not being indifferent meant being conscious.
Consciousness does not do anything that it does not value.
'What was desired?'
Moreover, this Siren in reality caught the biggest fish in San Carlo. It was none other than Alfonso de Carlo. Prince Alfonso coveted a Countess, who had nothing but a commoner background and was very fond of her.
'Aren't you using some kind of enchanting drug?'
Harassing Ariadne de Mare also serves to slander Prince Alfonso.
'Anyway, we have to nip it in the bud.'
If Duchess Rubina had been more clever, she would have found out about Countess de Mare's scandal before she revealed her displeasure, but she was straightforward and straightforward, so she decided to do what she could.
To trample down and keep someone from setting foot in the social world.
“As the highest-ranking elder in the palace, I am responsible for maintaining all discipline.”
Rubina had the authority to rule the palace. Usually, it was her prerogative to decide who would be invited to the ball, but this time, Leo III was acting strangely, and she could not touch him.
But what if he had invited her? He could have just blocked her at the entrance. Leo III clearly had ill feelings toward Ariadne de Mare, so he wouldn't say anything if Rubina were to harass her. If it were to harass his own son at the same time, he might be happy to make up some ridiculous excuse.
“Who would have thought that that girl would come into the palace with a wax mask hidden in her skirt?”
It was just a random excuse, but it sounded pretty good when she said it out loud. Clemente nodded with her lips pursed. Deborah rolled her anxious eyes around, clapping her hands repeatedly like a monkey.
Duchess Rubina, who was leading these two, laughed cheerfully.
“If you want to come in, you should at least undergo a body search.”
Then, as if a good idea had suddenly occurred to her, she opened her eyes dimly.
A young female Countess is being thoroughly searched, even inside the hem of her skirt, by a male guard at the castle gate in full view of everyone. It would be very entertaining.
“Shall we go sightseeing?”
***
Ippolito, who caused such a big accident, unknowingly drove someone who was not even San Carlo's real sister or sister into a corner. However, he was far away, leaving behind all this chaos.
“Finally... the Kingdom of Salamanta!”
After crossing the border and the Prinoyak Mountains, he finally arrived here after much difficulty.
“I thought I was going to die...”
As Ippolito muttered and straightened his hunched back as he climbed up onto the rock on the mountain path, something brushed his ear.
Pfft!
It was an arrow. This time, it didn't just graze his ear. About a third of his right ear was blown away.
“F*ck!”
Blood flowed out excitedly from the hand holding the ear.
Comments
Post a Comment