Cardinal de Mare was asked to leave the palace immediately instead of entering the reception room to meet his daughter.
This was the first time in his entire life that he had been treated like this. For a moment, he felt ashamed to be wearing the tattered robes of a layman instead of the red robes of a Cardinal.
'Because I no longer have a position? Because I have no power and the powerful don't get along with me?'
It was because he was immature, even though he was old enough not to do that. The Cardinal shook his head as if trying to consciously change his thoughts.
At that moment, the attendant held out a purple cushion. The Cardinal looked at the cushion through the monocle he had recently started wearing.
It took a moment for the focus to come into focus. Above it was a small clump of golden hair.
“Countess Contarini... If I give you this, you will understand.”
"...”
The servant in front of him called his daughter by an unfamiliar title. The daughter, who was called by her unfamiliar name, did something very familiar to her father that he immediately recognized. Revenge.
The Cardinal hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to pick up the severed hair or not. His head felt dizzy.
He found out that his current mistreatment had nothing to do with his declining socioeconomic status. No, it had nothing to do with it, right?
However, the fact that the reason for the neglect was the anger and hatred of his own child towards him was difficult to digest, even compared to the fact that he was now being looked down on because he had no power.
The Cardinal finally hesitated and picked up Isabella's severed hair. The light-textured hair was blowing in all directions in the wind that had just come.
He was going to suggest to his daughter that she go to the monastery with her father. He even thought of taking his granddaughter with him, and even though he may not be a very strong umbrella, he thought that she would be comfortable enough to rely on him in the monastery.
His daughter was supported by the strongest man in the kingdom, incomparable to him.
“...”
But will that backstab really protect his daughter?
“Cough, cough!”
When the Cardinal did not move, the palace servant coughed in vain.
“Ugh...”
Simon de Mare walked toward the exit with a grimace. If he were a gambler, he would have bet that 'Isabella's new henchman would burn her daughter to ashes.'
If it were someone else's business, he would have said, 'What sane parent would let that happen? You should have just shaved their head and brought them here!'
But the old priest was not a gambler, and he had no power over his daughter. There was nothing he could do.
He walked alone. His hunched shoulders looked even smaller than usual.
Palazzo Carlo received an unexpected guest. He was originally supposed to be met as the host, not as a guest.
“Bianca! What are you doing here? I thought I would see you when we went down to the Taranto Villa!”
“Your Majesty. I stopped by to pay my respects while I was in the North.”
Bianca of Taranto suddenly stopped by Palagio Carlo. The cautious Bianca noticed a new face in the palace. A strikingly beautiful young woman with blond hair. It was even harder to not notice Rubina, who was staring at the new face with her shit-eating face.
“This is Isabella. My new official mistress.”
Leo III hurriedly pushed his young mistress forward, not feeling embarrassed to introduce her to his niece. He was afraid of Isabella’s irritation and tears. Isabella, who had the opportunity to appear before such a high-ranking person, smiled prettily and greeted her.
"Your Royal Highness, Duke of Taranto. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Isabella, Countess of Contarini."
When Bianca heard the name, she realized who it was. However, she did not respond and just looked at Isabella with an ambiguous smile.
Isabella being a mistress was the first problem, but the second was a wrong title. These days, Bianca was signing herself “Bianca, Duke of Taranto”. No one was calling her Her Royal Highness the Duke. She had one heir, now grown, but that was to be expected. All except those who thought a woman could not carry on the family name.
Isabella bit her lip, not receiving the reaction she had expected, that is, Bianca welcoming her by revealing her rank and name. However, there was another reason why Bianca greeted Isabella with an awkward smile.
Pow!
Bianca placed a dirty sack on the table. The smell of rotten meat hit her. Isabella, who had been approaching it with delight, thinking it was a gift for her, stepped back in horror at the smell.
"What is it?"
Bianca kept her mouth shut until Leo III belatedly nodded to her as he listened to Isabella's question.
“This is proof that His Majesty has eliminated criminals.”
Leo III, who still didn't know what was inside the sack, nodded, and Bianca pulled the sack open with force.
“Whoa!”
Isabella screamed involuntarily. Rubina grimaced. Inside was the half-rotted head of Ippolito de Mare, dead with its eyes rolled back. It was only the cold weather that prevented maggots from appearing.
“Why did you bring this dirty thing in?”
The King, who had no idea who the concubine belonged to, Leo III issued about five warrants a month, and became furious at the sight of his scheming concubine.
“Didn’t you need to bring proof to claim the bounty?”
The answer wasn't Bianca's. Alfonso's deep voice came in late.
“Bianca! My sister!”
"Your Highness!"
The lord of Taranto walked over and embraced Alfonso passionately. It was more like a greeting between knights than an embrace between cousins. Compared to Alfonso, who was nearly four piedi tall, Bianca was not much smaller. She was a strong-boned woman, born in the blood of the Carlo dynasty.
“Princess! How are you!”
Bianca smiled brightly and greeted Ariadne, who had followed Alfonso in.
“The Duke of Taranto!”
Ariadne also happily hugged Bianca. Bianca had grown taller in the meantime, so she looked like an older sister to her.
“Thanks to your concern, I am doing well.”
She had a keen eye for detail, so she gave her a formal greeting, but he wanted to hug Bianca and go out to the fields to play. The young Princess had grown up well. Ariadne smiled sincerely and greeted her with a happy face. However, Leo III frowned at this warm sight. Princess, he had never permitted such a title.
“You little girl, don’t be careless.”
The old King, who was afraid that if he said outright that she was not the Princess, he would have a huge fight with his son, so he turned around and criticized Bianca instead.
“If you keep going like that, who will take you?”
If it were the past, she would have been shedding tears as a young Princess. However, she had learned a lot while ruling the territory in Taranto. Bianca said with a proud smile.
“I fell in love with Taranto. But marriage?”
“Will you have a successor just because you love the land? Don’t do useless things...”
Leo III was talking about the successor and was secretly sniping at Alfonso and Ariadne, but then Duchess Rubina intervened from a corner. She saw Isabella's reaction and realized that there was something unusual about the sack.
“But whose head is this? Judging by the grim and dirty look on his face, I’m sure there’s a big bounty on him.”
“It is the head of Ippolito de Mare. The bounty is not high. His Majesty the King has set a bounty of fifty ducats.”
Ariadne, who had guessed whose head it was as soon as she heard the story of the bounty, was not surprised at all. However, Isabella could not hold it in anymore and retched.
“Ugh!”
Alfonso, whose attention was focused on that side these days, asked the King automatically.
“Any good news?”
While Ariadne was bewildered by the direction her husband was going, Leo III waved his hand.
“Oh no, Isabella is pure.”
Alfonso and Bianca's expressions both changed strangely. Only Ariadne, a master of facial expression management, maintained a blank expression. Even Ariadne failed to put on a proper expression. A blank expression was her best.
The King's official mistress is chaste? First of all, the title of the King's official mistress was a title that only married women could hold. From there, chastity was disqualified. And it was also funny that the King appointed her as the official mistress without touching her.
Leo III also knew this fact and proudly declared it, both as an excuse and at the same time, as he felt satisfied with the fictitious fidelity of his government.
“Bella needed a reason to be in the palace, so that’s what happened. Good girl! Be good!”
Rubina grumbled softly in the corner.
“Bella Bella lives well in the palace even without that.”
Bianca, who didn't want to even associate with Rubina, found this too funny. The Duke of Taranto burst out laughing. Leo III immediately glared at her. Bianca cleared her throat and changed the subject.
“Hmm! Who should I give it to?”
“Delpiano!”
The King, feeling uneasy, called out to his secretary in a loud voice.
“Come here and clean this up!”
Hearing those words, Bianca picked up the sack containing Ippolito's head, preserved like a mummy. Ariadne's heart swelled with excitement as she looked at its appearance.
Ippolito was the man who would have been Bianca's husband in her previous life. Ariadne had been sent to the West Tower just before their wedding, so she had no chance to observe their married life firsthand, but Ariadne knew Ippolito and Bianca very well. She was certain that their marriage, especially Bianca's, could not be a happy one.
Ippolito, who was suffering from an inferiority complex, would always harass Bianca, and Bianca, who had a gentle personality and was not trained to stand up to others, would have endured by accepting and submitting to her husband's absurd criticism, taking for herself everything they enjoyed.
But now Ippolito's severed head was being held by Bianca.
'You can change it.'
It seemed like a symbol of destiny that she had changed with her own hands. Past lives are not fixed. This life can be made differently from the past, when she and the people around her could change their lives.
A huge smile appeared on Ariadne's face for reasons no one could understand.
But then again, there was no mention of a bounty. Given Leo III’s disposition, if you don’t receive it now, there will be no return. Ariadne poked Alfonso. The Prince understood immediately. The Prince looked at Sir Delpiano and gave an order.
“I will also offer a bounty to the Duke of Taranto.”
Leo III glared at Alfonso, but he was right, and there was no room for a response. The King became angry and snapped at Bianca.
“You came just in time. The ‘Hall of the Sun’ opens tomorrow afternoon. You should attend too.”
“The Hall of the Sun? What does it open for?”
Bianca looked at Alfonso innocently. As far as she could think, this was the only thing that could open the Hall of the Sun.
“Oh, is this by any chance the appointment of the Crown Prince?”
Alfonso laughed bitterly, and Leo III became even more displeased. Duchess Rubina intervened.
“This is the crowning of the Duke of Pisano as Grand Duke, Duke of Taranto.”
She was in the mood to honor Bianca as a Duke now. Her son would become the sole Grand Duke of the Etruscan kingdom in half a day! Whether this would be internationally acceptable or not, the Duke of Pisano was on par with the Dukes of Assereto and Juldenburg in terms of rank.
"Oh?"
Bianca looked at Leo III with an ambiguous expression. It was because she felt uncomfortable talking to Rubina, who was of the same family as her, but Leo III hastily concluded that it was due to jealousy and drove the wedge in.
“Yes! Cesare becomes the Grand Duke. Come and grace the occasion.”
This was the first time in his entire life that he had been treated like this. For a moment, he felt ashamed to be wearing the tattered robes of a layman instead of the red robes of a Cardinal.
'Because I no longer have a position? Because I have no power and the powerful don't get along with me?'
It was because he was immature, even though he was old enough not to do that. The Cardinal shook his head as if trying to consciously change his thoughts.
At that moment, the attendant held out a purple cushion. The Cardinal looked at the cushion through the monocle he had recently started wearing.
It took a moment for the focus to come into focus. Above it was a small clump of golden hair.
“Countess Contarini... If I give you this, you will understand.”
"...”
The servant in front of him called his daughter by an unfamiliar title. The daughter, who was called by her unfamiliar name, did something very familiar to her father that he immediately recognized. Revenge.
The Cardinal hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to pick up the severed hair or not. His head felt dizzy.
He found out that his current mistreatment had nothing to do with his declining socioeconomic status. No, it had nothing to do with it, right?
However, the fact that the reason for the neglect was the anger and hatred of his own child towards him was difficult to digest, even compared to the fact that he was now being looked down on because he had no power.
The Cardinal finally hesitated and picked up Isabella's severed hair. The light-textured hair was blowing in all directions in the wind that had just come.
He was going to suggest to his daughter that she go to the monastery with her father. He even thought of taking his granddaughter with him, and even though he may not be a very strong umbrella, he thought that she would be comfortable enough to rely on him in the monastery.
His daughter was supported by the strongest man in the kingdom, incomparable to him.
“...”
But will that backstab really protect his daughter?
“Cough, cough!”
When the Cardinal did not move, the palace servant coughed in vain.
“Ugh...”
Simon de Mare walked toward the exit with a grimace. If he were a gambler, he would have bet that 'Isabella's new henchman would burn her daughter to ashes.'
If it were someone else's business, he would have said, 'What sane parent would let that happen? You should have just shaved their head and brought them here!'
But the old priest was not a gambler, and he had no power over his daughter. There was nothing he could do.
He walked alone. His hunched shoulders looked even smaller than usual.
***
Palazzo Carlo received an unexpected guest. He was originally supposed to be met as the host, not as a guest.
“Bianca! What are you doing here? I thought I would see you when we went down to the Taranto Villa!”
“Your Majesty. I stopped by to pay my respects while I was in the North.”
Bianca of Taranto suddenly stopped by Palagio Carlo. The cautious Bianca noticed a new face in the palace. A strikingly beautiful young woman with blond hair. It was even harder to not notice Rubina, who was staring at the new face with her shit-eating face.
“This is Isabella. My new official mistress.”
Leo III hurriedly pushed his young mistress forward, not feeling embarrassed to introduce her to his niece. He was afraid of Isabella’s irritation and tears. Isabella, who had the opportunity to appear before such a high-ranking person, smiled prettily and greeted her.
"Your Royal Highness, Duke of Taranto. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Isabella, Countess of Contarini."
When Bianca heard the name, she realized who it was. However, she did not respond and just looked at Isabella with an ambiguous smile.
Isabella being a mistress was the first problem, but the second was a wrong title. These days, Bianca was signing herself “Bianca, Duke of Taranto”. No one was calling her Her Royal Highness the Duke. She had one heir, now grown, but that was to be expected. All except those who thought a woman could not carry on the family name.
Isabella bit her lip, not receiving the reaction she had expected, that is, Bianca welcoming her by revealing her rank and name. However, there was another reason why Bianca greeted Isabella with an awkward smile.
Pow!
Bianca placed a dirty sack on the table. The smell of rotten meat hit her. Isabella, who had been approaching it with delight, thinking it was a gift for her, stepped back in horror at the smell.
"What is it?"
Bianca kept her mouth shut until Leo III belatedly nodded to her as he listened to Isabella's question.
“This is proof that His Majesty has eliminated criminals.”
Leo III, who still didn't know what was inside the sack, nodded, and Bianca pulled the sack open with force.
“Whoa!”
Isabella screamed involuntarily. Rubina grimaced. Inside was the half-rotted head of Ippolito de Mare, dead with its eyes rolled back. It was only the cold weather that prevented maggots from appearing.
“Why did you bring this dirty thing in?”
The King, who had no idea who the concubine belonged to, Leo III issued about five warrants a month, and became furious at the sight of his scheming concubine.
“Didn’t you need to bring proof to claim the bounty?”
The answer wasn't Bianca's. Alfonso's deep voice came in late.
“Bianca! My sister!”
"Your Highness!"
The lord of Taranto walked over and embraced Alfonso passionately. It was more like a greeting between knights than an embrace between cousins. Compared to Alfonso, who was nearly four piedi tall, Bianca was not much smaller. She was a strong-boned woman, born in the blood of the Carlo dynasty.
“Princess! How are you!”
Bianca smiled brightly and greeted Ariadne, who had followed Alfonso in.
“The Duke of Taranto!”
Ariadne also happily hugged Bianca. Bianca had grown taller in the meantime, so she looked like an older sister to her.
“Thanks to your concern, I am doing well.”
She had a keen eye for detail, so she gave her a formal greeting, but he wanted to hug Bianca and go out to the fields to play. The young Princess had grown up well. Ariadne smiled sincerely and greeted her with a happy face. However, Leo III frowned at this warm sight. Princess, he had never permitted such a title.
“You little girl, don’t be careless.”
The old King, who was afraid that if he said outright that she was not the Princess, he would have a huge fight with his son, so he turned around and criticized Bianca instead.
“If you keep going like that, who will take you?”
If it were the past, she would have been shedding tears as a young Princess. However, she had learned a lot while ruling the territory in Taranto. Bianca said with a proud smile.
“I fell in love with Taranto. But marriage?”
“Will you have a successor just because you love the land? Don’t do useless things...”
Leo III was talking about the successor and was secretly sniping at Alfonso and Ariadne, but then Duchess Rubina intervened from a corner. She saw Isabella's reaction and realized that there was something unusual about the sack.
“But whose head is this? Judging by the grim and dirty look on his face, I’m sure there’s a big bounty on him.”
“It is the head of Ippolito de Mare. The bounty is not high. His Majesty the King has set a bounty of fifty ducats.”
Ariadne, who had guessed whose head it was as soon as she heard the story of the bounty, was not surprised at all. However, Isabella could not hold it in anymore and retched.
“Ugh!”
Alfonso, whose attention was focused on that side these days, asked the King automatically.
“Any good news?”
While Ariadne was bewildered by the direction her husband was going, Leo III waved his hand.
“Oh no, Isabella is pure.”
Alfonso and Bianca's expressions both changed strangely. Only Ariadne, a master of facial expression management, maintained a blank expression. Even Ariadne failed to put on a proper expression. A blank expression was her best.
The King's official mistress is chaste? First of all, the title of the King's official mistress was a title that only married women could hold. From there, chastity was disqualified. And it was also funny that the King appointed her as the official mistress without touching her.
Leo III also knew this fact and proudly declared it, both as an excuse and at the same time, as he felt satisfied with the fictitious fidelity of his government.
“Bella needed a reason to be in the palace, so that’s what happened. Good girl! Be good!”
Rubina grumbled softly in the corner.
“Bella Bella lives well in the palace even without that.”
Bianca, who didn't want to even associate with Rubina, found this too funny. The Duke of Taranto burst out laughing. Leo III immediately glared at her. Bianca cleared her throat and changed the subject.
“Hmm! Who should I give it to?”
“Delpiano!”
The King, feeling uneasy, called out to his secretary in a loud voice.
“Come here and clean this up!”
Hearing those words, Bianca picked up the sack containing Ippolito's head, preserved like a mummy. Ariadne's heart swelled with excitement as she looked at its appearance.
Ippolito was the man who would have been Bianca's husband in her previous life. Ariadne had been sent to the West Tower just before their wedding, so she had no chance to observe their married life firsthand, but Ariadne knew Ippolito and Bianca very well. She was certain that their marriage, especially Bianca's, could not be a happy one.
Ippolito, who was suffering from an inferiority complex, would always harass Bianca, and Bianca, who had a gentle personality and was not trained to stand up to others, would have endured by accepting and submitting to her husband's absurd criticism, taking for herself everything they enjoyed.
But now Ippolito's severed head was being held by Bianca.
'You can change it.'
It seemed like a symbol of destiny that she had changed with her own hands. Past lives are not fixed. This life can be made differently from the past, when she and the people around her could change their lives.
A huge smile appeared on Ariadne's face for reasons no one could understand.
But then again, there was no mention of a bounty. Given Leo III’s disposition, if you don’t receive it now, there will be no return. Ariadne poked Alfonso. The Prince understood immediately. The Prince looked at Sir Delpiano and gave an order.
“I will also offer a bounty to the Duke of Taranto.”
Leo III glared at Alfonso, but he was right, and there was no room for a response. The King became angry and snapped at Bianca.
“You came just in time. The ‘Hall of the Sun’ opens tomorrow afternoon. You should attend too.”
“The Hall of the Sun? What does it open for?”
Bianca looked at Alfonso innocently. As far as she could think, this was the only thing that could open the Hall of the Sun.
“Oh, is this by any chance the appointment of the Crown Prince?”
Alfonso laughed bitterly, and Leo III became even more displeased. Duchess Rubina intervened.
“This is the crowning of the Duke of Pisano as Grand Duke, Duke of Taranto.”
She was in the mood to honor Bianca as a Duke now. Her son would become the sole Grand Duke of the Etruscan kingdom in half a day! Whether this would be internationally acceptable or not, the Duke of Pisano was on par with the Dukes of Assereto and Juldenburg in terms of rank.
"Oh?"
Bianca looked at Leo III with an ambiguous expression. It was because she felt uncomfortable talking to Rubina, who was of the same family as her, but Leo III hastily concluded that it was due to jealousy and drove the wedge in.
“Yes! Cesare becomes the Grand Duke. Come and grace the occasion.”
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