Chapter 478 - The Future of the Kingdom

The fact that he had called Rubina here was a glimpse into how far the old King's judgment had fallen.

Of course, it was reasonable to want to hear a wider range of opinions, not to completely trust the words of Lord Delpiano alone. However, Grand Duchess Rubina and Countess Isabella Contarini were bound to be enemies. Rubina was the worst person to call when hearing Isabella's defense.

In the past, one would have summoned one of the high-ranking nobles residing in the palace. While the high-ranking nobles themselves, being men, might not be fully aware of the secret affairs of the women within the palace, some of their wives were involved in court affairs, whether as the Queen's maids or something else. Therefore, all the information ultimately reached the King's ears through the high-ranking nobles.

However, the days when the King held full power over the court and boasted of unified control were a thing of the past after the death of Queen Marguerite.

***

"Your Majesty?"

Grand Duchess Rubina rushed to Leo III's summons. Instead of entering, she peered out from the doorway.

“Oh, my God, you've got to find me...”

Leo III roared.

“Stop talking nonsense and come in right now and tell me what happened between Alfonso and Isabella!”

Leo III cut right to the chase, even throwing in a wistful retirement speech at best, but Rubina, to his credit, paid no more than lip service to the idea, and slipped right in.

'I can't ruin this sweet moment by getting angry at a time like this.'

She instinctively understood why the King had come to her instead of rushing straight to Isabella. It was the intuition that had brought Rubina to this position.

'It's scary to look at that girl's face.'

If he had become completely entangled in such a disgusting situation, he would have felt a sense of shame in many ways, so the cowardly Leo III would have certainly wanted to avoid that situation.

First, Rubina doesn't want to see that ugly sight with her own eyes. Second, Isabella's face is completely ruined, and if His Majesty begs her to take revenge on Isabella, she'll have to fight Alfonso because of an ugly woman she doesn't like, so that's burdensome. She can't say, "I hate her because she's become ugly," right?

At that point, it might have been a good idea to just come out and pretend not to notice, but Leo III would have hated even that, making himself look like the bad guy. Leo III was the type of person who only wanted to eat good and delicious food. Rubina had a clear, panoramic view of the inner thoughts of the man she'd spent her entire life with.

“Your Majesty, I am not there in person, so I do not know how to tell you.”

Rubina's account of the incident, too, was not much different from that of Sir Delpiano. She had absolutely no reason to offer a favorable account of the situation to Isabella.

It was a retelling of the story: the pregnancy was real, the baby had fallen, Alfonso was furious, and the situation was so sensitive that Lord Delpiano had no choice. Leo III was once again furious.

“What have you been doing without even managing the palace?”

He was angry, but he couldn't find the time to arrest Alfonso and put him in jail, so the sparks flew far away.

“If Countess dr Mare had become pregnant, you should have taken care of her!”

But Rubina had nothing to fear anymore.

“How can I identify a child outside the palace?”

Rubina thought to herself, 'My son is now the Grand Duke, you brat.'

Once Ariadne was properly established at court, the next King would be her son or grandson.

“If she were the Princess, I would have some room to intervene as the head of the household.”

Due to Alfonso's beating of Isabella, Rubina's affection for the couple had sharply increased. Despite her scorpion-like nature, she forgot her pent-up anger and secretly listened to the Countess de Mare's story.

“It’s unclear whether this is his wife, his girlfriend, or some unacknowledged rascal... I can’t come forward and pretend to know.”

She added.

“What if I treat her like a royal family member and then go against Your Majesty’s wishes?”

“You should have taken care of it! You should have handled it neatly!”

Leo III shouted again.

“Don’t you know that I invited Countess De Mare to a family dinner, so I’m trying to get her to acknowledge?!”

That wasn't even the slightest intention, which is why he even summoned Isabella to the scene, but Leo III simply insisted on it until the very end. The truth didn't matter. He was furious.

"Whew!"

Rubina covered her ears with both hands and groaned. With Isabella's accession to the throne, Rubina, now completely free from Leo III's night watch, felt the good feelings she had built up due to the King's undisturbed presence melt away in an instant.

The King was throwing a tantrum, but she quickly realized that he was just looking for a scapegoat to vent his frustrations rather than trying to seriously settle the issue, so she passed the ball to him.

“Lord Delpiano, you should have called me. If you had called me, I would have stopped them.”

Despite her utter inability to do so, Rubina shifted the blame to the King's secretary. Sir Delpiano merely nodded. From long experience, Sir Delpiano knew that in such situations, it was best to keep his mouth shut.

Rubina took advantage of this momentum and changed the subject. Leo III, with his childish nature, was easily fooled by this change of scenery.

“Well, it seems the courtiers have accepted Isabella as part of the royal family.”

"Oh?"

"The repentance ceremony was reportedly conducted by Queen Marguerite's people. Why, the repentance nuns? They don't come forward unless it's a royal family matter."

On the surface, it was a statement meant to please the King, but in reality, it was a statement that appealed to him that Isabella's punishment had nothing to do with her.

"It seems like they're always practicing brutal discipline, you know. They beat them with their own self-imposed whip. Oh my, it's scary."

Rubina whispered quietly.

“Your Majesty, I have not met Isabella in person either.”

In fact, Rubina, the former Grand Duchess, sent Isabella a gift wishing her a speedy recovery. She even went to see her in person, carrying it. Honestly, she wasn't interested in her well-being, but rather in her appearance.

“I went to pick it up, but it didn’t come out.”

Isabella, that damned thing, made excuses about being sick and refused to welcome Rubina. Knowing Rubina was waiting in the reception room right before her, she stayed in her room for seven hours. She refused to even use the bathroom, defiantly.

‘If you’re going to do something like that and talk back to me...’

If it were Rubina, she wouldn't have been so scared that she couldn't have dared to open up like that.

Well, there is only one answer.

Isabella's face was so ruined that she couldn't come out.

“Those who saw Countess Contarini being beaten say that blood and flesh were flying and that there was a large scar on her face.”

As she grew more and more excited, her words grew longer. She secretly encouraged Leo III.

“Why do you have to meet me, Your Majesty?”

Rubina whispered.

“Just don’t look at her face and send her out right away.”

Leo III was shaken. For a moment, the old King's white beard trembled. Rubina smiled inwardly. "Well, then."

"De Mare Mansion is gone now, but I heard her father intends to go down to the monastery. Send her there with him. No one will blame Your Majesty for that."

Leo III was honestly troubled. It would be a lie to say he wasn't tempted by Rubina's offer. What made him hesitate was the dazzling, poignant beauty of Isabella, who burst into his bedroom through the royal passage.

That day, for the first time in a long time, the old King felt a pull in his thighs. He'd eaten everything he could think of and seen every pretty woman, but this was the first time in five or six years that he'd felt something like that.

A faint certainty that he could function as a man again. Leo III couldn't let go of that.

“Do you think I’m some kind of petty person who swallows what I say and spits what I say?”

The King roared. Rubina, like a turtle, tucked her neck behind her collarbone and averted her gaze.

'No, then?'

“I should go check on her!”

Leo III rose from his seat.

“Let’s take a look at the rest and decide!”

***

Isabella entered the palace and, though she hadn't yet secured a maid, she had acquired one decent one. A blond woman in her twenties named Barbara, who somehow reminded her of the old Maleta.

“Countess Contarini, His Majesty the King is coming!”

The light returned to Isabella's eyes.

“Spray some perfume right now!”

Isabella's quarters were already filled with lilies. Outside, they were piled high, a tribute to the Princess's legacy. Inside, the flowers were used by the King's mistress to enhance her charm. Barbara poured a perfume blending daffodil and sandalwood over them.

Isabella had been seriously ill since being whipped by Prince Alfonso that day. She suffered from a high fever for the first and second days, nearly dying.

The ill-tempered Rubina deliberately delayed sending for the doctor. It was a dispatch made at a time when it wasn't necessary, and when it was perfectly reasonable to pick up a book.

Because of this, Isabella did not receive proper medical attention on time, except for a decoction of willow bark prepared by a palace maid who was well versed in medicine.

'I have scars all over my body because of that damn Rubina...!'

The knotted whip was truly devastating. Isabella suffered bruises everywhere she'd been struck, and she suffered horrific skin necrosis. It was a stroke of luck that she survived.

The only places spared from the whipping were her face and the front of her torso. That's why she wore a snow-white dress today, revealing only her neck and décolleté.

Despite the winter weather, Isabella had deliberately chosen a dress with dozens of layers of extremely thin fabric draped like a waterfall. Now that the bleeding had stopped and the pus was draining, a single-layer white dress would undoubtedly reveal an unsightly yellowish discoloration.

'But I can't give up the color of the dress.'

The dark, dull dress was something Ariadne wore. Isabella could never part with the white dress that made her stand out so brightly when she wore it.

But just because she escaped the whipping didn't mean she was scarless. The most horrific of Isabella's injuries was a long gash across her face.

Isabella wasn't the type to gamble on exposure. Even though she had scars all over her body, they were mostly on her back, buttocks, and thighs. The only part of her body that would be exposed when she wore clothes was her shoulders.

But the long scar on her cheek... It ruined her greatest pride.

“Light the candles!”

Barbara faithfully obeyed her mistress's orders, lighting candles throughout the room. She was a skilled maid, and she understood that Isabella's request to light a single candle meant to darken the room so the King could not see her face clearly.

Barbara closed the curtains, covering all the windows on all sides, and hung cloths here and there to block out as much light as possible from the hallway.

Thump thump thump thump thump.

As soon as preparations were complete, a noise was heard in the hallway. It was Leo III, who, with age, had lost his former majestic gait.

Barbara quickly slithered away into the darkness like a cockroach, leaving Isabella alone to wait for the audience.

Rattling, rattling.

As soon as the door opened, Isabella began to sob. The sound came on.

“Sob, sob sob...”

Sir Delpiano, as his secretary, had sent away all his attendants and had come alone to Isabella's quarters. The old King, entering the room, blinked, unable to adjust to the sudden darkness.

As he took another step forward and passed the drawn curtain, a blaze of flames flooded his vision, dazzling his nerves. At the same time, a dizzying floral scent assaulted his sense of smell.

Meanwhile, Isabella asked in a mosquito-like voice, her back still turned.

“Your Majesty...?”

The voice was so sorrowful that Leo III, who was about to check the face first and then think about the next step, ended up answering without realizing it.

“Yes, Isabella. It’s me. I’m here.”

Isabella cried out, bursting into tears.

“Your Majesty, I have so longed to see you!”

But instead of rushing at the King, she sat still.

“Isabella, why are you sitting with your back turned? Come here.”

For Isabella, this was the moment of judgment.

She knew it too. Leo III wouldn't embrace her as a given. He would only protect her if Isabella's face was enough to win his heart, if she still held marketable value to the King.

She turned her head very slowly, as if time was passing differently.

Charrrr.

Her blonde curls cascaded down like a waterfall. Another thing cascaded down: the thin mesh netting worn by Moorish dancers, covering her face.

Through the hair and mesh, the cleavage, gathered by the Moorish Empire's breastplate, was visible. It was the only spot of clean skin left on Isabella's tattered body.

Thump.

At that moment, Leo III felt his heart pounding. Instead of calling Isabella, he walked towards her.

The rich scent of perfume, masking the rotten stench of blood and pus, permeated the air. It was a scent that overwhelmed all five senses, a blend of iris, sandalwood, and even musk.

Leo III lifted the net and kissed her.

It was the moment when the future of the kingdom was decided.

Previous                    Next