Rubina, the Grand Duchess, shouted resolutely.
“Cesare, you too must seduce Princess Julia Helena!”
It was not something that should be shouted out so desperately in the Palazzo Carlo, the very embodiment of the Central Continent's history and cultural achievements.
“If you can just get married, you can get as much money as Countess de Mare brought in!”
Actually, it was pretty funny. But when you think about the specific amount, it's not funny at all.
“Seventy-two thousand ducats! In 98 percent pure gold!”
Countess Ariadne de Mare, the most powerful new wealthy person in the Central Continent, reportedly spent 4,000 ducats on military maintenance. 72,000 ducats is exactly eighteen times that amount.
It was understandable that the noble spirit of the Duke and Duchess Rubina had been abandoned, and they had a strong will.
“It’s almost an unprecedented amount of money for a dowry for a girl!”
It was indeed the first large dowry to appear in the Central Continent in nearly 20 years.
But Cesare had no interest in Julia Helena's dowry. He had no interest in anything about Julia Helena.
“...Please stop talking nonsense.”
The red-haired, lanky young Grand Duke looked down at the floor and muttered. His voice was utterly gloomy.
“Mother,”
“Cesare, you too must seduce Princess Julia Helena!”
It was not something that should be shouted out so desperately in the Palazzo Carlo, the very embodiment of the Central Continent's history and cultural achievements.
“If you can just get married, you can get as much money as Countess de Mare brought in!”
Actually, it was pretty funny. But when you think about the specific amount, it's not funny at all.
“Seventy-two thousand ducats! In 98 percent pure gold!”
Countess Ariadne de Mare, the most powerful new wealthy person in the Central Continent, reportedly spent 4,000 ducats on military maintenance. 72,000 ducats is exactly eighteen times that amount.
It was understandable that the noble spirit of the Duke and Duchess Rubina had been abandoned, and they had a strong will.
“It’s almost an unprecedented amount of money for a dowry for a girl!”
It was indeed the first large dowry to appear in the Central Continent in nearly 20 years.
But Cesare had no interest in Julia Helena's dowry. He had no interest in anything about Julia Helena.
“...Please stop talking nonsense.”
The red-haired, lanky young Grand Duke looked down at the floor and muttered. His voice was utterly gloomy.
“Mother,”
Rubina said, raising her voice.
“Aren’t you angry? Alfonso ate everything raw.”
She couldn't tolerate it.
“Is he better looking than you? Or is he better at dating? It’s not like that!”
Even if Alfonso had gotten that much money because he was better at jousting or commanding battles than her son, it would still be a shame.
But a woman's back? Isn't that her son's specialty? She couldn't afford to be pushed around even here.
“Aren’t you aggrieved when a bachelor, who was just stepping back, caught a rat?”
“Oh really!”
Cesare finally lost his temper.
“Please stop!”
His mother was a person who never listened to kind words. She only listened when her voice was raised.
“I have no interest in a child like Princess Julia Helena!”
But today, Rubina had no intention of backing down, not even when her voice was raised.
"Are you the type of person who can tell the difference between hot and cold water right now?! Whether you're a child or an old woman, you should say thank you and accept it!"
Cesare, who was about to argue with his mother, lost all strength and just chuckled. He felt dirty.
“Let’s not make people miserable.”
He didn't want to talk to her anymore. But his mother had a different opinion.
“Money, money! A whopping 72,000 ducats as a dowry!”
She seemed ready to grab her son by the collar. She wasn't the type of person who couldn't.
"If you dig the ground, you'll get 70,000 ducats?! How much does your modest estate generate in a year? Ten thousand ducats?"
That couldn't be true. A ducat a year was the national budget of a small country, and such a fief was barely adequate for a duchy. Cesare Pisano and the de Como estates were nowhere near enough. Grand Duchess Rubina exclaimed.
“This is a life-changing opportunity and you have to seize it!”
Finally, Cesare raised his head and looked at Rubina.
“What am I to my mother?”
His azure blue eyes held a vivid contempt. It was a contempt for his mother, who had lived her entire life this way, and for her narrow-minded beliefs that treated him like herself.
“A person who sells his body?”
Rubina couldn't understand what was being said. She stood still, her beautiful eyes, just like her son's, narrowed, and blinked for a moment.
These jewel-like, wine-colored eyes, crowned by eyelashes of the same color, were a divine blessing bestowed upon her, her only means of survival. She made a living with them.
In Rubina's world, everyone except for the King exchanged their sex for something else.
Sometimes it was money, sometimes it was power, sometimes it was simple attention and admiration. But sex was currency. The most powerful.
“What a fucking idiot.”
To Rubina, the fact that the price she could exchange for her surname was not a bowl of turnip soup but 72,000 ducats was a blessing, not a tragedy.
“You little shit, you’re so full!”
Ouch!
Rubina slapped Cesare, who had called her a whore, or rather, who had refused to be called the son of a whore.
Her son, a head and a half taller than her, held his cheek with his head turned sharply, saying nothing. She woke him up, unable to speak.
“That’s money that could be used for military funds.”
Cesare slowly turned his face. His expression remained blank.
There was no anger, no greed, no sense of loss that should have been burning there.
Rubina, the Grand Duchess, once again kindly explained to her son, who had grown up in a greenhouse and had no sense of reality.
“This is the money that will make you a King!”
Rubina fired without even taking a breath.
"Think of Alfonso's rise to power on Countess de Mare's dime! While we're just sitting around wasting time, the other side is charging ahead! We need to make up for it by getting something! Julia Helena is just that!"
Rubina, who saw that Cesare was out of his mind, saw right through her son.
He was distraught. Cesare was at a loss, unsure how to process the new news.
'Ariadne... emptied her personal fortune for Alfonso... ?'
Until now, Cesare had always been the one to give something to Ariadne.
Of course, Cesare himself received much help from Ariadne. It wasn't just simple comfort and advice.
When Gallico's heavy cavalry advanced south and threatened the Etruscan border, Cesare received from Ariadne not only wisdom and strategy, but also the men to execute them, concrete execution, and even the fruits of victory.
But people tend to lose objectivity in their own affairs. Now, Cesare's mind held no memory of that time. Only the jewels, dresses, and other luxuries he had gifted her while touring the high society of San Carlo floated before him.
He didn't give it because he wanted something in return. At first, he simply wanted to overcome her cold, refusing attitude, so he showered her with gifts. Later, he felt a surge of acceptance, so he offered anything hr could. And finally, he gave it to her, hoping to spark even a hint of happiness on her face.
She, who always took from him, opened her own pocket for Alfonso.
“Tell that bastard Alfonso to take off her peppers!”
Unbearable emotions welled up within him. But Cesare, unable to bring himself to curse Ariadne, unintentionally turned his anger toward Alfonso. How dare he take money from a woman?
“You can’t even step forward and take care of a woman, but you still pick her pockets? Is that what a man does?!”
He wanted to run right away, rescue Ariadne from the arms of his parasitic brother, and take her to his castle in Pisano.
But Rubina, the Grand Duchess, looked at her son with an expression that was difficult to describe. It was half mocking, half pitiful.
'My son, who has lived a life of luxury, clinging to me, is cursing the greatest victorious general in the Central Continent for being unmanly?'
But even Rubina, the scorpion, knew how to hold back when it was necessary. If she said that, her son might actually jump from the balcony. Instead of jabbing him with her stinger, she rebuked him sternly.
"Money has a label? Whether it's women's money or Remuin's money, money is money."
She didn't know or care what Cesare was thinking, as long as her son didn't jump and ruin his face. Right now, Cesare had something to do with that handsome face.
“Listen carefully. You will receive orders from Manchike soon.”
Rubina shared Leo III's level of awareness of reality. It meant they were both out of their minds. To put it mildly, they were extremely optimistic.
“It would probably be an approval of the marriage between Grand Duke Pisano of the Etruscan Kingdom and Princess Julia Helena of the Manchike Kingdom.”
Fortunately, however, Rubina was a little more cautious than Leo III.
“If that’s not the case, we need to prepare too.”
She said with narrowed eyes.
“Just take that little girl’s soul out.”
Cesare turned his head and looked at his mother.
“If your father in the home country says you can’t get married, I’ll get angry at you and make you run away with me.”
She looked at her son, who resembled her so perfectly, up and down. Even in the bright room, where light streamed in from all sides, his towering nose cast a shadow. The difference in height between his forehead and his brow ridges, deep-set eyes, and deep-set lashes was exquisitely detailed. Within them, the aquamarine eyes, though of a different color, were a reflection of his mother's prime.
As expected, she was confident no matter where she showed up. Her son was the most handsome man in the Central Continent.
"Isn't seducing girls your specialty? Do you think this mother turned a blind eye to the things you've been doing?"
Grand Duchess Rubina smiled wickedly. Cesare's face immediately turned red at the sight of his mother's smile.
“Were they following you around?”
Her son seemed to think he was so good that he hadn't had any trouble with women. That was ridiculous. So many women had cried, screamed, and threatened to kill themselves, threatening to expose everyone. She scoffed.
“Since you couldn’t clean up after yourself, I cleaned it all up for you!”
Rubina was trying to emphasize to her son that her actions were out of consideration for him.
Cesare abruptly jumped to his feet. Rubina cried out in surprise.
“You, you, where are you going?”
Cesare, who had stood up, didn't answer. Rubina shouted again.
“You’re not going to find that girl, are you?!”
Cesare briefly debated whether his mother meant "that girl" by Julia Helena or Ariadne. But it didn't matter either way. It was neither.
“I don’t know!”
He kicked the seat and turned around to leave. He needed some breathing room.
Thud!
The ornate, gilded door of the Princess's quarters slid shut on its hinges.
Cesare, having fled from his mother, leaned against the hallway and gasped for breath. This was the "Queen's Residence," occupied by the late Grand Duchess Rubina. The Prince's palace, where Ariadne was, was just a step away.
It's a distance of less than 1 miglio.
But there was an unbridgeable gap between him and her.
Prince Alfonso was one of them, of course, but it was not just Alfonso's presence that was bothering Cesare now.
'She conceived and lost Alfonso's... child.'
“Aren’t you angry? Alfonso ate everything raw.”
She couldn't tolerate it.
“Is he better looking than you? Or is he better at dating? It’s not like that!”
Even if Alfonso had gotten that much money because he was better at jousting or commanding battles than her son, it would still be a shame.
But a woman's back? Isn't that her son's specialty? She couldn't afford to be pushed around even here.
“Aren’t you aggrieved when a bachelor, who was just stepping back, caught a rat?”
“Oh really!”
Cesare finally lost his temper.
“Please stop!”
His mother was a person who never listened to kind words. She only listened when her voice was raised.
“I have no interest in a child like Princess Julia Helena!”
But today, Rubina had no intention of backing down, not even when her voice was raised.
"Are you the type of person who can tell the difference between hot and cold water right now?! Whether you're a child or an old woman, you should say thank you and accept it!"
Cesare, who was about to argue with his mother, lost all strength and just chuckled. He felt dirty.
“Let’s not make people miserable.”
He didn't want to talk to her anymore. But his mother had a different opinion.
“Money, money! A whopping 72,000 ducats as a dowry!”
She seemed ready to grab her son by the collar. She wasn't the type of person who couldn't.
"If you dig the ground, you'll get 70,000 ducats?! How much does your modest estate generate in a year? Ten thousand ducats?"
That couldn't be true. A ducat a year was the national budget of a small country, and such a fief was barely adequate for a duchy. Cesare Pisano and the de Como estates were nowhere near enough. Grand Duchess Rubina exclaimed.
“This is a life-changing opportunity and you have to seize it!”
Finally, Cesare raised his head and looked at Rubina.
“What am I to my mother?”
His azure blue eyes held a vivid contempt. It was a contempt for his mother, who had lived her entire life this way, and for her narrow-minded beliefs that treated him like herself.
“A person who sells his body?”
Rubina couldn't understand what was being said. She stood still, her beautiful eyes, just like her son's, narrowed, and blinked for a moment.
These jewel-like, wine-colored eyes, crowned by eyelashes of the same color, were a divine blessing bestowed upon her, her only means of survival. She made a living with them.
In Rubina's world, everyone except for the King exchanged their sex for something else.
Sometimes it was money, sometimes it was power, sometimes it was simple attention and admiration. But sex was currency. The most powerful.
“What a fucking idiot.”
To Rubina, the fact that the price she could exchange for her surname was not a bowl of turnip soup but 72,000 ducats was a blessing, not a tragedy.
“You little shit, you’re so full!”
Ouch!
Rubina slapped Cesare, who had called her a whore, or rather, who had refused to be called the son of a whore.
Her son, a head and a half taller than her, held his cheek with his head turned sharply, saying nothing. She woke him up, unable to speak.
“That’s money that could be used for military funds.”
Cesare slowly turned his face. His expression remained blank.
There was no anger, no greed, no sense of loss that should have been burning there.
Rubina, the Grand Duchess, once again kindly explained to her son, who had grown up in a greenhouse and had no sense of reality.
“This is the money that will make you a King!”
Rubina fired without even taking a breath.
"Think of Alfonso's rise to power on Countess de Mare's dime! While we're just sitting around wasting time, the other side is charging ahead! We need to make up for it by getting something! Julia Helena is just that!"
Rubina, who saw that Cesare was out of his mind, saw right through her son.
He was distraught. Cesare was at a loss, unsure how to process the new news.
'Ariadne... emptied her personal fortune for Alfonso... ?'
Until now, Cesare had always been the one to give something to Ariadne.
Of course, Cesare himself received much help from Ariadne. It wasn't just simple comfort and advice.
When Gallico's heavy cavalry advanced south and threatened the Etruscan border, Cesare received from Ariadne not only wisdom and strategy, but also the men to execute them, concrete execution, and even the fruits of victory.
But people tend to lose objectivity in their own affairs. Now, Cesare's mind held no memory of that time. Only the jewels, dresses, and other luxuries he had gifted her while touring the high society of San Carlo floated before him.
He didn't give it because he wanted something in return. At first, he simply wanted to overcome her cold, refusing attitude, so he showered her with gifts. Later, he felt a surge of acceptance, so he offered anything hr could. And finally, he gave it to her, hoping to spark even a hint of happiness on her face.
She, who always took from him, opened her own pocket for Alfonso.
“Tell that bastard Alfonso to take off her peppers!”
Unbearable emotions welled up within him. But Cesare, unable to bring himself to curse Ariadne, unintentionally turned his anger toward Alfonso. How dare he take money from a woman?
“You can’t even step forward and take care of a woman, but you still pick her pockets? Is that what a man does?!”
He wanted to run right away, rescue Ariadne from the arms of his parasitic brother, and take her to his castle in Pisano.
But Rubina, the Grand Duchess, looked at her son with an expression that was difficult to describe. It was half mocking, half pitiful.
'My son, who has lived a life of luxury, clinging to me, is cursing the greatest victorious general in the Central Continent for being unmanly?'
But even Rubina, the scorpion, knew how to hold back when it was necessary. If she said that, her son might actually jump from the balcony. Instead of jabbing him with her stinger, she rebuked him sternly.
"Money has a label? Whether it's women's money or Remuin's money, money is money."
She didn't know or care what Cesare was thinking, as long as her son didn't jump and ruin his face. Right now, Cesare had something to do with that handsome face.
“Listen carefully. You will receive orders from Manchike soon.”
Rubina shared Leo III's level of awareness of reality. It meant they were both out of their minds. To put it mildly, they were extremely optimistic.
“It would probably be an approval of the marriage between Grand Duke Pisano of the Etruscan Kingdom and Princess Julia Helena of the Manchike Kingdom.”
Fortunately, however, Rubina was a little more cautious than Leo III.
“If that’s not the case, we need to prepare too.”
She said with narrowed eyes.
“Just take that little girl’s soul out.”
Cesare turned his head and looked at his mother.
“If your father in the home country says you can’t get married, I’ll get angry at you and make you run away with me.”
She looked at her son, who resembled her so perfectly, up and down. Even in the bright room, where light streamed in from all sides, his towering nose cast a shadow. The difference in height between his forehead and his brow ridges, deep-set eyes, and deep-set lashes was exquisitely detailed. Within them, the aquamarine eyes, though of a different color, were a reflection of his mother's prime.
As expected, she was confident no matter where she showed up. Her son was the most handsome man in the Central Continent.
"Isn't seducing girls your specialty? Do you think this mother turned a blind eye to the things you've been doing?"
Grand Duchess Rubina smiled wickedly. Cesare's face immediately turned red at the sight of his mother's smile.
“Were they following you around?”
Her son seemed to think he was so good that he hadn't had any trouble with women. That was ridiculous. So many women had cried, screamed, and threatened to kill themselves, threatening to expose everyone. She scoffed.
“Since you couldn’t clean up after yourself, I cleaned it all up for you!”
Rubina was trying to emphasize to her son that her actions were out of consideration for him.
Cesare abruptly jumped to his feet. Rubina cried out in surprise.
“You, you, where are you going?”
Cesare, who had stood up, didn't answer. Rubina shouted again.
“You’re not going to find that girl, are you?!”
Cesare briefly debated whether his mother meant "that girl" by Julia Helena or Ariadne. But it didn't matter either way. It was neither.
“I don’t know!”
He kicked the seat and turned around to leave. He needed some breathing room.
Thud!
The ornate, gilded door of the Princess's quarters slid shut on its hinges.
***
Cesare, having fled from his mother, leaned against the hallway and gasped for breath. This was the "Queen's Residence," occupied by the late Grand Duchess Rubina. The Prince's palace, where Ariadne was, was just a step away.
It's a distance of less than 1 miglio.
But there was an unbridgeable gap between him and her.
Prince Alfonso was one of them, of course, but it was not just Alfonso's presence that was bothering Cesare now.
'She conceived and lost Alfonso's... child.'
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