As soon as Ariadne spoke, Isabella's body trembled.
Unaware of Isabella's speed, Julia Helena let out a heartfelt exclamation of admiration.
“Wow. People who are destined to succeed can become like this.”
This is what fateful love must be like. You meet a Prince who's come to help the needy in a refuge where you've been banished as punishment, and both find themselves drawn into a whirlwind of emotions they can't resist.
Isn't this the perfect story of a Prince saving a poor girl in trouble?
'When I arrived in the Etruscan kingdom, was it my fate that Grand Duke Cesare was unmarried instead of Prince Alfonso?'
With Julia Helena beside her, lost in her own fantasy, Bianca focused on something else. Princess Bianca of Taranto and Julia Helena were roughly the same age, but their tastes differed significantly. The upright Bianca was infuriated by the unfamiliar tale of the past.
“Prince... No, why is a model person like Countess de Mare being kicked out of the house?”
Ariadne smiled bashfully. In the past, it would have been a bitter smile, but as time passed, she was able to smile genuinely.
“That’s right.”
Just as she was about to answer, an aggressive and cynical voice answered instead.
“She was kicked out after beating a poor maid without permission and telling her to reflect on her actions. She seems to have no empathy.”
Isabella finally couldn't hold it in anymore and exploded. Having remained silent until then, Isabella suddenly raised her head, glared straight at Ariadne, and spoke.
“Countess de Mare has had a stubborn personality since childhood. To be whipped for something so trivial...? The Rambouillet Home is the perfect place, isn’t it?”
From Isabella's perspective, this was an act of self-defense. She simply struck first before her own weaknesses were exposed.
The slap on her lips subtly transformed into a whipping. In fact, it was Lucrezia who had whipped Maletta.
Rubina, the Grand Duchess, simply blinked. It took her a moment to grasp what was happening. With Rubina's tacit, if not acquiescent, approval, Isabella continued her attacks without hesitation.
“How can you possibly think of beating someone who lives in the same house as you?”
This was a backstabbing of Prince Alfonso, the man who had beaten her. What a worthless person. Whipping? What a lowly, horrible thing that doesn't even know the meaning of human rights!
"In contrast, the de Mare family sent their children to volunteer work instead of beating them. How noble and admirable is that?"
It was a vague protest, completely forgetting what she'd done, that she should have done some kind of volunteer work instead of whipping her. It was a roundabout way of saying it, but everyone understood.
It should have stopped there, but Isabella was full of anger and rage against Ariadne and Alfonso.
“Thanks to me, you met a Prince just like you. I appreciate that.”
Ariadne's expression, which had been hardening for a while, turned as cold as ice.
Isabella wasn't inherently smart. She was, after all, the daughter of Cardinal de Mare. In terms of intelligence, Isabella's intelligence was far superior to her father's.
But in essence, she resembles her dead mother, Lucrezia.
Isabella had no control over her impulses. If Ariadne were to explain why she was banished to the Rambouillet asylum, people would likely blame Isabella.
'If I become a bad person, all those people will exclude me.'
That wasn't real, just Isabella's imagination. If she'd thought about it carefully, she would have realized that exposing a minor, past misdeed was of no consequence.
On the contrary, her insulting and resentful remarks toward Prince Alfonso now would have a far worse effect on her long-term reputation, but her imagination, which had been running wild for a moment, did not give her time to think that far.
'No one will hold my hand, and I will be kicked out of the group!'
The people here aren't interacting with Isabella based on her character anyway. Isabella's power rests solely on the degree of Leo III's favor. But at this moment, Isabella was unstoppable.
'I can't be bad for even a moment. I have to be perfect.'
She exploded emotionally in a situation where she was cornered and trapped at a round table without any supporters.
Isabella expressed her surging anxiety and fear by attacking Ariadne and making sarcastic remarks.
“If I hadn’t sent you there, what would have happened to you? You would have married a guy like the Marquis of Campa.”
Ariadne glared at Isabella with a cold, indifferent expression. She didn't say anything in response.
The silence was so quiet that it felt like something big was about to explode. Rubina hastily intervened.
“Stop, stop, stop.”
While I was secretly cursing Leo III.
'Don't you know your concubine's temper?'
She had no idea what to say to reconcile them, so she just threw out a random comment.
“The tea is so crispy and the panna cotta is warm!”
Rubina then called out to the attendant with a desperate gesture. As soon as the attendant approached, she checked how long the tea party had been going on.
'How many minutes has it been since we started?'
'It's been less than 30 minutes, Your Highness.'
Her heart was pounding. A tea party should last at least 45 minutes before it naturally ends.
'Can I prevent bloodshed in this room for the next 15 minutes?'
Ariadne, seeing Rubina summon her attendant, knew exactly what question she'd asked. From the attendant's embarrassed expression and Rubina's troubled expression, she also sensed that the tea party hadn't had enough time to function properly.
Ariadne also wanted to leave. But now that she was about to get up, she felt like it was a waste of all the effort she had put into sitting up until then.
'I've put up with this much, and yet I have to hear that Countess de Mare is the first to rise from her seat?'
Isabella seemed determined to leave. She even teased Rubina.
"What good is eating something so good? It doesn't even guarantee basic safety!"
Rubina glared. It was a signal to shut up immediately. Isabella paid no attention. What had already been done could not be undone.
"Shouldn't Your Highness also create a court free of violence? Only then will there be no more unfortunate victims like me or the maid who was beaten by Ariadne."
At that moment, Ariadne, who had made up her mind, cut off Isabella's words.
“Countess Contarini is very misunderstood.”
Ariadne wasn't the type to be easily submissive. She looked straight at Isabella, but instead spoke to Rubina. She didn't want to speak directly to Isabella, who didn't seem like that person.
“That maid had quite a few problems. Later, my mother killed herself.”
The atmosphere became tense at the mention of killing her. Rubina and Bianca stared at Isabella with wide eyes.
Isabella suddenly shut her mouth and pretended not to hear anything. Julia Helena, who didn't know the whole story, asked.
“Did she hurt her master or break something?”
Bianca, horrified at the thought that someone could kill a servant for something as simple as breaking something, looked at Julia Helena sitting next to her.
The Latgalin region bordered the Moorish Empire, so it often employed pagan slaves. Naturally, corporal punishment of servants was far easier than that of free men, and the punishments were harsher.
“No. She was trying to lure my brother into becoming the mistress of the house.”
To Bianca and Rubina, that still didn't seem like a good enough reason to kill.
'I've never killed anyone for that reason!'
Grand Duchess Rubina, who had been Cesare's scapegoat for over ten years, was surprised by her own kindness. It was an unexpected discovery.
'Why would you kill someone when they'll all fall off if you just hold their money bag and tease them?!'
On the other hand, Julia Helena was easily convinced.
“Ah, I see.”
It was a common occurrence in pagan harems. It was not uncommon for a harem newcomer to covet the Sultan's favor and be executed by the King's mother, Valide Sultan.
“Even if you die, you still fight.”
The phrase "It is natural to die," pronounced by Julia Helena, was imbued with an incomparably cold-bloodedness.
Isabella, her spine tingling, turned to Julia Helena.
Ariadne wouldn't leave her alone if Prince Alfonso ascended to power. The moment Leo III died, she'd have her locked away in some ascetic convent or something. Isabella knew that much.
But she had a feeling that if that Princess came to power, her suffering would not end with being sent to a convent.
'She must be sent back or eliminated.'
Julia Helena looked at Isabella with a calm face and asked.
“Have you ever thought, Countess Contarini, that you should have gone to that relief home instead?”
Isabella flinched when someone formally addressed her. She hadn't expected anyone to speak to her first at this tea party today.
The content was worth pondering. It was a regret Isabella had every day since a certain point. That day at the Rambouillet Relief Center, she should have gone instead of sending that girl away.
The handkerchief that Prince Alfonso had taken from Ariadne remained just a handkerchief, without any possibility of being connected to it.
If she had gone to that place herself instead of just snatching the handkerchief that day, would her future, her life, have been different?
It was a fantasy that had become increasingly frequent after her engagement to Duke Cesare fell through and she became Ottavio's wife.
Julia Helena smiled broadly and poked her with a sharp tongue.
“If Countess Contarini had met the Prince that day at the almshouse instead of Countess de Mare... wouldn’t the late Grand Duchess Rubina have had far fewer things to worry about now?”
This was an insult to Ariadne, but Princess Julia Helena, who was eager to stab Countess Contarini, saw nothing of it.
'If it was Countess Contarini who fell in love with Prince Alfonso that day, wouldn't the former Grand Duchess have felt much more at ease since the woman who would have been engaged to Cesare would not have been Countess Isabella Contarini, but some other decent person?'
The problem was that the remark was entirely based on a misunderstanding. It would have been normal for no one to understand Princess Julia Helena's words.
But they were overly accustomed to the indirect language of social circles. Everyone in the room interpreted it in their own way, making it perfectly coherent.
If 'Isabella' had become involved with the Prince, she would not have become the 'King's government', so Rubina would not have lost their position as the 'King's official government' and would have been at peace in body and mind.
Rubina couldn't hold back for a moment and chuckled to herself.
“The Prince is not a fool with no eyes.”
The omitted words were automatically filled in by everyone.
'There's no way he could fall in love with someone like Isabella.'
The crowd froze for a moment at the harsh words.
"Pfftt!"
Soon, Bianca's uncontrollable laughter rang out awkwardly through the air.
Rubina had given up everything. Reconciliation was already a done deal, and now she could just hold on for another five minutes and wake up refreshed and ready to go to her room. She's done enough. Leo III, or anyone else, could ask for more from her.
“If everyone fell in love with someone they met, then by now all the people in San Carlo would be married to their next-door neighbors?”
She recited the same argument she usually gave to her son.
“You have to choose your partner carefully. People with a lot of possessions will get into trouble if they pick up something that looks half-baked and half-baked and eat it.”
She added one more thing, pointing her chin at Isabella, somewhere between resignation and complacency.
“Only a fool would make a choice like that.”
This meant that Leo III, who had embraced Isabella, was a fool. He was said to have a taste for women that was worse than his own two sons', and to have even taken advantage of things he shouldn't have.
The ultimate in humor is the self-deprecating joke. Rubina mocks her husband by saying Leo III's eyes are like those of a fish, while simultaneously confessing in despair that she, too, was chosen by him. This was a joke that only Rubina could pull off.
Isabella's face was flushed. Bianca, Julia, and Helena were biting their lips, lowering their heads, and trembling, trying not to laugh any longer.
If she were a gentle lady, now would be the time to smile compassionately and change the conversation to something else.
However, Countess Ariadne de Mare, the embodiment of revenge, had no intention of letting go of the enemy she had captured.
If someone hates you for no reason, just give them a reason. You called me a bit stubborn, didn't you? Let me take your stubbornness for a spin.
“Where did you meet His Majesty?”
Ariadne just blurted it out as if it were nothing.
“You came out of the dungeon naked.”
Unaware of Isabella's speed, Julia Helena let out a heartfelt exclamation of admiration.
“Wow. People who are destined to succeed can become like this.”
This is what fateful love must be like. You meet a Prince who's come to help the needy in a refuge where you've been banished as punishment, and both find themselves drawn into a whirlwind of emotions they can't resist.
Isn't this the perfect story of a Prince saving a poor girl in trouble?
'When I arrived in the Etruscan kingdom, was it my fate that Grand Duke Cesare was unmarried instead of Prince Alfonso?'
With Julia Helena beside her, lost in her own fantasy, Bianca focused on something else. Princess Bianca of Taranto and Julia Helena were roughly the same age, but their tastes differed significantly. The upright Bianca was infuriated by the unfamiliar tale of the past.
“Prince... No, why is a model person like Countess de Mare being kicked out of the house?”
Ariadne smiled bashfully. In the past, it would have been a bitter smile, but as time passed, she was able to smile genuinely.
“That’s right.”
Just as she was about to answer, an aggressive and cynical voice answered instead.
“She was kicked out after beating a poor maid without permission and telling her to reflect on her actions. She seems to have no empathy.”
Isabella finally couldn't hold it in anymore and exploded. Having remained silent until then, Isabella suddenly raised her head, glared straight at Ariadne, and spoke.
“Countess de Mare has had a stubborn personality since childhood. To be whipped for something so trivial...? The Rambouillet Home is the perfect place, isn’t it?”
From Isabella's perspective, this was an act of self-defense. She simply struck first before her own weaknesses were exposed.
The slap on her lips subtly transformed into a whipping. In fact, it was Lucrezia who had whipped Maletta.
Rubina, the Grand Duchess, simply blinked. It took her a moment to grasp what was happening. With Rubina's tacit, if not acquiescent, approval, Isabella continued her attacks without hesitation.
“How can you possibly think of beating someone who lives in the same house as you?”
This was a backstabbing of Prince Alfonso, the man who had beaten her. What a worthless person. Whipping? What a lowly, horrible thing that doesn't even know the meaning of human rights!
"In contrast, the de Mare family sent their children to volunteer work instead of beating them. How noble and admirable is that?"
It was a vague protest, completely forgetting what she'd done, that she should have done some kind of volunteer work instead of whipping her. It was a roundabout way of saying it, but everyone understood.
It should have stopped there, but Isabella was full of anger and rage against Ariadne and Alfonso.
“Thanks to me, you met a Prince just like you. I appreciate that.”
Ariadne's expression, which had been hardening for a while, turned as cold as ice.
Isabella wasn't inherently smart. She was, after all, the daughter of Cardinal de Mare. In terms of intelligence, Isabella's intelligence was far superior to her father's.
But in essence, she resembles her dead mother, Lucrezia.
Isabella had no control over her impulses. If Ariadne were to explain why she was banished to the Rambouillet asylum, people would likely blame Isabella.
'If I become a bad person, all those people will exclude me.'
That wasn't real, just Isabella's imagination. If she'd thought about it carefully, she would have realized that exposing a minor, past misdeed was of no consequence.
On the contrary, her insulting and resentful remarks toward Prince Alfonso now would have a far worse effect on her long-term reputation, but her imagination, which had been running wild for a moment, did not give her time to think that far.
'No one will hold my hand, and I will be kicked out of the group!'
The people here aren't interacting with Isabella based on her character anyway. Isabella's power rests solely on the degree of Leo III's favor. But at this moment, Isabella was unstoppable.
'I can't be bad for even a moment. I have to be perfect.'
She exploded emotionally in a situation where she was cornered and trapped at a round table without any supporters.
Isabella expressed her surging anxiety and fear by attacking Ariadne and making sarcastic remarks.
“If I hadn’t sent you there, what would have happened to you? You would have married a guy like the Marquis of Campa.”
Ariadne glared at Isabella with a cold, indifferent expression. She didn't say anything in response.
The silence was so quiet that it felt like something big was about to explode. Rubina hastily intervened.
“Stop, stop, stop.”
While I was secretly cursing Leo III.
'Don't you know your concubine's temper?'
She had no idea what to say to reconcile them, so she just threw out a random comment.
“The tea is so crispy and the panna cotta is warm!”
Rubina then called out to the attendant with a desperate gesture. As soon as the attendant approached, she checked how long the tea party had been going on.
'How many minutes has it been since we started?'
'It's been less than 30 minutes, Your Highness.'
Her heart was pounding. A tea party should last at least 45 minutes before it naturally ends.
'Can I prevent bloodshed in this room for the next 15 minutes?'
Ariadne, seeing Rubina summon her attendant, knew exactly what question she'd asked. From the attendant's embarrassed expression and Rubina's troubled expression, she also sensed that the tea party hadn't had enough time to function properly.
Ariadne also wanted to leave. But now that she was about to get up, she felt like it was a waste of all the effort she had put into sitting up until then.
'I've put up with this much, and yet I have to hear that Countess de Mare is the first to rise from her seat?'
Isabella seemed determined to leave. She even teased Rubina.
"What good is eating something so good? It doesn't even guarantee basic safety!"
Rubina glared. It was a signal to shut up immediately. Isabella paid no attention. What had already been done could not be undone.
"Shouldn't Your Highness also create a court free of violence? Only then will there be no more unfortunate victims like me or the maid who was beaten by Ariadne."
At that moment, Ariadne, who had made up her mind, cut off Isabella's words.
“Countess Contarini is very misunderstood.”
Ariadne wasn't the type to be easily submissive. She looked straight at Isabella, but instead spoke to Rubina. She didn't want to speak directly to Isabella, who didn't seem like that person.
“That maid had quite a few problems. Later, my mother killed herself.”
The atmosphere became tense at the mention of killing her. Rubina and Bianca stared at Isabella with wide eyes.
Isabella suddenly shut her mouth and pretended not to hear anything. Julia Helena, who didn't know the whole story, asked.
“Did she hurt her master or break something?”
Bianca, horrified at the thought that someone could kill a servant for something as simple as breaking something, looked at Julia Helena sitting next to her.
The Latgalin region bordered the Moorish Empire, so it often employed pagan slaves. Naturally, corporal punishment of servants was far easier than that of free men, and the punishments were harsher.
“No. She was trying to lure my brother into becoming the mistress of the house.”
To Bianca and Rubina, that still didn't seem like a good enough reason to kill.
'I've never killed anyone for that reason!'
Grand Duchess Rubina, who had been Cesare's scapegoat for over ten years, was surprised by her own kindness. It was an unexpected discovery.
'Why would you kill someone when they'll all fall off if you just hold their money bag and tease them?!'
On the other hand, Julia Helena was easily convinced.
“Ah, I see.”
It was a common occurrence in pagan harems. It was not uncommon for a harem newcomer to covet the Sultan's favor and be executed by the King's mother, Valide Sultan.
“Even if you die, you still fight.”
The phrase "It is natural to die," pronounced by Julia Helena, was imbued with an incomparably cold-bloodedness.
Isabella, her spine tingling, turned to Julia Helena.
Ariadne wouldn't leave her alone if Prince Alfonso ascended to power. The moment Leo III died, she'd have her locked away in some ascetic convent or something. Isabella knew that much.
But she had a feeling that if that Princess came to power, her suffering would not end with being sent to a convent.
'She must be sent back or eliminated.'
Julia Helena looked at Isabella with a calm face and asked.
“Have you ever thought, Countess Contarini, that you should have gone to that relief home instead?”
Isabella flinched when someone formally addressed her. She hadn't expected anyone to speak to her first at this tea party today.
The content was worth pondering. It was a regret Isabella had every day since a certain point. That day at the Rambouillet Relief Center, she should have gone instead of sending that girl away.
The handkerchief that Prince Alfonso had taken from Ariadne remained just a handkerchief, without any possibility of being connected to it.
If she had gone to that place herself instead of just snatching the handkerchief that day, would her future, her life, have been different?
It was a fantasy that had become increasingly frequent after her engagement to Duke Cesare fell through and she became Ottavio's wife.
Julia Helena smiled broadly and poked her with a sharp tongue.
“If Countess Contarini had met the Prince that day at the almshouse instead of Countess de Mare... wouldn’t the late Grand Duchess Rubina have had far fewer things to worry about now?”
This was an insult to Ariadne, but Princess Julia Helena, who was eager to stab Countess Contarini, saw nothing of it.
'If it was Countess Contarini who fell in love with Prince Alfonso that day, wouldn't the former Grand Duchess have felt much more at ease since the woman who would have been engaged to Cesare would not have been Countess Isabella Contarini, but some other decent person?'
The problem was that the remark was entirely based on a misunderstanding. It would have been normal for no one to understand Princess Julia Helena's words.
But they were overly accustomed to the indirect language of social circles. Everyone in the room interpreted it in their own way, making it perfectly coherent.
If 'Isabella' had become involved with the Prince, she would not have become the 'King's government', so Rubina would not have lost their position as the 'King's official government' and would have been at peace in body and mind.
Rubina couldn't hold back for a moment and chuckled to herself.
“The Prince is not a fool with no eyes.”
The omitted words were automatically filled in by everyone.
'There's no way he could fall in love with someone like Isabella.'
The crowd froze for a moment at the harsh words.
"Pfftt!"
Soon, Bianca's uncontrollable laughter rang out awkwardly through the air.
Rubina had given up everything. Reconciliation was already a done deal, and now she could just hold on for another five minutes and wake up refreshed and ready to go to her room. She's done enough. Leo III, or anyone else, could ask for more from her.
“If everyone fell in love with someone they met, then by now all the people in San Carlo would be married to their next-door neighbors?”
She recited the same argument she usually gave to her son.
“You have to choose your partner carefully. People with a lot of possessions will get into trouble if they pick up something that looks half-baked and half-baked and eat it.”
She added one more thing, pointing her chin at Isabella, somewhere between resignation and complacency.
“Only a fool would make a choice like that.”
This meant that Leo III, who had embraced Isabella, was a fool. He was said to have a taste for women that was worse than his own two sons', and to have even taken advantage of things he shouldn't have.
The ultimate in humor is the self-deprecating joke. Rubina mocks her husband by saying Leo III's eyes are like those of a fish, while simultaneously confessing in despair that she, too, was chosen by him. This was a joke that only Rubina could pull off.
Isabella's face was flushed. Bianca, Julia, and Helena were biting their lips, lowering their heads, and trembling, trying not to laugh any longer.
If she were a gentle lady, now would be the time to smile compassionately and change the conversation to something else.
However, Countess Ariadne de Mare, the embodiment of revenge, had no intention of letting go of the enemy she had captured.
If someone hates you for no reason, just give them a reason. You called me a bit stubborn, didn't you? Let me take your stubbornness for a spin.
“Where did you meet His Majesty?”
Ariadne just blurted it out as if it were nothing.
“You came out of the dungeon naked.”
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